Class Book. 2^ Gopyiiglit}]^ CflKfRIGllT DEPOSm AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS . AGRICULTURE and the FARMING BUSINESS o/H/ BENSON Agriculturist, United States Department of Agriculture Author, with George Herbert Betts, of Agriculture and GEORGE HERBERT BETTS Author of Better Rural Schools, Agriculture, etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, CHARTS AND DIAGRAMS INDIANAPOLIS. THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright 1917 'he Bobbs-Merrill Company PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N, Y. FEB 21 1917 'CI.A455647 ^\ to / AUTHORS' ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgment is gratefully made to the Minister of Agriculture, Canada, for the illustration on page 326; the United States Department of Agriculture for the illustra- tions on pages 7^, 112, 117, 120, 123, 125, 135, 136, 143, 206, 266, 268, 271, 272, 295, 298, 300, 400, 402, 403, 534, 536, 560, 563, 565, 593, 596, 601, 623, 625, 627, 640; the Poultry Department of the Massachusetts College of Agriculture, pages 632, 639; the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, page 201 ; the Washington State College of Agriculture, page 614 ; the Colorado College of Agriculture, page 653 ; the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, pages 275, 288, 496; the College of Agriculture of Illinois University,, pages 454, 461, 494, 495, 591; the College of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota, page 621 ; the College of Agriculture of the University of Ohio, page 272; the Yakima Commercial Club of the State of Washington, pages 518, 608; Mr. Bert Ball, of the Crop Improvements Committee, Board of Trade Building, Chicago, page 743 ; Wallace's Farmer, Des Moines, Iowa, page 661 ; the Agricul- tural Department of the International Harvester Company of Chicago, pages 120, 132, 259, 278, 284, 290, 292 ; the James Manufacturing Company, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, pages 27, 461, 495; the Northern Pacific Railway, page 616; the David McKay Publishers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, page 674 ; and Hewitt & Brown, Architects, Minneapolis, Minne- sota, pages 646, 647 ; the Globe- Wernicke Company, Cincin- AUTHORS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS nati, Ohio, pages 36, 41, 52, 56; the Willys-Overland Company, Toledo, Ohio, and W. D. Boyce & Company, of Chicago, for all photographs of the automobile and its uses on the farm. For many of the photographs illustrating western agriculture we are indebted to Mr. T. J. Newbill, of Pullman, Washington. PREFACE This book deals with the business of farming. It at- tempts what has not yet been accompHshed for the farmer — the bringing together in one simple non-technical volume of a wide range of practical scientific information directly related to the every-day problems of the farm and home. Progressive farmers are everywhere proving that they are eager students of scientific matter bearing on agricul- tural practise. They are constantly seeking for the knowl- edge and the methods that will further their own success, improve agriculture and promote the general prosperity. They stand ready to apply what scientific investigations, experiments, tests and actual experience have proved to be sound practise and of definite value. Farmers as a class are very busy, and they have neither the time nor the requisite training to search through the technical scientific treatises for the information and direc- tions they require. The very abundance and thoroughness of the large quantities of reports, circulars and agricultural bulletins, as well as the farm journals, posters, special leaf- lets and what-not, are a source of confusion and often lead the general reader to bewilderment. The present volume aims to serve as a clearing-house for this mass of valuable scientific information, and thereby render it available for the farmer. It seeks to simplify in form and statement without reducing in scientific accuracy PREFACE the teachings and discoveries of expert authorities in the field of agriculture. It deals with almost every typical in- terest and problem to be met on the modern farm, and ap- plies to the discussion the proved results of scientific in- vestigation. It summarizes and renders easily intelligible much valuable material produced by agricultural colleges and experiment stations which, in its original form of pub- lication, would prove too severe a strain on the time and patience of the busy men and women of the farm. It pre- sents in plain and condensed language the results of much fruitful experimentation and many costly investigations conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture and the experiment stations. In short, it gathers its material from every available source, and undertakes to relate and apply it simply, directly and concretely to the practical problems of farming. It is planned that every member of the farm household may find something of interest and value in many of the chapters. The book also aims to be of equal service to those living in towns and cities who have dreams of a fu- ture country home. Nor is it forgotten that the city boys and girls are entitled to a knowledge of some of the oppor- tunities and inspirations of rural life. Through these pages it is hoped that many of them will be led to a more intimate acquaintance with the fields, the forests, the gardens and the birds. At the same time it is believed that their educa- tion will be broadened by a better knowledge of America's greatest industry, farming. PREFACE The book will also be of interest to the men of the shop, to clerks, business men and professional workers who, be- cause of their sedentary work, are in constant need of a motive for outdoor occupations. The information and guidance needed by such persons are here assembled in a form that will not require a large expenditure of money or of time for their acquisition. In short, it has been the desire of the authors so to represent the business of farming that all who wish a better knowledge of its problems or practise, whether this be for actual use or only for general informa- tion, will find the volume serviceable. It is also hoped that the broad range of information, many practical suggestions, and directions for practise will make the book of value in the schools and public libraries. The style and phrasing have been kept very simple and direct. Technical terms are almost wholly omitted. Un- tried theories have no place. Scientific facts are stated in plain language that will present no difficulty for any reader. It is the sincere hope of the authors that those who read the following pages may do so with pleasure, and that the lessons learned may add much to the satisfaction and profit from, the business of farming ! The Authors. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I Business Methods in Farming • ^ Wasteful Use of Soil— Need of Conserving Soil Fertility— The Age of Industrial Changes— New Interest in Agriculture— Farming as a Career. II Farm Management ^^ Planning the Farm for Profit— Type of Farming —The Magnitude of the Farm and Its Enter- prises—Farm Organization — Administration of Farm Enterprises— Quality of Excellence of Product— Ten Important Points in Farm Ad- ministration—Need of Specialists in Farm Man- agement—Ten Commandments of Agriculture. III Farm Office and Accounts 35 Suggestions for Letterheads— Farm Inventory- Farm Office Suggestions. IV Corn Culture 53 The Corn Plant— Importance of a Good Stand —Corn Enemies— Saving the Seed— Types of Corn— Raising Seed in a Selection Bed— Test- ing the Seed Corn — Corn Judging with Score- Card— Preparing Seed Corn for the Planter— The Seed Bed and Planting— Cuhivating the Corn— Harvesting and Storing the Corn— The ^ilo— Twelve Silo Reasons—The Uses of Corn. V Wheat 108 Importance of Wheat as a Crop— Types of Wheat— Growing the Wheat Crop— Diseases and Insect Enemies of Wheat — Improving Wheat. VI Oats 1^1 Importance of the Oat Crop— Types of Oats- Raising the Crop — Insect Enemies and Diseases. CONTENTS— Continued CHAPTER PAGE VII Agriculture in the South 145 Diversified Farming in the South — Crops Suit- able to Southern Farms — Animals Adapted to Southern Farming — Soil Management in the South. VIII Agriculture in Western States 162 Western Farming Conditions — Dry-Farming — Dry-Farming Practise — Management of the Dry Farm. IX Farming Under Irrigation 176 Causes of Aridity — Reclamation of Arid and Semi-Arid Land — Systems of Irrigation — Crop Management under Irrigation — Dangers from Over-irrigation. X Cotton 191 The Cotton Region — Raising the Crop — Enemies of Cotton. XI The Potato . 