Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-07-14
Ignorance In Farming.

One of the greatest drawbacks to sue
ccssful farming is the presence of the un-
known quantity-ignOrance of the exact
condition of things, in value, weight and
measure, concerning our products. We
often produce at loss. An account with
each crop would decide the matter. If,
after a few trials, it costs more to produce
than u crop will sell for, its cultivation
should be abandoned Many continue to
produce from year to year at a loss, sim
ply from the want of little calculation
The unknown quantity in weight and
measure subjects us TO great loss in buy
ing and selling. A stack of hay came TO
my notice recently. The seller estimated
that it would weigh a ton and half. The
buyer preferred to buy by weight. 1t
weighed l $50 pounds-quite a difference
in favor of the buyer. There is no doubt
that great deal of hay changes hands
every year on "A basis no nearer the truth
than this. Loss enough is soon made in
this way to put in and maintain hay
scale, even in small neighborhood. The
same thing is true in regard to live stock
Dealers can judge much more accurately
than farmers, and are much less liable to
be cheated. Farmers are much more liza
BILE to fail in buying than in selling. If
we pay too much in buying, it makes an
uphill business all the way through,
This is one great cause why many fail to
make anything in feeding and handling
stock. From considerable experience in
weighing stock for others, | have found
that the greater part fall short in weight
from the estimate of the owners; some
come very far short. Not more than five
per cent. exceeds the estimates. Horses
estimated at l, 100 pounds generally weigh
about 900. Loads of hay called Il ton
quite often weigh only 1900 or 1900
pounds. Those who estimate the number
of tons by the number of loads are often
very much deceived, and in selling think
they have been cheated, because the scales
failed to show as much as they expected.
Weighing will remedy this. The pound
avoirdupOis is known quantity; after as
certaining the exact number, we are in a
condition to go forward without making
mistakes in our calculations.
Another unknown quantity is in failure
to know the number of acres under cult
vation. A farm which had been taken up
when the country was new, and occupied
by five successive generations of the same
family, had twenty-acre lot. On the
death of the first member of the family
the farm was sold. The twenty acre ljt
COhNdihNN but lOultNNll dCItS Nv dDEldl
measurement. Here were five generations
of heroic workers deceived in the amount
of work actually done, all the while sup
posing that they were culivating six
acres more than there really was. If the
yield came up to what the increased acre
age should produce, it did not matter so
much. But the probability is that they
were as far from the truth in the yield as
in the acreage. / once bought tract of
salt marsh said to contain six acres. The
surveyor made less than four acres, much
to the disgust of the seller, and to the det-
riment of the reputation of persons who
had gained local notoriety for big days
work done thereon. Traditional "big
days work" often owe their existence
more TO some errors in calculation than 10
the amount Of work really done. There is
uncertainty enough attending the business
of farming, from unfavorable seasons,
and causes over which we have no con-
troll, without being subjected to loss in
those we can remedy, We suffer loss
from buying and paying for what we do
not get; by selling what we do not get
pay for and in many other ways in which
the unknown quantity affects us unfavor
ably. We should endeavor, where it is in
our power, to eliminate it from our bust
ness.-Cor. Country Gentleman.