GENERAL FARM MANAGEMENT. 29 



There are numbers of farms whose capacity would be doubled 

 by drainage, whose owners, instead of investing their profits in 

 this way, will buy out their neighbor, whose farm is in the same 

 condition. 



It often happens that the hay or corn crop is short, and a 

 farmer has not enough to carry his stock through the Winter. 

 If he has money to spare, and has good judgment to anticipate 

 the coming rise, he can lay in a supply of feed while the price 

 is low, but if he is cramped for cash, he may be compelled to 

 sacrifice his stock or defer purchasing feed until the price has 

 advanced so that he will lose money. 



The season of 1881 illustrated this fully. Throughout the 

 Mississippi valley a long-continued drought cut short the corn 

 crop, so that it was evident to all that prices must be very high. 

 There was plenty of old corn still in the country, which could 

 be bought at from forty-five to fifty cents per bushel. Some 

 farmers who had the money to spare bought a year's supply, 

 and were enabled to fatten their stock and sell at high prices, 

 but the majority of farmers had no money to spare, and bought 

 a few bushels of corn at a time as they were compelled to, and 

 before the crop of 1882 was fit for use they were paying one 

 dollar a bushel for corn to feed their teams, or, what was worse, 

 working them with no food but grass. 



There can be no question as to which is the better off and 

 able to farm best, and take the most comfort in life, the man 

 with two hundred acres of land and in debt two or three thou- 

 sand dollars, or he with one hundred acres and two thousand 

 dollars cash working capital. I should strongly urge the far- 

 mer before buying more land or making any outside investment 

 to see if he can not use the money to better advantage in his 

 business, either in draining, fertilizing his land, improving his 

 stock, or in some other way that will increase his comforts or 

 profits. 



Hired Help on the Farm. The young farmer may for 

 a while do without hired help, but if this is long continued he 

 is likely to overwork so as to injure his health, and at the same 

 time neglect many things that ought to be done. The team 



