The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1878-03-07
SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.

! The Confessions of a Gentleman Farmer.
[From the Springfield Republican,
The steady-going granger, who, with
old-ti1ae methods and q conservative
avoidance of all bookkeeping expert
ments, gets a comfortable living from
the soil and even adds little to his bank
account each year, will read in the Janu-
| ary Agricultatrist with unteigned delight
the story of the farming exploits of "one
of them city 'fellers g." with high notions
of scientific agriculture. The .'city
feller" in question is Col. Waring, so
widely and pleasantly known through
his magazine writings on agriculture and
the various economies of rural life, and
the particular tale referred to is a sum-
mary cf his ten years experience in run
ming the famous Ogden farm Col. Wa
ing's narrative is certainly very ingehu
GUS, and combines much that may profit
and instruct both the would-be gentle
man farmer and him whose birthright is
the farl1
Some of the Co1onel's easy nonoha-
lance in telling the ntpry of his agri-
cultural losses is due, we suspect, to the
fact that another man furnished the
money With which to carry out his no.
tions. This generous provider of the
sinews of ideal farming dealt ont his
cash with unstinted hand and nothing that
could possibly be thought of to better
or increase results was lacking for need
of funds. Now, OF the end of ten years,
the balance-sheet foots MP on the debtor
side $l25, 057, to a credit OF &lS, 025
less, which represents the net loss. To
begin with, the farm of seventy-three
acres was quite run down when the
Colonel took it. Among the items of ex-
pense are farm and buildings, $50, POP;
labor, $16,S02; implements, $1,000;
feed, $4,000; live stock, 500, ,551; upon
the other side of the account are live
stock disposed of, $a2, 531; live stock on
hand, $13, ,399; produce sold, 500, ,331; !;
and good will, $4,000. It will be seen
by this showing that live stock was Col.
Warnings strong point, and the raising of
b1oodsd COWS and the making of supe-
rior butter stand out as the conspicuous
successes in this extensive farming
venture. Indeed, the breeding of Jer-
seys is the ColoneIs particular hobby,
end it is on the sale of these ar1stocratic
animals and Of their butter at fancy
prices that his hope of ever redeeming
his losses in the future rests.
The moral of Col. Warnings farm ro-
nance is that running farm on purely
business principles, with all the seduc-
tive but expensive appliances that may
be had in the way of conveniences, Is
pretty apt to end in loss. He eonceives,
however, that farming on still grander
scale than his attempt, and extensive
enough for the commercial element to
support the industrial, might be made
to pay but, as a rule, farming, to be
profitable, must be done in the limited
way that will allow the farmer and his
family to do most of the work. And
the Colonel adds still another word in
behalf of his pet Jerseys. Any dairy
farmer, he says, who will take the pains
to cross his stock with this improved
breed will certainly augment the profits
of his butter. making; while if he breeds
a good quality of pure-blooded stock
there is money in that, and the field for
breeders of frst-rate reputation is stead
lily extending. Comprising all the
dearly bought wisdom of his agricult-
ural experience into sentence, this most
interesting representative of the class of
gentlemen farmers, in conclusion, says;
"To do what is done in the beat way
that can be afforded, and to send to
market the very best class of goods that
can be produced, seems to me the means
by which good ana prudent farming is
to be me de profitable"