The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-02-05
MlsTAkEs ~ FARMING.

MISTAKES m FARMING.
Peints which Every Asricult.rist shesa1
Carefully Consider.
Edmund Hersey says while it is well
to make frequent record Of the success
ful operations on the farm, il Is also
well to occasionally record some Of tho
mistakes. The mariners chart not only
contains the course of the channel where
it is safe for vessels to sail, but it also
oontains. very plainly marked, the rocks
and shoals where it is not safe for vessels
to pass. A chart without the dangerous
places represented upon it would not DO
q good chart-in fact, it would be dam
gerous one-s0 in our record of the
contain some of the errors to be avoided,
it would not be a full record; in fact, is
would not be safe guide.
The first mistake that the farmer -
very liable to make is in not trying to I'M
deystand himself, that he may be better
able to Judge what line of action may 30
best suited to his taste, and measure
more accurately his ability to make .
success of any business he may desire to
enter upon. While it is very true that
to fully know ourselves is one of tho
most difficult tasks which man is called
upon to perform, it must be very evi-
dent to all that If we make no efforts to
learn our own tastes and to measure
our capacities, our ignorance of our-
selves will be much more complete than
If we made continued efforts to learn our
own peculiar traits of character. tastes
and powers. In consequence of sthis
neglect of self-examinatiOn we often SEQ
men who blunder into business that is
entirely unsuited to their taste and far
beyond their capacity. While these
errors are committed in all branches Of
human industry, they are committed by
| farmers quite as often as any others.
How often do we find men located on .
farm that is adapted to one peculiar
branch of farming, while they are only
adapted to quite different branch; and
we frequently see men rushing into
some special crop that they know little
about and have no taste for, simply be-
cause q neighbor has made a success
of it.
When the farmer understands what
particular branches of farming he is
adapted for, he is then and not until
then, in a condition to make proper Sc
lection of farm; but for the want Of
this knowledge we find large numbers
locating on farms that are entirely I'M
suited to their wants. In purchasing .
farm the mistake is too often made OF
giving more attention 10 terms Of pay
ment, price and particular location,
than to the character of the soil and its
fitness for the particular crops it is de-
sired to grow. 1t is true the terms OF
payment, price and locality are all im-
portant, and should be considered, but
the adaptability of the soil to the par
ticular wants Of the purchaser should
first be considered.
The mistake that is almost universal
among farmers is in tilling more land
than they can manure well and cnlti-
vate as thoroughly as is the most profit
able.
Another mistake is almost universal
namely, raising too many weeds in
the last part of the season. A very
large proportion of farmers think II
they keep the weeds down until the
crops are nearly grown il is all that ID
necessary; they seem to forget that
every weed that is permitted to seed
will make hundreds, if not thousands
of seeds another year, and that it will
require ten times the labor to destroy
them then than it would to have de-
stroycd the single weed in the autumn
noI svxS fs rsa
very few who realize that a farm once
cleared of weed-seed can be worked
with half the labor where hoed crops
are or .wn.
The mistake is often made in stock
ing a farm with animals of ordinary
quality and uncertain breed, because
they can be purchased for less price
than good well-bred animals. The fact
that it costs but little more to keep q
good animal than it does to keep poor
one is entirely lost sight of, and so is
the fact that the income of the good
animal will often be twice as much as
the Door one. The farmer who starts
with animals of the best breeds can al
ways keep his farm stocked for about
the same cost as If he started with poor
animals; it is true the first outlay would
be larger, but the raising of young stock
would cost but trifle more, while il
one should be sold it would bring as
much as two or three of the poor breed.
What is true of stock is true of field
and garden seeds; it is great mistake
to introduce upon the farm anything
but seeds of the best quality. and when
a good variety is secured it is great
mistake not to keep it, and reduce
from it all the seed that are needed;
better to do this, even if it costs twice
as much as it would 10 buy Mobile
Register.
/ THE oRINDsToNE.