The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-03-17

4
and public spirit and common sense.
The steam engine is the practical So
luton of the hired girl problem.
Fourth. The creamery is an imper-
ative need and adjunct of the farm.
Soil is only dirt plus fertility. 1t is
only mineral plus decayed vegetable.
This latter is plant food. Consume
this and you take away the only in
gredient that any plant can live upon.
Do we think to hoodwink Dame
Nature? Do we fancy that we can
delude her into the notion of making
the mineral do the work of the veget-
able, of causing dirt TO discharge the
function of mold? Some men think
so evidently. They wink and look so
acutely knowing behind her back.
There is kind of air about them of
having in a very cunning way done
the old lady up" and got the better of
her. But this no man ever did or
ever will do. There is an memorable
law about this. We are in fair way
of turning these garden-like fields of
ours into deserts, because we disobey
that law 1t is an indisputable fact
that we are not raising one-third of
the produce that this land is capable
of sustaining. Shall we keep on and
pillow this land until it becomes mere
macadam, till it cements into a verit-
able road bed? Or shall we liven it
up, make it porous, workable and
productive? That is practical ques-
ton for sensible men.
l wish to introduce the old cow just
at this point.
Buying fertility is out of the ques-
ton. Raising it is perfectly feasible.
plead for an old fashioned manure
heap. Let it be broad and deep.
Without it some of these farms will
be abandoned within a generation.
Fifth. An interrogation: Does
creamery dairying pay?
Listen to these words of our new
governor in his inaugural message to
the legislature of this state: "Our
farmers are turning their attention
from grain growing as the chief
source of income to live stock hus-
bandry, prominent in which is dairy
ing. To my mind our state should
become a great dairy state. There is
no branch of agriculture that will add
more to our resources or bring more
material prosperity to our people.
Michigan has not kept pace with her
neighboring states in this industry.
Wisconsin, no more favorab1y sit
uated as to soil, climate or market
conditions, has 1900 creameries COM
pared with Michigan's 258. The in
come to Wisconsins farmers from
this source per year is SIS, ZOO, 900,
while in Michigan it is only SO, 700, 600.
1t is admitted by all competent judges
that the factory system of making
butter denotes progress in this indus
try. On the average butter products
of much better quality come from the
factory and they bring correspond
ingly higher prices"
Some of these farmers voted for
Governor Warner last fall because
they considered him to be an intelli-
gent, reliable man. l have given you
his answer to the interrogation docs
Creamery Dairying Pay?" He has
thoroughly tested it. Will you adj
vance your theory against his fact?
Will you honor his word in every other
particular and doubt his veracity in
this?
Moreover, here are men in your
own nearby vicinity, men who have
made pronounced success of agri-
culture. They are men of intelligence
and character. They tell you emphat-
ically and without equivocation that
creamery dairying is the very best
paying industry on their farms.
Will you believe them or will you
thrust up your theory against their
fact? Let us be consistent.
Here is a simple sum in arithmetic
| wish you to work out. Let him that
first gets the answer hold up his hand.
a. milks three cows, sets the milk,
skins the cream, churns it, works the
butter, takes it to market, spending a
half or a whole day in so doing, and
sells his butter for 20 cents per pound.
B., in like manner, milks three cows,
sends the milk to the creamery and
gets his butter check for 20 cents per
pound after all expenses of hauling
the milk, manufacturing and market
ing the butter have been deducted.
How much more does B. make than
A., and does it pay B. to patronize
the creamery?
This little premium of six cents net
per pound has been made all winter
long before our very eyes, and yet
there are men who have had both
. ocular and auricular demonstration OF
6 this who still shake their sapient heads
and assume to doubt that creamery
' dairying pays.
( Here is a problem l am working out
r for myself. A certain number OF
E cows worth $50 apiece with indifferent
D keeping bring me an income of s:
D each per month for butter alone
/ Their food is raised upon the farm
: and is returned to it again. Theil
milk brought back from the creamery
t helps to keep flock of hens, drov,
A of pigs and herd of calves thriving