rTURE ^t Cotnell ^nibetsitp 3t!)ata. iS. S. ?Lilirarp CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 052 304 429 Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924052304429 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS BY JAMES B. HUNNICUTT Editor '* The Southern Cultivator" THK CUI.TIVATOR PUBI^ISHING COMPANY publishers of "The Southern Cultivator" Atlanta, Ga. ]<103 Copyright, 1903, by James B. Hunuicutt F. C. NUNEMiCHBR PRBSS lyOUISVILLB, KY. 1903 PREFACE. Plow deep and on a level, In peace and plenty revel. That is science as well as rhyme. Pulverize the soil and get pay for your toil. The farmer feeds and clothes the millions. To help him do this with pleas- ure and profit is the mission of this little book. Every farmer in the South should have this helper at hand and learn to take more pride in being a farmer. The first thing, except one, that we remember in this world, we shouldered our hoe and marched off to the cotton field. So we were taught to plow and to hoe, to reap and to mow, and always keep up with our row. Through life we have continued to study soil and plants. We have found pleasure and profit in learning how to make the soil grow good crops. Now, in response to a thousand requests, we have tried to tell how to do this. But if farming ever reaches the place among other callings which it should have, it will be when we have taught our children its beauty and its rank in the schoolroom. Agriculture should be taught in every school. VI PREFACE We have made it so simple that any teacher can use this book, even if entirely ignorant of the princi- ples of Agriculture or the practices of farming. The questions at the close of each chapter will help both the teacher and the student. But in so small a space we could only be suggest- ive, not exhaustive. Hence the wide-awake teacher can enlarge and illustrate. We think the student who has studied thjs book will see the world with different eyes. City life has been absorbing the brain and beauty of the coimtry. And it needs it. But we can not afford to spare so much of our young manhood and womanhood as we have been doing. We must keep the young folks on the farm Many books have been written on Agriculture, but they are all more or less treatises on agricultural chem- istry. We. have avoided this channel. While we adhere strictly to scientific truth, we have used plain language. Technical terms have been left out. We have tried to write so that every child could under- stand. How we have succeeded we must leave you to judge. Industrial education is the demand of the day. Agricultiure is the largest and most important of the industries. Heretofore it has been at the bot- tom. Let us now see that it is placed at the top. To do this, we must educate the farmers. PREFACE VII The world will respect brain. If we make ourselves the equals in intellect of those in other callings, then we will be as much respected, and not until then. We need as much skill to grow plants as does the physician to heal the sick, or the lawyer to clear crim- inals. It takes as much brain to run a four-horse farm as to run a bank or a raihoad. The farmer carries all. If the farmer fails And can not buy. Then the merchant's goods Upon his shelf must lie. If the farmer fails And has nothing to sell, Then the banker's account Does not swell. If the farmer fails And has nothing to ship. The railroad train Makes an empty trip. If the farmer fails And hasn't the money he ought. Then the lawyer's fee Drops down a naught. If the farmer fails And hasn't the bills, Then the doctor Ceases to roll his pills. If the farmer fails And can not pay. The school-teacher's account Waits for another day. vim PREPACB If the farmer fails, As sometimes fail he must, The world's business lags And the wheels of commerce rust. But if the farmer succeeds. As succeed he should. We all look happy And we all feel good For upon our broad shoulders All the rest do he. And sometimes the pile Gets very, very high. Success to the farmer. James B. Hunnicutt CONTENTS. Page I Man's Chief Pursuit 1 II Agriculture as a Science 5 III Something of the History of Agriculture 9 IV The Soil . 13 V Composition and Kinds of Soil _ 19 VI Uses op the Soil 21 VII The Soil as a Workshop 26 VIII. Preservation and Improvement of The Soil _ 29 IX Other Points About Soil 36 X, Plants: How They Grow 40 XI Uses and Abuses of Water on the Farm _ 50 XII Plants and the Atmosphere 61 XIII Manures and Fertilizers 64 XIV How TO Use Manures and Fertilizers 75 XV Planting 84 XVI Selecting Seed 92 XVII Preparing the Soil for Planting 96 XVIII Cultivation 101 XIX Gathering and Housing _ 106 XX Marketing Crops 114 XXI Investing Profits 119 XXII Farm Labor 123 XXIII Farm Implements 132 XXIV Farm Animals. . 143 XXV Grass Culture > - - 155 XXVI Truck-Farming . . 168 XXVII Dairy Farming in the South 176 XXVIII Stock-Growing 186 X CONTENTS Page XXIX Poultry-Farming ------ 193 XXX Bee-KeBping ------- 198 XXXI Farm and Public Roads ----- 207 XXXII Farm Buildings _ _ _ _ 213 XXXIII Village Farming ------ 220 XXXIV Forestry ------ 223 XXXV The Farmer as a Citizen - - - - 228 XXXVI The Farmer Should Be Educated - - 230 Appendix — Useful Tables _ _ - - 237 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS CHAPTER I. MAN'S CHIEF PURSUIT. Agriculture is the noblest pursuit of man. Before he fell Adam dressed the Garden of Eden. Partaking of forbidden fruit "* was the cause of the fall. The sentence pronounced upon fallen man was that "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." The sentence pronounced upon the ground was that "thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." The result of these two sentences remains in full force to this day. The evil growth is spontaneous. The good must be cultivated, and from this cultivation all the race must eat their bread. This means that we can not 2 AGRICXJLTTJRB FOR THE COMMON SCHOOi;s live without cultivating the ground. We must destroy evil and useless plants and keep good and innocent plants. The work necessary to do this is called Agriculture, which word signifies tiUing or cultivation of the field. All other pursuits, callings and professions among men grow out of the necessities of the agriculturist, and are largely dependent upon him for their sup- port. The farmer needed tools with which to culti- vate his crops, hence the blacksmith came into being. He needed houses, and thus called for the carpenter's skill. The blacksmith and carpenter needed iron and steel; hence the miner was called for. The farmer needed schools for his children, that they might not grow up in ignorance, and thus called forth the teacher. His religious wants called for the preacher, and his legal rights demanded government and laws, and hence lawyers, judges and officers of aU ranks came in due time to serve the farmer's necessities. Disease called for the physician, and increased trade called for traders and transportation, and all the mechanism of banking and commerce has sprung into existence primarily to serve the wants and wishes of the tiller of the soil. Successive generations have multipHed these. Science, art and invention have contributed to the rapid development of society, and now we see a vast, complex civiHzation dependent upon mining, manufac- ture and agriculture for support. Agriculture is easily the chief of these three, because we can not live without bread, and bread grows from MAN S CHIEF PURSUIT 3 the ground. "The king himself is fed from the field." No amount of education, learning, science, invention, industry, or skill can do away with the necessity for cultivating the ground. The more these increase and flourish, the greater the need for the products of the farm. They only increase the number of non-producers to be clothed, fed and sustained by the cultivators of the soil. The farmer must feed himself and his family • as well as all these others ; so we see he is the most useful man of all. His calling, pursuit or profession is there- fore the most useful of all professions. If this is true, it should be considered the most honorable, but for many reasons it is not so considered. These reasons we shall examine later on, when you will be prepared to understand them better. Most young people and many older people think it is more desirable to be a profes- sional man, such as a physician, merchant, banker, law- yer, or the like, than to be a laboring man, and many prefer to labor at anything in the shade rather than in the sunshine. We have thus come to look upon farm- ing as the least honorable of all pursuits. The chief reason for this is the fact that we have taught our edu- cated children to go into other pursuits, and the uned- ucated, or less educated, to go to the farm. Brain controls muscle. Men will respect brain. The pursuit or profession enjoying the highest educa- tion will be the most honored. In the past Agriculture has not been taught in the common schools. In the future we hope and expect it will be. This book will try to help bring about this change. 4 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS QUESTIONS 1. What is the noblest pursuit of man? 2. When did he begin it? 3. What caused the fall of man? 4. What sentence was pronounced upon man? 5. What sentence was pronounced upon the earth? 6. What was the result? 7. How are we to live? 8. Why is this called Agriculture? 9. Whence dame other pursuits? 10. Tell how each was called for. 11. What has caused them to increase? 12. Which three pursuits form the foundation? 13. Which is the chief of these? 14. Can anything take its place? 15. What is the effect of the growth of other industries and of population? 16. What profession is the most useful, and wliy? 17. How does it rank? 18. How should it rank? 19. How do young people feel about it? 20. What is the result? 21. Why? 22. What rules? 23. Has Agriculture been taught in the common schools? CHAPTER II. AGRICULTURE AS A SCIENCE. God has made this world by law. He has so arranged everything in it, both in the moral and phys- ical universe, that there are no accidents. All things continue to exist by definite, fixed laws. Science is what man knows about God's laws. Chem- istry is what we know about the laws that control the movements and existence of the ultimate minute atoms and molecules of matter. Physics is what we have learned of the laws that regulate larger bodies of mat- ter. Hence we speak of the Science of Chemistry, the Science of Physics, meaning not all that God knows about these things, but what we have learned of His laws concerning them. The earth, or soil, was created and adapted to cause seed to germinate, or sprout, and grow under certain conditions. Seeds are so made that under certain con- ditions they will sprout and grow in the soil. Neither of these operations takes place by accident. Both always take place according to laws. These laws are fixed, definite and certain in their action. Seeds do not produce plants until the essential conditions are complied with. When these conditions or laws of life, one and all, are fulfilled, they produce plants and seed after their kind and then die; but when these con- ditions are wanting or when they are violated, the seeds AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS die before they have completed their work, or produce sickly plants, of little value. These conditions are laws which God has made, and by which plants grow. They are laws as definite as the laws of chemistry or of physics, or those of any other science. We know many of them as clearly and certainly as we know «. - 1 F 'HMHil^^^F''Vn!b ^'Vji^ ''^VHOwai Sft m »-, '- ll^.*te*fl IN PASTURES GRBBN. the laws of any other science. Therefore we are justi- fied in saying that Agriculture is a science. Not only is this true, but it is the greatest of all physical sciences. All of the others are more or less related to and grow out of this science. Chemistry is largely a science of the growth and uses of plants and soils and of the elements that enter into soil composition and plant life. Physics is largely a knowledge of the laws that con- trol the elements of plant life, growth and utilization. AGRlCUWURE AS A SCIENCE ^ Heat, light, electricity, moisture, winds, gaseous move- ments, and such, are all contributory to healthy plant growth. Agriculture does not stop with the study of soils and plants, but has much to do with animal life and develop- ment. "All flesh is grass ' and the growing, handling, care and utilization of animals is a very important part of every successful farmer s work. Bee-farming, poul- try-farming, dairy-farming, cattle-growing, and many more instances, show that animal industries are a part of farm economy The insects and birds contribute to oiu" success or failure as they are harmful or helpful. Even microscopic life often enters largely into the account of success or failure All the way from the microscopic to the telescopic worlds, we are much concerned. The heavens are scanned and the seasons foretold and "weather probabilities' forecast for our benefit. Agriculture touches all nature when the interest of living man is considered It is indeed the greatest of all sciences. No other science proposes to take the unor ganized and organize it, to give life to the sleeping germ and growth to the silent dust. If it does not create, it brings us into the closest contact with the Creator. To know the laws which govern the life, health and growth of plants and animals is to know the science of Agriculture QUESTIONS 1 What is the subject of this chapter? 2 How has God made everything? 3 What is a science? 4 What is chemistry? 5 What IS physics ? 6 What do we mean by the science of each ? 7 What is 8 AGRICUI^TURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS the relation of soil to seed? 8. What of seed to soil? 9. How do they act toward each other? 10. What are the laws of seed life? 11. Are they certain? 12. May we know them? 13. What do we conclude? 14 How does Agriculture rank as a science? 15. What of chemistry and Agriculture? 16. What of physics and Agricultixre? 