The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1918-05-17
The Story Of Jones
OF Montgomery County
sy Alfred Division University Knoxville

There are many farmers who will
feel, We believe, more than passing in.
terest In the story of 9 man, who, after
years of Improbable farming, was
Nble, by taking thought. to increase his
Inceme over 500 in one year.
This man we will call Jones. Jones
b a Montgomery County farmer. The
figures from his business are taken
from careful estimates for the first
year, and from actual records the
second.
Jones was like = man with a pain
In his back who has tried everything
trom pills and pellets to poultices and
plasters and found no relief. Jones'
farming was an ever.present ache. He
had experimental with all sorts Of
treatments; he had changed from sell.
Ing milk to selling cream and again 10
making butter; he had fed grain and
he had gone without grain. But the
business became no better, the pocket
book put on no weight, the bank &C.
count remained thin and anaemic.
JSnss Weighs He MIX.
Finally Jones did an unusual thing.
firing OF the blind turning from one
nostrum to another, he began a real
search for the cause or causes Of the
trouble. He suspected that there was
something wrong with his dairy. The
milk pals did not seem as full as they
should be. So his first move was to
weigh each cows milk daily. While
this put no more milk in the pail, 1t
did bring Jones face to face with the
fact that his cows were not producing
as freely as common experience has
indicated they must produce in order
to prove profitable. After giving the
matter considerable thought and talk
ing it over with his friends he decided
that it was not fair to condemn his
cows on the evidence of the milk
scales alone. He decided that they
were not so fed that they could pro.
duce well, even tho they were natur.
ally good dairy animals. Moreover, 1t
hardly seemed like good economy to
try to bring back Immediately all the
cows to full production. He put into
practice a plan for feeding each COW
we'll before she calved, putting her
into condition 20 produce, and then Of
giving her an opportunity to demon
strate her ability. Some of the cows
surprised Mr.. Jones by their splendid
response. A few others showed little
inclination to work and were sold for
beef.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Jones had gone fur
ther. He had made as careful An esti.
mate OF his business for the previous
year as he could from memory and
such figures rs he had. In this he
found that, as nearly as he could de-
termine, he had sold during the year
$36 worth OF butter for each COW In
his herd. His figures for the year fol-
lowing the change show that the cows
produced on an average SIS worth Of
butter, which, with less cows, meant
en- increase in income Of 1856 over the
previous year; this in spite OF the fact
that the changes were made gradually
turnout the year, so that they had not
in many cases had an opportunity to
be operative for more than a short
time.
Studies He BuslnssR
Satisfied that his efforts with his
cows were in the right direction, he
made q more careful study OF his bust
ness of the previous year, When he
had set down his receipts and expenses
In orderly fashion, his figures looked
like this:
Receipts.
Cattle sold .,........s $4,000
Butter sold .......... S0600
Horse sold .......... 1850
Pork sold ........... 1900
Poultry and Eggs. -. $500