Chapter XXVIII: Section 1754: applies to all branches of the service, in Washington, D (19)

“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.

PLAN No. 770. NORTHWEST FARMER BELIEVES IN DIVERSIFIED FARMING

In the Northwest much of the land is summer-fallowed every other year, and when the land can be put to profitable use those years it means much to the profit end of farming. Here is what a man did near Colfax, Washington. His statement is as follows:

“Four years ago I fenced my ranch with hog-tight woven wire fence and purchased a bunch of hogs. The first year I sold $1,400 worth of hogs and have averaged $2,000 per year ever since. I also purchased some sheep and found that by running them between harvest and summer-fallow I was able to keep down the weeds. I made a profit on my sheep in both wool and mutton. I believe that if diversified farming is followed, sixty to eighty acres is enough for one family in this locality.”

PLAN No. 771. WHAT A FARMER DID FOR HIS LAND

Here is his statement:

“It is my intention to abandon the practice of summer-fallow altogether here by growing peas and other crops that can be grown to advantage on the land. To-day, May 23rd, we are cultivating our peas, and after one more cultivation they will be ready to lay by until harvesting. A piece of wheat planted on ground cultivated to peas and hogged-off last fall, stands four inches higher than any other wheat on the place. I believe in alfalfa, clover and peas and the stock to consume them, in order to return the manure to the soil.”

Thousands of acres of land in the past few years have been put to peas and a good profit has been obtained.

PLAN No. 772. WESTERN FARMER’S EXPERIENCE

He lives in the Palouse farming district in the State of Washington and makes the following statement:

“In 1915, fifty acres of wheat planted on corn land gave me $1,000 after all expenses were paid. This was more than double the returns from fifty acres of land that had grown wheat continuously or been summer-fallowed. The same year fifty acres of corn brought me $600; that is, from corn, potatoes, beans, etc. I sold seed corn to neighbors, to poultry raisers and sold corn-fat hogs, and had left all my feed for two cows and five horses for a year. My fifty acres of wheat on stalk land, the neighbors will tell you, is the finest field to be found in this section of the country.”

PLAN No. 773. COWS RETURN $200 A YEAR

One of the best examples of what can be done with dairy cows in the Palouse country, State of Washington, is this farmer who started with $300:

He built up a herd of Jerseys and mixed Holsteins and Jerseys, after paying for his land, a few years ago. After three years, an inventory of the stock, equipment and improvements showed a total gain of $13,425, which has accrued to him over and above his living expenses. One year’s crops from 140 acres of Palouse land were 200 tons of hay, 550 sacks of oats and barley, 100 tons of ensilage, 400 sacks of potatoes, and about $250 worth of fruit. Most of the crops were turned into milk, of which 44,700 gallons were shipped, and brought back a return of $8,940, an average of over $200 for each cow milked.

PLAN No. 774. COWS HELPED HIM

This farmer left North Dakota and located in the State of Washington. He states:

“I bought sixty acres of white pine and cedar stump land adjoining the station of Matchwood, about six miles from Sandpoint, on a 10-year payment plan, and in February, 1915, we moved up and began work on our place. We bought two Jersey cows. The first year, with a few days work on the outside, we were able to make a living from our two cows and about 35 laying hens. We were able to put up about twelve tons of good clover and timothy hay that we got with a hand scythe around the old logging roads, where it was growing wild.

“The year 1916 will be my first year with any crop to amount to anything. I have cleaned up in the past year about twenty acres, have thirteen acres sown in grain and clover, about seven acres to grain and root crops, and have thirty acres seeded among the waste timber and stumps for pasturage. My place is fenced and cross fenced, and I have running water on the place. In the past year we have sold over 500 pounds of butter, at an average of 30 cents per pound.”

PLAN No. 775. WOOL CLIP $1.00 PER HEAD

This man, living at Odessa, Washington, kept 1,200 sheep out nearly all winter at strawstacks and grazing, the only expense for feeding being thirty-five tons of alfalfa at $10.00 per ton. He clipped about a dollar’s worth of wool per head and sold 300 head at $4.75 to $5.25 per hundred weight. He says:

“I made a very nice profit and believe that nearly all farmers should keep a band of sheep.”

The dry atmosphere, combined with the absence of heavy dews, and the generally favorable climate, make the Big Bend a natural poultry country. Disease is kept down to a minimum and the fowls themselves thrive. The high price for eggs in this market makes the returns unusually attractive. Turkeys, always difficult of successful raising, seem to be in their natural climate in the Big Bend, and those who are now in the business claim that the country will become famous for its annual shipments of the great American bird.

