fyxmW Hmvmitg Jitotg THE GIFT OF ..!3:v\«, OUA-fcluvOrV.. .A..:7.3.z<6.Z.i ■„; ; ^.h.M 3513-2 Cornell University Library S 561.A43 On systematic tarming; a short treatise o 3 1924 003 322 777 The original of tliis book 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/cu31924003322777 SAMUEL W. 4LLERT0N OH SYSTEMATIC FARMING A Short Treatise on Present Farming Conditions and How to Improve Them RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY 1907 "He who showeth his neighbor how to better existing condi- tions is a public benefactor." Preface Coming from Nebraska recently, my son said to me, "Father, you should write a book on farming, for you have given me lessons in farming, and I raise double the amount of oats and com the farmers do in Illinois, and my land is no better than my neighbors'. If you can write a book and show the farmers how they can improve their systems of farming, you will be a great public benefactor, and increase the value of farm land in Illinois by teaching how to make the land better instead of poorer every year." Having lived on a farm for twelve years — from the time I was fourteen years old to the twenty-sixth year of my life — ^having plowed, mowed, cradeled, and done every kind of work connected with a farm, and 5 having owned and operated farms practically all my life, I feel that this experience gives me some knowl- edge of farming, and enables me to present some practical ideas to those who may be interested in my con- clusions. I notice that the rich farmers are the men who have sys- tems and keep their land in a high state of ctiltivation. The farmer with no system, and land worn out, is the poor farmer. Samuel W. Allerton. Chicago, Nov. 17, 1906. SYSTEMATIC FARMING T FEEL it is the duty of every man who has had any experience in ctdtivating soil to give publicity to his efforts and progress along this line, and thus add to the success of the American farmer. It is a well-established fact that Illinois, as a corn State, is the richest body of com land in the United States. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Missouri constitute the com belt. AU are great States, and naturally very rich, productive land. We see that the great State of Illinois averages only about thirty-three bushels to the acre in a good com year. What does this indicate? That the land has not been properly cultivated and kept in a suitable condition to raise large crops of com. 7 SYSTEMATIC FARMING GRADUALLY KILLmG THE LAND Every man familiar with raising com knows that 80 bushels per acre can be raised as easily as 30 bushels per acre, if the land is properly cultivated. With all the big crops we raise — com, oats, wheat, rye, barley, and flax — under our present system of general farming (there are exceptions) we are reducing the production 3 per cent yearly. Prof. Hopkins of the University of Illinois claims the great, rich State of Illinois will be a desert within one hundred years imless we change our system of farming. How does he prove it ? He has a plot of ground which he has planted to com for the last twenty-eight years. In a few years it will be exhausted, and will raise neither com or clover. He has two plots, and raises com on one and oats on the other every SYSTEMATIC FARMING GRADUALLY KILLING THE LAHD other year. This is the system that most of our farmers follow — plow their oat stubble in the fall, plant com the next year, and sow their oats on the com stubble. These two strips are as fine land as there is in Illinois, and yet raise only 30 bushels of com per acre and 30 bushels of oats, and lose about 3 per cent every year in producing a crop, and, obviously, in thirty years will be exhausted. He has other plots where he plants clover one year, com and oats the next year, and in this way raises 60 bushels per acre; he has still other plots where he plants com, oats, and clover, with fertilizer, and raises 90 bushels per acre. These facts have been demon- strated by the State Agricultural Society at Champaign. These being SYSTEMATIC FARMING GKADUALLY KILLING THE LAUD facts, has not the time come when the farmers of the great Northwest should do a Httle thinking and study how to improve their land? In the State of Maine, where the soil is of a very poor quality, they raise a greater quantity per acre than we do in the great State of Illinois. These facts must certainly convince every intelligent farmer that we must return something to the soil, and that we cannot con- stantly reduce it without serious consequences. Probably 70 per cent of the com land in Illinois has been cultivated for the last twenty-eight years in this way — oats one year, com the next year, with really nothing returned to the soil. SYSTEMATIC FARMING FIVE-FIELD SYSTEM Take the average farmer who has 1 60 acres of land: he may raise about seventy acres of com and seventy acres of oats. His gross sales will not be much over $1 , 200. He should divide his 160 acres of land into five fields of 30 acres each, allowing 10 acres for a house, bam, and garden. Keep 100 good ewes; have 60 acres in com, 60 acres in grass, 30 acres in rye or oats; keep 20 good brood sows; raise 100 pigs, and arrange to have the pigs come in the last of February or the first of March. In this way his land would be kept in a rich state, and he would be sure to raise 75 bushels of com per