Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-06-14
Capitalizing Expenditure.

We cannot reiterate too often that it
is the business of the farmer to make
his farm pay. In the discussion of
theoretical points, in the decision of
what this nelghbor or that neighbor
should do, we are all too apt to overlook
what we should do ourselves. If we
know anything about farming, our first
duty is to ourselves; and it is far prefer
able to show on our farm what is good
practice than to say what ought to be
done. If every reader would carefully
consider his own case this spring, be-
fore the cares of sppring- time worry,
we doubt not that he could lay out ma
ny lines for increased profit. We have
the general principles to apply to farm
ing which are applied to business
Among them the most important for
the monied farmer-as here there is liza
bility to err-is to adjust the expendi-
ture to the capacity of the business
Because 500 capitalized in an acre of
land will pay, it does not follow that
$500 or $500 thus invested will pay
three or five times as much. Because
a piece of land can be improved at an
expense of 500, and still pay interest
on the investment, it does not follow
that it will be business to improve this
acre, when an acre of better land ad-
joining the farm can be bought for less
1t is the business of farming to pay the
largest profit! In order that this may
be accomplished, the implements and
the capital must be sufficient to cult
vate the land in the mos4efficient man
ner and there must be enough land cul-
tivated to admit of the use of the tools
to profit. If l own five acre field, l
cannot afford to own moving machine
for the cutting Of the grass; because the
interest and depreciation on the ma
chine, divided among the five acres,
amounts to more than the cutting by
hand. If have farm of one hundred
acres, valued at $4,000, l cannot afford
to cultivate only five or ten acres of its
area, because the whole interest on the
investment-the taxation and the an
nual depreciation-must be charged to
the small area which returns the profit.
If | double the area cultivated, l halve
this burden to the acre. Indeed the
true business principle is to so adapt
the farm implements and investment to
the area farmed as to admit of tilling
the most land, and using the best tools.
If one acre of corn will pay a profit, it
is not business to let ten or fifteen acres
alongside lie idle and not yield profit.
If one acre is in such poor sod that an
other crop will produce more return
than the grass, it is not business to al
low this acre to remain in it's present
condition.
The great trouble with the most OF
our farms is, that their owners do not
carry them on uuder business princi-
pies, but hap-hazard like, according to
the vagary of the moment. In the pres
ence of the fact that manure in the
form of purchased materials is abundant,
and that small quantity can be applied
to a given erea and produce profit, it
seems curious that the farmer cannot
believe in the extension of those prac-
tees which have produced profit on a
small scale to larger operations. We
require a greater capital invested in
our farms in fertilizer, as we'll as in that
intelligence which acts In hard times,
the wakeful, watchful, doing farmer
gets the advantage Of him who walks
sleepily and in the rut of routine
Scientific Farmer.