The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-08-19
HOW TO MAKE
FARM INCOME
GROW LARGER
Watching Little Things Helps
Farmer Keep Funds Pour
ing in Like Endless Chain
Year Round.

Wi AVO~AANs
There are men in my neighbor-
hood" said country merchant.
whom call endless chain farmers,
while there are others whom l call
breakers the latter so called because
I know that there will be certain pc
RODS of each year in which they Will
have a break in their incomes. Inc
first always pay as they buy. while
look out that the second only buy as
they pay"
This merchant was not farmer him
self, but he had grown rich doing busl-
ness with them and he knew the finan-
cial standing and the farm methods OF
every man in his community. In lit
tie speech which he once made he ex-
planned hi endless chain theory;
Farming" said he, entails every law
of political economy ever mentioned
by John Stuart Mill. There Is unearn'
ed increment a margin of utility. the
law of supply and demand, the man
ufacturers' profits, consumption OF
raw material, plant depreciation, and
the labor question. Over some or
these economic PRINCIPLES the farmer
has present control, while over others
he has none. He can more or less
control raw materials. manufacturers
profits and plant depreciation-ln fact,
his success as farmer depends on
the way he handles these three fac
tors.
Corn Raw Material.
Taking the corn crop for example,
his raw material consists of his corn
and fodder, and his manufacturers
profits are determined by the way his
cattle and hogs turn this raw material
into marketable beef and pork and his
plant depreciation depends on the dis
position he makes of the humus in
building up his soil. farmer who
sells his corn as he harvests it, leav-
ing his fodder to shrivel up in the
field, who gives no thought of replac
ing the plant foods which each crop
takes from the soil, makes a profit
only from his raw material, and when
that is sold his income ceases.
ION the other hand, the farmer who
Saves his fodder, shredding it for the
NOV or chopping it for his silo, has
cheap raw material wherewith to feed
cattle and hogs who manufacture it in
to butter fat, beef and bacon, the sale
of which brings in a steady all-year in
come. These IN their turn provide fer
tilizer which next year makes the soil
richer, so that there is more raw ma
terial for feed, more cattle and hogs
to sell, more money constantly coming
in. and so on, year after year These
are what call endless chain farmers
They are the ones who live comfort
ably. enjoy farming and send their
boys and girls to college,"
Stalk Is Valuable.
All farmers do not have silos, but
more and more are seeing the light,
and each year thousands of these prof
it-getting obelisks are being erected
The value of the corn stalk is being
widely advertised, but still there are
those who do not realize that it is the
finest auxiliary roughage when fed
with either ensilage, clover or alfalfa
as balance part of the grain ration
Selling the hay and feeding the fod
der is one link in the endless income
Cheap food and high priced butter and
beef is the second link. A third link
so to speak, is in the nature of a re-
bate. We get back part of what we
give. In farming, as In business, we
must render unto Caesar what we take
from him, and in this case Caesar is
the soil. Without going into the detail
of soil chemistry. it is sufficient to say
that unless we return nitrogen and salt
containing humus to the field from
which we gather our corn CROP our
corn yield will grow less each year,
just as the wheat yields are diminish
i1g in the prairie.
Stable manure is by far the best nat
ural fertilizer within the reach of the
average man, but the way it has been
handled would cause chemist to
weep. Liquid manure is laden with
gold bearing nitrogen, but to be saved
and utilized 1t must come in contact
with something Of an absorbent ma
ture. Corn stalks DO not absorb at all,
many straws absorb poorly, but shred
ded slower. singularly enough, acts like
blotting paper. 1t is the king of bed
ding.
lnsures More Income.
1t is easily handled, goes through the
spreader nicely, and rots easily. 1t is
next years insurance for next years
income and it does not lessen any the
returns for the current year. The sign
of the agricultural times indicates to
those who can read signs that it is
only matter of time when barnyard
humus will be as jealousy conserved
in this country as it is now in Japan
and India, and that the farm in the fu-
ture without spreader will be as uni
que as the farm today without a wag-
on. The United States Agricultural
Department and the State schools in
advocating a policy which is going to
cost those who practise it extra mon
ey. Many tests have proved that husk-
ing by hand in the field as compared
with cutting the corn with a binder
and husking it with a machine, allow
ing for machine depreciation and all
that, costs practically the same. The
shredding is thrown in and the corn
fodder is practically velvet. From $50
to 1000 bushels of corn can be husked
in a 10-hour day, depending on the
equipment. And whether one owns the
machine himself or hires custom out
fit. the annual cost of husking by hand
and binding and husking by machine
is SO near identical that there is no
choice. 800
The main difference between the two
methods IL that one gives you rheuma-
tism and the other gives you fodder.