acre (unless he had an excessively dry July and Attgust) and he would probably raise about 30 bushels of rye to the acre. It would be better to sow rye. SYSTEMATIC FARMING FIVE-FIELD SYSTEM because he wotild be sure to get a better set of clover than after oats. If he raised loo good market lambs,. they would be worth $500; his wool should bring $150; he should raise 100 hogs to weigh 200 pounds, worth $1,200; his rye crop would be worth $400 at least, and he should raise about 4,500 bushels of com, half of which he would feed to his hogs and horses, leaving about 2,000 bushels to sell, which should yield I800 more. This wotald make his gross sales amotint to $3,050, and his land would be growing richer every year instead of poorer, as it is now. His com fodder, properly cared for, would be much better feed for his stock than hay. He wotdd have 60 acres in grass, and he could divide off 10 acres, with a temporary fence, for a meadow. 12 SYSTEMATIC FARMING DAIRY COWS There is no doubt but what a fanner with i6o to 240 acres of land in Northern Illinois ought to keep cows, as that is the best stock if he is within a reasonable distance of the market for his mdlk; for, with the system I have laid out, he wotdd keep his land in a state of high cultivation with the cows. I am informed that cows kept in a bam and soiled in summer will give more milk than those running in pasture. STEERS A farmer with 160 acres of land, living a good distance from the market, could keep 40 steers if he soiled them in the stimmer. A farmer keeping steers would want a bam 42 feet wide, 60 feet long, with an alley 12 feet wide through the center, leaving a shed 1 5 feet wide on 13 SYSTEMATIC FARMING STEERS each side, with a yard 30 feet on each side, and a water trough on each side. This would give the steers a chancQ to walk in the sun, which is of great importance in fattening them. With a 12-foot loft over the shed he could use this space to store his corn fodder in. In the summer let him mow his green clover and soil his cattle. On his com fodder, cut up, a little clover hay and five ears of corn each day, his cattle would grow all win- ter. During the months of May and June feed them a peck of com each day; then he would have a lot of fat cattle, and not feed over 40 bushels of com to a steer. If his farm is rich Illinois land, he wovild probably raise 80 acres of corn, 40 acres of clover, and 40 acres of rye, and, with the manure and a little 14 SYSTEMATIC FARMING STEERS commercial fertilizer, would keep his land up in good shape. 80 acres of com at 75 bushels per acre would be 6,000 bu. To feed cattle, horses, and hogs would take 3,600 Leaving to sell. . 2,400 bu. 2,400 bu. com at $0.40 would be $ 960 40 steers should bring ... i , 600 100 hogs should bring. . . 1,200 30 acres of clover seed should produce . .. 270 30 acres of rye should produce 360 $4,390 Expenses : Two men $720 General expenses ... 200 Grocery bill 200 Interest on money in- vested in cattle . . . 96 $1,216 Leave a net profit of $3,174 15 SYSTEMATIC FARMING STEERS As a general rule, I think a small farmer better keep a good flock of ewes or cows than to handle steers; but if he has a fancy for steers and know;s how to buy and care for them, he can make money with them. DRY FARMING To raise a crop of com the land should be well cultivated before planting; it can't be made too fine and in too good a condition before planting. If the ground is properly prepared a crop of com can be raised much easier, and if kept mellow, a crop of com can be raised without much rain. You have prob- ably read about dry farming in -Colorado and Western Kansas. The farmers plow their land as deep as possible, and keep the top of the i6 SYSTEMATIC FARMING DRY FARIOHG soil mellow so as to retain the moisture, and in this way they raise a crop with very little rain. Sioo-ACRE LAND It is a common remark: "I can not afford to keep live stock on $ioo- acre land," but this is a great mis- take. The farmer who keeps his land in com will wear out the soil in a few years so he can raise only half a crop, and the land wiU grow poorer every year. I worked one of my farms on the four-field system. I had 2 ,000 acres of com which only shelled out 62 bushels per acre. One piece had been in grass for three years, and that shelled out 90 bush- els per acre; so I am about con- vinced that I wiU have to adopt a new system — ^have five fields instead of four. Illinois as a State in a few 17 SYSTEMATIC FARMING $ioa-ACRE LAND years would raise more corn if it only raised half the acres, and kept part of the land in grass. This I have no doubt of. LACK OF TILING AND CROP ROTATION Coming from Omaha, and riding through Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois, I saw a beautiful country, but I know the corn will not average 30 bushels per acre. Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois need tiling, but I did not see a drainage- tile factory anywhere in that district. No man could wish for a more beautiful country and richer soil. If tiled and farmed by rotation, all this land should raise 75 bushels of com per acre. I saw no farm that seemed to be laid out with any regard to system of lots. The whole 18 SYSTEMATIC FARMING LACK OF TILING AND CROP ROTATION thing seems to be run on a hap- hazard, go-as-you-like-it plan. On any of these good i6o-acre farms 30 cows could be kept by being soiled, as easy as 15 cows if pasttired, as cattle running in pasture fields tread out more or less grass and stomp the groimd, which is bad for it. RECLAIMING LANDS The Government is spending large amounts of money for irrigation. If the State of Iowa would pass a drainage law the same as Illinois has, issue four per cent bonds which they could sell, and loan the money to the farmers to drain the Missouri bottom by making proper canals and outlets for the rivers, they would make more good acres of land than the Government will by spend- ing millions of dollars for irrigation. 19 SYSTEMATIC FARMING RECLAIMING LANDS With proper outlets for the water, the farmers in the Missouri bottom wotdd soon pay back to the State all they had borrowed to carry out this system, for then they would possess some of the finest lands in the world. Necessarily, the farmers must begin to think, and send men to the legis- lature in their interest and in the State's best interest. Wouldn't it be better to let the farmers have their own drainage districts and do the work themselves, as they would probably do the same work at one- half the cost the State would do it for? THE FARMER IS KING People generally think that farm- ing is a laborious occupation, but by the ingenuity of our manufacturers the burden of farming has been SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER IS KING reduced so that very little hard, laborious work is done on a farm. In fact, it is the most independent life a man can lead; and, with rural free delivery, the farmer can know what is going on in the world by taking a good newspaper. Life on a farm gives children a good constitu- tion, and, with our free schools, their opportunities are better than those of the boy raised in the city. So far as living is concerned, the farmer is loo per cent better off than half the people living in cities. I took a friend of mine down on a farm once, and he remarked that he supposed he would not get much to eat. I said, as he was raised in Vermont, he could probably get along with a rind of pork, and bread and imlk. He repUed he could get along if he got plenty of good bread and milk. SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER IS KING We drove up to a farm-house and t told the lady we wovild like some dinner. She said it would be ready in two hours. After my friend ate his dinner he commenced writing, and I asked him what it was about. He said he was making note of the fact that although he had eaten at Delmonico's and Kinsley's, and a good many other places, this was the finest dinner he had ever eaten. There were thirty-seven different dishes on the table, and all raised on the farm, except the coffee, sugar, salt, and spices. A good garden every farmer ought to have. If he would have a long garden, so he could ctiltivate it with a horse hoe, and plant his vegetables in rows, he would always have the finest vegetables in the world, while those in the city are, in a measure, stale. SYSTEMATIC FARMING FERTILIZERS Professor Hopkins advises buying Tennessee phosphate rock for fer- tilizer, but as a rule fertilizers are very expensive for the average farmer to buy. Therefore, any farmer who would divide his farm into five fields, keep two in pasture, one in rye and two in com, utilize all the manure he has, would maintain his land, and, I think, improve it each year without fertilizers, and in a few years raise more corn on 60 acres than he now does on 80 acres, and raise a very much larger crop of oats or rye. I consider this system well adapted to Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Missotiri. Traveling through the old world, China or Japan, you find that when they market their products they always take something back to fer- tilize their soil. Necessity has 23 SYSTEMATIC FARMING FERTILIZERS taught them this, and shotild we not begin to think of our situation with this fact before us — the fact that Illinois raises only 30 bushels of oats and 30 bushels of com per acre. This is a fact that we cannot ignore. I know that farmers sometimes get into a rut, and it is hard work for them to change, but the only thing to do is to recognize these mistakes and correct them. Don't try to plant so many acres, but raise more com on less acres. I think this applies to aU of our great com states. Of course, there is a great variety of soils in the different states, and generally the farmer knows what is the best crop to raise on his land, but take the great states I have named, and com and oats are the best products. Nature's law has arranged things so that we can keep 24 SYSTEMATIC FARMING FERTILIZERS our land in a state of high oiltiva- tion by the proper rotation of crops. I have one farm on which com was raised on clover sod and yielded 82 bushels to the acre. The next year this same land was planted again to com and yielded only 56 bushels to the acre. A farmer adjoining me, with just as good land as mine, as fine as there is in the State of Illinois, has com that will yield only 25 bushels to the acre. He is one of the farmers with the system of oats one year, com the next year, and never retttming anything to the soil. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, says that com cobs are of no use to any man. He is generally right, but wrong in this. The cobs and the stalks have as much phosphate as the com. Stalks and cobs should never be burned. 