501 5?^ Copyright Ni Cjopmrigrt deposit. liTe Keystone of Industries ILLUSTRATED By SIDNEY YOUNG SULLIVAN 19 16 CALL PRESS New York Copyrighted 19 IG, by SIJ)NEY YOUNG SULLIVAN All rights reserved OCT 14 1916 i)CI.A445125 7 I W'liat Is a Farm \Mthoiit a Cow? Something to Love That Can't Talk Back. CONTENTS PAGE Preface 9 CHAPTER I Back to the I>and 11 CHAPTER II The Value of Practical Farming and Good Common Sense 16 CHAPTER III The Soil 25 CHAPTER IV Office Orders, the Kind Sometimes Given to Superintendents 31 CHAPTER V Failures and Tiieir Causes 42 CHAPTER VI Help 52 CHAPTER VII Figuring ^^'^ CHAPTER VIII Hay ■ 70 CHAPTER IX Horses 70 CHAPTER X Poultry 103 CHAPTER XI Intensive Farming on a Small iVcreage 108 CHAPTER XII What Constitutes a Working Manager 117 Whoever within doth look Will benefit by this book. Get knowledge, laugh and enjoy The writings of a country boy. Grasses green, blue sky and trees, Singing birds and humming bees. Dark clouds, then rain, then bright and clear. The writer regrets that he cannot hear. To them that I within describe. In their hearts they know I haven't lied; You laugh at what others may see, But always think it is not me. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES PEEFACE Theke was a farmer who got plumb discour- aged; it seemed as if whenever he got a good crop prices were so low that it didn't pay to haul the stuff to market and when prices were high he had no crop. Things got so bad he said he'd be hanged if he was going to work any more. He figured he would starve anyhow and there was no use working himself to death at the same time. When spring came he didn't plant anything at all but let the weeds have full sway. Everybody predicted that he would be in the poor house inside of six months, but that didn't worry him in the least because he knew he was headed that way any how. There was talk of electing him to some office in order to provide for his family, but his political views were all wrong and it couldn't be done. About four months later, when this man had a fine crop of rag weeds and wild radish, along came an auto with four good lively young fellows and stopped for water for their machine; the farmer asked them if they wanted a drink of cider, for there were a few wild, twisted old trees that nature kept for him. After cracking a few jokes the men asked him how much he would take for his farm; just for a joke he said he would take seven hundred dollars an acre; 10 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES much to his surprise they took him up paying him cash for the whole hundred acres. Now there is the best golf links in the country and the farmer is living in town lending money to his farmer neighbors at exorbitant rates of in- terest. Some people are born lucky, others have to work; for the benefit of the workers read the rest. I expect to be criticised but will stajid back of anything I write ; now sit up and take notice of the observation and experiences of a man who knows. Straight from the shoul- der. Practical Farm Garden, Dairy, Poultry, Lecturer and Labor Expert. THE KEYSTONE OP INDUSTRIES 11 CHAPTER I Back to the Land The back to tlie land movement boomed by land promoters and little stories of farm fiction has ruined many ambitious young couples and business men, Having but a few thousand dol- lars to invest, they purchase a farm, pay cash, say $1,000, balance mortgage. These people be- ing misled by printed stories of successes but not of the failures. The average city man has an idea that life on the farm is a vision of fresh eggs, milk and bumper crops, and a big bank bal- ance and enough of outdoor exercise to make it healthful. No thought is given to the toil, sound judgment, broad-mindedness, years of experi- ence and work to make the farm pay. Further- more you have to love it, and be able to get around difficult corners with the least amount of expense. Failure should not discourage you but make you cautious before sinking your last dollar in something beyond your skill. There is money in it two ways; what you put in and what you take out. A great many put it in and never get it out, then lose their farm, and every- thing they have, never figuring that the land companies and experiment stations have the backing of the state and corporations. Their exhibits look nice at the fairs and get you en- thusiastic, but they do not teach the real farmer 12 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES anything; lie knows lie can do the same thing on the scrub oak lands, or any lands, if he has the money to put the soil in condition to grow crops. What he looks for is not an exhibit but the real bona fide profits obtained from the land per acre after all actual expenses have been deducted. Many a city lamb has been led to slaughter and lost all he had by the lure of books, magazines and newspaper articles. PuRCHASIISrG OP A FaRM The purchasing of a farm depends entirely on what you intend it for; don't think you can buy a farm for views or hills and dales, if you intend to have it maintain itself; such places are luxuries, but on some of these farms angora goats, sheep, possibly swine can be raised, but such stock are not generally wanted on an es- tate of this kind where you have to raise large herds. In buying a farm for profit the first thing to find out is what you intend raising; find where you can market same to the most profit ; go to the general store and ask questions in ;regard to farm, relative to who owned it and who has been working it for the past fifteen years; what they raised; if they were success- ful. You can get this information in general conversation, but don't state your business. Keep in mind there is no trouble raising the crops, the trouble lies in being able to market THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 13 same profitably. When you get off the train you look around and you will see a general store, gin mill, blacksmith shop, bus, a church steeple in the distance and a school house upon a knoll, which looks like a smoke house, and anything but a cheerful place for the edu- cation of children, but nevertheless you have landed in one of the great little producing sections; don't judge the town by the sta- tion. The store jji'opi'i^tor no doubt will tell you that Bill Jones lived there the past few years — had trouble or hard luck and had to give up; Bill was a good fellow but lost the farm after some city fellow had it for about two years and sunk a lot of money. You ask him who bad it before the city man — why he bought it from Si Simpkins, and Si was some farmer; raised fourteen children, sent them- to college and is living in town on his money. Wky you ought to know Si's sons, they are big lawyers and doctors and Si's daughter is teaching school in the big city. What did Si raise ! Why hay, milk, hogs, sheep, etc. — sold them right in the nearby market. Now if you want to be a success, buy that farm and raise the same product that raised Si Simpkins' fourteen chil- dren and educated, them. With modern ma- chinery and good judgment you can make money on that place. The best farm in the world ten miles from a station is not worth anything at any price, 14 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES fO III fo ^^ THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 15 unless there is a market for your product for that farm. Some farmers by the packing of their product create a demand for their brands, but it takes years of experience and time, and the auto truck will no doubt make some of these inland farms valuable, providing they are good for trucking purposes. Even at this it is a gamble; on a large farm you bury your fertil- izer and seeds ; they grow fine and you get good crops and yet you lose money. Now the ques- tion — why? Because your neighbors have equally as good crops and nothing under the sun can control the market prices, and your season's work is lost because of over-produc- tion. Last if not least, to be a success make the best three farmers in your neighborhood your friends — avoid experiments and let the other fellow do that. 16 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES CHAPTER II • The Value of Pkactical Fakming and Good Common Sense Fakms have been bought, some for summer homes, others for certain hobbies and commer- cial farming. In purcliasing these farms they hope to have them self sustaining; others look for a fortune; others for pleasure. Now the question is, who is the one to run these farms'? Is the purchaser capable"? We all know that a man may be an excellent and prosperous banker, broker, lawyer or a merchant, but nevertheless may be unable to run his own farm with any success. He thinks he can — and no one is able to convince him different. It is always the fault of the superintendent or manager that things do not move right. I sometimes agree with the employer in this respect, but looking into the matter rightfully, the fault is the fact that the employer has employed the wrong kind of man. In nine cases out of ten, business men will employ some scientific man or engineer wlio has no practical ability or knowledge at all of farm work and its management; and it is a mystery how some of the managers and super- intendents who obtain these positions from men of real business ability put it over them. I have known them to employ men who could not quali- fy under a real farmer. You can tell nothing THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 17 by references; only of character and honesty. I have the ability from actual farm experience to tell what a man knows by just allowing him to talk. ' In engaging a superintendent or a manager, the average employer gets a figurehead at a large salary who is obliged to employ different men for each department, and they really do not know how these departments should be run properly. The average farmer being a man of coarse appearance, this man will show in his conversation and prove his ability to be a man- ager of an estate or a farm and prove to be a clear headed fellow and one who knows his busi- ness. Does he generally get the position! The answer is no, or not until the business man has employed the figurehead on his w^onderful ref- erences and spent a small fortune for experi- mental purposes which are charged against the farm; this is supposed to be overcome by the next superintendent. Generally this scientific superintendent will start on page one of an implement catalogue and purchase an article listed on each page before figuring whether it is really needed on your particular place. Now the question arises — what am I going to produce on my place? The answer is ^^every- thing, to make it a paying proposition.'