Rocky Ford enterprise., 1893-09-14
THE AGRICULTURAL WORLD
SOME POINTERS ON AGRICULTURE
WORTH READING.
sonethins About Speciality and Gem
efal FarminG-Lice and Ticks ON
sheep-The Necessary sil0-stack-
ing Graln-Pointers.


sheep-The Necessary silo-stack-
ing Graln-Pointers.
For years past there has been d great
deal said and written about speciality
and general farming, and more espe-
cially during the last few years of dis
content among the farmers, says writ
er in the Ohio Farmer. The difference
between speciality und general farming
Is not great II the advocates of both
Systems will put the same construction
on the word speciality. Whatever the
word may mean, do not think its ad-
vocates use 1t to convey the idea that a
man, to be n specialist, must confine his
Efforts to only one crop or only one par
ticular branch of agriculture, and yet
the advocates Of general farming seem
determined that Il specialist must con-
fine himself.
II to be a speciality farmer means that
u man must cOnfine all his efforts to
one branch of agriculture, such US rais-
Ing nothing but wheat, corn, oats, pota-
toes, hogs, horses sheep, cattle or any
other particular thing, then the less
specially farming we have the better.
Our brethren In the South tried special
ty farming, the specially being cotton,
and 1t proved a curse to them, not only
us individual farmers, but as people.
But special farming don't mean any
thing of the kind; II 1t does, ! have
never seen n modern specially farmer,
nor have ever read n line advocating
such methods from the most enthusias-
tic specialist. / believe 1 voice the SEN
timents of all specialists when 1 con-
yftT1n II In "a SvgtQm Sneetnl
system, or in other words special ro-
tatiOn or combination. Thus man
may have one or more crops. All his
efforts and energies are centered on
that crop; it is the primary object.
This crop may be potatoes. He may
and does raise clover, wheat and corn,
yet he raises them only that they may
be the means Of holding or increasing
the fertility in his soil and stimulating
1t to its best efforts produce potatoes.
While he may raise other crops, they
are only the means through which he
expects to gain certain ends in view.
Dur speciality Is butter, yet we raise
wheat because 1t is the best way to get
our ground back to clover, for hay, and
to increase the fertility in our land.
We raise corn because 1t is the founda-
ton of dairy feed. We raise potatoes
because they bring the money which to
buy bran and linseed meal We keep
few hogs and good many chickens, to
eat our skim-milk; yet all our efforts
are to make all the butter we can. Ev-
erything grown by this system or rota-
tion, excepting hogs and chickens, goes
into the mouths of our cows. They are
pr-r machines for converting our farm
products into cash. Butter is our money
crop and our specially.
So a man might, and l think every
farmer should, make some branch Of
agriculture specially. l believe the
man that will take up some special sys-
tenn of farming or stock raising and
study his business, and follow 1t intelli-
gently, is the man who will succeed. 1t
Is an admitted fact that there is no
money in general farming to-day, yet
we see men, and read statements daily
Of men, who are making money by spe-
cialty farming, not by growing one
thing, but by some special system.