Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1917-09-27


Bushels Per Acre
Winter wheat....... 465, 100000 1873 l6.2
Spring wheat........ l560O0.0uO SS 1873
All wheat......... Gil 100000 1870 1879
Corn ................. 100000 A9 2S.2
Oats ................. 81, 100000 800 37.s
Hay-tame. tons.... S62o0,0O0 18 LIZ
Crop Yield Should Be Doubled.
While any figures that may be made
necessarily are conjecturai. 1t 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 effec-
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
IL much less than It can be made to be
and ought to.
An increase Of the acreage produc-
ton 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 cessation Of pseudo competi-
ton 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 will 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 ia 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 contamination
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 q short
term lease the tenant cannot afford to
build silos, put in windmilla, sink
wells. provide drainage, build fences,
nor can he fertilize or do anything
that win make the farm efficiently
available for stock or even future crop
raising. He IL almost as much tied to
and limited to cereal crop raising alone
as II 1t were expressly 10 conditioned
In his lease. am advised that ap-
proximately one-half OF the farm lands
In Illinois are operated by tenantry
and that they are almost wholly let ON
one year leaseholds. But 1t should
not be understood that am attempt
Ing to make It appear that longer
leases would cure all live stock deficits
am merely pointing out how seem
ingly irrelevant and remote conditions
are directly correlated with and may
be determining factors In live stock
raising and how they may impede and
obstruct It. Much might be said con-
corning the farmers personal inertia,
tenant or owner. lie 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 food
shortage, with famine! The untitled
and half titled acres and the thought
lessly wasted byproducts OF American
cereal crops indicate an 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 It Is folly to suppose that
existing food shortages will be allowed
to continue, resulting In greater, great
er and ever greater prices for bread
and meat. Persistent price Increases
inevitably must drive governments to
seize foodstuffs and to control the
means OF producing foods and to AZ
ing ma ximum prices Tor subsistence
stores so that the people will not
starve.
And all over the world, and all Of
the time. government will enforce--as
now all over Europe-the peopleizing
Of unavailable lands. that the landless
,uay not starve. The American farm
err can meet the requirements OF the
world by increasing his farm efficiency.
and the first to do It will profit most
He should make his lands yield to the
utterInost. He should utilize all the
byproducts Of his cereal crops. all Of
the green stun. to feed to live stock.
Great changes---changes compelled by
overmastering conditions confront the
world. Men are no longer untram-
neled masters Of that which they call
their own. They who own the world
fird that the world owns them. The
for food increases and intensi-
lies, the farmer controls the means Of
food creation. and regulation ID the