256 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



work stock, 12 milk cows and their calves, 50 sheep, and 100 hens. 

 While it is generally conceded that hogs would be a good paying in- 

 vestment if they could be kept free from cholera, very few were 

 found on any of these farms, owing to the prevalence of this disease 

 in that section of the country. Scarcely enough hogs are raised to 

 supply the farm with meat. 



The work horses and mules are kept up and fed practically the 

 year round. They are fed principally corn, corn stover, and hay. 

 The cows are allowed to run on clover pasture from about May 1 

 to October 1 and are not fed unless pasture becomes very short in 

 August and September, in which case they may be fed green fodder. 

 From October 1 to December 15 they run on pasture, but are fed 

 fodder and corn, and from December 15 to May 1 they are kept in 

 the barn and barnyard and fed corn stover, wheat straw, corn, and 

 possibly some ground grain other than corn. 



The grade sheep are pastured on the green, growing wheat in 

 suitable weather from December to March, when they are turned 

 into the clover field to stay until October 1 or November 1, after 

 which date they are kept in the barn and barnyard and fed princi- 

 pally straw, stover, and corn. The ewes are bred to lamb in January 

 and February. The lambs run with the ewes until some time in 

 May or June, when they are sold at weights of 40 to 50 pounds each 

 at a price averaging about $5.50. 



Under the system of management described, this stock consumes 

 about all the grain and forage of the farm available for the use of 

 the tenant. A greater number of stock would make the purchase 

 of feed necessary and a smaller number would leave a surplus of 

 forage to be sold. 



Returns to Tenant and Owner. The tenants on the farms of 

 this estate are apparently as prosperous as the average farmer of the 

 country who owns his farm. They live in commodious, substan- 

 tial, and well-furnished houses, with well-kept and neat-appearing 

 surroundings. They give their children up-to-date educational ad- 

 vantages. They apparently have plenty of leisure and carry on 

 their farm work largely by means of hired labor. As an illustration 

 of their prosperity, one of them on a farm with 250 acres in cultiva- 

 tion, employing 3 men 10 months in the year and keeping 10 work 

 horses, stated that during the last 11 years as a tenant he had out of 

 his profits bought and paid for a farm costing $7,200 and had laid 

 up about $600 besides. Meantime he has lived well, is educating his 

 children in the city schools, and has done considerable traveling over 

 the country. Another tenant on a farm of about the same size 

 stated that his income from the sales of stock he was able to keep, 

 by means of his pasture and roughage, was sufficient to pay the run- 

 ning expenses of the farm. 



Possible Improvement of the System. The system of farming 

 on the estate under consideration was developed by a business man 

 who had to devise methods of management that would seldom re- 

 quire his presence on the farm. This necessarily meant the same or 

 a similar scheme of administration on all the farms. Every farm in 



