Sharp County record., 1880-02-26
FARM TOPICS.
THE TIME TO SELL PRODUCE.

when to sell his farm produce, so as to
realize the highest possible price for it,
1t is straightforward work to raise
crop and prepare it for market; but to
decide upon the exact time to sell it and
the price it should bring is quite another
thing. Almost any product of the farm
will bring more at some part OF the year
than at any other; bat that time varies
in different years, and it is not always
easy to foretell when that time will come
or to recognize it on its arrival. II
farmer harvestS a crop, he feels that he
should receive the highest market price
for it, and so, when he has prepared it
for market, he is sometimes undecided
whether to sell it at once or hold 1t IN
hopes of a rise in the price. 1t is i'm
possible to give any rule by which
person can decide the time to sell any
crop to the best advantage. Some
farmers are in the habit of keeping their
produce too loug, and are thereby some
times heavy losers. A case of this kind
came under my notice, of farmer who
once received the enormous price of
81 90 for a large crop of wheat. He was
thought by his neighborS to have been
very fortunate; but it proved the re-
verse, for since then he has not been
willing to sell any crop OF grain at
fair, remunerative price, but always
"hangS on" for more, sometimes Tor
years and almost always with
loss. Here is one of the great
est advantages farmer may re-
ceive from reading agricultural
papers. From them we learn the state
of the markets in the principal centers,
and the progress and prospects of all
the principal farm crops in different
parts of the country, by which we may
Judge whether there is likely to be
scarcity or a surplus in any product
we may have to sell. If we find, from
these reports, that in a great many parts
of the country certain crop is unusual
ly poor, it is reasonable to judge that
the demand for that product will i'm
prove, or if for any reason there is a
light crop of some certain product in
some foreign county, thus causing a
great foreign demand, we can also
hope, with reason, for higher prices for
that particular article. But there are
other things to be considered besides
probable rise in price, in holding farm
produce. In all the products Of the
farm, there is, of necessity, a constant
waste. Loss of weight from shrinkage,
damage from rats and mice, insurance
and interest on the money that it would
bring, should all be taken into account.
Doubtless the best time to sell produce,
in the long run, is as soon after 1t is
ready for market as we can receive
fair, remunerative price for it, unless
for some good reason there is reason
able prospect of better market in the
future.-G. A. Gof, Jr., IN Rural New
Yorker.
THE WHEAT CROP IN THE COTTON BELT.
1t may be safely assumed that the
wheat crop of all that portion OF the
cotton belt south of latitude "a degrees,
and east of the Mississippi River, and
embracing Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia, Florida and South Carolina
furnishes scarcely more than one-tenth
of the flour consumed by its people.
And since the experience of centuries in
Europe has shown that wheat OF the
best quality can be grown in lower lati-
tudes as well as where the average sum-
mer temperatlre is several degrees
higher, there is little reason to doubt
that the cultivation of this cereal may
be profitably extended-perhaps to the
shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 1t is evil
dent, too, that the worlds demand for
wheat is increasing at rapid rate, and
though for the present the increased
acreage of new land may keep prices at
moderate figures, the time is sure to
come when the demand will be in ex-
cess of the supply, and prices will ad-
vance accordingly. Again, in spite OF
the conflicting accounts, the condition
of the South and the negro is improv-
ing, the exodus fever is gradually sub
siding, and much better feeling exists
between the two races. AS the condi-
ton of races and nations improve, they
change their food rations for the better.
This fact is very clearly demonstrated
in the enlarged demand for Northern
products, especially wheat-four, in the
Gulf States, and the gradual abandon
ment of corn-bread for wheat
bread by all classes of the pop
ulation. This assertion, no doubt,
will be more or less vehemently denied
by many unthinking persons; but we
venture the prediction that in less than
10 years corn-bread will have as nearly
disappeared from the tables of whites
and blacks in the Gulf States as it has
already from those of the well-to-do
farming classes of Pennsylvania and
Ohio. Already the blacks are as good
customers for the best brands of flour as
the whites, and the average sales of the
l.