SOME SUCCESSFUL FARMS 545 



The animals kept provide enough manure to cover 

 the land in crops with 10 tons per acre every five 

 years. 



The farmer went to district school, then worked as a 

 hired-man seven years until he was 23 years old. He and 

 his brother then rented 80 acres for one year, paying cash 

 rent. The next two years, he rented a 70-acre farm alone, 

 paying cash rent. Next he rented 110 acres for cash rent 

 for five years. Then he rented 200 acres on shares for two 

 years. When he was 33 years old, he rented 330 acres on 

 shares and worked the place for six years. He then bought 

 90 acres and farmed it for eleven years. He then bought his 

 present farm of 330 acres, which he has now owned seven 

 years. He now has this farm all paid for and has built a good 

 new house. This is like the history of many successful farm- 

 ers. It takes a long time to get the capital necessary to farm 

 well, but when this is secured and combined with the years 

 of experience, more money is made in a few years than was 

 made in all the previous years. 



The system of farming on this farm is typical of that 

 followed on many farms as far west as Central Kansas, 

 Nebraska, and the Dakotas. The cash crops vary in 

 different regions. In one region, they are corn and oats, 

 in another corn and wheat, in another spring wheat, oats, 

 and barley. In any event, large areas of these crops are 

 grown. Stock are used to work up the waste products 

 and some of the grain. If grain is cheap, the animals may 

 be fattened ; if not, they are carried through on roughage 

 and sold without finishing, or may be fattened on grass ; 

 or in a region where grain is usually cheap, they may be 

 carried over on roughage in the hope of having cheaper 

 grain to fatten on the following year. Most of the profit 

 is expected to come from crops. The stock work down the 



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