The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-09-16
RURAL ECONOMY.
The Most Prosperous Farmers
Are Those Who Produce the
Food for Their Families.
In the Case of Grain Stubble Cremation
Is Found To Be Preferable
to Burial.
Suggestions as to Garden Management
in the Month of August.
Food for the Family.

Food for the Family.
A gentleman who keeps grocery or
country store not many miles from
Chicago states, as the result of his OBJ
servation in business, that farmers buy
in each succeeding year a large pro-
portion of the food consumed in their
houses Previous to the civil war, he
states. they purchased little at groc-
cry except tea, coffee, spices, sugar,
molasses, rice and raisns. They made
their own vinegar, soap and candles.
They dried apples, peaches, pumpkins.
and several kinds of small fruit. They
canned fruit and vegetables to use
when they were out of season. They
made preserves, jams, and jellies, and
several kinds of pickles. They also
made all the butter and cheese neces-
sary for the supply of their own fam
lilies, and had considerable amount of
each to sell for cash or exchange for
goods. Then every farmer ate bread
made from the grain he raised, which
was ground at some custom mill.
Nearly every farmer raised rye and
buckwheat as we'll as wheat and corn.
He wanted them for supplying food to
eat at home. His first thought was
raising provisions for feeding his fam
lily and the necessary help in the field
and house.
At present farmers are about as lib
eral patrons of the grocery as mechan-
les and professional men. They no
longer make soap, candies, pickles,
vinegar. or preserves. They buy all
kinds of canned and dried fruits. AL
though they may continue to raise
grain, they buy flour, meal, hominy
grits, and various other preparations
of grain. They purchase self-raising
buckwheat flour OR 60 without hot cakes
for breakfast. They also buy canned,
sailed, and smoked meats. 1t has
come within his observation that many
farmers purchase garden vegetables in
villages and take them to their farm
homes. Some even buy melons, small
fruits, and sweet corn. Almost all his
farmer patrons buy cheese, and some
of them purchase the butter they use.
Once they came to town with full
wagons and drove home with their
wagons nearly empty. Now their
wagons are light when they come to
town, unless they are taking their grain
| to the elevator, and well filled after
they have visited the grocery and meat
market and are ready to return home.
AS rule, farmers sell nearly all of
their food products and buy nearly ey-
= erything they need for their tables.
! They are as dependent on the grocer
and butcher for supplies for their ia
bles as men who work in shops and
! stores.
! The high prices realized for nearly
all kinds of farm products during the
i civil war doubtless had much to do in
causing the farmers to sell most that
they raised. They fell into the habit of
! neglecting most of the small rural in
dustries because they were less profita-
BILE than extensive operations in raising
grain and feeding stock. The general
Introduction of machinery for planting.
cultivating, and harvesting most of the
leading field crops also had much to do
in reyolutionizing farm operations and
in changing the habits Of farmers.
After using machines in the corn and
wheat fields for few years farmers
came to dislike attempting to pro-
duce any crop that required much man
gal labor. They took the pleasure of
driving Q pair of matched horses at
tached to pony plow, corn-planter,
fiding-cultiyator, q moving machine,
shining tooth hay rake, or self
binding harvester, but they found no
satisfaction in handling the spade and
hoe. They delighted in the horse-hay
loader, but they greatly disliked to get
down on their knees to weed onions
or to stack over and thin out beets and
turnips. AS consequence the minor
field crops were neglected and the veg
etable garden was given over to weeds.
With large crops and high prices q
farmer who has cash on hand and who
understands trading may make money
by selling nearly all that he raises and
buying almost everything that his fam
lily and help consumes. The owners
of the great cotton and tobacco planta-
tons in the south in slavery days did
business in this way, and those who
kept out Of debt and were skilled in
buying and selling pfospered: Those
WHO we're in debt, however, and who
were not good traders, were not suc-
cessful. They allowed store bills ta
accumulate during an entire year, and
all the money received for their cotton
and tobacco crops was required to pay
tham. They never enjoyed the luxury
of ready money. They were compelled
to take goods at the prices merchants
demanded for them, and were also
compelled to sell their crops at time
they were in a condition to send to
market. whether prices were high OF
low. They were almost as dependent
on the grocer for food supplies as they
would have been if they had not cult.
waited an acre Of land. Some depended
, on carn raised in the north OF BY small
l farmers in the vicinity fer feeding tc
their teams, which were purchased in:
stead OF being raised on the plan tatiQns
they owned and managed.
Commercial farming may be. and Of
ten is, profitable. but requires large
means managed by a good trader to in
sure success, observation shows thai
the most successful farmers in all part;
. of the country are those who produces
, nearly all tho food required for theil
family and help. A large. well-man
|, aged vegetable garden, an orchard. {
l plantation of small fruit, a vineyard, 9
1 few stands of bees. patch of buck
wheat. an acre in choice peas and diff
ferent varieties Of beans. and a smoke
. h"usc. save grocers' bills. insure goot
living, and make It unnecessary for I
r farmer to run & daily stage to the near
. est town. Western farmers who visi
1 New Eagland wonder how the farmer
: there continue to make living. Thu
8 wonder grows when they learn tina
many of them have mortgsges' 81
farms in the west. The western Oh
server notices that they have very lit
tie to sell, H he pays close attention
J. to affairs be viii see that they hay
!. very little to buy. With the possibl
I exceptions of flour, they raise all thei
food, which is half the cost Of living
:. Their tables aye supplied with spbstan
; tial food and with many }gxuries, a