The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-07

| speaks or the dairy business in the East:
| "A da1ryman who can go straight ahead
and complete what he sets out TO do is
bound TO succeed In my large circle OF
| dairy acquaintance / can count scores of
| dafrymen who have never made n COM
| plete success of their business. nor never
will. simply because they begin correct
things and never finish them. Is IL
any wonder that some dairy farmers run
| behind in good years and cannot even keep
| in sight of their more progressive brothers
| during poor ones ??
Extracts similar to these could be selected
| indefinitely If they Were necessary to prove
that our agriculture is not in such a deplor-
able condition many would induce to
believe. From every part of the country
come letters TO these journals, which. while
| they speak of difficulties and discourage
ments, breathe healthy, confident spirit,
and seem to indicate that the more inteli-
gent farmers have faith in their work. in
fact. there is no disputing that thousands
OF farmers In every part OF the country
MAKE living. and lay up something be-
sides, but they are intelligent. progressive
business men: able TO adapt themselves to
changed conditions, and thoroughly CONVEX
SAINT with all the details of farming
WHY SOME MEN FAIL.
study of some of the details of farming
will give one general idea why agricul-
ture is depressed in some regions. and why
| thousands of farmers cannot succeed. In
the first place. the talk about the good old
times when wheat brought q dollar per
bushel is easily answered. Not only has
improved machinery reduced the cost of
producing a bushel of wheat nearly % per
cent, but the improvement in seed has in
creased the yield from three to five bushels
per acre. Commissioner lie Due in 1873 said :
The increased production per acre by the
Excelsior White Schooner oats some years
since was 2.5 bushels per acre. and a like
increase is reported from a distribution of
the, Board of Trade oats in the northern
and the rust proof in the southern part or
the country during the past two years. But
the average increased yield fairly attribute
seed would amount to 100000 bushels"
Major r. l.. Ragland of Virginia. is re-
ported in the American Gardening as say
ing in regard to the FultZ wheat that "a
crop OF F'ultz grown by me the third year
frem seed originally received from the de-
partment gave 20 per cent. in yield over the
old varieties and sold for a profit of s6b1
over what could have been realized from
the old kinds Since then the yield per
acre of wheat, corn. oats, and all other
farm products has been steadily increasing
through improved methods of agriculture
and the selection of seeds. With the yield
nearly double what it was fifty. years ago
the farmer makes much when wheat
sells at 65 cents per bushel as he did when
81 was obtained. The intelligent and pro-
gressive farmer realizes this. and he raises
wheat and stops grumbing at old prices
fail because they have never heard of the
improved varieties of seed, and because
intensive agriculture is unknown to them.
Another stumbling block among them is
that they cannot get out of the old ruts
and adapt themselves to conditions.
in the Eastern States since the West took
it upon itself to raise enough for the whole
country, but dairying; orcharding and
chicken raising be conducted with
profit by those who understand the bust
ness. Each department of agriculture,
however. requires training and experience.
AS an illustration of the difference between
successful and unsuccessful farmers take
Eastern dairying.. Fully half of those who
lind fault with the work cling to the old
methods. The successful ones are Shrewd
enough to practise winter dairying when
milk, cream and butter are high. leaving
the. summer dairying to those who know
little about the work. Instead of letting
all their farm land degenerate under the
old paSturage system, they pant good
part of it with corn for the silo or renew
the grass with improved seeds. The silo
furnishes them with green food all through
supposed TO dry up in winter yield an
abundant supply of rich milk and cream
in the middle of the cold season. A similar
argument holds true to chicken raising.
Eggs are so cheap in summer that it hard
lay in midwinter are very profitable. Hence
raise eggs in winter. The advanced farmer
knows it can be done-not as easily as in
summer. but fairly successfully. In all
these branches conditions have changed.
and those who have adapted themselves TO
the new surroundings more than make
living.
PROGRESSIVE FARMING.
In the West the farmers who understand
their business have found similar ways out
of the difficulty. Until two years ago it
was not generally known that wheat which
could not be sold at a profit in the market
could be converted into pork and made ito
pay. During the depression in wheat of
that year several thousand farmers who
kept abreast of the times disposed of their
surplus wheat in that way. A few progress
sive farmers found that there was more
money in raising pigs on clover than on
corn. and pioneers in the industry they
else raised clover and herds of swine. Now
alfalfa has converted hundreds of Western
farms into profitable pasture fields for cat
tie sheep and swine, and those who have
been wise enough TO take advantage of the
new change have made money. Down in
New Mexico and Arizona and California
hundreds of agriculturists have made good
money in raising canaigre plants for the
fannie acid, and in Nebraska the cultiva-
tors of sugar beets have suddenly found
money in the soil that years ago people
said would not produce living for any
useful to the farmers other than by selling
it in the market at prices below cost of
production Thousands of Western farm
erS have gone into cattle raising. using
corn merely as a means to an end. The
vast fields of corn are raised for the silo
and the sweet succulent ensilage thus sup
piled keeps the cattle in d thriving condi-
ton through the winter at a low cost. In
late winter and early spring fresh beef.
reach the maximum of cost, and the farm
ers who have good juicy carcasses to sell
sold in this way is often more profitable
than when sent to market in the ordinary
method.
In the South King Cotton has gradually
lost his hold upon his subjects. and since
the farmers have adopted diversified farm
ing their condition has been greatly amel-
iorated. But there are thousands of unpro-
greSsive farmers in the South who still be-
lieve that there is money in anything
but cotton. and they cling to the old
methods of cutivating this crop they nat
urally conclude that there is no money In
any kind of farming. The progressive
Southern farmers, however, find money in
their work. Southern eggs, ducks, poultry
and fruits are rapidly competing, even in
our Northern markets, with LEGAL and West
ern goods. Nine-tenths of the up-to-date
farmers of the South will say that they
make money in their business.
The discomfort among the farmers comes
largely from class that is not fitted by
education or training to do the work. They
have drifted into the business and have not
studied the conditions of the new farming
AS they are prejudiced beforehand by the
thought that it takes brains to conduct
a farm they will not learn. and they make
a dismal failure. Such Incompetent farmers
are the sure victims of the silver and Pop
uliSt craze. 1t does not follow that even
old farmers, or the sons of old agricultur-
lists, know much about the needs OF
modern farming than the clerk or mechanic
who takes country place. There are pen-
ty of the old-time farmers who do not adj
vance with the times. They farm as their
grandfathers did. and refuse to believe