25 SYSTEMATIC FARMING FERTILIZERS As good a piece of com as I ever saw was raised on land covered with cobs. In the old states they hus- band their manure with great care. We, in the West, bum our straw and stalks, and put little value on the manure, which is a mistake. It should all be saved and spread on the land and plowed under. Professor Hopkins has great faith in Tennessee phosphate rock as a cheap fertilizer. I have not yet had experience enough to know its true value. I see the Agriculttaral College of Ohio claims that when it is properly mixed with manure it is worth $50 per ton, as it will increase a crop of corn that much. There is no doubt in my mind but what Chicago will realize in fifty years one great mistake it made. We should have dug a tunnel under the city for 26 SYSTEMATIC FARMING FERTILIZERS sewerage, bought some land, and saved the fertilizer. We would then have had drainage for the city, and fertilizer to sell to enrich farm lands. BEAUTIFY THE FARM I have always felt that if the Illinois farmers would take down their fences, set fruit trees on the outside lines of their farms, have only as many frtiit trees as they can care for and spray properly, have a bam to care for their cattle, the same as they do in Germany, and soil them, in the spring Illinois would be a picttire beyond description, and the bams would not cost as much as the fences. THE GOOD FARMER Sam Jones, the great evangeUst, used to say he could always tell a 27 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE GOOD FARMER good farmer. If he saw him leaning on the south side of the bam in March waiting for the stin to get strong, he never raised a crop. A farmer should always be ahead of his work. He must get out early in the spring to get his crops in; then he can plow his com, for the more he plows his com, if done intelligently, the more com he will raise. But if he is behind in his work, the com will be neglected. It is very important to keep the grotmd meUow if the weather is dry, for then it wiU stand a drought. If left hard and the sun cracks it, it will not hold the moisture; but if kept mellow and in fine condition it will stand a drought better, and a crop of com can be raised if well tended and kept in proper shape. Don't plow too deep the last time 28 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE GOOD FARMER for fear of ' cutting oflE the roots. Every farmer should try to plow his land very deep every four years, so as to make a deep soil. In traveling through Italy, where they Tiave very small farms and not much of anything to fertilize their land, I observed that they spade the land two feet deep, and thus make a deep soil. TILED LAND A hill of com growing on top of tile will always be the biggest hill. ■Central Illinois is fairly well tiled, but stiU could be improved with more. When I was a boy an Englishman bought a farm in Onta- rio Cotmty, New York, on the banks of Lake Geneva, which was con- sidered a high, dry farm. He hauled tile all winter to tile his land. The 29 SYSTEMATIC FARMING TILED LAND people said he was crazy, that his land did not need tiling; but he tiled it, ridges and all. In those days we were troubled with the weevil getting into the heads of wheat, but the Englishman's wheat was always ripe before the others, and he raised a fine crop. His farm gained such a good reputation that he sold it for a nursery at a very high price. In riding from Lake Geneva, Wis., to Chicago I find that one-fourth of the land is wet and tinproductive, and of not much value. If the farmers would get together, hire a surveyor, find the proper outlet and make an open drain, they could then tile their land to it. It makes me sick to see their cows knee deep in the mud, eating bog grass — no nourishment. If some of the young 30 SYSTEMATIC FARMING TILED LABD men who have been raised on farms and educated in our free schools woiild take up this matter and get surveyors to find the natural outlets, they would add much to the value of their farms. The drainage law in Illinois is good," and I hope Wis- consin has as good a one. If not, the Legislattire of Wisconsin should pass equally as good a drainage law. Experience teaches me that farmers can not tile too much. To me it is a real pleasure to take a bad piece of land and make it into a garden. SHEEP For a small farmer I think sheep is the best Hve stock, if he keeps the right kind and knows how to care for them. Good market lambs are in great demand and will always bring from 6 to 8 cents per pound, 31 SYSTEMATIC FARMING SHEEP and a farmer should get $600 to $700 net on 100 ewes. Sheep are better than cattle to keep land in a state of high cultiva;tion. Take any of our good Illinois land and divide it into four fields; raise 80 acres of com, 40 acres of clover, and 40 acres of rye, sowing the rye after the com is cut up. Probably a farm of 100 to 160 acres would not keep more than 80 good ewes, but, by buying a little fertilizer, having one-fourth of the land always in clover, I think the land could be kept up, as he would have the manure. I think a man working a farm on this sys- tem necessarily would have to buy a little commercial fertilizer — some phosphate rock or bone meal. 32 SYSTEMATIC FARMING WEEDS When you sow clover with yovir