The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-02-18
yield obtained upon millions of acres in

yield obtained upon millions of acres in
Europe, which have been under cultiya-
ton for centuries, is now more than
double that obtained from our new lands.
1t is not climate or adaptation of crops
to soil which make the difference, but
fertilization and superior cultivation of
the soii and crops. -rf
Probably one of the first questions our
farmers will ask in answer to the above
is: '' Where is the money coming from
TO make these improvements" True,
there may be some Inconvenience at the
start in securing the requisite funds TO
make the changes necessary to double
the average yield of the various kinds of
grain and other farm crops; sill, they
are not so difficult to obtain as a major
ity of our farmers may think. For
instance, we will suppose that a farmer
in a good wheat growing region of coun-
try is now obtaining only fifteen TO
twenty bushels per acre, and that he
gets on an average one dollar and
twenty-five cents per bushel. Now, if
he can, by an extra outlay of twenty
dollars per acre the first year, and five
annually thereafter, increase the product
| ten bushels, he will get twelve dollars
| and fifty cents of the twenty back
the first crop, and seven dollars and fifty
cents over and above the five extra
! invested each year thereafter On fifty
or 100 acres an extra ten bushels per
| acre would amount to a considerable
sum, and wipe out in two years the in
debtedness necessary to put the land in
| condition to produce this increased
yield. This is no visionary problem, but
one that has been solved thousands OF
| times by actual experience.
If man cannot command the capital
| to prepare more than single acre at
first the profit from this will pay for pre-
pairing another acre the following year
or very nearly, and thus from small be-
ginning man may, in very few years,
increase the products Of his farm from
| one-half to double the usual amount
just what kind of preparation the land
| may require to increase the yield of
wheat or other crops must be, in great
measure, determined by the farmer him.
self. In a majority of cases subsoiling,
with liberal additions of manure, will be
all that is actually required; but where
the soil is heavy, strong clay, and
wheat fails on account of winter-killing or
drOughts in summer, then undertaking
| must be done first, the subsoiling and
| manuring following. Of course the
same thing holds good with all kinds of
| farm crops, but We mention wheat par.
| ticularly, because of its wide range of
| culture; besides, there are farmers in
| Minnesota and other portions of the
| West who think expensive modes of cul-
ture could not be practiced where this
grain seldom commands more than one
| dollar per bushel But the less DE price
the more need of a large yield to make
| its culture profitable, and man could
scarcely invest his money more judicious-
| ly than in expanding the entire returns
| from one crop, if by this means he can
| increase the annual yield so per cent. for
| the next five or ten years. The more
common practice, however, is to pur-
chase new farm when The old one be-
gins to fail, and run in debt for it instead
| of trying to restore lost fertility
Whenever the annual yield of any
| crop steadily decreases it is a sure sign
that there is something radically wrong
in management, and the sooner the own
er OF the land makes a change the better.
| Whenever we hear farmer complain of
no profits, we are pretty certain that he
has not learned how to spend money
| judiciously. The profit to be derived
from farming comes from the returns
above the cost of production, and no
| idttci "hStHci ~ 10 oDtdlucu ltOlu lHe
| soil direct or otherwise; the man who
| knows best how to invest his money is
surest to be the most successful. If u
hundred pounds of hay would yield just
so much butter or beef, no more or less,
without regard to the breed consuming
it, then we should hear little of Alder
neys or Shorthorns. A bushel of corn
will make more pork if fed to one breed
| of hogs than to another, and the difference
may be just enough to change the balance
on the farmers ledger from loss to profit
Or rice Uersa.-N. y San.