17. Does Agricdlture concern itself with animal life? 18. Why? 19. Does it relate to insects and birds? 20. What about microscopic life? 21. How far does the science of Agriculture extend? 22. What does it propose? CHAPTER III. SOMETHING OF THE HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. We can not give space for anything like a com- plete history, nor can we get satisfactory information if we had the room. Agriculture has received very little attention from historians. We get glimpses here and there which throw some light upon its condition through all the ages past. In the times of which Moses wrote, some enor- mous crops were grown in Egypt, but very little is said about the methods used. It seems to have been the exceeding richness of the soil that lay along the Nile, rather than the methods of cultivation. But we are not- at liberty to conclude that the grapes of Eshcol were a wild growth. In after years the chil- dren of Israel made the land of Canaan yield such abundant crops of all kinds that we must believe that their methods of culture were not very crude. That country will not to-day support one tenth of the population which then lived in great luxury on it. The Romans gave great attention to their farms. Many of their best statesmen and orators prided themselves upon their skill in conducting their farms and the beauty of their country homes. Virgil gives a minute description of their fruit farms. lO AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS But we find the oldest nations, like the Chinese, still pursuing very crude methods of farming. They use the poorest of implements and exhibit but little skiU and science in the matter. So of many other old countries, which pride themselves in the fact of their history covering many centuries. We feel justified in saying that the people who have farmed best have been the strongest people, and have had most influence upon the world's his- tory and growth in all that is good. But the Science of Agriculture is a new science. Little seems to have been known of soil adaption to plant production until comparatively recent years. The study of the laws of plant germination and growth is still more recent. It has been hardly half a century since this study took definite shape and systematic form. The application of plant analysis to the products of the farm, and thereby finding the wants of plants and how they are to be supplied, has wrought a revolu- tion in farming. We no longer grow plants as if it were by acci- dent. We may now know what any plant wants for breakfast, and how it will have it served. We know many of the laws which regulate plant life. Since we have entered upon this new era of farm- ing, we can teach with certainty how to succeed in many lines of Agriculture. England, Germany, France, the United States and_ all civilized nations have estabUshed schools, experiment stations and colleges for the instruction of their farmers in this great and useful science. HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE II Our government has appropriated money to main- tain one such station and college in each State and Ter- ritory. Able faculties are maintained in each of these colleges to teach the young men of the country to farm •scientifically. Many books are written annually and numerous joiu-nals published to help spread this valuable knowl- edge among those who can not go to the schools and colleges, and perhaps in a few years the science and art of Agriculture will be taught to some extent in every public school in this nation. They are already so taught in England, France and Canada. This little book hopes to assist in this work. So we see this science, so long neglected or little known, after having slumbered for nearly six thou- sand years, now, at the dawn of the last century of the six thousand years, coming right to the front and claiming to be equal in importance to any. The chemistry side of Agriculture has akeady demanded and received serious attention, and books on that subject flood the market. What is needed now is a few good books, written by men of large experience in farming, on the practical side of this great subject. The laws are known and the theories are numer- ous and good. We need to have the theory put into practice, so as to show its correctness and value. QUESTIONS. 1. What does this chapter discuss? 2. Is the history complete? 3 What do we learn from Moses? 4. What about Canaan under the Israelites? 5. What of its present condition? 6. What of Roman 12 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS farming? 7. What of China and other old countries? 8. What may we say? 9. Is the science old? 10. How far back does plant study go? II. What has this study wrought? 12. What do we know of it? 13. What can we teach? 14. What have civilized nations done for it ? 15. What has the United States done? 16. What of books? 17. What are colleges and schools doing? 18. What is the present condition of the science of Agriculture? 19. What is chemistry doing? 20. What do we need? CHAPTER IV. THE SOIL. Having considered the general subject in its rela- tion to other sciences, and proven, as we think, the right of Agriculture to be called a science, and given a very brief outline of its history, we will take up the subject itself. The first thing in fact and importance is the soil. This is the farmer's capital. He can do no business at all without it. If he has no soil, he can do no farm- ing. If he has a fair quality of soil, he can do fairly good farming. If he has a good, rich soil, he can farm with pleasure and profit. The soil is the foundation. Without it he can not build at aU. With it he may build all kinds of failures or successes, as he works with intelligence or ignorance. What, then, is the soil? Where does it begin? Where does it end? What is it made of? These and many other questions must be answered before the farmer will know exactly how to proceed. The soil is the top of the earth. It has no fixed depth, color or fertility. All of these vary in differ- ent places, and may be made to vary at any place. We speak of soil and subsoil as though they were very different. This is not always the case. We generally call that part of the earth soil which is more or less loose and colored. Generally this color is a 14 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS little darker than the earth below. This coloring has been given to the soil by the rotting of vegetable matter. It is not a necessary quality of soil, but a deep dark color generally shows that the soil is ready to make large crops. We commonly say it is rich. The looseness is caused, in forest lands, by the roots. The living roots have forced the particles apart. The dead roots have rotted and left holes. Dead and rotted leaves and branches have helped to do the same, and numerous worms and insects have also aided in the work. In the cultivated fields the looseness has been caused by plows, harrows, decaying roots, and similar work by worms and insects, and the parts of harvested crops which are left in the fields also give looseness and color to the soil. There is no fixed line between soil and subsoil. The subsoil begins at the bottom of the soil, whether that be deep or shallow. These terms are relative, not absolute. When any part of the earth's crust or surface has become loose and ready to give up its plant food, that part is soil. Any part below which is hard and holds its plant food in a condition in which plants can not readily use it, is called subsoil. Some- times we find the subsoil at the surface. This is seen on the hiUsides where the rains have washed the soil away. The action of air, sunshine, heat, cold, and moisture will soon turn the exposed subsoil into service- able soil. Not only do depth and fertility differ at different places, but they may be made to differ greatly at any given place. THE soil, 15 The soil on hillsides is generally shallow, because the looser parts are readily carried away by winds and rains. Such soil is apt to be poor also, because the finer parts are the richer parts, and as they ate taken away the soil is left poorer. Exactly the reverse is the case in low places, in the upland fields, and in the bottom lands along the streams. Water and winds have been for ages depositing the finer par- ticles, taken from the hills, in these valleys until they are very rich. Sometimes the soils in such places are several feet deep. The annual overflow of the Nile deposited the soil brought from the hills and mountains of interior Africa upon the sands of Egypt, and thus made the soil very rich. These plains have produced enor- mous crops of grain since the days of Joseph, and con- tinue to do so still. The Mississippi does a similar work in our own country. The soil along the basin through which this "Father of Waters" flows is of unknown depth and inexhaustible fertility. So, you see, we have soils of all depths, from the Mississippi Delta to the naked hill — from a hundred feet to nothing. The soil was made from the subsoil, and the same agencies which have done this work in the past are still active. We can help them in this' work. By studying any cultivated field, we will find that just below the soil is a hard subsoil. This is the result of the pressure of the mule's foot, the man's foot, and the plow's foot upon the subsoil. This is very often too wet, when the top soil is not too wet. When we stir 1 6 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI;.•.! •.■;i -'-Sim'':, i 1 ad Si fi 1 lll^' A BEAUTIFUL HOME. this they do in the ordinary way of human business life. But many farmers of set purpose invest their money in any and everything except building up their farms. All surplus money should go back into the farm in such a way as to build up and improve it. There are many ways to do this. Get better tools, so that you can do better work. Buy better stock, and thus improve your herds and stalls. XJse njore manure. INVESTING PROFITS 121 better culture, and improve your soil. Build better houses. Add to your household conveniences, so as to lighten the housewife's work. This is not extrava- gance. The farm is your capital. You only enrich yourself when you add to its value. Farming is your business. Improving your farm is adding to your business. You get larger returns from every improve- A PROSPEROnS FARM YARD. ment. The farm is your bank. If you increase your deposits, you can draw more upon it without risk. The farm is your home. The more attractive you make it, the greater will be your enjoyment of life. It is your wife's abiding place. You should use every effort to make her happy. Here your children grow up. If home life be happy and youth be joyous, they will abide with or near you in later years. Buy good books, musical instruments and paintings. Cultivate the minds and eyes of your children. Keep 122 AGRICUIvTURE FOR THg COMMON SCHOOLS good chickens, fat pigs, colts, calves, and lambs. Cultivate flowers and fruit trees. Teach your children industry and economy, but not toil and stinginess. I have seen a farmer, brown and sunburnt, get into his rattletrap buggy, with tied-up harness, holding a hickory stick to beat the ill fed bones, without over- coat or umbrella, drive off to town to look after his storehouses, bank buildings, railroad stocks, and such investments. Behind him he left a tattered house, paint gone, blinds hanging, panes out, yard fence down, flowers eaten up by cows, and so on. As soon as his children grew up they left the farm, and the best of all his investments was gone — gone to the over- crowded city, reeking with vice and sin; gone to be swallowed up in the passing throng, rushing on to ruin; gone from the farm and a mother's broken heart. Such men make a wrong investment of their profits. The best possible investment a farmer can make is to leave behind him a better farmer, to enjoy a better farm. Make a happy home, and leave it to happy children. QUESTIONS. 1. What is the subject of this chapter? 2. Should there always be a profit? 3. Why? 4. How many grains come from one wheat, oat, melon, or small seed? 5. How many from cotton? 6. What do these give the farmer? 7. What has become of his profits? 8. What should he do with them? 9. How can he do this? 10. What is the farm to the farmer? 11. What will result from this cause? 12. Describe what we sometimes see. 13. What follows this scene? 