SUCCESS IN FARMIXO. 95 



until tills i)oeiiliar Yankee trait can be overcome and we can learn 

 wisdom from sad lessons of experience. 



Is this business of farming a matter of uncertainty, a luck and 

 chance operation? or are there certain rules or laws in nature which, 

 if complied with, will invariably produce certain results, and there- 

 fore there need not be any such thing as failure in a farmer's crops? 

 Is he sure of a crop after he has done all he can ? 



One of ni}' neighbors reported he had raised three hundred and 

 fifty-three bushels of oats this j-ear on five acres of land, or a trille 

 over sevent}' bushels to the acre. Shall we call this luck? Almost 

 every farmer who sowed oats last spring on good land, raised a 

 large crop. 



What about wheat — how is that this year? Nearly" every farmer 

 tries to raise some wheat. He devotes the best land he has to this 

 crop, usually land on which he raised a crop of corn the year before, 

 and is in the best state of cultivation of any he has. He ought 

 reasonabh' to expect a good crop — twenty to thirty bushels to the 

 acre, — instead of which, this year it will average not over ten, worth 

 fifteen dollars to the acre, besides the straw. 



Are there suflicient reasons for this low average ? Can we assist 

 nature in any way, and thus increase our crops? Would not a 

 more thorough cultivation do much to help us in this direction? And 

 should we not take more pains with our seed, to get the best varie- 

 ties, and then use all means to improve them? 



There are other things besides poor crops which seem to operate 

 against the success of the farmer. Labor is one. Many of us are 

 short of help on the farm. We cannot enlarge our operations as 

 we would like. Man^^ times we could employ help to a great advan- 

 tage, but are i;nable to do so, on account of means to do it with. 

 We could clear more land, put in larger crops, make more fertiliz- 

 ers, and, in various wa3's, employ more help ; but the invariable 

 reason is given : " Haven't the means to do it with." 



Every little saw-mill, where they can get white birch to work up 

 into spool timber, will hire help and pay one dollar and a half a 

 day. Their profits are large enough so they can afford it. It is so 

 with other manufactures ; and they are all dependent on the pro- 

 ducts of the farm. They must live on what is raised on the farm. 

 Yet the profits from the farm are so small the farmer has a hard 

 time. Why is it? 



