Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1891 — REAL RURAL READING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

REAL RURAL READING

WILL BE POUND IN THIS DEPARTMENT. Invest lour Surplus on the Faim—Feeding Pumpkins to Bogs—Keep Economical Cows—Dairy Notes—The Poultry lard— Household and Kitchen. How to SucceeiU

,HE country merchant who usually replenishes his stock once a week takes from the amount of his sales a sum sufficient to pay his expenses, and invests the re- , mainder in more goods. If he can buy more goods than he has sold, he usually does so, limiting himself only by the probable de-

mands of his trade, and the capacity of his warehouse to store the goods. If he did not or could not do this he would find his trade falling off, and customers leaving him until he might justly complain that his business was not profitable, and would not give him a comfortable support. But, says the American Cultivator, how many farmers follow this method? Do they, when their cash in hand exceeds their expenses, invest it again in the business that they best understand, and strive to be limited only by the productive capacity of their land and stock, or do they place it in some savings bank, where there are high-salaried officials to guard it, and to invest it for them? Do they buy bonds and stocks and shares in various companies, of whose management they have neither knowledge nor share?

Do they buy more land while that which they already own is only partially productive, because of insufficient expenditure of capital upon it? ©©they expend it for showy residences, while their barns are inconvenient and unfit for the proper stabling of their stock? Do they buy ifine buggies when they have not good working carts upon the farm, pianos when they have more need of plows, and cover their house floors with costly carpets, while their fields are 'barren from a lack of a sufficient covering of manure. Probably very few farmers are guilty of all these mistakes in the ■use of their capital, and there are but few who are free from ail of them or similar ones. It is true that the farmer and the farmer’s family should have a right to all the conveniences and many off the luxuries enjoyed by the successful merchant, but neither have a clear title to them unless successful, and neither can attain a high grade of success if he does not have sufficient capital in his business to conduct it prqperly, .and each should have a reserve iJund in the bank for emergencies when he can; But he should use it when .it will pay in the business an interest fourfold that paid by the bank. When a thoroughbred or a highgrade cow will make a hundred dollars’ worth of butter on a year, and a scrub cow only makes forty dollars’ worth, while‘it costs hut little more to feed one than .the.other, money invested in improved 'breeds of cows, or in a pure male from -Which to raise up a herd of grades, -will pay better returns to the dairymen than can be obtained from Bank stock .or railroad shares or Western farm mortgages.

When a small extira .investment in better seeds and mwe liberal manuring will increase the‘drop with.ut increasing the labor of cultivation will make an increase in the money return four times as great as the expenditure; when better too Is-will save 'their eost in one seasons .labor, while with'care they will do igood work for i five, or .ten years, then is the time when ithe farmer can make money by spending money. When the expenditure .of $25 or $35 iper:acre for tile drains will enable .a ■fieldithat now yields less than $lO >worth.of ipoor grass a season to produce $35 worth of the best, and fit it for theigrowth of any cmotp .that .will yield .profitable returns, it is-economy ■tospend -money, and so it is when a similar sum or a smaller -one will so renovate an old pasture which now only feeds .about one cow napon six .acres, so that it will .give more feed and better for six times that number.

In shont, every farmer should see for himself the manner in which he •could imyaiKMie his land, his buildings, animals, tools or methods of working, 60 that a dollar invested will be placed at a better rate of interest than any ,ooe .else will pay him for it. If he doubles the producing capacity of his land, it as better than it would be to double the number of acres, and if he spends his money judiciously, and uses good judgment in managing his business afterward, he has not lost his money, but has changed an idle dollar that only earned 5 cents in a year for a lively one that will earn 25 cents. And when he has made such improvements that his business is up to its full capacity, or to the measure of his capacity as a manager, than he mav indulge in the luxuries of life and may deliver over his surplus profits to the bankers and the speculators, to take eare of or to lose for him as he may choose.

Device for Tjieg Corn shock*. Take a piece of scrap iron 1 inch wide, lor I inch thick, and 14or 16 inches long, according to size of

wheel, which can he from 2 to 6 inches in diameter. Bend the iron as shown in cut, leaving an opening on top about one inch wide for rope to enter on face of wheel. Place a grooved wheel about one inch back of opening. Drill a hole in top and bottom of iron, and pass a bolt through wheel and iron, thus making an axle for

wbael to roll on. Take a piece of

iron, one inch in diameter, bend a ring on one end. Drill a hole through top and bottom of first iron, as before, also one in round iron, and put in an axle. File the end of “dog,” or ronnd iron next to wheel sharp enough to hold rope. Fasten a rope on ring, and the device is ready for use! A shock can be tightened to any limit, and the “dog” will hold the rope. To use it, throw the implement around the shock, holding the end of rope in one hand. Throw the rope over the wheel and pull. To open it, give a slight push on outer end of “dog” with one hand. The whole need not be more than eight inches long.—G. W. Munger, in Practical Farmer