Figure out the amount for yourself, and, if you live in the city, figure what net profits your business paid last year, then deduct from that the cost of food and clothes, rents, pleasure trips, amusements, etc., and you will be surprised at what you have left. But remember Mr. Farmer’s net profit is above his living, which is the very best.

PLAN No. 776. FARMER LIVES NEAR COLLEGE

Many farmers in the West will not trouble themselves with stock, but this man shows how expensive an idea this is.

This farmer living near Pullman, Washington, has demonstrated that dairying pays in the Palouse country. He owns 240 acres of land two and one half miles from town that he values, with improvements, at $100 an acre. Because of the size of his farm he raises quantities of wheat and other products for the market, but his main income is from butter. He makes this on the farm and sells it to the consumers at an average price the year around between 35 and 40 cents a pound.

“Much of my land is in grass and alfalfa,” he says. “We market two nice bunches of hogs each year, raised on the skimmed milk from the dairy. Half as many heifers as we have cows are matured every year and added to the herd to take the place of the cows sold. Veal and poultry and eggs all bring in money. I raise thirty acres of corn a year for the silos. This land is then sown to fall wheat. Rearing the family, near the splendid schools of Pullman, and with the state college in sight, has a lot to do with the satisfaction we get out of life.”

PLAN No. 777. CUT-OVER LAND FARMER

This farmer purchased a farm ten years ago near Newport, the county seat of Pend Oreille County, Washington. He bought 268 acres at $23 an acre.

The farm is on the bench land where the soil is a sandy loam, particularly suited for growing vegetables and grass crops.

Here is what he says:

“After the cordwood has been removed, the slashing and burning of the rubbish and brush, leaving the ground free of everything except standing stumps, should not cost over $10.00 an acre. It is my own experience that it has not cost that much. Most of it I contracted at $7.50 an acre and on two different tracts the contractor made over $3 a day. The slashing should be burned in the fall whenever possible and a mixed pasture grass sown in the ashes before the heavy fall rains. No cultivation is necessary, as the light ashes make an ideal seed-bed and a heavy, rich pasture is assured the following season.”

PLAN No. 778. TAUGHT HIS WAY THROUGH COLLEGE

This young man was a school teacher, but became convinced that he would study law and wished to make it his profession. He had no money, was an excellent speaker, and enrolled in the university for one year to complete this course. At the end of the year his money was gone, and the next year he taught, and he continued in this way until he finished his university course.

While this is a hard method, every other year leaving the college and spending it teaching, yet he made his goal, and many a teacher can do the same.

PLAN No. 779. SOLD LAW BOOKS AND THUS PAID HIS UNIVERSITY EXPENSES

In every large university there is a good opportunity of purchasing books at a small price from the out-going classes, or the class at the end of each semester, and selling the books again to new students entering for the following semester.

This young man started to make his expenses in that manner. He bought books at a very small price and sold them at a very large price, and thus was able to build up a large book business at the university. He now has several rooms filled with books for incoming classes, and is in a position to give good advice as to the class of questions that may be asked from the various examinations in the different departments, as he keeps a carefully collected list of questions when the term starts. He has some of these typewritten and made into pamphlet form for sale. He also has a stenographer, who takes the lectures in the different classes so has them for sale to the students who are unable to take them down during their class work, or for those who have been inattentive.

PLAN No. 780. THE WAY HE MADE GOOD IN THE ASSESSOR’S OFFICE

It is generally conceded that one of the hardest offices to fill, is the office of county assessor.

No matter how hard you may try to please the public generally, on assessment of their property, you will find delegation after delegation appealing to you to make change in their assessment, and you will find many of your dear friends who really insist on being treated in a special manner and different than the rest of the other people, they want you to discriminate as to them.

This young man had trained himself for the law and had practiced a few years. He decided before going into politics to try-out serving in this office for a time. After rendering his service for a number of years he was announced by his friends for this office and won. He made up his mind that when elected he would handle this office in a way that it would reflect credit in after years. He had noticed many people, when directing these offices, had failed, largely on account of their lack of will power to stand by what they absolutely knew was right. If an assessment was made on property and a delegation appeared before him, he would take all the blame, if there was any, and would go into the matter and have it settled once-for-all. After a short time people began to find out that the assessor had a mind of his own; that he knew what was right, and when any matter was taken before him they understood clearly if their contention was right he would do all he could to assist them.

He followed this policy throughout his term of office. Another thing he did after election was to call together all his assistants and made it clear to them that they were to serve the public in the best possible manner, and to be courteous at all times; and that the public was a final judge as to their ability to serve them and that he was only an instrument through which the public could give its approval or disapproval.

