Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1911-06-29


states last year amounted to 1925
million dollars. Farming is the most
important line Of activity on the
earth. No other occupation offers
SO many opportunities for individual
enterprise. And yet with q COM
merce running up into the billions
every year, this. the greatest busi-
ness in the country. is not q business
at all-it is a personal occupation.
The want Of direct competition, the
absence Of fighting for position, has
kept farming largely an activity OF
muscle.
The rivalry in business that forces
men to find ways of getting results
with the head as wen as the hands;
the rivalry that induces men to keep
books, to plan, to organize, to go
and institute q microscopic search
for truth; to be open to conviction
and to act on conviction-that rival
ry unfortunately was denied the ag-
ricultural side Of human effort.
What would happen If farming
were made a business proposition?
Let's see.
A business man named B. F. Har-
ris decided to run farm as he would
operate a store. Details of his ex-
perience are given in the Breeders
Gazette. In 1906 he bought 800
acres in Champaign county, Illinois.
He applied business methods and
business enterprise throughout. He
spent money where 1t was needed,
but adopted no frills. He made an
intelligent study of the requirements
of the farm, and combined elements
designed to return high dividends.
Last year his receipts were $1S :
1896. His clean profit above ex-
penses was $6,500.7O. Kept books?
Sure. No, he did not follow the
plow himself. He hired a superin-
tendent. He directed his farm BUSH
ness partly over the telephone from
bis house In town. He expects to
increase his returns more than $4,000
this year.
The farm has good buildings, ev-
eryone of them planned to serve
we'll defined needs. Every acre I'M
der cultivation is tile drained at
a cost of $1,000 for two hundred
acres. Best grade woven wire fen
ces subdivide the entire place. Hogs,
cattle and sheep made the money
for the farm last year. No scrubs
we're tolerated. The live stock was
RAISED for market purposes. 1t
brought no fancy breeders prices.
Nearly all the crops are fed on the
place. Indeed, last year Harris spent
for feed more than five times what
he got for crops sold. The live
stock leaves much manure in the
All other manure is hauled
to the fields before 1t Dses any
Of its fertilizing value. More than
three hundred loads ydar are
spread on the soil. That is not all.
Last year more than one hundred
and fifty tons of ground rock phos-
phate, bought at eight dollars a
ton, were used on the soil.
There are five fields on the farm.
Crops on every one of them are ro-'
tated. Harris knows today what
will be grown in each field seven
years hence. The land is getting
richer, is making more money every
year.
Now, nobody would think that
Harris, a business men, had a lie
ense to go out and teach anything
to the farmers. Still. this farm,
before he took 1t, was much like
the other farms. It paid fairly well;
the owner drifted along and made
a comfortable thing out of 1t. In
time the farm would have gone
down in usefulness; it probably was
slowly doing that when Harris
bought it. But now 1t is a splendid
business proposition. conducted on
we'll defined lines; and 1t is growing
as any heplthy institution should
grow.
That is real farmingthe farming
of the future.-Kansas City Star.
when you are walking home In