14. What is the best investment? CHAPTER XXII. FARM LABOR. The class of labor that can be used on the farm differs very much in different parts of the country. We write of the labor of the South. We have very peculiar surroundings here. We must write of things as they are. We might like them to be different, but we must do what we can with them as we find them. Negroes constitute a very large part of our population. They were made free citizens by the result of the war between the States. Without any previous training, they were made self-supporting free men in theory. In reaUty they have never become self-supporting. They had no knowledge of anything except farm work. To this they had been reared, but they were in no sense skilled farm laborers. The white man had always done the thinking for them. From the very necessities of both races, the negro has been the farm laborer of the South. He knows nothing else, and we can use him in no other way so well. He loves city life. Idleness and company are congenial to his nature. From hand to mouth suits his genius. But the most of his kind are on the farms. How shall we use him, has been and is the vexing question. There are three principal ways of deal- ing with him : First. — Working on shares. Under this system the landowner furnishes the land, the stock, the tools, 124 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS and the feed for the stock, and the seed for planting. He also provides a house, rent-free, furnishes firewood and water. The laborer only furnishes the work. He feeds himself and works the crop. The crop is divided equally after paying for the guano, ginning, and bagging and ties. It is clear at a glance that this is a one-sided trade. The landowner risks every- thing. The laborer risks nothing. In the large majority of cases the latter has no supplies for himself and family, and no credit. The land- owner must furnish these and take the risk of get- ting his pay out of the • crop when it is gathered. In such cases the laborer collects and consumes his share of the crop day by day before it is made. He runs no risk whatever. If, from any reason, providential or otherwise, the crop should fail, he has already gotten about what it was expected to make with a good season. In thousands of instances he has fallen behind at the end of the year, and the landowner had no way of making himself whole. The laborer was under no obligation to stay and try to do better. If he staid, he generally did worse the A GROUP OF LABORERS. Parm labor 125 second year. So he has packed up and gone to do some stranger the same way the next year. Millions have been lost in this way every year by Southern farmers. Many of them have lost their farms. This system, with sHght modifications, is still practiced by a great many, simply because they do not see their A TENANT HOUSE. way clear to do otherwise. It is objectionable from almost every standpoint. It is a partnership with no community of interests, no equality of risks, and no guarantee to the party furnishing everything. Under this system the laborer sells his labor high. Many shrewd young white men have seen this, and soon made enough money to buy out the landowner. This vicious system is one of the great drawbacks to pros- perity among Southern farmers. It offers a premium to laziness, theft and all sorts of bad farming. It 126 AGRICULTURE ifOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS would not live if we were not land-poor. We think we must work all the land, but in these cases the land had better be turned to grass. Yet this numerous class produce a large part of the enormous cotton crop which keeps the price down. They know how to grow cotton. They know nothing else. They can divide this, sell and be gone. Second. — The next system is the renting of land for part of the crop, or for so much money. The large majority rent for cotton. A one-horse farm, from thirty to forty acres, is rented for two bales or one thousand pounds of lint cotton, of middling grade. This price was considered about fair when cotton was bringing about ten cents per pound. A two-horse farm rents for two thousand pounds. The renter is expected to furnish himself and family and the horse- power, guano and other expenses. In very many cases, however, the renter has nothing and no credit^ and the landowner must furnish him everything or stand responsible to the merchant who furnishes him. So the entire risk faUs upon the landowner at last. If the crop fails or falls short, the renter is not hurt. The owner must bear the loss. This very often occurs. With cotton selling at four to five cents, the land will hardly pay taxes and keep up repairs. It is a serious question, whether to go on or stop. This system was adopted when prices were up. It is ruinous when prices are down. But it is hard to change customs. The low price hurts the tenant also. Some prefer to rent for part of the crop — say one-third of the grain and one-fourth of the cotton. This seems FARM I,ABOR 127 to distribute the risk more evenly, but here, as else- where, the furnisher generally has the burden to bear. Our laborers are so shiftless and own so little that they can rarely lose their part of the loss. The sharer or renter represents the labor. If he is a good farmer, active, industrious, and honest, these plans may work very well. All depends upon the man. Very little upon the land. Experience shows that the large majority of the renters under either of the above sys- tems care nothing for the landowner's interest. It is all the same to them if the land washes away and fences fall to decay. They lose nothing if the houses rot down, or the ditches in the lowlands all fill up. In the inefficiency of the labor lies the chief cause of the poor farming of the South. Land is plentiful and cheap. The careless laborer knows he can easily find another home. The less character he has, the more promises he is willing to make ; hence the trifling class often get the best homes. Farmers have not yet learned to require certificates of character from those who want their land. If they could reach a concerted plan of action, requiring every renter to show that he has settled squarely with former employers, a new era would dawn upon Southern farming. Third. — The last and least used plan is to hire the laborer for stated wages. The landowner then gives personal attention to the farm. This plan is the best from every consideration. The owner's eye and brain direct everything. The laborer is paid for what he does, and is sure of his pay. Both parties are stimulated to do good work. The owner keeps up his houses, t28 AGRicuivYURE If OR The; Common Schools fences, ditches, levels, and tools. Every detail is looked after. The laborer is cheerful and obedient. An air of comfort and prosperity is apt to prevail. These are the men who are making money, as a rule. Why, then, does not this system prevail and the others fall into disuse? The causes are numerous and hard to overcome. _J • ^^^ JH Mu ^^^^^^ sH^^ ^HM^/MHH WSKSSSn ^^fei^^j^mA ^^ '^„ ^^^^Sife^^S HpS^^^ ^^^^- ~^^Mn I^^^P E#: i:m w ^ THE FARM DESOLATE AND FORLORN. THIS DRIVES THE 30T FROM THE FARM. Very many of our landowners do not live on their farms. They prefer to live in the cities and villages, and to follow other pursuits. Many of them know but Httle about farming, and care less. They rent for so much, exact the rent, and care but little how it is produced. Many of them had once Uved on their farms, but for want of chiu-ch, school, and social privileges they have left' them. The two leading causes of this condition are — too much land FARM LABOR 129 and too many negroes. The negroes, as already said, furnish the largest part of farm labor. The man who works liis farm for wages must depend almost entirely upon negroes for labor. Hence his dealings and associations must be largely with them. THIS DRAWS THE BOV TO THE CITY. If his children are brought up to work on the farni, they are thrown in daily contact with negroes. This state -of affairs is not congenial to white people. The two races do not and can not mingle socially, so the white man goes to town and leaves the negro to run the farm. This is a disagreeable truth to face and to state, but it is a reaUty. While it remains. South- em farming must suffer in every detail. 130 AGRICUI^TURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI^ Perhaps, after all, one of the leading troubles in this and every system of labor with us is the want of technical education among our farmers. Farm Ufe has not been found attractive by our brightest and best young men. General education has not fitted them to succeed on the farm, and they have gone into other pursuits. Farming has been left to chance. The wonderful discoveries and advances made in Agriculture have not been taught to our farmers. Hence they are behind. We need to realize that farm- ing is a science as well as an art, and that both the science and the art can be taught and learned. We are criticised and blamed for many things for which we are not to blame. Our sturoimdings and the difficulties growing out of them are not understood. The difficulties of our labor system are at the bottom of all of our failures. When these shall have been fully adjusted, the South will enter a new era of pros- perity; oiur storehouses of farm possibilities wiU be thrown open, and our fair land will bloom as a garden. FARM I^ABOR 131 QUESTIONS. 1. Is farm labor the same everywhere? 2. Why is Southern labor peculiar? 3. What sudden change? 4. Why is the negro necessarily ^ farm laborer? 5. Is he skilled? 6. What is the vexing question? 7, What is the share system? 8. Why is it . one-sided ? 9. What must the owner often do? 10. What result in thousands of cases? 11. Why do we continue it? 12. What are the objections? 13. What else results? 14. What is the renting system? 15. What should the renter furnish ? 16. What does he furnish ? 17. What often results? 18. How do some rent? 19. What is the usual experience? 20. What is the cause of poor farming in the South? 21. What should be required of renters? 22. What is the third system? 23. Why is it best? 24. What does the owner do? 25. What results? 26. Why does this not prevail? 27. What are the two leading causes ? 28. Who are the wage hands ? 29. What is the result upon the whites ? 30. What is the leading trouble? 31. What kind of education is needed ? 32. Can farming be taught and learned? 33. What lies at the bottom of bad farming in the South? CHAPTER XXIII. FARM IMPLEMENTS. The plow is, and ever must be, the most impor- tant farm tool. The ground must be broken up before we do any other farm work in the soil. All that has been said about preparation and culture includes the idea of the busy plow. Plows are made to do different kinds of work. They may be found of every sort and shape, from the forked stick to the sulky cultivator. The idea is, power in front, a man behind, and a tool for tearing the soil between. The ancients used a wooden fork with a tip of iron on it. Such plows are still in use among uncivilized nations. Sometimes this rude machine is pulled by man power. In many countries oxen are used. The mule is in the majority, but in many places steam engines are now used to move the plows. The kind of plow used is a pretty fair index of education. When the object is to simply loosen the soil, the common rooter has been almost universally used. When the soil is covered with vegetable matter which we wish to mingle with the soil, then we use the turn plow. All soils not being the same, the same plow does not do equally good work everywhere. Hence, we have a variety of shapes given to the wing, or turning part, of the plow. Hundreds of different turn plows FARM IMPIvBMBNTS 133 have been patented. It would be difficult to choose among many of these. This is not our object. What we wish to insist upon is the use of a good plow. Much attention has been given to getting a plow which will do a given amount of work with the least draft upon the team. Plows differ greatly in this respect. Some force the ground apart by main strength. Others cut and turn it scientifically. Some twist the roll of sod partly over. Some turn it entirely upside down. Sometimes you wish to do one way, at other times the other way; but be sure to have a good plow, whether you wish to do one way or the other. Plows range in form from the Chinaman's wooden stick, with its iron tip, to the Welchman turn plow, which, by going' twice around in the same furrow, cuts twenty-six inches deep. Get the best one, two, four or six-horse plow and use it so as to get and keep the greatest possible depth of soil. In this way you pave the way for other improved implements. Harrows are plows with many small blades, for shallow work. Here again we have an almost endless variety. Every conceivable shape and combination has been tried, from the wooden beam, with a few pegs driven in, to the steel frame with elastic steel teeth. Perhaps you will need several of these. Some to scratch, some to smooth, and some to cut. The object generally is to make fine the soil turned up by the plow. This work can not be done too often or too well. To make dust of the soil is desirable and profit- able. Often we need harrows to break the crust and destroy weeds and grass. They are great labor-saving 134 AGiaCULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS A BINDER AT WORK ON A SOUTHERN FARM. MAKING HAY. Farm implements 135 machines. They enable one man and one team to do the work of several. Some harrows are so made as to be used in covering grain, and enable the farmer to do this very rapidly and nicely. Sometimes they have seeding and guano-distributing attachments. These machines do the work of several hands at once. Those of another form are called cultivators, and are so con- structed as to greatly simplify the work of cultivating many of our crops. Planters have almost entirely done away with hand planting. They do the work more rapidly, accurately and cheaply than can be done by hand. They are so con- structed as to put seed all along in a continuous row, or drop them at any required distance in hills. By using different attachments, some of them may be made to plant almost any kind of seed. Manure spreaders are so arranged that they grind up or tear to pieces the coarse barnyard manures and distribute them quite evenly over the fields. The work is much better done than can be done by hands and forks. Here, as in all good machines, there is a great saving in labor. Mowing machines, horse rakes, hay tedders, stackers and unloading conveniences are so well known and appreciated that we need only mention them as a part of the march of progress on the farm. No farmer would think of harvesting a large crop of hay by hand. Hay presses make it possible to handle hay with great ease, and greatly reduce the storage room required, but a cheap power press is still much to be desired. Inventive genius has done wonders in solving the 136 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS If ARM IMPL^MENI'S 137 question of handling small grain. From cutting with the hand sickle, separating with the flail, or horses' feet, and winnowing with the wind, we have advanced until now the grain is cut by the self-binder and deliv- ered ready for the shock, or cut, threshed and sacked ready for the miller. These wonderful machines are run by self -traveling engines, propelling themselves and the machinery. These are used only on large grain fields. Yet they are a part of the farm equip- ment possible, and affect the price of the grain pro- duced. The handhng of the corn crop is being greatly simplified. Instead of the labor of pulling the fodder and ears by hand, shucking and shelling in the same laborious way, the machine does it well-nigh all. The stalk is cut and fed to the shredder. This machine takes off