AN EXAMPLE OP SUCCESSFUL FARM MANAGEMENT. 3 



tillable land are on the hilltop, but it is difficult of access. For this 

 entire property $16,000 was paid — $8,000 in cash and $8,000 as a 

 mortgage. The land and buildings were valued at $12,000 and the 

 stock and other movable equipment at $4,000. 



The former owner had been in possession of the farm for 67 years. 

 It had been profitable 30 or 40 years before and had been recognized 

 as a farm of considerable fertility. In the years immediately pre- 

 ceding its purchase by Mr. English it had not paid expenses, to say 

 nothing of the interest on the investment, and the neighborhood gen- 

 erally prophesied that the former owner would get the farm back 

 on the mortgage in a few years. It was even said that there was a 

 deliberate purpose in selling to one who had so little farm experi- 

 ence. The following pages will show how far wrong the reckoning 

 was. The man and the progressive and businesslike spirit within 

 him were not known to the community. 



INFLUENCE OF FARM EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES. 



As can readily be imagined, Mr. English found himself in a rather 

 difficult position when he took possession of the farm. He was prac- 

 tically without farming experience and had very little working capi- 

 tal. He had a rugged constitution, however, and had been brought 

 up on hard work, so that he was not afraid of it. To the college and 

 the agricultural press, and especially to the personal help and in- 

 terest of one college professor, he ascribes all the success he has ever 

 made. These forces stirred him to study his business and to use in 

 every way possible the agencies at hand which would help him and 

 which would aid him in obtaining a better knowledge of the prin- 

 ciples of farming. He had observed that rapid progress was being 

 made in every line of industry but agriculture, and he took a new 

 interest in everything pertaining to better farming. Yet he never 

 made the mistake of taking advice wholesale. It was always weighed 

 carefully and measured in the light of his own conditions. 



BUILDING UP THE VALLEY FARM. 



When Mr. English took stock of his resources he found that his 

 income was practically confined to one source — dairying. Some cows 

 were making a good profit; others were causing a daily loss. The 

 fertility of the soil was maintained by the use of manure alone and 

 this went to produce feed crops for the cattle. Very little hay was 

 sold. There was no systematic plan of crop production or rotation 

 or definite method of soil improvement. 



Such a system has several faults, the correction of which was early 

 recognized as essential to success. Unprofitable cows were destroy- 

 ing the profit from the better ones. The limitation of the income to 



