Agriculture. Profitable Farming for a Poor Man. HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL FARMER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1809, 9 February 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agriculture. Profitable Farming for a Poor Man. HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL FARMER.

A " CITY FARMER'S " SUCCESS. In 1860, we moved from town to a £ami. True, the farm was paid for, and the land was in nn ordinary state of cultivation, but •with very poor fences, no barn, and a poor house. At moving time, my capital consisted of the household conveniences, one horse, one cow, with a calf, a waggon, and few farming implements, a man in poor health, with a wife, a large family of girls, and a baby-boy. Tnings did not look very encouraging at the start; nevertheless, we started. We hired a horse to make the team to put in the Spring cr<rp ; bought a cow and a calf, so that we had two cows and two calves. Next I bought three calves, three or four day b old, and raised the five calves on butter-milk find gruel made of coarse Hour, adding a little baking feoda to prevent diarrhoea. Sometimes I had to add white oak bark tea. Then we soon had seven cows, and the first three years I raised 21 calves in the same way. I soon bought a horse and some sheep. Most of the farming had to be done by hired help. All the time poultry were doing good service, for we kept about BO hens. When hatching time came, we generally set six or eight hens at one time. Hatching over, we put 30 chicks to a hen and kept them in a dry place for four weeks. The rest of the hens soon" began to lay again. In this manner we, some years, raised 300 chickens. In fhe years, I had enough cows to begin shipping milk to the city, 40 miles distant, which can be done without the help of men, the gills being able to handle horses on any occasion as well as the organ. Selling milk did not stop the raising of calves. We still raise eight or ten each year. We take the calf of the cow ; teach it to drink milk ; add one leacupful of the aforesaid gruel and aoda ; increase the ration of gruel and decrease that of milk till the calf takes all gru°l in six or seven days. The gruel must be very smooth. I keep three work-horses and raise two colts each year. I always select choice heifers for cows, to take the place of any old cows I wish to dispose of, and I always have some young cattle to sell eacli year. I keep 50 sheep and raise 15 or 20 lambs each year,' disposing of as many, ao as not to overstock the pasture, as sheep and cows don't feed on the same pasture well. Thus we got along. The old stable gave way to a bank barn ; the old house, to a comfortable eight-roomed dwelling. Waggonehed, cairiage house, and ail other necessary outbuildings also arose. When I look back, I cannot Fee that, under the same circumstance?, any different course would have given any better success. Doling those ypars of struggle, hov.evei, all was not sunshine and prosperity : many a heavy cloud passed over us. Only the fanner who has passed from poor to comfoitable circumstances and whohasiaised a large family at the same time, can lealize what a struggle we passed through. With the machinery and farming implements now in use, f aiming should be a success; but the sexy iir^fc tilings to start out with are good brains, energy, and economy. Laboring with the hands is not all that is necessary in successful farming ; that should come in after the brain has marked out a course of well-laid plans. The farmer who plans well and carries his plans into effect promptly, is suie of success. He should not neglect what he has in trying to get more, and lose more than he gains. A farmer should be intelligent and should keep himself well informed ; and to do tlairf I don't know any better way than to lake a good agricultural ■paper. A farmer should always have hin work laid out some time a head both for wet weather and dry. Be not like a man I once knew ; after breakfast was over, ask him what was the programme for the day, and the answer would be, "Don't know," and at the same time a hired man would be waiting to take orders for the day. Every farmer should decide on the course best suited to the location of his farm, and the condition of his land. On a farm located near a town large enough to give a good maiket, dairying and gaidening would most certainly be profitable, if properly conducted. The welling of milk causes loss labor than any other form of dair) ing which is profitable. The milk farmer also feeds his stock which he raises on hio farm, and in return enricheahis land with profit again, and by adopting the gruel system calves can be raised which should bring a profit. Gardening is a profitable bubinens. If one doesn't understand it, Peter Hendersons Gardening for Profit, and a good agricultural paper would be a great help, using one's own good judgement along with them. The garden plot should be long and should lie facing the east or southeast if possible, and be eloping a littleinone of these duection*, but not enough to wash — so that it will dry off early in Spring, or it should be underdrained. It should be well manured and ploughed in the Fall. Plough in Spring again ; put fertilizing salt on, 300 pounds to the acre, to prevent worms in the soil, as well as to enrich the ground. After ploughing it should be thoroughly pulverized ; then smooth it by dragging the corn marker up-side-down over it ; or take a 16foot plank ; put two holes in the side and hitch the team to it, and stand on it as it is drawn over the soil, and in a few minutes the latter will be smooth. Everything should bo planted in rows the whole length of the plot, just wide enough for a horse to walk between. In gardening manure is of great importance, and always gives a good return. It can be bought in our towns at 75 cents per two-hoise load. For cucumbers my plan is to dig a hole &ix inches deep and as large around as a wash-tub, put two or three buckets of good manure in, cover three inches with earth, plant plenty of seed. Where the vine 3 are past danger from bugs, thin out to six or eight in a hill. When ready for hoeing give a rich top-dressing. Six or eight hilla will give a barrel of pickles. The seed should be planted %\ hen the moon sign is in the arms ; then you will get plenty of pickles. [We are surprised so intelligent a man who has been on a farm only alittleover a dozen years, should believe in " the signs of the moon!" A farmer who has moved in hi 3 father's and grandfather's trackß all his life, might do so of course with, at causing much suiprise to anybody. Eds.] I have vines now bearing that have from three to five in a cluster at almost every bearing point. On 13 inches of a vine I counted 21 from the size of a pickle to some only one inch, and eight more have started. It is not the amount of gardening, but the manner of gardening that biings a profit, and just the same is true in farming of any kind. Just as you sow or plant, so you will reap. If the land is poor, a man with small capital cannot enrich it all at once ; but surely he can, by taking field after field, and for garden, strip after strip, and by and by the profit will come. I know of a farm so poor |that weeds and briars could hardly grow on it ; but ifcfell into the hands of a poor Eoglishman. Last Fall he put in a field of wheat ; the year before it was in corn, and a man on horseback could hardly have reached down to the top of the corn. Every one supposed the wheat would be the same ; but, to the surprise of all except the Englishman, a crop of good wheat was harvested, except on a small strip the growth on which was worth nothing, and the secret was he put §20 worth of ground bone on the land, and the poor strip didn't get any. He also got a good catch of clover and Timothy, which is a sure way to enrich his land. He also hauled manure 8 V mjlea, and raised a good crop of potatoes. He is on the right road to success. A poor man on a farm, to be successful, should enlist the interest and co-operation of his family. The best way I know of to do that is to talk his plan 3 over to them, and draw out their opinions and suggestions. It will not only teach them to plan well, but it Trill give them an interest in the wofk ; they

will feel like partners in the business and all will work for the same end. A man's wife and children should always bo his first counsellors, as they are^ not likely to counsel against* their own interest 1 ?. Of coarse he should take all outaide information he can gat that he can approve of. If his family •understand the condition of the business they will be more sure to live within the mooine ; an opposite course might be disastrous. The boys and girls of such farmers would -bo content to stay at home, instead of rusjiing off to cities to get employment that would interest them. Farmers' children above ten years old should have some stock of their own, to furnish their own clothes ai far as the value of it would go. They should manage or plan for themselves, getting good advico with regard to their plans. They would then Boon feel an interest in the work. Our four oldest girls have each a cow, and when they go out to milk they feel they have an interest in the product. Boys should have sheep or something of their own, not given to them, and then, on the slightest provocation, taken from them. Give them a chance and they will soon keep themselves, while helping you. The whole family must move alonj? together to insure success. — Rural New Yorker. . E. McM.