^ Some hobby cattle, chickens, swine, hamper system or something read in some magazine which it has taken years to develop and has been adaptable 18 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES for that particular farm. These things you ex- pect your superintendent to do in one year whether adaptable or not. It cannot be done. A farm or estate manager does not have to be a college man to make an estate or farm maintain itself. My experience with some of the agri- cultural graduates who have not had practical experience, is that they are expensive luxuries and can sink more dollars in a short space of time than by playing the races where you have a chance to win. I have yet to see the expert scientific farm that is paying $50 per acre over and above all expenses. This $50 per acre will cause com- ment and I have heard people laugh and say — why anybody can make $50 per acre, but remem- ber the man who is depositing $2,500 per year for a season's work on a fifty acre farm, is mak- ing money ; most business men sink that sum but the real farmer is not. It is being done to-day by practical farmers on Long Island, New York and other states but not on scrub oak land boomed by agricultural experiment stations and land promotors to sell land. The largest per- centage of products to-day in our markets are produced by the practical farmer. We will take for example a man who has been brought up on a farm, with cattle, hogs, and is well acquainted with general farming ; this man has to earn a living from same. He may not know a balanced ration, yet he will be making THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 19 money ; getting everything out of Ms stock. He has got to get it, and he can do it for you. If you have doubts about this just deed your farm over to some good practical farmer, equip him and you will see him riding in his OAvn auto in about two years. The question arises— why can't he do this for his employer? The answer is — the farm has been run by everybody except him. He obeys orders, and the farm is run by the owner, all of his business friends, books, magazines and possibly some New York agricul- turist or farm efficiency experts, who have never run a farm in their lives. Take it from me, when engaging a farm expert go to him, and say what you want done and get his price. Then ask him to give you the names of three farms or estates he has put on a paying basis. After investigating and locating such places emjjloy the expert. It seems to me the largest business men, who should know better, fall for this farm efficiency business. There is no agri- cultural expert to-day who can go to a place raid spend a day, or a few hours, and plan or write you a set of plans to make your farm pay. It is necessary to first become acquainted. Conditions have first to be learned. There are estates and farms run to-day by managers un- der the supervision of owners and specialists that are running behind and still keep running behind. Now who is at fault"? I claim that the average practical farm manager and superin- 20 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES tendent can run these places on a paying basis if let alone and the place is put entirely up to them, co-working financially with employer. Outside interferences only cause failures and losses and grievances and little is gained but extra expense. A farm cannot be run from a New York office and cannot be run like a fac- tory. Nothing scientific known can control weather elements. You may pipe and irrigate a small garden farm, but in large acreages and general stock farms it generally does not pay. If you take a trip in most any farming section, you will find the business man's farmer is going to show his old neighbor how to farm. In my section I have kno^^^l farmers to make good sales to these men for good figures, safely figuring on buying the same back for half price, for generally the business man farmer gets tired of sinking money in their places unless they are bought for summer homes or show places. I have often heard and read remarks about the old-fashioned farmer ; may I ask who developed this country and made more money than the old-fashioned farmer — even in the New England and other states on farms that are abandoned to-day? There are men in this generation living on the labors of their fore- fathers who made their money on these farms. These farmers made their money without mod- ern machinery. What could those old fellows do if they were living to-day? Now give the good, broad-minded, practical man a chance and THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 21 employ him, for what he knows, and not what his previous employer had to say about him, as long as his character is all right. He might have been an absolute failure, and why — per- haps because he did not have the chance to show his ability, but his employer knocks him because he has obeyed orders and carried the place on his employer's orders; and the employ- er is still a farmer, still keeps changing man- agers, losing money, never realizing that the fault rests with himself. The reason is you are not a farmer; wake up, and use your busi- ness judgment and common sense. Has the Business Man a Chance! In purchasing a farm for a home or estate, it Swine Prisoners in Stone 500 Feet From th^ Feeding Point. They are Saying, "If I Could Only Get Out." City Bred Architects are Pigish. Their Mode of Construction is to See How Much Money They Can Spend. No Profit in Swine bv This Method. 22 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTKIES is generally conceded that the business man gets a place that is down and out, or not in high state of cultivation. This of course he does not mind, as his ideas are to improve the place with ideal buildings to suit his fancy, pleasure and temperament. While it i-s an easy matter to employ an architect to plan or remodel the mansions, when it comes to the out-buildings for horses, cattle, swine and poultry, the aver- age city bred architect puts the out-buildings in the most absurd places, and the mode of con- struction is to see how much money can be spent. How should the city bred architect know these things? He has never bred stock and does not know their characteristics, and does not know how to plan to decrease the cost of the maintenance or the natural condition of animals. You go into the finest stables and see valuable horses eating hay out of the air from racks high above their heads and other fancy triflings which leads the stable away from a sanitary standpoint. "We all admire these things, but did you ever stop to realize the amount of dust and dirt horses are obliged to inhale and con- sume and cannot help themselves? Nature meant for horses to eat from the ground. Next thing is the heaves, which is blamed on the hay or superintendent, and which should be charged to the mode of construction. Here is where a practical stockman would save you dollars. We next go to the dairy barns and find them built in the most elaborate manner; individual THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 23 drinking fountains, cement mangers, salt hold- ers, brass railings, everything to make the cost of production beyond question. The buildings are not generally arranged on the efficiency plan; one building to lighten the work of tlie others. I have seen siloes placed 150 feet from the feeding point and heard owners say — ^^What will you have to drink, champagne or milk — it costs the same." Here is where a good practical cattle man will save you dollars by looking over your plans and condensing into a model dairy with all sanitary methods and cut the cost of maintenance. Have you ever stopped to consider cows who are obliged to drink con- taminated water standing in individual foun- tain, also licking salt brick and rock salt lying in mangers? Salt absorbs moisture and filth. You try to keep the bacteria test at the lowest point, but are feeding it to the cow. For pro- duction of sanitary milk the plainer the con- struction of the dairy the easier the sanitation. We next go to the swine houses and find heavy bred swine standing on cement floors. Did you ever realize that Nature never meant for pigs to stand on stone f This one little thing has caused unseen sickness among swine. The question may arise — how I have seen sows standing with sore feet and where there are sores there must be mucus from them. The sow is obliged to nose around in the straw in- haling her own impurities. Next thing is the 24 THJ] KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES cholera or some other disease and the loss of tlTe herd. The owner asks where did it come from"? It must be the superintendent 's fault. Get back to Nature, using common sense and practical theories. Swine are the cleanest stock if given a chance to be clean, but are generally kept in their own filth. Here is where a practical stock man comes in again. I approve of good two and one-half inch hemlock flooring, cork, brick or block w^ood paving. Now to the poultry house; generally an out- put of at least from $5,000 to $10,000 for brood- er houses, incubator cellars and buildings, all gone before you have a chick. You buy stock and expect to get the interest on the investment from the poor little hen, because you have read of the wonderful results from chickens in the poultry papers. You must stop to consider that these articles are written for the benefit of their advertisers and to get your money; for without advertising the papers cannot exist. Poultry houses can be built neat, plain and sani- tary; no glass is required; the average height of the back should not be over four and one-half feet; the idea is to keep away from a wind break; on the four or four and one-half feet basis in the back, seven feet in the front, the wind strikes the roof and goes right along. Here is where one little practical theory will get you eggs, and there are many others. