Milford chronicle., 1917-08-10
Crop Yield Should Be Doubled.

| Oats .................l,Z3 81, ,uQV,uQO eU.d H.h
4 Hay-tame, tOns.... s62oo,OO l6 l6
Crop Yield Should Be Doubled.
While any figures that may be made
necessarily are conjectural. it is rea-
sOnably safe to estimate that the aver
age yield Of the crop acreage Of the
United States could be doubled II ade-
quate methods Of farming were efrec-
lively put into practice. In England,
France. Germany and other European
countries the wheat acreage yield be-
fore the war was about twice that OF
/ the United States. We deduce these
/ conclusions:
Americas production per acre Of ce-
reals used for human foodstuffs now
is much less than it can be made to be
and ought to.
An increase OF the acreage produc-
tion will not only increase the amount
Of grain produced, but also will in
crease the amount of cereal byprOducts
available for live stock feeding.
BY increasing cereal production there
will be a cessation Of pseudo cOmpeti-
tioR between human beings and live
stock for cereal foOdstuffs.
Therefore, to increase live stock pro
duction, cereal production should be
increased, and live stock increase In
evitably viii follow.
Obstacles to Efficient Farming.
Certain obstacles tend to prevent
more efficient farming and the increase
Of cereal production. Some Of these
are general and can be dealt with by
changing nation wide conditions. 9th
ers are psychological, personal, local,
idiosyncratic. One Of these, for ex-
ample, which might be changed by
the leasing landowner in his own inter-
est is the one year tenure lease. The
tenant farmer under such a lease can
not wisely undertake to raise live
stock, especially cattle, nor enter upon
any other enterprise the consummation
Of which extends beyond the end Of
his leasehOld He may risk raising
hogs, but to do even that he must
have feed troughs, fencing, sheds and
feed preparing devices. With a short
term lease the tenant cannot afford to
build silOs, put in windmills, sink
wells, provide drainage, build fences,
nor can he fertillze or do anything
that VIII make the farm efficiently
available for stock or even future crop
raising. He is almost as much tied to
and limited to cereal crop raising alone |
as If it were expressly so conditioned |
in his lease. / am advised that ap- |
prox.mately one-half of the farm lands |
in Illinois are operated by tenantry |
and that they are almost wholly let on /
one year lcaseholds. But It should |
not be understood that l am attempt
ing to make it appear that longer
leases would cure all live stock deficits
l am merely pointing out how seem
ingly Irrelevant and remote conditions
are directly correlated with and may
he determining factors in live stock
ra a's.ng and how they may impede and
Cl struct it. Much might be said con.
cerning the farmers personal inertia,
tenant or owner. He is inclined to let
well enough alone, and, conditions now
being favorable, he finds little impul
sion to change.
American Farmers Opportunity.
Glittering. fascinating opportunity
thrusts itself upon the American farm
er. The world is face to face with foo,
shortage, with famine! The untitled
and half titled acres and the thought
lessly wasted byproducts Of American
cereal crops indicate Gn easy and prof
table solution Of this momentOus prob
lem Of feeding the world. And not
only that but the American farmer
can enrich himself at the same time
that he meets the requirements Of :
mankind. 1t is folly to suppose that
existing food shortages will be allowed
to continue. resulting in greater, great
er and ever greater prices for bread :
md meat. Persistent price increases
must drive governments to :
seize foOdstuffs and to control the :
means Of producing foods and to fix 5
ng maximum prices for subsistence :
stores so that the people win not s
itarve s
And all over the world and all Of s
he time. government will enfOrce-as s
low all over Europe-the peopleizing :
Il una vailable lands, that the landless s
nay not starve. The American farm 8
T can meet the requirements Of the s
world by increasing his farm efficiency, 8
md the first to do IT will profit most 8
lie should make his lands yield to the :
lttermost He should utilize all the 8
lyproducts Of his cereal crops, all Of
he green stun, to feed to live STOCK. =
treat changes-changes compelled by =
conditions-cOnfront the
world. Men are no longer untram- 3
1eled masters Of that which they call :
heir own. They who own the world =
nd that the world owns them. The 3
truggle for food increases and intensi- s
es, the farmer controls the means OF
pod creation, and regulation Is the 8
Of government. And what =
the answer2