The Somerset reporter., 1895-11-21
DIVERSIFIED FARMING.
Practical Examples of the Advantage OF
Having Many Things to Sell.

Der of years has been toward specialties
rather than a diversity of crops of farm
products. II the farmer lived in grain
growing section, every effort was made
to produce more and more grain. If, on
the other hand, dairying was followed,
no stone was left unturned to keep more
COWS. Whatever may have been the wis
dom of this policy in the past, it is a
question worthy Of our careful consider
alton at present whether or not we
should further continue 1t. With view
to illustrating the advantage of having
little of everything to sell instead of
depending solely on one thing CORE
spondent of Country Gentleman gives
practical exampie Of what he once saw
done He writes:
A farmer Of My early acquaintance
kept herd Of cows, and as the custom
was III those days made most of his
butter in the summer, which he held
till November and sold for whatever
price it brought. During the summer
months. whenever he went to town to
do any trading, he did not go and run a
bill at the stores to be settled when
the butter was sold. - but always took
something from the farm. In the spring,
during housecleaning time, he would
have aboard a number of bundles of
straw for filling beds. Selling these for
this purpose, his straw brought four or
five times as much as it would sell for
by the ton. A we'll cared for flock of
poultry furnished eggs in exchange for
the family groceries. A few early vege
tables or fruits were always selected in
their season A few cords of wood were
prepared in winter, neatly piled, and
when he was going (never ON purpose),
he took a load to pay his blacksmith s
bill. BY this means he had his butter
money to depend upon to pay ON his
debt i'll the fall.
was greatly interested in the meth
ods employed by the German families
who occupy great share Of the dairy
farms in the vicinity of Elgin, Ills.
These tenants pay more rent for the bare
farm than ono will rent for IN New
York state with full line Of stock and
tools. | said to a German farmer whom
will you inform me how you do it,
well, we milk 40 COWS, and there
are myself and wife and eight children.
The women and children tend the plat
of cucumbers and pick them. We men
take care Of the COWS and farm crops.
We put in two or three acres of cucum-
bers, and they are sold at the canning
factories, and wife and children get
enough from them to pay all our living
expenses, so we have all the profits
from our milk to pay rent and lay by
to buy farm in few years.
We cannot raise cucumbers on such
an extensive scale but one who has not
tried it Will be surprised at the income
from 20 bills of cueumbers well cared
for and kept closely picked. Ten dollars
worth Of cabbage can be grown on a
very small space. have heard friend
tell of his little girls picking and sell
ing over $40 worth of strawberries on
very small space. If | remember cor
rectly, the plat was one rod wide and
five rods long. Apples may be fed to
COWS in the fall with great profit. l
consider sweet apples, say of the pound
sweet" variety, nearly as valuable as
potatoes for either milk cows or for
fattening any kind Of stock. believe il
every farmer had enough of this variety
of apples to feed his COWS peck apiece
every day they would prove more valu-
able than grain i'll keeping up the milk
flow. OF course apples can be so fed as
to become an injury. In connection
with dairying the potato crop is one of
great Importance. There are few years
in which at some time between digging
and planting time potatoes will not
bring 80 cents. At this price they are
paying crop, and are worth this to feed
COWS in winter. know this will aston
ish many, but, as in other things, there
is right way and wrong way Of do
ing it. Suppose COWS are receiving an
average of ten pounds of grain day, if
two days each week ten pounds of cut
potatoes are substituted for the usual
grain feed there will be no decrease in
quantity of milk or butter; in fact,
COWS will keep in better thrift for this
change of diet
In choosing what we will sell from
the farm thought should be given to the
amount of fertility we are removing
from the farm. A very small piece of
ground will furnish $40 worth of Gu
cumbers, and the fertility removed will
be simply nothing compared with that
in ton of hay, which will
only sell for $40