The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1924-02-29

TOT only does the Would-be farm
M err sometimes lack capital, but h
u frequently lacks knowledge ant
experience. Farming is a compile,
business involving considerable CAPT
tai in the way of perishable material
Mistakes are costly. Most of the ag
ricultural land remaining to be de
veloped must be farmed by especially
adapted methods. To succeed by dry
farming, which should be combined
with livestock raising, or to make
money on a stock-raising homestead
the settler must understand livestock
and the art of growing crops with
but little moisture. Farming by irri-
CATION is trade in itself, and the
successful management of a mixed
dairy farm in the cut-over lands has
been reduced to science.
The operator who succeeds in any
of these lines must know his bust
ness. The man who invests his en-
tire savings and takes on heavy OBJ
legations to enter business about
which he knows nothing is taking a
heavy risk. He may succeed "by
main strength and awkwardness," or
if he can hold out long enough he
may learn by the trial and error
method. In any case the pioneer
stage is long drawn out, time and
money are spent uselessly, and capt.
tai is jeopardized while the operator
is learning what he should have
known before he started out for him
self.
The prospective settler without in
formation and experience may find it
to his advantage to work for some
successful settler for at least one crop
season until he has learned some
thing of the art of handling livestock
and growing crops and has gained an
insight into the business of farming.
After this probationary period of
working under supervision he might
try out his own managerial skill by
renting a farm and using enough of
his capital to buy equipment and
livestock. At the end of the second
or third year of working out and
renting he should be sufficiently sure
of himself to invest in land of his
own, provided he can finance the
deal.
During this period he should have
added to his capital as well as his
He should know where |
to select the best land in the neigh i,
borhood, the actual market value of |
the different types of land, and where |
he can get the best terms if he needs |
credit. At the same time he will |
have established himself among the |
local business men and credit COM
Danies and should be able to get cred
It for goods or to borrow money at
much less expense to himself than if
ne were unknown. Mortgages are
more likely to take big
ger risk at a lower rate of interest if
he reputation of the mortgagor is
Known and if the mortgagor has
thorough knowledge of the agricul
ure in which he engages. The quick
,st, easiest, and cheapest methods of
getting this information are usually
PRACTICAL experience on a farm under
killed supervision and at agricultur-
i colleges.
1t may seem that this way of enter
ng into farm ownership takes too :
much time and that the sooner the s
can get land of his own the /
carer he is to independence. Many 7
ettlers are adverse to working under 1
ERECTION, and this very feeling may S
rompt them to undertake the hard Ia
hips of an undeveloped region. How '
yer, it is we'll to remember that c
here is no harder task master than d
ebt If the debtor has difficulty in 2
leeting his obligations. Information q
nd skill are acquired with less loss
time and at less cost under an eX o
farmer than by undirected Y
nd unskilled experimenting. Unen- c
lmbered ownership is frequently de- O
.yed much longer if the settler at f
,mpts to teach himself than if he O
pes to his land with some knowledge r
his business. The advantage of Il
formulating information and CAPT h
u at the same time is worth much. t,
census of the farms of the Uni +,
ID States for the purpose of finding "
lie methods of acquiring ownership il
ould probably show that a very
rye percentage of the present-day
lrm owners began either as hired \
en- on farms or as tenants. For in
ance, study of AIS farms operated
7 owners, in Jefferson county, N. Y,
lowed the following facts: Eighteen
egan as owners, 33 accumulated the
ice of the farm at other than farm
Dor, 1872 began as hired men and
len became owners, 81 began as Z
nants, and 1913 began as hired men
Id then became owners, 81 began as
nants, and 168 began as hired men,
'came tenants, and then owners. OF
-e AIS owners 367 went through
Their one or both of the friedman
nant stages and only 81 began as
Yners. 1t is also possible that some
the 81 who began as owners we're
ms of operating farmers. Other
.rm surveys in different parts of
lie country show much the same pro- al
'ss OF acquiring farm ownership. m
Experience and capital are as ne IT.
sssary to acquiring ownership of
Il