Evening star., 1925-01-25
Farmers Salvation Is Held
10 Depend on Diversification

! cestors. proudly exhibited to me by
| Mr.. Mitchell, would fill newspaper
| column.
! Wheat" continued Mr.. Mitchell.
| lis lazy mans crop. He puts it
| into the ground and let's il alone.
| II he plants corn, he knows he must
cultivate it. Wheat does not require
cultivation.
prosperity and diversified crops
and efficient farming are all inter-
dependent The farmer of the past
has not been efficient. He farmed
chiefly because he could not do any
thing else. Look at the way he
cares for his tools. Leaves them out
! In the rain in the Identical spot
where he unhitched his horses. If it
weren't for the laziness of the farmer
| implement companies would have
been in bankruptcy long ago.
| Our farmers can learn a lot from
Denmark. That little country once
raised wheat, and it was continually
| experiencing hard times, until finally
it abandoned grain altogether. Now
| 1t raises diversified crops, chiefly
| poultry, hogs and dairy cattle. The
Danes have so concentrated on these
crops that Danish butter is known
the world over and Danish bacon is
about the only kind the EnEIishman
will eat.
| The Danes made a regular study
| of marketing their crops. They
found that the Englishman liked his
bacon with a strip of fat and a strip
! of lean and they promptly began
| breeding hogs which would supply
the British market. Today they have
| captured it. And Danish eggs are
! stamped with the number OF the
| farmer selling them SO that IL one
| turns out to be bad it can be traced
to the offending farmer. He is fined
| and sometimes suspended from par
| ticipation in cooperative marketing.
AS a result, Danish eggs have an
| excellent reputation"
| Can Learn From Europe.
"Are not the farmers OF the North
west turning to dairying?" 1 asked.
| Yes, and I believe they are on the
right road. But they still have much
to learn from the European farmer
Over there you see cattle slick and
| we'll groomed, sometimes fed indoors
| the year around and never exposed to
the weather. Now, whoever heard OF
a COW being curried in this country:
over here a farmer keeps 25 head
more or less, and let's them feed or
whatever is convenient.
But notice that all of the Danish
farmers crops-poultry, hogs and
| cows-have by-product of manure
which is put back to enrich the soil
| That Is something the American
! farmer has never done in the past
and it is his most grievous fault. He
exhausts the soil and leaves it. The
Red River valley, once the garden
| wheat spot of the world, is now about
| played out, simply because nothing
was ever put back into the soil
Diversification Of crops is the only
! thing that can save our soil from
| complete exhaustion.
| The old theory, concluded Mr.
Mitchell, was that the Lords bless
ing brought rain or shine and that i
was impossible to control or forecas s.
the Lords blessing. One year h,
smiled upon Canada and the next yeal
upon the United States, Blessed b,
the work Of the Lord I cannot Civ,
a hearty amen to that for / believe
the Lord expects US to help ourselves
| and in the long run He will bles.
| with a higher average of earthly
riches the farmer who splits his croJ
rather than CANDLES his entire stak,
on wheat"
! Copyright, 1929