Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-02-21
farm, 6aratu & sOusfHaId.
PROFITS OF EARNING.

some account Of ais mode of operations that
we might lay before orF readers. We are
nov happy to be able to present some COM
mon sense and well considered remarks of his
not enly in regard to his own farming, but
also in relation to farming in general, which
ws think viii be read with interest" We
sopy the most important parts 6f the eommu-
nicatien.
The surest, and most reliable and most inn
portant crop of the farm il the grass. Out Of
grass and natures own erueibles come meat
and milk, and chease, the more enduring
form Of milk; boots, shoes, clothing, the very
foundation Of existence; and be who makes
Two spears grow where but one grew before is
certainly benefsctor to the race, in his way.
Within the last fifteen years I presume
have raised and cold from twelve 10 fifteen
hundred dollars worth ofSwedish turnips,
but question whether or not / am any richer
for it. / think could have raised as many
dollars worth of corn and fodder, which
would have returned manure TO repeat the
process; and turnips make heavy drafts upon
land. have also dabbled some in other
sauce, but found dabbling did not payi first, it
interferes with milk raising, taking iuvalua-
BILE hay time; and, secondly, you are not apt
70 raise enough to geta good run Of trade,
and therefore the best price. Fruit and cider
have sold considerable Of, never / think
more than one bundled and fifty barrels Of
apples in one year. But when they are plenty
they nett but little above expepsesj halt a
crop generally pays as well as fun one, by
bringing better price. At best you get
crop only every second year; and if one fails,
van have lost three years use of your land,
beside expenses, if you cultivate. So put
nv orchard into grass some four years since
and am as sure oft-J crops yearly as the rain
Is 10 fall. Of course one would raise fruit
and sauce enough fos his own family, or try,
and would often have little to sell. These
ideas apply perhaps only to my personal taste
or the peculiar soil on which | am situated,
or more surely, it may be, to the proper milk
rsisiBg distance from market Nearer the
cities, where land is very precious, sauce
and small fruits must be the only paying
thing; aud farther into the country, where
land Is cheap, stock, butter snd cheese, fruit
and grain, are the things, as being not so
perishable, easily transported and plenty Of
land to draw from.
Another consideration is, grass and milk
are produced with much less labor than other
kinds of farming, quite en item in these
times. One man can very comfortably take
care of fifteen or twenty head of cattle,
spread the manure and plant three or four
acres of corn with only few days help, ex
eept during the hay season. Some of the
time during the war had man only three
months in the year, but wouldn't advise be-
ing too much alone. If you cau get good
company life is run on higher plane. Jost-
ling each other is fruitful Of ideas and vastly
more pleasurable than whiskey; souls are
made of them.
have had light run Of grape fever, but
been pretty cautious not to devote too much
time and territory to them planting them
about walls, buildings, etc, to determine the
kinds that succeed best and their profit.
Of swine, used to keep quite number
ten or twelve years ago, but realized no profit
except in manure, and of all that / know OF
having kept a strict account with them only
one man made above expenses. seventy-hve
cents, throwing in the refase of his table at
that do not care for them as food, not
that have any prejudice, or think We would
be sharper than q Jew without them.
'icould eat raw rat If manners were 10
question" as well as Thoreau, I'm eonhdent.
used 10 let cattle run over the moving IN
the fall. have done with that as faras may be;
60 ,ciaIIy are they injurious to moist and
meadow land Think Of the pressure of four
hundred pounds or more in the small space
of an animals hoof all over the ground. Th,
soil can't aerste under that. | Eouldn'
have hoof on meadow land if could help it
NOW with scythe altogether.
Now for the profit. l estimate the income
from good COWS at one hundred dollars apiece
This distance from market item miles), whole
sale prices and sold at the door; nearly doubl,
that marketed and retaiIed yourself Extrl
cows considerable more, from one hundred
and twenty-five to one hundred and fft,
dollars apiece. have, and | could pick ou
many another such, tventy-nine acres lyinj
near the house, six in pasture, three perhAp
in wood aud waste, and twenty acres left, or
which, when it is all in condition, (some fiv,
acres not yet reclaimed), / affirm and thinI
modestly, that could cut sixty tons per year
one and one half tons at each cropping, vhiel
should keep fifteen eoEs and horse the yea
round, except turning half dozen dry one
into the country during the summer. Nov
isn't the way plain, modest, sure? For wher
grass in moist places fails, all else will hav,
failed before it, and there is famine.
To be sure, there are operations that tieklu
the fancy more here is man that has sol,
eight hundred dollars worth of grapes iron
half an acre, or another that heard Of yester
day in, that netted clear Of all expenses
fourteen hundred dollars from cueumbers an
celery ou tbreefourths Of an acre, or you ma
pocket hundred dollars on little patch O
turnips, cabbages or squashes Are we ali
because Of these strokes Of luck or wisdom, +
pull up stakes and devote all to celery an,
strawberries, or grapes and cabbages? N
wisdom in that, or luck.
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