205 Potatoes as a Farm Crop — Raising the Crop — Improvement through Selection of Seed — Potato Enemies — Rules for Protecting against Potato Enemies. XII Sugar Farming 220 The Sugar Region — Producing Cane Sugar — Growing Sugar Beets — Producing Saccharine Sorghum — Producing Maple Sugar. XIII Tobacco Culture 233 The Tobacco Region — Uses and Classes of To- bacco — Raising the Crop — Insect Enemies. XIV Forage Crops 246 Classes of Grasses — TI:e Legumes — Forage Pro- ducing Region. XV Meadows and Pastures 254 Meadows — Pastures. XVI The Clovers 263 Value of Red Clover on the Farm — The Rais- CONTENTS— Continued CHAPTER PAGE ing of Red Clover — Harvesting the Red-Clover Crop — The Enemies of Red Clover — Other Types of Clover, XVII Alfalfa 277 Alfalfa as a Renewer of the Soil — The Returns from Alfalfa — Where Alfalfa Can Be Grown — Raising the Crop — Harvesting the Crop — Ene- mies of Alfalfa. XVIII Other Legumes 294 The Cow-pea — The Vetches — Soy-beans — The Peanut. XIX The Vegetable Garden 304 Location and Soil — Plan of the Vegetable Gar- den — Culture of the Garden Crops — Insect Ene- mies of the Vegetable Garden — Plan for Small Home Garden — Profit from Home Canning of Vegetables and Fruit Purchased for Cash. XX The Tomato 321 Importance of the Tomato — Varieties — Raising tlie Crop — Harvesting and Marketing. XXI Home Canning of Fruits, Vegetables, Meats AND Soups 328 Home Canned Products and the Table — Canning Equipment — Temperature for Boiling Water at Different Altitudes — Containers — Making of Brines and Sirups — Density Terms Defined — Useful Tables — Reasons and Explanations for Use of Terms, "Scalding," "Blanching" and "Cold-Dipping" — Directions for Home Canning, Cold Pack Method — Classification of Fruits and Directions for Canning— Classification of Vege- tables and Directions for Canning — Canning of Windfall and Cull Apples — Apple Sirup — Tin- ning, Capping and Soldering, Repair Work. CHAPTER XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX CONTENTS— Continued PAGE Special Suggestions for Canning Fruits, Vege- tables AND Soups 363 Fruit and Vegetable Recipes — Home Canning of Soups — Canning Directions. Culture of Fruits and Nuts 380 The Home Fruit Garden — Commercial Citrus Fruit Orchards — Otlier Important Fruits of the South and West — Nut Farming. Garden and Orchard Sprays 399 Bordeaux Mixture — Lime-Sulphur Mixture — Arsenate of Lead — Paris Green — Kerosene Emulsion — The Resin-Lime Mixture. Weeds 409 Classification of Weeds — Damage Done by Weeds — How Weeds Injure the Farm — How Weeds Spread — Fighting the Weeds — A Table of Common Farm Weeds. Birds and Other Insect Destroyers .... 429 Birds as "Policemen of the Air" — Birds Useful to the Farmer — Other Enemies of Harmful In- sects and Animals — Protecting Our Friends. Nature of Soil 442 Origin of the Soil — Classes of Soil — Organic Matter in Soil — Texture of Soils — Structure of Soils — Erosion. Soil Fertility and Plant Growth 457 The Soil as the Home of the Plant — Plant Food and Soil Fertility — Soil Nitrogen — Phos- phorus in Soils — Potassium in Soils — Crop Ro- tation and Fertility — Improvement of Sandy Soils. Soil Moisture 474 Forms of Soil Water — Capacity of Soils of Cap- illary Water — Tillage and Soil Water — Soil Drainage. CONTENTS— Continued CHAPTER XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII PAGE XXXIV XXXV XXXVI Manures as Fertilizers 488 Value of Farm Manure — Preventing Loss from Manure — The Application of Manure — Green Manuring. The Use of Commercial Fertilizers .... 498 Importance of Commercial Fertilizers — Com- mercial Phosphorus Fertilizers — The Use of Lime on Soils — Commercial Potassium Fertiliz- ers — Commercial Nitrogen Fertilizers. Farm Animals and Agriculture 513 Work Animals — Animals that Supply Food — Other Animal Products. Cattle 520 Dairy Cattle — Selecting Dairy Cows According to Tj^pe — Selecting the Dairy Cow by Milk Tests — Dairy Breeds — Feeding Dairy Cows — Produc- ing Clean Milk — Standard for Judging Butter — Beef Breeds — Diseases of Cattle — Judging the Age of the Cow by the Teeth. Horses 559 The Leading Horse-Raising States — Classes of Horses — Breeds of Horses — Judging Horses — Common Defects and Unsoundness in Horses — How to Determine Age by the Teeth of a Horse — The Care of Horses — Feeding Horses. Swine 585 The Pork-Producing Region — Breeds of Hogs — The Care of Hogs — Bill of Material — Feeding Hogs — Diseases Affecting Hogs — Symptoms of Acute Cholera — To Prevent the Introduction of Cholera — To Insure Your Herd against Cholera — Use Hog Cholera Serum — To Control Cholera if in Your Herd — Judging the Age of Hogs by the Teeth. Sheep 607 Importance of Sheep on the Farm — Breeds of CONTENTS— Continued CHAPTER PAGE Sheep — Judging the Age by the Teeth — Feeding Sheep — Value of Mutton in the Diet. XXXVII Poultry 619 Distribution of Poultry Production — Poultry Raising as a Farm Industry — Breeds of Chick- ens — Producing Chickens — Feeding Chickens — Producing and Marketing Eggs — Housing the Poultry — Poultry Diseases. XXXVIII The Farm Home 645 The Farm Home and Grounds — The Plan of the Farm House — The Farm Kitchen. XXXIX The Home Grounds and Wood Lot 658 Beautifying the Home Grounds — The Farm Wood Lot — Tree Enemies. XL Farm Implements and Mechanics ..... 667 Importance of Implements and Tools — The Farmer as a Mechanic — Rope Tying and Splic- ing. XLI The Automobile and the Farmer 676 Uses of the Automobile — Possible Dangers from the Use of the Automobile — Deciding about Buy- ing an Automobile — The Care of Automobiles — Driving the Car — Women and Automobiles — The Automobile and Good Roads — Gasoline Farm Tractors — The Production of Automobiles — Motor-Car Production in the United States. XLII Road Building and Maintenance 695 Importance of Public Roads — Types of Roads — The Location of a Road — The Construction of Earth Roads — Maintenance of Earth Roads — Use of the King Road Drag — Road Club Projects. XLIII Extension Education and the Farmer . . . 708 The Aim of Extension Agencies — Methods of Extension Work — Farmers' Institutes — Short CHAPTER XLIV XLV PAGE CONTENTS— Continued Courses or Movable Schools— The County Ag- ricultural Agent's Work — Agricultural Publica- tions. Extension Education by Means of Boys' and Girls' Club Work 732 Purpose of Club Work— Some of the Club Projects Given to Groups— Results from Club Work— Club Leadership— Relation to Schools- Club Records— Application of Terms Used in the Boys' and Girls' Extension Work. Physical Health and Efficiency 748 Rural Health and Hygiene— Factors Bearing on the Health of the Farm— The Farm Table- Farm Sanitation and Flies — Recreation and Health. XLVI Miscellaneous Information '58 How to Remove Stains— Quantity of Seed to Sow Per Acre— Commodities for which Bushel Weights Have Been Widely Adopted— Garden- er's Planting Table. Index 773 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS CHAPTER I BUSINESS METHODS IN FARMING AMERICA is the land of farms, and agriculture is its most important and fundamental industry. All other occupations must go back to the soil, either directly or indirectly, for their support, if not for their very exist- ence. The success and welfare of every class of our popu- lation, therefore, depend on the business of farming. A favored land. — The United States is especially favored in the fertility of its virgin soil, its vast areas of tillable land, and its wide ranges of climate adapted to the growing of many crops. America leads the world in agri- cultural