Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-10-07

ITO ldIueE success Q6p6nQS largely
on his ability to assign the different crops
to such portions of his farm as are best
adapted to their growth; he who can not
do this had better followed mixed farm
ing, because by so doing he will likely
get some crops on the right soil, but when
! he attempts to grow but one crop, if he
makes any mistake in the selection of the
soil, or in his method of cultivation, he
will be unable to grow his produce as
cheap as those who fully understand the
| business; so he has to sell at no profit, if
not positive loss.
When a farmer decides to 90 into some
! special crop he must remember that he
has got to compete with experts; there
! fore, unless he feels very sure that he
also can become an expert, he should not
enter upon what must be an unequal
race, and in the end he will find that he
has made a mistake in leaving mixed
| farming.
Special crops, as rule, require high
culture, and the use of large quantities of
manure, or commercial fertilizers: this
means large outlay of time and money,
thus opening chance for failure that
to the common farmer will be somewhat
| serious; there will occasionally be year
when crop will fail and if only one crop
be grown there is nothing to fall back
on, as there will be if several crops are
| grown, for some one of them will in all
| probability be good, but with a
thorough knowledge of how best to pro-
duce crop the profits in good years will
| be sufficient TO balance what is lost in a
! poor year.
The farmers who have been most sue
cessful are those who have confined them
selves to few crops that are to be put
| into the market for sale. He who con-
fines himself to mixed farming will always
| have some crop that will do well, so that
he will have something to sell, but what
| he sells must necessarily be in small lots,
which, as rule, can not be disposed of to
so good advantage as if he had largelOt
and had thoroughly learned the trade of
packing it for market; the transportation
to market is also, as rule, much more
expensive than it would be if he had large
quantities. Whether Or not it is best for
farmer to leave mixed farming for the
production of special crops must depend
somewhat on his financial condition, as
well as upon his intelligence, for it re-
quircs more capital to produce special
crops than for mixed farming; for he
must not only have the means to carry his
crop through the entire season, but he
must be able to bridge over bad season
when crops do not pay expenses; thus he
must belong to that class that can keep a
surplus of money until wanted, without
spending it for what he can do without.
Unless he possesses those requirements
ne will find himself at end of bad season
compelled to hire money to carry his
next crop through. Some farmers never
can succeed with special crops because
they cannot keep the money obtained in
good years to carry them through the I'M
favorable years.
AS rule it is best for a farmer to
change from mixed farming to special
crops very gradually, thus making him
self gradually acquainted with all the
wants of the crop before he gets in to it
any great extent; he will then know
whether or not his land is adapted to it, |
and whether it is crop that it is q crop
that is adapted to his taste.
The great mistake many make is by
rushing into special crop because some
neighbor has CHANGED to make very large
profit from it; they have an idea that
they can do the same thing, but when
too late they find that their land is not
adapted to the crop as their neighbours,
or that there is some particular method
of cultivation that their neighbor has dis
covered that has escaped their observa-
ton; either one of these will make
the difference between good profit and
a loss.