The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-12
Does the Small Farm Payq


nall farm pay better in proportion to its
lie than the large one? is question often
liked me by men interested in large farms.
lIbose who inquire are usually ready to
Iaintain that it does not, but although |
Item avoid an argument on the subject,
Albr equally well convinced that it does pay
Inch better. In considering the question
4. lbere are different things to be looked at
i'll is true that in many cases the man who
Tan make a small farm pay can make
trge one pay in the same proportion; but
mn farm can be too large. I know farmer
~ hat tries alone to farm $50 acres who, if
l. would retain about five acres and let the
= est TO some good farmer, would double his
early income. Let me particularize:
Il This farmer puts in about eight acres of
i Iorn with the intention of working it him
Ielf. He also plants two or three acres of
- POTATOES, some 10 to 20 acres of oats and Is
Io 20 acres of wheaton in round numbers
h has about so acres under cultivation, the
work on which he expects to do himself. In
ies his he makes his first mistake, and it is
Ireat mistake, He has 40 acres left for
-kasure and meadow. The point wish to
make is, that this farmer has too many irons
In the fire. He should have one man by the
II ear, and if necessary at times, as it proba-
kv would be to do his work properly and
II in season, he should employ another by the
,kay A second mistake is in attempting to
trop land without sufficient quantity Of
tnanure. / have seen farmers who worked
kheir land to death without enough manure
who never thought of clover, who shaved
Hearty and late as if there were no other
Mays to come, and at the end of the year it
"a was the same old story, "a living, that's
70 ALL" How many farmers with 100 acres
Ere just doing the same thing. To the
rIquestion often asked by such individual
How can I make my farm payr l would
Enswer "Give it manure or give it a rest
Do not let your farm run down; crop only
tyhat you have manure enough to dress;
A, Keep the land well covered"
II I wish right hers to call the attention of
the farmers who are in the dry belt, those
Iof Ohio especially, to the value of fresh
Lnanure. This fall, when you were top
Dressing your wheat fields, did it not come
II 70 your mind that the manure had decreased
En value about one-half since last spring?
Had you taken that manure and spread it
=fver your sod before you planted corn, your
Porn would have yielded one-third more and
~Eour wheatfields would now be a very diff
| Ferent color. l have preached this to some
bf the farmers around me for years but
hhey still hold to the topdressng. knowof
Vkome few who scatter their manure when
uFresh, so that rain can beat it into the
ground, then pillow it under. Their farms
pre- improving every year, while those who
Yet the manure lie in the barnyard from one
fear to the next, then throw it on the sur
hlace OF UlIe land for the sun and the wind
y TO carry away, are at a standstill | will
m acknowledge that you may get better crop
'htf wheat by top dressing in autumn, but if
neEou put two years crops together the adj
advantage will be decidedly in blowing under
Hfytthe previous spring.
n If we small fruit growers and market
lrdeners were to use our manure in this
yle and get no better returns from it than
PES the average farmer we should soon be
II Broken up at the prices we have to pay. |
uIpay more for manure for 40 acres each wear
than the average wheat grower makes of
II lis 40 acres Of wheat. l believe that were
Pc to spend one-half as much his yield would
nj pc so increased in few years that his outlay
dEwould be returned tenfold. Here is where
Ehe small farm has the advantage over the
AZ Earge one. 1t is worked every year; every
boot has to pay; WHAT'S planted is sure to
Rome, let the season be wet or dry, for the
I, !ground is always moist. You can notice
u Ewhen you work about where the old stock
rfyard has been for years the soil holds the
Eampness Some are great sticlxlers for ro-
agitation of crops. They say we must not take
S~Hover two crops of corn in succession from
hHhe same field. This is all nonsense, If you
a Hhave the manure to cover it as it ought to
aPe covered you can raise corn crops in sue
Eession for 20 years. 1t is the manure that
pays; see that you lose none of it.
II And this leads to the subject of specialtes
p farming, which is the strong point in
Favor of the small farm. Not but you can
/ Enake speciality of some one thing on the
large farm also, though not with the same
advantage as on the small farm. simply be-
Pause a proportionally large amount of
floating capital is not usually at command.
can find work for five men for seven months
the year on SO acres, and pay from S15 to
et20 per month besides board. l pay more
Eor manure than the average farmer clears
Prom his wheat on the same number Of acres.
Eultea difference between this and attempt
ng to run 100 acres by one-man power
Iwlthout manure. Some say specialties fail.
IL hat if they do! Ordinary farm crops
h sometimes fail. This year in Ohio we lost
our apple crop, but other crops made upfor
r. The berry crop sold for more than it has
Eor years, the reason being a general short
The man who made speciality of
erl1es, although his crop also was short,
lad berries also TO sell and made some
money, while the one who had but small
patch had none to sell.
do not mean TO say that we should drop
IL eVerything else and just tie to one thing, by
Ihy means; but we should take one or two
It. alngs and plant largely Of them, and then
alSe enough other truck TO keep up ex-
enSes and run the farm. l take two crops
s Iearly from my land and still leave it in
Ir etter condition than l found it. 1t is ma
I'D ure, labor, thorough culture, economy that
M n nakes the small farm pay. A second crop
vegetables takes no more fertility from