MISCELLENEOUS ARTICLES 505 



have been willing to learn, and have found farm papers my best friends. 

 I have found it essential to keep books, so as to know what crops paid 

 me and what did not. 



After 20 odd years of farming, I have now a dairy of 40 cows. Eleven 

 years ago these cows averaged 4,500 pounds of milk per year; last year 

 my herd gave an average of 6,800 pounds of milk per cow;, including 

 heifers. If I live eleven years more I expect to have them up to 9,000 

 or 10,000 pounds. I have 80 acres of land cleared, on which are 1,000 

 fruit trees and a garden containing 10 acres; 5 acres are occupied with 

 37 buildings and a yard; I grow 5 acres of strawberries and 3 acres of 

 potatoes; this, with the roads, makes 20 acres, leaving me 54 acres for 

 growing fodder crops. Since building my three silos I have raised on 

 these 54 acres all the coarse fodder that I need for 51 head of cattle and 

 G horses. I have no better land than the average in Menominee county; 

 have worked hard, and have tried to benefit by the experience of others, 

 as well as my own. 



There is one thing more that I want to speak about, because so many 

 farmers neglect it, and that is keeping accurate accounts. Most farmers 

 that I know work on one year after another, keeping no account of what 

 it has cost them to run their farms, and consequently they cannot tell 

 which crops pay them. I have a separate account for each field, and 

 when I find that one crop doesn't pay I raise something else. I charge 

 the value of my labor to the farm and interest on my capital invested, 

 and credit all improvements. I also have separate accounts for the 

 dairy and for the farm. All fodder taken from the farm is charged, at 

 market price, to the dairy and credited to the farm. During the past 

 four years I have reduced over one-sixth the cost of keeping each cow. 

 I find that farming pays, but am sure that it means just as much hard 

 v\ork and business skill as it does to succeed in anything else. 



STATE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the State Horticultural Society 

 was held in the Kent county court house, Grand Rapids, Tuesday. 

 Wednesday, and Thursday, December 1, 2, and 3, beginning the morning 

 of the first. It was held in conjunction with the West Michigan Fruit- 

 growers' Societ}", the G. R. V. Horticultural Society, the Grand Rapids 

 Fruitgrowers' Association, and the Grand Rapids Florists' Club. 



The program, except a few additions, embraced the following papers 

 from the eminent specialists and leading growers named. 



''Relative Hardiness of the Fruit Ruds of Peaches and Plums," and 

 ^'Remarks upon the Pollination of Fruits," Prof. John Craig of the 

 Canadian experimental farm at Ottawa. 



"The Future of Peach Growing in the United States," J. H. Hale of 

 Connecticut. 



"Recent work Among our Insect Enemies," Prof. M. V. Slingerland, 

 entomologist at Cornell University. 



"Education of Horticulturists," Prof. L. R. Taft of Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College. 

 64 



