The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-09-15
ANNUAL ADDRESS,
OF Prof. A. F. Bechdolt, at the
Garden City Fair, Friday,
Sept. Is, 1889.
Words of Practical Experience.

sept. 10, 1oo1,
Words of Practical Experience.
Gentlemen Of the Agricultural Society:
You have compllmented me by an invita-
ton to address you on this your annual meet
ing Feeling In many waysmy unworthiness
tn speak on agricultural matters to you, who
have made farming the work and study of a
life time, l could not decline the honor with
out seeming To convey the impression of
want Of interest and sympathy with your
J work. For many years my work has been
altogether In a different channel from yours.
WEAKNESS from labor has come rather from
shopping over the desk than from bending
over the hoe; for all this, the last has not
been unknown toll to me. l have known
something Of the work and life OF the farmer.
il made up II good part of my youth.
How sweet was the MONDAY rest beneath
the trees and how drcamless the sleep that
came after labor! On the whole there was
not much pleasure I'm that life for me. This
confession comes the more readily because IL
seems To be only the experience common Ia
all of us. In what may have to say to you
| beg Of you Il patient hearing, even II
should speak Of matters on which men
strongly differ. If what say meet not with
your approval, grant ME at least an honest
purpose and genuine interest In your pros
pcrity.
In an address before this body II is evident
ly improper for your speaker, from the
standpoint of his tritling personal experience
Ia speak To you on the best modes Of farm
ing, To tell you what may be the best crops
for you to raise, to discuss what may he the
best breeds Of cattle for milk or fattening.
II must Ice presumed that men, who have
spent the best part of their life in farming,
know something of their own business; ana
are shrewd enough to think clearly on mat
tiers that enter into the question of profit and
loss. Even If | would appeal to an expert
ence of many years, IL would he a needless
labor for me To teach you how to tell good
COW, To urge ON you the culture of any one
crop, 10 impress on you the value Of clover,
timothy and blue grass for feeding or hay
purposes, or To tell you how To cure hay, sow
wheat or plant potatoes. All these are sub
jCcts in which the smallest amount OF prac-
tice is of infinitely more value than any
amount of theory. The men who live upon
the land are competent, or ought To be COM
pctcnt, to judge best Of how to pillow, SOW
and reap.
They ought to be competent to determine
these things Here, under leave of the
veteran farmers of this Society. would
hazard the assertion that, especially in this
new country, there are some, calling them
selves farmers, who have taken to land be-
cause they have failed In everything else,
and because here. as nowhere else, they can
load the cause of all their failure on Provi-
dcrce. These men enter into competition with
you in fixing the position of the agriculturist
in the community. They stand with you on
II footing of equality in adjusting the public
matters of the township and county. In this
way they have an influence, greater than
their merit, and this influence rarely goes to
improving either themselves or their neigh
borhood. In all questions of public policy,
in all matters where your interests are at
stake, the least successful and the inefficient
have a great influence. They are most readi-
ly swaycd by the designing politician or rail
road lobbyist and their votes may load on
you burdens of taxation hard to be borne
Here is not the place however to speak of
this, nor am speaking To men Of this class.
You have made farming a success, and-to
return To the thought of few moments ago
You know that while a definite plan and
system of work is necessary tor the success
full farmer, he cannot afford, nor has he the
time, To try all the experiments suggested by
the mere theorist. On this account l have
thought best TO avoid all questions connected
with the immediate work and planning OF the
farm and in preference to consider some
social problems that concern the farmer.
What are some of
THE FACTORS THAT MAKE SUCCESSFUL. FARM
ING?
Man lives by tilling the soil. This state
ment is as true now as when our first parents
were driven from the garden of Paradise.
Flowing, sowing and reaping lie at the base
of all national greatness and power. What
would conquering Rome have been able to
accomplish. had not her Colonies of farmers
followed close upon the heels of her victori-
Gus legions? The power of the great Napoleon
began to wayer when the fields of France
were unable to furnish his army In Russia
with supplies. The Wall street capitalist
might chink his coins together in idleness,
with no USE for his money, II the land refused
10 yield or the farmer to till. The rolling
stock of our railroads would rust and rot
did not the wheat, the corn and cotton,
give 10 il employment. We are told by
some that our manufactures must be en-
couraged and protected against the disorgan-
iEing influences of foreign competition, but
1t seems To me that it would not be beneath
the dignity of Congress, that II would be less
than the interests ut stake deserve, to give as
much consideration to the moving of crops
to the sea-coast rs to the duty on pig iron.
The growth of crops and the work OF
harvesting in Minnesota is watched keenly I'm
all the money centres of the United States.
The report of a favorable yield will lift the
price of stocks and increase the demand for
money while a hailstorm or flight of locusts
will depress the stock market and send down
the price Of securities even quicker than a
wind from out of the North causes the mer-
curry to sink in the thermometer. So closely
are all our interests bound up in the culture
of the soil. Ii is a military maxim that an
army cut of from its base OF supplies ia at
the mercy of the enemy. The base Of sup
plies, the productive wealth of our country,
f. the produce taken OF the farms, the excess
over and above the demands of the country
for consumption.
Let us glance a moment how much value
this produce Of farm must have in order
that It may be in the fullest sense productive
wealth. In the first place, every farmer, who
owns his land, has invested in it certain
sum of money, On which he is entitled to
claim interest. This is income No. !. Next
he IL entitled to fair return for the labor of
himself and family iu maintaining the farm.
This income goes for family expenses, for
food and clothing and such outlay as lifts
him above the slave and makes him an en-
lightened citizen of free country. This is
income No.2 In order that a farm may be
profitably worked other outlay than for the
ownership and tillage Is needed. 1t must be
stocked with horses, cattle, barns, shelter of
all kinds and machinery. The interest on the
sum expended for these purposes and the
amount necessary to keep these in good con-
dition constitute the third income. When
farming does not yield these three incomes It
IL not II success.
Tho amount of the first income, that Is tho
interest on the sum invested I'm land, will de-
pend on the price paid, and that is governed
by nearness to transportation or market.
The net value received for crop will also
depend on nearness to market. The farmer
,a...st 10 marriott has the largest sum to