Vol. LXII. No. 2806. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
NEW YOKE, NOVEMBER 7, 1903. 
SOME SUCCESSFUL YANKEE FARMERS, 
What They Do; How They Do It. 
It occurs to me that a description of the ways in 
which some of the farmers I know succeed in their 
business might be helpful to other farmers who are 
not doing well. These successful farmers have not 
(lone anything extraordinary; nothing but what any¬ 
one can do who is willing to work hard, use his 
brains, and who, choosing the kind 
of farming he is fitted for, also chooses 
the kind of farm suited to his needs. 
A DAIRY FARMER.—Mr. Bradford 
is the best example of the dairyman’s 
temperament that I have ever seen. 
He is a large man, not the least ner¬ 
vous or irritable. He is rather slow 
motioned, and when he speaks to his 
cows his voice is pleasant and friendly. 
When he bought his farm he was in 
business in the city. His object in 
coming into the country was to have 
a comfortable home for himself and 
family, where they could keep a cow, 
some hens, and have a garden, thus 
getting a good part of their living from 
the farm. He continued his business, 
going back and forth each day. The 
farm was rather unpromising. The 
former ovmer was a man who could 
hardly drive a nail straight, and the 
uuildings were run down. The land was 
weedy and impoverished, and there 
was no stock and no tools. As soon as 
the Bradfords came they began to make 
improvements. The broken window 
])anes were replaced by whole ones, 
the broken blinds repaired and painted 
and the house painted also. They 
bought a few tools, a cow and some 
hens. They had to hire their plowing 
done, and there were so many things 
about the place that needed doing that 
it was soon found necessary to hire a 
man by the month. This man per¬ 
suaded them to let him try peddling 
milk. They had a horse by this time, 
so they started a small milk route. It 
grew fast, necessitating the buying of 
a new cow from time to time, and by 
the next Spring Mr. Bradford sold out 
his business in the city, and came home 
to devote his whole time to farming. 
The wise ones shook their heads and 
predicted failure, but the Bradfords 
have prospered steadily. They have 
improved the land and the buildings, 
and have a good stock of tools and 
wagons, and a very good herd of cows. 
Mrs. Bradford takes a keen interest in 
all that relates to the farm, and she is 
an economical housekeeper. Mr. Brad¬ 
ford’s interest centers in his home and 
farm, and this is one secret of his suc¬ 
cess. While not a great reader, he 
thinks and reasons about his work and 
talks with other farmers, thus picking 
up ideas for improvement in his methods. He looks 
after the details of his business himself. He never 
trusts anyone else to measure and mix the grain for 
his cows, and he always milks the nervous ones him- 
se^f, as he can do it without irritating them. He is 
a good judge of cows and he takes excellent care of 
them, keeping them warm and comfortable in Winter 
and watering twice a day. He is very methodical, 
and never varies his time of milking by so much as 
five minutes. His cows do wonderfully well, giving 
a good amount of milk and holding out well. One 
of his cows gave just as much in October as she did 
w'hen she freshened, the March before. Mr. Bradford 
is very careful about his customers, never taking on 
a new one unless he is very sure of getting his pay, 
so he loses very little by bad bills. He believes in 
specializing, so he does not fritter away his time on 
side issues. He raises some vegetables, selling on his 
route what is not needed for home use, but each year 
A PEN OF WHITE WYANDOTTE COCKERELS. Fm. 287. 
he raises fewer things, making his cows his chief con¬ 
cern. He is handy with tools, and many of the imple¬ 
ments about the place he has made himself. He works 
very hard, and of course on a milk farm the work is 
very confining, but he seems contented and is plan¬ 
ning all the time to make more land and more im¬ 
provements. 
MIXED FARMING AND PROPERTY IMPROVE¬ 
MENT.—While there is a great satisfaction in im¬ 
proving a place and getting it into a high state of 
productiveness, most of us like to do it with a view 
to enjoying it ourselves. Bat Mr. Dale improves the 
farms he buys with the idea of making money out 
of the sale of them after he gets them into as good 
condition as possible. He is a great believer in 
clover, and makes that an important factor in soil 
improvement. On the farm he owns at present he 
does mixed farming, though he raises more straw¬ 
berries than anything else. He sets his plants early 
in the Spring and they grow wonder¬ 
fully all Summer. By Fall the long 
straight rows are a beautiful dark 
green, very bushy and thick and re¬ 
markably free from weeds. He gets 
splendid crops, and after the berries 
are gathered the ground is plowed and 
barley is sown, to be cut for hay. Thus 
the land produces two crops that sea¬ 
son. He raises large crops on all his 
land, and last Fall he had so much 
hay and roughage of one kind and an¬ 
other that he had to buy more stock 
to eat it. He keeps only cows enough 
to supply his own family with milk, 
occasionally raising a heifer to sell. 
He keeps hogs, getting city swill for 
them. He sells the little pigs for good 
prices. Last year he made an excel¬ 
lent pasture out of a rough wood lot. 
It was burned over, then different kinds 
of grass and clover seed sown, and 
scratched in with a harrow. When the 
grass was ready to cut it was made 
into hay, then the pasture was fenced 
and a small flock of Angora goats 
turned in. Later some sheep were put 
in. These goats and sheep keep the 
hushes down, and the pasture certainly 
looks very nice. The Angoras were a 
novelty in this locality. They are 
pretty little animals, and cannot be 
beaten as consumers of bushes and 
weeds. Fencing them is the greatest 
drawback of keeping them. Mr. Dale 
keeps poultry on a small scale. In this 
as in other things, he believes in keep¬ 
ing purebred stock, so that he can get 
fancy prices for what he sells. He does 
considerable market gardening, and he 
always manages to keep his land free 
from weeds. He has an old orchard 
which he has pruned severely, thus 
giving it a new lease of life. In spite 
of having so many irons in the fire, 
Mr. Dale succeeds in keeping them all 
hot, and nothing is seriously neglected. 
His Spring lambs sold for a good price. 
AUhough in poor health he is enthusi¬ 
astic about farming, and plans great 
things for the future. He reads a great 
deal of farm literature, and is not at 
all afraid of new ideas. 
FLOWERS AND CHILDREN.—Mr. 
and Mrs. Burton are hard-working el¬ 
derly people. A few years ago their 
Fie. 288. buildings were destroyed by fire, but 
they rebuilt at once and kept bravely 
on with their work. Mrs. Burton seems to be the busi¬ 
ness manager, and she is a remarkable financier. She 
boards State wards, four boyg usually, all under 12 
years of age. The State requires that these children 
shall learn to work, and they do weeding and other 
light work about the place. The board paid is small, 
and not everyone could make anything .on it, but it 
is sure and comes regularly. Mrs. Burton is very eco¬ 
nomical, and she knows how to use the money to the 
best advantage. They raise their own vegetables and 
WHITE WYANDOTTE PULLETS IN WINTER QUARTERS. 