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTKIES 25 CHAPTER III The Soil All owners and farmers want to build up their soils for the least amount of expense. They get books on soils, farm papers and read up on the soil matter, and strike a snag: There is not a book that applies to any one particular farm. You read magazine articles about analy- sis of soils, and you call a specialist and he gives you an analysis of your soil. It lacks humus or nitrogen and it always goes back to the same answer; you need stable manure to get your land quick ; your practical farmer told you that you needed no specialist; now the specialist will tell you the chemical your land contains, and by adding the necessary chemicals lacking that will produce your crops. We say the land has nitrogen and phosphoric acid; all you have to do is to add potash, which you apply. The crop comes up and grows like a sick child fed on the wrong kind of milk. • Now where does the fault lie? You have done your part, it must be the superintendent not following the special- ist 's orders. Now it is not the fault of the specialist or the superintendent. Your land contained nitrogen and phosphoric acid and analyzed same, but it was not available or soluble to plant life; you fed the ground but not the plant; you can analyze nitrogen from 26 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES shoe leather and potash from wood, but it will not grow anything unless in available form. To grow your crop it is necessary to have or- ganic matter, potash and nitrogen and phos- phoric acid, applied in available form. Then you will grow crops, providing you are blessed with the necessary rains or irrigation. A plant is a living thing, like a child, and has to have food and water, otherwise it will be stunted and starved. To learn these things you have got to read articles from the farmers^ standpoint, and there are very few papers that publish articles written by the farmers that are down to the earth. These articles are farm fiction that jolly the estate owners along for the bene- fit of their advertisers. When reading these articles just stop and think. Pkactical Natural Resources vs. Theoretical Methods To build from Nature's resources you read articles from scientists about plowing under cover crops, such as rye, clover or vetch. The scientist leaves the impression that you can produce the same as from stable manure; it is a mistaken idea to expect the same results from two bushels of rye sown to the acre at the cost of $2.00 as from twenty tons of manure at $1.80 per ton, or $36.00 per acre. I am coming to the natural resources you have at most places THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 27 right at your back door. Generally every farm has a woods; if you cannot afford manure, go into the woods and take six inches of the virgin soil, which is composed of decayed leaves, worms and branches, and broadcast on your land and add one ton of lime to sweeten the top dressing, which will bring out all chemical avail- able to plant life. Plow in and you have your humus. You will have to add potash, phos- phoric acid and nitrogen. This mixture will grow anything. There are concerns selling this dried muck and organic matter to owners of estates. The owners having the same in their woods should be spreading their level land all winter and cultivating the woods at the same time. Trees like cultivation even in the woods. Do not make a mistake and think that lime is a fertilizer, as lime itself will grow nothing. The only resources that lime contains is the power to sweeten the soil and it proves valuable only where the land contains humus or organic vege- tation which has become sour and dead by mak- ing them available to plant life. If you have no woods, it will take longer to build up your place, from Nature's resources, by the following methods : Plant rye in the fall ac- cording to the climate of your locality; when eighteen inches high, the following spring, plow under, using a chain, extending from the end of the plow evener to the beam over the mould board, dragging in the furrow to lay down your 28 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES • rye. Harrow, replant, with a mixture of oats and peas; when twelve inches high plow in, using the same method. Harrow and replant with soy beans. When beans blossom, plow in, using the same method. Harrow and replant with Hungarian millet or cow horn turnips; when the millet comes to a head or the turnips cover the ground, plow in. It will take one sea- son's work and you will have a liiimus bed of de- cayed organic vegetation. This can be sown in wheat and timothy hay, clover, added on top in the spring; after harvesting the wheat, you will mow hay for five years by adding a top dressing of ground bone, or, in fact, plant any- thing the following spring by rotation method, using commercial fertilizer. Fertilizee There are firms who make commercial fer- tilizers — do not be prejudiced against them as they employ chemists to study out available formulas for plant life. These fertilizers con- tain tankage as a filler, which makes the com- position a balanced plant ration and necessary to plant life. It is a mistake to broadcast raw chemicals on the land not containing humus, for in time it wall rack the land and act like whiskey fed to a baby, paralyze it. Remember: Na- ture always provides her own resources for THE KEYSTONE OP INDUSTRIES 29 maintenance, but cannot apply it herself; it is up to the man. Humus and Soil Fertility Humus is decayed vegetable matter in the soil and is a very important constituent in rendering soils fertile. There are a number of reasons for this, prominent among which are the follow- ing: First, the organic matter containing the essential plant food elements, and as it decays these elements are changed into forms available to plants. In other words, the plant food is put in condition to be used again. Second, as the organic matter decays certain acids are pro- duced and these, acting upon the insoluble min- eral constituents in the soil, dissolve and render them available to plants. Third, many of the changes in the soil are brought about by bac- terial action, and decaying organic matter fur- nishes food for the bacteria, so they can grow and multiply and thus render more mineral plant food elements soluble in the soil water. Plants cannot take up solid foods from the soil; before they can appropriate food it must first be gotten in solution like sugar goes into solution when put into water. Then there are other ways in which humus benefits the soil. It renders the soil dark in color, and a dark soil absorbs more heat than a light-colored one; that is of considerable ad- 30 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES vantage in the early spring. A soil filled with organic matter is also capable of holding more moisture than one that is deficient in this con- stituent. In a dry year this may mean the difference between a fair crop and a complete failure. Now this humus does not necessarily have to be stable manure for you can decay or make this humus without it passing through an animal by plowing under green crops, but this organic matter will lack nitrogen, which is obtained in manure through the urine, but scien- tists tell us this can be taken from the air through clover, but my own experience in ob- taining it through this form was :I plowed under 5 acres of the prettiest clover in blossom; this was so sweet that you could lay right down in it and the fragrance would put you to sleep. My grandmother walked down on the farm and asked me what on earth I was doing. I said plowing under nitrogen. She said, better get your mowing machine and put your nitrogen in the barn. By better experience I found she was right. I would have gained more nitrogen feeding this nice clover to my cows and buying my nitrogen in a bag and apply it myself, and know it was there, and you don't get a starved out crop. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 31 CHAPTER IV OFFICE ORDERS, THE KIND SOME- TIMES GIVEN TO SUPERINTENDENTS // Your Man Does Not Know These Things He is no Man to Employ Fakm Memokanda This is the 11th of October; we must expect a hard freeze in about two weeks and have about six weeks before the ground will freeze up and make further work impossible in many lines. There are a number of things that I want to have finished before that time and the only way I know of to insure their being done is to make a list of them and then a schedule of the way they are to be done. The list will probably omit many essential matters; these must not be left undone for that reason but you should supplement the list wherever necessary. I have not attempted to make the list in the order of importance of the things to be done or in the order in which the things should be done, but only in the way they have occurred to me. 1. Phmghing, harrowing, etc. This should be started after the first rain and a man kept constantly at it until the ground freezes. I would like to have every field south of the house ploughed and harrowed ; that is, all four fields. I would like, before it is planted, to extend the field furthest from the house by taking out some 32 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES of the locusts, but I do not tliink that this can be done this fall. If necessary, the field that had corn and potatoes in this year may be left to the last, but those in heavy sod, like the timothy field No. 1, should be started at once. 2. The lawn should be ploughed up. After this has been ploughed, muck from the ponds should be hauled and put on it. This muck should be put half an inch thick all over and in those spots where the soil is poorest about two or two and a half inches thick. As the muck is acid, we should add about 3,000 pounds of lime. This muck and lime should be thoroughly har- rowed in. 3. Mulch the rhododendrons. You can use leaves and the wire which this year was used to train peas on, for this purpose. Before mulching, the rhododendrons should be thor- oughly weeded. 4. Prepare root cellar. 5. A considerable amount of w^ork in the garden. In detail she will direct this but in general it will be to grub out and spade in back of the present garden, take out locust tree in south end and the flowers now in border re- arranged as she may direct. 6. Finish the work begun on the knoll. 7. Cultivate the white pines on the hill back of the laundry yard. 8. Protect the cedars. 9. Get in the corn. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 33 To get this all done and yet keep up with the other work on the place will necessitate careful planning. I offer the following as suggestions only and will be glad to have your ideas on any and all of it. One man should be kept on farm work and nothing else. Cutting corn should first of all be finished and then just as fast as it is in condition, the corn should be carried in. Put the corn stalks in the old barn and the corn in the crib. This may necessitate putting some of the tools now on the floor of the barn under- neath, but if the same are well greased no damage will result. The work of this man is all important and he should have assistance on the corn so that there will be no question that he can start in ploughing immediately after the first rain. You and the other man had better first of all complete some sort of a root cellar. This you should be able to do in three or four days at the longest. You should then devote your own principal energies to transplanting such of the flowers as are to be moved and putting the vegetable garden in shape for the winter; i.e., tying down the raspberry bushes, setting out strawberry runners, banking the celery and the like. The other man you can keep working about the garden where he will be immediately under you ; perhaps you will be able to start him grubbing out the kuoU, 34 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES As I told you, we allow the place $225 a month and all expenses have to come out of this amount. Your pay roll for the month will probably be about $165; you may save $10 on this but you cannot count on it. That leaves $45 for feed bills and all other expenses such as the purchase of a corn cutting machine, etc. Besides some time, between now and next spring, you must get enough ahead to pay for seeds and fertilizer for the gardens, both vege- table and flower. You will see that you will have to exercise the greatest care to get through. I think that if you calculate it all out carefully you will find that it will pay; in case you find after the first rain that your corn is not all in, hire another man so that the ploughing will not be delayed. Other Suggestions How much hay and straw can you sell? Bear in mind that you do not have to depend on the hay entirely for feeding for you can use at least half the ration of corn stalks. Y^ou can also use these for bedding instead of straw. It would seem to me that there should be a con- siderable amount of straw and hay to be sold. In this connection I might suggest what seems to me to be a good ration to feed the milking cows; THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 35 ONE COW 15 lbs. of corn stover 15 lbs. timothy hay 3 lbs. corn meal 3 lbs. wheat bran 5 lbs. of a mixture of two parts gluten meal and one part wheat. All of tlie above entails a great deal of work and nnless you have a regular schedule, care- fully laid out in advance, it will be very hard to get through. The way for you to do will be to take one evening each week and lay out the work for each of you three for the next week. Every day should be scheduled. For instance : Time John Billy Mike 6 A. M. Milk. Feed Clean stables. Help with chickens and kennels and chores until other stock. chicken house. horses are Put cows in fed; then pasture. plough. 8—12 A. M. Get vegetables, Grubbing and Same as above water flowers other work in house, cold with you. frames etc.; start pump i f necessary. Work in gar- den. 12—1 P. M. Dinner. Spe- Work with Same as above cial work like you. root cellar. mulching trees, etc. 4:50— 5 P.M. Get cows and Evening chores Put up tools milk ; feed ani- and horses, mals. 36 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES I am afraid that if you hire dagoes from the padrone you will only get eight hours a day out of them because they have to come and go so far. They really regard the time going and coming a part of the day's work; all this de- pends on the kind of a man you can get, how- ever. I call this magazine dope that makes good men leave their positions. Can a manager who receives these orders and follows them make good? The writer says no, but he carries out the orders with no heart in his work, for he knows he is doing wrong. He speaks to his employer, and the employer immediately says to him: ^^This is my place, and I am running it ; if you cannot follow orders get out." The orders are followed; things go backward instead of forward and the owner gets dissatisfied with his manager and dismisses him. Does he give this man a reference? Some do and others say, call them up. When called up, his last employer will state that he is an incompetent man; cannot handle, help; was a good worker but Avas impertinent because he talked back trying to show him light on a farm subject which the employer had not enough skill to see. What you are doing is keeping a competent man out of employment — a man that know^ more farming and managing than his previous employer will ever know. Have you a right to judge this man's ability, THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 37 he being an absolute failure following your or- ders, making the work twice as hard for him, as he was working against the grain? Have you- ever asked him what he knows about the brokerage business, if you are a broker? He will immediately answer you, ^^I am a farmer and that is out of my line.'^ In this class of help it differs from commercial classes; you should apply broad-mindedness; do not con- sider the length of time a man has Avorked for his last employer, if he has a good character reference. Some employers send their secre- taries to look at the last place the man has worked; if it looks fine there must be some reason he left to get another position; possibly to better himself; if the place looks poor he cannot be any good, but this does not signify anything, for you know not what conditions that man had to work under; he hasn't had the tools or help when needed, or anything that he really required — the time was past and the place got the best of him; he could not catch up. He is a failure to his employer and a fail- ure to the eyes of the next door neighbor and the community, and has difficulty in obtaining another position through no fault of his own. The writer has employed men that were failures on neighboring farms, but a neighboring farmer will never knock a man for the work he has done for him, but will always say to try him out. I have personally tried out these men, some of 38 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES them drinking men, and they proved to be tfie best men I have ever employed, and I can say some of them quit drinking because they were treated for once as men, and the systematic management of the place fascinated them. Be- ware of the man with a pocket full of references of high sounding reading, as generally you will get misled; also a long reference, as generally they have worked on places where they have had soft berths and not the hard knocks of the game; in fact, references amount to nothing; it is the man. What Constitutes a Good Supeeintendent A man that knows what to do and when to do it; a man that can keep the respect of his men and keep good fellowship ; a man that can over- come obstacles with the least amount of ex- pense ; a man that knows his place ; a man that does not know it all; a man that is not over- bearing; last, if not least, a man with diplo- macy ; one that* can manage a place for his em- ployer the way his employer wants it run, at the same time not allowing his employer to think that he is running the place; this man is a winner. Employers like to think they are run- ning their farms whether they are or not ; they pay the bills. If you expect your superintendent to make good he must control his help; on all successful THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 39 places the superintendents employ and pay all their help; they know the kind of men wanted and where they have to use them ; if they do not employ their men they cannot expect to get the good out of them. The first thing the help will throw at the superintendent if he is em- ployed by the employer or secretary is, *^Who is hiring me? — what have you got to say about it ? Go to hell ! ' ' And the superintendent can- not discharge him or pay him off until he is re- ported to the owner or secretary. The best superintendent fails under these circumstances and is forever branded as a failure and kept out of another position through nothing but the narrow-mindedness and ignorance of his em- ployer. Red Tape and Farming Don't Go One thing that will not wait is planting time ; to raise successful crops you have to be master of your farm; just let your farm master you once and you are gone; fertilizers, seeds and all things ordered by your superintendent, working foreman or farmer should not be held up for at least two weeks by your sec- retary or yourself. If you have not confi- dence in your superintendent to act as your agent you should not employ the man. Crops for success must be planted on time, so that they can have their proper chance in starting and 40 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES make way for succeeding crops. Once you get behind you can never catch up ; do not blame it on your superintendent, but see that he has the material on time when he wants to use it. Farming is not like a factory ; you cannot work nights to rush orders. Successful farmers cart their material when the ground is hard and have everything on the place before the ground opens up; put everything right straight up to your superintendent and he will do the rest. Now to the superintendent or manager who has the confidence of their employers. There is one thing meaner than a skunk under the barn, and that is a grafting superintendent or manager. It may be irritable to work under orders of your employer's secretary, but your very employer may have been bit by a snake in the grass. There is nothing worse than the be- trayal of confidences. Then again, the man- ager or secretary who has not the ability to buy their equipment direct from the manufacturer at the lowest price and buy through an agency, is losing money for his employer. While the writer handles equipment, it has been his ob- ject to reduce expense and buy just what is adaptable for the places. There are secretaries buying articles through agencies and often get- ting feed and grain that cannot be used, but the superintendent or workmen do not dare to report to their employer for fear of losing their jobs. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 41 The best way to detect a grafting employee is to ask the men how much board they are paying, the wages they are getting, and order something from an implement house and re- turn the implements and have the credit bill sent to you. The writer has no sympathy with a grafter. 42 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES CHAPTER V Failures and Their Causes Why doesn't the farm maintain itself? A question trying to be thought out by a great many men. Generally I have answered that the overhead expenses and money invested in your particular place far exceeds what it can ever produce, regardless of what you raise. Your anxiety to make it pay causes you to keep changing managers and jumping from one thing to another, never actually planning a season's work as farmers do, regardless of Unthinking Friends Always Ready to Eat Your Hard Earned Grub. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 43 what tlieir friends say or do. You listen to too many people and do not give a manager a fair chance. The having of many friends often bankrupts young starters with moderate means. It costs money and time to entertain; breaking in a day's work to hack to the station, and many a farmer starting has been put to the wall by unthinking friends. If your friends come use them; you cannot be a success and entertain at the same time. Your kind and unthinking friends will walk around your place and pat you on the back and say everything is fine, swing in the hammock all day in the shade, but are always ready at meal times to fill in on your good hard earned meals, going away delighted and tell some more of your friends of their ARRIVAL. Boarder — "I am looking for a man by the name of Sprague." Farmer — "I be tnat party. Heave yourself in."' 44 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES DECIDING. Boarder — "How is the board at your place ?'' Farmer — "I am known to be the best grubber in these here diggins. Don't I look it?" Boarder — "Yes, but other things don't." Getting Your Trunk Back to the Station. "$2.00, please." delightful time. Next week more friends, and so on, until you are keeping a free boarding house and you working your heart out. If you are going to keep these friends, better be a THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 45 boarding house farmer— the kind that raises a small garden, keeps a few hens, a cow, takes boarders in the summer months, has a thin horse and a rattling depot wagon; is big, jolly and fat. Their principal work is taking out parties on straw rides, fishing trips and charging $1.00 to take your trunk to the house and $2.00 to get it back to the depot ; they have good natured, lean, worn out wives, whose main struggle is to save enough money to exist in the winter months and have one dress a year. Who is running this farm? Why, the wife. Another successful farmer. Now I say the wife is running that farm, but did you ever stop to think that the farmer 's wife is the pivot of his success ? With- out house management a farmer cannot suc- ceed; just let him have a wife whose interests are not with him and he fails. I have heard remarks about the independent farmers, but for that independence some one has to suffer and generally it is the wife. This has been so since the developing of the country — to prove this you can go into any country cemetery and you will find on almost every headstone where this one and that one had buried two or three wives, and some old farmers are living with the fourth, and you can invariably trace it to the farmer. I haven't the least doubt that these wives simply worked themselves to death with hard work and rearing of large families. Times have changed now, but nevertheless the work 46 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES You Can Walk and Drive Around a Nice Building and Starve to Death. They Bring You in no Income. Get Your Soil Right, the Build- ings Will Follow. Could This Man Live if He Sunk All His Money in Buildings? No! THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 47 in a farm house is beyond conception and the farmer's wife should have every work sav- ing device as her husband has for outside work, but he generally gets his first; the board and feeding of a lot of farm help is no snap ; I have often heard owners say — we pay $5.00 per week, you should make money at that, but every dol- lar a farmer's wife makes is taken out of her- self. I have heard lectures at granges by women on house management, but if those lec- turers had to do the real work of some of the farmer's wives, there would be less talk. House management is one grand thing — it should Avork with regulation with the outside work on set time. The small duties of the farm- er 's wife is getting up in the morning 5 A.M., getting breakfast, washing dishes, feeding chickens, getting children to school, making beds, sweeping ; then sitting down to about one- half bushel of second size potatoes, then getting dinner, have dinner, then mend clothes, skim cream, make butter, get supper ready; eat; wash dishes; put children to bed. Nine P.M. — then if she is able, may possibly sit down and try to read some farm or story paper until her head drops; then retires with a life partner who has worked in the sweltering sun and oftimes forgets to take a bath ; this goes on day in and day out and without an ambitious, interested 48 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES woman who is a good manager, farming could not exist. Other causes are the lack of using fertilizer to grow the crops; the average business man wants something for nothing. Do not expect to get it from the air; it costs money, for every $50 put in, you should take $100 from an acre, or average same within four years, for if you do not put it in do not expect to get it out. Gare should be taken in selecting seed; do not go to a seed house and expect to get catalogue results; go to the most successful farmer in your locality, see where he buys his seeds; if he has good corn seed get your seed there; re- member acclimated seeds always give best re- sults. By all means do not try varieties of seeds requiring rich soils on poor land ; do not plunge in farm machinery ; find out what you need and buy accordingly; as soon as you stop the leaks you are a success. Do not spend too much money in buildings; while they look nice, re- member, they will bring you in no income; fix up the old buildings, do the best you can and put in every available dollar in your soil and you will find if you get your soil right the buildings will follow. You can walk around your nice buildings and starve to death, if you haven't enough money to maintain yourself ; do not buy stock too expensive to kill or sell at reasonable figures, for in a short time you will find your farm over-stocked, or you will find your stock THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 49 eating you out of a home. Now because your stock comes from some great sire or dam with pedigrees, do not think customers will fall over themselves buying stock from you at big fig- ures; it takes years of experience to build up a trade in any one breed. Do not expect to get acreage results from experimental reports, as generally the experi- ment is done in small plots with water con- venient; in all acreages you have to depend upon the rains and have blights, worms and unseen obstacles to prevent you from getting those yields. If you keep your ground thrifty THREE ACRES OF POTATOES. The man who wouldn't allow his manager to pay fair wages. This man is a failure to himself, his employer and the neighborhood through no fault of his own. Does it pay? 50 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES and well cultivated you will have no trouble in having a good yield, but not the kind that is read in experimental reports. Eain is neces- sary, but too much rain is a hindrance. AVhen you have your crops started and it rains for a solid week you will find the weeds far ahead of your cultivation. That is the time you want help; the more the better; clean up your crop as soon as possible, but do not work it in the mud. Once the weed gets the better and the crop is stunted, nothing known in science can The Farm Tliat Paid $10.00 per Day per Man for 16 Days. It Paid! Pota- toes, Cucumbers and Sweet Corn. Not Scientific, but Just Good Common Sense Farming. If You Don't Get the Weeds, the Weeds Get You. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 51 make it recover. You either have to get the weeds or the weeds get you. If the word science is ever misplaced, it is in farming, but the word progressiveness should be used, as all farming has progressed with every other in- dustry. There was once a farmer who had a dream — a fairy came to him and said if he cleaned his cows better he would make $5,000 per year on his stock. The next morning he looked at his stock and thought of his dream. ^'I don't believe I could do it, it only means more work for me to get my stock cleaned better.'' He didn't do it. This man has mortgaged his farm. That is the beginning ; you can guess his end. Moral: LAZY. 52 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES CHAPTER VI Help This is the hardest thing on the farm and the most expensive; every dollar has to be taken out of the soil and a cheap man is not worth What the Writer Is Doing for Agriculture. Transforming City Boys Into Farmers From the Ground Up Method. These Young Men Have Made Good. Will You Give One a Chance? THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 53 his Mre; it makes it still harder because the average class of young men taking agricultural courses will never make farmers in their nat- ural lives. You can take a trip to any county or farming section — can you find one out of every twenty-five successful farmers a college graduate or a scientific farmer? If these young men had about two years' good hard, practical experience under a good farmer and can stand the hard knocks they are good, but they invariably quit the game. In my eighteen years of experience I have seen about twelve make good and I have interviewed them by the hundreds, but do not dare take the chances of placing them for they do not make good. They all want to be superintendents, but couldn't superintend a row of beans in their grand- mother's back yard. This is why the foreign element make the most successful farmers in existence to-day. The average American-born young man doesn't like hard