Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-04-29
Docs Farming Fay!
From tho Western Rural.

ing paradox.
We are confident the farming com,
munity of the West as class have
come far short ofrealizing 10 per cent.
interest on the investmxlt, with all
the toll and care bestowed from year
to year unremunerated.
Money in the past has found
ready market at 10 per cent. interest,
leaving the hands iree-outside of
tho farm-thcrefor the logical con-!
clusion is that farming does not pays
We are toId-and are aware of the
fact-that farmers are we'll to do in.
the world-independent as class, if
they have but few comforts yet we
must not overlook the fact that bnt q
few years ago the present land hold
ers, as a rule, had but little money
to be sure, but all that was necessary
to possess, and own in fee simple the
best farms in the country. Aside
from the improvements throughout
the land-which are only passable
the farmers surplus earnings do
not relieve HIM from the onorous
labors of the farm, even in age.
While the fact is apparent that
farmers have become well off from
holding in fee simple the lands which
have become so valuable in a few
brief yeats, by its products having
been made accessible TO The outer
world by the railroads which have
become the main arteries Of COM
merce, yet it is no less apparent that
u,rder the present system of farming
young men, dependent upon their
own resources entirely cannot pay
for farms at from 500 to 500 per
acre, but must be "iett out in the
cold" or go among the cheap lands
of the West and grow up with the
country, as their fathers did.
Above we have given expression to
- nesirf that farming does not pay,
i4 x eral sense, an! while our
nlughts have been dwelling upon
the subjec:, we perceive no fattering
inducements tor the uninitiated to
accept farming as . business with
any certainty Of success, in becom
ing surrounded with the necessary
temporal comforts, nor becoming
mentally and socially developed in
the leisure moments the Independent
farmer is said to enjoy. And per-
haps it is true that while all other
branches of industry are making pro,
gress-yea. while rapid strides are
being made in the arts and sciences
many farmers pursue the old
rontinc of plodding away, perhaps
taking no Agricultural paper, nor
reading anything, whereby general
information is obtained, not only
rejecting all this as nonsense, or
ook-farming," but giving no en-
couragement to their own thoughts
as to the proper direction Of their
operations.
The head should enlighten the
hands in their work. Where prin
ciples of self alone are involved, a
degree of success, in pecuniary
sense, will attend the efforts of the
man with very moderate allowance
of brains. But some farmers, seem
ingly destitute of brains, follow in the
ruts made by our fathers which Sc
cures neither certainty nor satisfac-
ton.
Don't become discouraged, brother
farmer, while we are dwelling on
the dark side Of the picture, for the
question has an affirmative, and
though there is seeming con
,radiction, we say that. taa7ning does
pay though the very marked sue
cess attending a small minority of
the farming community is not due
alone to the skiliful and perseyering
manner in which it is done, but i'll
measure upon the misfortunes of
others for ifthe broad praries of the
West had the tillage of some of the
older countries it would "sslut' the
markets OF the world with its pro-
ducts.
This article has extended to a
greater length than we anticipated,
yet we are inclined to 60 little fur
Their, and define the reasons for our
conclusions in the matter, by draw
ing parallel between the pay and
don't pay kind of farming.
There are little items Of daily oc-
currance throughout the whole year,
that the practical farmer turns to
account, in reference to the kind
and quality of the stock, the quantity
and quality ofthe food, the time and
manner Of feeding it, and the manner
of putting IN, cultivating, and taking
care OF the crops, etc, too numerous
tonention in this connection, that
the man bind 10 his own interests
fails to observe, or, seeing them,
thinks them unworthy OF notice, or
which is too often the case, leaving
.iesa lutte matters of so much i'm
l5r.snce upon which the success of
h. farmer wholly depeuds) in the
hands of hired men, who not only
are inexperienced, but do not take
the necessary interest, or no interest
p, ~ in III king the business prof
ar, -
re demonstrate distinctly between
,hc characters we are enIeavoring to
portray, take one Of that larger class.
who barely skips his way through
the world. To illustrate, for instance,
take the care of hogs, which gives
better profit at present than most
other branches Of agriculture, though
it will apply to other branches as
well. lie takes little care Of his
brood sows, so that one-fitth are lost
when they come, leaving 40 out OF so
that should be on every farm of 100
acres where og-raising is business.
Then, for want Of proper care in
many ways-as improper food given
irrcgularly, or none at all-the pigs
become diseased, and one-fourth of
the remainder die from the effects of
cholera, leaving 80 which are so
dwarfed that, together with bad
p,anag ement all the way through, at
Is months old, they are made to
average only 200 pounds, worth, say
81 per 100, amounting to 1920. The
same management with the corn crop
which annlips thrOuohout IN tbis