Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1878 — Farming for Profit. [ARTICLE]

Farming for Profit.

While many farmers have been used to consider that stock growing and feeding and the raising of grain on the saipe farm cannot be so economically qafrifd out as to make the farm essentially a stock or a grain farm, the better class of our farmers well know that the fertility of a farm cannot be kept up successfully unless it is stocked with animals fully sufficient at least to consume all,the rougher products of the lahfi. While it is true that new land may produce grain exclusively for some years, without apparent serious diminution of its fertility, it is a fact nevertheless, that when the lack of fertility does become apparent to the eye ana the pocket of tne owner, the cost of restoring the fertility of the land will be in due proportion to the exhaustion. This is indeed true in any case. Hence it is evident that, inasmuch as the cost of addfibizl fertilization by commercial madures may cost more tnan the products sold, the land has been depleted at a cost greater than that at which it may be restored. Hence, again, it is evident, and a proposition well understood by intelligent farmers, that mixed farming is the most profitable in the end. In all new countries the settler must perforce depend upon such crops 9s will bring cash returns soonest. Upon all soils adapted to its cultivation this is wheat, but he who continues its cultivation at the expense of other crops soon finds himself losing ground, and at last he finds he must climb the up grade toward mixed farming or else sell out for what he can get anacommenoe tap*?, Those who wisely stock "tneir farms early and thenceforward caary as large a proportion of meadow ana pasture ana suoh other crops as feed and fatten stock cheaply, become not only the best farmers but the richest in any country adapted to general farming. ; In many sections of the East, farmers, years ago, upon the advent ■ft jbheap meat by railway from the West, made up their minds that the fattening iof stock would no longer ,b« profitable, and turned their attention especiaHfto |he production of grain and suoh crops as were not supposed to be capable of long transportation. They soon found t&at these crops must have manure. Now manure cannot be made on the ‘firm without stock, and recourse was «td to commercial fertilizers. But this ass of fertilizers, howerer admirable in themsolves, are not a pabulum sufficient. Hence they are returning to-tfee good old mode, and the one that lias brought English agriculture to itspresent state 01 high art. Not that we would ignore commercial fertilizers. They are good in their place, but will not supersede manures which act Doth mechanically and chemically. Eastern fanners, finding that, toe? "must haVe home-made'manures, began .to buy Western steers for fattening. They also boughtWestem cheap grains to) supplement their own- decreased yield. This will always continue since grain is cheaply raised West, and the superior system of feeding East secures not only profit on’what they buy but Sn the outcome of what they have to shtee their nearness to the seaboard enables them to take advantage of a rising market. This lesson may be and is being taken advantage of by Wcstarh feeders, They sre . r»lßing year by y®ar a greater area of blue gt-Ms and other grasses adapted' to early spring, late fall and winter pasturage, ana which, when supplemented with toe great corn crops of the prairie region of the West,7 enables them to produce cattle, hogs and sheep at a

minimum oost, at the same dm*giving frdjn tod mimurtA natoriiily nnvde.— Aftc/hafttet, when %ere to loiuure, make anVirfittcial pbnd— a largo, deep pond in which fisn can be kept and pure ioe obtained for the ice-house in Winter. One or more such jjonds of jus t . They should be water aW>ut one place. Those who season, witto, abundance of olear,. anHoirvaus how.qagy it was to.have a supply that wot^^cr^^emldT , Tim' hot’ Season much stream orwater convenient; but I have nothing, within four mile*larger than the Nttle run.iifiru yonder,”, pointing to a small brook that ran from one corner of bis place to the other* “ That answered, Juid pointed out to him tiiree or four places where he cotod'dig out small ponds enoroaotfing on hto land one He went right to work with furnished plenty of ioe for winter, but bathtog-places jmd “ fishing-holes” for the rovs, and watering-places lof fei* iring" tne summer. This was more than ten yodrs ago, and the ponds ftffi do duty- with an occasional dredgwhich during the dryest season. A pile of ice eight feet square and the same height is enough for famheight, and there ipnst be a foot of. ton* M top. ■ The house-Can be made on the simplest yptea possible—two uprights. Only a single wall isnoeded. —New England Farmer. One day last week, while Mr. Boone and Mr. Kina pTlbmag were out in the black snake run into a hollow log. He told Mr. Thomas about it, and the latTerwenfl&Tne efiid of the log to take a .naep at.tha serpent. Just about this time thp reptile da«h«d out, and, beforeMrTThomas could move, was se- [ ojjrete his peck .with his head in,, front. of liis, licking out its tongue ferociously at him. Although nearly choked- he seized it hear the AiShd.'.ahd^lrito th« aid of Mr. Boone, who had gathered enough courage to ' take hold of the tail, the business of -uhWradlnjjftwsgshceessfnlly performed. —A Birmingham (Eng.) baby has suflbeated with sweetmeats. The innocent was eight weeks old, and had been left iq, the care of a little girl about jfire’ years old. She gave him some qf the candy popularly known as 1‘ rifle-balls.” The sweetmeat stuck in the baby’s throat, and, before a doctor could be Bifmmoned#death had resulted from suffocation. » \ * » Dr. BpLl’p Cough B trot U s purely vegetable compound, Innocent in nature and wonid iq effect For eUildren. it is invahJqhle, curtufeOroup, WhoopingOugh, etc., in & few hours. Price, 25 cents per bottle, or five bottles for |I o§. - Safety-valves—Bivalves for the next-eight months.— Fuck.

—" Mr. Moody,” says the Plttobuygh Commercial UazeUo ol Oct. 26,100ked Inst evening hardly a day older than when laat here, ten years ago. He ig somewhat more rotund, and this makes him look shorter tha* he Isl His blaok whiskers covering the greater part of his face begin to .take » slightly gray tinge around the edges, but otherwise he carries his years without showing any ravages of time. He waia dressed in a black caasimere suit last evening, and wore a email piocadilly collar, and not a semblance of lertvelry. His voice is still powerful andplercing as of old, with an ocoaaibnal Yankee twang, and can be easily heard in the largest hall. He speaks with vehemence at times, and seems to have lost none of the fire of his earlier years.” —A resident of Jamaica, L. 1., did a shrewd thing, the other day. While out gunning he shot a quail, in violation of the Game law, and some of his neighbors, Who saw the not performed, prepared to* lodge information against him. Hb anticipated them, however, by going U> a Magistrate and entering a complaint against himself, was fined ten dollars, which he. paid, and then claimed ttttf the fine, which is by law given to informers, received the five dollars and went his way rejoicing. Lives of great men all remind us we may make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us barely a pair of odd stockings for our expectant heirs.— firrWi+.tyiu. |