After a service along the lines which has just been suggested, he was re-elected to several other offices in the county, which is a remarkable record.

As to building up any political machine, he did not do this, but of course his friends and those who supported him were given preference in his appointments, and they were loyal to him.

PLAN No. 781. THIS MAN BECAME COUNTY CLERK

He was a very likable man and had served in public office for a number of years at the court house, and he in this way became generally acquainted throughout the county. He decided to run for the office of county clerk, and was successful.

As soon as he was elected he called together his assistants and made it clear to them that in this office application was one of the important parts of the service; that he wanted them to serve full time; that they were serving the public, and that nobody should be impertinent or short in their answers and should be most courteous in every way. In fact, he made it clear to them that if they were unable to render service in this way that they had better leave and, that they would be removed at any time when the time came they could not treat the public right, because, he stated, the public was their final judge.

The clerk himself was not a man given to very much talk, but he made it a point, when the attorneys called to speak to them kindly and give the greatest consideration regarding any matter they desired information. This was granted to all attorneys, irrespective of age or qualifications. The attorney handling the smallest business would receive the same consideration that the most wealthy among them--they were all equal in his office.

He also knew that if he was to be re-elected, or desired to win further political preference, that he must start his campaign when he first opened up the office, and this was his campaign: rendering the best kind of service that lay within his power.

PLAN No. 782. ATTORNEY VISITS BROTHER-ATTORNEYS

After graduating from his college he called on attorneys, in the town where he was reared, and obtained the best possible advice from them. He inquired as far as he dared into what they did to make their practice a success. Oftentimes attorneys do not know the plan they have followed, but upon visiting with them you will soon discover that they have followed some general plan of action. If the plan is productive of good profits put it down as a lesson for yourself.

This attorney continued this practice for years. He always made it a point to know all of his fellow attorneys and keep in touch with their advancement from time to time. At least once a year he would lay aside a certain amount of time to call on all the attorneys, and especially find out, if possible, what kind of business they were doing and what new ideas they had in that particular community for the advancement of their profession. He states that each year he obtained points which meant a great deal to his practice, as well as winning the friendship and good will of his fellow attorneys. He states that there was hardly a year that he did not receive something which meant five or six hundred dollars to his practice. Some suggestions as to keeping up the business that came into his office, or that his charges were not sufficient, or he failed to use business methods in this or that.

PLAN No. 783. GIRL MAKES LIVING BY MAKING TABLE FAVORS AND DECORATIONS OF PAPER

She purchased several rolls of crêpe paper of different colors at 15 or 20 cents per roll, and this she experimented with until she became very proficient in the making of various table favors. And, as a matter of fact, she became expert in making all kinds of decorations for tables. The next thing for her to do was to get the business which would enable her to make profits and keep her busy week in and week out. She watched the papers very carefully, noting all of those who were giving parties at their homes; she made a catalog of all the socially-inclined people, and then made it a point to call upon them personally and arrange to make them decorations for their next party.

She also called upon the restaurants and stood ready to make any special design they desired on certain occasions. She solicited this work a month ahead so that it would not all come at one time and make it impossible for her to give them what they desired. For example, Halloween, Saint Valentine’s Day and other days when the restaurants desired many of such decorations, she took these orders in advance and was prepared to deliver them when the occasion came.

From this work she averaged more than $25 a week. This is a good business for any girl in any city of 50,000 and over, and much money can be made in this work in towns of smaller size.

PLAN No. 784. ARE YOU COMPETENT TO BE A PATENT ENGINEER, DRAFTSMAN, ETC?

At the present time, in the city in which I reside, there is a great opportunity for men skilled in this profession of patent engineering and drafting. They obtain all the way from $.75 to $1.00 an hour for their services. Men capable in this work should get in touch with patent attorneys.

PLAN No. 785. A GOOD WAY TO START THE PRACTICE OF LAW

This attorney was educated in an eastern university, and after completing his course decided to start in a small town in the State of Vermont. This town was a county seat and had some 2,500 inhabitants. The first year he netted more than $2,000. He started in with a partner, and during his twenty-five years of practice always had a partner. He believes this is the best way, as a great deal of law is learned by such association. He says an attorney can obtain a start in a small town much earlier than in a large city. He has an opportunity from the very beginning to show his ability. It is up to the attorney who goes to a small town to make sure that he knows as much about the law as possible, and should devote himself to careful study. His efforts will be noted by the Court and if the Court and the Bar generally of a small community, see that he is in earnest and has the material in him, he will find that he will get good support from all, especially by the judges in his community, as they like to help the young lawyer make a success.

