The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-01-21


rately measured. Calculated upon each
acre under cultivation, and by each la.
borer, farm animal or implement en-
ployed, 1t does not seem large. But
estimated i'm the aggregate. the sum
total becomes startling. Moreover,
what lis wasted is usually near profit
That is to say, the cost Of converting
much that is wasted into profit would
be but a fraction of what already has
been spent to bring it so near the
profit point and yet without realizing
anything from 1t.
From the farmers viewpoint, waste
has a wide range. 1t extends to un-
necessary steps and needless duplica-
ton of labor for want of proper organ
ization of forces; to unnecessary draft
upon horses and, machinery for lack of
proper adjustment; to damaged grain,
owing to careless shocking or stacking
as well as for want OF perfect shelter
after it is threshed; to impaired en-
ergy I'm man and beast for lack Of
nourishing food or comfortable quar-
tiers; to depreciation of farm machinery
from standing out Of doors when not in
use and from the rack and ruin that
results from not making, during leisure
hours. needed repairs to harness, farm
implements, fences and buildings while
the break or rent is small.
While these, taken separately, may
be considered minor wastes, yet they
aggregate a tremendous total for an
agricultural state. Add to this total
the loss sustained from growing trou-
blesome weeds; from injurious insects
and fungi that are largely preventable:
from insufficient moisture from want
of proper cultivation, or from excess
i've moisture from lack OF drainage;
from sowing impure, mixed, or weak
termination seed-all largely pre-
ventable eVils-and the sum total of
waste, or loss, is swelIed to much larg-
err proportions.
But the chapter of waste is not yet
completed. The commercial value of
elements extracted from the soil and
either shipped abroad or given to the
air from burning straw stacks, or that
is washed down the streams from
manure piles, constitute
very large items of waste not usually
taken into account by the pioneer
farmer. And yet even to this must be
added the difference between the pro-
ductive value of scrub beef and dairy
cattle. scrub hogs, and scrub sheep
and the productive value of high grade
or thoroughbred cattle, sheep and hogs
When all these and still other items
that might be enumerated are taken
into account, the loss to the farmers
of an agricultural state become appal-
ling The loss to each individual
farmer may not seem so great. though
In many instances it must seriously af-
feet his cash balance at the years end,
but taken in the aggregate, all these
items of waste make serious inroads
upon the prosperity of the state.
The Waste Habit Is Bad.
The very habit of tolerating waste |
IN any form is bad, for the reason that
It is cumulative and becomes grow
ng evil. other industries, operating
upon smaller margins of profit than
farmers generally Go, accumulate mil |
ions every year from what was treat
ed as refuse suit a short TIM since.
The farmer should emphasize the habit
IF turning everything possible to some
useful purpose as do the large manu-
industries. He should do this |
rom principle if not from necessity. |
converted into useful !
commodities practically represent the |
profits of many concerns employing |
millions of capital ard thousands of |
aborers. What was once wasted has
become, in many instances, the chief !
tenn of profit.
Some By-Produets Made Profitable.
Tn4Fav, 10 ,ot
discarded as worthless now makes cot |
ton growing profitable if the cotton
ton fibre alone will pay the cost of pro-
AUCTION. Instead of poluting the waters |
IF southern streams the once discarded |
seeds now contribute largely to the
wealth of the cotton planters Of Dixie
and.
Some years ago, coal tar, the resi-
iue of gas plants, was dumped into
sewers and running streams, poisoning
he waters and spreading death to the
inny tribes and distress among the
people.
When for sanitary reasons the practice
vas forbidden by law, science grappled
With the problem Of how best to dis
pose of this troublesome product
md soon found more than $500 vaIua-
Die products which are now manufac-
.ured from coal tar. What few years
ago was refuse, now--in the form of
lnaline dyes. perfumes, indictments,
ETC., ETC., giving employ
nent to thousands of men and afford
ng investment for large sums of
money, contributes to the arts to man
lfactures, to commerce and to the
comforts of life.
Vast deposits of iron ore were found
Pennsylvania that could not be used
because they contained a large per-
;entage Of PHOSPHORUS. It was dis
covered, however, that by lin
ng the furnace with lime, the ore
Gould be purified, but the lime lining
vas discarded as waste. Later 1t was
ound that the lime used for lining the
urnace, by absorbing the PHOSPHORUS
became invaluable as a fertilizer and
arge quantities are now being sold in
he form of basic sla- phosphate to
enrich the farms of the east.
The curse was thus turned into a
blessing. What was considered an ex-
'ensive annoyance was converted into