The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-02-16
Communicated.

srERLING, January 3lst, 1883
Editor Free Press:
Mr.. Baldwln's suggestions In your
issue of the 10Th are timely and good,
and 1t would be much better il farm.
ers generally would express their
ideas on farming topics to each other
through the public press. But rs
they arc not much accustomed to
writing and therefore liable to make
little error either grainmatically or
geographically, some one who
thinks he Is little learned will crIti.
else the mistake and consequently
deter others from writing, for fear
they make similar mistake. and be
also criticised by some wiseacre. Mr..
BIS remarks on wheat nearly running
many of us are partly correct. Yet
wheat raising Is what would have
paved the way to more prosperity If
farmers could have got machinery
for reasonable price. A good manv
men came to Minnesota with but
little means. perhaps enough to buy
team, wagon and plow, could at
first go into raising wheat until he
could better his condition and then
get some stock. but us they had to
pay four times more than a reaper
should have cost, and buy it OH time
and pay big interest, before it was
paid for IL was about wore out and
therefore no farther ahead than when
they first started and hence no more
able to buy stock then at first. H. is
sure thing that stock raising and
grain raising must go together here
in Minnesota, for without stock the
land becomes poor and without grain
the stock does the same, so it is ne.
cessary that the two should go to.
gether. 1t is very easy for man of
means to recommend stock raising,
but for one of small means il is not
such an easy matter to accomplish,
rs it is necessary to have good build
ings for that purpose through these
long cold Minnesota winters. Rails
ing stock out in the cold is very
slipshod way of raising stock and
would be attended with good deal
of hard work and loss also. Straw
sheds are but poor substitute for a
barn, and the weaker ones generally
have to take the shelter of the stack
yard fence and il they don't freeze
out before spring they are so near to
it that they take all summer to re.
cruit, SO that it would he Hopkins
choice between them and the wheat
which would come out ahead. be-
lieve there is third if not a half loss
on cattle wintered out (even in a
milder climate than this) besides
those properly housed and taken care
of as they ought to he but the build
ing of barns cost something and that
is just where the shoe pinches. Mr..
BIS bean raising l don't think much
of. ! am afraid If all the farmers
were to raise few acres of beans
that it would be like what the Iowa
people told me this fall about raising
onions. Down in the neighborhood
of Nashua they told me that some of
the young men thought they could
make more raising onions than work.
ing out for the farmers, and some OF
them tried 1t, bnt when fall came
onions were worthless, a few bushels
sold for IS cents per bushel and only
few at that price. If our Alliance
men debated subjects pertaining t.
agriculture, instead of monOpolies
they would he more benefited. They
, seem to think that any one who buy:
wheat, cattle or hogs, and ships then
on the railroad are a part Of nonop
oily. Such remarks were made about
our worthy and Hon. Representative,
l c. G. Spaulding. Worthy, because III
stood nobly by what he knew to b'
the minds of a majority Of his consti
: tuents, and Fletcher also. Loud ma.
e that plaudit ring in their ears: "Wel
/, done good and faithful servants Blu
q Morris, o Morris, well might tina
old couplet learned in my first read
er ring in yours. "Taffy was a Welsh
man and Taffy was thief, you stol
the peoples representation to repre-
sent yourself. But ! am getting to
d lengthy in my.article as l am apt t
!" do trying to get in too much, and ye
y don't get in half what ] would Xix
i to say. Perhaps if had rubbed m
L back against a college door ] migl
y have been more concise, but You kno'
n I am only a farmer. j. DOBIE.
"A