work. When you get a good man, appreciate him; he is human and a hard worker, and when em- ploying a farmer, either manager or farm hand, by the month, do not think you own him; you cannot make a servant out of a good farmer. Do not expect to get a good farm or estate manager for $60 per month and wife to board help, do laundry work, make butter, etc., for any good man does not have to have his wife work. The investment on your place may be 54 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES $100,000 or less— can you expect a man to run a place representing a large sum for a salary of that kind? What would you pay your sec- retary representing the same investment? We will say $5,000 per year. You can get ^ve hun- dren secretaries to every one good farm man- ager ; you cannot buy brains at that figure and it takes brains. Do not expect brains for la- borers' wages. Also you shouldn't turn down a man with a family, for all good men have fam- ilies. It is Grod's blessing. Comfort makes contentment, and your farmer or farm hand needs comforts, but is generally put in bar- racks, over cow stables, in out-houses, in fact any place is good enough for the farmer or farm hand. These men work all day and must be fed according to their work — good hearty, solid food, three times a day on time. You can- not keep them fed on cereals, lettuce, salads and soups, but plain bread and butter and po- tatoes, meat and stews — it doesn't have to be the highest priced meats either. If a man is not properly fed you cannot expect him to work, and the meals must be on time. From 5:30 or 6 :00 A.M. ; 12 M., and 6 :30 P.M. After that a man's time should be his own, but when a man is treated right you will find him with you at any hour night or day, but if not treated right he will leave you without notice, as he knows his ability, and a good man can get a position at any time and be treated as a man. THE KEYSTONE OP INDUSTRIES 55 If you cannot keep your help there must be a reason. Just sit down and think it over. It is a mistaken idea to think a working man can live and work on the same food as the mistress or be portioned out just so much of this and that with the idea — ''why that^s enough for any man.'' Also men Avill not wait for their meals on Sunday morning. You expect them to get up and do their chores and they wait around until 9 o'clock for their breakfast and this being late, you decide to have two meals on Sunday. You positively cannot keep help this way, and the idea of filling a man up on salt pork, corn beef, ham, mackerel and oatmeal until he gets so much salt in his mouth that when he takes a drink of water he imagines he is diving in the ocean, is wrong. You kick if your man gets pickled, but you pickle your man. Oatmeal will not last a working man two hours, but will fill him up temporarily. Good solid food must be fed; without it your man will get famished and leave you. Some egg a man to death; nothing but eggs until the man's stom- ach is so upset that he dare not look a hen in the face. I have had employers come to me for men and want a man for practically nothing, stat- ing they have a fine out-house or room over a hot kitchen, in the barn or hennery. In fact, their idea seems to be that the man is the same as an animal; he couldn't possibly have a nice 56 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES • clean room in the house, but the dog can sleep in the library. Then people cannot imagine why they cannot keep help and why it is scarce. Some of the farmers are suffering now, owing to their treatment of farm^help in the past, when they could go to Castle Garden and get green foreigners, practically the scum of the earth, take them home, put them anywhere and treat them like animals. The times have changed and each branch of farming is specialized such as Farmers, Teamsters, Milkers, Dairymen, Gar- deners, Herdsmen, etc. But the farmer, a com- bination man, is invaluable, and can command his value. The board causes more changing than any one thing; a man will not stay if he is not fed right for his work. Do not turn down an inexperienced man, for he makes the best help if he wants to work. It may take yourself or foreman a little time to break him in, but Avhen shown he makes no mis- takes and does his work your way and will generally make good for you. The man who knows how to do everything has worked for Tom, Dick and Harry and carries all kinds of references with him; this man you often get cheated in because he knows their ways and slips over his work carelessly. Do not turn a man down for what his last employer may say about him, if he is of good character. He may make the best man you ever had, but just could not get along with his last employer and his last THE KEYSTONE OP INDUSTRIES 57 employer thinks up his faults and knocks him for his own grievance at losing a good man. The average business man who employs this kind of help is narrow-minded and often loses a good man. A farmer cares nothing for ref- erence — it's what a man does for him; if he cannot do it he gets fired quick. College boys The Inexperienced City Boy Transformed. Do Xot Turn Down an Inexperienced Man. 58 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES are generally expensive help, for when they come to your place full of theories and find you are not equipped with the latest machinery they simply cannot w^ork, as at college they had everything to work with. A successful farmer is the man who stops the leaks without spending money. They have often come to me and said, The Inexperienced City Boy Learning Farming From the Ground Up. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 59 '^I cannot work for that farmer — ^he has noth- ing to work with, ' ' but if this young man sticks it out he will find that that shrewd farmer has a fat bank account, and they will learn more real farming in six months and how to over- come difficulties than they ever learned at col- lege and be a success, but they don't stick. If a man should start an office or school to teach agriculture and take the money from the same class of young men which I have met they would be arrested for swindling. Take the average farm boy who takes these courses; it either spoils him completely or makes him. After graduation one of these boys came home; his father asked him what he learned. He said he could play ball, tennis, foot-ball and fence. The father was glad that he learned something, so he said he could come and help him dig post- holes and fence in the ten acre lot behind the house, but the boy said, ' ' Oh, no, father, I fence with foils.'' His father said, ^^You do, eh; you come with me and I will teach you how to fence with a crow bar and spade. ' ' This was a spoiled boy, and you generally find them working in the general store or some city position, as their course in college has made them beyond the farm. I don't blame these boys and do not see why their fathers send them to college to learn a profession only to work for wages or manage their own farm, working in the sun, mingling with laborers all 60 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES • their lives, having nothing but hard work star- ing them in the face. If a boy is to be sent to college for training better train him in a pro- fession which he can follow and be dressed like a gentleman at the same time. Now these young men get their diplomas but what part of a dol- lar do they represent but to work for wages? They may possibly take a position paying $50 per month and board, but the outlook is that more have to work for $30, as in the agricul- tural field you cannot go out and hang up your shingle, as do our professors, doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, etc., and become promi- nent leading business men of the world. The animal husbandry course has produced some good feeders of cattle who get good money, but they have to be thorough cattlemen and like their work. Their future is nothing but follow- ing up the cow tail, and a hard life making- records for some millionaire or superintendent who gets the credits of the records and the feeder is never mentioned. To start farming it takes capital and stock to the amount of at least $1,000, and this has got to be handled properly or go under. How many professional farmers do you hear of retiring, such as there is in our professions, unless they get government appointments or lecture on the subject, making money on the outside? These men are doing wonderful things on paper, but what are they doing for THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 61 the down to the earth farmer? Ask a farmer. It's a hard thing for any young man to take a course and graduate and then start out in a field that doesn't pay the salaries or ineoines worthy of a profession. Now, is it a profes- sion? My personal experience and eighteen years of observation lead me to believe that farming is a gift — it has got to be in the man, and if it is in the man he will make money. The idea of there not being money in farming is Hilling the Ground for All Its ^^'ortll. If You Think the Good Farmer Is Not Making Money You are Mistaken. Potatoes, Sweet Corn and Cucumbers on the Same Ground. 62 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES wrong, for without farming this world could not exist. You think the good farmers are working for love; you are mistaken. If there was any possibility of a farmer figuring on market conditions he could make a fortune in short order. If you like to see a business man make a fool of himself, just sell him a farm. As to orphan asylum boys, I consider it cru- elty to children to farm out these small boys, as most farmers exj)ect them to do a man's Avork; get them up in the morning early, keep them busy until school time; hurry them to school at the last minute and they are often- times late ; come home and are put to work after school; all for board and clothes, people never realizing that they are children. If you take a boy give him an interest in a dog, calf or gar- den spot that belongs to him and everything to make it his own, and encourage him in every way, to make the farm interesting to him. When his calves mature pay him so much a quart for his milk, but he should take care of his own stock. Do this and the boys will stay home and take pride in their work, for they have an object. