St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-06-11
WHY THE DIFFERENCE?
Some Farmers Are Poor While
Others in Same Circumstances

Others in Same Circumstances
Prosper.
W. F. Brown, in the Ohio Farmer,
makes some pertinent suggestions on
this subject. He takes up the question
why some farmers always raise poor
crops and their neighbors good crops?
An answer to this question which would
fit one case might not another, but when
we see, as is often the case, two men on
adjoining farms precisely alike in soil
and general conditions that show this
sharp contrast, we naturally conclude
that the cause will be found in the man
and not in the land. | will mention
some causes very plain to be seen, of
which almoStany neighbOrhood will fur
niSh examples. Some men usually have
poor crops because they are always a
little behind-hand with their work.
There is best time to plant and cult
vate all crops and he only is sure of
doing it in this time, who has everything
in readiness so as to lose no time when
the conditions are favorable.
L know farmers who never seem to
have learned the importance of doing
things at the right time. They do not
see that the pillow and harrOwS are in
order, and the seed on hand and so lose
the two or three earliest days in which
they might have sown oats. Rains will
often come then and for week or more
the land is too wet to work, and by the
time the land is fit for sowing oats they
ought to be blowing for corn. Now
they begin to feel hurried, and as a con-
| sequence the oats are put in without
that careful preparation of seed bed
which is necessary to insure good
crop. Then there is hurry and push
about the corn crop, and before through
+ breaking the weather is hot and
| the teams worn and tired, and
| week or two after the best
time to plant corn they get
| the crop in, but feeling so pushed and
! hurried that they do not take time to
| prepare a good seed bed. The trouble
| planted corn on ill-prepared seed bed is
| thoroughly cultivated, and the crop
| brought to such condition of thrift as to
| insure a God yield, haying and harvest
are Oh hand, and just at the critical mo-
ment when every hour in the corn crop
| is worth dollar, they must leave
| il to save the clover and wheat. And
one who has not made this a matter of
| close observation will perhaps be sur
prised to see how many farmers there
are in each township, to whom the
above description will apply, and
usually there is no excuse for it except
that the farmers have a habit of pro
| crastinating, and simply neglect to
begin these important farm operations
as soon as the conditions are favorable.
The kind of push on the farm which
keeps from hurry and worry, and
| enables the farmer to do his
work well, and enjoy it, Is when ne
pushes his work by beginning in time,
and not losing a day when the plows
can run. The kind of push which is
in the real, pushing the farmer, how
ever, is very different, aud is one of the
chief factors i'll raising poor crops and
in uncomfortable farming. Another
cause of poor crops is that the farmer
| pays too little attention to rotation and
feftility. mean by this that the good
crops grow on land IN good mechanical
condition, which has sufficient plant
food in an available condition, and the
| farmer who makes little use of clover,
who stints in the amount Of grass seed
! Sown, and pastures the young grass
1 and clover after harvest, and over
| stocks his pastures in the fall
| so they are left bare for
| winter, then turns out Oh them in the
| spring while the land is soft; or, worse,
lets his stock run out all winter, fails to
| get the immense neip WHICH IS So easily
obtained by the farmer who sets grass
and clover roots at work to pump up
fertility from beneath and to disinte-
CRATE the soil and by their infinite fibers,
/ and the influence of shade, render the
soil friabIe and porous.
Another reason for poor crops is that
little care or intelligence is exercised
either in saving or applying manures,
. and still another that too large breadth
| is cultivated to allow the land to be put
into good condition as to fertility or cul-
| tivation. In short, to grow good crops
requires intelligence in planning. and
wisdom and energy in executing the
work of the farm.