In the large city, he says it is different. If he cannot stand he must fall; nobody takes any particular interest in him. He has no opportunity of displaying the qualifications he possesses. He may live and die in a large city and be a Daniel Webster and nobody know it. He found after this association with the court of this county seat and the supreme court of the state that he obtained a class of business that was the very best, and he found that he knew the law better than his brothers in the city as every lawyer realizes that all the law is not in books, and the association with lawyers of high ability is the best instruction a lawyer can have.

In this little town, all of his cases were in the superior court and he had many cases that were heard in the federal court, and from this practice he derived a good income. He found in the city that most of his fellow attorneys of the same age never had the opportunity of going to the federal court. Most of their practice was in the justice court or police court.

PLAN No. 786. WHY NOT BECOME A PATENT ATTORNEY

I have known this attorney for years, and my acquaintance and conversation with him has enabled me to learn much from the experience that he enjoyed as a patent attorney. It is a profitable field as well as an extremely interesting one.

People generally realize that it is very difficult to get a patent through in the Department of Patents, but usually the examiner has many departments under him, and the various departmental heads go into all kinds of matters which would seem to the average person as unnecessary, and, in some cases, that is really the case. It is here that the patent attorney comes in.

There are people who are patent assistants, which is different from patent attorneys. They advertise and obtain much business. They are not lawyers, are not educated as lawyers and have clerks who work under them who are less qualified than they, but the attorney has a great advantage over these people, for he himself has been trained as an attorney and is familiar with the rulings of the court and has many advantages when it comes to drawing up the petition for the person desiring the patent.

Oftentimes before patent papers reach the examiner the owner becomes discouraged and withdraws, and the examiner is not troubled further.

Another thing is the drawing-up of the petition, which contains a drawing and specifications, claim, etc. The drawing of a patent claim is a science, and is entirely governed by court rules. It is probably the most difficult legal paper to draw that is known.

A great deal is required of a patent attorney. He should know something about mechanics and chemistry and even electricity. A very important thing to a person desiring a patent is, that the inventor must by all means understand the device upon which he is trying to obtain a patent. His information must be sufficient to assist the attorney. The attorney who desires to be a patent attorney realizes that the universities and colleges of our country do not give much which would be of assistance to one in that field, so the attorney mentioned in the foregoing account found that there were certain correspondence schools’ lectures put out which went into detail and were effective. These lectures will cost in the neighborhood of $30.00, and are entitled Correspondence Schools for Patent Law and Practice, put out by a Company at Washington, D. C.

Every examiner, you will find, has on his desk a book which contains 507 mechanic movements. The knowledge of this go to test whether or not your patent will be accepted. It will be further necessary for you to have a Correspondent at Washington, D. C., and this you can secure by writing. This man will make a search for you and obtain the classification number of the patent and will forward you a half-dozen or more printed copies along the same line as your patent covers, and this will be an index to you as how to proceed in your own particular case, and will serve a great opportunity for you to give real assistance to your client by showing him how far other men have progressed in the same field as his invention and often he will be able to see the various mistakes they made and where he has improved it. He sometimes may also obtain a new idea which will determine the success of his own proposition.

Now to get the business it is not understood as very good practice to advertise for this work. However, if you give that work your earnest attention in a city you will find your fellow-lawyers will send business to you, and soon, with the service you are able to render, you will develop a business.

PLAN No. 787. REAL ESTATE PUT THEM THROUGH COLLEGE

The university was close to a large city and these boys determined to get a legal education, so they went into the real estate business and developed a small business which would pay their expenses. One was in the office, while the other did the outside work. They finally made arrangements for a stenographer. Their business continued to grow until in a short time they both enrolled in the university and took up the study of law. They did not miss a class, and maintained a high standing throughout their college course. During their university course, their real estate business grew to great proportions, and before they had graduated they were very well to do.

PLAN No. 788. FARMER WINS SUCCESS

This farmer, who lives in eastern Washington, tells an interesting story of making a profitable place of his twenty acres of logged-off land:

“When I bought my land six years ago, I only had $15 to pay down, no team or anything to commence with, but I had faith in the land and I commenced to work.

“The first year I did not do anything on the land except to build a house, and I had to work out to support my family. The next winter I slashed and cleared some land in addition to cutting wood for a neighbor. The next year I broke up 8 acres with one horse and set out 375 apple and other trees, raised potatoes and other garden truck and bought a cow. The next year I raised garden truck and my wife and I ran a restaurant in the Y. M. C. A. in Spokane. The next year I broke up three acres more and planted this with the other land to potatoes, turnips, grain etc., working out as much as possible. Last year I sold $100 worth of crops from my eleven to twelve acres, raised grain enough for my two horses and two cows, and vegetables enough for my family; sold butter amounting to $100, and broke three acres more and sowed it to winter wheat.

