Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-07-19
A FARMERS MISTAKE.
A Farmer who Has the Courage to Talk
OF His Rlunders.

ot btuhueTbs
The worst mistake ever made, says
a correspondent of the Country Gentle-
man, was trying to carry on big farm
when could afford only sufficient labor
and manure properly to cultivate n very
small one. 1t took me about two years
to find this out, and bring my opera
tions down to their proper limits. With
twelve acres / obtained far better re-
suits than did with $50, and reckon
have saved over 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
common or mongrel stock--dunghill
fowls instead 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, besides 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. l very soon sifted down to a
| selected few, of which / make special
| ty. In trying to keep and raise every
| thing it divides your labor, mind and
attention too much; no one is made
| success and many are complete failures.
/ believe in diversified 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
| only-that should one branch of farm
| ing fail one season, one has another to
| look to for an income. j would select
such branches as required their greatest
| attention at different periods of the
year, and which brought in an income
at different seasons. After l had made
my selections 1 should stick to them
for life; by so doing your thoughts be-
come centered on these particular
| branches, you become an expert in that
| line, are sought after as authority on
| that,subject, and soon have q reputation
that will aid very much in securing
ready market at higher prices.
Mistake number four is mot was)
using too small an amount of manure or
fertilizer. This seems to be difficult
one for me to correct, and / do not be-
lieve l ever shall, though l think l
''grow better" in this respect every
year. 1t seems very hard to take
dollar that l have got safely in my
pocket, give it to fertilizing man, and
then throw the stuff that he gives me on
my ground. One must have great faith
to do it, but there is no question that
such faith is we'll founded if the fer
tilizer is equally we'll compounded. The
fact that the fertilizer man will trust
you for the same for six months, or
until hoo TO nt ln,c+
it's cost back, is sufficient reason 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 sense,
Stands in" with you.
From my observations--with the ex-
ception of market gardens not one
farm in fifty receives anywhere near
the amount of fertilizer and manure it
should. A farmer plants a crop, man.
ures the same as much as he thinks he
can afford to, or what to him seems
liberal supply, cultivates it very carr
fully, 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 loss.
l say that if this same farmer had
used three or four times as much dress
ing, or even twice as much, that in all
probability it would have doubled the
amount of his 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 slight in
crease in cost of harvesting. His land
is left in far better condition, and his
crop is of fine quality and meets a ready
sale. l believe such case means
profit while the former means failure.
1t is the same in principle as keeping
mongrel stock, in place of the pure breds,
and both can be summed 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 blooded fowls, thoroughbred
pigs, pedigreed dogs; plenty-yes, lots
of manure means rich land, heavy
crops, choice stock, well-to-do-farmer,
prosperous home and valuable farm.
Homemade Root-Lifter.