The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-12-03
CARL NELSON, STUDENT
FARMER---SURE, CROPS
Farming and stockraisng on a scientific basis
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I shovel it would have rained hammer
handles-not he. Nelson would still
believe that it rained because it rain
ed.
He came to Idaho in 1900, capital
lied, so to speak, by the soup he
didn't get. First he took a job and
then he took a claim. We speak of
the foregoing trifles just to impress
you that dame fortune never hitched
Nelson's wagon to star. You have
MT time to listen to details, so we
will simply give results an tell brief
ly his methods. He has 1877 acres
nine miles north of Blackfoot on the
rural mail route and telephone line.
He has it all enclosed with woven
wire fencing, with two barbed wires
on top. He has it cross-fenced, and
two 12-acre enclosures besides. All
his gates are hung so they swing and
latch He has machine shed, work
shop, harness room, cement granary
to hold 5000 bushels, chicken house,
a barn 32x60 with an 80-ton hay
NOW. The stable floors are of plank,
while the driveway through the CEN
ter is of cement. A pumping plant
operated by steel windmill supplies
" alter for everything about the place,
and pipes convey it to the 1000 gal
Ion tank in the barn. This is an
open tank where animals drink, and
where in case of fire, buckets could
operate instantly. Mr.. Nelson carries
fire insurance, keeps a complete
record of the expense and income of
the farm, crediting each department
with it's returns and studying care
fully to see what p:.ys and how much.
Careful comparisons are made to see
why certain things pa.7 more than
others, and to discover what relation,
If any, the one bears to the other;
to see, for instance, if the lack Of
profit on the field peas can be dis
covered in the Urge profits on the
hogs that eat them. To see If the
by-products from the dairy show up
sufficiently in the veal or the Fork
barrel. To see if the sheep and s1ese
that subdue the weeds, the toads ind
the polywogs, bring in real money to
pay for the joy of living. Mr. Nell
son keeps good supply of stock and
poultry of practical proportions as to
numbers: eight horses, two dozen
cattle, two dozen sheep, SO geese, so
hogs. and $50 chickens. He has a
line of farming implements
such as he needs for easy handling of
his fields. He advocates thorough
ness in farming, but says no man
should settle down to garden size in
his farming, and waste his time with
tedious methods and small outfits
when he might just as we'll be doing
a wide swath. The. farmer owes this
to himself and his community. He
raises sugar beets, potatoes, wheat,
oats, alfalfa, seed peas, field peas, and
is ready to adopt any other good crop
that will fit in well with these or give
better returns. But Mr.. Nelson is
no plunger; he will not plant his
whole place to something that merely
promises well; he will keep we'll
anchored to what he understands
raising, and will go carefully on the
experimental.
Mr.. Nelson observes that while
some farmers try to keep down the
weeds on their farms and roadsides,
others raise them by the million to
blow over on their neighbors or float
down the bitches. very little work
and few sheep on each farm would
turn this menace into wool and NUT
ton and at once become a source of
income instead of trouble,
The man who quits raising hogs
because cholera gets among them, or
quits raising COWS or draft horses
because they lie down and die or
bloat on good feed, is not the man
who supplies the markets and sue
ceeds in the stock business. Nelson
has had experience and still lives and
smiles and bucks the game. A man
does not dissolve the family because
members get sick and doctors pre-
sent bills to be paid. He stays with
them night and day and fights death
inch by inch to win or lose and &C
cepts results with smiles or tears and
pays the doctor when he can. Nelson
does these things and so do you, but
not everybody applies the same prin-
,iple to obstacles in their farming.
Mrs. Nelson is the daughter of L.
J. Porter and they have five children
who are with them on the farm, three
Of them attending. the local school.