OCR Text |
Show FARMERS CHOOSE NEW FARMS Greater Care Is Now Necessary in Climbing Ladder Fertile Land Is Great Essential. 'By F. B. MfMFORD. IV1111 of the Missouri Mis-souri Column of AKrk-ulturo.) Between now and the next crop season sea-son many farmers will choose new farms. Each step must he more carefully care-fully taken than ever before on the ladder whose rungs are the positions of hired man, tenant, mortgage owner, debt-free owner and improving owner. Without such help as that of a wealthy father it is no longer so jasy to read the top of this ladder without climbing the lower rungs as it was when land of virgin fertility could be bought foi as little as $1.25 an acre. In fixing the cash values of land the renter or purchaser should he careful not tc confuse economic with social or esthetic factors. Unusually desirable desir-able houses, barns and fences may add to the cost of land out of proportion to the addition to their earning power, and the buyer must consider whether he can afford certain things which bring great pleasure and satisfaction but no money return. Nearness to town and market similarly raise the price, partly for social reasons, partly because they make it possible to market mar-ket more cheaply and to market certain cer-tain products which could not be grown profitably farther from town. fertile land is the great essential in farming, but a question often raised is whether it is better to buy only the best land or to buy poorer land and build it up by applying the discoveries of the experiment stations and of the most successful farmers. The personal preference and ability of a buyer mus't be considered in de termining whether to buy a small farm at a higher price per acre and whether to buy only very fertile land with a view to producing only crops, or to buying a mixed farm with some rough, well-drained portions for permanent pastures for live stock. Numerous other factors must also be considered, including the supply and price of labor, la-bor, kind of neighbors and nearness to schools, grange and church. |