Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-08-01
DIVERSIFIED FARMING.
It Is, After All, the Only Sure Way to Sue
cess for Farmers-

kt liz, After ALL tue OuAy SuT@ w W@y 70 sue
cess for farmers-
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 dan
gerous practices. 1t is within the re-
membrance of every farmer when hay
was SO low that it hardly paid to raise
ii for market, but since then farmers
have been making more profit of hay
than almost any other crop To suit
the change, a great many dropped hay
from their list of farm crops and tried
to get along without 1t. The steady
farmers continued tog give grass q place
in their crop rotation, turning it un-
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 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 n time, and probably never
will be, when il 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. 1t is within the remem-
brance of the writer when many farm
sheep because n 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. II 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 we'll, they turn their farms
into enormous corn fields, unmindful
of the fact often that they do not un-
derstand its culture nor the expenses
attached to It. frequently they have
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. 1t has been disastrous year
with most of us. Many have lost
money and are generally dissatisfied
with their conditions. Each one In
looking around ut 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 q fair rotation OF crops.
10 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 win make profits q certainty on
some of the crops. It's at any rate good
farming. The land in kept up. not
run down. Expenses are normal and
outlays 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
huctuate from year to year, but not
more so than manufactured articles.
Fluctuation Is characteristic of every
business, aud farmers have no moro
than their share. The shoe manu-
facturcr does not take up pin making
because shoes happen TO be unprofita-
BILE for a season or two. wo.-Germantown
(Pa. Telegraph.