News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-03-08
Foresight in Farming.

Every farmer should have memo
randum- hook in his pocket, n which
should be jotted down earhtin items of
labor, whenever he may think about
/ them. Then, when he may be }esitatiug
as to what he or his employees. can do
advantageousiv during some pleasant
/ day, the record of items will nd fail to
render him valuable aid. TIN farmer
who does not take such thought for the
future and plan operations for weeks and
months, and sometimes for yeas ahead,
Will aiwrys be grumbling that lis work
is behind its appropriate seasn. Let
me illustrate by experiences fom real
life:
A near neighbor was Away at the
tail end of the revolving seasons. Dur
ing winter he would go seve,al times
with two horses and sleigh m0re than five
miles to the grocery store to make few
purchases and perhaps he would take
two or three bagiuis of gram to mill.
But, in spring, when the wheeling became
about as heavy as possible, he could be
seen dragging a heavy load of grain to
mill to be ground for feed Well, when
the sleighing was excellent his grain was
not thrashed. By being behind, he sus-
tanned losses i'll several ways. Rats and
mice destroyed bushes of his grain. His
domestic animals suffered and grew poor
for lack of the food and comfort which
they should have received from the straw
If his grain had been thrashed at the
proper time team would have been able
to draw fifty bushels when the sleighing
was fine, with less fatigue than they
could haul ten bushels over muddy road.
Another neighbor had commenced
plowing, but soon learned that the old
stub of a plow-point could not be made
to enter the hard places IN his field, SO
he hurried off to get new one. During
the winter he had been in the city sew
eraI times, when he could have purchased
the share, and thus saved half day and
ninetv-fve cents for his fare on the cars.
Two weeks after his grass was fit to cut
he took out his machine, but before he
could start it he was obliged to go to the
city to procure a new knife for theNcut-
ter-bar, which required another half day
and nincty-ive cents, besides other
losses. BY being ga day behind" " he
failed to get his hay ready for the barn
i'll time to avoid damage incident to a
rain. Ram continued, and the
weather continued lowering and unfayor-
able, until his crop of hay was rendered
almost worthless for fodder. If he had
not been behindhand that one day, which
was spent in fitting up his mower, every !
pound of hay could have been secured il
prime condition. That loss in the value
of his hay by being damaged by long
rain amounted to more than $40
When the vernaI seed time had almost |
passed neighbor Tardy woke up to a
sense Of the propriety Of sowing millet |
on a few acres. SO he started for the /
city to pur"bo9e coed But Just before
it vas rocofve9 --tw <. la, - 1A-ls
period of wet weathcr set in, which rem /
d red it necessary to defer sowing until |
the latter part of May. Sowing late, i'm
after a long period of wet |
weather, which was succeeded by a !
drOuth, was the cause Of n light crop. |
The reader can perceive, at n glance,
how much one day in the winter would
have facilitated the farming operations
of that laggard farmer, and how many
dollars would have been gained by way
of larger crop, if the seed had been
purchased and ready for the soil as soon
as the ground was prepared.
"Take time by the hair" said Kos
suth. Forecast with care, say we all;
remembering that the best returns are
to those who keep little i'll advance of
the most appropriate period to plow,
SOW, cultivate and mow.-S. E. F.