Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-04-11
TANNING MILLS ON FARM.
Prof. Thomas Shaw Declares Every
FARMER Should Have One.

The natural thought would be that
every farmer would look upon a fan
ming mill as an indispensable adjunct
to his farming. Nevertheless, the fact
remains that on the majority of the
grain-growing farms of the Northwest
there are no tanning mills. This
means that before all the farms are
thus equipped, from 100000 to 100000
tanning mills would have to be sold
In that territory.
To a farmer living East 1t seems in
comprehensive that any farmer
should think of growing crops with
out a tanning mill. The explanation
is found in the methods Of farming
that have been followed. The aver
age Northwestern farmer settled on
virgin lands, where foul seeds had
never grown. The lands were SO ricn
that he was able to grow crops in sue
cession for many years without think
ing much about weeds. For the time
being, he found 1t cheaper to send his
grain from the threshing machine to
the elevator than to build granaries
in which to store it and to buy a
tanning mill and clean the grain be-
fore selling it.
1t also left on his hand a large
amount of screenings, which he had
no stock to feed to, and which would
have been a drug on the market.
Seed wheat was bought in many in
stances, under the idea that a change
was good. In this way, foul seeds
multiplied apace. This is largely the
explanation of the disgraceful condi-
ton of so many of the farms of the
Northwest at the present time, be-
cause of the extent to which they are
infested with noxious weeds.
The times have changed. The sys-
tenn must change. 1t has been dis
covered that homegrown seed Is
nor valuable than what has been
purchased, and that seed carefully
cleaned and graded is much more val
liable than seed brought in from
abroad. To have such seed it Is in
~dispensable that every farmer shall
have a tanning mill and he ought to
have the best that can be got. Thus
equipped, the character of his seed
should improve every year, and this
should mean a corresponding increase
in his crops.
The time has also come when 1t Is
imperative to sow clean seed. The
only way to insure this is for every
farmer to clean his own seed, which
means that he must have a tanning
mill. The farmers now r growing
grain of various kinds and it is equal
ly important that the seed of these
shall be we'll cleaned, as that the seed
of wheat shall be SO prepared.
Live stock is also being introduced
more or less on many farms. This
means that the screenings taken from
the wheat or other grains sold can be
turned to excellent account in feeding
n o. the other Of tie various kinds
of live stock kept. The screenings
sent to the elevators are given away.
The farmer is locked so much for
screenings and nothing is allowed him
for the dockage. :,
When the Importance of the fam
ming mill is considered to the North
west farmer, it would seem that it is
not putting it too strongly to say
that the mar who sells tanning mills
Is engaged in a beneficent work, even
though when thus engaged he has no
other thought. than that of earning
a commission on his sales. The cost
is so small that a tanning mill is with
in the reach of every farmer.-Orange
Judd Farmer.