opportunity. No other people possess the advan- tages and natural wealth that we have in our farms. Wasteful Use of the Soil Yet the very fact that our soil is rich and our land plen- tiful contains an element of danger. For nature's kindness and prodigality have led us into carelessness in the use of this the most important of our natural resources. We have been almost criminally wasteful of the fertility of our soil. 1 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 3 Farming that depletes the land. — Our first care has been to get the largest possible returns out of a given amount of highly expensive labor — for land has been plen- tiful and cheap, while labor has been dear. In few regions have we learned the meaning of intensive farming such as must constantly be practised in most countries of Europe and Asia in order to feed the population. When more food has seemed necessary for our ever in- creasing population, we have only "gone West" and opened up vast fields of virgin territory. Often this has been done after robbing the eastern or southern soil of most of its fertility. Here the older fields have been given over to idle- ness for the more promising fields of the West. During the last three hundreds years of American history, we have been continually looking to the frontier states for farms and future homes. First, the white-covered "prairie schoon- ers," and, later, the railway trains have carried a sturdy race of pioneers toward the setting sun and this country, the dream of plenty. Our debt to the pioneer. — This constantly moving population has been the direct cause of the rapid settlement and development of many of our best agricultural sections. It has given us an enterprising and progressive farming population, — men and women consecrated to the cause of transforming wild prairies and untamed forests into fertile acres and productive fields. Everywhere they have gone we now find beautiful gardens, orchards and homes as monuments to their endurance, industry and persistence. 4 AGRICULTURE AND Need of Conserving Soil Fertility The frontiers of this nation, however, are fast becoming a thing of the past. Most of our best land has already been opened up to settlement and divided into farms. We now have under cultivation the larger part of the land available to feed our ever-increasing population. True, there are vast fields of our great plains and millions of acres of forest land yet to be reclaimed. All this, however, will have to be made productive at much greater expense of money and energy than was required for the earlier lands now occu- pied by the American farmers. Most of the land in order to be put under tillage will require permanent and costly systems of irrigation. Such regions will finally be re- claimed by science and good business management ; for we need the land, and must have it. Both federal and state governments are even now doing all in their power to aid in its reclamation. But we should first of all conserve and use to the best advantage the land we now have under cul- tivation. Responsibility upon the farmer. — The tiller of the soil is one of our most important economic factors. On his success and prosperity the welfare of the nation depends. His intelligence and progress will have a far-reaching effect upon our entire industrial history, and will go far to determine our place among nations. We have no peasantry. American farmers, as a class, are intelligent ; they are am- bitious; they are men of affairs. The American farmer is not infrequently called upon to serve as state legislator, THE FARMING BUSINESS 5 congressman or senator. From his ranks we have taken governors and presidents. The Age of Industrial Changes In all American industries there have recently been great changes. Inventions, better education and a new outlook upon life have led to prosperity; the farming busi- ness and this prosperity have worked toward greater effi- ciency. During the past generation, and especially during the past ten years, the entire face of the earth industrially has been making over very rapidly. New manufacturing machinery has been introduced, greater systems devised, the cost of production reduced and the amount increased. Advance in agriculture. — Among all of our industries, however, none has experienced a greater growth and de- velopment than the business of farming. It is no longer to be classed as unskilled labor, a catch-all job for the man who can not find an opening elsewhere. The farmer of to-day would find himself greatly handicapped if he should undertake to think and act in terms of the past. A generation ago one could find plenty of careless practitioners, but almost no practical scientists among our farmers ; on the other hand, there were a considerable num- ber known as agricultural theorists, but who knew little or nothing about real farm practise. Consequently, there de- veloped misunderstanding between the practitioner and the scientist. They had very little of common interest. The progressive farmers of to-day, however, are practi- cal scientists; they know how to translate scientific informa- 6 AGRICULTURE AND tion into common practise. To succeed in farming, one must understand the care of the soil and how to conserve it; he must be thoroughly informed in matters of fertilizing, systems of rotating crops and the tillage of various soils. Every farmer must be a business manager, salesman, book- keeper and an all-around man of ability and skill. In a measure, the farmer must be both a bacteriologist and an entomologist, for unless he knows how to combat the insect pests and plant diseases of growing crops, trees and farm animals, he will sooner or later meet his Waterloo in the battle with these enemies. What the farmer must know. — Scientific breeding of stock and the fitting of every farm enterprise into the farm- ing business as a whole are of utmost importance. A man must understand markets and methods of marketing. The adjustment of time in the use of labor, machinery, animals and acres, so as to secure a maximum return from a mini- mum investment, this is most imperative in these days of business competition and ever increasing land and food values. The home is the true center of all farm interests and activities. It is to build homes that we buy our farms, build up our enterprises and apply our best skill in labor. If the farm neglects the domestic life, the happiness and well-being of the family, if it forgets its obligations to the community, the church and state, not only the farm, but society in general surely will sufi^cr the consequences. All of these relations and many others call for the greatest degree of intelligence, for good business sense, and for con- TTIE FARMING BUSINESS 7 stant fidelity to the cause of American rural life as well as all-around farm efficiency. New Interest in Agriculture Recent years have shown increased and unusual inter- est on the part of the whole world in the business of farm- ing. This is not merely philanthropic, nor is it a senti- mental necessity. People in other occupations, particularly those in business and commerce, have come to appreciate that farming is the economic basis of every type of work and enterprise. All members of society to-day wish the farmer well, and are willing to advance his prosperity, not alone because they are interested in the farmer as a social equal and a fellow citizen, but because they recognize that they must ultimately go back to the tiller of the soil for food, shelter and practically all the comforts of life. They want the farmer to raise larger and better crops, produce more and better stock, and himself be happy and prosperous because of the inevitable prosperity that it brings to all others. Economic interest centered in farm. — At the present time \Ve are told that the American population is increasing many times faster than is the production of our food sup- plies. During the last twenty years the cost of living has practically doubled. If this continue for the next decade, it will be difficult to judge the economic and social consequences. It is, therefore, important