Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1869-10-15
His Opinion.

A shrewd observer of the ways OF
the world gives his opinion in the
Nashua Post of last week on differ
ent ways of farming. He uses some
sound logic and deals out in the fol-
lowing extract which we give vast
amount of good sense.
He says: 1--WE have one of the
best counties in Northeastern Iowa
to make money in, but tell me how
many in your circle are really saving
a dollar. You will find when you
count them up taside from the adj
vance i'm lands) they are making
nothing, and many are going back
ward. Why is this? / will state
why, in my opinion. 1t is because
you do not raise the right kind of
crops. No man in this county ought
to raise any more wheat than will
bread him for the year, and seed for
the year to come. Every bushel he
raises after that is loss TO him, it
costs more than he can realize for it.
The entire cIopof wheat now stacked
i'm Chickasaw county will not, when
threshed and marketed pay two
thirds what it cost to raise it. have
had much to do with making collec-
tons among farmers for eight years
past, and you will allow me to give
my experience. Among those that
depend on wheat to pay their debts.
not one in five were able to do so,
when called upon. While among
those that raise stock, four out OF five
were ready to pay in full. The above
is the experience .of eight years. A
short time ago, in conversation with
a gentleman who has large amounts
to collect, among farmers, he said
that the wheat growing districts are
always hard up, while districts which
raised stock were ahead, many hav-
ing money out at interest.
Farmers that raise wheat become
beggard buying wheat machinery.
They must have their seeder, reaper
and mower if they do not raise over
% or 80 acres Of wheat. The wheat
crop will never pay the debt. They
must turn off the young stock, hogs
and butter tn pay up. The notes held
to-day by parties, against the farmers
of our county for wheat machinery
will take the entire surplus for the
next three years to come. Facts are
stubborn things. You must change
your tactics. Raise corn, oats and
hay. Corn is the great staple crop,
and is rarely failure. Instead of GO
ing into debt for wheat machinery,
go i'm debt for stock. You can sit
down and white four months in
year and be fifty per cent. better Off
ut the end, than for you to raise wheat.
Keep stock enough to eat all your
corn, oats and hay, no more, put Lack
each year on your land i'm dressing,
all you take off the year previous,
don't think you can always take Off
and never pay back. 1 have heard
farmers curse their lands because it
would not raise tame grass, but they
had taken Off seven successive crops
of wheat and corn, then seeded it
down without one pound of manure
to assist worn out nature. They
might as well curse their wheat bin
for not yielding them their bread and
seed after they had taken the last
bushel to market. '
The land In our county is well
adapted to stock raising, good mead
ow lands and plenty of water, and
when this grain mania has died out,
and We become stock growing C IN.
munity, We shall prosper, and every
man will be a good fellow, for moth
ing makes man mean so quick as
failure to pay his debts"