St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-06-26
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE MORTGAGE LITTER.

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THE MORTGAGE LITTER.
Dairying and stockraislng Are the Con-
ponent Parts.
If one travels over or studies the aR-
ricultural sections of the country, .
most striking dissimilarity is notice
able in the financial condition and rel
alive prosperity of the farmers of our
nation. Where are the most progress
sive, prosperous agriculturists of to-
day, and to what is due their prosperi-
ty. is = very pertinent query. Are they
in Mississippi or the sunny south, with
its five or six cent cotton; are they
among the farmers of the wheat regions
of Minnesota, the northwest. the Dako-
tas, or are they to be found in the corn
belts of Nebraska, Kansas or Illinois?
No, the student of agriculture and
those conversant with the agricultural
condition of the country will answer
promptly: They are in the dairy and
stock raising sections of our domain.
And the farmers Of the entire west are
beginning to see that the improved
financial status, the increased fertility
and value Of the farm lands Of Wiscon-
sin, Iowa, Michigan, southern Mime
sofa and other dairy states, and the
great decrease in the per cent. of farm
mortgages of the dairy sections during
the last decade is due to the fact that
they have been subornating the pro-
duction of cereals to the dairy and its
loyal adjunct, the hog. This is exem-
plified right hero in jefferson county
very forcibly. In 1870 the mortgages
amounted to copper cent of the assessed
valuation of the farm lands, and to day
it is less than 10 per cent. In 1870 m
averaged acre was worth about SIS;
to-day it is worth 800. This is = coun-
ty only "A miles square with IS, 900 in
habitants, yet it contains Sc creamer-
les, and 50, 600 cows. which cows turned
into the pockets of the farmers net,
during 1896. 81, OO0 600. Sheboygan
county, of Wisconsin, and Freedom
county, of Minnesota, and others of
the dairy section Of the northwest.
show equally, il not more, astonishing
and rapid decrease in per cent of farm
mortgages and in the increase in the
value of the farms The wheat farm
ers Of the Dakotas are beginning to
spring up all over those states The
Kansas farmer, the most highly mort
gagged fellow in the country and the
corn farmer, is grasping this idea of
the great mortgage litter. Kansas now
has over 100 creameries, and is rapidly
pushing herself to the front in the
dairy and creamery world, and in
about the same proportion IS her
creameries and dairy farms increase
her mortgages will decrease. Min
nesota has already grasped the
dairy idea and is rapidly becoming
the foremost agricultural state in the
Union. Then is there any logical rea-
son, since the advent Of the separator,
why the southern farmer. living in .
country with such vast agricultural re-
sources, great climatic ard soil and
crop advantages for the maintenance
and propagation of dairying, can not
get hustle ON him, begin to Improve
the fertility and value of his farm
lands, engage in dairy farming. get out
of the clutches of the crop lien, or
mortgage system, and become q pro-
gressive, up-to-date, prosperous farm
er. with milch cows grazing upon the
hillside pastures. nibbling in the val
legs and decking the farms Of the
south with fine barns and homes? Will
not dairying be overdone and dairy
products become rs improbable rs
cereals and cotton? is q natural ques-
ton for one to ask contemplating en-
gaging in dairy farming.
C. p. Goodrich, the great veteran
dairyman and farm institute conductor
of WISCONSIN. ssYss npon this point:
I've hear it often said that perhaps
aaiEying will SOON pc overdonc. We
heird. theeame Nnl bf salk more than
twenty-five years ago, when Wisconsin
and Iowa farmers were beginning to
engage heavily il d3m farming. Those
same men have beeAf saying the same
thing ever since. and hesitating to go
overtione, and they. are out of it, yet
missed great opfortunity; and now
they have poor, XQrn-out farms from
constant cropping and selling OF the
gfasnSAAtathays tin; nothing now re-
mains but the foundation on which
once resfeIl 4ffertAe soil, and on which
now rests = mortgage. Their neigh
bors, who grasped progressive ideas
and engaged in dairy farming, now
have fine homes, rich farms. good barns
and excellent bred stock and arepros-
porous"
The greatest dairy authority Of Amer
lea, Hoard, says upon another phase Of
this dairy question that beginner is
always likely to ask himself about:
''The farmer who studies the deep
problems of scientific feeding, soil en-
REGIMENTS and the production Of the
largest amount Of best food possible
upon the least number of acres, who
produces milk and butter by the cow,
and by the acre and who uses an intel
ligent brain in his system of farming.
can make just Is much under present
prices Of dairy products Us he ever
could" And " men we take into con-
sideration that the per cent. of our
cows do not increase IS compared with
the population, and that Is yet we ex-
port comparatively little dairy prod
ucts, there is no danger of dairving be-
ing Observation-Disclosures Stewart, in