that every acre of land in the United States be made increasingly efficient, to produce more and better food. And this means AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 9 intensive farming; but this does not necessarily bar exteji- sive farming. Tliere is yet a large area of our land untouched by the hand of tillage. On these barren acres, which science and business enterprise will yet make fruitful, there is room for thousands of those who are now living in filth, poverty and obscurity in the congested centers of our large cities. But they must be able to possess themselves of the promised land — they must be trained to the business of farming. Unclaimed resources. — So also in the southern states, where the growing season is long, rainfall plentiful and where every conceivable kind of food will grow and thrive, there is only a comparatively small percentage of the total area of the land under cultivation. When one travels over these areas of untilled acres which will surely one day be the garden spot of America, he can not but feel that some very definite policy should be adopted toward offering to the millions of our poverty-stricken city dwellers a chance to work out their salvation and be better fed from the soil. But this can not be done simply by transferring them from city to open country. They must first be educated in the sci- ence and practise of agriculture, stock-raising and farm management, else they would suffer in the country as surely as in the city. Agencies to Help the Farmer The new interest in agriculture has resulted in the or- ganization of many agencies to help the farmer. The federal government is now spending millions of dollars 10 AGRICULTURE AND every year in agricultural extension work, farm demonstra- tions, farm surveys, experimentation, and in scientific re- search in agriculture. New varieties of crops are being tested and new breeds of animals produced. Successful at- tempts are being made to control the ravages caused by insect and plant enemies of farm crops and animals, and many other lines of investigation pursued. Every state has its experiment station, its extension force and its college of agriculture, with an array of farm experts who are doing everything in their power to advance the interests of agri- culture and the farmer. The nation and the state join in employing farm agents, trained in both practical and scien- tific agriculture, to work with the farmers in the solution of their immediate problems. Farm bulletins are being printed and distributed free of charge by the United States Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural col- leges. Extension lectures and agricultural experts are going into every community, teaching the application of science to all crop and animal production. Various commercial organizations, bankers' associations and business . men's clubs are everywhere contributing generously to the ad- vancement of agricultural education and progress. New spirit among farmers. — The farmers themselves are in most instances responding to their opportunities and endeavoring faithfully to meet the many new problems that have been thrust upon them. Progressive farmers every- where are eagerly studying the scientific investigations being made in the field of agriculture. They are reading the books and bulletins, attending the agricultural short courses THE FARAIIXG BUSINESS 11 12 AGRICULTURE AND at the state colleges, supporting farmers' institutes, study- ing stock and grain judging and in every way doing their best to place farming upon the scientific basis that our new conditions demand. Farming as a Career The business of farming to-day ofifers a career second to none to be found among the industrial or business voca- tions. It has opportunities for the man of intelligence and ambition. It requires and rewards initiative and enterprise. It demands and is willing to pay for the best intellect and industry that our country afifords. The farmer will always be an important factor in American wealth and progress, and is destined to take still higher rank as a contributor to industrial and social welfare. It is the purpose of the present volume to aid all earnest and progressive farmers by supplying them with such prac- tical information and help as can be rendered through its pages. It will also furnish the city dweller who is inter- ested in the subject of agriculture an opportunity to make a careful study of many of the problems related to the farm, and to rural interests. This book is, therefore, dedi' catcd to the best interests of the American farmer. THE FARMING BUSINESS 13 CHAPTER II FARM MANAGEMENT FARMING, like banking or running a railroad, requires good business management. Not hard work alone, but careful planning is necessary to success. Brains are com- ing to be quite as essential on a modern farm as muscle. Nor is it enough to knoiv what to do. Many of us have i M RlP ■MB^HMK I I tgMM| '<■ ^B t^T" "*-*-.-», ^^^\ ^ '^^^"'^Hi'lHi '"~ fr— WP^B s 1 1 ^^^^ ps. ' ''^' '-'--iM m 1 A fnrm perspective. enough information, but fail to put it into practise. We are in a sense passively progressive ; we educate our heads, and fill them with scientific knowledge about farming — but we do not always put that knowledge into practical use. We all need to be actively progressive ; we need to have the energy, ambition and business ability to organize and manage our farm in accordance with the best avail- able methods. 14 AGRICULTURE AND Need for business management. — We often pride our- selves on being practical. But what is being practical ? Ex-Governor Hoard of Wisconsin, a great agricultural editor and successful dairyman, says : "The practical in agriculture is putting anything profitable into practise." First, we are to study, investigate, inform ourselves. But we do not stop here. When we discover some method of farming, some system of stock breeding or feeding, some way of marketing, or some type of farm building or machin- ery more profitable than the system we are now employing, we put our discovery into practise. This requires organisa- tion and administration, and these together constitute farm management. Many hard working, intelligent farmers fall short of the highest success because they do not organize and administer their farms; they may be called fair agri- culturists, but poor managers. Look about in any neigh- borhood, and you will find such farmers. Planning the Farm for Profit No one person can know the whole subject of agricul- ture or be an expert in every branch of farming. Every enterprising farmer may, nevertheless, easily learn how to prevent many of the losses that were a heavy burden on the generation that preceded us. When we allow the cod- ling moth to destroy our crop of apples because we failed to spray the orchard ; when we let cholera claim our herd of hogs because we neglected to use the serum ; or when clover and alfalfa fail in our soil because we did not use THE FARMING BUSINESS 15 lime, the fault is ours. For we know better, and our fathers and grandfathers did not. With them it was lack of knowledge; with us, lack of business management. Stopping the leaks from small losses. — The well man- aged farm aims at securing a profit from every enterprise. All possible losses, large and small, are eliminated. The profits from one enterprise are not eaten up by the losses from another. Knowing that some dairy cows do not pay for their keep, but are mere boarders, living off the income from the rest of the herd, the progressive farmer will find out whether he has any such, and if so get rid of them. Knowing that not a little of our tilled land is worked at an actual loss, the good manager will make a study of each section of his cropping system and eliminate the losses. Every angle of the farm's work and its business will be watched for profits and losses — crops, animals, machinery, buildings, sales and purchases, and whatever else goes to make up the enterprises of the farm. And once a leakage of profits is discovered, the defective spot will at once be remedied by good management. Farm management