Year: 1879

fhOFITABLE FARMING.

 There appears to be much confusion

 of ideas with regard to what is usually

 called profitable agriculture. In many

 instances-and, in fact, we might say as

 a general rule-the prevalent idea among

 farmers is that he who obtains most from

 his land with the least outlay in money

 or labor, secures the largest profit on

 investment. Carrying this idea into

 practice has ruined millions of acres of

 farming lands, and left them little better

 than worthless waste. To wear out

 soil as rapidly as possible by constant

 cropping, returning nothing to restore

 or keep up it's fertility, may appear for

 while to be profitable farming but it

 IS lar otherwise, as many have learned

 through bitter experience. The impov-

 erished farms of the older States. and

 the rapidly increasing number in the

 new, with the constant falling off in the

 yield of grain and other crops on land

 not long since declared to be simply in-

 exhaustible, show that to expect large

 returns at the expense of the capital

 invested in farming is ruinous policy.

 If man can obtain forty bushels of

 wheat per acre, or seventy-five of corn,

 and leave the land no worse for having

 produced the crop, then he can easily

 figure up his profits, by counting the

 cost of raising the crop, adding interest

 on the value of the land. But when he

 has impaired the intrinsic value of the

 land by diminishing it's capabilities for producing succeeding crop, this should also be charged to the capital account, and deducted from the profits. This charging loss of fertility to crop accounts would, no doubt, be considered by many farmers Q rather unusual proceeding but that it is perfectly legitimate and necessary, in order to arrive at anything like an accurate basis for calculating profit and loss. must be apparent to every one who will give it moments thought.

 We frequently hear farmers regretting the loss of fertility in their lands, and they will tell us that twenty, thirty, or more years ago, when their land was new, they thought nothing of getting thirty or forty bushels of wheat per acre, at cost not exceeding the value of ten; "and then," say they, "there was money to be made in farming" It may be true that little money was made, but the capital upon which they were obtaining an excessive interest was rapidly being impaired, as the results in loss of fertility plainly show. Had they pursued different course, and kept the land rich by raising more cattle, feeding the hay to their own stock instead of sending it to market; or practiced TO- tation of crops, ploughing one under occasionally for manure, the result would have been far different, and farm ing on these old lands would have proved even more profitable than when they were new.

 We have, however, 8 good1y number of farmers who do not count all taken from their land as profit, but aim to keep their original capital invested in the land good, and the crops raised as interest, less the cost of production. Farms of this kind are seldom for sale for less than the cost of improvements, for they are still profitable in hands that know how to use them. To point out and explain how 8 certain class of farm CTS always manage to come out ahead, whether prices of farm produce rule high or low, would require repetition of the history of scientific or good farm ing in all it's details but the foundation of profitable farming is, as it always has been, a fertile soil judiciously man. aged.

 We frequently hear of good old farms near good markets, being sold for less than what the original improvements cost the owner and while it may seem hard that land should be given away to any one who will pay the value of the buildings, they no doubt bring all they are worth. The large old barns on some of these farms cost good sum, and there was, no doubt, time when they were well filled with grain and hay cut from the surrounding fields; but man would now have to scrape long and close to get weeds or straw enough from the same land to make show in these capa- cious receptacles of farm products, and they are consequently of little value in their present location. That these old worn lands will again be made produc- tive there is not a shadow of doubt, but it will cost all they are worth and it can only be done by men of means and who are willing to invest their capital in farming in the same way that they would in any other legitimate business, expecting to realize reasonable profit upon the amount invested. If every acre should cost $50 to make it fertile, they will look for 8 reasonable return upon the amount, and upon all other outlays. The days for speculating in farms and farm lands are probably past, except in some of the newer States and Territories, where land is worth mere nominal price, and it's future value is dependent on local influences, of which little or nothing can be known in advance of their actual development

 A CAPTURE.-A terrible pull at their |