oats, rye, or wheat, if the land is rich and you get any rain in August, the weeds wiU start. They should be moved the first of September, when green, before they go to seed. They wiU rot quicMy and make some fertilizer. The clover will have a chance to grow in September and October and make a good root, and will make a much better crop the next year. The bigger the clover, the bigger the next crop of com will be. EARLY POTATOES To raise early potatoes, plow the ground in the fall. Then plow out a trench early in the spring and fill the trench with good horse manure ; tread it down well, and put a little dirt on the manure; plant the potatoes, and this will give you 33 SYSTEMATIC FARMING EARLY POTATOES early potatoes. You can plant this same ground in late potatoes, which are better for the winter. You can start early lettuce and radishes in a trench of this kind, and in this way get them two weeks earlier than by planting on top of the ground, as is usually done. HOW TO GET A START The yoting man says, "This is all right for the man who has his own farm, but what am I to do ? I have nothing but my hands and good health." I will tell you. Hire out to some farmer, by the year, for $250 and board; save $200 of it, and deposit it in a good bank until you can invest it safely. Keep on tmtil you have' $1,500 saved, and then rent a farm. You would then have a character and credit, and would 34 SYSTEMATIC FARMING HOW TO GET A START have no trouble in renting a farm. With good health, nothing cotild prevent you from owning a farm. Get married when you have enough to start in life with. KEEP THE LAND UP To be prosperous and successful, the farmer must study how to keep his land in a state of high cultiva- tion, for if in this state, he will raise only a fairly good crop in a bad year. If his land is run down, of course he wiU raise a poor crop, and when his land gets poor, he will grow poor. GIVE THE CHILDREN AN INTEREST Many farmers who are in debt think they cannot afford to give their children anything, but this is a great mistake. Give them some- 35 SYSTEMATIC FARMING GIVE THE CHILDREN AH INTEREST thing to be their own. You must do this if you want right-thinking boys and girls, and you will have more willing hands to help you get out of debt. I knew a farmer living in Ohio who gave his daughter the privilege of raising chickens. She made more money in this way than he made on his farm, and resulted in his turning his farm into a chicken farm. jSo you see he gained by giving his daughter something of her own. Give a boy an acre of com as his own and he wiU commence to think, read, and study how to raise the greatest number of bushels. He will find that two spears of com growing together are natural ene- mies. Let him plant his com in a place twelve to fifteen inches apart; cultivate it on a fiat surface and at 36 SYSTEMATIC FARMING GIVE THE CHILDREH AS DITEREST least six times. In that way it can be kept clean. If planted in drills and in a furrow the dirt will nattir- aUy work all around the com. He will see his father planting on top of the ground, in hills, with three to five spears, as a rule never getting more than three ears on a hill, generally two. The father wiU be putting his plow in deep the latter part of June, cutting the roots of the com, hilling his com to destroy the weeds, and the wind drying out the hiUs. He will hear his father complain of dry weather in July and August — com firing. His father will say to his neighbor, "It is getting very dry, but my son has an acre of com that does not fire, and it looks as if he would raise two bushels of com to my one." The neighbor wiU say, "I don't see how you keep your 37 SYSTEMATIC FARMING GIVE THE CHILDREN AD INTEREST children at home; my boys seem to dislike a farm, and want to get on the railroad." This neighbor, it seems, gave his son a colt, but after it grew up the old man sold it, and put the money in his own pocket. Consequently the son naturally thinks the farm a poor place to live. When I was a boy and lived on a farm, I was considered the best boy to work in Yates County, New York. I had a small interest, and this individuality gave me courage to work for something of my own. With self-denial I saved $3,200 and established a character and credit so I could borrow $5,000 on my name. My credit was worth as much to me as the $3,200 I had worked twelve years to save. No boy can succeed unless he can build up a character and credit. I have 38 SYSTEMATIC FARMING GIVE THE CHILDREN AIT IHTEREST young men on my farm who started to work for me by the month and now own i6o acres of good land. CLAY LAND A farmer having clay soil should plant com only on sod. If the land is good wheat land, plant the com 4j^ feet apart, a spear for every nine inches, and then cultivate the wheat in the com. This is one of the cheapest ways of raising wheat. You have summer fallowed your land all stammer by plowing com. In the spring sow the clover seed, and as soon as the ground is dry enough so the horses will not sink into the ground, drag the wheat and roll it. This will help the wheat, as it loosens the crust formed in the winter. You wiU have a fine stand of clover, which will be knee high 39 SYSTEMATIC FARMING CLAY LAUD in the fall. Pasture it one summer, or cut and soil it, and put what manure you have back on the land. The next