state Convention—Intelligent farming . 2 S 7 
gence as well as with good practical common sense, you are sure 
to win in a few years. 
I have not an acre of land that paid its expenses for the first 
two, and some of it not for three years. But I have none but 
what has paid handsomely since that, and I am very sure that 
the same principles which apply to my land, will apply to yours. 
Poor crops do not pay. You cannot afford to hire them grown, 
neither can you afford to grow them yourself; but first-rate crops 
will pay for hired help and leave you a nice annual surplus be^ 
side. 
It is not enough, gentlemen, that you should be able to raise 
good crops. It is not sufficient that you should even keep your 
farms constantly and steadily improving. But you should know 
when to sell, where to sell, and how to sell to the best advantage 
to yourself and your family. 
In the summer season, when you are looking over your waving 
fields of wheat and anticipating its probable yield, do you know 
what the prospect is in Germany, or upon the plains of Hungary f 
or upon the shores of the Baltic sea in Russia? You might ask f 
why should I care about the crops in those countries across the 
sea, and 5,000 miles away from me? And yet the yield there 
does affect you here, and we cannot help it if we would. The 
partial failure of the crop in those countries, as was the case las$ 
season, enhances the price throughout this country. On the con¬ 
trary, an extra large crop there depresses the price here. At .first 
view this may seem strange, and yet the truth is easily seen. 
Your wheat in this county is worth not what the millers here will 
pay for it, but what it is worth to ship to Milwaukee. In Mil¬ 
waukee the millers must pay for it just what it is worth to ship 
to New York or Boston. But suppose one of those large eastern 
manufacturers goes to the flour dealer in New York and says to 
him, ‘'I want 1,000 barrels of flour, and will give $10 per barrel 
for it.” The merchant replies, “No, sir; that flour is worth 
$10.50 to ship to Liverpool, and I shall not take less for it.” The 
miller goes to the wheat dealer, and tells him that he wants 1,000 
bushels of wheat, and cannot afford to pay more than $2 pe? 
bushel. But the dealer says, “Well, I am sorry for you, but 
that wheat is worth $2.25 to ship to*Liverpool, and I cannot take 
