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Show EARNING GAPACITY OF LAND i ' By S. C. MDIer, Illinois. ' . . t 1 Farmers as well, as their financial friends 'In town are vitally interested in the earning capacity of land. There Is mure money to bo made In farming today than there has been In the past becauBO- of permanent high prices for produce and an improvement In transportation trans-portation facilities. Live stock and grain bring just about twice as much now as they did ton years ago. The certainty that prices will remain high comes from the rapid growth of towns and cities. Tho non-producing, consuming element ele-ment is Increasing much faster than the class tilling the soil. But what is the earning capacity of-' land? A farm of 100 acres can bo managed so as to maintain 100 hogs, a dairy of 20 cows( half a dozen Lrood marcs, a largo poultry yard, a ganden, an orchard and an apiary. An Income of ?3.000 on a to'tal c:c- penso lor wages an lamuy maintenance mainte-nance o' ?1,."00 would bo a fair estimate. esti-mate. Allowing $500 moro an lntcr-est-on tho investment, there remains a net profit of $1,000. Out of the $1,500 expenso'fund tho farmer who Is operating on business principles will allow himself and family fam-ily $500 as wages. He must consider that ho owes himself as much as he wruld any othor man for a like amount of work, and his wlfo is entitled en-titled to hc share In cash. This would mean 'intensive, systematic, sys-tematic, buslncss-lllco farming, but the figures aro conservative, and any intelligent person can titUiin theso results If such a plan Is adopted. By going In larger oh hogs and poultry tho not earnings might be Increased considerably and the expenses lessened. less-ened. A dairy requires a compara tively largo area ot land. It would pay to still further diversify diver-sify by the production of beans, onions and like crops, for which there always is a good cash market. It Is the slnglo crop which makes the old-fashioned old-fashioned farmer so near a failure. Theoretically a hundred acres of -nrn or wheat will yield a lot of money, but as a matter of fact this kind of farming will "bring a man pretty closo to tho poorhouse. To gain from fifty acres an income equal to tho figures given abovo one 1 would havcjlo drop I lie dairy and go in mainly for hogs, poultry, onions, potatoes, beans 'and perhaps cucumbers cucum-bers and sweet corn. F3ur brood mares could be kept on a fifty-acre place to do tho work and raise horses for market.' After two seasons thoro would bo three or four horses to soil every year. It is reasonably certain that any business m.n who runs a diversified farm as carefully as he conducts a storo can clear from $1,000 to $2,000 a year, keep up his place in proper order and (have a delightful country home. Ho also will gain considerably in the appreciation of "land, ancl he has always the satisfaction of knowing know-ing that hla investment Is perfectly afe. IL often is said that the- ch'luf desire of tho. rural citizen Is to live In town and that of the city man to -get Into tho countryl On neither side Is thero a full apprpclallon of tho advantages and disadvantages. It probably is true, however, that when a larger proportion pf trained bueincss men turn their attention to tho tilling of tho soil there will he greater financial results and less waste to tho average farm. Jamos J. Hill has complained that American arms aro not half tilled, and this manifestly is true, With moro intensivo methods and, greater diversity the farms of the 'country I would support twice tho population. Tn other words they would yield twice tholr present profits. "When men take hold of farming in earnest they will work the soil for all there Is In It, Just as they conduct stores and factories. The American farmer Is Industrious, frugal and Intelligent, Intel-ligent, and yet as a rule hp does not farm on business princlplos. He has acquired hl's fortllc acres too easily and tho handling of large arcan has bred carelessness and ovor-conlldonce. The time ljas come when ho must eon-servo eon-servo I1I3 cesourcps when ho must get greater results from his land, whether he Is farming fifty, ono hundred hun-dred or fivc'J' hundred acres. Tho farmer can beat the city man hands down If he makes up' his mind to run his affairs on business principles. |