Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-07-28
MAKING FARMING PAY.

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| by the Census Bureau, over 20, 000. 900 per-
sons in the United States are engaged in
gainful occupations, or little more than
/ so per cent. Of all the inhabitants over 10
years of age, In spite Of the rush to the
cities and the increase in manufacturing,
transportation, trade, and the enormous
development Of industries other than agri-
cultural, the farming interest is still far
greater than any other, and it is likely that
it will be so for centuries, because, however
we may develop, we still continue to eat.
OF the 90, DOC, 900 or more who are now at
work nearly 40 per cent. of the whole, or
about 10000, 900 persons, are engaged in
| farming on about 5000, 600 farms
The stress Of city life, combined with
the increasing prices to be obtained for the
products Of the farm, has tendency to in
yite many city dwellers to the country, and
| it is likely that more and more people will
be lured to the farm in the future, not
merely as means Of gaining health, but
for livelihood. Every one who thinks of
making an experiment in farming, as well
as farmers now at work, should read the
papers in the latest Year Book Of the De-
partment Of Agriculture describing that
celebrated farm at Flourtown, near Phila-
delphia which has attracted the attention
of the scientific farmers and the agricultural
papers.
J. D. DIETRICH, who has made this most
conspicuous success, was minister who, in
! 1881, when he undertook to make living
on fifteen acres of ground, knew nothing
whatever about farming. He read all the
good books which treated Of his speciality
dairy farming, and experimental constantly
with his farm, which has been called the
most remarkable that has come under the
notice of the government experts. The
fifteen acres and the house was covered by
a mortgage of $1,000 when lie began his
poor, and in the first year the farm did not
pay expenses by S46. In the next six
years he paid the mortgage, and at the end
Of his experimentation he was feeding
thirty cattle. of which seventeen were milk
ers; was selling five or six registered calves
a year at about 800 each, aud was market
ing from the farm produce for which he re-
ceiyed $4,000 a year.
His method is described in word as
soiling as against pasturing for his cattle.
The COWS stayed in the barn all the year
and remained perfectly healthy, giving
about 1890 pounds a year for each COW.
The crops grown were millet, rye, timothy,
clover, corn, peas and oats. In summer
this food grown on the farm was fed to the
COWS instead of permitting the cows to feed
out on the pasture; in winter these crops
in the form of silage were fed to the stock.
1t is evident that the success Of an expert
ment like this depends ON the size of the
crops grown, and in the DIETRICH experiment
two or three crops were grown each season
on four acres enough corn was raised to
make about 100 tons Of silage, while the
fodder grown was equal to about 81 tons
for each acre cultivated. This wonderful
feat was accomplished by the use of stable
manure, of which not an ounce went to
waste. There was no barnyard; the ma
nure was used as it was produced; there
was no waste of any kind on the farm, and
there were no weeds, because the crops
taolr mn all the room,
There we're good many other things lack
ing on the DIETRICH farm which are common
on nearly all other farms. There was a
system so well studied out that the man
and the boy who did the work knew every
week just what was to be done, and the
owner could and did go away for weeks at
time and let them do the appointed tasks.
The DIETRICH system is, in word, intense
cultivation; an exact system or programme
which had been tested and found good; ex-
pert management, no waste, no weeds.
The Agricultural Department. is of the
opinion that this little farm may perhaps
revolutionize the farming business, or at
least the dairy business; and so it will if all
the farmers and dairymen apply to their
undertakings the same intelligence, indus
try and skillful management as did Mr..
DIETRICH; and it may be pertinent to remark
that some people believe that the man who
has the ability to do as Mr.. DIETRICH has
done is almost as rare as the man who is
capable Of handling trust.