Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-08-13
. SOME GOOD ADVICE.
why Small Farms Are to Be Preferred
to Large Ones.

why Small Farms Are to BE Preferred
to Large Ones.
As a rule, small farms are the best
for many reasons. In discussing this
subject, a recent writer-nO less an
authority than the Statistician OF the
Agricultural Bureau-pertinently and
suggestively remarks: ''Do farmers
realize the full meaning Of the small
farm plan? 1t means schools. churchssJ
society, culture in all directions. Mon
ster farms mean desert, isolation,
barbarism. Small farms encourage
good tillage, make large crops, high
prices of land and property for all. In
stead of four million farms, in less than
generation eight will be required.
Available public lands are becoming
scarce. When farms are no longer
given away, and landowners must di-
vide, they will sell only at a strong adj
vance on nominal rates. 1t is good
time for poor man to secure foot
hold upon convenient bit OF soil,
become a land speculator in a COM
mendabIe way. and make home for
himself and children before the COM
petition for land shall crowd him to the
wall of homelessness." There is much
sense and force in this comparison OF
small and large farms. for the former
naturally bring the intelligence, NOR
ality. and retinements OF civ llZat on,
while the latter have a tendency to
produce illiteracy, roughness. and the
other disadvantages of isolation. And
the suggestion about poor men secur-
10, $50 hi, -, nIvr
and sensible. for the period is fast APP
preaching when that will DE most
difficult and expensive matter.
There are, however. other cogent
reasons why small farms should be
preferred bv the great majority OF cul-
tlvators. The great drawback i'm many
sections of toe country. and especially
in the West and South, is that the
farms are too large. The result IN
many instances is poor culture. bad
crops. and little or no profit. For a
man who lacks means to invest. and is
deficient in the executive ability neceS-
sary to plan and manage, can not farm
hundreds or thousands of acres sue
cessfullv. This has been tine and
again demonstrated in every part of
the country where it has been attempt
ed. Our own notion is that small
farms, we'll cultivated are almost inva-
riably the most profitable; and hence,
we firmly believe (what has so often
been asserted). that if many a farmer
would sell half.or two-thirds of the
acres he now occupies. and poorly tills
and manages, and devote his entire
time and energies to the care and cul-
tivation OF the remainder, he would
derive far more profit from his labor
and investment, with much less vexa-
ton of spirit. The fact is. as some-
body truly asserts, we have too many
farmers who are Gland poor" who
have so much land they cannot make
a living. Paradoxical as this may
appear, it applies truthfully to
many a naturally fertile and pro-
have learned that it is not economy to
own more land than they can till in the
most profitable manner, SO that it will
pay for the money expended in keeping
it free from taxes, weeds and other en-
cumbrances, they will have solved the
problem of ease in practical rural fe.
The happiest and thriftiest farmers we
have ever known lived on farms of only
ten to- one hundred acres, every foot of
which was made to count. On the other
hand. the farmer who has SO many
broad acres that he can not walk over
them da!ly-where rods of fence cor
ners are never cultivated or otherwise
utllized-lives a life of anxiety and
worry His taxes are heavy and his
crops light. He can not give reason
ably thorough cultivation to so much
land. Now. if the farmer who owns
one hundred acres of land will sell half
of it and expend the money received
therefor in cultivating the other fifty
getting improved stock. implements,
fertilizers, etc.-he can make each acre
produce as much as two are now do
ing. And in many enthusiastically
near markets, where choice fruits and
vegetables are in demand-many q
man with fifty or even thirty acres.
the remainder to like advantage.
In the Middle and New England
States-as we'll as in localities else
where. which are near or easily ac-
cessible to good markets-there are
plenty of small farms of from ten to,
thirty acres which are very profitable,
while there are thousands of large
ones containing hundreds of acres,
each. equally fertile. yet so badly
managed. that they yield their owners .
little or no dividends. 1t is the latter
class of cultivators, by the way. who
croakingly aver that farming doesn't
pay,- Of which fact they are living
witnesses. Any non-progressive read
ers who may perchance be attempting
to bore augur holes with gimlets-by
attempting to cultivate large farms
successfully without either the ade-
quate practical knowledge, means. or
executive ability-are advised to call a
halt, and consider whether a change
would mot prove advantageous. In
stead of working like slaves and
living in a miserable manner. in order
to run a big farm" or purchase ''an
the lanl that joins Them" it would
be wise for hosts of farmers to SELL
some of their broad acres, concern
trate their efforts upon limited areas.
and look more to the comfort and hap
piness of their households, and the
proper education of their children.
Even if large farms were the most
profitable which we deny-sman ones
are to be preferred for many and CO.
gent reasons, not the least of which
are the comfort, peace, and general
welfare of the owners and their fami-
lies.-D. d. T. Moore, in Ancrscan
Aqriculturtst.
He Was kansan.