The Florida agriculturist., 1907-09-25
500 Per Cent Bigger Profit in Farming
And How to Get It.

be possible IOI IllIII 10 uO Illlo. L uC
Progressive Farmer published an ad-
dress which claims to be able to show
farmers in the south that it can be
DONE We do not doubt that in many
cases it is entirely within bounds to
say that the profits can be greatly in
creased. There is too much one horse
work in farming, one man can use
two or three horses and do as much
work and do it in better shape than
two or three men working with one
horse tools. Farmers who complain
of the high cost Of labor and then
hire two or three men to do the
blowing which one man could do bet
ter, are not working to good advant-
age and should not complain.
In market gardening and fruit grow
ing the difference is not so great as
in growing ordinary farm crops. Yet
even there much might be done to
make labor more efficient On the
whole, we think that it will do our
readers good, whatever branch ofsthe
business they are in, to read this ad-
dress. The comparison as to the a.
mount produced by farm workers in
the Northern and Southern states is
very striking and should lead to a re-
form in the methods here, for owing
to our more equable and mi1der eli
mate a farmer can do more days work
in year in Florida than in either
Iowa or Vermont.
The editor Of the Progressive Farm
er expresses his opinion of this ad-
dress very strongly and we agree with
him in his estimate and specially en-
dOrse the last sentence merely substi-
tuting Agriculturist for the name of
his paper. His comment is as follows:
One of the ablest addresses that
has ever come to the attention of the
Progressive Farmer is that of DR..
Seaman A. Knapp, of Louisiana, Di-
rector of the Farmers Cooperative
Demonstration Work of the National
Department of Agriculture, delivered
at the Southern Educational Confer
ence in Lexington, KY, few months
ago. If the reader has time for read
ing nothing else in this weeks Pro-
gressive Farmer, we hope he will at
least read every word of DR.. Knapp's
remarkable paper herewith. The ad-
dress is as follows:
If the value Of the products of the
manufactures Of the United States,
less the amounts paid for raw material
be divided by the total number of
wage-earners, it gives a productive
power of $I,o78II for each laborer
employed. The productive power OF
farm workers differs widely in differ
ent states. For the sake of compari-
son, we will take Vermont. Iowa.
North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Alabama. Each farm laborer in Ver-
mont produces an average of $327. 81
annually in farm crops; adding 500,
the average income from stock per
laborer, and we have a total earning
power of $4I7.37 for each person en-
ployed upon the farms Of that state
Each farm worker in Iowa produces
$6II.II annually in farm crops; adding
the income from stock, SAT-, and each
working person shows productive
power of $I,o88.11 annually. Estimat-
ed in the same way, the total annual
productive power of each worker on
the farms of South Carolina is $147.46;
in North Carolina, $I4o.75; in A1aba-
ma, $I5o.o8.
Of the states mentioned, Iowa alone
shows productive power of the farm
er equal to that of the mechanic
The young man then meets this
problem Shall he stay on the farm,
accept the wages offered, and live the
comfortless life such wages can pro-
vide, or shall he go to the city, where
he can earn three to five times as
II.