Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-04-11
Farm and Household.
some wastes in our Farming.

It is an admitted fact by many who own
land in these days that it is hard work to get
fair returns from it. hear many farmers
say that if we can mako n living from our
farms we shall be satisfied. Many complain
that they cannot do that All who are famil-
lar with the subject know that at no time
within the past twenty years has farm prod
uce sold so low as in the past two years.
Then too, taxes are high; many of us are
puying interest on debts contracted in flush
times, and the question now is how we are to
farm in order TO pay our debts, educate our
families and have the ordinary comforts of
life. In view of these facts, il is well for us
to look around our farms and see if we are
making the most of our opportunities. |
have found out in my own experience that in
no business are there so many wastes as in
farming. No business can thrive unless de-
tails are attended to. The question of profit
in large manufacturing establishment often
depends on n proper management OF the
wastes of that establishment and were our
manufacturers to do business in the way many
of our farmers do, it would only be a short
time before the profits would be lost. The
fact is, that were not nature indulgent to
those who seek her favors, many farmers
would be without a calling in life.
One of the greatest wastes on our farms is
waste of labor. We undertake to accom-
plish too much to cultivate too much land ;
we spread our efforts over too much surface
What would be thought of man who at
tcmpts to paint his house with pint of paint?
This only illustrates our efforts. Having land
in abundance, we think we must cultivate it
ALL either in raising crops that do not pay or
which we cannot take care of well. The re-
suit in many cases is that we are behind in
our work and cannot catch up.
Many farmers waste their efforts on two
hundred acres of land, while if the same were
done on fifty acres the result would be profit.
In this particular waste | am certain there is
an astonishing loss in New England. There
is another waste on many of our farms, and
that is poor stock. There are many cows
kept that do not pay for the hay they eat. 1t
may be they are naturally poor; or have
grown old in the service. While in dairy of
say 20 cows there are some that pay well
still we find that there are usually some car
ried at Il loss, and the profit from the good
COWS is lost in that way. THE lean kline eat
up the fat kline"
In this connection great loss is OCCASION
ed to many by want of proper care. Cows
kept on bog hay and wintered on the south
side of stack watered at some slough hole,
or even stabbed, if allowed to lie on their ma
nure without ventilation, cannot be expected
to make good butter. or much of it. 1t is Of
ten cheaper to buy lumber and nails and hire
II carpenter, than to buy grain. Poor stock,
with poor hay, makes poor manure, and he
who keeps them will grow poor.
Another great waste is poor tools and n lack
of good ones. 1t might do in the days of our
ancestors to pillow with the old wooden pillow
that scratched the surface of the soil, and
harrow with the old A harrow that turned the
turf back again. Then the principal tool was
II hoe, and it was necessary to chop hole
in which to put seed; chop the grass from
around the hill, and turn over the ground by
the hardest kind of llbor in order to make a
crop grow. That kind of labor has all gone
by, and the farmer who persists in cultivat-
ing the soil in thnt way, will find his sons all
go west Good tools mean less labor and
better cultivation with better crops 1t is
cheaper to do it well, and the crop is certain
ly more than half better No farmer who has
them would be willing to 90 without now
ing machine and horse-rake, MS they will get
the grass faster and better. Then why 60
without good plows, smoothing harrows, &c,
all of which accomplish ms much in their place
rs they do:
Another grent waste in New England is
waste in fencing. We have too many small
fields which it is impossible to cultivate as
they ought to be. Horse machinery cannot
be used to advantage in them. There are too
many fence corners in which brush and weeds
are hlOWeu 10 grow, rs lney cannot De got AZ
to advantage unless the fences are moved.
Many of our best acres are taken up with
fences, and it is with great labor they are
kept up. 1t is much cheaper to remove the
inside fences than to keep the farm divided
into small fields. We can use machinery in
large fields to better advantage I am in fa-
vor of law which will allow our roadside
fences to be removed and which would make
the owner of the stock responsible for all
damage done. 1t would be great advantage
to all our farmers Cor. COUntry Gentleman.