Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-01-29
OUR FARMERS.
LEAKS ABOUT TIE FARM.


mean those acts of carelessness Or
ignorance which cause ones expenses
to be greater than bis income. The
leaks about a farm are as numerous
as the leaks in an old water trough in
summer. However, they cannot be
stopped with little mud as the leaks
in the trough but they may be stopped
by thoughtfulness and observation.
Many poor farmer has been forced to
work hard every day and then at the
end of the year come out behind just
because he was not careful about the
little leaks. One of my neighbors lost
nearly all of his pigs this fall. He saw
they were covered with lice but wait
ed until the leak was too large and as
result part of his crop which should
have gone to his hogs will go to help
pay the rent. The man who pays no
attention to the leaks about the farm
even small farm, but if by chance
he does get farm he will not keep it
long. He will buy implements but
will think he cannot afford to build
shelter for them, and as they rust out
quicker than they wear out he will
soon have to buy new ones. In a few
years the farm will belong to the i'm
plement dealer. One should take
care of his machinery. The sheds
cost but a small sum and they will
soon more than pay for themselves
by making the machinery last twice
as long as it would if exposed to the
weather. About five years ago two
men near here started out with the
same capital-nothting. Both of them
had the same opportunities. Now
one has about $4,000 in cash while the
other has not increased his capital
one per cent. The reason is, one
watched the leaks about the farm
very closely while the other paid no
attention to them. A few years ago
there was another man who owned
considerable land in this section. To-
day he owns nothing. Why is this?
1t is because he paid too little atten-
ton to the leaks about his farm. He
always hired the cheapest man he
could find, the cheaper the better.
When his hired men wanted anything
they would order it and he would pay
for it. He would never allow his men
to ''waste time" as he called it, bright
ening a rusty pillow but would buy a
new one. These leaks and many
others caused his ruin. In hiring help
one should hire a good hand even if
he does cost little more for he will
save you more than the difference in
price by taking care to stop the leaks.
1t is the carelessness about the hun
dreds of leaks about the farm which
causes so much poverty among the
farmers in this country.-Prairie Far
n1er.
The Wisconsin experiment station
has proven that a pig weighing 100
pounds requires one pound of corn
meal and a half-pound of wheat mid
dlings to keep it alive without gain
or loss. Three pounds day of the
same feed would make a pound of
pork, Eand if the grain costs $50 per
ton, the pork would cost AZ cents a
pound, and if he could eat six pounds
day he would gain two pounds at a
cost of three cents pound.
A hog weighing 500 pounds needed
five pounds of grain feed to keep him
alive, and eight pounds to increase
his weight one pound day. This
would make the pound Of pork cost
eight cents. These figures are for
good, thrifty hogs of good breeds
and are approximately correct, and
they low very nearly the economy
of killing hogs before they weigh 200
pounds if they can be made fat. But
the profit on hogs to the farmer in
the west is not so much in the gain
feed as that the hog turns unstable
products and the wastes Of the farm
into that which sells readily for cash.
IN