The farmer and mechanic., 1909-09-14
FARMING AS \ BUSINESS.
(NeW York Sun.l


A correspondent of The Sun admits
that much can be done to improve
conditions by better business meth
DDS but regards as doubtful the ar
rival of the time predicted by The
Sun when the farm will be a s much
OF a business enterprise as the store
or the factory He holds that because
OF such incidents as insect pests.
drought and excessive moisture the
cost OF any given crop cannot be eSti-
mated until that particular crop has
been harvested" and that for this rea-
son there is distinct difference be-
tween farm and a store or a factory
in the computation of cost of produc-
ton
This argument carries no excuse
whatever for the condition TO which
The Sun has called attention-namely
the general lack of business methods
on the farm, with a resultant excessive
if not actually exorbitant cost of pro-
ducts and an indefenSible enhance
ment of cost of living for the great
army Of consumers. The force of the
assertions made by our correspondent
| is quite destroyed by the fact that
throughout the country individual
farmers in ever increasing number are
adopting business methods are max
in farming "a business enterprise"
An interesting illustration is furnished
| by pamphlet recently issued by the
/ Department Of Agriculture. The story
= told of farm in South Carolina
Vought in 1902. 1t Was ne OF III, Old
worn out farms of that section. worn
! out by eighty years of that alleged
'cultivaticn' which is in fact only soil
| exhaustion.
Prior to it's purchase by its present
owner this farm had been yielding less
| than ten bushels of corn to the acre
and about 800 pounds of cotton to the
acre. In 1903, the first year under
the new ownership, it yielded thirty
seven bushels of corn to the acre and
| $50 pounds of cotton an acre. Last
year. after five years of business" ;"
the acreage yield was eighty-five
oats and lips pounds of cotton. That
is "business' The average yield an
acre of these crops throughout the
! whole United States for the last five
corn, twenty-nine bushet oats and
200 pounds of cotton. WIS perhaps
! Impossible to obtain from the entire
cultivated area of the United States
such results as are shown in this par
ticular instance, but the case shows
the difference between the old method
of farming for a living and farm
ing as a business enterprise.
Naturally this enterprising and busi-
nesslike farmer could not have esti-
! mated on the first day Of last March
| the cost OF his cotton his corn or his
that time his profit for the year. Nc
, more could a store keeper or a mil
owner. There are accidents in all lines
of trade or industry. There are fires
and strikes and panics and trade
losses in commercial and manufactur
ing lines, as there are floods anC
drought and insects and blight ir
agricultural lines. The point intro
duced by our correspondent begs the
question. 1t is little better than {
week apology for carelesSness or in
: difference. Are the climate and soils
, Of Europe better adapted to agricul-
ture than those of the United States
Are our bOasted natural resources
fake, the fruit Of vigorous imagina-
) ton? The Department of Agriculture
submitted recently the following table
Of average yields an acre in this coun-
try and in Europe, including Great
Britain:
, Bushels An Acre.
: Wheat. Oats. Rye. ley. toes
o. S. 1875 319 124 26s 93
Is there any natural or visible rea-
son why American farmers should
, average only ninety-three bushels OF
potatoes to the acre. while Belgium
shows PA bushels Great Britain 22(
bushels Germany 1913 bushels, and the
Netherlands 218 bushels? France
, shows twenty-one bushels Of wheat ar
acre. Germany tWenty-nne bushels
Graet Britain thirty-one bushels, ire
land thirty-four bushels, and Bel
gium tilirty-five bushels. Suppose oul
. average yield increased by business
| methods by so per cent; would not the
farmer make more money and the
consumer buy his food products more
: chea ply?