Imperial Valley press., 1912-09-23
Grated statement to be accepted a

Grated statement to be accepted as
fact.
Money saved is money made. This
was demonstrated in Los Angeles
county a very few years ago by
bunch of free doctors. They had
remedy for every malady-the same
dope, by the way-and easy to apply.
hole bored in the tree trunk,
spoonful of dope and a plug. and, 10.
the scale to the farthest branch was
destroyed, the blight disappeared, and
the tree bore ever thereafter loads of
superior fruits. The money saving
scheme was this: You paid 25 cents
for each tree treated. The doctor
would return for the other 25 cents
later, but you did not have to pay
it if in your judgment the trees had
not been cured. The doctor did not
return, never intended to. Some Of
the growers thereby made $25 or $50
an acre, though they lost many trees.
1t was the most liberal scheme of
profit sharing I have ever seen.
There are a few easy" farmers left
"a very few who have been in the
business for any length of time. But
the newcomer may be warned by the
incidents. 1 have at least three OBJ
jects in presenting fakes, fads and
fancies: Firstly, as a text; secondly,
as a warning to inexperience; thirdly,
as an excuse for classifying these
lapses from economic principles. The
last shall be first. We have the plain
fake-the human tree borer and his
kind, who know they ought to be in
jail the semi -fake-the water witcher
who sincerely believes in his ability
to locate wells, and all his class VINO
have forgotten failures with the same
facility they and the public remember
apparent successes; the plain schem-
ers whose fads have some merit, but
boundless uncertainties-the fellows
whose enterprises call upon the com
munities to furnish all the money and
receive all the experience, such as are
the ramie and canaigre plants" the
sincere promoters who put up their
share of the money and do the hard
work in enterprises in themselves good
but uncertain and liable to failure
the fruit juice manufactures, small
canneries and the like.
Where Angels Fear
Then there is another class of en-
terprises whose bases are sound and
whose promoters are practical men,
but whose outcome is altogether eX-
perimental These enterprises have in
themselves all the elements of success
that come under the control of the
mana cement, yet have to meet condi-
tions in their outside administration
or business that are altogether prob
lematic. l know one of these in which
a large number of growers were per-
suaded to produce asparagus on the
supposition that their products would
be taken at living prices by the can
neries. But the consumption of this
vegetable did not Justify the vast in
crease, resulting in the abandonment
of hundreds of acres at an incalcu-
liable financial loss to the farmers. In
this case as in that of the overplant-
ing of table grapes, there was no con-
certed effort to increase the acreage
No individual or company is to blame.
The public sam that many individuals
the desire to plant more and more
became epidemic and could not be
stayed, although a strong attempt was
made to prevent overprOduction.
AS a whole people we make uneco-
nomic moves that affect the farmer
A living example is found in the good
roads movement. l passed over an in
ter county highway recently, built at
enormous expense two years ago ana
now partially impossible. We either
began the building of good roads too
soon or else delayed investigation of
material and construction too long,
and great losses to the taxpayers have
already occurred. Road building is not
a fad if all the elements of econ
omy and stability are understood and
applied. 1t is fad if undertaken
without full, practical knowledge. But
the automobile men and a large por-
ton of the public at large would not
wait for the growth of ability and
efficiency in the construction of our
public roadways.
The management of the CultiVator
hopes to present something of value
in the form of a symposium upon the
marketing agencies of California. 1
know of no form of farm economics
in which there is a greater field for
good than this. We have had a suf-
ficiency of bogus mutual concerns in
the past. I have lost heavily, for one,
in a loosely managed building and
loan association which finally failed, TO
the financial loss of many farmers.
been the losses sustained by cooper
ative organizations composed of fruit
growers. The list of defunct ra1stn,
prune, dried fruit and fresh fruit or
CARNATIONS is long and interesting,
the history of each revealing some
great departure from economic
grounds, their victims being their own
m emb ership, and yet the intentions
being of the very best. But the bus
mess was directed by inexperience and
handicapped by jealousy and incom-
potency.
OF fads and fancies in farming there
are a few wherein angels would fear
to tread and where l am not foolish
enough to rush therein without special
permission of the Cultivator's man
agement have them on the list,
however, and will not be satisfied un-
til 1 work them out before the readers
of this great journal. In these cases
it is the opinion of the writer ana
a few others against that of the peo-
pie of the state. But whether we
agree or not in all things, we are all
Of one mind as to the study and ap-
plication of economic ideas in the up
building of the greatest soil industry
of California, and the lesson we may
learn from. looking into the fads, fol
bles and failures of agriculture in this