The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-12
Some Follies of Farmers.

Under this heading, J. w. Newton
says some very good things in the New
York Tribune. the reading of which
will furnish food for thought
1t is very foolish for farmer to send
SO. SIS, $50 or 800 worth of produce to
an entire stranger, a man or a firm
| of whom he knows absolutely nothing,
except that he or they send out a price
list or circular and offer him certain
prices for his products. If these offered
prices are higher than such goods are
selling for, he may be pretty sure the
firm is a fraud 1t is a shame to the
government of this land that men are
allowed to cheat farmers out of thou
sands of dollars without being checked
or brought to prison. 1t does seem as
though laws might be enacted with Sc
we're penalties, penalties commensurate
with the evil ard harm done, and that
these pirates, sharks and robbers might
be punished for their crimes. Perhaps
it is one of the follies of the farmers
that they do not agitate the matter I'M
til such scoundrels get their just de-
sertS. But there is a way to avoid
them-I would say many ways. One is
to take some really good farmers paper
and deal with commission men who ad-
yertise in them. Then if you have any
tro. bic. go for the publisher of the
paper which advertised them. This
would make publishers more careful
whom they permitted to use their col
umns. But right here we meet another
of the farmers follies. Some of them
do not take single good agricultural
paper, and far too many of them do not
know enough of business and of the
market end of their business to prop
erly pack and ship their produce. 1t is
always best to write to the dealer for
directions how to put up and ship your
commodities, and then carefully follow
his advice.
It is folly to send poor products mixed
in with good 1t spoils the sale of the
goods, and adds to the freight bill.
Take ten barrels of mixed apples, sort
out four or five and ship the remainder.
They will bring more than the ten un-
sorted barrels would. the freight will
be about half as much, and the poor
apples will make good stock feed worth
from 10 to 10 cents a bushel. This is a
sample OF all kinds of shipment. AL
ways keep Door products at home.
Nothing whatever is gained by sending
them to market. If you want to ruin
your reputation, put lot of poor APP
pies or produce in the bottom and body
of the package and finish off the top
with the finest. That is about as great
a folly as the farmer can commit. Let
the grocers and druggists and makers
of frauds and shoddy and shams do all
that sort OF thing. Let the farmers
keep their hands from it, and then they
can demand that state and national
governments suppress these forms of
robbery.
There are markets which make no
distinction between good and poor
products. You don't want to have any
thing to do with such. Once get in the
way of growing fine things, and you
will see the folly of trying to palm off
poor products. To raise the best one
must have the best Seed. make the soil |
very rich, keep weeds down, attend to
1t is folly to buy cheap and
poor seed, folly to economize by using
too little manure, folly to crowd grow !
ing plants.
Another great folly of farmers or any |
One else is to think they know so much I
that they do not need to keep learning. |
God made man to always be learner. |
ignorance inheres in mans nature. 1t /
S pride, foolish and unreasonable pride !
which makes a man think he knows too |
much to be a learner. Common farm |
ers need the help and advice of scien-
life men, and the latter need many
lines 70 learn of the common farmer.
mans knowledge is not to be de-
;pised because he has never been to a
college, nor is the knowledge of the
schools 10 be lightly esteemed. Every
armer needs to learn all he can from
lis neighbors. from institute lectures.
rom station bulletins, and from agri-
cultural papers. The best and most
uccessful farmers write for these pa
'ers. and that farmer loses a great deal
Who does not read one or more of such
)aDerS