Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1876-02-04
farmers department.
Failure in Farming.
Messrs. Editors american Fa,ner /:

ANON Cuhs tIc VI Va iHi hlih~' &c
heard from all departments of trade, and
from every part of the civilized world, ii
would be surprising if the farming inter
est should keep quiet and though they
cannot take up the old song Of short
crops, they make quite as much noise Oh
the subject of low prices SO closely are
all the interests of this country connect
ed, one cannot well be in languid state
and the other fourishing, but | think
that little examination will show that
farming has not suffered as much in pro-
portion as other branches of industry,
and though the prices for farm products
are not high Gin fact, in comparison with
war times, low still they are higher
than many years before the war. | see
by the days quotations in Baltimore,
prime red wheat, 81 10 to 81 so corn,
new, 80 to G5 cents. and old 70 cents ;
oats, As to 80 cents, currency; | find in
list of prices of grain extending from
1852 to 1875. that the price of prime
wheat got down several times to 81 20
gold, and cora and oats to so cents. and
40 cents in December, which is about
equal to the present currency price for
corn and oats, and from 10 to ID cents
less for wheat than now. An examine
tion of prices for grain for the last TWEEN
ty-fve years shows far less variation IN
corn than any other grain.
When | commenced this letter it was
not 80 much the comparative price OF
grain, as to point out some Of the causes
that make farming reproductive, and
try to induce any who may be dissatis
fed to take new start this year and see
if the end of the centennial year will
noss6nd him better in spirits and finan-
cially healthier. | know that the farm
ers are always looking with something
Nike envy at the commercial classes
but my experience is (and | have tried
both) that if most any of our farmers
should 90 into trade. and not use more
economy, forcthought and diligence in
business than they do in farming, they
would be ruined-almost before they be-
gan. To begin how few of our farm
ers keep anything like strict ledger
account, so as to know what they arc
doing, and if they are really losing or
making money by farming The simple
fact that at the end of the year they are
no better of than at the beginning, may
not show that farming as "a business is
anproductiye, but they have not used
the proper appliances to make it so. Too
much is expected by great many
farmers A farm that would not bring
over $4,000 or So 900 is expected to
support a family, pay taxes and wages,
increase in value, and have something
to its credit at the end of the year
The interest of that sum would only pay
the rent of moderate house, or buy
only fair one with the lot it stands
upon. My experience has been that the
greater part of the failures in farming
comes from neglecting the smaller mat
tiers or in carrying out the details,
What would be thought of merchant
who would allow another in the same
business to introduce novelty that was
attractive and remunerative, aud did not
Immediately procure the same. Yet we
see the same thing among farmers
every day One has breed of hogs,
judiciously selected, that can be made
to weigh Spring plgs) 200 to $50 pounds
at ten months old, but nine-tenths of
his neighbors are content if they winter
their fall pigs. and make them that
weight at eighteen months. One raises
pork at cents per pound, and the other
anywheres from 10 to Is cents, If much
corn is fed to winter. Another, by good
crosses has got his cows to give rich
milk and has abundance of good butter
to sell all the time. but most of the
neighborhood stick to the old-fashioned
half-fed fence jumpers, who go dry in
October and keep so until they calve in
May, and give Xix when butter is COM
paratively cheap. Again, in the COM
paratiyely unimpoetant article ofpoultry,
the careful selection of kinds and feed
make all the difference.
remember calling on friend last
winter and seeing him feeding his hens
quite freely with corn | asked him if it
paid. He told me that he kept an exact
account of his hens, and that they were
paying him considerably over dollar
bnshel for his corn, besides the manure.
His hens were averaging him over 20
eggs to the hen in February, and mine
not 5,-and the difference was in the
breed and feed
Another great leak in farming is the
want Of plenty of fruit and a good vege-
table garden Most farmers are content
SO they have plenty Of bread and meat
the two most costly articles of food that
can be used With "A very little extra
labor and manure, well-kept vegetable
garden Of one acre can be made to pro-
duce more food than five acres in grain.
as by judicious planting and forethought
every inch of the land may be made to
produce two crops of vegetables, and
keep up supply all the year round
These are some of the little losses too
common with farmers and especially in
Maryland.
That our farmers are farming too
large farms, spreading the manure that
shonld only 30 on 10 acres on 20, keep
ing up miles of fences to keep out other
peoples cattle, letting their cattle range
after their food, instead of soiling them
and saving time in looking them up,
and also their manure.-these things the
american Farmer has been urging fol
90 years; but still our farmers memo
their old fences. aud pasture what it'll,
life there is in the land out oft. We hav,