St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-01-18
FARMER AND PLANTER.
TACT IN FARMING.
How to Run n Farm an woda-u
Basis and Make the Most With
the Least Effort.

gave me several good points, an,
with the rest he said: Farming ca,
always be carried on successfully 81
long as it is not taxed to death. On
fathers of the early part of the cen
fury worked ON an economical basis
but they lived, and they lived we'll
They did not have our privileges, but
the kink was that they knew how tt
take advantage of what privileges
they did have. Nobody needs more
than the farmer does to readjust
himself to the times he lives in. We
can not farm it now as they a hun.
dred years ago and live; but we can
adjust ourselves to the times and live
right WELL" Then he brought his fist
down with a whack that ratified his
silver spoons. said: perhaps you
will show me your farm, and illus
trate what you mean by showing how
to run affairs on what you call rea-
sonable modern basis"
So we took a stroll, and am going
to tell you something about it. In
the first place, there were no large
fields in sight. ''Where is your corn 2"
I said. Il do not raise much" he
answered. Il do not need to. Why
should I help pile up lot of good
material to be unstable, when it can
be raised SO much cheaper in the
western states? The first law of
economy is, that every food product
should be produced where it can be
produced most cheaply, and no one
else should enter into competition"
"But your wheat" said, show about
that?' Il buy it, he replied. II can
buy it cheaper than 1 can raise it,
even now since the price has gone up.
Only over there" be added, fare two
or three acres sown for home use.
You notice." he observed, that 1
grow little barley, and enough oats
for my own horses ''That field"
sweet corn for the cannery." ''Have
you gone into beet raising?' asked.
"Not headlong," he replied, ''expect-
ing fortune. intend to wait until
see what will be done after the
government appropriations are used
up. Meantime I have made a small
experiment, that will not damage,
even if it does not pay me. for shall
get some personal knowledge out of
it. Let me tell you, sir, it's haste that |
makes waste. Our farmers are too |
anxious to make fortune on the |
jump. So they go into buying great
farms, raising new crops, and they
must have big crops or fall 'But,"
said, "Loes it not work },
way on small farms as on large?
When a man puts all of his capital
INTO one crop does it not take more
than two or three years to break
aim?"
''That's it, that's it," said my farm
r friend, ''all the eggs in one basket,
you see. But suppose he has ten
and a dozen eggs in each
me, and an accident knocks over
wo, he still has eight left to sell.
lave seen men go bankrupt on straw
ferries, on beans, on chickens, on
'igs, on horseradish. A man may go
on sweet peas" The last
dvise of my friend was: ga few
cres of land, well titled, is better .
han a large number of acres badly
lied. Every badly titled acre stands ,
or so much waste energy. We have ,
OF to the end of big farming. We
1ust learn to use what we have to ,
etter advantage, and adjust our :
elves to more closely inhabited
ountry. We have gone on a whole ,
beyond the safe line, try :
lg to farm on too extensive scale. 9
aising what can be produced else q
here at much less expense, instead !
adapting our production to our :
arkets and the conditions govern l
g supply and demand."-G. H. DER =
DID, in Agricultural Epitomist. q