The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1908-03-18
THE FARMER CUTS A FIGURE.


In the last twenty-five years there
has been a marvellous change in the
farms themselves as well as in every
thing that goes to make the farm home
life more comfortable and the farmer
more skillful and successful In produc-
ing crops in quality and quantity I'M
surpassed Byron in looking at Rome's
ruins prophesied:
While stands the Coliseum,
Rome shall stand.
When falls the Coliseum,
Rome shall fall.
When Rome falls the world.
Please substitute farmer for Colise-
UNI and United States for Rome In the
stanza and you read the truth. Ii you
have scornfully termed the farmer "a
hayseed" or "Reuben," read it again
and In the future be decent.
AS the farmer seems to be sum total
in producing breadstuffs, fruits, yege-
tables and dairy products, so 1t Is also
evident that he is something In the
poultry world
Cut the farmer out of the egg and
poultry reports and behold the vast
deficit!
There may be crude chicken meth
DDS and careless poultry keepers on
some farms; but, kind reader, they
will not all plead guilty to the follow
ing description, mot by long shot
Listen. The farms are decorated
with speckled dunghill pheasants that
are compelled to dig their living from
frozen manure piles.
At night they sleep with the hogs,
on the manger or with their crooked
breastbones warm the wagon tire ana
the ancient grindstone.
loft In the Silly night" may be
heard the last squawk of a Shanghai
rooster as he is jerked off the fence
by the odoriferous skunk, while the
boot of the long cared owl proclaims
the sad requiem of some aged hen that
snoozed in the sour apple tree.
Can any hen pen scratcher make us
believe all that?
Some of these blue goggled cushion
pressers are In need of facts, fresh air
and a good square meal of brain ana
backbone producer, and the place TO
get these commodities is out on the
farm, where most everything else good
comes from.
The census gave the farmer credit
for producing the greater part or the
poultry product, as 1t mentioned his
name in connection with other items
that, entering into the big total from
all sources, make Uncle Sam the rich
est ruler on Gods footstool. Better
farm poultry, and more of II" Is be-
coming the farmers slogan, and, just
as he is adopting every method to I'M
prove and increase his crops, SO he Is
raising better fowls and adopting more
advanced methods in poultry culture.
But let him speak for himself:
THE FARMER HAS A WORD.
We farmers aren't poultrymen ana
make no pretension to the profession.
We are ripped up the back by some
of the chicken fellows for our meth
DDS. but let them be careful to prac-
tice what they preach, and especially
let some of them quit showing Old culls
off on the farmers when they send
| cash orders.
Poultry with US is simply a family
convenience. That our surplus should
make us cut such a figure In the gov
eminent poultry report Is astonishing.
We are breeding more thoroughbred
poultry, building more comfortable
poultry houses and using artificial
Matching and brooding but our main
pursuit is filling the soil.
Farming, and especially intensive
farming, requires more money and
close application to book and soil than
the old system.
As the population increases the de-
mand becomes greater on us to pro-
duce more to the square inch than
ever
The people want bread more than
chickens, turkeys and eggs, and the
great American hen thrives better on
the poultry farms where she has no
crops to rip to pieces.
We are doing extensive trucking and
strawberry growing. We can't jail
hens all summer, for 1t doesn't pay.
The farmers wife and daughters
are needed at other employment so Ii
the chicken business gradually falls
into the hands of the professionals
don't be surprised.
The professionals are continually
harping at us to go into the poultry
! business.
II we did, there would be less feed.
The price would advance. Then they'd
Cell louder,
If we went into the business, were
successful and prospered, then they
would turn and call us bad names
and tell us to stick to farming and
mind our own business.
We farmers shall strive to advance
In all lines that are conducive to bring
success to our main purpose, which Is
- scientifically till the soil, provide
the people with breadstuffs and to
keep the United States at the head of
the nations of the world I'm cereal pro-
duction. .