The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-01-03
WORKOUT FARM
WAS MADE TO PAY
Good Management Resulted in Large
Profit in Broome County, N. Y
Melted 32.5 Per Cent,

management may accomplish on So
called WORKOUT = New York hill farm.
is offered in the case of place sur
veyed in Broome county, N Y, which
was bought for 1852 per acre, and in
two years was made to pay over 80
per cent on the investment.
This place was bought by farmer
who was already farming at a profit in
the valley below. 1t consisted of 90
acres of gently rolling land. The land
had been cropped with hay and buck
wheat for years, and little or no man
ure or other fertilizing material had
been applied Consequently the soil
was in very poor physical condition
There was a 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 ami half of the other seeds and of
the fertilizer. He also supplied a pota-
to planter and digger The tenant fur
nished the rest of the machinery, his
own teams, and all of the labor. In
return he was to receive one-half or
the oats, buckwheat and potatoes
raised, and the income of four cows
which he was permitted to keep. 1t
was provided, however, that he was TO
feed all the hay and roughage on the
farm and TO return the 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 hedgerows.
The new owner took possession on
April l. The cropping system adopted
for the first season was necessarily 4
makeshift, owing to the lack of time
for putting a definite plan for i'm
provement into execution.
Four acres of potatoes were planted.
The seed happened to be poor, and,
only 400 pounds of commercial fertil-
izer being used, the yield was only 90
bushels per acre. Five acres of buck
wheat yielded 1l6 bushels. Lime and
acid phosphate were applied to one
eight acre tract, and from this field
500 bushels of oats were harvested At
the same time an excellent stand of
clover was obtained in the same field.
Ten head of young cattle were pas
tured on a 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 a cost of about
| 800. At the end Of the year the own
er s gross receipts amounted to $4,000,
| of which $3.50 represented his in
come from his investment.
The next year about nine acres of
sod land were plowed and put into po-
! tatoes. The tenant left some of the
seed potatoes exposed for several days,
and as d result, a very uneven stand
was secured. Three paintings We're
Z made The first, from freshly cut seed.
gave an even stand and yielded $50
bushels to the acre. The next and
largest planting made q very poor
stand, yielding only so bushels to the
( acre, while the last was good and
yielded $50 bushels to the acre. From
the whole field 816 bushels were dug,
! an average Of about 90 bushels per
acre These were worth dollar a bush
ell 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
g piece, while the remainder Of the new
: seeding cut about a ton per acre.
FL ght acres of oats, in which the usual
o seeding of timothy was made, yielded
Q 1S6 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
n about two acres, which the owner had
: reserved, was renovated and sprayed at
: a cost of 800.
3 At the end of the second year, al
): though q number of fairly expensive
k improvements had been made, includ
% ING the repair of the barn at a cost OF
!, 800, the owner s share of the gross re
!. ceipts of the enterprise amounted to
= 5000 This included $3.50 received fol
}. apples from the orchard which he had
/. reserved for his own use. His net in
come was $69460, or 32.5 per cent on
t. his investment.
s In this case the owner S labor rs
!. superintendent is negligible, since he
(. was running his home farm and devot
.. ing only spare time to the hill farm II
g. question. However, even if the owner
d. were allowed $500 for his superinten
a. dence and $50 for the use of the few
il tools which he contributed the invest
"A ment would still show a dividend OF
Go nine per cent. At the same time thu
Id tenant made q comfortable living. NJ
:. strict record was kept of his returns
- but his share of the field crops for th'
Us second year was worth about $500
II while the four cows contributed mate
: rally to the family living.
= -