Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-02-14

doing with all that timothy hay? You
surely are not feeding all the 6S, AS tons OF
a hay, besides all the other forage you raise
to15,5l9 cows. Some of you are selling the
hay off. The man who makes business OF
raising and selling timothy hay off the farm
instead OF feeding it to stock is as surely on
the road to ruin as the farmer who makes a
business of raising and selling off wheat
and burns the straw to get it out of the way,
as Il 0lsands used to do in the early days OF
Southern Wisconsin.
ENCoURAGEMENTs.
! Marathon county is fitted by nature to be
one of the best, if not the best agricultural
county in Wisconsin. No other county has
richer land or better water, or is it better
adapted to raising clover, that sheet anchor
of the farmer, or will raise better peas, oats,
barley, grass and all other forage plants
which are needed to make dairying success
full, with the single exception, possibly, of
corn. And even that does better as the
forests are cleared off and the sun is let in
to warm up the soil; and it will in time,
when yarities of corn are planted which are
suitable to the climate and soil, perhaps, do
as well as in most other parts of the state.
The butter made here in the creameries is
| fully as good as that made in the more
southern counties; and the cheese is con-
ceded to be better.
Marathon county, with the present num-
ber OF farms, ought to have $1,000 dairy
cows; and, in time, when the farms are
developed as they should be in a few years,
100000 cows. When that condition arrives
the farmers of Marathon county will be
prosperous indeed.
DAIRYING LEADS TO PROSPERITY.
As one travels about the country in differ
ent states he can tell the dairy districts, as
he passes through on the train, by the good
houses and large barns and other evidences
of thrift and prosperity. The commercial
traveller will tell you that there he finds his
best customers, who buy freely any pay
promptly.
There is never failure of dairy products.
Those who depend ON special crops have
frequent years of failures, but there never
was season yet in Wisconsin when there
was not enough feed for cows of one kind
or another, raised to provide fairly well for
the year. The dairymen's income with
given herd of cows varies but little from
year to year, and he can calculate with
reasonable certainty about what it will be.
He is not elated at times with the eXpecta-
ton of getting an immense crop and big
prices and tempted to run in debt on the
strength of it, and then have his crop fail
ure because of sudden blight or storms, or
have the yield greatly reduced by drouth.
The dairymen's income comes steadily
along each week, or each month, through
the whole year; therefore, he gets into the
habit of paying as he goes. When the
farmers income is from some crop that is
sold off once year, he gets into the habit
of running into debt at stores. He gets
what he wants and the members of his
family get what they want, and it lis charged
up to hlm. When the crop is sold and he
gets his money, he goes to settle up with
the merchant. He is astonished to find his
account so large, and he does not have
money enough to pay. He has got behind,
and the chances are he will be still more
behind the next year. After while a
mortgage has to be given to raise the money
to pay up. This habit of getting into debt
is bad one, and dairymen are more likely
to keep out OF it than any other class of
farmers.
DAIRYMEN HAVE MONEY IN BANKS.
That dairymen, as a class, have more
money to their credit in banks 1 am sure,
for | have made that a subject of special
investigation. | found it so not only in
Wisconsin, but in Iowa, Illinois, and other
states.
A few years ago | asked banker at Fort
Atkinson, my own nome, if farmers depos-
tied much money with him, and he said:
Yes; We have about 100000 that the
farmers III this vicinity have left with us"
| asked him what class of farmers left the
most. | told him | wanted to know for
special purpose. He said he would look
into it and tell me in few days. When |
met him again he said he was astonished
that it was the dairymen that deposited
most of the money. He said he could not
understand it. He could net believe dairy
ing was so much more profitable than other
farming as that would indicate.
After talking it over for a while he finally
arrived at this conclusion, which think is
correct: 1.-The dairyman gets his monthly
check and goes to the bank to get it cashed;
he does not need all the money just then
and he deposits some. He now has bank
account started, and he finds it is nice
thing. He likes it. He gets into the habit
of having a bank account,-by the way a
pretty good habit-and he will not draw it
all out unless in case of emergency. Then
it's a fine thing to have. The grain men
who get their money once year, don't do
that way. They have place for it and 1t
don't get into the bank, unless it may be
for few days, sometimes"
OF course, did not ask who the individ-
uals were who had money on deposit. If l
had, he would not have told me, for that
would have been violating business rules
and would not have been right. He simply
told me that dairymen deposited the most
money. Bankers in other places have told
me the same thing.
In the evening public meeting was
held at which goodly number Of citi-
zens were present. A program of mu-
sic, vocal and instrumental was ar
ranged and carried out. Among the
numbers was orchestra selections piano
solos by Mrs Z. V. Speer, vocal solos
by MIR. and Mrs. +. W. Kickbusch, Jr.,
and violin solos by Jacob Reuter-.
The principal address was by Mrs.
AIDA F. Howe, of Elm Grove, and was
plea for better home conditions on the
farm.
A wall has gone forth over this broad
land, What shall be done to keep the
boys on the farmg'' What has ever
been done to make farm life more at
tractive to them? Parents have placed
stigma on the occupation of farming
and have held up to the light before
their children's eyes its defects instead
of its praisworthy qualities, and have
impressed upon the minds of their
children that wealth cannot be secured
by it and that the city offers more
alluring, respectable and attractive
modes of earning living.
Eyes. we have woefully belittled our
own calling in an attempt to magnify
the greatness of others. In a maudlin
self abnegation we have said to our
children Our lives have necessarily
haou ones of self denial and drudperV