News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-02-16
FARM AND GARDEN.


How many farmers know which ami
mails are being kept at profit and
which at lossP 1t is probable that in
many herd the most profitable ami
mails are aiding in the support of others
in whom there is no profit, and dis
guising the fact of the unproftableness.
1t swould be genuine surprise to
most farmers if they should divide their
herd into three parts, and keep an &C.
count of the returns from each separate
part, whether in milk, fat, or growth.
AS it is now, the farmer, ignorant of
the minuti@ of animal progress in his
own herd, does not place reliance upon
the opinions or facts of those who, after
careful consideration, offer their results
to the publ, through the agricultural
press.
Some time ago we were talking
with gentleman of proverbial shrewd-
ness and enterprise, and listening to an
exposition of his method of farming.
1t was case Of operating on large
scale The dealings were by car loads,
and careful expense accounts were
kept. Said this gentleman
81 have long since given up stocking
my western farms with adult animals.
My books show that I cannot depend
upon profit when I buy carload of
adult animals, and after feeding for an
interval dispose of them on the mar
ket. Depending, as 1 have to do,
upon hired labor, I cannot convert my
hay and grain into sufficient flesh or fat
to give me the market price for my feed
in this manner. But if I cannot raise
fat and flesh alta profit from adult ami
mails, I can raise growth. never knew
a carload of csIvss bought fairly and kept
for three yesfsaad t6sa sold, to show
loss. 1t is ths growth-the growth
that gives ths isoits sufficient to COM
pensate for whatever risks there are in
farming at distance.
ga car load of calves" he said, "costs
but little fire. light per head to transport.
There is far less risk the first three years
of life to health or of accident than at
any other time. The growth is sure
without any especial forcing, and every
pound of growth is at profit. If adult
animals are fed, they must be fed care
fully and properly. Every attempt at
forcing requires watchful care, and the
better we desire to turn off our cattle
the greater the risk. No, sir, it is not
the fat nor the flesh, but the growth
which turns to the most profit"
Now, this gentleman did not intend
to give the impression that the fatten-
ing of stock could not be made profit
able, but that under conditions where
personal supervision each day was i'm
possible, certain method, involving
less risk and requiring less attention,
would pay the proprietor handsomely,
at the time and place where another
method of farming would fail to return
profit. He knew it. His books showed
HIM.
Now, this lis what we urge upon the
farmer-that he study his herd and his
methods that he shall keep such re-
cords that he shall know just what
measure of appreciation to mete out to
each portion of his system of farming.
and that he shall cause his books to
show him. Will the rearing of calves
to maturity or the keeping of adult
stock bring back the largest net returns
from the beef market How much loss
comes through the keeping of certain
animals after they have attained "ripe-
ness ?" What influence on the pocket
comes through, the delay in making
sales How long can cattle be profit
ably kept in order to secure what rise
of price in the market ? What is the pro-
portionate risk of disease, Or of getting
off their feed is the case OF fat cattle,
over those which are still growing ? And
so we might go on, but questions of this
character will suggest themselves abun-
dainty. a
In the case of the stockman, the
solving of these questions may some
times meet with difficulties. But there
is no excuse for the dairyman in not
knowing which of his cows are paying
the profit and supporting the waste oc-
casioned by poorer COWS. 1t is easy,
too, for the dairyman to figure out the
cost of keeping his COWS throughout
the year. It is an easy calculation,
knowing the price of milk, to determine
how much milk each COW must give be-
fore she can return profit. 1t is easy
to know just how much milk year each
COW gives. With these data, any COW
not giving the requisite yield of milk
should be fatted for the butcher or sold
to another party.
Let us illustrate. Hay is worth SO
ton; milk is yFe.th two cents quart;
COW weighing 1000 pounds, will require
about three tons of hay year, or its
equivalent. In order, then, to be kept
at profit, 9. COW must yield, at the
least, enough milk to pay for $50 worth
of hay, or 1900 quarts. These figures
are only offered as illustrative of the
method, but if they should apply to any
farmer, he must know that any COW
that will not give 1000 quarts year is
not the COW he can afford to keep.
But to find out how much milk each
COW in herd yields is good deal of
trouble. Well, this life is full of such
kind of trouble; but the manufacturer
has none of it, for instead of calling the
of the facts of his bust
ness 3" trouble, he calls it business
and is willing to work both himself and
his employ to develop his business.
Certainly no "troubIe" which pays
the farmer more largely than his hand
work on the far.a scarcely deserves the
name of "trouble." but should be
looked upon illegally, and be as much
desired as any Investment of like profit.
-Live Stock Journal.
FEEDING HUNGRY SOILS.
Ordinary soils sill not produce good
crops season after season without ma
nure and retain their fertility. When
no returns are nade each successive
crop leaves the lnd poorer than before.
and finally the tine arrives when it be-
comes unproduchve. How to restore
such lands to Their former fertility is an
ever-recurring problem, especially |
amonc farn,or, al the East and the up- |