year it will be ready for another com crop, but if the land is weak and not rich soil, it should be pastured two years. If the land is good wheat land and fairly good com land, it shotild be divided into four fields, so as to have one-fourth in com and one-fourth in wheat. If good land, it could be worked on the three-field system — com, wheat, and clover — and keep the land up. I once knew a lawyer who lived in Ontario County in the State of New York, who had a hard clay farm — good wheat land. He kept one- half in wheat, dragged his wheat every spring, sowed his clover seed, roUed it, and pastured his clover the next summer; mowed part of it for 40 SYSTEMATIC FARMING CLAY LAND hay, and kept a flock of sheep. His clover generally grew up in his wheat stubble in the fall, and he broke his clover sod and sowed it to wheat. In that way he kept one- half his land in wheat and one-half in clover. He always raised the best wheat in the country, and he was a lawyer at that, and they are generally poor farmers. Of course, a farmer cultivating a wheat farm in this way should keep sheep. SYSTEM Generally, farmers have no sys- tem. They fail to lay out their land into lots so they can adopt a system of rotation. It is of great impor- tance to know each year where to sow and plant com, oats, or rye. It is very important to get a good set of clover. Northern Illinois 41 SYSTEMATIC FARMING SYSTEM raises com and oats, but if the land is rich, the oats will fall down — and it is a gamble whether you get a good set of clover or not. We find by cultivating clover in, the same as we do oats, we get a better stand, as it gets a bigger root aiid lives through th^ hot weather, after the oat crop is harvested. But to be sure of a stand a farmer should raise one-half rye. If the rye is dragged in the spring, and the crust broken, the clover is sure to get a good stand. With clover I should always sow two quarts of timothy. Orchard grass is better, if you can get the seed. A good many of our agricultural societies recommend what they call a catch crop, such as suey beans and other crops of that kind, to be sown in with your com. But if you raise a crop of com 42 SYSTEMATIC FARMING SYSTEM worthy of a good farmer, a catch crop will not amount to anything, for it will not grow in with big com. THE HOG THE MORTGAGE PAYER I have always found the hog to be the money maker on a farm; but we all fear the cholera. My con- victions are that cholera is produced by over-feeding of com. Farmers should raise some barley to be ground, for a change of feed. To raise hogs with a profit you should have yotir sows pig in February. Take 1 6-foot boards and saw them in two; make a coop fastened up tight on both ends, and have a door for the sow to go through. Put straw aroimd it, or bank it up with dirt, so as to keep it warm. Have some warm slop for the sows when they pig, so as to make milk for the 43 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE HOG THE MORTGAGE PATER pigs. When young, keep them growing with slop of barley, oats, or rye, or some other grains, and, of course, in the spring it will be well to make a temporary fence and fence up a few acres of clover for them to run in. If fed a little grain while rtmning in this clover, they would make that piece of clover land very rich. By having your pigs come in February, you are enabled to get them fat and sell them by December, and not be obliged to feed them through the winter. It costs money to winter pigs, although a little alfalfa, cured nicely, will be a great help in wintering your pigs or brood sows. They will eat it like a steer eats hay, and you can winter a brood sow on alfalfa with very little com. During all the years that I per- 44 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE HOG THE MORTGAGE PAYER sonally lived on a farm, we never made any money tinless we had some pigs to sell. In Illinois they are called "mortgage payers," which, I guess, is the proper name for them. When my son first commenced farming, he said, "I see one of your drawbacks is you lose your hogs with the cholera. When I was in France, I found the farmers who raised chickens made little coops and scattered the chickens over the farm, so as to keep but a few together." He thought he would make some hog coops similar in shape, but larger, and scatter them over the farm and in this way avoid the cholera. He did this and has been very successful so far in raising hogs. He is now raising barley to grind and feed his hogs, for a change from too much com. 45 SYSTEMATIC FARMING COUNTRY LIFE THE BEST People in the country think Uving in the city yields more pleasure than country life; but this is a mistake. Two-thirds of the people living in the city don't live half as well as those living in the country. Having lived on a farm for fourteen years of my life, I know, and I am sure I had as much pleasure as the people in the city. Mothers in the country have confidence in their daughters and sons, and are not obliged to have chaperons. We enjoyed going to dances, parties, socials, and sleigh- rides as well as the young people in the city. People think that the rich get more pleasure and happiness out of life than the people in mod- erate circumstances. This is another mistake. The rich are not the happy people of the world. I don't think the richest man in the world gets as 