Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-12-10
LEAKS ON THE farm.


thought worthy of the considera-
ton of our best farmers, and APP
plicable in many respects to the
successful conduct of every line OF
business. One speaker who had
committed his views to writing
tersely summed them up as follows:
"Some of the things which will
cause leaks on the farm are: To
undertake more than one can do
we'll; not to have the ground we'll
plowed and prepared for the seed;
not to select good seed; not TO
plant in the proper season; not to
cultivate thoroughly; not to supply
manure or commercial fertilizer in
sufficient quantity; not to harvest
and house when the crop is most
valuable; not to market when and
where the price is most renumera-
tive; to feed only enough to sustain
life in an animal kept for milk,
butter, mutton, pork, or, in fact,
to keep anything standing still,
which is to sell at loss; to farm
with a poor team or poor, dull ma
chinery; to allow manure to be
wasted, or to allow the soil to wash
away. / could add a great many
other reasons for the leaks; among
them is the buying in small quanti-
ties and paying some 10 to Is per
cent. more than the same thing
would cost if bought direct from
the manufacturer in large quanti-
ties. This would lead to the ques-
ton of cooperative buying"
The disastrous effects of each
and every one of these "leaks"
cannot be successfully denied, and
the existence of several of them on
the same property must spell "fall-
ure" for it's proprietor. The means
to prevent them are many; early
education along correct lines will
do much, thrifty traditions sur
rounding ones home will do more,
a broadened education when one
has reached years of discretion will
do most.
Omitting discussions of the first,
it is quite customary to see the son
perpetuating the ways of his father
without ever having asked himself
why he does so. In fact, so blind
| " do we follow habits formed in
early life that we are often totally
unconscious of our errors until the
critic on the committee of inspec-
ticn, when The Farmers Club
meets, pokes fun at some of our
crude customs.
II this connection we remark
that in an effort to be agreeable to
the host this duty is sometimes ne
elected by the critic, to the injury
of the host. The way things are
said counts for more than the ideas
conveyed, and friendly criticisms
on such occasions, couched in pro-
fessional language, will be taken in
the spirit in which it is given.
On the last point-a broadened
education too much stress cannot
be laid. For a youth who has
reached years of discretion to be
able to learn the most approved
methods and enjoy the benefit OF
experiments made at the expense
of the state instead of through fail
ure on his own farm is a privilege
he should strive to take advantage
of. 1t is worth as much to know
what not to do as it is to know
what to do, and to acquire the
habit of keeping fairly accurate ac-
counts in our business is something
which no man can put correct
value on. To 60 a-guessing is to
90 a-losing, yet few farmers can tell
with reasonable accurcacy what a
bunch of fat steers or q corn crop
stands him in dollars and cents.
That the most successful can,
is a good reason why we should all
try.
Other element besides it's virgin
soil have made the Western farmer
wealthy while the Eastern man has
shrunken, and We can we'll afford
to adopt many of the habits Of
thrift, system and thoughtful ener-
gy which were planted there with
T the first crop of corn.
/; RICH MEMS GIFTS ARE POOR