The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-01-22
FAaaa aEseARcAEs.

Il
ne Dsss flns Ssr Cossiassing NE Chairs
Of New aad Uatried Creps.
Many farmers contemplate making
some change in their business in spring.
Some propose to give up grain-raising
ON an extensive scale. and to engage in
dairying. general stock-raising. or the
breeding Of fine animals. Others are
thinking about engaging in the produc-
ton of some crops that have never been
raised in this vicinity, - hops, broom
corn and tobacco. Some are consider
ing the propriety of preparing and
stocking fish ponds. Others are think
ing of constructing q silo. with view Of
preserving green fodder to feed to their
stock next winter. Some are consider
ing the profits of poultry-raising on an
extensive scale, with q view of supply
ing the market with fowls and eggs.
They have read of the success of other
in this branch of husbandry, and from
their statements have about come to the
conclusion that it pays better to feed
grain to fowls than to pigs, cattle. or
sheep. or send it to market. A smaller
number, perhaps, have thought that
there was large amount of honey an
nually going to waste in the district
where they live. and are thinking that
it would be profitable to keep bees that
would gather and store it. As the price
of nearly everything produced on farms
is quite low and gives promise of re-
manning so, very many farmers are
thinking of making new departure in
some direction, hoping that it will be
productive of greater profits.
1t IS often advisable to make changes
in the management Of alarm. Farmers
of small means are generally obliged
to keep "scrub" animals or none. They
have not the money to purchase inn
ported stock, and they have not suita-
bic buildings in which to keep costly
animals. They are generally obliged
to raise grain to sell in order to procure
money to pay for their land, to erect
buildings and fences, and buy imple-
ments. They can not engage in dairy
ing until they have the means to pay
for, or raise, herd of good cows and
to put mp barns that will shelter them.
To raise fine stock requires considerable
capital, as good buildings and improved
pastures as well as expensive animals.
The drainage of low land, the erection
of wind-mills for raising water. the inn
provement of cranberry marshes, the
planting of ornamental hedges. the set
ting out of orchards, the formation Of
shelter belts. the preparation of lawns,
and the making and stocking of fish
v,ODd- m - not orI;v r,1,r h<, do l-a n
by farmers who have moved upon tracts
OF raw prairie and who have families to
support. In the great majority of cases
the improvements on FARMS must be
slowly made. One change for the bet
ter must be made this season and an
other next, till at length the farm is
all that the owner desires to have it be-
Farmers often make changes in their
business very injudiciously. They read
paragraph in some paper that q
farmer hes realized q small fortune in .
few years BY raising a certain crop, or
by keeping q certain breed of animals
or fowls. They think that they can do
quite as well by adopting the same
course. Without knowledge and with
out experience they embark in the new
enterprise only to fail. Tley discover
when it is quite too late that they are
not suited to the new kind of business,
that their places are not adapted to it,
or that the time for engaging in it is
past The report that farmer some
where realized FIVE hundred dollars per
acre on an onion, celery, or strawberry
crop has had the effect to tu!n the heads
of many farmers. They neglect their
old standard crops to plaut those with
whose cultiv alton they are unacquainted,
and for which there is no market near
where they live. They become fnan-
cially embarrassed. Their creditors
press them, and they are obliged to part
with their places at sacrifice and to
commence life over again In q new
locality. Every time that hops or
brOom-corn happens to reach high
figure thousands of farmers hasten to
engage in their culture, often in places
where the climate and soil are not
adapted to their growth Those who
succeed in producing good crops find
that the market is Overstocked, and that
prices have fallen below the cost of pro-
duction.
No radical change should be made in
the management of q farm, and no
costly improvement undertaken with
out due elaboration, thought and study.
Great pains should be taken to acquire
all the information relative to the re-
quirements of every new crop, and in
thinking of introducing it in an untried
locality, the cost of obtaining seed and
the facilities for sending the product to
market should be carefully considered.
The statements of those who have seed
for sale should be regarded with con-
siderable suspicion, as they are inter-
ested parties. The sorghum sugar
pool was inaugurated and has been
kept up chiefly BY those who had seed
culture mania is largely the result Of the
circulation of advertisements issued by
parties who have silk-worm eggs and
mulberry plants for sale. Nurserymen
who had large stocks to dispose of have
been chiefly Instrumental in causing the
European larch and the Russian null
berry tree to be introduced into various
parts of the West. Neither of them i:
as valuable for the purposes for which
they have been recommended as native
trees that can be obtained at one-tenth
the cost. The profits of raising certain
special crops for which there is never a
large demand have been greatly over
estimated to interested parties. All the
accounts of success haze been pub
ished, but the men who have expe-
rienced failure have preserved . respect
full silence.
Winter is the best time for consider
ing the claims of new crops and for
gaining information respecting them.
1t is also the best time for learning about
the comparative value of different
breeds of animals and fowls. the profit3