The advocate., 1897-11-17
For the Farmer.
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING.

"A correspondent OF Lue country JUL
tleman submits the following excellent
suggestions:
"Ho one more appreciates the work
done by our most advanced farmers than
the writer. They lead the way, adopt
new methods and improve old ones, and
their examples are instructive to all who
study them Alright. Some OF the most
Intensive farming gives wonderful re-
suits, and they are inspiring to the many
who havo not even dreamed OF the pos
sibilities of the soil or Of farm animals;
but when 1t comes to adopting the meth
ods OF the leaders In agricultural
thought, lots of common sense is needed.
Conditions vary so widely that exact
copying Is hardly ever safe, and not In
frequently the best methods for one
locality are the worst possible ones for
another section Of the country. Espe-
cIally should 1t be borne in mind that
the largest yields to the acre are not
necessarily the most profitable, or would
not be so in most of our agricultural sec
tions. An illustration or this truth may
possibly be found in the recently ex-
plotted system of raising grass, by means
OF which very large yields Of hay to the
acre are secured. The essentials are
extra heavy fertilization, the best prep
aration Of the seed-bed, and heavy seed
ing. Four times the average yield OF
grass to the acre has been secured by
one gentleman, and his example inspired
the manager OF Ex-Governor MOrtOn's
farm to try the plan. Thirty acres or
land were used and $40 worth OF hay
to the acre was secured. This arouses
ones interest and ones dissatisfaction
with ordinary yields, but let us study
the facts. The manager thinks that this
method is the hope Of the Western
farmer. But is it? How about the
cost? Twelve hundred tons Of barn
yard manure were used, SlS7 worth OF
commercial fertilizers, $50 worth OF
seed, 1856 days work with team, besides
the labor Of harvesting. The product Is
worth $40 a ton where produced in the
East but would not be worth more than
half that on a majority Of farms. This
example OF intensive farming teaches
the value of a good seed-bed and proper
fertilization, and should urge us to do
our best within reason, taking into ac-
count our market and other surround
ings, but 1t does not prove that the
largest yields are necessarily profitable
ones, or that the farmer who uses lots
OF good tillage and limited amount OF
fertilizer and gets two tons Of hay to the
acre Is not the better farmer There is
no argument in all this for slipshod
farming, but justification Of the sensi-
BILE practice of figuring on net profit to
the acre rather than extraordinary yields
regardless of profit,
"The writer believes in progress, and
is gratihed that he has found one or two
new crops that are profitable with him,
and some change in methods of work
and rotation of crops that is more salts
factory than the old way; but while
looking for improvement, all the time
the opinion Is held firmly that the pre-
Vailing methods of the best farmers Of
any locality are, in the long run, the
most profitable for that locality in nine
cases out Of ten. No doubt but that
these best farmers could make some
changes that would be to their advan-
tage, but generally speaking they are
more nearly right than any outsider
would be who undertook to revOlutionize
the existing order of things in that par
ticular locality. Local conditions have
led through many years to the adoption
OF certain crops and certain kinds Of
stock, and 1t has been found that cer-
tain general methods of handling them
give some net profit. The consensus Of
opinion in an intelligent community is
safe to accept on most points of every
day practice under the local conditions.
The soil may change, markets change
and new discoveries made, and so will
the practice of progressive men change