Wichita eagle., 1890-03-07
Gayens of Pratt county,

whom &C" reports as saying tina
fourteen bushels OF corn VIII AWAY
make 300-pound hog in Kansas. Ina
makes corn worth 20 cents per bushei.
This is another valuable piece OF In
) formation as we are assured We can ge
21.4 pounds of pork out OF every bushe
of corn. This is extremely satisfactory
as the farmers, outside OF Kansas, are
glad to average ten pounds from each
bushel and shows how fortunate we are
to live in Kansas and how fortunate We
have been in having got rid OF Prof. y.
, VI. Shelton who, in a series of pig feed
ing experiments carried on at the e1-
pense of the state at the Agricultural
College, was never able to get much over
twelve pounds Of pork out of bushel OF
corn. II these were the best results he
could obtain, and we can rely upon MIR.
Gayens statement. we certainly have
reason to be thankful that Mr.. Shelton
has gone so far away as Australia. At
the price SC" gives the 800 pounds Cf
pork which Mr Gayens says we can rely
on from fourteen bushels of corn if fed
in Kansas would be worth Sl095 and
this divided by fourteen bushels of corn
would return exactly 1S.2 cents per
bushel instead of the modest 20 cents
stated by &C" but then what matters s. ,
cents ON bushel when corn is so cheap?
Fourth on the list of &c. 3"
comes Mr.. CANDLES statement IN
which it is said he ''has Just sold eighty
five head of hogs to Jacob Dold that
made him 81 cents for his corn" At
| So. 50 per 100 pounds for live hogs this
shows production of 1916 pounds of
pork for each bushel of corn.
This is q remarkable series Of state
ments 10 eminate from one who sets
himself up as the special advisor and IN
structor OF the benighted farmer. Ac
/ cording TO &C" Mr. Fosdick SAYS he peo-
/ duces much over twenty pounds OF pork
| from bushel of corn being more than
twice Dir. CampoellS ten pounds which
is q good average and one which few
| feeders reach. | am unable TO find IN all
the swine feeding statements published a
single well authenticated case where n
bushel of corn was made to produce any
thing near twenty pounds of pork, al
though there are any number of loose
statements like those under review TO
that effect.
&C" closes by saying: ''As well try
to get results by trying 10 administer
medicine by telephone as to get the
proper price that belongs TO corn other
than on foot. Successful farmers sell
their corn to the packing houses; poor
farmers to the grain gamblers.
Thus i'll fifteen words are we taught
how, at sight TO distinguish the success
full and the poor farmer and this is by
no manner of means the least OF ''Cs"
services to suffering humanity. Can't
he give rs some such formula for dis
tinguishing the successful and the poor
specimens in each of the other avoca-
tions which men follow:
Hereafter when we see man who has
not hogs enough to eat his corn, or
whose hogs have died from disease, haul
ing off load of corn we shall be ab-
soluteiy certain that he belongs to the
category of poor farmers and when we
see another hauling off half fattened
lot of hogs after an entire crop failure
(as sometimes happens even IN Kansas,
we know TO a certainty that he is one OF
the happy and successful ones OF this
earth.
Now let Us enquire what would result
should we all try to enter the list OF
successful farmers" Taking, for the
sake of argument, C's figures for the
pork making power OF buShel OF corn,
or the mean of such figures. and we
have Il 1-2 pounds or more for each
bushel. The estimate OF the Depart
ment of agriculture Is that 40 pounds /
is the average weight of the hogs an /
nualy slaughtered IN paching houses, /
by butchers and farmers. On the basis /
of II 1-2 pounds of pork per bushel of /
corn each ten bushels of corn would pro- /
duce hog of average weight
The corn crop of the United States in /
1889 amounted to 2,112 S92, 900 bushels. /
which is 100000, 900 bushels more than
our normal requirements. Feeding one
half this to steers, at 60 bushels each, we
should add to the supply OF corn fed
beef no less than 2,966.666 animals.
Feeding the other half of this surplus
corn to swine at ten bushels each, we
should add TO the supply of pork no less
than II, 800, 600 animals weighing 115
pounds each. thus adding 50 per cent 10
the supply, and this Mr.. Dold or Mr..
will tell us. | have no doubt,
that such an over supply would so re-
duce prices for both beef and pork that
it would pay better to sell corn at 10
cents.
Had not a part of us better remain
poor farmers and sell the corn III the
natural state:
The hogs annually slaughtered in the
United States number some IS. .000 600,
and feeding all the surplus corn to hogs.
iid the hogs exist, which they do not,
we should more than double the supply.
Where could market he found for the
product:
Quite enough hogs are fed now, and
" feeding more we should destroy the
me paying staple remaining to the 4
lortern farmer, and We should all be-
,ome poor" indeed.
4 JVcCp n.y-Tc