the ears, shells and sacks the grain, and shreds the stalk, shucks and blades into excellent hay. In gathering and preparing cotton for the market, comparatively Httle advance has been made. We still pick it by hand, gin it with saw gins, and bale it in rude packages, unwieldy and unsightly. Many machines have been invented claiming to pick cotton. So far they have failed. Efforts are being made to separate the Hnt from the seed without cutting, but the problem is not yet solved New processes are being tried for the improvement of the bales. Invent- ive genius may yet succeed along these lines. As soon as the cotton leaves the producer's hands, all this is changed. The huge compress takes the bale in its embrace, and hands it out reduced in size. Thus the railroads and ship companies can carry three times 138 AGRICUIvTUR^ FOR tUt COMMON SCHOOtS as many, and the cost of transportation is thereby greatly reduced. When we enter the cotton factory, we find ourselves in wonderland. Marvelous machines, that almost seem to think and speak, manipulate this fiber of the farm into a thousand useful fabrics. So we find at every step, from the hoe handle to the steam thresher, improved machinery which enables A FACTORY. the farmer to cut down his expenses, do better work, and run up his profits. It would be just as sensible to expect the traveling public to abandon the Pullman sleeper for the old-time lumbering coach and six, as to expect a farmer who understands his opportunities to continue his old way of farming. The manufacturer could as well afford to exchange the spinning jenny and power loom for the old-time hand spinning wheel FARM IMPI^EMENTS 1 39 and hand-shuttle loom, as the farmer of to-day can afford to ignore the mower and reaper. The author of this Uttle book remembers helping, in his boyhood days, to build the rail pen and spread the grain thereon, and blistering his hands beating out the grain with a hand flail. How he enjoyed riding the horses around and around when the tread- ing yard supplanted the rail pen. Then came the simple thresher and winnowing fan; next, the trav- eling horse-power thresher; then the steam engine and separator. He has served his day with each of these. • If such wonderful improvements have been made during one short lifetime, what may we not expect in the days to come. Young farmer, keep up with the procession. You can not afford to be left behind. Conservative men always abound. They -are more numerous among farmers than any other pro- fession. This grows out of our isolation. We must not listen to doubters and croakers. " Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good." In no field of hmnan enterprise has inventive genius done more in the last half -century than in the improvement of farm implements. Use the best in every line. Tools left out in stmshine and rain lose, in a few years' time, more in value than it would cost to build a shelter. The wooden parts very soon begin to decay. The iron and steel rust, and are thus injured. The oxygen in the air is no respecter of men or tools. Its gnawing tooth is never idle. A little care spent in keeping tools of all kinds well painted, will be found to pay well. This is particularly true of the wooden I40 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS FARM IMPLEMENTS I4I parts, but often applies to the metal also. No skill is required in doing this kind of painting. The paint can be purchased ready mixed, of any desired color. Any- one can put it on. It will pay to do this about once a year on tools that are much used. This work can be done on rainy days, or other odd times, without inter- fering with the regular work. It requires more human strength and animal power to do sorry work with a sorry tool than it does to do good work with a good tool. We do not advise buying everything new that is offered, but when a tool has been tried and proven to. do more work or better work, or both, if the price is reasonable, you want that tool. Always require a guarantee that the machine will do what it claims to do. The market is at all times full- stocked with failures and humbugs. Farmers have caught their full share of these bugs. In buying new and improved implements, we must always have due regard to the intelligence of the laborer who is to use them. An edged tool in the hands of a fool is often a dangerous thing. This consideration again emphasizes the need of a technical education among farmers. An educated brain iS a power. A trained hand is valuable. Unite both of these in one man, and you have the possibility of doing wonders. In such cases the brain gives increased utility to the machine, and the machine gives increased capacity to the brain. Machinery does not require feeding or clothing, hence it is generally more economical than hand labor. If kept in order and properly handled, it never makes mistakes. 142 AGRICUI^TURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI^S Another line of farm implements consists of plow, wagon and machine harness. Much of the eflBciency of the teams and hands often depends upon the quality and condition of the harness, and many costly mis- haps can be traced to worn-out, broken harness. Oil is cheap, and if well used, will greatly increase the length of time harness will wear. A few simple tools, a good piece of tough leather, and a few copper rivets and loose links will save many times their cost. " Everything in its place and a place for everything," is a maxim of great value when applied to farm tools of all kinds. Order in this department will help in every stage of farm work. QUESTIONS. 1, What is the most important tool? 2. Whatis a plow? 3. What power is used? 4. What kind of plow is best ? 5. Is any style equally good everywhere? 6. What has demanded attention? 7. What range do plows take? 8. What should we do? 9. What is a harrow? 10. Have we many kinds? 11. What do we need? 12. Do they save labor? 13. What combinations are made ? 14. How is planting mostly done? 15. What are manure spreaders? 16. What other machines are named? 17. What is needed? 18. What is said of improved har- vesters? 19. How are some of them run? 20. How is com handled? 21. How is cotton gathered? 22. Is there still room for improvement? 23. How after it leaves the farm? 24. What can the farmer now do? 25. Willtheold waydo? 26. Would it do' for manufacturers? 27. How was grain cleaned? 28 Shall we expect more progress? 29. What prevails among farmers? 30. What shou)d they do? 31. How should tools be cared for? 32. Should paint be used? 33. Why? 34. What requires most labor? 35. What is advisable? 36. What must be considered? 37. What does this emphasize? 38. Why is machine labor cheaper? 39. What else helps ? 40. What is a good motto here? CHAPTER XXIV. FARM ANIMALS. This chapter will treat of the animals needed to keep the farm work done. It is not intended to discuss growing animals as an industry or for sale for profit. Every farmer must have and use some animal power in the work of the farm. Human strength is inade- quate to do this, for the soil is compact, and force is needed to tear it loose and break it up. Animals are needed for this work. The time may come when steam or electricity may do much of it. With us the mule is the chief motive power of the farm. He is healthy, easily kept, strong and generally a steady, reliable animal. There is a fitness of things between the mule and the negro. The adjustment seems complete. The negro is always happy riding or driving his mule. The mule can do much more work on the same quantity of food than the horse. He does n' t require so much attention. He has some ways that are peculiar. The position and movements of his heels are very imcertain, and will always bear watch- ing. If he does not like you on his back, you are not apt to stay there, nor to select your way of going. The chief recommendation for the mule is his power to stand rough usage. The annual outgo of money from the South for mules is very heavy. Atlanta i3 said to be the second 144 AGRICUI^TURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOIvS largest mule market in the United States. This is not a necessary expense. It is the result of bad habits and erroneous teaching. The mule grows as well anywhere in the South as in Kentucky. When we gave all our THE MOTIVE POWER OF THE FARM. time and thought and land to cotton, we did not have the grass to make mule-raising profitable. Cotton is no longer worthy of our whole attention. We can now grow grass as cheaply and abundantly as any section of the country. With our Bermuda grass, we have the best faciUties for stock-raising of all kinds. When two years old, the mule is ready to begin work. FARM ANIMATES 145 With proper arrangements, twenty-five dollars will cover all expenses for these two years. A well grown two-year-old mule sells for any-where from sixty-five dollars to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. I^et us ^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^iO^^VH 1 ^^^^^f^^^^^Hr^iiflH^I J^BH ^H ^^^H^^r^-^ J^H '^ ^^^^^^^^H ^^^^H ^^^HIh^J^H jjfo-'i"'^-' ^^'~ :::;jflii^ ' - . -^^^^^1 ^^^H ^^^^^^|^^^K|^B^P^£^:^H8^HRk> ;^^H^^^| ■ ^HHHh^ ' --w^^w m ^KJEB^^i^^^^^fe.^ md ^^B[BBM^Hpi|B^^d|^Mti^«B |§BBm ^^^^^^BKI^BMS^s^Ss^K^^^^^^^^^^^^^ S^^^B ^^^^^^B^SKSs^Wt'^ftS^"'??^ wK^?r!S^lc.^J^^a>c^«Sf^3 SS^^^B THE PRIDE OF THE FAMILY. break off the old habit of buying everything, and raise our own supply of mtiles. Horses are preferred for some work. They are more pleasant for road purposes. As nearly every family wishes to enjoy church-going privileges, and the like, many keep horses and mules. What we have said 146 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS about raising our own mules is largely true of horses. Horses are not ready for use so early, and are not so tough as mules, hence they cost more — about twice as much. Home-raised horses are better in many respects than those brought from the North. The latter are liable to several diseases and require close and intelligent attention. Yet, with all these draw- backs, we can raise much cheaper than we can buy. There is one style of horse very much needed and not often found^-the all-round farm horse, a horse with fair speed on the road, good pulling qualities in the wagon, and easily kept in fair condition. He should be intelhgent, docile, and durable. A plow horse, a wagon horse, a harness horse for family use, and withal fairly good under the saddle, is a rare com- bination. But he is needed, and the breeder who pro- duces him will make a fortune and bless mankind. Too much attention has been given to the development of speed alone. Speed is a good quaUty, but not the only one needed. Farmers should have fine blooded brood mares, and then give close attention to the sires. Almost any desired result may be reached by patient study and care. No good farmer should be satisfied with scrubs. The Southern crab grass has no equal as a food for colts. Our climate is all that can be desired. Nothing wiU so attach your boy to the farm as a fine young horse of his own raising. But power is not all we need on the farm. Food other than vegetables must be provided. The cow comes to our rescue and offers us a wide range of delicacies as well as substantials. PARM ANIMALS I47 There are no substitutes for good fat beef, raised and killed at home> No shipped Western beef, how- ever well prepared it is, equals the farmer's fatted calf. A few neighbors can provide each a few beeves and forna a little club, and so arrange as to enjoy such a luxury in this line as no city man can buy. There are some things money can not buy, and this is one of SLOW, BUT SURE. them. There is no substitute for milk, unless it is more milk. Sweet milk, not skimmed or watered, and buttermilk — afresh from the spring house — are at once the essentials and luxuries of life. Butter, one of the articles of almost universal use, is another luxury that every farmer can enjoy. Fresh from the churn, spread upon a hot com hoecake, or upon a well baked sweet potato, or upon a fat barbe- cued hen, would tempt the appetite of a sick man and make many sick men well. 148 AGRIClJl,TtJRS I^OR fHfi COMMON SCHOOtS Cheese, made from the milk, with or without the cream, forms another great article of human food and commerce. So the gentle cow gives us almost all the food needed for health and strength. The patient ox must not be left out of this list. He pulls anything, whether it be a plow or a stump-puller, or a loaded wagon or a steam engine. Strong, sturdy. -w^rrf EVOLUTION OF THE KANSAS STEER. patient, reliable, slow but sure, he is an important annex to the motive power on the farm. The great prophet of Israel, when called to teach mankind through all the ages, was plowing with "twelve yoke of oxen, and he with the twelfth." That plow must have been doing some pretty good work. We have already spoken of the value of the cow as a manure pro- ducer. This is no small point in her value. It is almost impossible to make a farm rich without her. We need FARM ANIMAI/S 149 many another on our Southern farms. And when at last her race is run, and her earthly work seems well done, her hide enters into new channels of utihty, and furnishes us with one of the articles most needed for our comfort and health. The shoe and leather market could not go on without the cow. Her hoofs and horns and bones are gathered, and after making scores of useful articles of necessity and luxury, the residue and waste are made into the most valuable of all commercial fertilizers. We can not even bid her farewell here, for even the very hairs on her back are numbered for some useful purpose. Verily, everything in and of her is gathered up and nothing wasted Ivet us take off our hats to this wonderful cow. Shall we leave her to suffer in snow and sleet and sliiver in the winter's cliilling blasts? In many countries she finds a room in the family dwelling. She should be shielded from the storm and shaded from the summer sun. Well fed, ,'S, ^ THE MORTGAGE LIFTER. {Courtesy of Correspondence oj Agricultural College*) 150 AGRlCULrTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS