Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-05-20

Farming is not only regular bust
ness, To Ire Understood according to
commercial principles, but it is a
complex business, and for it's hest
success requires the highest business
talents. The farmer is both n manu-
facturer and a merchant, In either
capacity he requires the method,
Knowledge, exact calculation, econo'
my, and shrewdness which make a
successful business man. In deter
mining what crops or stock his farm
shall bear, the farmer is merchant.
He must know the market. aud raise
that which will sell at u profit. Hay-
ing ascertained what the market
needs and will pay for, the farmer
becomes manufacturer, and sets
about fashioning the goods which are
10 be sold. The cloth manufacturer
uses his spindles and looms to make
marketable commodities, the chemist
uses his laboratory, and the farmer
uses his soil. 1t is his workshop and
his laboratory for manufacturing
goods Tor the market. Tie first step
in good farming must be taken in
the direction of knowledge and skin; !
and the second in the direction of
economy. 70 know the nature Of
soils, and how best TO handle them, ,
the know ledge OF the requirements of
various crops, and how to meet them,
the knowledge of the use of ma
chinery-that i, OF labor force and
Iahor imp lements-.i including men,
horses, oxen, harness, wagons, plOws,
&c, is Indispensable TO good farming,
But economy is hardly second to
knowledge, A chemist who sells,
for 10 cents. pound of articles
which il costs him IL cents to manu-
facture, the manufacturer who gets
50 cents for carpets which cost him
SIS at the loom, will soon shut up
shop. The farmer must get his goods
. to market at cost TO himself much
below the market price. or he will
soon enjoy the Injuries and ameni-
ties of the Poor House. Il is at This
point that fancy farming fills. 1t is
not difficult To raise prUuigiuus crops
IF one manure his land with dollars.
But to produce large hnTvCSts cheap
~, and at the same to keep the soil
in good heart, requires no mean order
Of business talent.
A man that is not smart enough to
run 4 store is not smart enough to
run farm. Farmers are not to be
made out of what is left after law
yeTs, doctors, ministers, and mer-
chants are sorted and picked out.
And If man fails on good farm, it
is not likely that lie will succeed i'm a
store, for 1t requires more talent IL be
thriving farmer than to be u mer.
chant. The one cause of greatest fail
ure Is the disprOportion between n
mans farm aud his capital. A farm
er's capital j. his skilled labor and
his money. If he has little cash, he
must have no more land than he can
thoroughly well manage by his own
perso nal labor. Every acre beyond
that is an incumbTance, One acre
well worked is more profitable than
20 acres skinned over. 1t Is this
greed Of land by farmers that have
not capital enough to work it that
keeps so many poor. Small farms
are better than large ones, simply be
cause they are better suited to the
average capital of common farmers.
Large farms, with large capital. are
better than small ones. But 200 acres
OF land in the possession Of man
WHO has only enough capital to stock
and develop 10 acres, leads us to one
of two thlngs-rither that he pays
taxes on 1870 acres which lie does not
use, Of, Us Is more commonly the
CasS, tuut he spreads his small CAPT
tai out over The whole 300; and so
thin IL il that it ia like a spoonful Of
guanO on Grand Prairie. lea Low
ell man was To build a factory capa-
bic Of holding 10000 Spindies and then
III "ue corner pat geo spindlcs, leav-
ing the rest of the space vacant, use
LEES, a meIe waste of capital invested,
he would resemble farmers who buy
hundreds and hundreds OF acres aud
let them lie unw"rked and unprUduC.
live. If the manufacturer We're to
spread out lis 800 spindles over the
building capable OF containing TO-
900, he would resemble the farmer
who puts upon 300 acres the labor
and manure which would barely
suffice for 10
Farming is a good business for all
men who conduct il on business
principles and have capital accord
Ing TO the size of their farms. If
man does not understand his bust
ness he will fail, whether he be
farmer, lawyer, minister, or mer.
chant. If a man attempts TO run n
mine, q manufactOry. bank, or n
farm without capital. he will fail
alike in all or any of them. but 10
s0OneT in one than another Of them.
Farming for amusement is another
and entirely different thing. Some
men prefer dogs fnd horses some
men pictures some men landscape
gardeus and fancy greenhouses, aud
others fancy a farm, as means Of
ugreeably SPENDING their money and
occupying their leisure. \ farm
may be rich mans piaythiug. He
does not live from his ground His
ground lives from him Henry
Ward Beecher, in Christian Union.