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. Now if these young boys grow up, or in fact, for any young man, what better opportunity is there in life than to work on a farm? Wliat business could a young mail start at where he could save more money, be healthy and get a THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 63 start in life than on a farm if he is ambitious, honest and saving? We will take for an in- stance a young man started at $30.00 per month and board. This is $360.00 net. He spends $9.00 per month for clothes, shoes and pleas- ure, or $108.00 per year. This leaves him $252.00 per year, or $1,008.00 in four years. What position in the city could any man take and have the same amount in four years at $15.00 per week! This is why the foreigners are so advanced to-day. They will come to work for you as a farm hand, and the first thing you know they own a farm, earned by thrift. A good example for the American boy. It is a mistake to look upon a farm hand as a degenerate, for these very degenerates become the chief factors of the keystone of industries. 64 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES CHAPTER VII FiGUKING A GKEAT many articles have been written on this subject, some by professors and others by men who actually maintain themselves on what they have raised, but any one can sit down and plan and figure out the profits they can make on a farm, on paper: what it costs to prepare, fertilize, and reap, and figure on the market value. But if you put those figures on a shin- gle, when it comes to harvest your crops, you will find the figures are washed away, because you cannot figure on the market for any per- ishable product, or the weather elements; only irrigation or intensive farming can overcome these, for you have got to have water, but the market figures cannot be overcome. Farm sta- tistics really amount to nothing ; they are based on experiments entirely different from what you meet in everyday farming. Planning Make three sets of plans — clear, cloudy and rainy day. Do no rainy day work when it is not raining, if there is inside work to do ; do no wet land work when the land is dry, if there is dry land work to be done. Never cultivate wet land ; for wet days it is better to clean your THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 65 harness, fix your tools, and you will generally find inside work staring you in the face, as a farm hand does not like to get wet. Remem- ber they have only one or two changes of clothes and are not allowed to go into the kitchen and sit by the fire and keep warm. Work which cannot be done when the ground is frozen should take the place of work that can be done in the winter time. In rush sea- sons put nothing off for to-morrow that can be done to-day, but do nothing to-day that can be put off until to-morrow. Prepare a deep and thoroughly pulverized seed bed, well drained; break up in the fall if possible and cross plow in the spring to the depth of eight to twelve inches according to the soil, with instruments that do not bring up too much subsoil to the surface. I have seen a great many articles about subsoiling, but have never seen a good row of any one plant sown in a dead furrow that was not properly filled in; but for drain- age the breaking of a hard pan subsoil has been beneficial to crops in places where water lodges. Use seeds of the very best variety, intelligently selected and carefully stored; do not let the seed catalogue reports excite your imagina- tion. In cultivated crops give the roAvs and tlie plants in the rows a space suited to the plant, the soil and climate. Use thorough tillage dur- ing the growing period of the crop. Secure high contents of humus in tlie soil by the use 66 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES of legumes, barnyard manure, farm refuse and commercial fertilizer; carry out a systematic crop rotation with tlie winter cover crop if pos- sible ; accomplish more work in a day by using more horse power and better implements; in- crease the farm stock to the extent of utilizing all waste product and idle lands of the farm. Most farms carry more stock than they can feed. Produce all the food required for the men and animals on the farm if possible; keep an account of each farm product, in order to know from which the gain or loss arises, and by all means take stock of everything on your place once a year; put it down in your stock book, its cost and the place it is kept, from a curry comb to your harvester. If your man takes a wrench, hoe or seeder, charge them to him if he does not bring them back and put them in their places; have a place for every- thing and everything in its place ; it is just the same as money. Do not buy machinery to stand out under a tree — better to hire the ma- chine from your neighbor or hire the work done. There are too many farms with dollars lying all over the place for the elements to rust and wear, and when you go to use a machine in a critical time it breaks down and it takes a long time to get your castings from the fac- tory and you lose half your crop. Don't be like the farmer who, when his man asked him where his mowing machine was, THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 67 scratched Ms head and said: ^'Let me see; where I finished up last year." Or the man Don't Buy ]\Iacliinery and Let It Lie Ljider a Tree. who decided to cart his manure every day, backed his wagon up to the manure pile, but 68 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES when lie wanted to use the wa^on again could not find manure. it, as it had been covered up with A Place for EverythiiiG r« »E? >c'sg;>>>^ > 2>>» ^ 3.'< 2.V1 2.'< 3 -i.-^w s.'S-Ss.a. oooooooooowoSo OOOVOOOOOOtnOOOOOOOOOO O O tn Best Germinating Temperature O^OOO^O^a^O\C^OC » 0\ CN O O CMTv OnOv CTi vjOvOv O • O-O O- O O O O O ^ OOOOOOOO \O<-"*.OO0 OtOOOOOOOi-OOOOOOtnuiOOOOO ooo TiMK Requiseo to Germinate ,OtnOOo^^*^^'^0000 JOl^OOOCnOOOt. OOOOOOOOOO l.vlO\tnCOOO»0\ViCnO OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO ooc IOONOOOtnC*»^t>JOOOOK>t^JtoN> v^ o ^ OtnOOOW>OOtnOOU»">OiJ»Ot g- C/JO gM O -y-.^a 3 S3 3 3 . sts; O O O 2\ O 0"0 iO -D ^^^: 3 O O A O O ^^^ O ,Q O o o >)ONONr*oooNNOoooo Nr'r'r' ■^■-xo'??^ o'o'!r>*o'o''».>».S'o'o'o'>^o'Hxo"«,?0 ►xh^m,o"o*».,«,i<,5hL o 2 2 "^ o OO111i»,1i00"'-'0O°-11lO-lO-lO"l10001lOO00o I^^H^I ►-►-ooo"' oo'J:;»-oOk-^->-ooo>-OK-o»-oo>-i^-i«-oo>-^-»'k-i-i ooooo oo_._,o"-o--sooooogo_._ooooo_.ooooooooooo ooo^o oo=rE«,=>~>2t°o«,^oo='^Ht2to^o_o2tn.ooo«,rt,ooooo ►hB->^^-> nC o-S 2''22''"'3o noion •Mi-iooiMiM^ 2'2*o 3 38318 Pl^.^lll* S.^s-es sss^?!""-""- " '-- c * • S 2 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 115 Maekets A great many comments and illusions have been made over the hamper system of selling produce from the irrigated and intensive garden farms. This system is very seldom a success ; on odd occasions you may find a man with a few customers, mostly friends. Look at it log- ically — the people who can afford to buy ham- pers are generally away in the country in the summer or dine out in the winter ; the moneyed class have their own gardener who -sends the goods from their own place. This class who stay in town and have chefs and cooks let them select their own vegetables, as a good cook does not like to have things handed to him, never knowing where he stands or what kind of vegetables he is going to have ; then, again, the gardener has trouble to get a regulation of vegetables and generally fills up the hamper with the most plentiful things, possibly some- thing the customers care less for. The poorer class buy from hand to mouth. When you look it square in the face, you see the problem will not work out. The market gardener has to lift the produce quick and it requires a great many distributors. That's one reason a public mar- ket never succeeds ; the farmer cannot take the time and stand in the market to hand out his load to the public, as he would have his load all picked over and one-half destroyed by being 116 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES • handled; lie has no way of delivering a basket of potatoes if he sold them. This knocks the direct to the consumer idea flat, but the stands could be let to the farmers, they disposing of their own goods. There are farmers w^ho have tried to rent stands in the public market and couldn 't do so ; it seems there is a certain clique that get these stands ; the market is supposed to be open for the public to buy direct from the farmer. The farmer is solicited to patronize the market, but when he tries to rent a stand he is shut out ; he can stand there with a wagon and have his load picked to pieces and one-half ruined for him to take home; it never will be done by the real farmer. THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 117 CHAPTER XII What Constitutes a Wokking Manager A working manager is a man wlio works on your farm leading his men, the same as is done with the general farmer. Men of this type can do this on small farms, but on large farms where a great many men are required they have all they can do to handle the men properly. Do not expect your working manager to be your bookkeeper, for if this kind of a man works with his men, it is next to impossible for him to keep books, except to put down the current expenses, etc. Do not expect him to sit up nights keeping books after his day^s work, as it would soon finish him. If you expect your manager to work, keep the books yourself. What Constitutes a Herdsman A herdsman is a man who understands all feeding of the cow for advanced registry test work, balancing the ration to the individual, getting the most out of food consumed, both in fat and milk, and a good milker. No herds- man will let anyone but himself milk a cow that is on test work. He also must understand the Babcock test. 118 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES What Constitutes a Daikyman • A dairyman consists of a good butter and cheese maker; on small places some milk and care for all stock ; on large places they do noth- ing but the butter and cheese work. He must be a good, clean man, not only in personal ap- pearance but in habits, as nothing will spoil butter quicker than carelessness and dirt. He should be able to feed, balance rations and un- derstand the Babcock test work. What Constitutes a Milkek Must be a good, dry hand milker, able to handle about eight cows an hour; understand the grooming and washing of cows and keep- ing the stable in a sanitary condition — a thor- ough cow man. He