New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-03-12

But ca New Year morning the people sing
With The King is dead-lony live the Kinp."
'' ''' '' E''' ~ anu "s1 sRRan.as
The Cost Of Pork.
It is just at this time serious ques.
ton with farmers, What will pay to
produce? Until recently, hogs have
been paying better than anything else
on the farm. But the depression in the
price of pork has brought despair and
disaster to nearly all our farmers. 1t
is universally conceded that the farmer
who raises corn, hauls it to the railroad
and sells it for twenty cents, will never
raise the mortgage on his farm. But
are hogs any better at present prices?
With superior care. and by the aid of
good pasture, it is safely estimated that
bushel of corn will produce ten
pounds of pork, or that it will require
thirty bushels to produce a th:ee-hun
dred-pound hog, with the aid of good
pasture during the summer This ho-
will now sell on the farm for SIS, y
Sc. 60 at the railroad depot or slaughter
house. This would be just twenty cen,
per bushel for the corn, but nothin,
for the pasture, year care and feeding.
nor any contingencies for the loss OF
part of each herd of hogs.
But the foregoing is the fairest face
of the matter. With ordinary care and
without the aid of good pasture, each
bushel of corn fed to hogs will oftener
produce only five pounds of pork than
it will more. This will make only re-
turn of ten cents bushel for corn,
without anything for the care and
trouble of raising and marketing, or
the losses of part of the stock. Con.
sequently, at the present prices, it does
not pay to raise hogs. But to what d.
rection shall the farmer look for any.
thing which is remunerativc? With
all the heavy losses by cholera, quinsy
and other accidents in cold winters,
etc., pork cannot be produced at the
present prices and pay the producer
fifty cents per day for raising the corn.
the care and feeding of hogs. There
has been an over-production. The de-
preston is not on account of the de-
mand, for that is largely increasing
every year, both at home and abroad.
And it will not do for farmers to hire
hands to raise corn to sell or to feed.
Far better to SOW his farm to grass,
and thus keep it from running to weeds
than to cultivate it for less than moth.
ing. Where the end will be no one
knows. Every year we are informed
that prices have receded to bedrock,
but still we are constantly on the de-
scending grade.
More money or brighter financial
skies will not bring relief, so long as
we produce more thar can be consumed
at living prices to the producer. And
yet political and even pretended agri-
cultural editors insist on the farmers
raising larger. crops, give employment
to the idle labor of the country, and
thus relieve the embarrassments of the
country. Many editors think that cheap
produce and high wages to laborers
are the only things necessary for the
relief Of the country. But no relief
will come to any branch of industry
until the farmer is better paid for his
products and relieved from his intolera-
BILE taxes. They now have no spare mon
ey to spend in luxuries, and scarcely
enough to procure the urgent necessi-
ties of their families. And as a conse-
quence the mercantile and mechanical
departments are suffering for want of
their patronage. And these reach all
the professions except the legal. The
greater the depression the larger the
business in courts, and the closer man
Is cornered, the better the chances for
exacting fees.
The best and wisest farmers in the
country must meet in every school.
house and seriously consult about the
present embarrassments, and advise
with each other as to the future-the
best course to pursue the most profit
able crop to meet current wants. They
should sympathize with each other, and,
instead Of haunting them about their
embarrassment, give them at least q
kind word. Families can live on Sim
pie fare, and keep themselves warm on
plain clothing, and yet be happy, if all
their neighbors manifest a true spirit OF
charity and kindness toward them. But
farmers will have to look for other
sources for happiness, beside the luxu-
rtes procured BY the proceeds Of their
labor. And it Is q blessed thing that
there are yet sources Of happiness and
contentment beside money or the things
which riches command Stat
Register.
The Cincinnati Gazette in q recen
issue gave an elaborate estimate of thu