Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-08-07
Stopping the Losses.

nth all the complaints that farming
doesn pay, there must be on every farm
some part that is pecuniarily profitable
IN just the proportion that the farmer
keeps close track Of receipts and expenses
! of various crops he can tell what part paws
| him and what does not Too many far
mers are unwilling to take the mental
| trouble TO study out the facts Of their stu
alton. 1t is easier to do as others dc. get
into a rut where perhaps the severest ply
steal labor Is required, but the unvarving
round Of work leaves the least possible
employment OF mental energy. This is
! not true to the extent it once was Far
mers are obliged to think good deal in
order to make both ends meet. Those who
| think most and best. provided they do not
! lapse into neglect and iaziness in the exc
cuti0n OF their ideas, have greatest success,
and usually with less physical labor than
their neighbors make their farming pay
something more than their living.
The first loss which thinking farmer
VIII try to stop is that from stock that does
not pay its keep. As such stock is neces-
sarily depreciating In value it involves an
additional loss to its owner. The i'm
proved breeds in every variety of stock
| show a productive capacity that make the
unimproved animals practically worth
| less. There are millions of scrub COWS in
this country that, so long as they are kept
as cows, must entail loss upon their
owner. They may be worth little to fatten
for COW beef. or otherwise they are worth
| nothing at ALL Such cows are often so
poorly fed and cared for that they do
not show all that they are capable of doing
but this is necessary result of their own
worthlessness. The poor man who is I'M
| lucky enough to own such cows says he
cannot afford to feed them better, or care
for them better than he does. From these
| poor y fed COW is mainly made the vast
quantity of inferior butter that makes a
| losing fight against oeomargarine for
popular favor. All the evils of poor stock
! feeding and poor management generally go
together. The best way to get rid of one
is to begin by improving the stock That
will pay for good feeding and good care
every day.
A careful observer will note that nearly
all the profitable crops on the farm are
usually grown on the lots near the barn,
or that have been specially favored with
manure and drainage. In some fields will
| be found poor or wet places that require
perhaps more labor in blowing and cult
duce any crop worth harvesting. Until
such defects can be remedied, these fields
| should be seeded to grass, where the labor
on them will be least. Concentrate effort
on the fields that do pay, and unless the
farmer has surplus energy after doing
| this, he had better sell the land that he is
unable to work to best advantage. Some
body else, by concentrating labor, manure
and thought on that poor land, may, and
| probably will, bring it into productiveness
owner if he uses the capital thus released
from unproductive property in making
what land he retains more productive
working capital to put into his land so as
to see how it can be made to produce. Of
those who have such capital, compare
lively few have the courage to use it in the
best way. They seem to have no faith in
money put into land, unless it spreads
over large surface Yet all the great
successes in farming have come from con-
centrating labor and capital in cultivating
d small area.
On very many farms there is inability
of their owners to adapt themselves to the
changed conditions of modern farming
Crops that once paid are no longer profit
able, and cultivated as they used to be-
Will probably never pay again. 1t is hard
to give up crops that experience has shown
are adapted to the locality It may not
be necessary to give them up entirely, but
grow them to small extent while dew
ing greater proportion of time, land anG
energy to growing something else that the
new conditions demand. Where thi;
necessary change is being made the farm
er must give especial care to keeping the
best stock he can procure If he does
this, and thus escapes being swamped by
improbable stock, he may cautiously begin
many changes in farm crops and method:
without much danger of losing seriously
by them-American Cultivator.