The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-10-10
A GKICULTURE.


Never distrust the faithfulness of
mother earth. Have faith in your bust
ness and in your ability to live, be the
farm ever so small. Be faithful, too,
that tie fault for any failure be not
yours.
Get your cellars ready. Make them
frost proof, of courss, but whitewash
them, and let. them at all times have
light. and be capable of frequent ven
tilation. A cellar may be OF great value
or nuisance.
The farmer should make it a part of
his yearly study to know where to ship
his produce. He should have the short
est cut to the consumer. Neither ever
let him spoil that market by shipping
in 'erier stuff.
Green manure and that from the barn.
yard may not always supply our fields
with all they need. Sometimes we
must awaken to the fact that they need
mineral fertilizers, perhaps but lime, to
release fertility.
In most regions the farmer seems
content to yet tug away with his half
loads. Let the women take up the good
road question, for muddy winters have
certainly kept them prisoners long
enough.
There is much to consider when COM
pairing our prices with those of gen.
GRAFTON ago. Production was never so
cheap as today. for machinery enables
one man to do the labor of many.
Our stock and our hens will pay more
than the market price for all the wheat
we can feed them. 1t seems that
through them must come the revolution
in prices. We thus have a choice of
"middlemen."
1t would seem that our farmers should
be awakened by the fact that enormous
cargoes of potatoes are imported every
year. These. near a good market, are
more profitable than either wheat or
corn.
If you are not proud that you are an
honest tiller of the soil, sell out and
carry the hod. Better be successful at
that than worry your life away on
farm and end in miserable failure.
There never was a successful farmer
who did not love his business. Any
work becomes drudgery which we do not
like.
In seeding corn land let the shocks be
of moderate size, tied we'll at the top.
Sow we'll up to the shock row, and lift
over the shocks by means of pole
thrust through them. This row will
then be ready for the drill? and the corn
can be removed before it has done any
great damage to the growing wheat.
One advantage of keeping accounts
with the different kinds of crops and
stock kept upon the farm is that we can
know to certainty just what is being
done. and when there is failure after
fair trial change to something else
should certainly be made. 1t is safe to
follow up what is paying.
With diversity in crops and stock
there is better opportunity for profit,
and a lessened risk OF loss is possible.
Under such plan better opportunity
is offered of having something to sell
every little while during the year, in
stead of only once or twice; but this
will not always hold as an argument
against speciality farming.
When it can be done it is best to dig
potatoes on cloudy day. as exposure to
a hot sun, for even a few hours, often
seriously Injuries them. Then they
should be gathered up reasonably soon
after they have been dug. Pillow diggers
are cheap and do good work, and there
are but few farms where they cannot
be used to good advantage.