84 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Another hindrance to prosperity under the present system of farming is 

 the great uncertainty of the farmer's income. It is impossible for farmers 

 whose chief source of income is from the sale of grain to make any previous 

 definite estimate of the amount of their sales or even the time when this in- 

 come will be received. 



They are at the mercy of the winds and rains, droughts and frosts, in the 

 determination of the amount and quality of their harvests and at the mercy 

 of the still more fickle stock gamblers in the determination of the prices to 

 be paid for these harvests as well as the time when their income may be re- 

 ceived. 



In many instances this uncertainty works disorder in the farmer's fin- 

 ances. It involves a system of credit; engenders extravagance and tends to 

 looseness in business. The grocer, hired hands, dry good's merchant, imple- 

 ment dealer and many others are to be paid when the grain is sold. Not 

 knowing with any accuracy the amount of his income the farmer is apt to 

 overestimate his resources and too frequently live better than his income 

 would permit. And in purely business trading the tendency is to make too 

 many investments, on time, depending too largely on what the wheat or corn 

 will bring when sold. 



As there is a constant drain of little accounts so there should be a con- 

 stant flow of income. In most business there are usually two classes of ex- 

 penses, the large debts, as rents, interest, notes, etc., and the small accounts, 

 as repairs, family expenses, extra labor, small cash investments, etc. There 

 should be two classes of incomes to correspond with these two classes of 

 expenditures. There should be an income of large amounts which may be un- 

 certain in time and quantity such as the sale of grain, cattle or horses; and 

 there should be an income (of small amounts— the larger the better) coming 

 in at regular and short intervals— once a week or once a month— arid should 

 be received punctually and in previously ascertained amounts. 



Of the many ways of conducting a farm chere is perhaps none which more 

 evenly distributes the income as to meet the many expenses of the farm as 

 does dairy farming. The sales of milk or its products are made at least 

 each week or month and may be easily estimated from the previous week's 

 sales and from these sales most of the smaller expenditures may be paid, 

 while the sale of cows, calves, or hogs make up the larger sources of income. 



Every business in which a people engage bears more or less upon their 

 political history. In communities where beef production forms the principal 

 feature of their agriculture the tendency is to decrease population. The beef 

 producers as they increase their wealth extend their domain, buying up the 

 land of the smaller farmers and turning these before inhabited lands into 

 pastures. 



The wealth of a country depends more upon the number of its industri- 

 ous people profitably employed than upon its herds of cattle and horses, rich 

 lands or improvements. To augment the wealth of a community the num- 

 ber of its industrious people must be increased. 



Of our various agricultural industries those requiring the least number 

 of acres to support a family will usually be found to be such as most speedily 



