St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-09-21
THE FARMERS LOT.

It IL Not as Had ~ Some Dtogrunt1o0
Fellows Try to Paint 1t.
My investigations lead me to the
conclusion that there is good ground
for the frequent complaint Of inade-
quate return from farming But. after
all. low prices are not unprecedented.
For instance. in 1Si9 my father picked
up forty dairy cows. one or two in q
place. and the highest price for the
best OF the herd was $l1. / remember
when corn sold at 10 to Is cents q
bushel. oats at cents. eggs at 5 cents
a dozen and butter at 6 cents a pound.
The average price of wheat in my local
market was very rarely 81 bushel.
and for corn about As cents. During
the past four years wheat has aver
aged about IS cents, and corn not far
from 40 cents. / find that groceries.
wooden goods and boots and shoes cost
very nearly the same thirty years ago
as now. but calico. muslins, nails and
hardware were from % to so per cent.
higher then than now, and salt cost
twice as much. While q dollar will
purchase more of the necessaries OF
life now than then. it requires about
n third moro grain to bring us that
dollar. On the other hand. SO far AZ
the labor is concerned. We can raise
and market the bushel of grain cheap
er, for inventico. railroads and inn
proved highways have increased tho
power of musclA To illustrate: II
frequently took two men and two
horses a day to mark out ten acres OF
corn land for planting and from two to
four men another day to plant it.
Now with q check.rower in a large
field one man will plant without mark
ing twenty acres or more in day; or
il it must be marked one way and
checked by the lever. the farmer with
his three-row sled-msrker can mark
twenty-five acres or mere in day and
two men can plant tweSty acres.
The cost of a marker which will last
many years is only q to s.. and of a
first class planter so and about $12
extra for the checkrow attachment with
so feet OF wire. Formerly in heavy or
lodged grass 1t was a hard days work
for man to NOV an acre. while now
with machine costing but s45 the
farmer cuts with ease to himself and
his team nearly an acre an hour. and
will save the cost OF his machine In
cutting less than 100 acres. In putting
in and harvesting a crop of small
grain the expef,se has not been re.
duced so much. but is considerably
less than formerly. while the grain is
all saved. whereas enough used to be
wasted to pay for harvesting. The ex-
pense Of marketing has in the aggre-
gate been reduced BY railroads and
bringing the markets to tho farmers
door. The building Of turnpikes and
multiplication OF bridges enables the
farmer to take twice as much at load
as was possible in former days. There
are men in my neighborhood who can
market $50 to 200 bushels of wheat q
day. drawing it from their farms to
the railway station. who in the early
times spent ten days with four horse
team taking forty bushels to Cincin-
natl, their nearest market. The farmer
out of debt and whose crops are as
good now as formerly can look Sc.
renely at the situation; but those who
allowed their land to run down 50
that in addition to low prices there
are also snall yields or who are carry
ing heavy load OF debt-even they
might be worse of.-Wald0 F. Brown.
in n. Y. Tribune. .f .a