Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-08-04
Farmers Banes and Their Remedies.

The farm ought to be the farmers
bank, to be trusted with his spare dol
lars not needed by himself and family,
safe from defaulting savings banks,
treasurers and clerks, and the disasters
of stock speculation. Better invested
in the farm in these days of low inter-
est, when savings banks and towns pay
only about four per cent. interest, and
the U. S. four per cent bonds not even
so much, after paying in the neighbor-
hood OF twenty per cent. premium,
which they now command in the mar
ket.. yet farmers in body, will sell hay
for SIS or $50 per ton, often for Sl2 or
$15 to be sent in bales to the cities,
while it should be consumed on the
farm, thereby selling oil a little piece of
his ancestral farm until it is all gone, so
far as its value and fertility is concerned,
and helping to fill the pockets of the
middleman who thrives by the foolish
ness of others. Thus such farmers, dur
ing their lifetime, may rake Il few thou
sand dollars from the farm, if they have
been lucky, place it in other Investments
outside, which they may look upon with
satisfaction towards the sunset OF life,
and exclaim, see, all this l nave made
from selling hay off the farm, and the
farm left; but alas! what Il farm, COM
pared with the ancestral farm of fifty
years ago, with four oxen and six or
eight COWS, and the proportionate num-
Der of young cattle that once graced the
stalls of the average farmer of that day.
| By strange metamorphosis, the oxen
have become old team horses, 50 poor
that their hips almost protrude through
! th,,s Io' hot nd mi
masters, at starvation prices, drawing
cord wood and saw logs for the lumber
spectators, who ride by in their top
buggies with splendid outfit.
Now we are talking about these hay
selling farmers, let us go up into ther
corn chambers that their fathers built
over the great beams of the barn, which
were annually spread deep with corn
from one end to the other-there is moth
ing here now but old farm trumpery;
here rat would starve; even the old
corn smell has long since passed away
but one thing has not passed away-ii
haunts him like ghost-he has to meet
it once year at least--I mean great
store bill for Western corn and meal
This comes ofhay-selling. The hay sold
brings no manure: no manure, no corn
the corn must be bought to feed thu
teams and other farm stock out of the
sales of the hay. When that is done
what is leftP "Of two evils choose thu
least" If must do either let me buy
hay, rather than sell.
Another bane to the farmer is to feet
the moving fields with cattle in the fall
before coming to the barn; nothing will
run down the hay land SO fast as thi
pernicious practice more rapidly thai
selling hay. The aftermath, if suffered
to remain on the grass roots and rot, i
both mulch and manure; it prevent
the sun of summer, and the frost of win
ter, from injuring the grass roots. w,
have been told this by the editor of tn
Farmer for many a year, yet we hav
suffered it "to pass by us as the idl'
wind that we respect not.' ], for one
have put it in practice for about thre
years past, and the hay crop has nearl.
doubled. But what is to feed the cal
tie from the dried up pastures for abou
six weeks before coming to the barn a
: the ordinary timer The remedy is fod
der corn, that grows mainly from tn
air, if we Judge from appearance, as
grows where nothing else will, withou
: the trouble of curing it Tor winte
storage, without the aid of silos. to TIL
) enlarging of the manure pile. Coi
NeO England Farmer.