The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1901-01-31
CHANGE IMPERATIVE.

CHANGE IMPERATIVE.
Every practical farmer in cen
trail Minnesota. as we'll as every
person who has been at all observ'
ant of existing and changing con-
ditions, is convinced that wheat
production is, and of necessity
must, be Improbable. The So
called wheat belt has been reced'
ing toward the north during the
past quarter of century, and
Stearns county no longer occupies
central position therein, even if
it be within it at all. 1t is true
wheat will grow here, but as a sta
pie crop its production is becoming
more uncertain and precarious year
by year; and at best, under normal
conditions the price does not afford
snch a margin of profit as to make
it inviting. Of all crops it is SUBJ
iect to the fiercest competition, and
the area is rapidly increasing. Our
own and the Canadian Northwest
is fast expanding its wheat acreage,
but the increase is relatively small
compared with the new areas in
South America, in Australia and
particularly In Russia, which are
being brought into wheat cultiva'
ton year by year, all shipping
their surplus to the same consump-
ton market-Great Britain and the
centres of population on the Euro
pean continent. Cheap lands,
cheap labor and cheap transPorta-
ton conspire to increase the supply
without materially increasing the
demand, and yielding to the intlex-
ible law, the price of wheat is, and
will continue to be low-too low
to admit of its being proftably
produced upon farms valued as
they are in this section of Mime.
sota-lands which are steadily and
rapidly rising in value: Even UNI
der most favorable conditions an
acre of Stearns county land will
not produce as much wheat as it
would fifteen years ago, and this is
as true of new as of old land. Why,
the writer does not know, but re-
cords a conceded fact. i
On the other hand it is just as
evident that other crops which
could not be grown here at all
many years ago are now reasona-
bly, safe, sure and profitable. A
farmer who would have had the
temerity to plant a dozen acres OF
corn in western Stearns q score OF
years ago would have been con-
sidered a fit subject fer a lunatic
asylum. He would have simply
been throwing away good time and
better money. Now the corn crop
is even surer than wheat, and with
its possibilities, and what naturally
associate themselves with it in ag-
ricuituraI enterprise, far more prot
liable. Corn1 means pork, beef,
butter and cheese. AS stock food
it is without rival. Whether it be
grown for fodder, and cut before
maturity, or for the rjpened grain
it will yield satisfactory profit
when converted through the ami
NAL economy into food products.
Stock raising, either for the block
or for the dairy, relieves in great
measure the dizziness of practical
farming, and gives it zest which
the exclusive grain grower can
never experience. TO watch the
development of growing stock, to
experiment in breeding, feeding,
fattenlng-to try the effect of vari-
Gus foods for the production of
milk, or beef, or pork, or mutton
to improve ones self while i'm
proving ones belongings these
things relieve the drudgery of farm
work, and elevate it to the plane of
a profession. 1t will not decrease
the labor, but it divides it between
muscle and brain, developing both,
and getting the best financial re-
turns from such development.
When ones brains, muscle and
capital are working in perfect har-
mony, then it is that they are most
fruitful of profit and pleasure.
Nature has been prodigal Of op-
portunitv to the farmer of this vi
cinity along the lines suggested.
Pure air, pure water, fertile lands
and an invigorating climate invite
the farmer Of western Stearns and
adjoining counties to expand and
diversity their field of operations,
and along these lines lie prosperity
and happiness.