This farmer and his wife, living near Spokane, Washington, tell of the comfort and profit they get from their ten acres as follows:
“From November 1, 1914, to November 1, 1915, we sold $300.00 worth of eggs and $60 worth of old hens, besides raising 350 chickens. We think that what we eat of eggs and chickens pays for their keep. From January 1 to September 1, 1915, I sold $90 worth of butter and sold a calf for $15, besides what butter, cream and milk we used. We raised a thoroughbred Jersey cow that began giving milk September 1, 1915, and she made forty pounds of butter before she was two years old. We raised two hogs and sold them for $32.50 and raised one for our own use. We raised beans, sweet corn, carrots, and vegetables between our young apple trees, and sold from our ten acres $600 worth of produce, besides the eggs, poultry, butter and pork.”
PLAN No. 768. BEEF CATTLE PROFITABLE
A farmer of Davenport, Washington, says:
“I am satisfied that I can make the beef cattle business pay me a nice profit. Starting with three head of beef cows worth $225 and buying $721 worth of cattle in two years, which I kept on cheap pasture most of the year and fed only a small amount of hay for three months in the winter, I sold $827 worth of butter and cattle in the two years and had stock remaining worth $1,360. My net profit in the two years, exclusive of labor and feed, was $1,241.”
In the West everything is being done to encourage diversified farming. Many farmers buy their own butter, etc., which to Eastern farmers seems strange, but wheat has been so profitable in the West that these farmers were content.
PLAN No. 769. HOGS AS SIDE LINE
This farmer living near Ritzville, Washington, says:
“My net profit, exclusive of labor, for handling hogs as a side line one year was $532.33.”
This is a good illustration of what opportunities the average farmer has of developing more profit on his farm. It would take a pretty good business in the city to handle side lines that would produce such a profit on the first trial.