Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-02-14
THE HERALD.
PLANS FOR THE YEAR.

q larger expenditure for the sake Of
still greater profits. lie should raise
larger crops on the same land, or
make permanent improvements in
the productiveness of his farm. He
should reject the stand-still policy
and strike for progress. The ques-
tiOn before us is, how to do all this
to the best advantage. The first of
the year is the time to examine and
look for the answer.
Farmers may sometimes learn
from military men. When Bona
parto was in Egypt, he and many OF
his officers were riding 4 dark night
on the wide sea-beach. They sud
denly found the tide rising up TO the
horses legs and they were threaten
ed with drowning. All were fright
and confusion, but Bonaparte was
sufficient for the emergency. tie in
stantIy ordered his men to form
hollow circle, horses heads outwards.
"Now ride ahead every man who
finds the water growing shallower,
ride on every one who finds it grow
ing deeper, turn about and follow the
first" This brought all safety to
land.
The farmer must do the same
Among the multitude OF his opera
tions he wants TO know which is in
volving him in loss, and which is
leading him on to profits. These
two points he must ascertain and
then in the words of Richardo, "cut
short his losses, and let his profits
run on
One Of the first things to Go, there
fore. is to make accurate observations
on his labors and their results. lie
must weigh and measure accurately.
A scale for weighing all his cattle,
that he may know what manage
mont does best for them for weigh
ing every load Of hay, corn or pota-
toes, that he may know the product
Of each field, and to determine read
lily the value Of every animal which
he proposes TO dispose of will more
than pay him its cost every year if
properly used without it, he i, like
The sailor deprived of q compaos. If
not already done, every field should
be carefully measured with chain or
tape line, and the whole laid down
on map. BY this he may know at
"a glance the number of acres he al
lows to each crop, the time required
to pillow each field, the seed to SOW it,
and the value Of the product per acre
after it is harvested. 1t is obvious
what an advantage the cultivator
must possess who adopts this mode
of accurately determining causes and
results over tho one who knows only
by vague guessing whether he is
gaining or losing by his different
movements.
The farmer who is about to begin
the year should learn with reason
able degree Of accuracy, how much
money and manual and team labor
he will require to carry his work
handsomely through the season.
The builder who is about to erect a
house, learns beforehand the exact
expense, and knows every stick and
plank that will be wanted. He would
be soon involved in confusion if he
should mistake the cost, and attempt
TO build n ten thousand dollar house
with five thousand dollars capital
There is no more fruitful cause 0
cause Of bad success in farming thar
want of means. Other things be
ing equal, the more man expendi
TO carry on the work Of his farm iu
dciously, the more he will make anC
the greater will be his profits. In
England the enormous taxes imper
iously compel the farmer to thi:
course, and tho only way he can dc
IS TO eXpend freely wherever neees-
sity demandsit. Josiah Quincy once
said, cat the great Exhibition in
Paris met an English farmer who
told me he had Just leased an estate
for which he paid eight thousand
dollars year. | asked him what
was the first thing that he did. Will
smile he replied. The first thing
that | did was TO invest ten thousanC
pounds sterling (6fty thousand dol
lars) in stock, utensils and ma
nures.
Now the object Of capital is no
merely to spend large sum Of mon
oy it is for the purpose Of saving
We once heard u farmer Of limited
means say, 81 am not rich enough t
be econimicalw The weeds wer,
overgrowing his crops, and he hat
not the means at hand TO destroy
them, while il could yet be done
with little labor. Another lost owe
hundred dollars in the diminished
product Of oats from late sowing
when few additional dollars PAL,
for hired help, would have put tn
crop in early. Still another lost hal
his turnip crop, with heavy cost be
sides, because he could not kill tn
weeds as they came up, but allowed
TO grow a foot, costing ten times th,
labor TO eradicate them.
But what shall we do if we posi-
lively have not the means 10 do work
well and in good tme?" This is ex
actly the question we wish TO ans
wer. Examine carefully, beforehand
and see how much work you have
TO do, and if you certainly have no.
the means to do 1t, reduce your land
This may be done in different ways
One is to sell part-which few car
be persuaded to do. Another is e
rent part or let it out on shares
Another is to get as much OF tn,
farm as practicable into grazing fields
and meadows. In whatever way
the difficulty is met, determine no
to cultivate more land than YOU car
DO well.
But another step must be taken
Select such course as will accom-
plish as much as practicable with /
given amount Of means. Do not At
tempt to do with your fingers what
horses may do more rapidly. /
your land is weedy, (and there ar,
favr faIds which are aOtN oIaor an