Morris tribune., 1889-08-28
Thoughts Suggested to a Wis
consin Dairyman by a Rlde
Through Stevens County.

i Through Stevens County.
Thought No. l. That If | had oil
income equal to the annual waste
caused by the exposure of farm ma
chinery to the weather, would III
few years be II millionaire. l saw
hundreds of plows, harrows, seeders
mowers, rakes and binders standing
where last used. with no other shelter
than heavens broad blue canopy.
Thought No. 2 was, what a grand
county for dairying, and how little
appreciated. The only creamery ]
saw was at Morris, the county seat
and that was idle.
Farmers of Stevens county, do you
realize that the fertility of the soil Ii
your bank account, and that you
with the best dairy county in the
state, and none better in the world
are selling this fertility by the bushel
| in every load of wheat you haul tC
market, when by keeping cattle
hogs and sheep, you can sell the
product of your farms in the shape Of
butter, beef, pork, mutton and wool
thus realizing more money, and al
the same time increasing the fertility
of your land, thereby adding each
year to your bank account by the de-
posits of fertility obtained from ami
mai farming.
You ask, what is there i'll Stevens
county that makes it the best of loca.
tions for dairyIng?" / will tell you.
First, there is an abundant supply OF
pure cold water. Milk is IS per cent.
water. So you see its pure lakes and
rivers are no small factor in the dairy
business. Then there are thousands
of acres of the best pasture in the
world going to waste every year. But
you say, "wild pastures will soon run
out" If SO, let them go, for there is
what is far better, u soil and climate
perfectly adapted to the tame grasses,
with which the pastures can be re-
newed without turning q sod. 1t is
also we'll adapted to the clovers, corn
and oats, and with Il soil so produc-
tive, anu the use Of the silO you can
keep stock cheaper and better than
you can cut the wild hay, even though
you eat 1t on railroad lands where the
cost is only the cutting, stacking and
hauling.
III Wisconsin, where the soil is not
equal i'll its fertility and produe-
tiveness, we grow 20 tons of ensiIage
corn to the acre. This, when in the
silo, costs so cents per ton: one and q
half tons is of as much value as ton
Of the best wild hay. Corn, for this
purpose, is sure crop, aud your land
that under the most favorable clr-
cumstances produces 20 bushel of
wheat to the acre will, 7nder very
much less favorable circ umstances
produce from 20 to Is tons of fodder
corn per acre, and draw much less on
the soil.
l never saw better crops of clover
and timothy than in Stevens county.
The farmers of Orange county, New
York, the Western Reserve of Ohio,
the much talked Of Elgin district of
Illinois, the counties of Rock, Dane,
Walworth, Milwaukee and Racine,
Wisconsin, have all become rich i'll
the dairy business, with far less
natural advantages than those offered
by Stevens county. It costs no more
to provide warm winter quarters for
stock here than in the abov e mentioned
places. There land is worth from $50
to 800 per acre, while here it is only
$40. Add to this its easy access east
and west to the best markets of the
world, and what better place can be
found by those who wish to engage
i'll dairy farming2 Climate, soil,
water, location end transportation
facilities, all of the best, what better
can be asked for? And Stevens
county has them all.
I have been east to New York,
south to the Gulf, and west to the
Pacific coast, but have seen no place
better, and but few as we'll, adapted
to dairying and stock business as this
beautiful county. 1t has never been
my lot to meet a more brainy, we'll
educated and intelligent lot of farm
ers than those of Stevens county, yet
what are they doing? Following the
old wheat rut that has cursed every
state in the northwest. Stop and
think; use your brains. Do not rob
this beautiful county of it's fertility,
thus leaving to your children impov-
erished farms covered with mort
cages. Use your farms for the pur-
pose God intended them, and become
dairy and stock farmers.
A. T. FOSTER.
Sparta, Wis.