The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-05-17
BUSINESS METHODS IN FARM.
ING.

The current number of Home and
Farm contains two very interesting
prize letters from North Carolina farm
ers. The first letter is entitled apply
Business Rules, and is by Mr.. McKim
mon, of Laurinburg, N. @. Mr.. Nc
Kimmon says:
In studying the subject. "How to
make Farming Pay9" it has occurred
to me that perhaps the reason so many
people fail to make it profitable is be
cause they do not apply to it simple
business rules and methods.
For instance, q farmer begins the
new year without taking any account
of what he has ON hand with which to
make crop; goes to his merchant and
buys what he thinks he needs, and
most of which he could make on his
own farm, and begins the crop. He
keeps no account of what he buys or
what his expenses are. Makes improve
ments on his farm, but keeps no item
;z9d account of them and does not
know what they cost him.
When his crop is gathered he finds
he has not made enough to pay for
what he has expended. The man be-
comes discouraged and says there is
no money in farming, and the fsrRQer
who pursues this course and goes on
from year to year in this discouraged
state of mind is very nearly correct.
But on the other hand let the farmer
know to a cent what he has on hand
at the beginning Of each year and then
keep strict itemized account with his
farm and also with each different crop
that he cultivates so that he can know
the ones on which there is margin and
also the ones on which he loses money.
Every farmer ought to know what
each product of his farm costs him.
It would be a strange manufacturer
that would spend his life in manufac-
turing an article and not know what
it cost him to make it, and this is what
most farmers are doing. And then let
him get all the information he can
from reading, experimenting and think
ing and bring Rn his kno Wedge to bee
on his own individual case, the circum.
stances and surroundings of which will
decide the best course to pursue. Ap-
plying the methods and rules that
bring success in other callings of life,
he will make farming a financial sue
cess and also enjoy the many blessings
ard privileges that go with it and
which no other calling has.
The second letter is on 'Oid Ways
Must Co." and is from the pen of a
Halifax county farmer, Mr.. ]. W.
Weller, of Ringwood. He says:
He who makes two bushels of grain
to grow where only one grew before, ia
a benefactor to his race. This will not
apply to cotton, under present condi-
tions of acreage. Farmers are slow in
giving up old methods, and adopting
new ones. But to make farming profit
able in this age Of new inventions and
fast living, we must make changes in
the old style of farming in the South.
Men of other occupations combine for
mutual benz fit and protection and seek
after and adopt new ideas and methods
for improvement and profit in their
business. But the average farmer
seems to be prejudiced against innova-
tions on the plan Of farming, and " i'll
heed neither precept nor example if it
embodies a change in his "daddy's''
style of farming. Some of them con-
tinued for long time to go to mill
horseback, with the corn in one end of
the sack and rock in the other end to
balance it. Some of them to day stick
to the plan of thirty ceres to the mule.
This much land must be planted, if it
is only slovenly cultivated during the
season. This is what may be called the
extensive style Of farming, with the
intensive figures of profits.
There is a cless of tenant farmers
who will not be induced to change by
precept or example. But some farm
ers are seeking for light, for new meth
DDS that will enhance the profits of
farming. These can help each other
by exchanging views and experiences
through the columns of farm pa
pers. I want to give my plan of get
ting more than one crop a year from
the same land, and still keep up the
fertility of the land.
First a crop of oats. It will pay to
top dress the oats with some suitable
fertilizer, and then run a light harrow
over them in the spring. AS soon as
the oats are harvested, plant in some
early field corn, using guano or cotton