is, then, the selection, organization and administration of farm enterprises, so that profits accrue and so that the farm is constantly built up. It con- sists largely of the application of business principles and scientific management to the farming business. When the mutual relations growing out of the problems of work with soils, crops and live stock are so combined that they build up a type of farming, and when with such problems we consider the selection of machinery, the buying of farm sup- 16 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 17 plies and the niarkcling of products, -sve then have the tyi)ical proljlcnis of farm management. Problems of farm management. — The most important problems that arise under farm management can be grouped under seven main heads: (1) Type of farming. (2) Magnitude of operations; (3) Organhation of enterprises; (4) Administration of activities; (5) Quality of product; (6) Care and tise of all products; and (7) Buying and selling of farm necessities and products. Type of Farming In Europe, land is high and labor cheap; in the United States, land is comparatively cheap and labor expensive. The first principle for the American farmer therefore is so to select his farm and organize its enterprises as to make the best possible use of the labor available upon it. This is to say that the farm enterprises should be so diversified as to give the largest possible number of vv^orking days dur- ing the year to the family, hired help, teams and machinery. Idleness soon eats up the profits of labor, whether it be man, beast or machine that is idle. The farmer who is a good manager does not try to raise every kind of crop or animal that can be produced on his farm. He does not even try to raise every kind that can be grown with profit. He has only so much time, labor and energy to expend, and he tries to obtain from these the largest profit. Deciding upon farm enterprises. — The good manager will not only take into account the nature of his soil, the 18 AGRICULTURE AND climate and length of season, but also the question of loca- tion and markets. For example, the farm but two miles from a good market-place is adapted to a different range of enterprises from the one that is fifteen miles distant. Under prevailing conditions fifteen miles' distance from market will make the direct sale of milk and most fruits and vegetables unprofitable. It will reduce the acreage of Well-arranged cattle yards. potatoes, and hinder the profitable sale of hay, straw or corn stover. Such a location will encourage the production of live stock, grain, clover seed and any other products having a high value for their bulk and weight. The degree to which intensive agriculture shall be car- ried on is another question that concerns the type of farm- ing. It is highly desirable that our acreage should pro- duce high yields. But it is also highly desirable that a THE FARMING BUSINESS 19 day's labor shall produce the largest possible returns. Our farms must be managed to combine high production with good wage returns, and neither be allowed to cut in on the other. It has been carefully estimated that an acre of Iowa land is 22% more efficient than an acre of Bavarian land; but the Iowa farmer is four times as efficient as the Bava- rian farmer. In man efficiency, the American farmer should lead all mankind. And there is every reason to believe that this leadership will be made possible through the scientific study of agriculture and the application of good business management. Conservatism with progress. — It is usually a mistake for any one farmer to depart radically from the general type of farming practised in his community. The type that practical experience has tried and found adapted to the region is ordinarily most profitable. Yet certain changes in the type will often greatly increase the profits. For example, a western farmer, deeply in debt, tried to borrow money from a banker. The farm was producing nothing but grain. The banker offered to loan the money on condition that a part of it should be used in stocking the farm with a few good cows, half a dozen pigs, and a flock of chickens. The stock and the grain together made the right combination, and in five years the farmer was out of debt and owned his farm. In like manner many a south- ern cotton farmer has found that the addition of corn and legumes has brought him from poverty to comfort. 20 AGRICULTURE AND The Magnitude of the Farm and Its Enterprises The size of a farm must be adapted to its particular type of enterprises and the number of these undertaken. For the great corn and wheat belt of the Middle West, a forty acre farm is too small for profitable farming, while this acreage may be wholly adequate for fruit farming, and far too large for intensive truck farming. The dry- land farmer of the semi-arid western region may require a section of land, and the citrus fruit grower of California or Florida succeed with ten acres. The size of the farm. — Catch-phrases, like "a small farm well tilled," a "farmer for every forty acres," "ten acres enough for a good living," may sound well, but they are misleading if the application is to be general. Under ordinary cropping conditions a small farm means little ma- chinery and much hard labor. Forty acres can not support hay loaders and stackers, gang-plows, auto trucks, manure spreaders and other labor-saving machinery. Both Euro- pean and American statistics show that small farms ordi- narily mean a low labor income, few comforts and no lux- uries for the homes, and a life of heavy toil and drudgery both for the farmer and for his family. Yet within reasonable limits the size of the business done on a farm is not strictly limited by the number of acres. A Wisconsin farmer had an eighty acre farm and could not buy any adjoining land. He decided to increase the size of his business by changing his type of farming. He gradually disposed of his scrub cows and replaced them THE FARMING BUSINESS 21 with pure-bred. He selected corn and alfalfa as the most ])rofitable crops to grow in connection with the dairy busi- ness. Alfalfa takes the place of clover, because, on this farm, it produces at least fifty per cent, more food per acre, and the yields are much more uniform. Pastures have entirely disappeared, because the owner has demonstrated that one acre of corn or one acre of alfalfa furnishes more feed on his farm than five acres of pasture. He has now a large net income from market milk and the sale of pure- bred Guernsey cattle. Here was a large increase in magni- tude of business without a change in the size of the farm. Management counts most. — From a farm survey by the United States Department of Agriculture of about six hundred farms in a dairy section have been taken the fol- lowing summaries from (1) the twenty poorest, and (2) the twenty best farms of from eighty to one hundred and twenty acres run by their owners. Report of Twenty Poorest Farms Farms 80 to 120 Acres. Average Area 99 Acres. RECEIPTS Totatoos $ 103 Wheat 113 Hay 244 Other crops 56 Cattle 225 Hogs 18 Poultry 84 Eggs 102 Milk 475 Inventory gain 93 Total $1,513 EXPENSES Labor $ 385 Feed 146 Seeds 36 Fertilizers 102 Live stock 172 Machinery and repairs 97 Taxes and insurance 87 Miscellaneous 88 Inventory loss 93 Total $1,206 22 AGRICULTURE AND CAPITAL INVESTED Land and buildings $ 8,194 Machinery and tools 459 Live stock 1,055 Supplies 217 Working capital (cash) 105 Total $10,030 SUMMARY Receipts $1,513 Expenses 1,206 Farm income 477 Int. on capital at 5%__ 500 Labor income -24 The average crop area was 56 acres ; number of cows milking, 9.4 for 12 months in the year; per cent, of income from crops, 34 ; crop area per horse, 16.3 acres ; number of horses, Z.7 ; receipts per cow, $48 ; working capital other than land and buildings, $1,835 ; crop index compared with 100 per cent., 84 per cent. Compare these unsuccessful farmers who actually gave $24 in labor for the privilege of farming, with twenty farm- ers (below) who are making an income of over $2,000 per year and getting house rent, milk, eggs, garden truck, fruit and much of their fuel besides. Average of Twenty Best Farms From 80 to 120 Acres. Average Area 101 Acres. RECEIPTS Potatoes $ 400 Wheat 245 Hay 335 Other crops 89 Cattle 360 Hogs 105 Poultry 92 Eggs 159 Milk 2,238 Miscellaneous 130 Inventory gain 702 Total $4,855 EXPENSES Labor : Feed Seeds Fertilizers Live stock Machinery and repairs. Taxes and insurance- Miscellaneous Inventory loss .