The Grit-advocate., 1903-10-23
1t Bears 4

all been in The lines which he followed.
and having attained Il moderate sue
cess he placed the stamp of full ap-
| proval upon himself and his manner
| of farming. He was doubtless honest
in his judgment. but his success was
not i'll a large enough way nor of Il
sufficiently attractive kind 10 justify il.
WHAT SYSTEM WILL DO.
But perhaps of greater value as an
| illustration than any other instance
| could cite is that of II man in my
native State Of Rhode Island. He in
herited from his father Il very good
farm, beautifully situated and Of fertile
soil though rather far from market.
For some reason or reasons ii paid
him very little and he became greatly
dissatisfied. He finally decided to keep
for one year u separate account of
each feature of his farm in order to
ascertain what was the most and
which the least profitable. This brought
to light some surprising facts. He
found that he had been fattcning steers
at n loss. and that his dairy was barely
Sclf-sustaining. His sheep paid much
better, but the one feature which paid
far in excess of any other WAS his
poultry On this there was Il net profit
o: Il triie over Il dollar head per
annum.
He now gradually disposed Of his cat
tie. keeping more sheep. and increasing
his poultry (Which he kept on the "col-
ony plan'), till he had over 1000 hens.
Figured Oh the above basis. which is
safe one, the income from these
alone is no mean figure. to say nothing
of what he realizes from his sheep
and other sources. | have personally
examined land admircdI his farm a
great many times and know that it is
an exceedingly profitable one. And
yet This is the same farm which for
mcrly yielded only Il mcagrc and un-
satisfactory income.
| might cite other examples. but the
above are probably sufficient. They
cover very diverse conditions of soil
and climate. and. ! think. contain in
pretty full measure the answer to our
question.
The question may very naturally fol-
low. ''If agriculture can be made to pay
so well rs Il business why have not
more men gone into it as such:' The
answer is simple. Young farmers have
rarely been trained in exact business
methods. and habit holds them TO their
manner of life: while youn" men in
the cities lack that intimate knowledge
of agriculture without which all the
method ana system in the world would
never make the farm pay. The num-
hcr has thus been restricted 10 those
who would naturally grasp the posi-
hiliticS of agriculture. ana to whom it
would appeal as Il thing in which
brains and capital could be proftably
invested.
Nevertheless. I believe that IN the
future-possibly much sooner than any
of us expect greatly increased attcH-
ton will be bestowed upon agriculture
as Il business. Its possibilities as
brought TO light by investigation and
the gradual narrowing of many other
fields. will naturally compel this. 1t
is n field that has never been Ovcrdone
and it contains golden prizes for those
who will cultivate it Alright: even in
those departments which have been
most largely developed ana in which
there has been the greatest competition
there is still room Tor ihc production
OF the best. OF the best agricultural.
products there has never been. and
never will be. an ovc"supply.-Satur-
day Evening Post.