The Avarice of the Soil

Dr. J. V. C. Smith recently lectured on the 'farming profession' and the common habit of farmers to deny themselves the full enjoyment of the fruits of their industry. He argued that many in the craft are so ambitious to save money that they subject their own households to a regimen of deprivation that would be considered cruel if imposed by others. To glean the land and deprive one's self of the luxuries that constitute the pride of the market is a false economy. Prudence is a virtue, but avarice becomes a vice when a disposition to hoard discards the comforts of a well-ordered home. Dr. Smith warned that if a farmer’s table is served only with what they cannot sell, their minds will never develop to a standard of intelligence necessary for success, and their children will inherit an incapacity for higher relations in life. There is but a feeble exhibition of brain-power where the stomach has been restricted habitually to inappropriate diet. A farmer must possess qualifications that command respect—not merely through profit, but through the moral influence and stability their prosperity brings to the community.