$ 602 . 408 . 58 . 164 . 308 . 311 . 101 . 155 . 18 Total $2,125 THE FARMING BUSINESS 23 CAPITAL Land and buildings $ 9.480 Machinery and tools 974 Live stock 2,941 Supplies 399 Working capital (cash) 153 Total $13,947 SUMMARY Receipts $4,855 Expenses 2,125 Farm income 2,730 Int. on capital at 57o-— 697 Labor income 2,033 The average crop area was 63 acres ; number of cows milking, 20; number of horses, 5 ; receipts per cow, $106.50; crop acres per horse, 12.6; crop index, 117; working capi- tal, $4,468. It is entirely probable that many farmers with moderate sized farms could, by slightly modifying their type of farm- ing and general management secure greater profits than by buying more land. This much at least is certain : that it pays no farmer to undertake more than he can do well. Poorly prepared seed beds, poorly cultivated crops, har- vesting delayed because of too much work to do, will never pay. The wise manager drives his work, and does not allow his work to drive him. Farm Organization The organization of the farm is of highest importance. Farm organization includes such matters as the proper division of the farm into fields; planning a rotation of crops, computing the amount of each kind of crop or the number of each kind of stock that can be made most profit- able ; maintaining the right balance between crop and live stock production ; the determination of the proper amount 24 AGRICULTURE AND and kind of farm machinery ; the seasonable distribution of labor, both of men and animals ; the best types and loca- tion of farm buildings, and other problems of like charac- ter. Problems of farm organization. — Every progressive farmer recognizes the importance of the right solution of such questions. For example, to cut a farm into the right number of fields of approximately equal size or equal productivity, at the same time providing for conveniently located cattle and hog pastures is no easy task. To provide for the right amount of each kind of feed for live stock, so that profits will not be reduced by buying high-priced grain or roughage requires careful figuring; yet it must be done. So to plan the farm work as to distribute the labor and not allow it to bunch too greatly at certain sea- sons demands careful planning and must be worked out if the highest profits are to be realized. The margin of profits on the average farm is so small that they may easily be reduced to the vanishing point by the feeding of idle horses, the paying of hired help asleep in the haymow, or the housing and up-keep of little-used machinery. Careful investigations show that even on well managed farms, the farm horses work an average of only three and one-half hours a day. The farmer needs to be something of an architect and landscape gardener in planning the construction and loca- tion of the farm buildings. The direction of the prevailing winds should be taken into account in guarding against danger from fires and to prevent the carrying of disagree- THE FARMING BUSINESS 25 able smells to llie house. The well must be located so that it will be convenient and yet escape pollution. Barns must be so placed with reference to one another and the distance between them that no unnecessary steps need be taken or time lost. The whole plan must look attractive and busi- nesslike when it is carried out ; for these are things through which the farmer advertises his business ideas and ability to the community. Administration of Farm Enterprises Organization of farm enterprises and the outlining of definite plans only mean getting ready to operate ; admin- istration controls and directs the enterprises when tliey are in operation. Organization plans for a season, a year, a life-time, all at the same time; administration must be on the job every day carrying these plans into execution. Organization provides for the seasonal distribution of labor; administration directs the labor to secure the largest profits. Problems of farm administration. — Good administra- tion of farm enterprises keeps men and horses constantly busy at profitable work, as far as is possible, regardless of weather and season. It superintends the proper prepara- tion of the soil ; careful cultivation and harvesting of crops ; breeding, feeding and housing of live stock ; and the pre- vention of losses from insect enemies and plant and animal diseases. Administration sees to the skilful buying and selling of pure-bred live stock, the successful marketing of general farm products, the care and repair of machinery, 26 AGRICULTURE AND buildings and fences, the keeping of expenses lower than income, and the successful financing of the farm as a busi- ness unit. The farmer must know how to buy and sell. The pay- ing of too much or selling for too little will make all the difference between farming at a loss and farming at a profit. The real administrator is therefore a student of values. He is a judge of the quality of supplies to be bought for the farm, and he knows what these should cost. The parcel-post and rural-mail delivery make the farmer in a measure independent in many lines of supplies where these can not be bought at local markets. The good farm administrator knows how and when to sell his products. He understands the factors affecting market conditions, and studies crop reports with reference to probable market prices. He is able to figure the shrinkage on stored grain or roughage and compute whether it will pay to hold for a higher price or sell earlier at a lower figure. Not to inform yourself on such problems as these and make their solution a part of the administration of your farm is to invite less than full returns for your labor. Looking after machinery. — The successful adminis- trator looks after his machinery. As each machine is needed, it is found to be in a state of repair and ready for operation. Machines are not left out-of-doors exposed to the weather when not in use. Rust and rot are allowed to take no toll from the life and service of plows, reapers, wagons, hay loaders and the like. Their housing is as much a matter of concern as the housing of the live stock. THE FARMING BUSINESS 27 A self-binder, a hay rake or a plow standing for weeks or months out in the field where it was last used is about the best advertisement a farmer could make of the inef- ficiency of his administrative ability. The management of hired help is one of the most dif- ficult of all farm problems. Particularly is this true when Good UiariiiiK'iy 1^ ;i lU-ijiitable iiiveMiiK'ia. a rush season demands that extra help be secured. No longer do we depend on "exchanging work" or calling in the neighbors' boys to help us out. Not infrequently are we obliged to employ tramp help, who have no interest in the work, and little sense of honor in earning their hire. The problem of hired help. — No one is ready to offer a solution for the hired help problem. Its solution should aim at full justice both to employer and laborer, and will 28 AGRICULTURE AND include the fair and respectful treatment of help. The em- ploying of help for the entire year or even a series of years is important; the catch-job or seasonable employment of labor is disastrous to all concerned. The small but com- fortable tenant house with vegetable garden and chicken yard attached has been found by many farmers to be a paying investment, as it has often enabled them to secure good, substantial, married men at reasonable wages. This may, in a measure, help in the final solution of this most difficult problem. Certain it is that the farmer's family is entitled to a home life all their own. This can not be se- cured with a lot of hired help living in the same house. Quality or Excellence of Product He who can make two blades of grass grow where