Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-08-21
THE MERRY-GO-ROUND
OF PROSPERITY

lii IN
OF PROSPERITY
By Douglas Malcolm of the /. H. C.
Service Bureau:
"There are men in my neighbor-
hood",t said a country merchant.
whom l call endless chain farm
ers," while there are others whom |
call breakers, the latter SO called be-
cause | know that there will be GER
tain periods of each year in which
they will have a break in their in
come. The first always pay as they
buy, while l look out that the second
only buy as they pay"
This merchant was not a farmer
himself, but he had grown rich doing
business with them and he knew the
financial standing and the farm me-
tkods of every man an his communi-
ty. In a little speech which he once
made he explained his endless chain
theory: farming, said he, entails
every law of political economy ever
mentioned by John Stuart Mill. There
is unearned increment, a margin OF
utility, the law of supply and de-
mand, the manufacturers' profits,
consumption of raw material, plant
depreciation, and the labor question.
Over some of these economic princi
pies the farmer has present control,
while over others he has none. He
can more or less control raw material
manufacturers profits and plant de-
ureciation-in fact, his success as a
farmer depends on the way he hand
les these three factors. Taking the
corn r o for example, his raw ma
terial consists of his corn and fodder
and his manufacturers profits are de-
termined 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 to the humus in
building up his soil. A farmer who
sells his corr as he harsests it, leav-
ing his fodder to shrivel UP in the
field. who gives no thought of re-
placing 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.
"On the other hand, the farmer
| WHO saves III lO0QCl pa 00lllk ~
for the NOV 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 ir
a steady all-year income. These ir
their turn provide fertilizer which
next year makes the soil richer, con.
stantly coming in, and so on, year
after year. These are what l 20
'endless chain farmers. They are the
ones who live comfortably, enjoy
farming and send their boys and girls
to college"
Probably the most comfortable
farmers of this country are the corn.
raising farmers, because, as the lit.
tie black dots on the government mar
show, they have more hogs and more
cattle per capital than the others
There are approximately 100,000,0 0(
acres of corn, to be harvested this
fall-the richest, most productive
crop our country knows-and yet In
connection with this harvest there il
an equal probability that a fair pei
cent. of the value of this crop will BIZ
wasted. Sad as it is, it required cen,
turtles to find out that from 80 to Az
per cent. of the nutritive value of tht
corn is in the stalk, leaves and husks
and it has not been learned entirely
tyet that even without a silo the corr
stalks on the farm, when properly
shredded, have a feeding value prac
tically equal to timothy hay and prai
RE grass and a fertilizing value fal
in pYcpSS of either.
All farmers do not have silos, bu'
more and more are seeing the light
and each year thousands of thesl
profit-getting obelisks are being erect
ed. The value of the corn stalk il
being widely advertised, but still
there are those who do not realiz'
that is is the finest auxiliary rough
age when fed with either ensilage
~clover or alfalfa, as a balanced par
of the grain ration. For instance il
la recent experiment at the Agricul
trail College of Nebraska, it wa
found that-"Stover fed with alfalfa
returned a value of $4.57 per ton, il
comparison with alfalfa at $500 PEE
ton as the sole roughness." In anoth
err experiment, this time at the New
JERSEY Station, it was found that 20t
pounds of corn stalks fed to a Gov
during ten days, so pounds, or 80 pc
cent. remained uneaten- This corr
was u~nshredded but carefully har
vested. The editor of Farmers Bull
letin No. 107- of the United States
Department of Agricultural series, il
summarizing the results, says
"shredding would no doubt result il
more complete consumption of tn
stalks"
In none of these trials, however
has it been claimed that shreddet
fodder is as good as ensilage, for it i
not. but the demarkation line be
tween the two as rough feed for cat
tie is closer than the ordinary believ
er knows.
In the Pennsylvania Station Bull
letin No. 83, corn slower and corr sill
are were compared with two lots o
eix steers each. They were fed witt
the concentrates corn and ~cottonsee'
meal. In 126 days of the test thu
average gain on corn slower was 81.
pounds per steer and on silage "a
ror1nds. The total cost of the corr
slower ration was S103 70 and of tn,
corn silage ration S109.91.
Husking and shredding machine
will not effare the silo. far from il
but they will efface a portion of tn
enormous waste of our corn crop
both of silo owners and of others
How GREAT this waste has been cal
onlv be coniectured as a whole, bu
hv the acre a pretty accurate calcula
tior can he made. Thus. for exampl
if the value of the ear corn from Al
acre of ground amounted to $3.50
the value of the shredded corn stall
} from the some acre would be normal
!. w $146S. Multiply this bv everv acr
, of corn left (unshreddedl and tn
| amount would be enns1oh to supper
;. the Door of our big cities.
The average yield of corn slower i
hetween two and three tons per acre
Were we onlv to allow it one-third O
the average feed value of good hay, W
should require only three acres O
this fodder to equal one acre of hay
Nav how - - IL ---l