Year: 1869

Farmers are often blamed for not
selling their produce as soon as it is
ready for market. And it must be con-
fessed that those who do so, taking one
year with another, do quite as we'll, all
things considered, as those who hold on
in hopes of getting higher prices. They
obtain their money soon after harvest,
and are enabled to use it to advantage.
Dealers in grain can obtain money much
more easily than farmers, and can con-
sequently hold the grain longer.


While, therefore, We think farmers
often do better by selling early, there
is still room for the exercise Of Judg-
ment. One reason why it is usually
best to sell early is, that most farmers
are disposed to hold on to their grain
as long as possible, and when the time
comes that they must sell, there are more
sellers than buyers, and the price de-
clines.


1t isa curious fact that people gem
orally are more inclined to sell when
prices are low than when they are high.
When wool was so cents h., ii was
more difficult to induce farmers to sell
than it was 40 cents per 10. Last fall,
with red wheat at S2.25 in the interior
of Michigan, farmers hesitated longer
in making up their minds to let their
crops 90 than they did last summer
when they were offered Sl.25 for the
same wheat. 1t is a good rule to sell
when you can get price that will
afford good living profit. Farmers, at
the present time, would have been
richer by millions of dollars than they
now are had they adopted this rule last
autumn. We know of q great many
who sold wheat this summer for 81 a
bushel less than they refused for it last
fall. The whole nation suffered greatly
by this indisposition to sell when a good
price could be obtained. We might
have shipped all our surplus wheat to
England at fair price, bat by holding
on We lost the opportunity, and finally
sold at price below the cost of produc-
ton. We should take the lesson to
heart.


On the other hand, when prices are
low, we should not be in hurry to sell.
Sound wheat is an article that will
keep, and it is an article that is always
req quired, and it is absolutely certain
that it cannst long remain at q price
much below the actual cost of produc-
tion. We cannot hold out hopes to such
farmers as grow only ten or twelve
bushels of wheat per acre, that they
will obtain prices sufficient to compen
safe them for their labor. The country
must be in a very unsatisfactory cond-
tion when such is the case; but we do
firmly believe that there is no reason to
doubt that farmer who raises good
crops is safe in calculatinR that sooner
or later lie will be able to obtain uch
price for his wheat as will enable him
TO make fair profit.


There is one fact in this connection
that should not be overlooked. In
cool, wet, late season in England, the
wheat crop is always below the average.
Aud they have had such a season the
present year. On the other hand, it is
very doubtful il the wheat crop of the
United States is as large as was antici-
pated. We feel tolerably certain, there
fore, that before another harvest, wheat
will bring a price sufficiently high to
afford the wheat grower good living
profit. He should be satisfied with this.
He should be in no hurry to take less
.imericaa 4gricHltudliSt.