46 SYSTEMATIC FARMING COUNTRY LIFE THE BEST much pleasure out of life as the young man who starts out to estab- lish a character and a credit, marries some noble young woman, builds a home he can afford, surrounds him- self with true friends, and lives a manly life. I say to the farmers' boys that you are needed in the city, for nearly all city boys degenerate in the third generation. But never go to the city iintil you have accomplished some- thing at'home. If you do, you will fail. In traveling abroad and seeing how they live in the old world, I can't help but feel that a child is blessed when born in Illinois. Think of the children bom in great cities, living on the sidewalks and brought up in sorrow, crime, and hunger. Chicago arrests 17,000 young boys yearly, who have been 47 SYSTEMATIC FARMING COUNTRY LIFE THE BEST brought up in misery and never know when they will get a fuU meal. Are not children blessed who are brought up in the country? Jim HUl has given the American people warning of over-confidence in believing our land wiU always pro- duce great crops without greater intelligence in farming. Such men as Hill and Harriman are great public benefactors, as they develop great industries. Harriman bought the Southern Pacific railroad and invested all of its earnings ia the improvement thereof for four years, finally securing a safe road for the people to ride on. Why should we be jealous of such men? They have worked for us. They can't develop the country without benefitting all of us. They can't get any more happiness than the average man who SYSTEMATIC FARMING COUNTRY LIFE THE BEST lives a manly life. Possibly a little more notoriety; but are they not entitled to some credit of their work? Their efforts have benefitted the entire American people. SEED It is just as important to have a good seed com as to have a good breed of cattle. To breed com is very simple. Take twelve good, selected ears of com; plant one row with the com from one ear, and the next row with the com from another ear. When the tassels form, puU off the tassels from every other row, so the row from which the tassels have been removed will have to breed from the next row, and in this way the com does not inbreed. Do this for a few years, and you will have perfect com for seed. 49 SYSTEMATIC FARMING SEED I think it is important to change your oats. I find by buying oats grown in Northern Wisconsin that we raise a better crop of oats in Central Illinois. It is always very important to have good seed of all kinds, and I think it a great benefit to change yotir seeds from the North to the South. THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES I have always believed that the success of this great republic depends largely upon the intelligence of the American farmer, as great cities become more or less demoralized, and are always scheming to obtain something for nothing, advocating socialism, and Mtmicipal and Govern- ment Ownership, which would con- centrate the powers of the Govern- ment. The party in power would 50 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES always remain in power; the people would lose the benefit of the elective franchise, and thus destroy the principles this Government was founded on, viz. : Individual rights With reciprocal duties. In fact, we would soon be a Government as arbitrary as the Russian Govern- ment. The man in power would wield so great an influence that he could not be removed. With Mimi- cipal Ownership of street railroads, water works, and gas plants the employes would all have to be politicians. They would control a power greater than money. They, of course, all have friends, and when we have an election they would say, "If we don't elect the party in power we will lose otir jobs," and in this way they would control every election. The same with Govem- 51 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES ment Ownership. An ambitious President of the United States would have the power to renominate him- self. As it is to-day, he may not be elected; but give him control of all the railroads and he would elect himself. We better stand by the principles our forefathers laid down: "Give every man a chance to do some- thing," to build up some industry, something that would benefit man- kind, instead of making every man subject to the dictation of some one man in power. I fully realize the danger of concentrating the powers of this great free country into a few men's hands, and I believe every man who loves the principles of our country has a duty to do in trying to prevent this. 52 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES Abraham Lincoln said ottr Govern- ment is "a Government of the people, by the people, and for the people." If we had Government Ownership and Municipal Owner- ship, the party in power would remain in power. Wovild it then be a Government of the people, by the people, and for the people? Would it not become an arbitrary Govern- ment controlled by a few who are in power? I think it is wise to shun political parties who advocate Government Ownership and Mtmi- cipal control, if we wish to have a free Government controlled by the people. I think the farmers should take a greater interest in politics. The politician who tries to divide our people into classes by appealing to prejudices and jealousies is a dan- 53 