Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-10-24
EARN xH&erse&s,
A GOOD BUSINESS TALK.
Need of Careful Business Methods on
the Farm.

Inc llSt anu BIcdtSSt hSNN W WV
farmer, the one of so much impor-
lance that all others sink into COM
parative insignificance before it, is a
complete understanding of the posi-
bilities of the soil. 1t Is not low
prices, but poor crops, that makes
farming unremunerative. Maximum
crops, even If sold at low prices, re-
pay the cost of economical produc-
ton and leave a margin of profit,
Rarely do good crops result in overs
production (so-called) to such an ex-
tent that prices become so reduced in
consequence as to make this rule in
operative. In perishable crops OF
limited consumption, such as fruits
and vegetables, and with inadequate
facilities for distribution, a Temporal
nv glut in the market sometimes
brings loss to the successful produc-
err; but that we have not, in the
United States, or in the world, ever
suffered from absolute over.produc~
ton, is sufficiently shown from the
old axiom of political economy that
the harvests Of one year are always
partially exhausted by the time har-
vests of the next year are available
for consumption, notwithstand the
fact that uncounted numbers OF hui
man beings have persisted from want
of food, while yet greater numbers
have existed with half nourished
bodies. So, to retrace our steps for
a moment, prior even to the need OF
an understanding of the possibilities
of the soil which he cultivates, the
education of the farmer should be so
broad that the bugbear of over-pro-
duction should be effectually banish>
ed. If for "over.production" we
substitute the words "unequal distri>
BUTTON" we shall come nearer to one
of the causes that sometimes tend to
make agriculture an unremunerative
industry. That farmers generally DO
not understand the producing capaci>
ty of a given portion of the soil is
plain to even the most cursory obser-
yer, for if they did it can hardly be
supposed that they would remain so
criminally Indifferent to their own
interests as to remain content with
such poor fractional results as the
majority now obtain. 1t needs but
the slightest reference to facts tc
support the foregoing proposition
The average money value of oul
staple crops, Or crops of general cult
walton exclusive of potatoes and
tobacco, is less than $40 per acre.
Against our average yield oftwelvt
bushels of wheat per acre, an intelli
gent cultivator may be found here
and there who will produce thirty
bushels, year after year, without al
outlay for either labor or fertilizer
that is beyond the reach Of the ordi
nary farmer, nor that is so great as t.
preclude profit. We would go fur
Their and refer to the well-knOWn eX
periments of Professor Bowen, VIII
has shown that 100 bushels of whea
per acre may be produced, but hi
methods were such as we are not We
ready for. While they are not be
yond the reach of the general farmer
they are so far in advance of on
present agricultural development
that an effort to engraft them upo
present practices would only result i
confusion. We must work up
them by degrees. The general lo'
yield of wheat cannot be attribute
to the frequent failure of croI
through unfavorable climatic cond
tions, for it is to be observed that Ii
average does not vary greatly or
season with another, although (b'
cause of the great area cultivated
the sum total of the rise and fall c
its face, and not considered in pr
portion to the whole, is startling.
Much of the low yield may be a
tributed to unfavorable lands,
lands not brought to the requ
site state of fertility. The sooner Il
farmer is brought to realize that SUI
lands are cultivated at loss, the be
ter it will be.
have taken wheat only as an i
stance of the difference between VIII
is done and what may be done in t
cultivation Of grain. Take anoth
food crop, the Irish potato. Our a
erage yield is less than eighty bus
els per acre. Accurate eXperimer
last year showed that the yield cou
be increased tenfOld, and vario
persons, widely separated work.
uDOn large areas bV methods with