The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-10-27
RETURNS

try in the world, and onn c0On,
think from the great ouan,; would
each annually raised that Of
progress had been made n great
cultivation. But the weld Non 'ner
tells a different story. Ac rvr acre
to the Department of Avrin"'uN
the average yield of wheat this ure
was twelve and a quarter hn car
per acre, Of corn twenty-five an4 4els
oats twenty-six and six-tenths W. W;S o.
these returns is it to be wond"I'G
at that farmers as a class ara No"
Suppose the wheat brings in m prTr:
one dollar per bushel, (and if m;1
not average more, if so mucbl ~"
farmer receives 1925, from wb;I
must come the interest on the vaI vil
of land, the cost Of blowing, sa"%
cultivation, harvesting, threshinn
marketing and waste. Deduct IS,
all these and what margin is left 70
the farmer for profit? Little. if anr
Corn with twenty-five bushels Man.
acre leaves even less profit. for II
will not average the farmers Of tbs
country thirty cents a bushel. and
the same may be said of OATS
neither Of which is raised by farm,
ers in the great grain growing States
Of the West for market. The corn
is mainly fed to hogs, and marketed
in the shape of pork, the only profit.
able way in which it can be market.
ed, while a large proportion of the
oats raised is fed to farm stock.
This is not an exceptional YEAR
1t is a fair average Of other Years,
And small as the figures are they
are twice as high as the average
yield in some States, where the
wheat crop does not run we six or
seven bushels to the acre and other
crops in proportion. This small
average yield does not tell well for
the average farmer, for it shows that
he either does not understand the
cultivation of these crops, or that he
does not know what it costs him to
raise them, or that he blindIy per-
sists in raising crops that do not pay
him, and from which he cannot reas-
onably expect any pay. The farmers
Of the United States plowed, sowed
and harvested this year 36,OOO,OOO
acres of wheat, an rea considerably
larger than the whole State ofNOrh
Carolina, which will give some idea
of the vastness Of these wheat fields
if in one body. A little over twelve
bushels to the acre for blowing,
sowing and harvesting this vast ter
ritory. If the acreage had been
reduced One-half, if that one-haIf
had been selected with a view to its
suitableness for wheat, if it had been
thoroughly prepared before the seed
was sown and the most prolific seed
and the best adapted to the section,
considering the climatic and other
features, used what a difference there
would be in the figures ofthe general
average. And SO of corn and oats
and other cereals. We know that
twelve bushels of wheat to the acre;
and twenty-five bushels Of corr and
twenty-six bushels of oats are too
small a yield, and we know they can
and should be doubled, trebled ana
quadrupled, and they would be II
intelligence and thought were aP-
piled on the farm as they are III
other productive industries. There
are farmers, farmers in fact as well
as in name, men Of brains, VINO
think, read, observe, who learn from
their own observations and eXper,,
ence and from the observations anu
experience of others, who raise from
thirty to sixty bushels Of wheat 10
the acre, from fifty to a hundred
bushels Of corn, and from fifty 10
seventy-ive bushels Of oats to inc
acre. Every farmer cannot do TINS,
but every farmer who works as ne
should work, if he has good Iahu;
and tends that land as it shoulu
be tended, can approximate these
figures, and possibly 60 beyon"
them.
These small average figures are
not the fault of the soil nor OF lie
climate of this country, it is the fao,'
Of the farmers of the land who skln,
over too many acres, and r"lt'IalS
too few. There are too many WIN
are called farmers who are not farm
r at all, who scrape the gro''l'u,
scatter seed, and gather the gra Dt
and that's all they know aooo'
farming.