and cared for kindly, she yields more for the family comfort than any other animal. The hog is another useful farm animal, one of the indispensables of our Gentile civihzation. He is valued almost entirely for food. By good attention, he will be ready for market at about one year old. The Western farmer finds a good profit in feeding his cheap corn to hogs, rather than selUng it. Southern farmers have been largely in the habit of buying hog products. The Southern farm laborer requires hog meat. The Southern farmer should grow his own hogs. During the reconstruction period hog thieves were so numerous that it was unprofitable to keep hogs. But law and order are better observed now, and we should at once return to a business so profitable. Very little care is needed. Provide a pasture with water. Plant grotmdpeas and cowpeas, chufas, clover, sorghum, and potatoes, and hogs can be fed very cheaply. We can no longer afford to buy our bacon and lard. There are many breeds of hogs. Bach breeder claims to have the best. Some have one good quaHty, others another ; experience alone can decide. The required points for a good farm hog are about these: A disposition to take on fat at an early age, rapid growth, early maturity, and good health. Mixed breeds are often better than any pure breed for ordi- nary farm purposes. Hogs should be well fed from the start. The first three months are very important. They should be kept free from vermin. Coal oil will do this. The food should be changed to prevent cholera. FARM ANIMALS 151 Turnips seem to have great value in making them healthy, and preventing cholera. Hogs survive almost any amount of neglect and bad treatment, but they pay well for good keeping and comfortable quarters. The droppings are very rich in plant food, and well worth looking after. THE CLOTmER. Sheep are easily kept, and pay well on Southern farms. There is but one drawback to sheep-growing: dogs are very fond of their blood, and often destroy so many that few farmers care to try to keep sheep. Numerous efforts have been made to get a law passed by our legislators that would abate this nuisance. When this is done, we expect to see sheep on nearly every farm. They increase rapidly, require but httle food or shelter, and pay well either in wool-growing or 152 AGRICUI/TURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI/S mutton. Yearling lambs sell readily for double the cost of keeping. A good clip of wool -will bring almost as much as the flock is worth. Scarcely any other farm industry will pay so large a per cent, of profit. All that is needed is pasturage for summer, and in winter a cheap shelter, a little cotton seed and salt. Fowls of different kinds, such as chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, need scarcely be mentioned as part of the equipment of the farm. Almost every farmer keeps one or more kinds of poultry, and they furnish timely assistance to the housekeeper; for eggs and spring friers are prized very highly by every family. The farmer scarcely misses the food needed to' keep up the poultry. They pick up the waste around the house and the cow lots, and devour milUons of eggs and yotmg of hurtful insects and worms. One point deserves mention here. There is great difference in the breeds of chickens. A worthless chicken will eat about as much as the best. Some breeds excel in lay- ing qualities, others as mothers, and others as flesh- producers for the table. Some have a combination of these qualities. For the poultry-breeder one breed of chickens might be preferred, while for a common farm another might be better. Without advertising any- body's stock, we feel free to say that for the average farm the Plymouth Rocks, pure or mixed with many of our common farm chickens, are the chickens best suited to our pmrpose. But, however you may settle this question, there is one point you can not afford to neglect; clean roosts a;id a botmtiful supply of pure water are essential to the health of any breed. PARM ANIMAIvS 153 Chickens are larger than mites, but mites are more numerous, vmless the roosts are clean. Impure water is generally the cause of cholera. We have not in this chapter tried to treat exhaust- ively of any of the farm animals. Either one of these is a good industry itself. Here we have spoken of them as giving variety to the farm productions. Any one or all of the above mentioned may be successfully grown as side helps on any well regulated variety farm. They are helps to each other, and, by decreas- ing the expense and increasing the income, they make a clear profit where otherwise there would be a clear loss. They enable the farmer to tiurn into cash the sur- plus hay and com, which would not find a profitable market, and the grass and weeds. More than this, attention to these may occupy what would otherwise be idle hours, and bring in money all along as the family expenses call for it. The Southern farmer has been dependent upon a crop which brings in cash only once a year. Hence he has fallen into the habit of buying on credit, to be paid when this cash comes in. No figures can properly show the evils and losses of this credit system. It has robbed us of our manhood and our self-respect. At the same time it has taken all the profits out of our business and made us poor. We must break loose from the tyrant debt or we can never prosper. Proper diversity in our farming can and will do this. Grow farm animals of as many kinds as you can, and in this way keep at home the money which has heretofore 154 AGRICUIvTURE POR THE COMMON SCHOOIvS left US in a steady stream, to pay for mules, horses, and for cow products. Then, when ovir cotton crop becomes in reality a money crop, we will prosper. This is the way out of the wilderness. This is the road to success. QUESTIONS. 1. What do we study here? 2. What moves the plow? 3. What is the most used? 4. What are his drawbacks? 5. How do we get mules? 6. Is this necessary? 7. What must go before stock-raising? 8. Can mules be raised cheaper? 9. Are horses desirable? 10. Can we fiurnish our own ? 11. What style of horse is needed ? 12. Is speed the chief quality? 13. What ought we to do? 14. Have we the grass? 15. What do cows furnish ? 16. How may we have good beef ? 17. What about milk? 18. What about butter? 19. What about cheese? 20. What is said of oxen? 21. How else does the cow help the farm? 22. What uses are made of her body? 23. What of her hoofs, horns and hair? 24. Should we care for her? 25. What is the value of hogs? 26. Should we buy or grow them? 27. Why did we quit? 28. How should we proceed now? 29. What breeds and qualities do we need? 30. How should they be treated? 31. Does good care pay? 32. Is manure valuable? 33. Can we grow sheep? 34. Why so few? 35. Are they profitable? 36. Can we raise poultry? 37. Will chickens pay? 38. Are they expensive? 39. What about breeds? 40. Which suits the farm? 41. What must be provided? 42. What have we tried to show in this chapter? 43. What do these farm animals do? 44. What more? 45. What has credit done? 46. How can we get rid of it? CHAPTER XXV. GRASS CULTURE. Take away the native forests, and the grass begins to grow. The seed seems to be everywhere. In many places where fire or other causes have destroyed the small trees, we find grass growing abundantly. Among the pines a tough wiregrass grows. If we cultivate a field until by washing and leaching we bring it to a state of exhaustion, and then cease to work it, grass soon covers its nakedness, and clothes it in verdme anew. Many varieties of grass will grow without any cultivation or care. Such is the disposition of the soil to grow grass that it is very difficult to keep it from injuring our crops. We constantly labor and toil to kill the grass in our fields, so that the crops may have a fair chance. From this cause, we have learned to look upon grass as an enemy to the farmer. We spend our main energy upon clean, cultured crops, such as corn and cotton. It wiU require some time and effort to bring our- selves to look upon grass as one of our best friends. The idea of growing grass as a crop seems strange to many cotton farmers. To cease to destroy, and tc begin to cultivate grass for money-making, is a revolu tion, but this is just what we should do. We are trying to make money by farming. If there is more money in growing grass than in growing cotton, we had 156 AGRICTJIyTURB FOR THE COMMON SCHOOL GRASS CULTURE 157 best grow grass. If we take ten acres of average land, prepare it for cotton, buy the usual quantity of ferti- lizers, cultivate, gather and sell the cotton, we will find that we have spent about eleven dollars per acre, or one hundred and ten dollars. The average yield is one bale of five hundred pounds for three acres. So we will have three and one-third bales, worth, at five cents, eighty-three dollars and thirty-three cents. This leaves us with a clear loss of about twenty -six dollars. If we do better than the average and get a bale to every two acres, we will have five bales, worth one hundred and twenty-five dollars. In this case we have an apparent profit of fifteen dollars, but the extra picking and ginning usually consume this. If we take the same ten acres and prepare it well, ■ and let grass — common crab grass — grow on it, we will have an expense of about forty dollars. This will yield, at a low estimate, two tons per acre, or twenty tons, worth at least ten dollars per ton, giving us two hundred dollars. Here we have a margin of one hundred and sixty dollars for profit. This may seem too high an estimate on the hay, but we have actual figures, taken from experience, more favorable. There are other points in this case. The cotton required twelve months' time and attention. This gives us about one crop for a year. The hay will grow in about four months, and leave you six months to devote to something else, and you can get a crop of small grain on the same land in the same year. This is only the native crab grass. There are other grasses that will perhaps do better. Several of them will yield 158 AGRICUI^TURB, FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI^S larger crops. Some of them will cost more to seed. Clover has been known to 3deld as much as six tons per acre during a season, giving three cuttings. To grow clover the land should be well prepared in Sep- tember. After harrowing the soil very fine, sow one peck of seed per acre. If thrown upward, it will fall deep enough into very loose soil. Some prefer to sow wheat or fall oats, and sow clover seed on after. The grain should be rather thin. Cut clover when the seed has formed, but before it ripens. If a top- dressing of land plaster is put on after each cutting, the yield will be very largely increased. Some prefer to graze after the first cutting. If not grazed too closely, clover will continue to do well for three years. Properly cured, it is very fine hay. Cut after the dew is off. Rake into windrows next day, and put up in heaps the day after. As to hauling in, much will depend upon the weather. But the grass which suits the South is Bermuda. Once set, it lives on and on. To get a good stand promptly, plow land well and run furrows two feet apart. Get the Bermuda roots cut up with an ordi- nary cutting knife, drop every two feet in the furrows and cover Ughtly. Do this work in April. If you wish it for hay, roll the land smooth. Bermuda grass will root and grow in almost any kind of soil. Manure of almost any kind will pay a profit on Bermuda. Cut as soon as the seed forms appear. Bermuda does not mature seed, but it prepares for that purpose. The haj^ is easily cured, and not apt to mould, if cut after the dew is off. The yield will depend very much upon the soil GRASS CUI.TURE 159 and tnanure. On good land six tons may be expected. It is slow to get thoroughly set on poor land, and does not like shade. Weeds and other grasses choke it down for a few years, but it is persistent and con- quers in the end. It is very tough and resists all kinds of bad treatment, but will show its appreciation of good treatment very quickly. In pasture, where the soil gets packed, it is well to run a subsoil plow under it once in three or four years, or break it up and roll it down again. Where it is kept for mowing this sort of work pays well. Experiments seem to show that an acre of land, well treated, will furnish enough feed for one cow each year. So many farmers have been afraid of Bermuda that it has had to fight its way into favor. Hence not mahy of us know what it will do, except what we have seen it do against all kinds of efforts to get rid of it. Very few have even tried to see what it would do when cultivated and manured. It will grow well in a gully, and at once stops all washing. It will grow on poor land and soon make it rich. It will flourish on rich land and yield enormously. On bottom land it seems to be at its best, as it rejoices in plenty of water. Frost only seems to take away its green color and part of its water. It is excellent feed after the frost has kiUed it. Analysis shows it to be equal to the best hays. All kinds of stock are fond of it. Horses have plowed all the summer without other feed — plow all day and turn on the Bermuda pasture at night. Cows make good beef, and give a fine flow of milk and good l6o AGRICULTURE POR THE COMMON SCHOOLS GRASS CULTURE l6l butter yields on Bermuda grass. Hogs, if kept from rooting by rings in their noses, will keep fat on it. Chickens are very fond of it. It is fine for yards and lots. Some are doubtful about it, fearing they can not get rid of it. It is shallow-growing and can not stand hard freezing, so use a two-horse plow, harrow in December and January, and it is easily destroyed. It does not seem to interfere much with the growth of other plants, tmless it forms a solid mat. So if you keep stirring the land, other crops do well even where the Bermuda is not destroyed. This grass seems to have been sent by Providence to restore the wreck and ruin brought upon Southern farms by bad man- agement. It is certainly a "restorer of the waste places." Johnson grass