The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-01-08
MADE POOR FARM PAY.
Good Management Resulted in Large
Profit in Broome County

GO-Sh'4SN 'OA%A AZ WV II va 44'ii
farm, is offered in the case of a place
surveyed in Broome county, n. Y,
which was bought for 1882 per acre.
and in two years was made to pay oy
er 80 per cent on the investment.
This place was bought by a farmer
who was already farming at profit III
the valley below. 1t consisted OF 80
acres of gently rolling land. The land
had been cropped with hay and buck
wheat for years, and little or no man
lure or other fertilizing material had
been applied. Consequently the soil
was in very poor physical condition,
There was good frame house on the
farm, and a rather poor barn.
a tenant was engaged TO live in the
house and do the work on the farm
under the owners direction. Under
the terms Of the agreement the owner
furnished all of the lime and clover
seed and half Of the other seeds and
of the fertilizer. He also supplied a
potato planter and digger. The ten
ant furnished the rest OF the machin-
cry, his own teams, and all of the la
Dor. In return he was 10 receive one
half of the oats, buckwheat and pota-
toes raised, and the income of four
COWS which he was permitted to
keep. 1t was provided, however that
he was 10 feed all the hap and rough.
no 70 nj 10 n
| manure, straw, etc, to the land. He
was also TO do all the Improvement
work for which he had time, such as
picking up stones and cutting hedge
| rows.
The new owner took possession on
April /. The cropping system adopt
ed for the first season was necessar.
lily a makeshift, owing to the lack OF
time for putting a definite plan for
improvement into execution.
Four acres OF potatoes were plant
ed. The seed happened 10 be poor
and. only 400 pounds Of commercial
fertilizer being used, the yield was on
~ 80 bushels per acre. Five acres or
buckwheat yielded III bushels. Lime
and acid phosphate were applied to
one eight acre tract, and from this
field 300 bushels OF oats were har-
vested At the same time an excel
lent stand of clover was obtained in
the same field. Ten head of young
cattle were pastured on slope where
the land was rough and not available
for tillage. An old meadow was
moved, yielding about ton of rather
poor hay per acre.
During the summer permanent re-
pairs were made at cost of about
$500. At the end of the year the own
er's gross receipts amounted to S240-
80, OF which S157.50 represented his
income from his investment
The next year about nine acres Of
sod land were plowed and put into pc
tatoes. The tenant left some OF the
seed potatoes exposed for several
days, and as result, very uneven
stand was secured. Three paintings
were made. The first, from freshly
cut seed, gave an even stand and
yielded $50 bushels to the acre. The
| next and largest planting made a
| very poor stand, yielding only so
bushels 10 the acre, while the last
| was good and yielded $50 bushels to
the acre. From the whole field SIG
bushels were dug, an average of
about so bushels per acre. These
were worth dollar a bushel at the
farm, however, which in part made
UP for the low yield.
The clover sown the previous year
made a good showing Over four
tons of hay were taken from q two
acre piece. while the remainder OF
,se new seeding cut about ton pc,
acre. Eight acres OF oats, in which
| the usual seeding in which the usual
seeding OF timothy was made, yield
ed 1877 bushels OF grain. Lime and
acid phosphate had been put on this
field. Buckwheat yielded 100 bushels
OF grain on FIVE and one-half acres.
Thirteen head of young stock were
summered on this pasture. An old
orchard OF about two acres, which
! the owner had reserved, was removal
ed and sprayed at q cost OF $50.
At the end OF the second year, al
though a number of fairly expensive
| Improvements had been made, includ-
ing the repair of the barn at cost
of $100, the owners share Of the
gross receipts OF the enterprise
amounted to 1906. This included $3.50
received for apples from the orchard
which he had reserved for his own
use. His net income was s694.60, or
1926 per cent ON his investment.
In this case the owners labor as
superintendent is negligible since he
was running his home farm and de-
voting only spare time to the hill
farm in question. However, even II
the owner were allowed $500 for his
superintendent and $50 for the use
of the few tools which he contributed
the investment would still show q
dividend OF nine per cent, At the
same time the tenant made a comfort
able living. No strict record was
kept of his returns, but his share OF
the field crops for the second veal
was worth about $780, while the -four