Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-07-15

self on the editorial staff of the farm
paper to which he had sent his
stories. All of this happened some
years ago. William Johnson has been
climbing round by round in the days
that have since passed, but he has
never forgotten some of the funda-
mental things he learned from pioneer
Wisconsin dairymen.
Magic OF the MIX Pail.
More things come out of milk pals
than milk" he declares. Good
homes come out of them, big modern
farms and rich, fertile soil. I have
seen juggler on the stage pull pile
Of baby clothes and lot of ribbon and
little things out of hat while people
marveled at the wonder of it: but it
isn't at all wonderful when you COM
pare it with taking out of a milk pail
clothes and a good living for a iam-
lily, and perhaps an automobile, pf-
ano, education/for the children and
little nest egg in the bank for the
rainy day besides. And that is just
what a great many men are dong
without realizing anything wonderful
about it at all. Such is the magic of
the milk pail"
Last fall Editor Johnson visited his
old home in northeastern Wisconsin,
that he left several years ago when
1t became impoverished with growing
grain for the market. Then a start
was just being made at dairying. His
neighbOrs realized that something had
to be done or there would be num-
Der Of forced sales and a number OF
men beginning life all over again. 80
the farmers started, with tl,e COWS
they had, to build a business that
would pay their debts and living.
"SCrry enough animals the COWS
were, tOo--a mixture Of most OF the
dairy and part of the beef breeds. The
strawstack in winter; thin pasture,
hardly more nourishing, in summer,
and almost any kind of a log shelter,
had constituted the care these COWS
got. They were kept mostly, L think,
from some sort of vague notion that a
farmer ought to have few COWS
around the place, and have some ma
nure for his potato and corn patches.
"There were a few eXceptionS-a
man here and there who had a pretty
good barn and fairly good COWS as
mixed COWS go, and who fed clover
and cOrnstalks in winter, with good
pasture in summer. One or two had
silOS.
SiIos and Better Stock.
'The growth was slow at first, be-
cause you must have fairly good cows
to make anything from dairying, ana
you must feed them we'll apd literally
with the right kind Of feeds. There
was little money and hardly more
credit in the neighbOrhOOd to get the
| things that were needed. Two men a
| few miles away had good sires and
one or two closer at home managed to
get them. The neighborhOod COWS
were bred to these-sOmetimes taken
Is miles for the purpose.
"Then q silo fever got started.
Practically every silo was built with
| borrowed money. In three years half
of the farms had them and in five
years every farm had one. 1t was
the thing that gave life and success
to the dairy movement. 1t was imper-
ative that those common COWS be fed
| cheaply, and silage provided the
cheapest ration. The COWS did SO much
better on it that every man told him
self good COWS could not fail to pay II
scrubs would do so WELL
"And the silage kept more of the
! fertility on the farm, made richer ma
nure, gave bigger crops of corn and
brought back the smile of clover to
fields where it had failed till clover
seemed hopeless, because it returned
the humus that had been so nearly ex-
hausted. That stimulated interest in
fertility and manure was more care
fully saved, strawstacks treasured
and cover crops grown.
Some Other Results.
"And good crops have made possible
the big barns that are getting so COM
mon; the comfortable homes, the
straight wire fences, the hard roads,
the modern new schOolhouses.
Cali of these things, and how many
smaller ones 1 cannot set down, have
come out of the milk pals, and with
them a degree of contentment with
farm life that, I would almost say,
outweighs in value all the material
gain.
''No, the mortgages have not all
been paid. Two or three farms have
been cleared, but most of them carry
as big or bigger debts than when the
movement started But the debts are
proportionately much smaller. They
represent, / judge, an average Of a
third of the value Of the farms where
before they averaged two-thirds or
three-fourths. The farmers now find
it easy to pay their interest and some
are beginning to slice bit each year
off the principal. Most all have mon
ey in the bank in preparation for the
coming due Of their mortgages and
will then nav a big portion and renew