Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1895-08-01
DIVERSIFIED FARMING.
1t Is, After All. the Only Sure Way to suC-
cess for Farmers

cess Tor EaTEz1cESs
Steady farming, with a good rotation
of crops persistently followed, is the
surest way to success for farmers Alb
rupt changes in order to meet high
prices for some farm product are dam
gerous practices. 1t is within the re-
membrance of every farmer when hay
was so low that it hardly paid to raise
it for market, but since then farmers
have been making more profit off hay
than almost any other crop. To suit
the change, great many dropped hay
from their list of farm crops and tried
to get along without it. The steady
farmers continued to give grass a place
in their crop rotation. turning it I'M
der when it would not pay to cut and
sell it as hay, and when prices went
up again for hay they were the only
ones who had good crops to sell. Be
sides enriching their soil with the
grass, they found themselves prepared
to reap a good harvest when prices
came around again to their normal con-
dition.
just now sheep have been at a dis
count, and thousands have been selling
them off to raise something else more
profitable. But sheep, both for wool
and mutton, will be profitable in the
future. Several times in the past the
sheep industry has been at its lowest
ebb, but it revived in time. Steam and
electricity are said to be driving horses
out of the market, and that it will no
longer pay to raise fine colts. There
never was time, and probably never
will be, when it did not pay to raise
good horses. Underbred stock is too
plentiful, and will be at a greater dis
| count in the future than now; but fine
driving road horses or heavy draught
horses will never lose their value per-
| manently. It is within the remem-
| brance of the writer when many farm
ers paid SIS and Sc per head for ordinary
sheep because boom in that line was
| sending everything upward.
There are too many farmers engaged
| in this industry who wait for high
prices, and then they rush into that
particular line of work. Il sheep are
| high they pay exorbitant prices for
stock in order to raise others to sell.
| II corn is the leading farm product
that pays well, they turn their farms
into enormous corn fields, unmindful
| of the fact often that they do not I'M
derstand its culture nor the expenses
| attached to it. Frequently they have
to make an initial outlay to adapt
| themselves to the abrupt change,
! which alone will take away all profits.
Just now more farmers are prepar-
| ing for abrupt changes than ever be-
| fore. It has been disastrous year
with most of US. Many have lost
money and are generally dissatisfied
with their conditions. Each one is
| looking around at those who seem to
be raising something more profitable
Very often these profitable products
are only temporarily so, and by the
time the change is made they will no
! longer pay good prices. Good, steady
| farming, with fair rotation of crops,
is the only sure way for any farmer to
make farming sure thing. Grass, hay,
oats, wheat, potatoes, corn, sheep, cows
| and horses cannot always be unprofita-
BILE. A proper system of diversified farm
ing will make profits a certainty on
some of the crops. It's at any rate good
farming. The land is kept up, not
run down. Expenses are normal and
OUTLAWS are not increased by such vio-
| lent changes. The pigs, chickens, cows
and sheep will all yield some incidental
profits. while the main farm crops may
| fuctuate from year to year, but not
more so than manufactured articles.
Fluctnation is characteristic of every
| business, and farmers have no more
| than their share. The shoe manu-
facturer does not take up pin making
| because shoes happen to be unprofta-
| bic for season or twO.-Germantown
| Pa.) Telegraph.