The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-12-10
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THoRoUGHNEss.
The Secret of Success In All Farming
Operations.


The Secret of Success In All Farming |
Operations.
One of the most successful farmers of |
our acquaintance started with little ex-
perience, and attributed his success
largely to the rule which he adopted |
and which has governed him all through |
life. The rule is: do everything as
we'll as you know how, or can learn
how" We believe that there is no bet |
ter rule for any farmer, and that the
adoption of it would do more to relieve
the agricultural depression than all the
discussions, and resolutions passed by
organized bodies of farmers. Not that
we depreciate free speech and organi-
cation, for they are useful and neces-
sary, but individual prosperity must
come largely from individual effort, ard
that effort must be guided by intelli-
gence, and the words ''Or learn how"
point to congress, to intelligent study,
and effort to avoid the mistakes OF the
past, and to do better work each year
than was done the previous one.
This rule must be applied not only to
the doing but also to the planning of
the farm work, and often more depends
on the latter than the former. For ex-
ample, one young farmer, starting in
business, realizing the value of i'm
proved stock, and starts perhaps with
but one or two animals of a kind, and
those of the best, and in a few years
has the farm stocked with horses, cat
tie, sheep and hogs, so superior as to
give fair profit, when scrub stock
must be grown at an actual loss. The
same rule which leads him to begin
right will also make him persist in this
course, and SO each year he learns
more about the management of his
stock, and his profits increase.
We know farmers, and unfortunate
ly many of them, who for long
series of years have fed and reared I'M
profitable stock, every animal of which
was produced at an actual loss, and who
can give no better reason for doing so
than that they happened to have the
stock to start with, and SO have perpet-
uated it.
One farmer breeds cows with teats so
small that they must be mill1ed with
the thumb and finger, or from a strain
that gives poor milk, or in which there
is tendency to kick and be vicious, or
that go dry third of the year. Any or
all these characteristics are transmit
ted, and the farmer who desires to i'm
prove should recognize this and dispose
of such stock and get better; but it is
not difficult to find farms on
which just such stock has been
perpetuated for generations Ger
tainly the farmer who would adopt our
rule would soon learn that wintering
cattle exposrd to the cold and storms
was Improbable. Animals run down
in flesh so as to weigh one or two hum
dred pounds less in the spring than they
did the previous autumn would not be
found on his farm, and he will use both
scales and figures to ascertain whether
or not he is keeping his stock at a
profit.
The same strue concerning his crops
He will rot go on from year to year pro-
ducing eight to twelve bushels of wheat,
and twenty or thirty of corn, to the
acre, for few minutes figuring will
show him that he can not get pay
for his labor from such yields,
| and he will soon discover that re-
ducing the area under cultivation so
that the work can be done on time, and
done well, as the land kept in better
condition will increase the yield of his
crops, and that while two hundred bush
| els of wheat produced on twenty acres
means loss, the same amount on eight
acres means profit. In short both,com-
fort and profit in farming depends
largely on thoroughness in work, and
that intelligent progressive spirit which
leads the farmer to put forth his best
efforts to constantly seek to improve,
and to avoid the errors of the past.
His pleasure in his work and comfort
in life depends largely on this.
In wide personal acquain.
tance with farmers and personal
inspection of their farms, those
most prosperous and contented, anG
who are getting the most out of life
are the men with small arms, under
such thorough cultivation and wise
management that they rarely till an un
profitable acre, and find their income
sufficient for their wants. Their farms
produce most that the family needs
and are ideal homes, and their lives are
peaceful and happy.
1t is not the farmer who tills the
most acres who makes the greatest
| profit, nor even the one who has the
most produce to sell, but the one who
keeps his farm in such condition ant
does his work SO well that he produce.
at profit what he has to sell. Home
and Farm