grows vigorously and produces large crops of excellent hay. The grass should be cut before seeding. It is then tender and easily digested. If cut at this stage, it will produce another crop in a short time. If the season is rainy, it can be cut four times. This grass spreads from roots and from seed, and hence it spreads very rapidly. The growth is vigorous, and the roots are strong. With small plows it seems to be only ctdtivated instead of destroyed. For this reason many dread it as a pest, and try to get rid of it. The roots are like cane, with very short joints. The stems shoot up from these joints. If cut in pieces, each joint may form a new center for spreading. If small plows are used, and the grass is permitted to produce seed, the spreading will be very rapid, and the yield of feed very great. l62 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS From the nature of this grass, we see two ways of destroying it when it is not wanted. If closely pas- tured, it can produce no new seed, and the roots, being called upon to furnish food to the new growth at the stem continuously, cease to spread. If this treatment is continued the second year, they become exhausted and begin to perish. Continuous pastur- ing will destroy it. The roots grow rather deep. In trying to destroy it by cultivation, we must plow below these. Good two-horse turners, rapid harrow- ing, and clean culture will get rid of it quite rapidly. Turning up, in fall, and winter harrowing hasten this, because the roots are easily frozen. Experience has shown that either of these methods will destroy John- son grass. The prejudice against this grass is not well founded. It has grown out of our bad management. The hay has not been properly valued, because we have neglected to cut it before it headed. After heading the stems quickly become woody and make poor hay. Shallow plowing has spread it when it was not wanted. Its strong growth interferes with other plants. So it has become tmpopular from the very qualities which should recommend it to our favor. A few acres of land well set in Johnson grass, and well cared for, will yield a crop equal to, if not greater than, any other crop. Professor Sessions found one hundred and seventy varieties of grass that would grow in the South. He thinks seventy of these would grow profitably. Of course, we can not discuss aU of these or any consid- GRASS CULTURE 163 erable part here. Our object is to show that grass culture may be profitable in the South; that it is not necessary to continue to buy hay; that we can grow all the hay we need in Georgia and other Southern States, and that we can and should grow hay to sell. PEAS— THE SOU. RENOVATOR. If we grow hay, there will be a market for it, proven by the fact that we are now buying thousands of tons every year. Our soil and cUmate and water supply make it practicable for us to grow as good hay as we buy, and grow it at less cost than do those we are now buying from. When we grow more hay than we have a market for, we can feed the sturplus to cattle and find a profit in that way. 1 64 AGRICtJI/TURB FOR THE COMMON. SCHOOI^ Perhaps we have left out one of the very best hay- crops of the South. The cowpea is sometimes called the clover of the South. This plant not only pro- duces very large yields of the very best quality of hay, but enriches the soil that grows the crop. Peas can be planted as an independent crop, or grown with corn, or planted after harvest in the grain fields. In either case they can be made to yield a double crop. The peas can be picked or not. Of course, the hay will be richer feed if the peas are left on the vines. Peas may be planted in hills, drills, or broadcast, as is most convenient. Curing the vines for hay is somewhat difficult. They contain so much water and nitrogen that they are apt to mould. Cut when dew is off. Next day throw them into small heaps. After two days throw sev- eral of these small heaps into one. Two or more days later, according to the weather, they may be housed. If you have grain straw, it will be well to mix in about equal quantities with pea vines. This will insure the keeping of the pea vines, and the straw will be greatly improved for feed. Some prefer to plant poles in the fields with the Hmbs left on them, and stack the vines upon these until they are thoroughly dry. There are so many methods used that every man can and must decide for himself. Pea-vine hay is fully as good as any, and is. much relished by all farm animals. Where we wish to grow grass for home consumption, we find a still more profitable field for investment. The cattle can save us the expense of cutting, housing and feeding. They GRASS CtJI^TURE 165 will gladly gather their own feed. While, getting it, they will be getting health, and making flesh, milk, butter, and so on, for our profit. Very many of our fields would yield a larger income in pasture than in cultivation. This is true of a large part of the South. But cattle must eat in winter as well as in summer. THE SILO— A GOOD FACTORY. [Alt Material Except Lime from the Farm., and we are not supplied with winter-growing grasses in sufficient quantity. The silo comes to our rescue. Here we can store away vast quantities of green feed ready for winter use. We have been considering the silo as a storage for green com only. This is a mistake. Many other feed plants may be put into the silo. Pea vines are peculiarly adapted to this use, but if we confine it to 1 66 AGRICUI/TURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS corn, this is itself a grass, and makes the oest of grass and dry hay. Fill the silo with green feed, is the idea. It would not be proper to close this chapter with- out calUng attention to the numerous millets. The German, Hungarian, cat-tail, and the sorghums are among the indispensables on any well conducted farm. They are all grasses, and very valuable as feed for stock. Chufas, groundpeas, soja, velvet, and other beans are valuable adjuncts. Let us cease kilHng ourselves to kill grass, to grow cotton, to sell at less than cost, to buy shipped dead grass with, and begin a new era of prosperity by grow- ing grass to grow cattle. In this way we will clothe the land with living green and fill the land with grow- ing food. GRASS CUI.TURE 167 QUESTIONS. 1. Where do we find grass? 2. What happens to worn fields? 3. How do we look upon grass, and why? 4. What will require effort? 5. Should we do this? 6. What will ten acres in cotton cost ? 7. What will it pay on the average? 8. If we get half a bale? 9. What will it cost in grass? 10. What will it pay? 11. What about the time? 12. Will other grasses do as well as crab grass? 13. How should clover be sown? 14. When and how often cut? 15. How cured? 16. How do we plant Bermuda? 17. How cultivate and save hay? 18. Does it spread rapidly? 19. What will help the pasture ? 20. Why have we been slow to value it? 21. How and where will it grow and yield? 22. Does frost ruin it ? 23. How does it rank as hay? 24. How as pastiu-e? 25. How can it be destroyed? 26. How does it affect other crops? 27. What seems to be its mission? 28. What is said of Johnson grass? 29. Why is it dreaded? 30. How can it be destroyed ? 31. Should we be prejudiced against it? 32. Can it be made to pay? 33. How many grasses have we? 34. What is our object here ? 35. Is there money in hay? 36. How shall we get a market? 37. What can we do with the surplus? 38. What of peas as a hay crop? 39. How can we plant peas? 40. How can we cure vines? 41. Is the hay good? 42. What pays better than hay? 43. How would much of our land pay? 44. How can we provide for winter? 45. What can we put in the silo? 46. What other valuable grasses can we grow? 47. What should we do? CHAPTER XXVI. TRUCK-FARMING. Truck-farming is a name applied to a system of farming devoted almost entirely to growing garden vegetables for sale. It is gardening on a larger scale. It is sometimes called market-gardening. The intense manuring and high culture of the kitchen garden is appUed to larger areas. The produce is generally sold in a fresh condition in a near-by town or city. Rapid transportation and refrigerating methods have made it profitable to send these fresh vegetables to quite distant markets. The great cities of the North are thus suppUed with the luxuries of the South early in the season. This has given quite a stimulus to truck- farming in the South. The tendency of salt air to keep off frosts, gives great advantage to the sea-coast regions. A few days' difference in reaching the market often makes a great difference in the price. Every method of hastening maturity is resorted to among truckers. Forcing beds, glass houses, cold frames, heat-producing manures, and early varieties of vegetables all have a bearing upon the success of the gardener. Nearness to mar- ket, rapidity of transportation, cost of carriage, and faciHties for keeping vegetables from withering and decaying, are other important points. The success- ful man must study aU of these. TRUCK-FARMING 169 Market gardeners find it pays them to use very large quantities of manure and fertilizers. They generally depend largely upon the cities near them for manure. They sometimes find it pays to haul this long distances, if the roads are good. From the larger cities, this manure is shipped out in car or train loads. This is because land near these is not sufficient and gets to be too dear. The cost of carrying manure is less than the cost of the land. Very highly manured land is warmer and hastens the maturity of vegetables. Another point of great importance to the truck- farmer is the quality of his vegetables. Sorry vege- tables are hard to sell, and do not bring paying prices. Good vegetables are always in demand and generally at paying prices. The market is never oversupplied with strictly choice articles. Please the eye and the palate, and you will find ready sale and good profit. To treat of this subject in detail would fill a good-sized book. We can only touch it here generally. But no one thing is more important to the trucker than deep, thorough work. He must grow large crops on small areas to get a profit on his high-priced land and heavy manuring. More than this, he must grow several successive crops on the same area during the same season. To do this, he must have depth of soil, so as to furnish plenty of root bed and water. He must have fine soil, so that the tender roots may not be hindered in their growth. He must have it both deep and fine, so that he may have a full supply of soluble plant food always ready. The demand will' be enor- mous, and the supply should be equal to every demand. 170 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS Work must be veiy rapid. The soil must not be allowed to bake or crust. The sunshine must find ready access, with plenty of air. This will have much to do with the quaUty as well as the quantity of the crops. No useless plants or harmful weeds should be permitted to divide food with the growing crop. Selecting a location is quite important, but rests upon different reasons now. Distance is not so important as a LOAD OF TRUCK. it once was. Access to a railroad is about the only essential point in many cases. Of course, what you expect to sell is always a leading point. Costly and perishable vegetables would require quick access to market. Others, which are cheaper and not so perish- able, may be profitable further on. Onions, Irish potatoes, cabbage, turnips, and such vegetables, can be grown almost anyTvhere. They will bear shipping and keep well. Lettuce, radishes, peas, beans, and the like, will not take such risks. Two TRUCK- FARMING 171 things should be well considered by every one before going into the trucking business: Do you know how to grow good vegetables? Do you know how to sell vegetables? If you can answer yes to both of these, then you may safely take up truck-farming as a busi- ness. If you can not, and still think you would like the business, then you had better work for a year or so with some one who makes a success in this line. There will be time gained by doing this. As the population increases, this hne of work will increase. Besides this, as we of the South learn to better appreciate our advantages, we will do more of this work. Rapid transportation and cold storage are making such wonderful iniprovements in carrying, handling, and preserving vegetables and fruits that distance makes but httle difference. Almost every- thing depends upon climate and intelligence. Even the most perishable article can be kept several days and delivered in perfect condition thousands of miles away. P' ill and industry will give success almost anywhere in the South. The small fruits are generally considered as belonging to the trucker's business. We will speak of a few of these. Strawberries find a ready sale ever3nArhere. They contribute to health and make one of the most enjoy- able dishes on the table of rich and poor. In many parts of the South they can be set out almost any time of the year. June and November are perhaps the best months. The rows three feet apart and the plants one foot apart, gives a good start. If you wish the largest berries, keep them in hills. If you want the 172 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS TRUCK-FARMING 1 73 greatest quantity of fruit, let them mat about one foot on the bed, but do not let them get too thick. Provide a new setting every third year. Some plants have only staminate, or male, blooms. Not more than one row in three should be set in these. Some varieties have both staminate and pistillate blooms. If you buy your plants, look to these points. They need only fair manuring. This should be put in before setting plants. If more is desired, put on as top dressing in winter.. Keep out weeds and grass and supply plenty of moisture. Some practice mulching with very satisfactory results. They do not need to be covered in the winter and burned off in the spring, as the Northern writers advise. They are shallow-rooted plants, and lack of moisture is their greatest enemy. Plant early and late varieties, ship only the best