The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1922-07-19
WAY TO BETTER TIMES FOR FARMERS
AND CITY

man who owned about two thousand acres OF
land prior to the land boom, he stated that
covering a period of about twenty years the IN
come from his holdings had averaged six per cent
per year on valuation of forty dollars per acre.
This land was of course all rented out to others.
Altho this particular man is known for his ex-
ecutive ability, yet it is reasonable to suppose
that the farmer who titled his own soil would
have been able to make six per cent on a greater
valuation per acre.
Still the records at the Court House divulge
that the average farmer who has been engaged
in grain farming for the last ten or twenty years
has bigger mortgage on his farm today than
he had at that time. So it is evident that the
only thing he has to show for his years of toll is
the increase in value of his land.
In Judging the value of any investment the
two paramount points to be considered are its
safety and it's yield. An investment where one
is also using his own managerial ability should
WELD at least six per cent. If it does not, that
individual would be better off to put his money at
interest, and himself, work out by the day.
These are indisputable facts. Disagreeable
tho they may be, the wise individual is and has
been thinking this proposition thru to it's logical
conclusion. Nothing be gained by shutting
ones eyes to realities 1t is to ones best interests
to look such vital matter squarely in the face,
to find the best solution for the problem present.
ed
Now as matter of fact we are located in
one of the finest farming communities to be found
anywhere. The lay Of the country is good. We
do not have much waste land. The quality OF
the soil is of the best. We have an adequate
amount of rainfall, and usually fine growing
weather All these things are in our favor.
They are assets Of nestimable value.
And yet those stubborn, disagreeable facts
above mentioned stand before us as. an ogre
menacing our success and happiness. Why
have we failed to make that progress to which
the naturally favorable conditions Of the country
entitle us? Where does the difficulty lay?
Attic there are great many factors enter
ing this problem, yet there are perhaps two chief
causes that are outstanding, both of which can be
removed.
One is that many farmers have been Skim
ming over' too much ground, instead of cultivat-
ing it thoroly They have been forced to do
this because the size of the farms made it neces-
sary if the ground was to be covered at all. There
has been extensive cultivation instead Of inten-
sive cultivation Now with land selling at $3.50
or 5000 per acre. it is impossible to make interest
on such large investment unless the ground is
forced to yield up to the farmer all that it can
be made to produce. We are here confronted by
a condition that must be faced if the interest is
to be made. The conclusion is that no farmer
should attempt to farm more land than he can
s till thoroly., He should study means and
methods of making it produce more. If we simply
try to farm more land in order thereby to make
profit, we become like the woman who, selling
an article at loss, tried to sell more, thinking
she would thereby make a profit Accordingly,
If farmer knows that he has more land than he
and his family can cultivate in such way as to
produce the greatest possible amount of profit
per acre. there is open only one wise plan to fol
low-namely, to dispose of that amount beyond
which that individual can not thoroly farm.
The other cause of the failure of this country
to yield profit in accord with its possibilities is
to be found in the fact that there has been too
much graln-farming. In our farming there has
been too much of robbing the soil of its strength
and putting back nothing. The richest spot on
Gods earth can not stand such abuse in the face
of increased land values, if fair return is-to be
made.
The solution Of this problem lays in diversi-
fed farming. The economic salvation Of this