The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-03-10
CONTRADICTION.
Hints Oh Farm EcOaOny and
- ~ Eruit Growing.


country in a manner, aul 'woald be glad to
sell out ifthey could do so at what they con-
slider fair prices, i. a fact which will not be
disputed; that there is any we'll founded
reason FOR this :tlts Of fSeliny may we'll be
questioned. n H7TH rffr-r GOES a g.
Farmers abolt here hive been too much
ia the habit off,. pen ling Oh rounl profits,
that is, in making what they mike in COM
paratively larg, sums. Th,y haze no idea of
that sort Of economy which keeps small prof
its coming in nearly all tn. time.
"r.h, cure Of yolr pennys anil the pounds
will tax, care oftien,.v.s." is Al old say
ing. If one Of our Farmers raises a large
crop Of corn AL fattens large herd of
swine which he sells large sun Of mon
ey in rounl figures he is s,tisiei. On the
contrary, if his cora is CIT of, his incoms il
cut of and he is "down in the mouth" while
a little m Ore attention to the other sort of
economy which have mentioned would
keep an almost constant stream of slnlll prof
its coming in, and in which there would be
less liability to disappointm Take, for
example, the item of butter Most farmers
here say that they cannot afford to make but
ter at fifteen cents pound. This, think,
is fallacy. In many Of the older States,
Connecticut for instance, there is large class
of farmers who depend chiefly on the dairy
for their income-on the sale of butter and
cheese. 1t costs them there, to ke,p their
stock, about dou5le what it costs thu western
farmer to keep his. They sell their cheese
at some seven or eight ceats per pound, and
butter at about twelve-and-a-half cents, and
their profits will foot up at the end of the
year to sum quite equal to the profits of
the western farmer in his IN ,st favored years
from his corn and pork. Here, tn, average
price Of butter is not less than fifteen cents a
pound. Often, for weeks together, people in
town cannot get it at any price. Chees.
sells at about the sam, price, and is almost
entirely supplied from the east. Most of our
farmers, with suitable care and a little more
expense perhaps, might make large quaint
ties of both these articles, even with the Stock
they now keep. They would always finl
ready sale at remunerative prices, AMI. al
though the amount realized from each sale
might be snail, at tie end Of the year they
make handsome agyre gate. During the
past season, when grain crops in great
measure failed, and w:,cn feel for stock was
very abunlant, enough might have been
made Of these articles to have kept farmers
in comparatively easy circum stances. A
good COW should max. eight or ten pounds
ofbutter per week, ani there are many COWS
that will max, from twelve to fourteen )unis
a weak. From three or four cows, with good
care and management, enough bitter might
be ma lie to meet the living expenses of an
ordinary farmers family.
1t becomes farmers at this time to consider
whether their present disc urasen,at is oy
ing altogether to the unfavorable seasons, or
whether it i: not in a great d,gree Tn. conse-
quence of their own imperfect or improper
method of farming In other words, whether
different management would not render their
crops moro certain, and add to the number
of their sources of revenue, SO that w,len one
source fails. they would have something else
to rely upon, and something else to do be-
sides grumbl'ng about ''hard times" and
'lisrd country" One of our farmers said,
not long since, that che had come to the con-
clusion that this country was only fit for In
dams and Yank.es" So far as the latter
are concerned he is probably right. Put a
community of Yankees here, and the country
would Flourish, because they possess the en-
ergy, enterprise, and ing nuity necessary to
make it flourish even under difficulties
They might. it is true, meet with "hard
times" once in few years, for that is to be
expected in any country, but doubt, for
obvious reasons, whether they would meet
with any such hard times as we now exper-
fence. ... Five. .....
Our turner's have heretofore male money
to- easily. They were not prepared for the
reverse which has come upon them Their
energies have not been drawn out. Tn. re-
sources Of the country have not been devel-
oped. Improvements in cultivation have
bee very little 'ught for. Now, there is
occasion for our looking about US for new re-
sources-for something by way of improve
ment. As agriculture is the basis of the
country's prosperity, we must look to i'm
provements in that branch, not only for re-
lief from our present somewhat crippled con-
dtion, but for the prevention of its recur-
renee. | have suggested one item, viz
more attention to the dairy as source of
revenue which seldom fails, and is most sure
to succeed when others fail. As an improve
ment in cultivation, whereby crops will not
only be materially increased in yield, but
rendered much more certain both in wet sea-
sons and dry, very important results may be
expected from the introduction of
sUB-sOIL FLOWING.
1t is performed with sub-soil plows, made
exclusively for this purpose. They loosen
without bringing to the surface) the hard