Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-02-02
FOR THE FARMER.
How Wasteful Methods of Western Farm
ers Appear to Those in the East-An
Improved Corn Crib.
How Farmers Institutes May be Made oil
Value to Farmers-DistinS gushing
Marks of q Good Cow.
WASTE on WESTERN FAR,rs.

That nearly as much Is wasted on a
| farm in the west as is raised on one of
| the same size in the east has often
! been remarked when farmer from
| the tirst-named region visits this part
of the country. He often sees many
| acres of grass that have not been cut
and over which prairie fires will run.
He is surprised to see the cornstaiks
| in the fall and winter on tie hills
where they grew, the foliage DESTROYED
| by the frost and wind. He knows
| that these cornstalks if cut in time
and properly cured and protected are
worth as much for feeding stock as tile
| hay that could be cut on the same
amount of land. The aste is painful
to him. He does not wonder that the
average western farmer has a hard
| time when he allows so much good
stock food to 90 to decay. He looks
over a township and estimates the
value of the corn fodder that has been
wasted at some $4,000. He multiplies
| this sum by the number of townships
| in the State, and ascertains that the
waste amounts to tens of millions of
| dollars. On his return home he writes
to some paper an account of what he
saw. In his article he states that the
| farmers in the region he visited could
all become rich in Il few years, if they
would practice the methods of saving
that are common in the Eastern States,
where corn fodder is all cut when the
! foliage is green, and where the husks
are saved for making mattresses. He
notices that other things than corn
TO lie
serves that grain springs up in every
| field after harvest because no attempt
was made to collect the stalks that
were not secured by the harvester. He
| also sees that much of the grain straw
is burned or allowed to rot.
He forgets the old adage that s'cir-
cumstances alter cases" He does not
take into consideration the fact that
| there is not stock enough in that part
of the country to eat all the grass that
is produced, and that the price of hay
may not pay the cost of preparing it
and sending it to market. 1t does not
occur to him that farmer can cut and
cure four acres Of grass easier than he
can one acre of cornstalks, and that
he has not time to secure both grass
and corn fodder before they are killed
by the frost. His stay in the west is
SO short that he does not ascertain
that farm labor is more scarce and ex-
pensive than it is at home; the farm
products sell for much less, and that
there is no market for many of the
things that command good prices in
the east. On his farm, which is near
a large town, straw and small hay are
worth sowing for bedding horses, and
command as high price as timothy
hay does in Iowa or Nebraska. This
being the case, he sows them and
takes them to market, though he is
obliged to hire help to enable him to
do the work. He cuts, cures, and puts
under cover all the cornstalks he
raises. There may be no demand for
>hem in towns, but they take the place
of hay in his own feeding yard, and
the hay commands good price. 1t
will pay him to employ men to rake
over grain-felds after the harvester
has done its work. 1t also pays him
to use the mandrake in the moving
heId. He would probably find that lie
could not make living wages by using
a mandrake in a grain or grass field
in many places in the west. In them
the waste of hay and grain can only
be prevented by greater waste of
labor and money. 1t may not pay to
save it and he can not collect enough to
support him. Cleaning is only profit
able in countries where grain is scarce
and many persons are without profit
able employment.