Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-05-22
Mixed Husbandry.

n
Farmers Club, held at Utica, the question
for discussion was, In a mixed husband
~, is it generally preferable to make one
crop special?"
The Utica Herald reports the following
remarks by T. D. Curtis
While, as general rule, | think sys-
TEN of mixed farming and proper rotation
Of crops the safest for the farmer and best
for the farm, as it affords the best use and
economy Of time and labor, aids in keep
ing up the fertility of the soil, and saves
the farmer from the evil influences of ex-
cessive tiuctuation in prices, it seems to
me patent that few farms, if any, are
equally adapted to all branches of agricul-
ture. 1t is almost certain that portions of
them are better suited to some branches
than to others. While this difference in
different parts of the farm fits it for varied
purposes, and makes mixed farming ne
cessity in thorough system, much the
largest portion of it is likely to be best
adapted TO some one line of business #
so, then common sense dictates that this
lire should be made q specially.
On grain farm there should be less
need of making single crop specially
than on dairy farm, While more corn,
wheat, or oats might be raised one year,
crop should have the preference the next
year. But on a farm manitestly better for
grass than anything else, the choice
would necessarily be between dairying
and stock raising, or a combination OF the
two. And in combination it would be
difficult not to give one or the other the
preference and something of the character
| Of a speciality.
If stock raising were TO be selected as a
specially, there would be a choice between
fancy stock, beef, horses, and sheep. My
idea would be to make a specially of one
Of these, and TO raise few Of the other
kinds of stock, for the purpose Of using
up the different kinds Of feed most eco
nomcally, as well as to avoid the danger
Of being engaged wholly in a line that
might be overdone. If | decided that
dairying was the specially to which my
farm was best adapted, | should still aim
to raise q few sheep, now and then a col ,
! and have some beef and mutton, as well as
veal and pork to turn out
! | should also choose between cheese
| making and butter making, and breed &C
| cOrdingly; certainly would not indiscrimi-
| nately mix the milk of butter COWS and Of
| cheese COWS, and work it up into either
| butter or cheese, as the fancy struck me.
! would make speciality Of butter COWS
| for butter making, and Of cheese cows for
! cheese making. But if by freak, accident
or choice, ! should happen to possess a
mixed herd, | would keep their milk
separate, and make butter from the milk
| Of the butter COWS instead of working it
| into cheese, which would bring no more
| in the market than cheese made from the
| milk of ordinary COWS. | would make
| cheese of milk of the cheese cows instead
of taking off the comparatively small
amount of cream and making skim cheese
or feeding the milk to the hogs. In this
way | should try to devote every animal
to the uses for which it was best adapted,
and every part Of the farm to such crops
as it was best suited to raise.
While making a speciality of some one
| branch to which | conceived my farm
| best suited, | would, as far as its character
and surrounding conditions would permit,
| endeavor to raise everything for my own
| consumption, with perhaps now and then
a surplus to sell. In selecting a speciality,
| | should be governed entirely by circum-
stances If I wanted to pursue any par
| ticular line of farming, | should try to get
| hold Of farm suited to that purpose. If
want of means or something else prevent
| ed, or | should come into possession of a
| farm by inheritance or some tOrtultOus
! circumstance, | should adapt my line of
| farming to the character of my farm. My
aim would be to put everything to its best
uses If my ideas are correct, then no
general rules can be laid down to guide
any one on the question Of selecting or not
| selecting a specially Everything must
depend on conditions and the judgment
of the farmer.