but one grew before has been called the benefactor of his race. The world must have food and clothing. These must come from the farm. All are vitally interested in the farmer's success. Every one wants his acres to double their yield, and his animals to increase their output of goods and cloth- ing. The serious-minded farmer realizes his responsibil- ity. He wants to increase his own profits to be sure, but he also wants to fulfill his responsibility to those who must be fed and clothed. Besides this, the truly progressive farmer is prompted by a spirit of artistry. He wants to play the game to win. He is not satisfied with small returns or with poor products, because it is in him to do better and he is ashamed to do less than his best. Maximum returns. — In many respects large crop THE FARMING BUSINESS 29 yields arc desirable ; yet there is such a thing as increasing the yield beyond the point of profit. The farm records on file in the United States Department of Agriculture indicate that, under present conditions, a ten to twenty per cent, increase above the average gives minimum returns. Effi- cient farming depends very largely on getting this increase by improving the quality of the various farm enterprises. In a recent survey of a hundred farms in a northern dairy district, the survey records showed very good crops but exceptionally poor cows. In round numbers the average value of these cows was forty dollars and the average income per cow fifty dollars. In that region it costs about seventy-five dollars per year per cow for feed and care. Here was a direct loss of twenty-five dollars a year on each cow kept in that district. As might have been expected, low or minus labor incomes were almost universal. We hear many uncomplimentary things said about the unprofitable dairy cow, the "boarder cow" that is sup- ported from the profits of the remainder of the herd. On many farms the unprofitable dairy cow is not the only "boarder." Low yielding acres, like boarder cows, are often fatal to successful farming. Recent farm survey records show that areas of poorly drained, compact and sour soils, or soils low in humus, greatly reduce net profits and are a frequent cause of low labor income. These records show that sometimes as much as thirty per cent, of the entire farm acreage does not produce enough to pay its way. Making every part of investment yield its share. — One farm, on which records were recently taken, has forty 30 AGRICULTURE AND acres of poorly drained land that in its present condition is practically worthless. Twenty-five dollars per acre spent in drainage will make this forty-acre tract the equal of any in that district, and good land is selling there at one hundred fifty dollars per acre. The successful business man always tries to weed out all unprofitable enterprises and to expand those that pay a profit. Unprofitable acres can not always be disposed of so readily as boarder cows, but usually they can be improved until they become profit bearing. If the income from such land can not be increased, it is quite possible that the labor spent upon it can be reduced until the income at least pays a little more than the cost of labor. Ten Important Points in Farm Administration Doctor W. J. Spillman, of the office of Farm Manage- ment, United States Department of Agriculture, gives the following factors as underlying successful farming: 1. Low real estate prices for the land cultivated. 2. Production of commodities for which the supply is less than the demand. 3. Management of the business on as large a scale as capital and managerial ability will permit. 4. Production of commodities of the higher quality. 5. A reputation for reliability. 6. Location for good markets, and ability to buy and sell profitably. 7. Keeping only animals of highest productive capacity. 8. Large yields with relatively little labor and fertilizer. 9. Producton at low cost. 10. Production of staple commodities for permanent profits. THE FARMING BUSINESS 31 Need of Specialists in Farm Management Enough has been said even in this brief discussion to show that farm management is no simple problem. Yet the problems of farm management must be met by every farmer. The nearer a farmer can be a specialist in farm management, the greater his chances of success. The farm- er of the future will be an educated man. Successful farmers of to-day are educated men, — not always in books, It pays to l)uild good fences. but not all education comes from books. To know how to work out a proper balance between various crops and live stock, to understand organizing, equipping and admin- istering a farm, to be familiar with the various soils and know how to conserve their fertility, — ■ to know the best systems of marketing and buying, — and knowing all these things, to he able to do them, requires as much mental keenness and executive ability as to run a bank, administer a church or manage a large law practise. Every farmer 32 AGRICULTURE AND should strive to become efficient in farm management, for upon the principles of good management hang most of the law and the profits. Ten Commandments of Agriculture The following ten commandments for southern agricul- ture as taught by the late Doctor Seaman A. Knapp, will be of value to all who are interested in farm management. Doctor Knapp says: "At an early period it was found necessary to evolve from the mass of ethical teaching a few general rules for living, called 'The Ten Commandments,' by which a man could be moral without going through a course of theology. Just so, in order to instruct the average farmer how successfully to con- duct his farm operations so as to secure a greater net gain from the farm, it is necessary first to reduce from the mass of agri- cultural teachings a few general rules of procedure. They are called 'The Ten Commandments of Agriculture,' by the practise of which a man may be a good farmer in any State without being a graduate from a college of Agriculture." 1. Prepare a deep and thoroughly pulverized seed bed, well drained; break in the fall to the depth of eight, ten or twelve inches, according to the soil, with implements that will not bring too much of the subsoil to the surface (the foregoing depths should be reached gradually). 2. Use seed of the best variety, intelligently selected and carefully stored. 3. In cultivated crops, give the rows and the plants in the rows a space suited to the plant, the soil and the climate. 4. Use intensive tillage during the growing period of the crops. 5. Secure a high content of humus in the soil by the use of legumes, barnyard manure, farm refuse, and commercial fer- tilizers. 6. Carry out a systematic rotation with a winter cover crop on southern farms. THE FARMING BUSINESS 33 7. Accomplish more work in a day by using more horse- power and better implements, 8. Increase the farm stock to the extent of utilizing all the waste products and idle lands of the farm. 9. Produce all the food required for the men and animals on the farm. 10. Keep an account of each farm product, in order to know from which the gain or loss arises. The following summary of farm management principles taken from Bulletin 4 of the Wisconsin Agricultural Ex- periment Station, is of especial interest in connection with the study of this chapter: WITH EVERY TON OF GRAIN SOLD At the Elevator At the "Yards" as At the Creamery the farm loses: meat animals, as butter fat, 5 to 6 dollars the farm loses: the farm loses: in fertility. 1 to 1.20 dollars 20 cents in fertility. in fertility. EXCLUSIVE GRAIN FARMING MEANS 1. Selling the farm by the wagon load. 2. Uncertain returns and, in the end, crop failure. 3. More and more ditches and gullies. 4. I'^nsteady employment of men and reduced labor efficiency. 5. Sale of unfinished products and hence lower prices. 6. More tenant farmers. 7. More temporary agriculture ("unless soil is artificially fer- tilized or green manuring practised). PROFITABLE MEAT PRODUCTION MEANS 1. Keeping on the farm much of the fertility produced. 2. Crop insurance and increased returns. 3. Better use of untilled land. 4. Better help and better distribution of labor. 