The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-01-23

aged Ii bushels to the acre. That
is the first time in yearsI have
made any money. A good deal of
the losses in my locality can be
charged to those people who adj
vised the farmers to drop wheat
raising and raise potatoes The
statement has been confirmed by
other farmers from the Red River
Valley. 1t would seem to bear out
my belief that the farmer is the
best judge of what he should SOW.
There is on one but God Almighty
who knows what the weather will
be. AS stated above, the actual
farmers are the best judges.
''Now there is another class of
farmers; men who have been sue
cessful and have retired and are
living in nearby towns or cities.
They are good judges of farming,
and during the winter will meet
with their renters and agree upon
what they will sow for the COM
ing year. Both the owner and the
renter are experienced men. The
renter is picked for his ability and
he participates in the success of
the venture. Very rarely is there
a failure in this kind of farming.
"Then he have another class who
are pleased to call themselves
farmers, but do not dignity them
PC such. They are the Spectators
who have bought hundreds or
4 h. Of Of
purely speculative purposes. They
naturally do not feel that they can
afford to allow the land to he idle
so they hire renters to work IcZ'
them on as small a pay as posi-
BILE. These renters are generally
known as hoaters,' and are as a
rule a shiftless class, and will stay
in one locality for a season or two
and then move on to other places.
1t is impossible under this
condition of affairs for the class to
raise enough to pay even the taxes
to say nothing of return upon
their investment. The majority of
them do not know what will hap
pen and when harvest comes they
find they are out of pocket. This
class of farmers are undoubtedly
in need of advice. This has been
my experience when travelled for
the Mccormick Harvester Co., and
sold other farm implements for
many years.
"There is another important fac
tor to. be considered and that is
that great difference in results
will be found between actual farm
growing and those found at agri-
cultural experiment farms.
"It is not always possible to con-
slider acual farming with the three
classes. Neither can you use the
same methods on a farm from 16(
to 300 acres as those used at the
experiment farm.
II will say that our experiment
farm gave excellent advice when
they advised the farmers to go into
the extensive raising Of alfalfa and
other grass seeds.
Zone thing the farmers are
careful of is the use of new seeds
introduced into the market. Ar
actual farmer is careful to see6
only a small amount of the new
grain the first and second year I'm
! til he finds out it's adaptibility tc
his particular climate.
"The growing of spring wheat
in the United States is confined
almost Exclusively to part of the
Red River Valley of Minnesota
North Dakota, part of South Dako
ia and Montana. There are some
years when we have sufficient yielG
of spring wheat to have an export
able surplus, but generally we
raise only sufficient for our owr
milling needs. In addition to the
Northwest. Canada raises a large
volume of spring wheat. Russis
also raises some, and as it's eco