“I have my land about paid for and have a good frame house of four rooms, a shed, barn, plenty of farm machinery, and about fourteen acres under cultivation. The stumps are not all out yet, but I hope to burn them this year, and get a few more acres cleared up sufficiently to break. I find, after burning the brush, that timothy and clover will do well by sowing in the fall in the ashes in time for them to get a start, and the following year the same grows sufficiently for good pasture. In a year or two the stumps are rotted, so that the cost of clearing is very much reduced and at the same time the pasture is making good food for my cows; and if a small patch is cleared to furnish feed for the winter months, two or more cows will help very much in solving the problem. Of course, chickens have helped us, my wife doing the work with the chickens and milking the cows when I was away earning money. With the large amount of work to be obtained in this country, a man need not be idle any part of the year.”

This is a good illustration of what a man with practically no money can accomplish.

PLAN No. 789. CURING A FARM OF THE CRAMPS

It seems a hopeless piece of work to try to bring back a farm when from over use its ability to produce is gone. The party in this article lived for years in the city and knew but little concerning soil until a real estate man sold him a farm of 42 acres.

After his house was up and about one-half of his farm implements purchased he found that his land would not produce very much. His 20 acres of corn made about 8 bushel to the acre. His peas did fairly well. He had just enough to winter his stock.

However he made up his mind to stick.

Government bulletins were secured, farmers institutes were attended, he asked the neighbors questions. He made his land his special study.

That year his wife taught school and he put in the winter hauling. After the cowpeas he put in wheat which 10 acres produced 100 bushels for which he received $100.

He started in to enrich his land. Catch crops were raised and turned under to put humus into the soil and fertilizer was freely used. He had sandy loam which he claimed needed a great deal of petting. For six years he sowed rye and crimson clover in every acre of corn planted and plows this under in the spring for late potatoes, and follows that with wheat. After the wheat was harvested he sowed cowpeas or soy beans and plowed them under in early winter.

He uses some of his wheat straw for bedding which he mixes with manure and later is used as fertilizer. The balance of the straw is scattered in the wheat field during the winter.

Here is what the over used soil now produces:

50 to 60 bushels of corn to the acre.

20 to 25 bushels of wheat to the acre.

150 to 200 bushels of potatoes to the acre.

This farmer now owns 100 acres and rents another 100 on which he has an option to purchase.

He summarizes his success as follows:

Hard study

Some hard work

Vegetable matter put in soil

Potato crop

Other products made to pay farm expenses.

PLAN No. 790. BACK LOT MONEY

Millions of dollars are lost by people in cities not using their back yards for poultry. There are thousands of acres of idle land that could be made to return a dividend. The thrifty Japs make every foot of soil produce. They farm mountains and hills that Americans would not touch. The Americans are wasteful, but since food has become so high they see that the land is the source of the bread of life, and we find many using their back yards for gardens or poultry.

Many raise a garden, and when fall comes buy pullets and keep them for winter eggs, selling the pullets in the spring, thus raising two crops off the same ground. By right methods, poultry and eggs are easily produced in back yards at a good profit. The day is coming when not only vacant town lots, but all back yards will be producing something of value. In some cities many have a few chickens on the roof.

CANDY AND CHICKENS

A man who conducts a candy kitchen in a large city has 400 hens in a building back of his store. These hens are kept in this building on both the first and second floors. He devotes two hours daily to this flock and they bring him in an income of $1,000 a year. The egg yield is due to comfortable quarters and a special system of feeding. He gets much feed at a low cost in this large city. He buys stale bread and skim-milk from creameries at reduced prices. He buys lawn clippings from the town boys at 5 cents per bushel. When the days are short he turns the electric lights on. He says the hens have to have a long day in which to work to turn out a good egg yield. He gets his highest prices for eggs during the winter, and it is at this time that he makes the most money from his hens. He has the White Leghorns. No roosters are kept among the flock to annoy the people by their early crowing.

Opportunity knocked at this man’s door and he heard. Opportunity is where you find it. Axiom has it that once, at least, opportunity knocks at every door, but for every time it knocks to make itself known, a hundred times it lies unobserved, while you pass unknowing. I wonder if any of you have heard Russel Conwell’s great lecture, “Acres of Diamonds.” If you have, you will always be the better for it, for therein he shows how we overlook our present opportunities for the things just a little farther off.

