Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-07-21
Making the Farm Pay.

When David Rankin, the worlds
largest farmer, was asked to tell the
secret of his success (he began by bor-
rowing So and died worth $1,000, 900,
all made in farming) he answered
promptly: Success in farming con-
sists in making every minute, every
cent and every seed count. A good
workman is cheap at most any price
and shitJless, careless man is dear II
he works for nothing
Not long before he died Mr.. Rankin
amplitied his views ''To make a
profit the farmer, just as any other
manufacturer, must reduce the cost
OF production, he said. 81 saw this
long ago when saved a hands wages
by the use of a new piece of machin-
cry felt pretty good; that was max
| ing money for me. We farmers must
not only keep eternally at reducing
the cost of production but plan a way
to get the most out of our prod uct.
Use your head as well as your hands,
for 1t Is the little savings that make
up the profits at the end Of the year.
1t takes sharpening Of wits all the
time"
The fertilizing 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 main
tain the fertility of the soil by re-
turning to it the elements Of which it
was robbed in producing a crop? The
answer Is simple. 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 in
to account the value Of the organic
matter furnished, which may be
greater than that of the plant food.
That this theoritical valuation is
very conservative is shown by the re-
suit 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 the
oretical valuation.
An experiment. conducted In Jasper
county, Missouri, resulted in an acre
which had been treated with eight
tons of manure yielding sixty-fve
bushels of corn, while an acre immed-
lately adjoining which had not been
treated with natural fertilizer-yield-
Ing only twenty nine and half bush
els. Experiments conducted at Colum-
bia, in the same state, resulted as fol-
lows: 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
manured, yielded thirty bushels to
the acre. 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 crops and manuring the field
yielded sixty bushels to the acre
From Efficiency on the Farm" in
Technical World Magazine.
Mr.. and Mrs. Chris Sandvig and
daughter Lillian and son Clarence ar
rived home Wednesday after very
enjoyable two weeks visit with reia-
tives in Minneapolis.
+. S. Tuttle brought couple of
young eagles to this Office Tuesday
which he found on his farm. The old
birds showed fight when Mr.. Tuttle
got the little ones, and one young
bird remains with the old birds. Mr..
Tuttle's description of the size OF the
old birds leaves no doubt as to the |
classification Of the young ones.