Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-03-20


make up plans for the summer campaign.
Take look at the stock in the barn, and
see if there are not some animals which
could be disposed of with profit Are the
cows first rate in every particular, and do
they pay good profit upon their cost and
keep, or do they scarcely pay for the food
they eat, leaving nothing over9 We
think that full one-half of all the cows
kept by farmers do no more than pay for
the food consumed during the year; con-
sequently the owners are actually losing
money, because the animals depreciate in
value as they grow old. Now, the way
to save money in keeping stock is to have
10 animal that is not either increasing in
value in proportion to the amount OF food
consumed and the labor expended in tax
ing care Of it, or returning an equivalent
in labor performed, as with work horses,
or in milk as with COWS.
The only true way of ascertaining this
fact is by keeping an account Of expendi-
lures and receipts, which we fear is SCI
dom practiced with those who fail to
save money in farming. Merchants and
other tradesmen usually take an account
of stock at least once year, and" know
to q cent how they stand III the world
financially, and their future operations are
planned in accordance with past expert
elte, aIu lucIC Is utttl VI Cutting Oh
any particular branch Of trade, or econ
omizing in any way. it is done: lint the
farmer alone seems to be the victim OF
luck, seldom knowing whether he is pros
porous Or otherwise until it is too late.
It is also well to draw up plan Of farm
operations for the coming season, and it
is far better to have them little too re
! stricted than too comprehensive, because
| bad weather sometimes intervenas and
puts one behindhand, especially in the
spring. Better put in one acre Of p0ta
! toes and do it so we'll that the weld will
be four hundred bushels per acre, than to
60 over four or five acres for the same
! quantity. Practice the same system with
all farm crops, and you will be surprised
to see how easy it is to save labor as well
as money by farming. We are quite GER
tain that If our farmers would give this
| condensing system Of farming a thorough
| trial, we should hear less of disastrous
| seasons and the appropriateness Of farm
ing. They would not stop at good crops,
| but their horses, cows, sheep and hogs
would soon have to be of the hest breeds.
No cows would be kept from the milk of
| which two to three hundred pounds of
butter or its equivalent in cheese could
not be made in a season. It costs no
more 30 feed or care for one OF our best
is true with all other kinds Of stock, and
as a rule the most worthless are the most
| expensive to keep.
| A farmer would think he was badly
| swlnaled if he had to pay twenty-five dol
lars more than his proportion Of taxes:
still there are thousands Of animals kept
by these same farmers, each Of which
costs fully twenty-five dollars per annum
more than it yields the owner Or advances
in value. This is but one Of the many
leaks in farming which would not be
tolerated in any other kind Of business.
If field is SO poor that it will not pay
a good, profit On the cost of cultivating.
let it alone or put it in proper condition
for producing a good crop. A man ought
to know better than to waste his time in
working soil that yields no return for the
labor expended upon it. But there are
scores of men doing this every year, and
they wonder why farming is such an un-
profitable business.
The very idea of a man going over an
acre of land a half dozen times with va
rious implements just for the sake of OBJ
tanning ten bushels of corn Or any other
grain, is sad enough. Still there are
thousands who do this and think at the
same time that they are the victims Of
bad luck. Now let every one try the
| SoAiHS stdSOu W. eCOuOLnlLe Dv raising
a large amount on small space, and dis
pose Of all stock that does not pay a
profit, and see it money cannot be saved
by this system.-Neao York Sun.
In the year 1872 the number of tons
OF plgiron turned out of our furnaces
was 2, 3S8, $50, an increase of one-fourth
upon the product of the preceding year
In 1872 100 new furnaces were completed;
and for 1878 80 are already determined
upon. The new furnaces, at an average
OF ID tons day for 200 days, would alone
produce S27, 900 tons. But while produc-
ton is increasing thus rapidly, the de-
mand is constant and steady, and far
outruns the supply. Last year 80 new
rolling mills were built or begun, and
from these there was an Unsuitable de-
mand for new iron. To the the iron man
ufactured in this country, say 2,400, coo
tons, must be added the iron imported,
which amounts to 1856, 900 tons. The
railways of the United States alone re-
qulre 500, 600 tons of iron annually, and
the ordinary demands for iron for build
ing purposes, for machinery and pipes,
and for domestic common use, absorb all
the rest OF that metal which can be made
or imported.