GET A HOBBY

We need to open our ears for the jingle of coin which is in our back yards. Every man and every woman should have a hobby as a kind of recreation, occupation, something to enthuse over. Anyone with time hanging heavy on his hands is a misery to himself and a nuisance to other folks, and the best medicine for the disorder is a hobby. A hobby lends itself to the means of all, for just a few dollars invested by the humble amateur or as many hundreds by the wealthy man. You may not have an “acre of diamonds” as per Russel Conwell, but you have a small gold mine which you may work, right in your own back yards, if you want to.

PLAN No. 791. BECOME WIREMAN FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 792. BECOME VETERINARIAN FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 793. BECOME WEIGHT AND MEASURE ASS’T. FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 794. ONE DOLLAR A DAY

During a recent vacation I saw a little girl seven years old sitting on a bench at the farthermost end of a golf course. By her side was a pail of water and a basket of red-cheeked apples. As the men playing golf passed this child, nearly all of them took an apple and a drink of water and placed upon the bench a nickel or sometimes a dime. I was told that the child often takes in a dollar a day for this service. How many families there are situated like this little girl who have not thought of making money through their proximity to a golf course or some other park or playground. How would a basket of ripe peaches, grapes, apricots, pears or plums be to a thirsty or hungry person, with even a few cookies tucked into a corner of the basket? These purchasers would not be likely to haggle about the prices they paid. If there are no particular gatherings of people near your farm, as was the case of the golf club, you have overlooked the opportunity of putting up a placard or sign near your house, stating that you have ripe peaches, apples, pears, plums, fresh eggs, or other farm products for sale in small or large amounts, and letting one of the children take charge of this place.

PLAN No. 795. HOW TO GET CUSTOMERS

This is a question that is most important to the farmer. All his profits depend on his ability to secure customers. The following experience will save much time as well as money to the farmer. Here is a successful method which has been followed by a group of farmers who joined forces to market their crops. The same plan can be used by the individual farmer as well.

This group of farmers named one of their members to act as the Secretary Treasurer. This man attended to all soliciting by mail and distributed the first orders and all following orders were filled by the member who shipped the first order.

The first question was how to get the names of prospective customers. A rate and telephone book were secured. The classes they thought would be most easily interested were written to. Their reason for using the phone book was that a person should be so connected in a business and social way with the city as to have a phone before they be given consideration. This list others trusted and such people they too could afford to trust. With this list there was practically no loss.

To such, a general letter was sent outlining their service--what they had to sell and what they would have for future delivery each month in the year. These letters in about 10 days were followed up with other letters giving a special group of products.

The different seasons of the year are considered. It may be canning time or near Thanksgiving or Xmas. If it is near Thanksgiving, then a list of dressed turkey, an assortment of fancy vegetables, hams, honey, nuts and pecans. And the prices are such as to interest the consumer. The farmer has not the overhead expense of the middle man--hence they can give a much better price.

A card file was kept which gave complete information as well as prospects and customers. Card gave names, address, business connection, salary and rating of each person. When a customer is made out of the prospect a red slip is attached to the top of the card, and a number is given, it corresponding to a page in order book where shipment record is kept.

This office is conducted by the Secretary Treasurer.

When orders come in for which they cannot themselves fill, they hustle out to other farmers and purchase the product and thus fill their customers orders. In connection with this article read over the parcel post service and apply same to your shipments.

PLAN No. 796. SHEEP PROFITABLE

A Kansas farmer made money in 1917 when the corn crop was unprofitable and here is how he succeeded.

Four years before he visited a fair where there were sheep and these were the first sheep he had ever seen so he bought three. A few days later he traded one shote for another sheep and in a few more days he gave up his Jersey cow for seven five-year old ewes and eight lambs. Soon he had gathered a flock of 59 sheep, including ewes and lambs of all ages, sizes and shapes. His interest grew until he had collected about 1000 head of sheep which averaged 30 lbs. to the head.

He allowed them to graze in a pasture of alfalfa and when this was gone he fed them at the rate of 2 lbs. of feed per head. In 100 days he nearly doubled his money. He took out the scrub ewes and wether lambs and fed them 55 days. Those he fed on corn weighed 72 lbs. per head and brought seven cents per lb.

The spring of 1917 he purchased 500 head. When the grass became too short he turned them into the corn to take care of themselves until November.

His investment of $8,000 through these sheep grew to $17,600. He has about 1,000 sheep and when the ewes have a good milk flow and do well he does not feed, otherwise he gives them oats. He says:

“I believe it is best to use self-feeders, feeding alfalfa-meal, corn chop, corn and kafir, or corn and barley mixed. I tried such a mixture with 100 head and for two days fed alfalfa-meal and corn mixture in the proportion of 2 lbs. of alfalfa for one pound of mixture. The next three or four days I fed half and half. The fifth day there was less meal, and on the sixth day I was feeding two-thirds corn chops and one-third alfalfa-meal. It took fifty-five days to feed them out. I did not keep track of the gains they made, but they did exceedingly well.”

