Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-08-28
A Farmers Mistake.

A Buckingham County, n. H., CORES
pendent of the Country Gentleman writes:
We all like to tell of our successes, but
few Of Us like to reveal our mistakes and
failures. Just for change | am going TO
tell of some of my blunders. It may help
others.
The worst mistake [ ever made was try
ing to carry on 4 big farm when | could
afford only sufficient labor and manure
| properly to cultivate very small one. 1t
took me about two years to find this out.
and to bring my operations down to their
proper limits. With twelve acres I obtain
far better results than | do with $50. and
| reckon have saved oy.r 1000 miles in
travel for men and teams already. am
not certain but that less number of acres
would be better yet.
My next mistake was in breeding COM
mon or mongrel stock-dungEill fowls in
stead of thoroughbreds. This very soon
corrected, and stocked my place with pure
! blooded stock, which costs no more to
keep and brings in far larger returns. be-
sides the pleasure and qualification there
is in keeping the same. Mistake number
three was made in trying to keep too many
kinds of stock, and raising too many kinds
of crops. livery soon sifted down to Sc
lected few, of which | make a speciality.
In trying to keep and raise everything it
divides your labor, mind and attention too
much; no one is made a success and many
are complete failures. | believe in diver
sltied farming just so far as time and
labor permit one to give all his interests
their proper attention, but not beyond
that, for this reason onl y-that should one
branch of farming fail one season, one
has another to look to for an income. |
would select such branches as required
their greatest attention at different periods
of the year, and which brought in an in
come at different seasons After | had
made my selections | should stick to them
for life; by so doing your thoughts be-
come conferred on these particular branch
es, you become an expert in that line, are
sought after as authority on that subject,
and soon have a reputation that will aid
very much IN securing a ready market at
higher prices.
Mistake number four is mot was) using
too small an amount of manure or fertiliz-
er. This seems to be difficult one for me
though | think grow better" in this
respect every year. 1t seems hard to take
a dollar that have got safely into my
then throw the stuff he gives me onto my
ground. Que must have great faith to do
it, but there is no question that such faith
is well founded if the fertilizer is equal y
well compounded. The fact that the fer
tilizer man will trust you for the same for
six months or until you have had time to
get at least its cost back, is sufficient rea-
son that he believes that what he sells you,
If properly used, will be the means of your
obtaining enough from its use TO at least
pay him, and he, in q sense islands in
with you.
From my observation-with the excep-
ton of market gardens-not one farm In
fifty receives anywhere near the amount of
fertilizers and manure it should. A far
mer plants crop, marures the same as
much as he thinks he can afford to, of
what to him seems a liberal supply. cult
Yates it very carefully and obtains fair
crop-perhaps the usual amount. Now
In nine cases out of ten assert that right
here Is one Of the important turning
points between making money, or only
just holding your own," or making a
loss. say that if this same farmer had
used three or four times as much dressing,
or even twice as much, that in all proba-
b1lity it woult have doubled the amount of
the crop and added very largely to the
quality Of the same, all of which excess he
obtains from simply supplying the extra
manure.
The amount invested in teams, land,
labor, taxes, interest, cultivation, ETC., is
the same in both cases, with a slight in
crease IN cost Of harvesting His land is
left IN far better condition, and his crop is
of fire quality and meets a ready sale. |
believe such case means profit, while the
former means failure. 1t is the same in
principle as keeping mongre stock in place
of the pure-breds, and both can be sum-
med up as follows: Mongrel stock means
dunghill fowls, razor-back pigs, worthless
ours; little or no manure means poor land,
poor crops, poor stock, poor man, deserted
farm. On the other hand. pure-bred
stock means bloo1ed fowls, thoroughbred
pigs, pedigree dogs; plenty-yes, lots-of
manure means rich land, heavy crops,
choice stock. well-to-do farmer, pros
porous home and valuable farm.
Great preparations are now going on in
the world with rods and reels for the capture
of weakfsh. They have just made their
appearance on the Staten island shore, but
the season has not yet fully opened. At
the Great Kills and one or two other places
afew good catches have already been made,
and hopes are going up. The shark fish
ers are also getting their tackle ready, but
just now it is too early for them. Next
month their SNORT will harip