718. Barrels of Baldwins.—The home of this market favorite is Northern New York and Northern New England. It is a hardy tree. Apple trees commonly bear only every second year, and often cease to bear altogether. The secret of success is to stir the soil and add a little fertilizer. Good Baldwins, commanding from $2.50 to $3.50 per barrel, may be raised every year with the certainty of clockwork, if the owner only exercises proper diligence and care.
719. Rare Rodents.—Money in rats and mice! In killing them? No, in raising them. At the pet-stock department and appendage of the poultry show in New York recently, rats and mice, white or finely marked, brought all the way from $1 to $12, according to the fineness of the colors. It will be a revelation to most farmers that there is money in creatures which they have hitherto regarded as pests to be put out of the way.
720. Mortgage-Lifter Oats.—So-called because a man developed a particular variety, and with the sales, advertised as fancy seed and bringing more than double the ordinary kind, lifted a crushing mortgage from his farm. You can develop a variety as well as he. Give it a taking name, and advertise freely.
721. Record-Breaking Dates.—A date plantation of five hundred or six hundred acres, and capable of holding thirty thousand trees, can be bought for $500. The fifth year after planting the trees should bear sixty thousand pounds of dates, worth at least $6,000. Pretty good return for $500! Dates are raised chiefly in South America.
722. Dollar Wheat.—Western farmers have contended that if they could command $1 a bushel for wheat they could get rich. This year their hopes have been realized. If it is, as many believe, the beginning of better times for the wheat-raiser, and the cereal can be kept at that price, you have but to follow the advice of Horace Greeley, and “Go West” to become a rich man. The government will give you the land, and industry and economy will do the rest.
723. Leaf Tobacco.—Where tobacco can be raised, farmers have abandoned nearly every other crop. It needs a rich, warm soil, and some experience in order to insure success; but if you “once learn the trade,” you will hardly try to raise anything else. North of Virginia, it must be raised it the “bottom-lands” of the rivers. Price, $8 to $10 per one hundred pounds.
724. Tree Nursery.—The expense of a tree nursery is almost nothing beyond the first investment. Small trees before transplanting may be set one foot apart, and hence an acre will hold about forty-four thousand. At nine cents apiece—the average price—this means $3,960. Deduct for labor and expressage. The success of the tree merchant depends almost solely on his finding a market.
725. Round Number Onions.—The round number of one thousand bushels to the acre has been done, and can be done under favorable circumstances. In a certain district in Fairfield County, Conn., nearly all the men are well-to-do farmers. Ask them the secret of their success and the one reply will be “onions.” Here, surely, even in rocky Connecticut, farming pays. They get from seventy-five cents to $1.25 per bushel. The crop is not always a safe one, dependent upon weather conditions; but, taken one year with another, the farmers do well, and steadily add to their bank account.
726. Potato Profits.—Let us see what can be done with potatoes. In a prize contest recently the average per acre was 465 bushels. The highest was 975 bushels. The price per bushel was from sixty to sixty-six cents. The next profit was on the average $260 per acre and in case of the highest was about $500. Of course this is vastly above what is accomplished by the ordinary farmer, but it shows what can be done with good soil, liberal dressing, prolific variety, and thorough tillage.
727. Golden Geese.—Here is one man’s experience: “I bought a gander and three geese. From the geese I received yearly forty eggs each in two litters, or a total of 120. I find that from this number of eggs I can safely count on seventy-five per cent of matured chicks, or ninety goslings. The weight when fatted is 855 pounds, and at twenty cents a pound I receive $171. Cost of keeping is $46. Profits, $125. Of course, the sum varies one year from another, but this is my average for five years.” At the same rate the goslings from 100 geese would pay a net profit of $4,125, but if they paid only one-quarter that sum it would still be a profitable investment.