The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1911-08-01
HOW TO MAKE
THE FARM PAY
David Rankin. Millionaire,
Gives Advice to the Tillers
of the Soil.
MUST MAKE EVERY SEED COUNT
Little Saving Constitutes the
Profits. Fertilizing the
Big Problem Now.


When David Rankin, the worlds
largest farmer, was asked to tell the
secret Of his success Che began by
borrowing Sc and died worth
S., 900, 900, all made in farming) he
answered promptly: Success in
farming consists in making every
minute, every cent and every seed
count. A good workman is cheap
at most any price and a shiftless
careless man is dear if he works for
nothing"
Not long before he died Mr.. Ran
kin amplified his views. ITO make
a profit the farmer, just as any 9TH
er manufacturer. must reduce the
cost Of production" he said. 81
saw this long ago and when I saved
a hands work by the use of a new
piece of machinery | felt pretty
good; that was making money for
me.
Must Use His Head.
I'VE farmers must not only keep
eternally at reducing the cost of
production but plan a way to get
the most out of product. Use your
head as we'll as your hands. for it is
the little savings that make up the
profits at the end of the year. 1t
takes sharpening of wits all the
time"
The fertilizer problem is one of
the most serious confronting the
farmer today. Shall he open up his
fields to the commercial article or
shall he husband his own resources
and maintain the fertility of the
soil by returning to it the elements
of which it was robbed in producing
crop? The answer is simple.
The Value of Manure.
A ton of average fresh manure
contains ten pounds of nitrogen,
five pounds of phosphoric acid and
ten pounds of potash. At the prices
which these elements of plant food
would cost in commercial fertilizers
the value of manure would be $3.50
ton. This does not take into ac-
count the value of the organic mat
ter furnished, which may be greater
than that of the plant food.
That this theoretical valuation is
very conservative is shown by the
result of many field experiments, by
various experiment stations and by
practical farmers. The value as
shown by the increased crops has
equalled and often exceeded this
theoretical valuation.
Natural Fertilizer Best.
An experiment conducted in Jas
per county, Missouri, resulted in an
acre which had been treated with
eight tons of manure yielding sixty
five bushels of corn, while an acre
Immediately adjoining which had
not been treated with natural ferti-
lizer-yielding only twenty-nine and
a half bushels.
Experiments conducted at Column
bia, in the same state, resulted as
follows: A tract on which corn had
been grown continuously for twenty
years. yielded only three bushels
to the acre. Immediately adjoining
a tract planted to corn for twenty
years, but which had been literally
MANFRED, yielded thirty bushels to
the acre.
The Good Tract.
Another tract, likewise adjoining
on which corn had been rotated with
oats and clover yielded forty-nine
bushels to the acre. Still a fourth
tract. Immediately adjoining on
which scientific management had
been practiced to the extent of both
rotating the crops and manuring the
field, yielded sixty bushels to the
acre.-From Efficiency on the
Farm, in August Technical World