The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-29
FARMING as A BUSINESS
AN INSTRUCTIVE ADDRESS BY GOV.
MOUNT AT ISLAND Park.
The Farming of the Present and
Future and the Qualifications Nee
essary to Make Ii Successful.
Special to the indianapolis Journal.

'ASA NeRS ctl bllC lS4dlAu IN <ASSSAl-
bly,, and Gov. James A Mount delivered
an address. The Governor is quite as
famous as successful scientific farmer as
he is in the field of politics. and in his adj
dress to-day he gave plain and clear rea-
sons for his success as a farmer.
The Governors topic was THE Farmer
OF the Twentieth Century" He began by
saying that farming not only antedates
all other pursuits, but il would continue
while the human family inhabited the
earth The United States was the greatest
agricultural country of the earth. and sta
ustlcs We're given by the speaker proving
the correctness of this statement. The
speaker then gave retrospective review in
winch he noted the change in conditions
from the past to the present, showing the
many advantages now enjoyed by the
farmer OF the future he said:
The successful farmer of future years
must understand something of the laws
governing animal and vegetable life The
yleId OF crops in large measures determines
the prohts. The fertility of the soil is an
important factor in the abundance of the
crop. 1t is therefore manfestly important
that the soil be fertile to insure profitable
farming. in order that the farmer be fully
equipped he must know something of the
elements of plant food required to produce
the crops he grows. He must study how TO
restore these elements to the soil. Chemical
analysis reveals TO us the kind, the amount
ana value of these elements required in
producing crops. 1t tells US the amount and
Ndiue Oh the nitrogen, potash and phoS-
phates required to produce a bushel of corn
or a buShel of oats or wheat, and the prices
or these In the markets. These facts DEM
onstrate that we cannot depend upon the
purchase OF fertilizers as a means of keep
ing up The fertility of our land. Hundreds
abandoned land are found all over the
Southern States. Thousands Of abandoned
farms are found in the New England
States. The note of alarm is being sounded
and none too soon-all over the Middle and
Western States. L have heard intelligent
farmers estimate in southern counties in
abandoned land, the estimate reaching
thousands of acres. | have seen many acres,
once fairly fertile, now sterile and no longer
cultivated: This is a sad commentary on
the farming of the nineteenth century.
Land brought into cultivation, worn out
and abandOned-all in one hundred years.
The great task for the nineteenth-century
farmer has been, in this State. to clear
the land, construct roads. drain the swamps
and marshes, endure hardships and priva-
lions, shake with the ague and meet the
dangers of frontier life. This required
physical endurance and the exercise OF
muscle. The Notwithstanding farmer
must be able to solve scientific problems,
to master economic questions. He must,
of all men, be resourceful. He must be a
general, able to command the forces in the
great laboratory of nature. He must watch
this vast storehouse with the eye of a dis
cOVerer, and with versatile mind turn Wher-
ever wisdom directs.
MUST STUDY MARKETS.
THE law of supply and demand must con-
troll prices. Statistical information is now
obtainable that will enable the student of
markets, with some degree of certainty to
forestall prices. Instead of studying these
wise economic principles, farmers, as a
rule, act in concert, prompted by the i'm
pulse of existing conditions. wholly obliv
ious to the laws of supply and demand and
ignoring factors that are likely to revolu-
tiOnize immediate environments. 1t is a
safer rule to go counter to than with the
current in farming. Mrs. Hettie Green. the
richest woman in America and one of the
most noted financierS, in reply to a
porter's interrOgatory said: 1t is true L
am rich. l have been blessed in my invest
ments and that is all. / don't know that my
fortune is due to any liked principles
only use common sense. buy when things
are low and nobody wants them. keep
them until they go up and people are
crazy to get them. This is, 1 believeN the
secret to all successful business l have
noted the prevalent disposition on the part
any branch of stock raising that for the
time is low and Improbable, then stock
up at ! high g, prices with wi that which is IL, in
found with but little to sell at paying
prices
Il trust you will pardon personal refer
trate this important lesson of the study
of the markets. During the fall of 1873,
while the panic was causing temporary de-
PRESTON the cattle market became over
stocked ond there was a stampede. The
lower the price the more determined seemed
the farmers to force their cattle on the
already oVercrowded market. was renter
at that time and without money. i eX-
pressed to my neighbor my faith in the
opportuneness of the times for buying and
feeding cattle. l had large crop Of corn,
but no money. My neighbor referred me to
his friend who was anxious to sell two
carloads Of cattle and would let me pay for
the cattle when fed out. Thought the thir-
ty-tWo steers and eight more besides, MAX
ing forty head in all. These cattle cost me
8 cents a pound in November and 1 sold
them the next April at 5l2 cents a pound.
In the fall and winter of 1891 hogs were
selling at or near cents a pound. During
the early spring and summer of that year
corn ranged from 80 to rs cents per bushel
While attending farm institutes In the win
ter of 1891 l often heard farmers express
their purpose to raise fewer hogs. Some
said they would better have given away
their hogs or killed them than to have
fed high-priced corn to cheap hogs. and
declared their purpose to quit hog raising.
From the swine breeders | learned that this
was the prevailing sentiment. This was an
illustration of farmers going one way, i'm
PEELED by existing conditions and blind to
future PROSPECTS, | took occasion to say in
many farm Institutes that indications all
in 1892 with strong probabilities of a short
supply and high prices. l pointed out why
the crop would be short and referred TO
the meat inspection laws enacted to meet
the objection of Germany, Italy and Den
mark countries that had placed an embar-
go on American pork. claiming that 1t was
infested with trichinae or unhealthy. The
meat inspection laws, General RuSk
claimed would open up a new market for
at least 40 600, 900 pounds of pork. What was
the result? The farmer who followed in
the stupid wake Of the masses had but
few hogs to sell in 1892. The prediction was
realized, and a short crop and increased
demand gave excited market, reaching
in Chicago the high price of IS per hundred.
At one farm institute the eVer-present pes
simist and croaker said TO my hopeful
forecast of better prices for 1892 and the
reason: That all sounds very well, but 1t
doesn't inspire the man who Is forced, as
the most of us are, to take cents pound
for hogs raised, in part. on 15-cent corn to
whom l replied that the man who would
not be in shape TO profit by better times
when they came.
I'm an address before the Indiana wool
growers in January, 1894. on The Signs of
the Times andWhither is the Sheep Industry
Tending? l used this language 1 have
this subject. l have endeavored to present
the environments at home and the condi-
lions abroad that have to do with the wool
interests of our country 1t is not neces-
sary to acquaint the intelligent sheep hus-
bandman with these facts ana the trend
Of the sheep interests Prices of wool and
the sacrifice of hocks sound the note of
alarm. The pendulum is now swinging 10
the reverse side of this industry The mo-
mentum that Will be acquired IN TINS re-
predict in less than five years prosperity will
again return to the fiockmaster The farmer
who sells his flock at runous prices VIII
be in the market as purchaser When the
pendulum has Vibrated to the other ex-
treme.' This is being literally fulfilled.
Prices of stock sheep are now 100 per cent
higher than in 1884, and they viii be much
higher next year. While prices were declin-
ing farmers sold. The lower the
price the more eager they were 10