Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-02-11


Who cares for thee and me,
III ~. Keep thee both beneath my WINGS.
One wing DER thee and one oer me
So We are near
And though our paths be separate,
And thy way Is not mine,
YET coming to the mercy seat,
My soul will meet with thine,
Ana 9S, G1a ,shs, Keep watch tween thee and me-"
He biesseth thee, He blesseth me,
And We are near.
DELAWARE COUNTY FARMERS
INSTITUTE.
Continued from last week.
General Management of the Farm.
By Watson Childs.
In presenting this subject for discus
sion l consider 1t one of the most I'M
portsnt problems with which the farmer
has to deal. There is such variety of
circumstances and conditions as we
find them on different farms. General
management of the farm like other vo-
cations is presumed to be carried on for
the purpose of livelihood and the &C.
cumulation of the almighty dollar.
However the making of money on the
farm should not occupy all our thoughts
and require all our energies. The edu.
cation of our children and the welfare
and happiness of our families should
ever hold prominent place in our
minds while we are wrestling with the
problems incident to the management
of the farm. If we would improve or
even retain the fertility of our farms,
and every farmer should try to do this,
we must keep all the livestock our
farms will maintain. Just what Kind
OF stock or how much for any given
number of acres, no one can state. The
variation in soil, the difference in the
construction Of buildings, arrangement
Of yards and stables, the quantity aud
accessibility Of watsss, and vatious de-
tafls-all have q bearing on what can be
produced and the amount of labor re.
CURED to handle the stock on the farm
Not long sinceI heard two or three
men discussing stock and dairy matters,
one thought if man had land enough
to keep forty or forty.tive head of cattle
he might just as well have them all
COWS as he would be likely to take bet
ter care of them than he would if he
only Kept ten or fifteen and the balance
young stock. l presume it did not oc-
cur to him that it would be very diff
cult on some farms to obtain mixers
for forty or more COWS. On the other
hand If there are three or four children
In the family old enough to milk, large
dairy may be carried on with success
for q period of years. Let us not forget
that one or more of these children
should be in school good part of the
time for six or eight years. Again, the
older of these children soon attain the
age at which they go out to rustic for
themselves and the farmer must hire
help perhaps both in the house and out.
This question of hired help has be-
come quite serious the last few years
and doubtless has somewhat to do with
many "tlred' farmers moving to town.
If one is 30 situated that he can devote
his entire farm to the production of
milk or butter l know of no other farm
product that will bring 80 much money
and at the same time take 80 little fer
tility from the farm. Suppose you sell
one ton of butter at twenty-five cents
per pound, you have $500 for your load,
which If you had spread the butter on
your farm 1t would not have enriched
the land equal to one load of barnyard
manure.
The production of good meat is per-
hsps the next best item from which we
may obtain the "stuff" that helps us
over the rough places. In the manage
ment of the farm one should produce q
variety of good meat. 1 would empha-
size the word good, fur like butter 1t is
the good article that brings the remu-
nerative price, care not whether it be
beef, pork, mutton, poultry OF horse
meat. Yes, horse meat. Do not mis-.
take my meaning, if you raise q good,
well bred horse, weighing 1900 pounds,
and he brings you Sl2O., not an extraya-
giant price, you have ten cents pound
for that piece of horse flesh, while we
were doing fairly well for period of
five or ten years If we could sell a bunch
of steers Of equal weight at five cents q
pound. Beef and mutton can be pro.
duced somewhat cheaper than pork or
horses from the fact that they may be
grown mostly on grass and roughage,
while the hog requires more grain and
In growing horses there is more risk
from accidents. Let us keep this fact
in view, it is the best bred and best
handled stock that brings the top Of the
market. When it is known that q farm
er has lot of choice stock there will be
some one at his farm every week in the
year to buy it.
lcsnnot urge too strongly the keep.
ing of all the live stock our farms will
carry. 10 iilustrate-in 1876 l talked
with several farmers of the Mohawk
valley who were loading baled hay on a
canal boat for shipment to New York
City. On asking the price on board
they replied only s1oper ton, they could
not understand why itshould not bring
SIS to'sls as 1t had ten years before,
and at the same time the crop was
growing less every year. 1t is said that
lsome Of those eastern farms will net
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