Norwich bulletin., 1921-06-24

mg discovery, went to keeping records of a dozen other farm operations. Re- member, this was a good many years ago. After two or three years of this account-keeping, I learned that more doing had been work which not only brought me in no profit or wages but which ''the market calmly fined me for doing. Like scores Of other farmers, I had been drifting along, following the old ruts and blindly assuming that they must lead in a right direction, in the main.
 My excursion into account-keeptng woke me up to the fact that it was es- sential for successful farming not only to work hard but also to work at some l thing which would pay wages at least. ] It was this discovery that turned my at ! tention to understanding and grad ua1ly diverted almost all my energies in | that direction. Now, things are ns better for the far mer, these days. than they were at that | time. Indeed, there are a thousand proofs on every side that conditions are worse. It isn't that the grains and feeds which other farmers produce, elsewhere,
 are worth so much more, in themselves, | but the cost of transportation, due to i outrageously high railroad rates, Is so
 great as to be prohibitive. The consumer
 always pays the freight. in the end. and | if the freight be exorbitant, prices to him will surely be exorbitant. The Illinois
 corn-grower may sell his corn and the 1 Wisconsin oat-grower his oats for less
 at the farm than they cost him to raise.
 But that won't help the Connecticut
 feed-buyer one penny, if he has to pay
 all the western farmer loses and round
 sum over in sky-rocketing freight
 charges It makes small difference to him who empties his pocket. provided the
 emptying is complete. As it unquestion-
 ably is. The aching void which remains is quite as painful whether it is caused by the overcharges of an Illinois farmer
 or those of N Y. Central engine-driv- CT. In no case can you take something
 from nothing and leave really valuable
 remainder
 It is not only grains but fruits and
 vegetables which are now banned to the
 average farmers use by prohibitive freight rates. Banned, that is. unless he sees fit to raise them himself; raise all : the variety he can. and then substitute from that homegrown variety for those l not raisabIe in New England.
 In a recent number of The Weekly News Letter, published by the United States department of agriculture, an of , fcial of that department is quoted as saying:
 Specialized farming has created ] conditions of which comparatively few ) people are aware The grain farmer in 3 many instances buys even his potatoes 7 and green vegetables; the fruit farmer S buys his dairy products; and even the t dairyman is apt to send bis milk all to Q the factory and buy his own butter. But f this year the American farmer is not go- = ing to be able to pay freight on water . which makes up a chief part of the V weight of fruits and vegetables. H. r must grow his own, and also study out
 the possibilities of substitution" n This department expert goes on;- e 'The average American farmer know: y how to raise other crops than those or e which he specializes, but 1t has seemed 5 good business, or at least expedient, tt II devote his energies to very few or even Z }, single cash crop and buy his necessities T just as is done in other specialized in Il dustries. The grain farmer is perfectl! e' capable of raising his own potatoes, hi s green garden stuff. and melons, toms e toes and other garden fruits, to talk q the place of orchard fruits which il
 many parts of the country have beel J. killed by the late freezes
 !. "The same may be said of poultry
 With increased freight rates this yea S the general farmers principal meat sup
 ply will come out of his poultry yard either in eggs or in table chickens ant other fowls. Poultry is the quickes
 meat supply to produce and the farme will do well to build up small f1ocl as rapidly as possible. The increase freight rates on butter aHd eggs, togethe | with the farm money shortage due to tn
 disappointing returns from last year
 crops, will make it advisable for man | farmers wives to return to the butter
 making arts which they learned as girl from their mothers and which have bee ! largely discontinued as farmers becam | specialists.
 \ Fruit is likely to be scarce in lars
 and important farming regions but i; | place can largely be taken by vegetabl \ products. Two things are clear In tn
 first place. the average farmer as
 stands now, can not afford to pay freisl \ on the water which makes up the large \ part of both fresh and canned vegeta bIe \ and fruits. In the second place, unde