Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-10-13
WASTE ON The Farm
George F. Thayer Elaborates on
Cha,. Booknan's Letter on
the Subject
LACK OF HELP RESPONSIBLE
Farmers Who Do All Their Own Work
Have No Time for DetaiIs-Expense
Of Hired Man Could Be Saved Many
Times Over by Taking Care Of the
Little Things.

Little Things.
Especial to Times Republican.
Toledo, Oct ia few days ago
there appeared in the T.-R. letter
from Chas. Booknau on the waste on
the farm, in which a comparison was
made between the shingling of his
barn and the depot in town, showing
that by using few more nails roof
n would last longer etc. He is right on
this point but don't think he Went
! far enough in regard to the waste on
g the farm. OF course when person
f tries to make a comparison between
u farm and q piece of city property,
he has the former at a disadvantage
on account of the relative size Of the
two places, but probably the waste
lis greater in town In proportion than
lin the country.
/ Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of
a farmer is his inability to get help
at the time he needs it. 1t is common
for farmer to run q 100 acre farm
himself without the use of any hired
help. except during the seasons when
he is gathering his crops AS this.
comes at the same time as all his neigh
bors, It is almost impossible for all
to get help when they want 1T. So
some one gets left short and the re-
suit is waste. This has been par
1 ticularly noticeable this year, as the
work had TO be done between showers
and done quickly, and when a man.
had no help he was compelled to take
greater loss than his neighbor who
had the help.
have noticed in a great many places
this fall where the oats have been
stacked in the yard near the farm
: buildings that the chickens and geese
are allowed free access to the stacks,
On one stack counted fifty-one chick
ems working industriously to scratch
out the oats. with the result that all
around the stack there were great holes
in which during rain the water would
lodge and soak in instead of running
off as was intended when 1t was
stacked. The farmer not only lost
what was eaten by his hens,
but that which was wasted by
them and the loss from the
water The chickens on farm
are supposed to be all profit, because
1T costs nothing to raise them. but 1t
only takes few days on an oat stack
to make them expensive.
a*&
Another waste that have noticed In
going over a field of corn which has
been cut by a machine is the number
of ears that are knocked off and never
picked up. Last spring l found many
a man out picking them up, water
soaked and muddy. OF course good
many ears were never picked up, and
this, too, when corn was worth 80 cents
a bushel. IT corn had been cheap but a
very few would have gone to the trou-
bic to pick them up at all.
In the two statements above are sim
pie instances that have come under my
notice and must not be considered to
apply to all farmers, as there as just
as many men who are careful to look
after these things as there are men who |
neglect to do SO. But perhaps the
greatest waste that occurs on the farm
in regard to raising and using grain is ,
In the handling after it is out of the
fields. Many. a time have seen far
mer drive into his feed yard with load
of corn and shovel it out into the mud
to be tramped over and wasted. while
a few dollars spent for lumber and a /
good plank floor put in and little eff /
fort to keep 1t clean would result in |
saving many dollars in years time. /
What is true of the grains is also true
of everything else on the farm. 1t is
simply the inability of one man to do /
more than n mans work. But few peo-
pie living in town have any idea how
big a 160-acre farm is and the amount I
of work there is to be done there
He is of necessity his own carpen-
ter, mason and painter, has from mile
to three miles of fences to keep up and
rebuild and hundreds OF other things to
do besides putting in his grain and
harvesting 1t. And from the very fact
that he tries to run his farm alone
things go to waste, not from choice but
simply because he can't do 1t all at once.
But the thoughts of keeping a hired
man the year round to some farmers
seems like rank waste Of good money.
Why, know man who let his corn
stand in the fields all last winter rather
than pay 3 cents a bushel for having 1t
picked, saying that he never had paid
over 2A cents and he never would. He
said they We're simply taking advantage
of the farmer because the price was
high.
Many good farm is allowed to run
down simply because its owner doesn't 3.
employ help enough to keep it up, and
he loses more each year in depreciation
than the cost of an extra hand, besides
the satisfaction of having a well regu-
lated and clean farm.
Another thing that is noticeable this i
year is the amount Of machinery which
is standing in the fields where last used.
Plows, binders, and corn cutters are
seen in the fields. OF course a good !
many farmers expect 10 use these ma D
chimes again this year, so they have left =
them until after the rain, when
they will be brought up and put
into the barn or left in the yard There
are fewer machine sheds on farms than
80