St. Landry democrat., 1880-02-21
FARM Topics
TIE TIME TO SELL PRODUCE.

h One of the most perplcxing question
d with which the farmer has to deal i
e when to sell his farm produce, so as t.
h realize the highest possible price for if
v 1t is straightforward work to raise T.;
:. crop and prepare it for market; but t.
: decide upon the exact time to sell It an,
J., the price it should bring is quite another
thing. Almost any product of the farm
h VIII bring more at some part of the yea,
~ than at any other; but that time varie-
- IN different years, and it is not ALWAYS
> easy to foretell when that time will come
{ or to recognize it on liz arrival. If a
farmer haryests crop, he feels that he
! should receive the highest market price
= for 1t, and so, when he has prepared it
tor market, he is sometimes undecided
whether to sell it at once or hold it in
hopes OF q rise i'll the price. It is i'm
possible to give any rule by which a
person can decide tbs 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 a farmer who
once received the enormous price of
500 Tor 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
Wiling to sell any crop of grain at a
fair, remuneratiye price, but always
"hangs on for more, sometimes for
years and almost always with
loss. Here is one of the great
est advantages a farmer may re-
ceive from reading agricultural
| papers. From them we learn the state
OF the markets in the principal ccnters,
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 a
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 a 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
hight 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 it is
Nv ff,,. ,-n+ /
TAR, remunerative price for it, unless
for some good reason there is a reason
able prospect of better market in the
tuture.-G. 4. COT, J., 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 81 degrees, !
and east of the Mississippi River, and &
Mississippi, Alabama, t
Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, f
furnishes scarcely more than one-tenth
Of the flour consumed by its people.
And since the experience of centuries in c
Europe has shown that wheat of the 9
pest quality can be grown in lower lati- L
udes as well as where the average sum- d
ner temperature is several degrees d
higher, there is little reason to doubt i,
hat the cultivation of this cereal NAV t
oe protitably extended perhaps to the tt
shores OF the Gulf of Mexico. 1t is eyi-
lent, too, that the world demand for
wheat is Increasing at rapid rate, and
hough Tor the present the increased =
screage OF new land may keep prices at 6
Moderate figures, the time is sure to G.
ONE when the demand will be in ex- t
ess OF the supply, and prices will adj u u
ance accordingly. Again, in spite of p
ne conflicting accounts, the condition S.
the South and the negro is improv- c!
ng, the exodus fever is gradually sub O. g,
ldlng, and much better feeling exists Il
etween the two races. AS the condi- OIL
on OF races and nations improve, they
hange their food rations for the better.
his fact is very clearly demonstrated &c
the enlarged demand for Northern u,
roducts, especially wheat-four, in the &C
ulf States, and the gradual abandon. ;.
lent of corn-breadU for wheat Je
read by all classes of the pop
lation. This assertion, no doubt, :"
Ill be more or less vehemently denied ns
Y many unthinking persons; but we be be
enture the prediction that in less than
years corn-bread will have as nearly
sappeared from the tables of whites :,
Id blacks in the Gulf States as it has +,
ready from those of the wen-to- do de
rming classes of Pennsylvania and VI
hio. Already the blacks are as good Is Is
Istomers for the best brands of flour as an
e whites, and the average sales of the la1
fferent grades in lots Of 100 barrels, &C
e about 10 of the best patent process, IN
OF high grades, and SO of low-priced -"'
ID medium. From this it is evident
at the consumption of flour in the Gulf Pc,
ates, already large, is likely to be- By
me enormous within a few years. III
} doubt the different soils, climates he
d latitudes of different countries re- e.,
ire that for the wheat crop there must
some considerable Emergencies in I
actices, when those of one country are De
impaired with another; but it is still 70.
lie that the wheat plant demands GER sE
n absolute conditions of soil, whether ~
own under Ga degrees north latitude, G:
south 80 degrees further. These are, W
1t the surface soil must be free of ri
eds, weed-seeds, undecayed rubbish Os