must be a quiet, clean fellow, who does not abuse the cows; no cigar- ettes. What Constitutes a Faemee A man who can do anything on a farm, gen- erally called a farm-hand; he must be able to milk, plow, know how to do all farm work. Now this man is no farm-hand — a man that can do these required things is a farmer, generally called a farm-hand to cheapen his ability. This class of combination man is invaluable on any THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 119 farm and sliould be the highest paid man, but is generally offered the lowest possible figure for his work. It is an unjustifiable mistake — he is worth more than any teamster, milker, poultry-man or gardener, as you cannot place him wrong. Why call him a farm-hand? A farm-hand is nothing more than a laborer or a harvest-hand, called in our state laws an agri- cultural hand. What Constitutes a Faem Teamstek A farm teamster is a man who cares for his team and handles all farm machinery without instruction. Is good on estates, under super- intendents, who are not up in farm machinery work, but to the farmer is valueless. Farm teamsters never make farmers or get beyond their calling, as they detest cattle, and on all good farms you will find cattle. Conclusion It is the tendency of the government maga- zines and socities to improve the agricultural conditions of farmers. These societies consist of the most prominent millionaires in the coun- try — the point of view is to show the farmer how to produce more crops or a system of loaning money. You never hear of a million- aire farmer failing, as he can always retire 120 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES The Farmer, the Most Abused Man in the World. Everyone Trying to Show Him How to Run His Business. The Chief Factor of the Keystone of Industries. honorably. He starts his place with great am- bition to have a commercial enterprise and pos- sibly eends his son to take an agricultural course for future protection. He equips his place with every desirable thing and is going to THE KEYSTONE OP INDUSTRIES 121 '^show'^ the world. After a year or two lie finds Ills enterprise is costing him a small for- tune to maintain. He starts to think of a way out of it, for he cannot sell and come out whole. Now the easiest way is to donate it to his state for a college experimental station or farm school for the taxpayers to maintain, and is for- ever heralded as a man who has done wonderful things for agriculture, and possibly gets a gov- ernment appointment in the Department of Ag- riculture or on some commission; but the poor devil who starts farming on small capital, puts his very life into his w^ork, pays for his ex- perience, and through unseen obstacles his money fails him on the eve of success, this man is heralded as a failure ; but his experience qual- ifies him to be the most successful superin- tendent or farmer for some estate owner. The poor man's loss is the rich man's gain. If this man should get his second start he will suc- ceed. The government has passed a law for farm- ers' loan banks, for the solvent farmer. Now I say that the farmer who has to go to any or- ganization or government for money to run his farm had better sell his farm at once. A sol- vent farmer in any locality can get all the money he needs right at home. The govern- ment or an organization will not loan to a man who is not solvent. What the farmer can get : Fertilizer, machinery, manure and seed on time, 122 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES but is charged 5 per cent, for time price. Hef can win tliis 5 per cent, if paid within the time limit. I have known companies to extend credit to farmers for two years when they have had bad seasons. These men have paid their bills and flourished and did not o\vn their farms. The solvent man can borrow money on notes if necessary and extend credit on these notes when due and is not obliged to mortgage his place. You read about co-opera- tion to sell; there never can or will be co- operation in farming, unless it's a United States co-operation of all farms, as there is generally an over-production of farm products in the United States. What I mean by over-produc- tion is that different states cannot use their own production and are obliged to ship interstate. For instance, some of the New York City milk comes from Vermont, New Hampshire and all outside States; how can the New York State milk producers co-operate? You cannot co- operate on anything that is not staple, and farm produce is not staple; it cannot be manufac- tured. Farming is nothing but a gamble and you cannot figure on a gamble. It depends en- tirely on nature seasons. If the season is a poor one the farmer has no trouble to get good prices, if he gets a crop ; if medium he gets fair returns; if a good growing season there is an over-production and he loses. If you cannot control production you cannot co-operate, and THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 123 you can never tell which product there is going to be a scarcity of. Most of these societies are composed of the most of the prominent men of the country who are not producing farmers. The producing farmer is not represented even in our state affairs; the men being appointed are either men representing publishing houses or men with technical farm education. Why not have the leading farmers of each county select their own farmer representative in all these hearings 1 The man who is actually farm- ing for his maintenance, this is the man that can tell you real farming. Now there are three kinds of farmers in most every section you enter — First, the producing successful farmer; he is up to the minute — seems to get his crops when others fail and makes money at every turn of his hand; is al- ways on the job; owns his auto and is termed the independent farmer. Second, is the farmer who just makes a comfortable living; keeps his children looking good; gives them a fair edu- cation and is considered a good substantial man in his neighborhood, but doesn^t get rich; through some unseen thing, it may be a little, carelessness, laziness or lack of good judgment, or not getting up in the morning; termed the existing farmer. Third, is the experimenter, the farmer or business man book farmer who is always running to a book, experimenting and jumping from one thing to another on some 124 THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTBIES experiment he lias read about or heard of whi5h has been a success and adapted and made money on the farm it was experimented on. This man hasn 't one settled idea ; keeps chang- ing his crops every year or settles on one crop ; puts all his eggs in one basket and fails for he doesn't follow a rotation and says: ^'H , there is no money in farming. ' ' No living man can please or work for this man; it's just this fellow who has thrown a forecast over the coun- try, creating the impression that farmers lack brains. It's an unjustified mistake and unfair to the producing farmers, who are the very Keystone of Industries and Backbone of the Nation. They laugh about the farmer And picture him with whiskers, too, But the man of the land is one grand man, For his hand is feeding you. Agriculture To the readers of this book the writer will endeavor to explain to them the importance and the nobleness of the farmers of the world. This world is supposed to be started with a garden; this may be true and it may be a fable, but we will say it is true ; we certainly know this world was inhabited by white men ; these men had in- tellect; they caught wild beasts and birds of different species and domesticated them; they found grain and natural vegetation in a wild THE KEYSTONE OF INDUSTRIES 125 state; by collecting these things together and breeding and planting and cultivating them they formed tribes, for they found the ground would yield an abundance if these were cultivated and cared for, thus showing them the way to sus- tain their bodies and develop their brains, and then forming into tribes, known as the wise men of their day. The men of ^ the present are the leaders in industries created through agricul- ture, hence the development of the world. These are proven facts — when this country was discovered it was inhabited by red men; they lived on their ability to hunt and kill game, given them by natural instinct ; they had no in- dustries, no money and were obliged to seek new hunting grounds as soon as game got scarce or fight his neighboring tribe for the pos- session of theirs or .starve. The white man landed and started farming and showed these people they could colonize in one spot and live, hence the trade with the red men for whiskey and food stuffs and created an industry in the trade of furs. This went on and as farms were started throughout the country the railroads started, first with caravans and then the men of scientific thought and genius developed the rail- roads; to this generation wherever farming starts industries follow; hence the interest the railroads take in the development of agriculture which made the world, stopped barbarism, civil- ized people and developed Christianity. FARM ESTATE HELP CONSTANTLY ON HAND Superintendents the best; Working Managers that know; Horse and Kennel men, Show King; Herdsmen's Feeders for Test Work; Dairymen, best butter-makers; Milkers, Dry Hand; Gardeners, Vegetables, Greenhouse, Roses, Carnations, Violets, Mums, Orchids, Gardenias and Tropical Fruit; Poul- trymen up-to-the-minute; Farm Couples, Farm Hands. My organized crews will clean up any place that gets behind, under personal management. For Good Horses, Cows, Swine, Sheep, Poultry, Baby Chicks, Eggs for Hatching, Fertilizer, Seeds that Grow, Manure, Farm Equipment. Systematizing Farms; Judges, Mates and Conditions Ex- hibition Poultry; Breaks Trains, Colts and Sheep Dogs; I Sell, Set Spray Fruit Trees, Shrubbery; Renovate Lawn and Golf Links. No charge for Help until they prove their value to Employer. SIDNEY YOUNG SULLIVAN FARMER SINCE 1898 CREDENTIALS SUBMITTED The most popular Practical, Farm, Garden, Cattle, Swine, Poultry and Labor Expert to-day. The only Agency of it's kind in the world. I have no com- petition. Men that pass the qualifications in their respective lines through me need no other credentials. They have made a reputation for me and their employers. OLD RELIABLE FARMERS SECURITY BUREAU Phone Cortlandt 6486 115 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK