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The Biggest Change
“By far, the biggest change in Rappahannock hat; been mechanization. When I first came here I sa* haystacks sticking up like popsicles, upside down on sticks. You'd harness up George and Nellie, hitch on the wi^on, gather the hay and put it on poles. I thought it was interesting to dry it that way A
“As we mechanized, we had to expand, to make larger farms from smaller, new farms out of old. So we grew by combination, and grew and grew even to the point of a machine to shake apples out of the trees.
“There have been all kinds of changes in corn. We were plowing, discing, leveling and planting corn with a two-row corn planter. Then people would say, ‘why do that? Plow your field with the tractor and then plant your corn in the tractor tracks.' So we did. Then someone would say, ‘Why do that? Run through with the corn planter. ’
“We’ve made many changes. We kept losing land because of the corn, so we stopped. We kept losing sheep to dogs, so we sold them.
“A farmer should expect, like any businessman, to make a reasonable profit on his investment and to be paid for his labor at least a minimum wage. But everyone who has anything to do with farming knows that if someone makes a minimum wage farming, he's doing well.
“Every time we think of a way to be more efficient, someone thinks of a way to get the fruit of our efficiency away from us.
“It reminds me of a saying I saw: ‘He's a compulsive gambler. He’s been in agriculture for 27 years.'
“Right now, the farmer is making 28 cents as his share of the consumer dollar. Another joke: a farmer won $1 million in a lottery. When he was asked what he’d do with it, he said, ‘Oh I guess I’ll just keep farming until I use it all up.’ ” Courtesy Voices
H. L. Manwaring
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