The Florida agriculturist., 1906-03-28

use as DreeuerS- Inc comparison IL
the letter is not fair one, if the ami
mails are all pure bred their progeny
would be too valuable to sell as steers
for butchering. They should be saved
or sold for breeders.
The following communication has
been received from a subscriber, Mr..
w. NJ. Hardy, of Stony county, Iowa.
Its form is that of a letter from a
| father to a son:
You ask if it would be profitable for
you to invest in one or two thorough
bred animals as foundation stock in
starting your herd. In considering this
question it must be born in mind that
you are not accomplished in the art
or practical in the skill of selling in
the speculation market. You are pos
sessed of only the plain common farm
er's traits, like the great majority, and
when you come to sell the products of
your herd you must expect to sell
bulls in the speculative market-but
beef for the utility market. Neat cat
tie have a value for milk or the block
and no other value Whoever makes
more than can be gained on this basis
makes something that other cattIemen
down the line toward the block must
certainly lose, for to this complexion
must it come at last.
Above the true merits of choice
animal much is often claimed and paid
for mere name and fame. In one re-
Spect this is like the bloom OH grapes
liable to be rubbed Off In your case,
nc 70 in, fbn ifx,
market, you may be sure it will all be
wiped off in your hands. You say you
have $50 ready money and you know
where you can buy what you call good
scrub twO-year-Old heifers for $50
each. You also say you have been to
look at a fine pedigree heifer of the
same age which is offered for $3.50.
Let us suppose that you buy one of
the scrub heifers and with your re-
manning $50 and your note for $15O,
with interest at & per cent, you go and
also buy the blooded heifer Breed
them both to the same bull this spring
and in the fall of 1909 you will have
Il couple of marketable two-year-old
steers, one of which you sell for $50
and the other for $4S. But before
crediting the difference of $12 to profit
i'll your fine stock, you must first de-
duct 50 for interest on your note for
the year last passed. This will leave
you S3 for the foundation of a sinking
fund from which you may finally hope
to pay off your note. In 1910 you will
have two more steers, which you sell
as before, and be able to add So more
to your sinking fund; and with unfail- |
ing good luck, so continue through the |
period of many succeeding years. But
how many years will it take for the |
sinking fund to grow to the size of |
the note? If we divide $3.50 by three |
we have fifty years as the result, or
until the year 1859. Besides, without |
any interest on delinquent |
interest for fifty years, you will still, |
in the year 1859, be in debt $40 for |
two years and some months unpaid |
interest on your note during the years |
l906-7-S
1t is plain, Eben, that you paid too
much for your high-bOrn heifer. No
COW can live and furnish calf fifty /
years in succession. You must clip
something from the first cost of your
pedigree heifer and then try your
arithmetic. Clip and keep trying till /
YOU find she will pay out within the
reasonable period of her life and limi-
atlons. This point is reached rapidly,
or approach is made toward it from
10Th ends of the problem A reduction
oil