Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-01-07
THE FARM,
How to Make Farming Pay by woik
and Thought.

Mr. hopeft hoOa Is young farmer.
Thin Drowned, all fiber, slow but
easy of motion, self reliant and indie.
RenGePt-a fine typeof young south
era farmer.
Tine earth is a gold mine" he
says, ITO any man that works it dill
gently"
It has certainly proved TO be one to
Mr. Rood. In seven years he has
made over $40, 600 in fs@rming-not by
speculation-for he has lost SIC, 900 by
that method. But by the patient till
ing Of the earth. and the slow trans
hitting Of sunshine, retn and sweat
into corn and cotton. Tie story of
hls work is significant, and it may be
improving, SO here it is in paragraph,
coaxed from his own lips.
| My father said to me, about seven
years ago, my son, I'm going to die,
and | leave SIS, 600 in honest debts that
you must pay" In six weeks he was
dead, and | took the plantation in
Stewart county on the Chattahoochee
river. l mortgaged the place for 81
GOO and went to work. The first les,
son | learned was economy. Idarned
my OWE socks and patched my own
clothes as they wore out When [
went to Eutaula put biscuit in nv
pocket and when ] got to town tied
my horse to a rack and saved hotel
bill. | ran plough myself, leading
the way for my hands. at NIGHT I
lit up the forge and did my own
blacksmithing, learning as I went.
naver LETT my farm day, and slept
SIX hours a night"
THAT must have brought sueeess?"
"Of course it did, as it would have
brought it In any other business. In
two years had paid my debt and had
money in bank. I have made in ac-
tual money over $4,000 This is nay
poorest year, and yet | will clear over
So, 800. | would not give any man
! s. to guarantee me $4,000 a year on
nay 10-mule farm for the next ten
years. Farming is the safest business
a mas can engage in, If he goes at 1t
right" Q
What are the rues by Which you
work2"
First, 7 raise my WI provisions.
| now have 100 bushels of corn, 1 100
bushels OF oats, 800 bushels of peas
and 400 gallons of syrup for sale.
raise much OF my own meat and
would raise it all except that my eli
mate Is too warm to cure it in. Inev-
er saw a man who did not raise his
own corn that.made money on cotton.
L never saw cora raiser that wasn't
q prosperous farmer. You can often
figure out that you can buy corn
cheaper than you can raise it-but
that is only on paper. Corn rAisers
prosper-the others fail. Ny cotton
crop is always 30 cash surplus. I
make my other crops carry the farm. :"
Next to raising nay own corn, I
court personal attention to my bust
ness. SOW every bushel of oats my
self, because I never found hand
that could do it right. This. fall
worked IL hours day with three
peck basket on my arm, and sowed
oats ahead Of II plows, till the ends of
my fingers were bleeding. In making
syrup, I got along with four ht ars'
sleep in "a, and the result is pei tect
syrup. [ superintend every detail of
my farming as do this. Every back
strap OF my harness has bag of moss
sewed under the leather to protect
the mules back. Thread wouldn't
do for that sort Of sewing, as it would
rot. So every pad is sewed with COZ
per wire. [ never had scald back or
a piece of broken skin on q mule since
I've been farming.
Next to personal supervision is
economy. Nothing is wasted on nay
farm. [ have 100 tons of home made
manure composted now, and one ton
OF cOmposted manure is worth three
tons Of guano. Not blade of grass
Is burned on my place. That with
the refuse OF my sugar cane even is
turned under and enriches the SOIL. 1t
is small things that make Or ruin the
farmer. My neighbors use two or
three sets of plowlines a year-aaine
last me two or three years. Every
night [ oil every wagon on the place,
using cotton oil. Once a month
have every axle cleaned and the old
oil rubbed off. This saves my wagons
My stock and crops are all prote cted
the same way. The poorest house on
my place is the big house now live
in"
Glow about your labor?"
'Better than slaves. I pay them
So a month, half in cash every Satur-
day night, one ration and allow each
hand half acre for potatoes and an
acre for corn. and give them every
Saturday afternoon. They work be-
cause they know know it when they
shirk. They began stealing from nae.
I slept on the ground for three weeks,
bagged three of the thieves, and now
I am safe. When they are well
make them work and when they are
sick I give them medicine from nay
own hand. They know I watch them
and they work"
you find the life happy one, l
suppose?''
"The freest, happiest, most indie
pendent life in the world. I have not
been sick day in II years. When I
lay down I sleep. I ask no man any
odds. My broad acres are there and
they are exhaustless. The best bank
man can have is his land. Every
dollar he puts there is safe and will
4 i