The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-07-03
Better Farming Needed.

The competition among farmers is
much closer and sharper than formerly.
The time has gone by in most sections
of the country when poor farming could
insure even the moderate success of
making living. During the last four
or five years thousands of farmers have
steadily lost money. and unless they
reverse the process, it is only ques-
ton of time when they must 60 under.
The losses of farmers have generally
been attributed to the times, and, with
with the return of prosperity and gen.
eral revival of business, it has been sup
posed that farmers profits would re-
turn and everybody could make money
again. Undoubtedly the stress of the
times has affected farmers as well as
everybody else; but the time will never
come when any but the best farming
will be successful. The nominal sue
cess which has always heretofore at
tended even the poorest farming has
been due to the moderate ambition of
most farmers and the little with which
they have been contented. So long as
men are satisfied with Lard work and
getting little or nothing for their in
vested capital, and as an outcome
making bare living, it ought not to be
difficult to satisfy them. Yet this is
what thousands of farmers have done
of late years. During the war, and for
a few years after, in our era of high
prices, most farmers made some money.
Old debts were paid, and in some cases
better modes of farming we're adopted.
But the years which have followed have
pinched us all. The more expensive
habits of living, adopted ten or twelve
years ago, are not readily dropped.
Prices of farm produce have fallen as
low as before the war. and from almost
every quarter we are advised that ex-
penses of every kind must be cut down
in a corresponding ratio, or everybody
will go to ruin.
Undoubtedly this is sensible advice
for a large proportion of farmers.
Wherever the soil has been allowed to
run down; wherever weeds have crept
in, increasing the cost of cultivation;
wherever, from any cause, the produc-
tive capacity of the farm has decreased.
an immediate cutting down of living
expenses is a necessity. dire though it
may seem. But it is foolish for farm
ers TO look at this subject from the
standpoint of misery parsimony. No
class of men work harder, and none are
better entitled to the comforts and lux
uries which hard work should obtain.
While poor farming may not, and prob
ably will not, make even a bare living,
a better management should give the
farmer something more. Prudent saw
ing is always advisable, but mania
for retrenchment, such as is now prev
alent, is not wise. Much that is said
about saving, under the influence of
this mania, is sheer nonsense. We have
heard farmers talk about reducing ex-
penses by paying less wages, when it
was solemn fact that they would
steadily lose money every year if their
hired help worked for nothing. What
such farmers need is better manage.
ment, by which the productive capac-
ity of their farms can be- increased
After this they may also find it neces-
sary to decrease expenses as much as
possible without decreasing production.
Better farming is the specific for
most of the evils Of which farmers COM
plain. The competition in farming is
now so sharp that we shall need better
farming than we have had, to prevent
absolute losses. We have no expecta-
ton, and scarcely any wish, for re-
turn of days when slip-shod farming
could make money. Poor farming in
evitably tends to sterility Of the soil,
and it will be a blessing in disguise if
we have q return of times when only
good farming can succeed. But the
Misrepresentation which SO widely pre-
walls, that the losses of our present
farming should or can be remedied by
savings, is working incalcula5le mis-
chief. The present year, with our cur
rency down to hard-pan, offers better
opportunities for moderate profits as
the result of well-dirccted efforts than
we have seen in years before. The
speculative prices which prevailed in
war times must not be expected, but
farmers who have land in good condi-
ton for cropping will make . serious
mistake If they do not invest the labor
necessary to secure crop. It will
probably cost less 10 produce anything
now than in any previous year since
the war, and the prices of farm prod
ucts are likely to be higher rather than
lower. NeU Yorker.