Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-09-09
The Most Profitable Crops.

We are frequently asked for information
bout the most profitable crops for q
rmer TO cultivate. Sometimes these
az lestions come from localities with which
"a be are personally familiar, but in a ma
brity of instances they do not; hence it
ould be folly for us to attempt TO give
8 Twice We can readily understand why
farmer in Iowa or in State distant from
hr seaboard markets should feel inter
q (ted in knowing how some farmers near
& e latter can afford to pay one or two
lndred dollars per acre for farms and
III make the investment profitable. Such
ings are done, however, but they are not
Feryday transactions, and, although the
bponunities are abundant enough, the
zen capable of carrying enterprises of
at kind to successful termination are
pmewhat scarce.
III But man to be successful as farmer
hywhere must not only know which are
be most profitable crops to raise, but how
~ produce them. Wheat may be profit
BILE crop when thirty to forty bushels per
ere can be produced, and avery unprofit-
Pile one with yield of only fifteen to
twenty.
Profits, as rule, appear in our farm ac.
tounts after all expenses in the production
bf crop are paid, hence the aim should
always be to exceed cost as much as posi-
Die. 1t costs as much TO pillow, harrow
bnd otherwise cultivate and seed an acre
bf poor land as it does one that Is rich;
hence the importance OF keeping the soil
fich if you wish to obtain large or small
profits Every farmer should keep this
solnt in mind, and then he can readily
Etmate how much of his life is wasted in
forking land which barely pays the ex-
enses in the crops produced. OF course
e do not advise abandoning poor land
hd seeking rich in some other locality,
observation-disclosures are favorable, such as
greeable surroundings and good markets
Par al hand, because fertility can general
be secured much more readily than the
ther conditions named.
Admitting, as we think everyone must,
bat the farmer can obtain profits only in
roportion as the yield or return per acre
neeeds the cost of production, the next
ues'ion to be taken into consideration is
that the crop shall be to produce the de
ired results. But this leads US not only
b consider the kind of crop but the man
Der OF disposing of ii as part Of one
Viz S1htS GahSdttlbu. n liidu may bt
J. good manufacturer or producer of an
Nticle, but at the same time so poor
salesman that he is always playing losing
fame. 1t is right here that we find the Sc
$ret OF many great successes in farming,
Is well as Of lamentable failures. We
Ill suppose, for instance, that two men
Pegin the culture Of adjoining farms, Of
fqual size and fertility, both having equal
advantages in every respect. One will sell
his crops in bulk, disposing OF wheat,
pats, corn and hay at the highest market
prices for ten years in succession. The
Pther, instead Of disposing Of his products
n this manner, keeps sheep, cows and
poultry which consume the bulk OF all
hat is raised on the farm, and instead OF
bis grain and hay going TO market in bulk
IL taken off in the form Of butter, eggs,
poultry, beef and pork. II must be quite
Evident TO everyone that the latter will not
have exhausted the fertility of his land as
nuch as the former and the cost Of haul
ing the crops to market has been compar-
etiyely trihing. In other words, one man