This Kansas man is of the opinion that 1,000 head is all one man should handle since the lambing season takes all his time.

PLAN No. 797. BECOME WEIGHT CLERK FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 798. WAREHOUSE INVESTIGATORS FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 799. BECOME WATCHMAN FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 800. WHAT SHE DID WITH CHICKENS

This lady in Spokane, Washington, kept an accurate account of the cost of her poultry and reports the following average results per year:

Number of eggs per hen 105
Price received for eggs $0.37
Cost of feed per hen $1.74
Profit per hen from eggs $1.60
Total profit per hen, including eggs, fries and poultry sold $2.13

This is what you can do if out of employment or want to make your back yard and shed produce profit. The above figures are reliable. The example of what other people have done is the best argument in the world that you can do as well. These people do not bear charmed lives, but they are people who do not take a little discouragement as a barrier. The government stands ready to help you with excellent literature on this subject. Write to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

PLAN No. 801. SQUABS

Do you wish to raise squabs for a living? If so the first thing to do before you waste a cent is to gather all the information possible about this. Drop a letter to the United States Government and they will give all the information they possess about squabs. Read all you can find on this subject; also visit someone already in the business.

When you begin it is best to start small, say 5, 10, or 20 pair which you should purchase from a reliable brooder who will guarantee that the pigeons are perfectly mated, and that he will take them back in 3 months if not satisfactory. The age of your pigeons should be 2 to 3 years old.

If you have 10 pair of brooding pigeons you should give them a rat-proof room, 6 to 7 ft. by 5 ft. and about 6 ft. high. If larger it would be better. Breeding quarters should have access to a wired flying cage the same width and 16 ft. long by 8 ft. high. Cover cage with one inch mesh galvanized wire netting so that the sparrows will not give trouble.

The breeding quarters should have at least 20 nesting boxes for 10 pair of pigeons. Store boxes will do--not less than 10 to 12 inches square, with a 4 to 6 inch strip fastened on front to keep the little ones from falling out also to give privacy during incubation. Or if you wish, earthenware or wood fiber nest-bowls may be used, with partitions one ft. square.

The outside cage or flight should have a shelf running the length of the cage where the birds may exercise and parade. Put in bottom of flight about 2 inches of ashes or gravel so it will be dry.

Feed the birds in the breeding place and keep the grain dry. Also provide water in the breeding house so that birds will not soil the water. Bath pans must be outside in the flight.

Have pigeon loft face south, with plenty of light and air but free from drafts. Windows should all be on the south side. Pigeon house should be one ft. to 18 inches above ground to avoid trouble from rats.

To protect against cold in the winter have floor made double, bottom of rough board and top of matched flooring. This is much warmer than concrete.

Ten pair of pigeons in 6 months will produce about 30 to 40 squabs. If you wish squabs for breeders remove them from parents when 6 weeks old. Put in pen 1¹⁄₂ ft. square and twice as much space outside.

It will cost about $2.25 to feed a pair of pigeons and 6 pair of squabs until they are 4 weeks old--which is the age to market them. If the sale price of the 6 pair is $3.00 you would realize a profit of 75 cents per breeding pair.

PLAN No. 802. 52-ACRE MICHIGAN ORCHARD

Fourteen years ago the first of March, I purchased twenty-five acres one-half mile south of Bangor, Michigan, and two weeks later moved onto it from Illinois.

Two years after moving onto this farm I set out an orchard of 500 trees, planting them twenty feet each way. This orchard was set to Duchess, Yellow Transparent, Wealthy, Grimes Golden, Snow and Jonathan. This orchard was cultivated each year until the first of August, then a cover crop was planted and turned under the following spring, until it was six years old. Then it was left to go into a natural seed, which is blue grass and red top.

These trees had made such a wonderful growth that they were large enough to bear a good crop at six years old. This orchard has been mowed each year since going into sod, and at harvesting time when the trees were six years old we took $340 worth of apples from the orchard, or $68 per acre. From that time on this orchard has been doing better each year, and when nine years old we made $90 per acre from it; at ten years $100 per acre, and the past season, at eleven years old, we sold $1,200 worth of apples, a return of $240 per acre.

This orchard is protected by timber on the west and north sides. It is sandy loam soil. The first trimming these trees received was when they were six years old, and from that time on they got an annual moderate trimming and received thorough spraying. Our spray has been lime sulphur and arsenate of lead. We found that we could not grow wood and fruit spurs at the same time, hence no trimming was done until the trees were large enough to bear.

