The evening call. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1891-1893, 1893-07-08
Improbable Land.


If a storekeeper were to keep hi
shelves filed with unstable goods
using up the larger part of his capital
without return, it would be only a
question of time when he must shut
up shop and discontinue business Il
he had no competition his customers
would be obliged to buy Of him, and
he could charge enough on goods sold
to make fair interest and profit on
the unprOductive part of his capital.
But just so soon as competitor ap-
pears he must turn all his capital
into productive form or go to the
wall. This little parable exactly il
lustrates some of the difficulties Of
American farmers at the present time
Owing largely to the wide diffusion
of cheaper methods of harvesting and
cultivating, the competition against
| American farm products is now much
more severe than it ever was before.
These improved methods were mainly
invented here. If it had been possible
for us to mOnopOlize their use we
might also have mOnOpolized the food
production of the world. 1t was not
possible. The result is that the
cheaper labor of Europe and Asia
has the same advantages as has our
own.
Recognizing the fact of the close
competition that now exists in farm
ing, the American Cultivator says
that the first necessity it imposes is
to get rid at once of all Improbable
capital, whether it be in land, stock
or implements that do not pay fair
interest on their value OF all these
land that does not pay is apt to be
chung to most closely, for the reason
that it is harder to get rid of it for
what its owner may consider it worth.
What land that does not pay cost of
working is really worth is nothing at
all. Any price given for it becomes
IN the hands OF its. seller available |
capital that can at once be put to |
profitable use. Most large farms give
all the profit Of working them from a |
comparatively small part OF their /
surface. Here is concentrated the |
labor, manure and the skill that win
Other parts of the farm are
left to go as they please, kept per-
maps as pasture for farm stock, or if
cultivated the owner is satisfied to
to get fair return for labor with
little or no profit. The farmer in
most cases would be practically bet
ter off if he had not this extra land.
Certainly better Off if he sold it and
used the proceeds as working capital
to make his land more productive.
We have known more ithan one
market gardener who heartily wished
ne could have little extrA land to
use for growing hay and grain for his
teams, just as working {
armers on cheaper lands far from !
market are able to do. But his own /
and, made rich by high manuring, $
vas worth $500 to $500 per acre. {
Figure as he might, he could not get t
profit from growing hay for his ]
lOrses on land worth this sum. In =
Iced, the only conclusion he could ar
i've at was that If he succeeded in
etting a good growth of clover it
would probably pay him much better t
o turn under as green manure for t
lis garden truck, and let him buy k
lis hay and grain for working teams, r
S he had long done before. 1t be- a
OOves farmers to initiate market Z
in the practice of dropping a
rOps, selling stock and land that a
hey cannot continue to use with d
roft. Large farms near cities are f.
ever directly profitable. If their t
wners get rich it is less from what b
he farm produces than from its adj a
ance in price for building lots. But T.
ut this large farm into FIVE ten, or 81
wenty small places, put on each of Y
hese an energetic man with sufficient fl
apital to develop the latent posi- fl
ilities of this unproductive land. Il
nd in five or ten years all will be "
taking money, and the real estate f
DOM will be not only begun, but will #
ave very substantial foundation.
o develop the capacity of the land
IT profitable working is the only GER
lln and honest way to get rich by nj
S rise in value 1t is generally also Al
he only way in which this rise in
rice will not be more than offset by ri
lie interest account and taxes. The g.
creased value that a farmer puts
Ito land by making it more PRO
active Is as real a manufacture as VI
e the buildings he puts on it, and OF
far more certainlY profitable F'