Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-01-07
THE FARM.
How 20 Make Farming Pay by work
and Thought.

eencent-a fine typelot young south
era armer.
The earth is gold mine" he
says, TO any man that works il dill
gently
II has certainly proved to be one to
Mr.. Rocd. IN seven years he has
made over $40, 0N0 in fGrming-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
uniting OF sunshine, rain and sweat
into corn and cotton. The story of
his work is significant, and il may be
improving, so here it is in paragraph,
ooaxed from his own lips.
My father said to me, about seven
years ago, my son, I'm going 10 die.
and leave Sc, 00e ia honest debts that
you must pay" In six weeks he was
dead, and took the plantation in
Stewart county Oh the Chattahoochee
river. | mortgaged the place for 81,
600 and went to work. The first les,
son L learned was economy. dsrned
my own socks and patched my own
clothes as they wore out. When
went to Eutaula l put a biscuit in my
pocket and when got to town tied
my horse 10 a rack and saved hotel
bill. ran plough myself, leading
The way for my hands. AT night !
lit up the forge and did my own
blseksmithing, learning as went l
naver LETT my farm a day, and slept
SIX hours a night
That must have brought success? 2"
"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. l have made in ac-
tual money over $4,000 This is nay
poorest year, and yet l Will clear over
$500. | would not give any man
IS to guarantee me $4,000 a year on
nay l0-mule farm for the next ten
years, Farming is the safest business
a mas can engage in, if he goes at 1t
right.
What are the rues by which you
work9"
First, | raise my own provisions.
| now have 100 bushels of corn, ], 100
bushels of oats, 800 bushels of peas
and 400 gallons of syrup for sale.
raise much OF my own meat and
would raise 1t all except that my eli
mate IS too warm to cure it in. Inev-
er saw man who did not raise his
own corn thatimade money on cotton.
never saw corn-raiser that wasn't
a 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. My cotton
crop is always a cash surplus.
make my other crops carry The farm. !"
Next to raising my own corn. |
court personal attention TO my bust
ness. ! sow every bushel of oats my
self, because never found hand
that could do it right. This fall
worked II hours a day with a three
peck basket on my arm, and sowed
oats ahead of - plows, till the ends of
my fingers were bleeding. La making
syrup, | got along with four hours
sleep in "a, and the result is perfect
syrup. | superintend every detail of
my farming as do this. Every back
strap Of my harness has bag OF moss
sewed under the leather 70 protect
the mules back. Thread wouldn't
do for that sort OF sewing, as il would
rot. SO every pad is sewed with cop
per wire. | never had scald back or
piece of broken skin on a mule since
I've been farming.
Next to personal supervision is
economy Nothing is wasted on my
farm. | have 1870 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 plow-lines a year-mine
last me two or three years. Every
night | oil every wagon on the place,
using cotton oil. Once 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"
''How about your LAHORE"
Better than slaves. l pay them
s. 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.
/ slept on the ground for three weeks,
bagged three of the thieves, and now
am safe, When they are well l
make them work and when they are
sick / give them medicine from my
own hand They know I watch them
and they work.
you find the life a happy one, l
SUPPOSED
"The freest, happiest, most inde.
pendent life in the world. have not
been sick a day in II years. When l
lay down sleep. ask no man any
odds. My broad acres are there and
they are exhaustless. The best bank
a man can have is his land. Every
dollar he puts there is safe and will
49, him interest and princinal MANY