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES gerous man. I have heard men say that a national debt is a national blessing. But a nation in debt is not different from a farmer in debt, for the debt must be paid. In the old world at least one-half the people's earnings or income must go to the Government; consequently it is hard for a young man to get started in life in his own country. The bright ones generally come to our cotintry. We now have poli- ticians clamoring for Government Ownership and Government con- trol. What will the resvilt be? A great national debt will be piled up. As an illustration, think what it costs the Government to do any public work. The Government has been fifteen years digging the Henne- pin Canal, which is only ninety miles long and sixty feet wide — and no 54 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES boat can draw over four feet — and is costing millions of dollars. The farmers of Henry Coxmty are digging a ditch 22 miles long, 100 feet wide, and 11 feet deep for $400,000. They cotild have dug the Hennepin Canal in two years for one-fourth the amount it will cost the Government to do the work. Politicians are circulating a petition to get Congress to appropriate money to build a ship canal down the Illi- nois River, which would fill up with sand eveiy spring and be another Hennepin Canal, and practically of no use to any one. Canals are obsolete. Every intel- ligent man knows that a double- track electric freight railroad, to run at the rate of twenty miles per hour, would haul the products from Chicago to New Orleans for less than S5 SYSTEMATIC FARMiING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES it wotild. cost to tow a barg? up the river against the current. A double- track electric road would not cost one-tenth as much as a ship canal, and this would be business — ^not sentiment. When they had the ship canal completed, costing untold mil- lions, with its locks and water-power, people would want bread. The locks would prohibit the reclaiming of millions of acres of the richest land in the world. These locks would have to come out. A great national debt means taxa- tion. Government Ownership and Government control means that the individual energy of the nation will be broken. We wovdd be retro- grading — ^would be a nation of tax- payers controlled by Government officials, and our individual inde- pendence would be destroyed. 56 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES The great men of our nation have been running otir Government on sentiment for the last ten years. Out of sentiment we commenced war with Spain to defend Cuba. We spent millions and sacrificed the lives of our soldiers, and, through sentiment, said to Cuba, "You may- have your independence." An Eng- lish statesman would have said, "You may get under the old flag and be one of us, but if you wish to be an independent nation, you must give us bonds for what we have spent in defending you." We should possess Cuba for a national defense, but can we afford to spend millions to protect it when it is of no use to us dtiring a war? We bought the Philippine Islands and are now spending $50,000,000 to educate its people, some of whom have twenty 57 SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES wives, which means a good many- children for us to educate. We did not need the Philippine Islands — far better for us to take care of our own people. In ovir large cities no less than 100,000 boys (brought into the world by degenerate parents, and raised in crime, sorrow, and hunger) are arrested yearly — and we send them to reformatory prisons to be pushed on downward. Is it any wonder that our land is filled with criminals? We are spending millions to build the Panama Canal. It will probably take forty years to build it, and it will cost one thousand millions of dollars. This is being done by pub- lic sentiment — ^not good judgment. We could build good docks on each side, with proper facilities for load- ing, unloading, and transporting the 5S SYSTEMATIC FARMING THE FARMER'S POLITICAL DUTIES products across the isthmus, for one- tenth of what it will cost with a lock canal. We may stand it now that we are young and rich, but future genera- tions will have to pay the debt. If we continue to run the nation on sentiment, we wlU burden ourselves with such a national debt that a farmer will not be able to buy a plow without having the Government stamp on it, and a nation filled with Government officials to collect taxes. SELECT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES CAREFULLY Every man who loves the success of this great Republic — a land of equal rights to all — ^must see that professional politicians are not the right men to administer the affairs of this nation . The judges who have 5P SYSTEMATIC FARMING SELECT YODR REPRESENTATIVES CAREFULLY served the people faithfully for fif- teen to twenty years are the ones who should be honored by being sent to the Senate and the House of Representatives. 60 SYSTEMATIC FARMING CORN BREAD One cup and a half of white corn- meal; a pinch of salt, and butter the size of a large walnut; pour on boiling water, and stir until you have a thick batter; then drop in the yolks of three eggs and the beaten whites ; add a teaspoonf ul of baking powder. Bake three-quarters of an hour. 6i ■^ _^-. ^.-s