Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1873 — Systematic Farming. [ARTICLE]

Systematic Farming.

The true theory of agriculture is to regard it in the light of a manufacturing industry. The farmer is a creator of values. Whatever he. produces, whether it be a. bushel of corn, a pound of pork, a barrel of apples, an acre of roots, or a firkin of butter; in all these cases lie cqnverts raw materials into useful commodities tlwough the intervention! of labor and by the use of capital'?’ He-puts his products into the market in much the same way as other manufacturers. Ilia' success, like theirs, depends hot alone on capital, or skill, or labor, or machinery, or science, or experience; on hone of. these separately and exclusively, but on all of them combined, and on the judgment with which they are blended in due proportion, and on the clear-sighted sagacity which is every where applied to his operations. There is no reason, then, why the business of th 6 farmer, if conducted under right conditions, should not yield as fair . auiarg-ui-xif--profit.4is.ather.macataciii.ring. industries. In his case, as in theirs, whatever reduces the cost of production adds so much to the net results, and helps to make him a prosperous man. The problem far the agriculturist is, To get the highest agreeable product (not of quantity merely, but of value,) from the smallest cash investment, and the practical mode of solving this problem fiiakes the whole difference between the thriftless and the thrifty farmer. Just here iliere arises a very important inquiry: Does the highest yield per acre necessarily give the lowest het cost of the article' raisedZofls they® any’rela'tionTietween these two factors? The obvious answer is, that though the largest yield does not always givb the least cost, yet the chances are greatly in its favor if reasonable care and economy are used. There is, of course, a limit of outlay on every crop, beyond which it will not be profitable; but inside of this limit, it is safe to say that, as a general rule, the more bushels or tons you get from an acre, the less each bushel or fan will cost. The reason of this is so perfectly plain, it seems incredible that our farmers do not give more attention to the principle, and take advantage of it to increase.their profits. The tisual'explanation with most of them is, that capital being limited, they cannot put more than ascertain

amount of expense on each acre, even though every’ additional dollar should bring back a hundred-fold.—Cor. Rural New ■ -