The table below shows the amount of plant-food removed by 856 bushels of wheat, being the amount which, at 84 cents per bushel (the average price of wheat for the last ten years in central New York), would bring $719.08, the amount received for the carnations.
| Nitrogen | Phosphoric acid | Potash | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 904 lbs. | 437 lbs. | 298 lbs. | (valued at $158.34) |
In addition, 20,000 flowers used in making flower displays for weddings, and the like, were sold at retail, by the dozen, for $450.80. The net returns for flowers sold during the fiscal year ending September 30, 1897, amounted to $1,169.88. The expenses, including taxes, insurance and 10 per cent on the capital, were $790.67. This includes the cost of raising 12,000 plants, about 6,000 of which netted $263.24. In round numbers, then, the net income from the one leading industry—flowers—after paying 10 per cent on invested capital, coal, commission and workmen’s bills, was $642.45, with an additional prospective income from the 6,000 plants which remained unsold.
When I last visited this gentleman, he informed me that he had all the land he wanted. Since that time he has purchased eight acres adjoining, has made some improvements upon the land, and now values it at $2,000. He stated incidentally that the reason he made his purchase was that the land was in the market, and he wanted control of it that he might choose his neighbor. The land, he says, is now in the market, although it paid 9 per cent, clear of all expenses, on a valuation of $2,000. The question is often discussed as to how much land is necessary to secure a competence. Here we find that six acres suffices. A large family has been fed chiefly from the products of the orchards, vineyard and garden, and the children are receiving a practical and, in some cases, a liberal education. All this has been accomplished because the man quickly learned the value of scientific agriculture and was wise enough to follow up his successes.
Not only follow up success, but learn to do the difficult things; there will always be a throng seeking to do the easy things,—things which require the maximum of muscle and the minimum of brains. Why do such multitudes seek this hard, easy work? Because they will not consent to endure the toil, shall I say, of acquiring the power to think deeply, accurately and effectively. Some of our sympathy is thrown away upon these muscular workers. Their desires are few, their wants simple, their appetites good, and their sleep peaceful. Let us show them the way to a higher life, open the doors to those who choose to enter, and fret not because all will not enter in.
“Some are and must be greater than the rest,
More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common sense.”
The man who fells the trees in the woods may receive 15 cents per hour; the man who controls the carriage of the great sawmill and decides on the instant what shape and dimensions the lumber shall take may receive 25 cents per hour for simply moving a little lever; a third man causes a piece of the wood to take on the forms of beauty for the great staircase, and may receive 50 cents per hour; the fourth furnishes the design for this beautiful staircase, and may receive $1 an hour. The man who does the so-called “hard” work receives the least pay. Why? Because it is the least difficult. This difference of remuneration holds good on the farm. Mushrooms sell for 50 cents per pound; maize for one-half cent per pound. Why? Because anybody, even a squaw, can raise maize, but only a specially skilled gardener can succeed in mushroom culture. Hothouse lambs bring from $6 to $10 when two months old; a poorly bred sheep at two years of age may bring from $2 to $4. Why? The breeding and feeding of the one is easy; of the other difficult.
In 1897 the raising of potatoes was difficult. The blights, the bugs and the beetles were present in full force. Good potatoes in the middle and eastern states rose to 65 cents per bushel wholesale. The man who watched and fought intelligently secured 300 bushels per acre and a ready market; the careless man and the man who should have been raising horses or chickens secured 30 bushels per acre and a slow market. Why? Because unusual difficulties were present, and the man who was able to cope with them drew the prize of $195 per acre for his potatoes. This successful potato raiser the previous year secured more than 300 bushels per acre, and sold them for 25 cents per bushel, but even at this low price they brought more than $75 per acre. If from 200 to 300 per cent profit can be secured and the limit of profit not reached by raising one of the most common products of the farm, what possibilities loom up for securing a competence from those products which require greater skill and knowledge than the raising of potatoes?
Consider the crops which are supposed to give promise of securing little or no profits at the present low prices, as wheat, maize, hay and oats. One man, on land naturally below the average, has secured during the last fifteen years an average of nearly 35 bushels of wheat, and in a few cases 40 bushels per acre. The average yield for the whole United States in 1889 was a shade less than 14 bushels per acre. During the same year the average yield of oats was 28.57 bushels per acre, and hay, including such other crops as are used for forage, averaged 1.26 tons per acre. Good farmers secure 40 to 50 bushels of oats, and 2 to 2¹⁄₂ tons of hay, and in propitious years 50 to 60 bushels of oats and 3 tons of hay per acre. (Compare [Figs. 1] and [2].) These latter yields always show large profits and lead to a competency, while the average yield usually gives no profit. If the average yield gives only a bare subsistence, what must be the condition of those who secure much less than the average? If one man raises 35 bushels of wheat, five other men must each raise 10 bushels to secure an average yield of 14 bushels per acre. Some entire states—as, for instance, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee,—have an average of 6, 6 and 9 bushels, respectively, per acre. What is the remedy? Stop raising wheat, and raise something better adapted to soil and climate, or go to town and sell peanuts. Some of these men who utterly fail to comprehend the laws of wheat culture may be good “coon dogs,” after all.
