Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-11-01
When Should Farmer Sell His Pro
duCe.

| One Of the most successful farmers and
merchants that ever lived in this vicinity
long since dead-is credited with hay
ing said that farmer should sell his pro
duce as soon as 1t IS ready for market. The
principal reason he gave was, that when
the farmer held the produce over from
one season to another, Or even for a
shorter period, that he then became spec.
ulator in addition to his being producer,
and that the two are inconsistent. The
farmer raises his produce for the market,
and when it is ready for it then is the
time to sell. The money he realizes for a
crop can always be used to an advantage
in some other way than that of holding
grain. 1t requires the very finest mind to
become successful Spectator.
A writer compares the educated mer-
chant to Isaac Newton. He says the same
understanding Newton had to calculate
the motions of the stars, the merchant
exerts in tracing the actions of the COM
mercial people that fertilize the earth.
His problems are the most difficult to-
solve, as the circumstances are not derived
from the invariable laws of nature, while
the systems of the geometricians are.
The problems of the merchant
depend upon the caprices of men,
tainty of thousand events. He
takes in at one view the whole world, and
directs his operations by an infinite variety
of considerations, which it is seldom the
province of the statesman or philosopher
to estimate Nothing must escape the
trader. He must foresee the influence OF
the season upon the plenty, the scarcity and
quality of commodities. He must know
the effect of political affairs upon those
of commerce, the changes which war or
peace must necessarily occasion in the
prices and direction of merchandise. in
the quantity and choice of provisions,
in the state Of the markets in the cities
and parts of the world. He must look to
the stagnation or impetus that may be
produced by the blocking up or opening
of some channels of industry or wealth.
He must learn the reciprocal connection
there is between most branches of trade,
and the mutual assistance they lend, by
the temporary injuries they seem to in
fict on each other He must know the
proper time to begin, and the time to
stop, in all undertakings. In word, he
must possess the art of making all other
nations tributary to his own, and to
make his own fortune with that of his
own country, or, rather, to enrich him.
self by extending the general prosperity
of mankind.
These are the objects which constitute
the profession of the true merchant. If,
then, these are the characteristics of the
merchant, cannot every one see how much
the farmer undertakes when he becomes
both a farmer and merchant-when he
speculates on what he produces We
know farmer of Fayette County who re-
fused ten dollars hundred for his hemp
crop, because he said it was not enough
and he would get more; but he was mis-
taken, and afterward sold the same crop
for five dollars per hundred. He lost
fiffv per cent. of the price offered and one
years interest on the capital. In nine
cases out of ten farmer who holds his
produce over will meet with a similar re-
suit. We are thoroughly convinced that
the time to sell produce is when 1t is ready
for market. -Fd7mers' Home journal.