berries, find a reliable dealer, and you will make money with strawberries. Raspberries grow well and seU well. A small plot of land will make a large quantity. Many varieties are claiming to be best. The black caps are very good. Plants should be set four feet apart in five-foot rows and kept clean. The shoots grow one year and bear the next. The same canes never bear but one crop. So it is best to cut them out as soon as the young canes get a good start. The buds should be picked out when about three feet high. This will give them body so as to stand strong and branch out well. Proper attention to this point will largely increase the yield. Blackberries and dewberries require much the same treatment and pay equally well. Because blackberries grow so very abundantly throughout the South, in aU 174 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS the fields and along the branches, they have not received that attention they deserve. We have not yet found out that culture could greatly improve them. It will be a long time before the market will be supplied with fiirst-class berries. Cxurrants, gooseberries, figs, and such fruits, belong here. Melons also add to the variety of the trucker's products. Recently the Georgia watermelon has made such a reputation that growing it has almost or quite reached the dignity of a separate industry. Growers plant the vines ten by ten or twelve feet apart. They use fertiUzers with a high percentage of potash. The cultivation is simple and easy. They grow very quick. For shipping purposes the thick-rinds are preferred. They are not generally as well flavored as the thin-rind varieties. Many growers prefer to sell in the fields or in car lots, loaded at their nearest station. There is nothing the trucker grows which surpasses in deHcacy and flavor the cantaloupe. The genuine article, medium in size, thoroughly netted and tender-fleshed, always finds ready sale. Great care is required to keep seed pure. They mix easily with other muskmelpns. The soil should be well pulverized, not very rich, and lie to the morning sun. Beds should be thrown up Ughtly, six or eight feet wide. Plant one vine every four feet. Watch for lady bugs, and work rapidly. The worms are apt to destroy all late crops. Enormous yields are produced by truckers on small areas, and immense fortunes are sometimes reaUzed. There is a small farm near Paris, which is reported as follow^; : TRUCK- FARMING 175 This farm contains two and a quarter acres. Rents annually for $ 500.00 Labor account . . 5,000.00 Interest on the capital 750.00 Account for horse power 500.00 Sundries . . 250.00 Manures . . 1,500.00 Total amount expended $ 8,500.00 By. proceeds of sales 13,640.00 Annual profits $5,040.00 We find here two valuable lessons: the enormous productive power of the soil, and the fact that great profits may be made by skill and industry, growing suc- cessive crops on the same soil. Here we find men with nerve enough to invest eight thousand five hundred dollars in a two and a quarter acre farm, while many' hesitate to risk fifty dollars per acre. They nearly doubled their investment. This is a very extreme case, but extreme cases are instructive. If this has been done, we may do partly as well. He who grows what every one needs Will find a market for food and seeds. QUESTIONS. 1. What is truck-farming? 2. How is the produce sold? 3. What points help to success? 4. What pays in manuring ? 5. How is it some- times carried and why? 6. What other important point? 7. What must be the condition of the soil ? 8. Why should the trucker work rap- idly? 9 What location is best? 10. What should help to decide? 11 What two things should be considered ? 12. What points favor this work in the South? 13. On what does success depend? 14. How should strawberries be grown ? 15. Should we be careful about sex? 16. Give further points. 17. Describe raspberry culture. 18. What other berries would pay? 19. What is said of melon culture? 20. Tell of tke little Paris farm. 21. The conclusion. CHAPTER XXVII. DAIRY-FARMING IN THE SOUTH. The cow and her products represent a capital larger than all the national banks combined. Cotton, wheat, and corn are each large and important branches of our national industry, but no one of these is equal in volume and importance to the cow and her products. She contributes to the necessities and comforts of mankind in so many ways that everyone is interested in her in some way. In this chapter we will consider the relation of dairyirig to Southern farming. For various reasons this branch of farming has here- tofore received very little attention. Our people had been educated into the custom and belief that ours was not a dairying section; that we must buy our cheese and fine butter from more favored sections. We were so engrossed in producing cotton that we did not think it worth while to consider whether we could succeed in any other business. We had become so accustomed to spending our energy in killing grass that we did not stop to think whether or not grass was useful. We were taught to believe that our cUmate was not suited to growing grass, and cows, and making cheese and butter, but we are awakening from our dream and beginning to find out our mistake. Trial proves that the South is as well suited to grow grass as any section of our great country. On this DAIRY-FARMING IN THE SOUTH 177 discovery rests much of the promise of dairy develop- ment. Experience also proves that not only grass but cows flourish as well in the South as in any place. This is true not only of our native cattle, often called "scrubs," but of all the finer breeds. Indeed, it is beginning to look as though the Jerseys and some other &.r:#>jAft»vj MANUFACTURING BEEF AND BUTTER- well-bred strains do better here than north of us. This is a great step forward. It is also found to be true that grades from our native " scrubs " make very fine milkers and butter producers. Many claim that the three- fourth and seven-eighth grades are better than the thoroughbred cows. They certainly make excellent dairy cows. The next question was whether we could make but- ter and cheese that would bear the test of comparison 178 AGRICUIvTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI,S with the same articles produced in Ohio, New York- and the Northwest. To our surprise, experience shows that we can. This question has been settled in our favor in the great chees6 and butter fairs of the North. The South has been the market which has enriched the Northern dair)ntnen. We have bought largely of their cheese and butter, and even of their cream. We an- nually pay out millions of dollars for these articles of Northern production. It is no longer necessary to do this. We can supply our own products in their place, and keep all this money at home. Not only is this true, but our soil produces grass so abimdantly and cheaply, and our climate is so fav- orable to the health of the cows, that cheese and butter of the finest quality can be made cheaper here than elsewhere. We can supply our own demand at a fine profit, and compete successfully with other sections in the markets of the world. The very thing which was thought to be against us, is foxmd to be in our favor. Our mild climate enables us to keep cows at less expense, and at the same time improve the quality of the milk. Having better milk and a better climate, we can make better goods at less cost. Hence we have every encouragement to enter vigorously the inviting field of dairy-farming. The soU of the Suimy South, the sunshine and mild winters, the near and ready market, and our tmequaled water supply, all invite us into this Une of industry. By dairy -farming we mean keeping cows and sell- ing the milk, butter and cheese as a means of living and making money. To do this successftdly requires DAIRY-FARMING IN THB SOUTH 179 a little more intelligence than to grow cotton. The dairytnan needs a little special education suited to this particular business. This he can easily get at any of our agricultural and mechanical colleges, or at our experiment stations. To this he can add valuable information by reading a good dairy paper. INTERIOR OF A DAIRY BARN. Perhaps the first question will be, where shall I locate? Various considerations enter into the settle- ment of this point. If you desire to sell milk chiefly, then you should be within reach of some town or city. The railroads are now offering such low rates and other accommodations in carrying milk, that this question is much more easily settled than formerly. l8o AGRICULTUBB FOR THE COMMON SCHOOIvS Twenty or forty miles with an early morning train may be just as convenient as two or four miles with a milk wagon. So that nearness to a good railroad is often as good as nearness to a city used to be. The cheapness of land remote from the city may and often will be a controlling consideration. Perhaps a more important consideration should be, plenty of pure, clean water, and adaptability to produce large quanti- ties of grass and grain. Cows well watered and pas- tured thrive and produce cheap milk. The water should be not only plentiful and pure, but readily accessible to the cows. Having settled the location, go to work to have plenty of grass growing on your farm. More failures have come from neglect here than from every other point. Most men in the beginning are in a hurry to increase the number of cows. This is pressing at the wrong end. You need first to have plenty of feed growing on your own farm. This you can easily do if you go at it right. Get Bermuda grass well set on good land, both for grazing and mowing. Get a good patch of alfalfa to growing. Plant a good supply of com for the silo, and then use such supplementary crops as oats, pea vines, rye, barley and crab grass. You will then be ready for the cows. Feed first, mouths afterwards, should be the dairyman's motto. The next thing is the bam. Here, in the Sunny South, this, need not be an expensive building. Com- fort, convenience and cleanKness are the points to be aimed at. There is more danger of your cow getting too warm than too cold. Give her plenty of good air, DAIRY-FARMING IN THE SOUTH l8l and room to rest when through eating. Arrange for easy entering and leaving, so as to avoid fighting. Then have a constant eye on conveniejice in feeding, milking and removing bedding. These must be done so often, that a little loss of time and strength each time, will amount to a serious loss in the long run. But above all things, arrange for cleanliness at every A DAIRY BUILDING. point. Without this it is impossible to get the best results. Milk readily absorbs smells and microbes. Once infected, it is difficult ever to remedy the evil. The cows must be clean, the stalls must be clean, the vessels must be clean, and the milker must be clean. Filth anyTvhere is dangerous. Barns should be so arranged that the voidings can be readily removed and cheaply placed upon the farm, where they are so much needed. The liquid is worth l82 AGRICtJI.TURE POR THE COMMON SCHOOIvS as much as the solid manure, iand should be carefully saved. Thousands of experiments have been and are still being made, trying to settle the question of the best A CREAM SEPARATOR — A TRIUMPH OF SCIENCE. and cheapest method of feeding. These all lead to one general conclusion. What is called a balanced ration is best. This is differently given by different authori- ties, but in the main means that the ha^" feed and the DAIRY-FARMING IN THB SOUTH 183 grain feed should be given in proper proportions to get the best results. A grain mixture of wheat bran, com meal, and cotton-seed meal in the ratio of bran three, corn meal two, cotton-seed meal four parts, makes a nearly perfect compound. For a cow weighing one thousand pounds, seven pounds of this mixture with forty pounds of hay is an abundant supply for one day. Lighter cows need less. Very many dairymen leave out the corn meal. Some use the cotton-seed meal and hulls and get fair results, but it is difficult to find any substitute for wheat bran, or to get best results without it. Silage is better than hay, simply because it is more digestible. Whether a silo will pay you is a question to be decided by local surroundings, distance of haul- ing being an important item. Generally it will pay. Recent improvements have greatly changed the methods of handHng dairy products. The Babcock test, the aerator and separator enable the up-to-date dairyman to make money where the old methods failed. As newer and more economical machinery is being con- stantly invented, all that a book can safely say is that the man who keeps up with the times wiU make money almost anywhere. If you handle your milk with absolute cleanUness and make butter or cheese of first quality, you will always find a market at good prices. The possibilities of dairying are greatly improved by the building of creameries. These enable many to find a profit in keeping cows without making dairjdng their sole business. Through these, conducted 1 84 AGRICULTURB FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI.S on the co-operative plan, many farmers will find it to their interest to grow grass and raise cows instead of cotton alone. Statistics of the United States show that we can grow grass cheaper in the South than in the North, Hence we can keep cows cheaper, and produce milk and butter and cheese cheaper. Dairy- ing in the South has a bright prospect before it. Our young men will find it more certain, pleasant and profitable than thousands of city occupations. "Young man, go to the dairy farm" should be sub- stituted for "Young man, go west." You need not go west. Right here you can find home comfort, happiness, and prosperity, if you will rub up your brains a little, get a few cows, and settle down on a dairy farm, and invite some sensible Southern girl to preside over your household affairs and help you run a dairy. There is money in grass. There is money in cows. There is money in turning grass into cows. ^ There is money in turning grass and cows into milk, butter and cheese. Cow products hold up in prices when everything else goes down. Milk, butter, and cheese are worth about the Jljt^ same they were when DAIRY-FARMING IN THE SOUTH 185 cotton was twenty cents a pound. If the article is good, the market is ready for it. What breed is best ? If you wish milk, the Holstein is the cow. If you wish butter and cream, the Jersey. If you wish all of these, then high-grade Jerseys and Holsteins will serve your purpose. QUESTIONS. 