The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-06-03
Farm Economy.

The farmer to succeed in making the farm pay must be a business man as well as a tiller of the soil for whether he wills It so or not the time has come in the his- tory of all agricultural pursuits when 1t Is just as necessary to do business on a strictly business basis on the farm as 1t is in the store.
 The farmer must know what his ex- penses are; he must charge the soil with all that he gives to it in labor, fertilizers, and take into account wear and tear, taxes, etc., and then keep as well a close account of all he gets from the soil and credit it up with same. By this system, and this only, can the farmer expect to succeed; for by this strict adherance to business the farmer, like the merchant, may be able to quickly see when and where he Is losing and be able to check the leak before it becomes so large that It takes all his resources to straighten him out
 Conditions have changed so fast and such a different system Of labor has ob- tained that no farmer can longer farm long under the old time system, which was largely chance, and when the farmer only balanced up his books at the end of the year, when this reckoning up often showed that he had run so far behind that 1t would require that every acre or his land produce a good crop the next season in order to get even once more.
 Now I know that no farmer can fore see just what his crops will be in yield or just what prices he will get for his crops yet he can approximate and from experience and observation he may be able to guess so accurately as to Keep on the safe side. Then again in this age of farming and with our improved mar kets and shipping facilities every farmer should have something at all seasons to sell, and in this way he can meet his cur rent expenses weekly, and know all the time just where he stands financially and whether or not he is making the farm pay.
 Recently I had an article on what called soil economy. This, however IS only one of the many things in economy on the farm, which the farmer must prac- tice and look after in order to succeed.
 Eco.omy of Labor.
 One of the greatest problems of the age and one which the farmer has to contend with as much~or more than any other Is the labor problem. We hear the cry all over the country. north, south, east and west that farmers cannot get help to gather and save their crops after they are made. This season thousands of dollars worth of frlht and vegetables have gone to waste for want of labor to harvest and market.
 have endeayored in former articles to show our readers how they may econ omize in labor on their farms by learning the use of our improved farm implements and by the use of more and better horse . power, making one horse and hand per- form as great amount of effectual labor and to have them produce as much under this new order as five men and horses used to do under the old system. This can be easily done under the system which recommend, and the only objec- ton that could be brought against the plan is that under these improved meth ods one man may be able to produce as much crop as five men can care for and market in due time to prevent loss or damage to the crop
 The farmer may say 'I can't get help to gather my crops, and I may meet with just the same difficulty in getting help to harvest as I met in getting help to produce" This may be true to cer-