The Osceola times., 1886-01-23
FARM RESEARCHES.
rhs Best Time for Considering the Claims
of the New and Untried Crops.

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, as hops, broom
corn and tobacco. Some are consider.
ing the propriety of preparing and
stocking fish ponds Others are think
ing of constructing silo. with a view Of
preserving green fodder 10 feed to their
stock next winter Some are consider
ing the profits Of poultry-raising on an
/ extensive scale, with view of supply.
ing the market with fowls and eggs
| They have read of the success of Others
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, OF
sheep, or send it to market A smaller
number, perhaps, have thought that
there was a 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.
naming so, very many farmers are
thinking of making new departure in
some direction, hoping that it will be
productive of greater profits.
Ii is often advisable 10 make changes
in the management of farm. Farmers
of small means are generally Obliged
to keep ''scrub" animals or none. They
have not the money to purchase i'm.
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 up 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 i'm.
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.
ponds can not ordinarily be undertaken
by farmers who have moved upon tracts
of raw prairie and who have families tc
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 theil
business very injudciously. They reac
paragraph in some paper that q
farmer has realized small fortune in q
few years by raising certain crop, OF
by keeping certain breed of animals
or fowls. They think that they can dc
quite as well by adopting the same
course. Without knowledge and with.
out experience the, embark in the new
enterprise only to fail. They 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 il
past. The report that a farmer some
where realized five hundred dollars pei
acre on an onion, celery, or strawberry
crop has had the effect to turn the heads
of many farmers. They neglect theil
old standard crops to plant those with
whose cultivation they are unacquainted,
and for which there is no market near
where they live. They become inan.
cially embarrassed. Their creditors
press them, and they are obliged to part
with their places at sacrifice and to
commence life over again in new
locality. Every time that hops OF
broomcor happens to reach a 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 a farm, and nc
costly improvement undertaken with.
out due deliberation 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
and machinery to dispose of. The silk
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 mui
berry tree to be introduced into various
parts of the West Neither of them IL
as valuable for the purposes for which
they have been recommended as native
trees that can be obtained at one-tentf
the cost The profits Of raising certain
special crops for which there is never 8
large demand have been greatly over
estimated to interested parties. All the
accounts of success have been pub
lished, but the men who have expe
rienced failure have preserved a respect
full silence.
Winter is the best time for consider.
ing the claims of new crops and for
gaining information respecting them.
II is also the best time for learning about