The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1889-08-09
THE FARMERS LOT,
1t Is Not as Bad as Some Disgruntled
Fellows Try to Faint 1t.

Fellows Try to Faint 1t.
Ny Investigations lead me to the
conclusion that there is good ground
for the frequent complaint Of made
quate return from farming But, after
all, low prices are not unprecedented.
For instance. in 1S49 my father picked
up forty dairy cows, one or two in a
place, and the highest price for the
best OF the herd was f1l. | remember
when corn sold at 10 to l. cents a
bushel, oats at s cents, eggs at cents
dozen and butter at cents pound.
The average price Of wheat in NY local
market was very rarely 81 bushel,
and for corn about is cents During
the past four years wheat has aver.
aged about = cents, and catn not far
from AZ cents. | lind that groceries.
wooden goods and boots and shoes cost
very nearly the same thirty ycar7 ago
as now, but calico. muslins, nails and
hardware were from - to 80 per cent.
higher then than now, and salt cost
twice as much. Whilo q dollar will
purchase more OF the nacessaries Of
life now than then, it requires about
third more grain to bring us that
dollar. On t&e other hand. so far a3
the labor is concerned. We can raise
and market the tushel OF grain cheap
er, for inveutiro, railroads and i'm
proved highways have increased the
power of muScIs TO Illustrator: It
frequently took two men and two
horses day to mark out ten acres OF
corn land for planting and from two to
four men another day to plant il.
Now with q CheCkrrower in a }ac-e
field one man will pant without mark
ing twenty acres or more in a day or
if it must be marked one way and
checked by the lever the farmer with
his three-row sIcd-m~rker can mark
twenty-five acres or mere in day and
two men can plant tweaty acres.
The cost OF a marker which will last
many years is only = to s., and Of a
first class planter So and about So
extra for the chechrow attachment with
50 feet Of wire. Formerly in heavy or
lodged grass II was a hard days work
for man to now an acre, while now
with a machine costing but Si5 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 thar 100 acres. In putting
in and harvesting crop Of small
grain the expehse 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 the farmer
door The building Of turnpikes and
multiplication of bridges enables the
farmer to take twice as much at a load
as was possible in former days. There
are men in my neighborhood who can
market $50 to 20O bushels of wheat a
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 so
that in addition to low prices there
are also small yields or who are carry
ing heavy load of debt--even they
might be worse off. Waldo F. Brown,
in N. Y. Tribune.