Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1874 — Successful Farming. [ARTICLE]

Successful Farming.

An old farmer said to us to-day, “The farmers do not do’as well as they know.” They know much better what good farming is than their practice shows. They know that wheat ground should be broken as soon as harvest is over, yet it is delayed. They know that all lands not naturally well drained would be greatly improved by underdraining, but they neglect it. They know that laud cannot be kept in good heart and productive condition without the use of fertilizers, yet the practice of close cropping, and the neglect otf the manure heap prevails. While the manure' compost is the farmer’s bank of wealth, it is let go to waste. The plowing under of green crops is known to add wonderfully to the fertility of the soil, but few farmers practice it. Itis known that it ia much cheaper to raise’ sixty or eighty bushels of corn on one acre of land than on two, yet this fact is negleeted,\ and the land irf so worn by exhausting crops that it is often hard to produce thirty bushels per acre. They know that stock that mature early is 1 much

more profitable than that of slow growth, yet they stick to the old grades that require much time and feed to prepare for market, instead of procuring more profitable kinds. They know that wagons, plows, harrows, reapers, etc., will last much longer, and can be more easily kept in order when carefdtly housed when not in use, aud yet they stand out exposed to the sun or rain a large portion of the year. They know that stock carefirlly housed through the winter require less food and keep in better health and flesh .than when left out in the storm and cold unprotected, and yet they fail to provide comfortable barns for their protection. By neglecting these little but important matters the profits of farming are wasted, and more than wasted, and yet the cry comes up that farming don’t pay. There is no business so managed that would pay. If the banker who handles his millions every year, should neglect to look closely after the details of his business, leaving as many leaky places as are found on most farms in the country, he would be a bankrupt in five years. The manufacturer looks constantly to every department of his business, working only the most profitable stock, and doing his work in the best possible manner, protecting every department from unnecessary exposure and danger, and seeking the best maratthe mostfavorable times to dispose of his wares, and he is sue. cessful. Only those who do the righuthing at the right time, in the best possible manner, can hope to attain any great success.—Cer. Indiana Farmer.