The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1873-05-01
What Shall We Cultivate 7

THIS is question that is puzzling many
farmer this spring. Perhaps the crops.
grown last year did not command remu-
lucrative price, and there is much specula-
ton as to what changes are necessary to
produce better result in the cash receipts
of the farm the present season. 1t is Ger
tainly safe plan to look ahead and make
calculations as to what kind of crops one
can cultivate with profit, but it is not best
to change too often; for an article that
sells at a low price one year is very likely
to advance the next, simply because thou
sands will cease cultivating it when it is
cheap and commence again when 1t is
dear. A man who is wise enough to take
advantage of the vacillating habits of his
fellow man, is the one always in market
with large crop when there is a scarcity
and prices are correspondingly high.
There are three distinct classes of agri-
culturists found in every community.
First, those who pursue steady, systemat-
ic course, always raising the staple crops
best suited to their soil and climate, never
varying the quantity or quality, no matter
how great the fluctuations in price. They
win when high prices rule, and perhaps
lose little when they are low. But In the
long run we thing this class is the most
prosperous. We have known farmers to
cultivate certain number of acres each
year with particular kind of crop, and
not to vary the quantity more than an acre
or two in twenty years, and this proved to
be profitable system.
Secondly, those who watch the markets
throughout the country and make changes
as often as it appears to he advisable
When certain products are very low in
hn~Sv, In, cultivate nvrN0cfSnr
enough will cease to raise them to send
up the price. An ovcrstock of beans,
onions, cabbages, or other vegetables, or
of grain, is a hint that there will be a
scarcity the following year. A man who
does not visit the markets or read an agri-
cultural paper need not attempt to become
one of this small class of prosperous
farmers.
as our third, which includes the many
to do, but continually change from one
sheep will he more profitable than cows,
and change is made and a good flock
secured by the time wool and mutton are
down to zero in the market. Then next
year they 20 back to the cows and butter
or cheese making just in time to find wool
up and dairy products low. They are the
unlucky part of the human race, and are
always swindled by middlemen, as they
call those who purchase their products.
We hope there are none of this class
among the readers Of the Weekly sam; but
if there are, we ask them to look back a
few years and see how. many mistakes
have been made by shifting about from
one thing to another. Notice the fuctua-
tons in the price of all the products Of the
farm. Wool has been up and down in
price, and SO have beef pork, and all
kinds of grain, within the past ten years;
but if the ruling price of any one Of these
articles is taken for the whole time, the
average, we think, will be quite satisfac-
tory 70 the producer. There is no good
reason known why this will not be the
case for the next ten years, and we think
any man who will make out plan for
that length of time and stick to it will be
far more likely to prosper than if he
waits, sMicawber.like for something to
turn up whereby he can make fortune.
Making haste to be rich ,spoils many .
good, fortune even anong our farmers.
Whatever mar undertakes to do let
him put his whole heart into the work.
None of these Jwishy -washy, don'tcare
kind ofsYstems will answer. If q man
has good wheat farm he should endeavor
to obtain the bet variety and then prac-
tice the best and most approved systems
of culture, and at the same time make an
effort to increase the yield per acre every
year instead Of allowing it to decrease, as
Is dong ON ninety nine farms out Of every
hund1bd., 49,. III
It dosts very little more to raise thirty
bushds Of wheat per acre than il does fl
teen q twenty, bat the profits ere usually
on tn side OF the heaviest crops. A man
can aso raise 4 variety Of crops much
cheaper than one, especially II he has todeL
pend pon hired, labor, becsuse the diff
ferens Kinds Of grain require culture and
harvesting o., different seasons, and by
mskilg proper calculations % to quantity,
I no considerable amount Of aktta labor will
be reCniled IS harvest time In deciding
what 1e shall plant, it Is well to take the
labor question into confederation, for it is
certaily very annoying, to say the least,
to fin6i yourselves with bountifhl harvest
and nd harvesters, and no one should think
of plating or sowing more grain than he
Is certain Of being able to gather ut the
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