Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-12-04
Waiting for a Rise.

IT is the practice of some farmers who
have the means to do so, to hold on to
their crops of grain and other produce if
at the time they are gathered the market
| price of any particular article is much
| below what it has been in former years.
In some cases money is made by this prac-
| tice, but in the great majority of instances
we believe there is loss. This loss does
not always occur from the article depre-
ciating in value, but from other causes.
There are few farmers in the West who
have the requisites for keeping their pro-
duce so as to insure it against waste. Their
granaries cannot keep wheat as securely
as the elevators in our large cities. Much
grain is lost on our farms every year by
becoming heated or by getting wet
About most farm buildings there are sew
eral hundred rats and mice which require
| from fifty cents to dollars worth of grain
per day for their support.
Again, to insure against accidental fires
| costs considerable money, and insurance
in the country cannot be SO easily or
cheaply effected as in the city. A ware
house man in large city can take out
what is called an open policy; and by so
| doing can be putting in and taking out of
his building all the time; while the farmer
may be obliged to procure an insurance
for six months or a year on grain, which
he will find it to his interest to dispose of
in few days.
We all know that great speculations
are made every year, and that splendid
fortunes are acquired by holding produce
for a rise Sometimes these are the re-
suits of purely accidental causes, as the
springing up of foreign or domestic wars
| and in these instances the farmer would
| have as good a chance to make by the
misfortunes Of others, as the professional
Spectator does But, as we said before,
these are purely accidental causes, and sue
cess in these instances is simply the result
of luck. AS to the other causes Of the
fluctuations in the market price of pro-
duce, as those depending on the stringency
in the supply of currency, the city dealer
has much better opportunities Of forming
correct opinions than the farmer has. He
is well posted up in all "the tricks of the
trade" and is by education much better
supply and demand, than the producer is.
There are local causes of change in the
produce market, that every farmer can
take advantage of. If he, by chance or
good management, has raised superior
in his neghborhood, he will know that it
is to his advantage not to send his surplus
supply away, where it will come in COM
petition with that which IL produced in
| parts of the country where good crops
are the rule and not the exception. He
will keep his crop at home, save his freight
and "make the margin" which it costs to
bring produce to supply the community
where he lives. He will sell to his neigh
bors who are among "the shorts" Those
men about the country who have raised
good crops of potatoes or apples this year
will find it to their advantage to look fol-
a home market for these articles, and car
afford to wait till their neighbors have
eaten up their small supply.
- AS rule when there has been small
crop of any article the previous year, the
farmer will find it to his advantage to gel
off his crop as soon as possible and to rush
it into the market. On this account the
grain raiser in Missouri and Southern Hi
nois always has great advantage over
the farmer of Wisconsin and Minnesota
when plentiful harvest follows a season
of scarcity. So, too the northern grain
producer whose crop is necessarily har.
vested late, will in the years of plenty or.
dinarily find an advantage in holding back
his supplies till the market has ceased to
be glutted, provided he has the requisite
buildings for storing it.
! Those farmers who speak with regret al
having sold their crops on particular
year, for less than they could have realized
for them afterward, can find consolation
in the condition of those who sold their
| spring wheat early in the fall for 81 80 in.
stead of keeping it for three months, and
then only getting $1.10 for it. They can
see, too, the folly of the Wisconsin hop.
raisers, who refused so cents for their hops
last fall, and now are compelled to sell
them for Is cents.-Prdirte Farmer.