GENERAL FARM MANAGEMENT. 23 



are planted on low, rich land, where they are almost sure to be 

 winter-killed, and formers are continually changing and shifting 

 their plans arid varying their products, in hopes of increasing 

 their profits, without any definite plan or purpose in view. 



It is of the utmost importance that the farmer take into con- 

 sideration all the circumstances connected with his farm and its 

 surroundings, soil, climate, market, location, and roads, and then 

 fix upon a settled plan and adhere to it. Do not forget that the 

 farmer who has any product to sell every year is sure to hit 

 the high prices as well as the low, while the one who is contin- 

 ually changing is usually tempted to do so when some product 

 is high, and oftener than otherwise by the time he has a crop 

 ready for market the reaction has come, and prices are at the 

 bottom. I feel that this is a matter of such importance as to 

 justify my saying a good deal about it, for there is a constant 

 temptation to the farmer to change his plans, and unless he has 

 wisely studied the matter and determined what crops he will 

 grow he is liable to blunder. I have often seen farmers when 

 sheep and wool commanded the highest prices sell off their other 

 stock and buy sheep at twice their real value, and by the time 

 they were able to realize from them the price was below the cost 

 of production. Occasionally there comes a season when broom 

 corn brush brings from two hundred dollars to three hundred 

 dollars a ton, and it is almost universally the case that so many 

 farmers will plant it the following year as to bring the price 

 down to a point that will leave no profit. I have known it to 

 sell at forty dollars per ton. I do not mean to teach that a 

 farmer should never change his plans or products, but he should 

 do so cautiously and intelligently, after mature deliberation, and 

 should always be able to give a satisfactory reason for the change. 

 I think that in a great majority of cases the change is made in 

 the same spirit that a lottery ticket is bought. 



An important consideration in determining what shall be the 

 leading product of the farm is the cost of marketing. If, as is 

 often the case, a farmer living from six to ten miles from market 

 on bad roads depends on the sale of corn, the cost of delivering 

 it will be from five to eight cents a bushel, and if he sells at 