1. What is the value of the cow and her products? 2. How has dairy-farming been looked upon? 3. Why? 4. What have we been taught? 5. What do we now find true? 6 What else? 7. Can we make high-grade butter and cheese ? 8, Shall we continue to buy these? 9. What else may we do? 10. What of our climate? 11. What are we invited to do? 12. What is dairy-farming? 13. What do we need to succeed? 14. What is said about location? 15. What is more important than distance? 16. What is first to be done? 17. How? 18. What should be the dairyman's motto? 19, What should guide in building the bam? 20. Which is the most important of the three? 21. What should be done with manure? 22. What next claims atten- tion? 23. What makes a good ration? 24. How much a day of this? 25. What about silo and silage? 26. What about handling milk? 27. When is our market sure ? 28. What about creameries? 29. What do United States . statistics show? 30. Where should our young men go? 31. What should they do? 32. There is money in what? 33. Do cow products fall in price? 34. What cows are best? CHAPTER XXVIII. STOCK-GROWING. We have spoken of different kinds of animals grown on the farm for farm uses. We wish here to speak of growing one, or several of them, as a special busi- ness. Stock farms may, and often do, grow grain and grass as feed for the stock, but the money is expected to come in from the sale of the animals. Stock farms may be devoted to growing only one line. Thus one farm grows horses, another mules, another cows, another sheep, and another hogs. Not only so, but a farm may be confined to one or more breeds of a single line. Thus we have farms which breed and develop only race horses, another only draught horses. One farm will make a specialty of Jersey cows, another of Shorthorns, another of Holstein-Friesians, and so on. Some devote themselves to red Jersey hogs, some to Berkshire, some to Chester White, some to Poland- China, and some to Essex. Instead of being a small field of enterprise, this is a very large field. It is also very attractive to those so inclined. Large profits have been made in all of them, but these Hnes of farming require something of intelUgence and business capacity. To insure suc- cess, you. must study your hne thoroughly. The finest breeds of horses have been grown in Kentucky and Tennessee. There is no reason in the natural ad van- STOCK-GROWING 187 tages why the same may not be done in the remain- ing Southern States. As we have aheady shown, grass is the cheapest feed for stock of all kinds. We have given too much attention to kilHng grass and raising cotton. But with our Bermuda, crowfoot, and crab grass and others, this need no longer be true. Here we do not need A HANDSOME PAIR. expensive barns. Our colts can run out all the sum- mer and most of the winter. This gives them good constitutions. They are hable to but few diseases. They grow to fine size. Georgia-raised horses seem to have more power of endurance than those grown north of us. Our feed can be grown here, and as cheaply as anywhere. 1 88 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS STOCK-GROWING 1 89 Blooded horses, as they are called, bring the best prices, but it is not settled that they are the best pay- ing horses to breed. This book can not enter into the details. If you wish to succeed you must make your line a special study. To do this, you need books on these particular subjects, and, fortunately, they are to be found in plenty. Our aim is to point out the various lines of farming, and give elementary principles only, particularly to do this in such a way as to show that this Southern country is as well adapted to these higher Unes of farming as other parts of our great country. The presence of so large a colored population and the consequent almost exclusive cultivation of cotton has caused many wrong ideas of our capacity to spread abroad and even grow up with us. Stock-raising can be successfully followed here. We can breed as good horses, and make as much money at it as any section. Mules are easily grown here. Farms devoted entirely to this line would pay well. They mature early and require very httle hand feeding or care of any sort. Growing cattle for the market, whether as milkers, breeders, beeves, or oxen, is an industry always inviting. You may select one or all of these lines. Raising grades from fine thoroughbred stock is the least risky and the most profitable, unless you wish to sell high-bred cattle at fancy figures. Cattle serve so many purposes in human economy that they will always be in demand. A little capital, a large share of industry, and good judgment will soon bring in the igo agricuIvTure por the common schools STOCK-GROWING 191 money The great cattle ranches of the West will not last always. The pressing demands of a growing and crowding civiHzation will cut them into farms for other purposes, but the demand for cattle will con- tinue, steadily increasing with the onward movement of civilization. The future will see great packing houses in Atlanta and other Southern cities, competing with Kansas City and Chicago. Creameries, cheese factories, and pack- ing houses will give aid to cattle-growing. The wise farmer will study cattle instead of cotton. Hogs were on every farm in the South before the war between the States. The high prices paid for cot- ton many years after this war ended, ,the fearful depredations of hog thieves and the introduction of commercial fertiUzers, have conspired to destroy this branch of farming. Better enforcement of the law, the low price of cotton and the large profit in hog products, aU point to the revival of this industry. The manufacture of ice and the improvements in cold storage make it quite possible to grow hogs profitably for market. Packing houses may be run successfully anywhere in the South. Almost any one can grow hogs. The chief requisite is plenty of corn; then a good pasture, well- watered, wiU complete the outfit. With Bermuda, cowpeas, chufas, Spanish groundpeas, sweet potatoes, and tur- nips, and with sorghum added, you can have cheap feed aU the year round. The best breed must be determined by each grower. The Poland-China grows rapidly and very large. The Berkshire and Essex 192 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS breeds, pure or mixed, fatten well at an early age. Either of these, with some Poland-China blood, makes a very profitable market hog. With small capital, industry will be almost certain to insure success. Some farmers in the extreme southern part of Georgia are making money growing hogs to ship North. If young men will study this line of farthing instead of cotton- growing, they will find farming more pleasant and profitable. In stock-growing Hes the future prosperity of the Southern farmer. There is less competition and better pay than in cotton-growing. If cotton has been and must remain king, let grass be queen, and "the cattle upon a thousand hills ' ' the fair offspring. QUESTIONS. 1. How will we discuss stock-raising? 2. What may be selected? 3. Is this a large field ? 4. What is needed for success? 5. Canwegrow fine horses? 6. What circumstances are in our favor? 7. What horses will pay best? 8. How can we succeed? 9. What has hindered? 10. What about growing niules ? 11. Whatabout cattle? 12. What will insure success ? 13. What will become of Western ranches? 14. Can we have packing houses? 15. What about hog-farming? 16. Have we the feed for cheap hogs? 17. What can take the place of cotton? CHAPTER XXIX. POULTRY- FARMING. This may seem to many a rather fanciful idea, but it is not at all so. Growing poultry, either as a side line on every farm or as an independent business, is altogether practicable, and may be quite profitable. The poultry farm may be run either for the purpose of selling pure breeds at fancy figures or eggs by the sitting, or both, or growing poultry for the market, or all of these combined. The management will depend a good deal upon the end in view. Very little room is required for a poultry yard. The back yard of a city lot is often sufficient. If the object is to grow fancy birds, then a small area will answer. The one essential point in such cases is to keep the breed pure and grow perfect specimens of the kind selected. While the term "poultry" includes ducks, geese, peafowl, turkeys, and the Uke, we shall speak here chiefly- of chickens. In our Southern climate we do not need tight, warm houses, but open and airy ones. There should always be several yards or walks fenced in separately. Chicks of different ages can then be kept entirely separate, 194 AGRICXJI> ra 1 0) p - "3 ■3 p A f^ Is ^ Ph «^ 18 0.7 0.1 8.0 25 2.0 0.5 11.5 28 2.7 0.6 15.0 28 2.5 0.5 12.0 20 1.5 0.3 11.0 29 3.0 0.6 15.0 . 22 1.8 0.6 11.0 26 2.5 0.8 13.3 32 4.0 0.5 24.0 22 4.0 2.0 13.8 23 3.0 1.0 13.5 24- 2.5 0.6 13.5 24 ' 2.0 0.4 13.0 24 1.5 0.3 12.0 > Oxen at rest In stall Oxen at moderate work Fattening cattle Milch cows Sheep, wool-growing Sheep, fattening-- Horses, moderate work.-j Horses, hard work Swine, fattening- Growing Cattle. Average live Age in wt. per head months. Lbs. 2-3 -150 3-6 300 6-12 500 12-18 700 18-24- - 850 11.8 6.5 6.1 5.3 . 7.8 5.5 6.9 6.0 6.3 4.7 5.3 6.0 7.0 8.5 APPENDIX 243 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Table IX. Troy Weight. 24 grains 1 pennyweight. 20 pennyweights 1 ounce. 12 ounces 1 pound. Apothecaries' Weight, 20 grains 1 scruple. 3 scruples 1 drachm. 8 drachms 1 ounce. 12 ounces 1 pound. Avoirdupois Weight. 27.34 grains 1 drachm. 16 drachms 1 ounce. 16 oimces 1 pound. Long Measure. 12 inches 1 foot. 3 feet 1 yard. 5i yards 1 rod, pole or perch. 40 rods 1 furlong. 8 fmrlongs 1 statute or land mile 3 miles 1 league. Square or hand Measure. 144 square inches 1 square foot. 9 square feet 1 square yard. 30 J square yards 1 square rod. 40 square rods . 1 rood. 4 roods ' 1 acre. 640 acres 1 square mile. Liquid Measure. 4 gills 1 pint — 28.875 cubic inches 2 pints 1 quart — 57.75 cubic inches 4 quarts 1 gallon — 231 cubic inches 63 gallons 1 hogshead. 2 hogsheads 1 pipe or butt. 2 pipes 1 tun. 244 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS WEIGHTS AND MEASURES— Continued. Dry Measure. 2 pints 1 quart. 4 quarts 1 gallon. 2 gallons 1 peck. 4 pecks 1 struck bushel. Table X. The Metric System of Weights and Measures. Metric Units in English Equivalents ; Inches. Centimeter.-. 0.393685 Decimeter. __ 3.93685 Meter 39.3685 Decameter.-- 393.685 Hectometer Kilometer Myriameter Feet. Yards. Miles. 0.032807 0.328071 0.109357 3.28071 1.09357 32.8071 10.9357 128.071 109.357 0.0621347 !80.71 1093.57 0.6213466 i07.l 10935.7 6.213460 Are— 154,988 sq. in., 1,076.4 sq. ft., 119.60 sq. yds., 0.0247 acres. Hectare— 107,640 sq. ft., 11,960 sq. yds., 2.471 acres. Liter— 33.8 fluid ounces, 1.0567 liquid quarts, 0.02838 bushels. Gram — 15.43234 grains, 0.03527 ounces avoir., 0.0022 lbs. avoir. Kilogram — 2.2 lbs. avoir. Foot— 0.3048 meters, 3.048 decimeters, 30.48 centimeters. Mile — 1609.344 meters, 1.609344 Kilometers. Acre— 40.4685 ares, 0.4047 hectares. Gallon— 3.7854 liters. * Pound — 0.4536 kilogram, 4.536 hectograms. Ton (2,000 lbs.)— 907.1 kilograms, 0.9071 tonneau. Bushels— 35.237 liters. APPENDIX 245 Table XI. A Cubic Foot is Equal to 1728 cubic inches. 0.8036 struck bushels of 2150.42 cubic inches. 3.2143 pecks. 7.4805 liquid gallons of 231 cubic inches. 6.4285 dry gallons. 29.922 liquid quarts. 25.714 dry quarts. 59.844 liquid pints. 51.428 dry pints. 0.2667 barrel of three struck bushels. 0.2375 liquid barrel of 31J gallons. 246 AGRICUlvTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOI/S Table XII. Legal or Customary Weights of a Bushel of Produce, ARTICLES. POUNDS. Apples 48 Apples, dried 24 Beans, castor 60 Beans, white 60 Buckwheat 52 Corn, ear 70 Corn, shelled 56 Onions 57 Peaches 38 Potatoes, Irish 60 Potatoes, sweet 55 Peas 60 Bluegrass Seed 14 Turnips 55 Wheat 60 Ground Peas 28 Cotton Seed 32 Barley. 48 Rye 60 Rutabagas 60 Oats 32 APPENDIX 247 Table XIII. Number of Plants per Acre at Different Distances. DISTANCES. PLANTS. 2 feet x2 feet 10,890 2 feet X 3 feet 7,260 2 feet X 4 feet 5,445 2 feet X 5 feet.-_ 4,356 2 feet X 6 feet i 3,630 3 feet X 3 feet 4,840 3 feet x4 feet 3,630 3 feet X 5 feet 2,904 3 feet X 6 feet , 2,420 4 feet X 4 feet 2,722 4 feet X 5 feet 2,178 4 feet X 6 feet . 1,185 5 feet X 5 feet 1,742 5 feet X 6 feet 1,452 6 feet X 6 feet 1,210 6 feet X 8 feet 907 8 feet X 8 feet 680 8 feet X 10 feet 544 10 feet X 10 feet 435 10 feet X 12 feet 363 10 feet X 15 feet ., 290 10 feet X 18 feet 242 10 feet X 20 feet — 217 20 feet X 20 feet 108 20 feet X 30 feet 72 30 feet X 30 feet 48 30 feet X 36 feet 40 40 feet X 40 feet 27 40 feet X 50 feet 21 40 feet X 60 feet 18 50 feet X 50 feet 17 248 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS Table XIV. A Few Interesting Facts. One bushel of wheat contains about 320,000 grains. One bushel of oats contains about 540 000 grains. One bushel of cotton seed contains about 125,000 seeds. Wheat roots will grow in good ground from six to eight feet deep. Corn roots will grow in good ground from eight to ten feet deep Clover roots will grow in good ground from ten to twelve feet dqep. Alfalfa roots will grow in good ground from twelve to eighteen feet deep. Oats will grow in good ground from- eight to ten feet deep. Common grass will grow in good ground three to four feet deep The following yields per acre have been made, and can be made again : Com 255 bushels. Wheat 80 bushels. Oats 125 bushels. Barley 80 bushels. Buckwheat 75 bushels. Potatoes 1329 bushels. Turnips 1200 to 1500 bushels. Mangels 80 tons. Timothy 6 tons at a cutting. Bermuda Grass 6 tons at a cutting. Red Clover 5J tons at a cutting. snry ^ehoot C6inml»ss!on<