The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1893-06-22
FARMER AND PLANTER.
WHY SOME FARMERS FAIL.
Some of the Causes Responsible for Non


failure to get either pleasure or profit
from farming. Every neighborhood has
samples of this class; farmers who are
always in debt, rarely able to meet
their obligations when due, unable to
make necessary improvements, and
nearly always disappointed in the
amount realized at the years end.
What is the trouble with these men?
Perhaps if we can find out the difficulty
we may be able to point out remedy.
Negatively it is not the fault of the
business, for that farming does pay is
proven in tens of thousands of cases
wherefrom the profits of the farm good
improvements have been made and paid
for; large family raised and educat-
ed, and a modest sum laid up for old
age, and this has been done without
that risk and anxiety and constant ap-
plication to business that is necessary
in other callings.
Neither is the failure from want of
industry, for many of these unsuccess-
full farmers work early and late, put
ting in many hours in day and many
days in year than their successful
neighbors.
Further, the trouble Is not with the
farms, for we do not see all the success
full farmers on good land and all the
failures on poor land, so we must look
to the man and not to the land for the
cause of trouble.
Under general statement we might
say that failure is caused because the
head does not direct the hands, be-
cause the farmer is not working on any
regular plan, but is managing haphaz-
zard, trusting to luck. He has never
studied his farm and his market and
estimated the cost of production and
settled on what he can produce at
profit. If a man has billy farm suited
to sheep and entirely unsuited to hogs
and corn, and attempts to produce
the latter, he will soon find his
farm washed and injured, and that
his hogs cost too much to leave a
fair profit, and he must charge his fail
ure to his bad judgment in choosing
the line of business to follow. Nosnore
important question is to be pondered
and settled than the cost of production,
and If your neighbor has rich bottom
land, or drained swamp or prairie, on
which, with less labor, he can produce
twice as many bushels of corn to the
acre, you can not hope to compete with
him in growing hogs and corn.
Undertaking to do too much is COM
mon cause of failure. There is host
of farmers who always attempt more
than they can do well, and then when
hindered by unfavorable weather they
are soon hopelessly behind hand and
can do nothing on time, and
this means extra expense to
produce short crops. In many
cases it means the expense of keep
ing two teams and an extra hand to
work one of them, double outfit of
harness and tools, and the fact that the
farmer has invested in these is a con-
slant temptation to plow too much land,
and if this is followed long it results in
an impoverished soil. Again the farmer
who attempts to do too much work must
neglect the small sources of income and
comfort, which are found in a garden,
the berry patch and the poultry yard,
and these under-wise arrangements are
important factors in both the profit and
pleasure of farm life.
On many farms glance at the stock
will reveal the cause of failure, for it is
waste to feed good grain to poor stock.
Sometimes the fault is in the breeding
and again it is in the feeding of the stock,
and not infrequently both causes are in
volved. Indifferently-bred stock, well
fed and cared for, may give profit, but
the best-bred stock neglected can not
be profitable, but the farmer who would
be successful must look to both the
breeding and the care. No farmer has
right to complain that there is nc
profit in his business when he leaves
his stock exposed to the storms of win
ter and to eat their food in the mud
and snow. AS the Scripture says: ''The
good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep" SO the successful farmer must
| subordinate his own comfort to the
good of his stock. He should have a
conscience that will not let him rest
| when he knows his stock is not com
Portable.
1C AuoO SOulCGHlnQ OF Cl6
constituent elements of foods and theil
Office in the system, and so be able t.
feed his stock intelligently, not stuffina
growing colts which are raised fol-
muscle and endurance with corn, no,
| allowing cattle to lose half the flesh
they have gained in summer by insult
ficient food and shelter through the
| winter.
Still another cause is allowing the
soil to become impoverished. Ever,
farmer who expects success should
guard carefully against deterioration
of soil by an intelligent rotation which
keeps up the humus and the supply O.
nitrogen by the growth of clover ant
grass, and also prevents the vast.
from washing of the soil. He mus
also manage his stock so as to saw,
all the manure, liquid and solid
using straw as an absorbent as well a,
to make a comfortable bed, and ther
use this manure wisely so as to get tn,
| greatest profit from it. No source O
| fertility should be neglected, and wher
we increase the grass and clover are;
and the amount of stock kept. and re
| duce the acreage under the nloyv am