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Excerpt from The Book of the Farm, Vol. 1: Detailing the Labors of the Farmer, Steward, Plowman, Hedger, Cattle-Man, Shepherd, Field-Worker, and Dairymaid
The young farmer, left to his own guidance, when beginning to learn his. Profession, encounters many perplexing difficulties. The difficulty which at first most prominently obtrudes itself on his notice consists in the distribution of the labor of the farm and it presents itself in this way He observes the teams employed one day in one field, at one kind of work, and perhaps the next day in another field, at a different sort of work. He observes the persons employed as field-workers assisting the teams one day, and in the next, perhaps, working by themselves in another field or elsewhere. He observes those changes with attention, considers of their utility, but cannot discover the reasons for making so very varied arrange ments not because he entertains the least doubt of their propriety, but, being as yet uninitiated in the art of farming, he cannot foresee the pur pose for which those labors are performed. The reason why he cannot at once foresee this is, that in all cases, excepting at the finishing Operations, the'end is unattained at the time of his observation.
The next difficulty the young farmer encounters is in the variety of the labors performed. He not only sees various arrangements made to do the same sort of work, but various kinds of work. He discovers this differ ence on examining more closely into the nature of the work he sees per forming. He observes one day the horses at work in the plow in one field, moving in a direction quite opposite, in regard to the ridges, to what they were in the plow in another field. On another-day he observes the horses at work with quite a different implement from the plow. The field-workers, he perceives, have laid aside the implement with which they were working, and are performing the labor engaged in with the hand. He cannot comprehend why one sort of work should be osecuted one day, and quite a different sort of work the next. This difficulty is inox' plicable for the same reason why he could not overcome the former one because he cannot foresee the end for which those varieties of work are performed.' No doubt he is aware that every kind and variety of work which are performed on a farm, are preparatives to the attainment of cer tain cr0ps but what portion of any work is intended as a certain part of the preparation for a particular crop, is a knowledge which. He cannot ac quire by intuition. Every preparatory work is thus perplexing to the young farmer.
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