THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



31 



Crops of Russia 1894. Russia is a 

 formidable competitor of the United 

 States in the grain markets of the world, 

 and a wide area is there devoted to the 

 cultivation of cereals. Although too far 

 north to yield Indian corn in great quan- 

 tity, Russia's wheat fields are extending 

 rapidly, and the early completion of the 

 trans-Siberian railway will no doubt stimu- 

 late wheat production very materially to 

 the disadvantage of the United States, for 

 the wheat produced on cheaper land than 

 ours, and with the ex-serf labor of Russia, 

 can certainly be sold cheaper in the world's 

 markets than any that can be grown in the 

 United States under civilized conditions. 



Last year's Russian crops follow. 



Bushels 



Winter wheat 78,948,626 



Spring wheat 203,693,413 



Rye 821,534,904 



Oats 687,876,308 



Barley 186,718,218 



Buckwheat 43,309,650 



Millet 33,642,645 



Maize 13,222,320 



Peas 16,209,850 



Condition of Crops in Spain. During 

 eight months previous to May 1, Spain 

 had suffered from severe drouth. In March 

 and April there were but two days of rain- 

 fall. Crops were threatened with almost 

 total failure, and the poor with prolonged 

 distress. But in May the drouth was 

 broken with copious rains, accompanied 

 by a windstorm something less than the 

 St. Louis variety. Farmers feel encour- 

 aged, but there will be a short crop of 

 wheat. The American consul at Denia, 

 Andrew F. Fay, suggests that this is an 

 opportunity for the United States to in- 

 crease its exports of wheat to Spain, 

 which has purchased abroad during the 

 past seventeen years 126,666,600 bushels, 

 or an average of 7,450,900 bushels per 

 year. 



Mak Careful Selection. A fruit tree 

 that produces one dollar per annum is 

 easily worth five dollars, making all due 

 allowance for care and depreciation. If the 

 same tree produces two dollars worth it is 

 equally as well worth ten dollars. If there 

 are sixty trees on an acre the difference in 

 the value of that acre is as between $300 

 and $600. If there are one hundred trees 

 to the acre the difference is as between 

 $500 and $1,000. A due appreciation of 

 this difference will cause every tree planter 



to be exceedingly careful in the selec- 

 tion of varieties. We hear of single acres 

 yielding enormous returns; it is generally 

 due to the superior quality, and consequent 

 fancy price of its fruit. It costs but little, 

 if any, more to plant and care for the 

 choicest varieties of any fruit, which have 

 standing in the market and a ready sale, 

 than for those which are only fit for stock 

 feeding, and of trifling value for that. 



Overproduction. Commenting on the 

 advice sent out from the Department of 

 Agriculture, at Washington, that "the 

 American farmer must change his way of 

 doing business and put more brains into 

 his work, ' ' the Denver Field and Farm 

 says: "The American farmer has put so 

 much brains into his work that he has, ac- 

 cording to his political guardians, brought 

 on universal distress throughout the coun- 

 try by producing too much. Overproduc- 

 tion is what ails the country, he is told, and 

 yet he must put his brains to work to pro- 

 duce more. Our opinion is that he should 

 put his brains to finding out just who it is 

 that is robbing him of the fruits of his toil. 

 He had better watch the money changers^ 

 the temple is full of them. " 



Feeding Alfalfa. An experiment, care- 

 fully conducted at the Utah agricultural 

 station in feeding alfalfa cut at different 

 stages of its growth, has shown that steers 

 fed on that which was cut just before 

 coming into bloom made a gain of three- 

 fourths of a pound a day. A second lot 

 fed when the grass had been cut in the ear- 

 ly bloom made a gain of only one-half 

 a pound, while a third lot fed on late cut 

 hay, after it was out of bloom made an 

 average gain of only one-fourth of a pound 

 per day. There is a lesson worth heeding 

 in this. If you neglect your haying when 

 the grass is just fit to cut, you are letting 

 the dollars run away from you. 



Hog Raising. At the present low price 

 for hogs the raising of them can only be 

 profitable where most favorable conditions 

 exist. Those who can make anything 

 now, or who can make most when the mar- 

 ket conditions are normal, are those who 

 are in position to produce suitable hog^ 

 feed at the least cost and where the attend- 

 ance of the animals is least expensive. It 

 is here that the irrigated farm has a de- 



