Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1907-12-26
GETTING IN THE CROPS.
The Importance of Safe Shelter EN-.
phasized by E. /. Vincent.

| am never eally happy till all my
saln crops are safely under cover.
In fact ! do not know that | have any
crops that will bring me anything
until all have been slowed away ont
Ct the reach OF storm and weather.
n" next thing to this IS threshing
out OF doors inst ae soon as The gram
i dry enough; end Often we are not
able to do this because we cannot
get threshe! when we want him.
| know it costs to provide buildings
fJr large farm. The first expense Of
building in these days is high. for
lumber and building material of all
kinds are high in price 1t is also
fact that the farmer who has many
buildings must set aside no small
sum every year to pay for repairs and
insurance
And yet, stop and think that the
loss OF one crop through storm or
other adverse circumstances would
Offset all this and more. too for a
good many years Take a wheat crop
or 90 acres. for example. Say that il
would yield Is bushels to the
acre, which, by the way. is the report
from one of the first crops threshed in
Illinois this year That would mean a
Weld Of 900 bushels, worth at fair
estimate dollar bushel.
There have been years when we
have lost about one-half the value OF
our crop by reason OF storm. We could
not thresh when we should and the
grain we did get was not worth as
mucn as il would have been could il
have been put in the bins in good or.
der. What does this mean? What
but hat we have sustained money
loss OF $3.50 in that one years crop.
That would keep the buildings up in
good repair for a great many years.
But wheat is not the only crop most
farmers of to-day harvest. There is
hay, one of the best crops we have,
bringing at the present writing in
some parts of the country from $50 to
S25 ton. Also oats, another fine
crop. The value of these depends
largely on the condition at marketing
or feeding. Stacking is always
risky business. Not one man out Of
dozen can stack grain or hay so that
it will keep any length of time
Nothing adds to the looks or the
worth of farm more than good barns
or sheds for storing grain. Prospec-
tive buyers always notice the cundi- |
ton OF these buildings, and if there |
are none TO notice they are very ant |
to pass on until they find farm which |
are thus furnished
Still another point in favor of plenty |
of barn room is the stabling OF |
stock. The day is fast going by when /
any farmer will feel easy in body or
mind while lot of his stock Is out |
In the storm. Just think of the ter
rible losses every winter from stock
exposure in the west! Leaving the
humane part of il out of the question |
lust now from an economical stand
point alone not a single farmer in ali
this country can afford to stand still
and let a considerable part of his herd
die in the winds and the SHOWS of our
northern winters.
Shall a man incur a debt to build
farm barns? hate debt as much az
anyone on the face of the earth; but
really | would rather go with poor
clothes for years and years and econo-
mize in other ways rather than TO
20 without barns They will soon pay
'or themselves. They are the right
hing for every rp-to-date farn,er.--
Farmers Review.
Corn.
If tourist from the other side of
he world should cross the United
States in October he would be pro-
oundly impressed by the corn fields
The straight rows of shocks on the
farms In the west would ex-
lite the travellers wonder as much
IS the rice fields of japan, the tea
plantations of northern India, or the
Wheat fields of the Nile astonish and
eight the American who beholds
hem for the first Philadelphia