The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-12-04
BRIGHTER DAYS. FOR THE
FARMER

Inc dark, gloomy Gays TOR Cne
North Dakota farmer are nearly over.
Prosperous times are just ahead.
Farm products of all kinds are high
and indications are that they will re-
main so for period Of years. There
really was not much Of an incentive
for the North Dakota farmer to try
to make his land give a maximum
production when there was such .
little difference between the cost of
production and the selling price. The
farmer did not consider that the small
profit would Justify his going to a
great deal of expense and bother to
grow big crops. He had but small
capital, and in order show much Of .
profit, he had to put his crop in with
the least expense, trusting to forum.
ate climatic conditions to produce a
bumper yield. When he got that
bumper yield, only then could he hope
for small margin for his years lab
ors. When his yield was only aver
age, he actually lost money and the
more extensively he farmed, the more
money he lost. He was playing a
desperate game, stalking his all on the
turn Of the wheel Of fortune. He real
lied that he was robbing his soil, but
he was in a position where he could
hardly help. himself. With hogs at
only three or four cents q pound and
cattle at about the same figure, eggs
at 20 cents dozen and less, and poul-
try at five or six cents a pound; wheat
at 80 cents a bushel, fax at less than
dollar, oats at 80 cents, rye at Coo
and barley at IS or 40 cents, he wasn't
able to make much Roadway. But
today, the prices have advanced until
he can make profit under ordinary
conditions True, the crops have
been poor in western North Dakota
during the past four seasons, but
safer methods are being applied,
which coupled with more favorable
prices, will make the success of our
farmers certain.
With potatoes selling at two dollars
or more bushel, and this years aver
age for this section of the state, at
about IS bushels, the farmer consid-
ers that he can afford to bother with
this crop He isn't worrying so much
about the price of wheat or the yield,
for the acreage of wheat is going to
be cut down nightly. The total
wheat yield will not be reduced ma
terially, fer the average will be rails
ed. Wheat does remarkably well on
Georn or potato 1aIa, even in drouthy
seasons. The corn crop is now cons
sidered one Of the most important for
North Dakota farms. This was an
exceptionally good corn year and the
average for corn in western North
Dakota was aboutS35 bushels per acre
for the past season. There is an
abundance of first class seed for an
other year and the corn acreage will
be increased nightly It doesn't
make SO much difference, even if corn
does not mature well every wear, for
1t is grown mainly for ensilage Still,
the ripper the corn, the better the feed.
Much of the seed grown this year will
be held over for two years hence.
With present prices of hogs, cattle
and butterfat, the farmer considers
that ne is able to plant and take care
of a good sized field of corn. Next
year will see field of from 20 to 80
acres OF corn on nearly every farm.
1t doesn't take great deal Of mis-
sionary work to get q farmer to go
ing into anything that means more
money for him. He didn't like to
milk cows. It's hard to hire good men
to milk the cows They mean few
vacations for the farmer and his fam
lily, but with butterfat at 70 or 80
cents a pound, farmer can forego
a few trips, especially when he con
templates the size of his monthly
cream check.
Farmers have learned that there
are so many ways Of making money.
A Des Laos farmer received an in
come of S14O an acre from ten acres
Of sweet clover, disposing of the seed
at fabulous prices Another Des
Laos farmer sold $4,000 worth of
:oromus seed from 20 acres and had
thirty tons of good hay, minus the
seed, left. Soudan grass is a re-
nnarkab1y good crop for North Da-
kota. Why, we don't have to de-
pend ton wheat or any other one crop.
There are so many things that thrive
we'll here and so many ways for a
farmer to make money, that it is
merely a matter Of choosing what he