PLAN No. 803. BECOME WAREHOUSEMAN FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 804. BECOME TRANSPORTATION ASSISTANT FOR U. S. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 805. CLIMBING WITH THE GOATS

Two men, both traders of rare ability, one had land located in the Ozark Mountains, Douglas County, Missouri, and the other owned level but dry land in the West. Each thought his land so poor that he could not lose in the trade.

The party whom we are most interested in took the Missouri land.

When his taxes were due he visited his land and found he had received in this trade some very beautiful scenery. In places it was so rough that he had to hold on to the trees to keep on his land.

The party showing him the land told him that this was good land for goat raising. This gave him an idea--goats would clean the land, build the soil and they required but little attention. And the goats would thrive in such a country. One advantage the land possessed was a good supply of water.

Thirty days after receiving this idea he put over fifty goats on the land and fenced his several hundred acres.

In five years his herd of fifty goats had grown to four hundred, he now owns 1300 acres. The goats cleaned all under brush and kept all sprouts down and deadened the timber. The goats had prepared this land so that orchard grass, native blue grass and clover was planted and grew in such abundance that the owner was able to take care of 100 head of cattle in addition to the goats.

The owner went into partnership with a party who receives one-half of the increase of the goats and cattle.

He states that no man will find land that flows with milk and honey now, but that cheap land with a good supply of water offers a great opportunity to a young man with a herd of goats and a little money to run him for a couple of years. In his 1300 acres he had some good land in the valleys where he raises alfalfa and clover.

PLAN No. 806. NEGLECTED ORCHARD PAYS PROFIT

C. F. Mason, of Hickman Mills, Missouri, has made a fortune from a forty acre apple orchard that the neighbors swore could not be made to pay. Up until the time Mr. Mason took hold of its management, this forty acres had never been known to pay more than $200 per year. His profits the first season totaled $2,000; the next year, $2,500; the third season, $8,100, and in the eight seasons he has rented this tract he has banked more than $40,000, in spite of the fact that he had gone up against two pretty disappointing seasons.

It was 1910 that Mr. Mason quit the trail of the grip to rent this forty-acre orchard. When he went to the owner and asked if he could rent it, they were delighted, for they thought they had discovered a new brand of fool who was willing to part with his time and money. Mr. Mason made his own terms the first year; since then he has made so much profit with the orchard that the owners have been very fair in their terms, since he had converted a millstone into a bank.

The second day after the contract was signed the renter with a force of men went into the orchard, consisting of fifteen-year-old trees, and the battle for a crop started. The trees were then in bloom and the work had to be done in quick order. It was. The first year the profit of $2,000 permitted the back-to-the-lander to purchase equipment needed to handle the orchard along practical lines.

The topnotch production was reached in 1912, when more than 15,000 bushels were harvested, selling for $8,100. More apples were sold from the orchard in 1918. In 1914, due to drought, the crop was reduced to about 9,500 bushels, which sold for $6,000.

RECORD OF SPRAYS

Mr. Mason says that 10 per cent of the orchards in Missouri and Kansas produce 90 per cent of the apples of a marketable type. His aim from the start was to have as near a 100 per cent producing orchard as possible. “I sprayed first in the spring at cluster bud time,” he says, “when the first leaves were about the size of a mouse’s ear. That was primarily for scab. I used one-gallon of lime-sulphur solution to twenty-five gallons of water.

“I sprayed the second time just as the blossoms were dropping. That was for the codling moth. I used one gallon of lime-sulphur to forty gallons of water, with two pounds of paste arsenate of lead, or one pound of dry arsenate. The third spraying was the same as the second, and was applied two weeks later to control the curculio. The fourth spraying was done about the first week of July, using the same formula as in the second and third applications, to control the second brood of codling moths and side worms. If cankerworms are prevalent I use three pounds of paste arsenate of lead, or half in dry form, to fifty gallons of water.

“That is the spring spraying. If the San José scale is present, the trees must be treated in winter, after the leaves drop and before they make their appearance in the spring, spraying once with a strong solution of lime-sulphur in proportion of one part of lime to ten parts water. This application is very good.”

CULTIVATION AND PRUNING

Mr. Mason believes in cultivation for apple profits, since he has demonstrated that his section of the country demands this treatment. “Cultivation of an orchard is just as necessary as cultivating corn and other crops,” he says. “Moisture must be present in the ground and the weeds must be kept down to prevent drinking up the moisture and fertility the trees need. The surface must be thoroughly tilled, too, to permit the moisture to enter the ground. Fall plowing of orchards has many great advantages.