The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1914-09-15
Merry-Go-Round Of
Farm Prosperity
Douglas Malcolm of the international
Harvester Company Service Blu
reau Talks on Fodder and SilOs
HAS "ENDLEss CHAIN THEORY
Thousands of Silos Being Erected
Every Year as Farmers Get More
knowledge of Real Values

y
whom I call endless chain farm
ers,' while there are others whom I
call breakers the latter so called
because I know that there will be a
certain period of each year in which
they will have a break in their in
comes. The first always pay as they
buy, while / look out that the second
only buy as they pay"
This merchant was not farmer
but he had grown rich do
ing business with them and he knew
the financial standing and the farm
methods Of every man in his COM
munity. In a little speech which he
once made he explained his endless
chain theory: Farming" he said,
"entails every law of political econo
my ever mentioned by John Stuart
Mills. There is unearned increment,
margin Of utility, the law of sup
ply and demand, the manufacturers
profits, consumption of raw mater
ial, plant depreciation, and the labor
question. Over some of these econo-
mic principles the farmer has pres
ent control, while over others he has
none. He can more or less control
raw materials, manufacturers prof.
it's, and plant depreciation-in fact,
his success as farmer depends on
the way he handles these three fac
tors. Taking the corn crop for ex-
ample, his raw material consists of
his corn and fodder, and his manu-
facturers' 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 disposition he makes
of the humus in building up his soil.
A farmer who sells his corn as he
harvests it, leaving his fodder to
shrivel up in the field, who gives no
thought of replacing the plant foods
which each crop takes from the soil,
makes a profit only from his raw ma
terial, and when that is sold his in
come ceases.
"On the other hand, the farmer
who saves his fodder, shredding it
for the NOW or chopping it for his
silo, has cheap raw material where
with to feed cattle and hogs who
manufacture it into butter fat, beef
and bacon, the sale of which brings
in a steady all-year income. These
in their turn provide fertilizer which
next year makes the soil richer, sc
that there is more raw material fol
feed, more cattle and hogs to sell
more money constantly coming in
and so on, year after year. These
are what l call endless chain farm.
ers.' They are the ones who live
comfortably, enjoy farming, and also
send their boys and girls to college
Probably the most comfortable
farmers of this country are the corn.
raising farmers, because, as the little
black dots on the government mar
show, they have more hogs and also
more cattle per capita than the 9th.
ers. There are approximately 100,.
100000 acres of corn to be harvested
this fall-the richest, most produc
tive crop our country knows-anc
yet in connection with this harvest
there is an equal probability that &
fair per cent of the value of this crov
will be wasted. Sad as it is. it re
quired centuries to find out that from
80 to 40 per cent of the nutritiv,
value of the corn is in the stalk. tn,
leaves and the husks, and has not beer
learned entirely yet that even with
out a silo the corn stalks on the farm
when properly shredded, have feed
ing value practically equal to timo
thy hay and prairie grass and fer
tilizing value far in excess of either.
/ All farmers do not have silos. bu
more and more are seeing the light
and each year thousands of thes,
proft-getting obelisks are being cree
ted. The value of the corn stalk i
being widely advertised, but still
there are those who do not realiz,
that it is the finest auxiliary rough
age when fed with either ensilage
clover or alfalfa, as a balanced par
of the grain ration For instance. II
a recent experiment at the agricul
tural college of Nebraska, it wa
found that "Stover fed with alfalf;
returned a value of $457 per ton
in comparison with alfalfa at 500
per ton as the sole roughness." Il
another experiment, this time at tn,
New Jersey station, it was found tina
of 200 pounds of corn stalks fed to
cow during ten days, so pounds, O
80 per cent, remained uneaten. Thi
corn was unshredded but CAREFUL,
harvested. The editor of Farmers
Bulletin No. lot, of the United State