THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 385 



to purchase farming machinery in abundance, and to 

 indulge in many little luxuries which before had been 

 unknown among them. But for several years past the 

 wheat crop has not been very great, and prices have 

 often been down ; at the same time the farmers have 

 found it difficult to go back to that system of the most 

 rigid economy which they once practised, and they 

 have been getting gradually deeper and deeper in debt. 

 In the purchase of agricultural implements and machi- 

 nery many of the farmers have been extravagant, and in 

 the care of them more have been negligent. ' Go out into 

 the country almost anywhere/ said Mr. Brainerd to me, 

 * and you will see the plow, the harrow, and the culti- 

 vator standing out in the weather where they were last 

 used, and in hundreds of instances the reaper and 

 mower will lie where the last grain or hay was cut. 

 They may have been new this year, and cost as much 

 as the owner will get for a great many acres of wheat. 

 Next year they will be rusty, and the third or fourth 

 year unfit for use, while good farmers who house their 

 machinery make it last seven or eight years. It is the 

 object of the Grange to teach its members to make the 

 most of what they have, as well as to help them to pur- 

 chase cheaply.' 



"A great many Wisconsin farmers, like those of 

 other States, fail because they never know on which 

 crops they are making a profit, and on which \they are 

 losing money. I suppose I asked at least a dozen far- 

 mers in this State how much a bushel or an acre it cost 

 to raise wheat before I found one who could give me an 

 intelligent answer. Some thought that seventy-five 

 cents a bushel would pay, while others thought there 

 was no money in wheat at less than $1 a bushel. Mr. 



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