The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-05-11
FOR THE FARMER

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1t has been often said and truly that
one of the chief difficulties in making
farming profitable is that farmers less
than any other class construct their
farming operations on business prin-
ciples. BY this is not meant that they
do not keep an elaborate set of books,
showing just what crops have cost and
how the income from the farm is made
and also what has been done with it.
That is the schoolmaster's idea about
applying business principles. to farm
ing 1t is entirely fallacious. Books
of farm accounts, so far as showing
what crops have cost, are almost neces-
sarily deceptive if they try to go into
details. Only the crudest kind Of esti-
mate can be made of what remains
after fertilizers have been applied to
make one crop to enrich the soil for
future crops. Quite often the best
farmers purposely grow some crop
which they know will not itself be
profitable in order to get their land
seeded with grass or clover for the
benefit this will insure to other crops
in the same rotation. Quite often, too,
the crops that could be sold for the
most money are set aside because too
exhaustive or because they do not fur
nish the rough feed to be fed on the
farm and thus be turned into manure
to preserve its fertility.
But there are two important business
principles that ought to be applied to
farm production much more generally
than they are The first of these is to
do all possible to make production
cheaper This with crops can best be
done by understanding the soil and
making it as fertile as possible.
The other business principle is to
study what the farm is capable of do
Ing under the best management and
so far as is possible crowding it up
to that high standard. This often in
wolves an entire change in the system
of cropping, and it always means get
ting out of the old ruts in which so
many farmers like always to move,
because it requires less eXertion to go
ON in the ruts than it does to get out Of
them. 1t should be the business of
every farmer to learn what his farm
is best capable of producing and to set
himself to growing that which will
give the greatest profit.-American Gull
tivator.
One Cause of Poor Flavor.
1t has been a matter of considerable
wonder why the scores of butter at
the national conventions are lower
than they are at the state conventions.
The probability has been stated to be
in favor of better scores in February
than in November, but the facts are
the other way, and it has puzzled our
theorists to reconcile probability with
fact.
Since there are supposed to be fewer
fresh cows III November than in Feb
ruary and since fresh cows are gen
orally credited with the production of
the finest flavor, it has puzzled the
sayants to account for lower scores at
the later date. But why limit to these
two dates? Is it not a general fact
that the longer cows are kept in the
barn and fed ON stored feed the more
apt the flavor is to be "on?' The barns
get more and more infected with germs
and the forage gets older and more
musty and, with the same care regard
ing cleanliness and feeding there will
be a greater Infection with musty and
moldy germs. This is what we might
naturally expect. and we may look for
stable f1avors until the cows are allow
ed to run in the pasture once more
1t is possible to have sweet good fla
Vored feed in winter and it is possible
TO measurably control the flavor with
starters skillfully used. and there are
some butter makers all the time doing
just this thing. Creamery Journal.