Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-08-09
CAUSES OF FAILURE.

Why Some Farmers Stay Poor and Never
Accompaish Any Thing.
/ tried to answer the question Of the
''twelve-year-old" girl. as to why some
farmers grow poor crops, while their
neighbors grow good ones. And an
swering that, partly answered her ssc-
ond question, .'why do some men work
hard and never accomplish any thing?"
l take it that she means by this ques-
ton rather that they keep poor. than
that they do not accomplish any thing.
The causes vary with the individual,
but may aii be clsssed under the
general h I'd of bad management.
Some of the n are the same which pro-
duce poor cops, for it is easy to see
that all the profit there is in farming
comes to those that grow crop
above the average yield. But a
farmer may grow crops whose
yield will be sufficient to be
profitable, and yet there be many
causes to feep him poor, and some OF
these l will enumerate. One is. that
the farmer is unwise in dispOsing of
his croTs. do not mean by this that
he driv's to the railway station, and
says to the grain buyer: II will bring
you five hundred bushels of corn for
twenty cents bushel.' when he is
paying fifty cents, for this would be
too apparent, and would subject him
to the ridicule of his neighbors or land
him to the lunatic asylum. Many
farmers do this however in more
laborious and roundabout way. by
feeding their grain to stock of such a
character that it is impossible to real
ize a profit from it. Sometimes this is
on account of the breed of stock, but
more often it is from want of judg-
ment and care in feeding.
There are farmers by the thousand
who are always Overstocked. and whose
stock is in consequence nearly always
underfed. If the season proves a ia
vorable one, they will usually after har-
vest have enough feed round the fences
and on the young grass and clover of
the stubble fields to get their stock in
good condition, but this Is largely at
the expense of the coming season. for
the pasturing of young grass and clover
during tine fall is nearly always detri-
mental to its further growth and devel-
opment. If you will visit these over
stocked farmers in April you will find
the stock thin, lOng-haired and bOny.
and in such bad condition that if they
were turned on the best of pasture It
would take nearly or quite two months
to bring them back to the weight Of
the previous October, but instead
of having good pastures to turn
them on, the scarcity of food compels
them to turn them out to grub at the
roots of the grass as soon as it makes
start that shows a shade of green.
That must be a fortunate neighb0rhOOd
which does not furnish distressing
illustrations of this kind of misman-
agement. But OverstOcking is not the
only way in which farmers manage to
feed at q loss. One-third of the food
given to cattle in the barn-yard where
they are exposed to cold and storm
and obliged to drink ice water, is
virtually thrown away. Again there
are large losses from feeding ill-bal-
anced ratiOns; some times a ration so
rich in fats as to produce indigestion
and unthrift and consequent loss, or so
poor as to enfeeble the animal. 1r-
regular feeding as to time and quantity
is always improbable feeding, aud yet
it is often practiced.
The farmer who allows the rays Of
the moon to shine through the cracks
of rail fence on his cattle through the
winter while they subsist principally
on straw, is often unlucky with his
COWS at calving time, and the man who
raises colts that are drug in the
market a: four years old at *75 each,
and whose cattle rarely weigh one
thousand pounds or bring more than
three cents pound, is evidently not
farming for profit, and as he mist have
some motive. it is probable that he
does it for fun. There are other causes
which help keep farmers poor. Many
of them fail to make the farm produce
any thing like what it might of the
family supplies. 1t is easier to go to the
grocer and butcher for fruits, meats,
ETC.. than to produce them. and at the
end of the year (for they generally buy
on credit) they have bills to pay which
absorb every dollar of the farm income
and leave them to begin over again the
old process of running up bills. The
first use farm should be put to is to
supply the family wants, as meats and
brcadstuff. eggs and poultry. Milk,
cream and butter, fruits and vege-
tables. should be SO abundant
and so excellent, of home production.
that the family will need little else,
and ordinarily surplus of them can
be produced which will annihilate
store bills. There are few farmers
who live up to their privileges in this