5. Manufacture of crops into meat. 34 AGRICULTURE AND 6. More farms operated by owners. 7. More permanent agriculture. PROFITABLE DAIRYING MEANS 1. Enriching the soil. 2. A regular income and a growing bank account. 3. Fewer gullies and ditches and land made more tillable. 4. Steady employment of labor and better men. 5. Manufacture of high-priced finished products, better prices and higher returns. 6. Better business methods and, in the end, land ownership. 7. More permanent agriculture. (We are indebted to J. C. McDowell, Office of Farm Management, for some valuable sugg-estions in the above chapter.) TTTE FARMING BUSINESS 35 CHAPTER III FARM OFFICE AND ACCOUNTS THE business of farming, like every other business, requires intelligent planning, organization, business management and the keeping of definite records and accounts. All of this emphasizes the necessity of the farm office, conveniently arranged and adequately equipped for the intelligent handling of all business papers, plans, records, accounts and correspondence in connection with the buying, selling and advertising of farm products. The farm office. — Every architect or owner,* when planning a farm home, should definitely provide for a well lighted, properly ventilated office as well as for such rooms as parlor, bedrooms, bathrooms and the kitchen. The office need not be large, but may be any- thing from a six by eight foot den to a roomy office accommodating the business of a large, well organized ranch afifording managers, foremen, experts, etc. Whenever possible the farm office should be planned as a separate room aside from the family library, and may be maintained for business purposes only; It should be a convenient place that will permit the farm manager or the home manager to go for business Interviews or business thinking and planning. Such a place need not be extrava- 36 AGRICULTURE AND gantly furnished and equipped ; a small room with an ex- penditure of from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars will serve. If a separate room is impossible, then a part A farm office. or corner of another room, preferably the family library, should be provided. When planning a new farm-house it is always cheaj^er and more satisfactory to arrange for the office and build THE FARMING BUSINESS Z7 library case, filing space and a place for the safe into the inner wall of this room. Furniture and equipment. — The amount and quality of office furniture and equipment will, of course, depend upon the size of the business, as well as the available funds for such purpose. Size and amount of furniture must Filinj; cnse for letters, clippings, etc. A deslc tray. be carefully planned to accommodate the size of the busi- ness — a farmer with a small business may need but very little furniture and only a convenient corner of some room, while the large farm may need a great deal more and a good-sized office. If the farmer and his sons are handy with tools, and trained in the art of woodcraft, then all of the furniture can be made at home with but little cost for material. It will cost no more to have furniture, walls, rug and wall pictures harmonize in both color and design. The combination library desk is not a piece of furniture for a farm office, as it has neither strength nor convenient space for desk work required in such a place of business. A good-sized, flat-top desk, or the new sanitary roll-top 38 ' AGRICULTURE AND desk illustrated in this chapter, is both convenient and practical. If funds are not available for the purchase of new furniture, excellent second-hand office furniture can often be purchased at a saving of from fifty to seventy-five per cent, of original cost. We suggest in the following an itemized statement of furniture and supplies needed for a complete office and the probable cost of same if purchased new. Quantity Items — Furniture and Supplies Cost Flat or roll-top desk $ 25.00 Swivel chair (for desk) 5.00 Small rug 5.U0 Desk tickler 1.00 4 section (top and bottom bookcase) 12.00 Doz. Farm Reference Library 12.00 Dictionary 1.25 Extra chair or rocker 2.50 Box letter files, (g,30 3.60 Ledger 1.00 Cash book 1-00 Plan book 1.00 General record book 100 Pencil sharpener 1.00. Small safe 10.00 General supplies — Letterheads, envelopes, pen- cils, ink, etc. 4.50 Blotter pad LOO Stationery box LOO Typewriter and stand 50.00 Wall pictures, farm scene 3.00 Farm name seal LOO Total cost $142.85 THE FARMING BUSINESS 39 The above list without typewriter, safe, rug and sectional bookcase would only cost $65.85. An expenditure of this kind would be a good investment, as it would offer "first aid" to the much neglected business side of farming and would encourage better planning of farm enterprises and would facilitate farm management. Farm name and stationery. — Every well managed farm, regardless of size, should have a name, and this name Small desk "tickler." and the quality of farm products, stock, etc., should be inseparably known. The following names are suggestive: Prairie Del Poultry Farm, Meadow Lark Grain Farm, Blue Ribbon Dairy Farm, Babies' Milk Farm, Hickory Grove Stock Farm, White Plains Pony Farm, Franklin & Son's Fruit Farm, Science Hill Nut Farm. The name should mean something and should, of course, have adver- tising value in connection with the sale of the farm products. Every farmer will want to have his own sta- 40 AGRICULTURF. AND tionery, printed-to-order letterheads and envelopes, and a trade-mark or farm seal bearing the trade-mark and name of farm. Suggestions for Letterhead Every Chick a Pure Bred Every Chick a Live One MEADOW LARK EGG-CHICK FARM O. B. HERMAN & SON, Eggville, 111., Envelope After five days return to MEADOW LARK FARM Eggville, 111. A seal bearing the name and trade-mark may be secured from almost any regular office supply company. A rubber stamp of the seal will cost from seventy-five cents to two THE FARMING BUSINESS 41 A complete coiubinatiou file. 42 AGRICULTURE AND dollars. A regular official seal will, of course, cost more. Sticker seals are as a rule desirable and not very expen- sive virhen purchased in quantities and can be used on eggs, boxes, tags, labels, etc., in marketing of all products. Farm records. — Such form records as the following will be of great value in the management of a farm : Litter Records, Breeding Records, Dairy Cow Records, Birth, Name and Pedigree Records of fann animals; Feeding Records; Records of Planting and Harvesting of Farm Crops ; Milk and Butter Fat Records ; Egg Laying Records ; Records of Names and Addresses for buying and selling purposes, and records of all engagements, both business and social. A special record book should be provided for the home manager and it should show definitely the household ex- penses, such as, food, clothing, education, charity and recrea- tion and other costs for the entire family. The keeping of these records and accounts by the wife and daughter is important in the business of farming and for the mainte- nance of the proper balance of the home expense with that of all farm enterprises. LITTER RECORD, Herd of P. O Litter No , 19 Date of birth Sire Dam No. pigs born Reg. No. Reg. No. No. pigs raised Herd No. Herd No. Herd numbers of pigs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 TTIE FARMING BUSINESS 43 DESCRIPTION OF INDIVIDUALS BREEDING RECORD OF INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL Herd of P. O Herd No Name Sire Dam Reg. No. Reg. No. Reg. No. Date of birth Herd No. Herd No. 44 AGRICULTURE AND Animal P.red to — X U3 u ^ ^ 6 ^ 3 O ^ >^ o ^ u o ^^ X Remarks. THE FARMING BUSINESS 45 The farmer who desires to keep track of the amount of labor going into each of his farm enterprises will find a record form like the following helpful. In most cases it will probably not be necessary to keep up such a record constantly, but such a system followed for several months will give a better idea of the labor cost of dififerent classes of farm animals, or the status of the farm home as a business and social unit. TABLE SHOWING HOURS (OR TIME SPENT) OF MAN LABOR IN CONNECTION WITH FARM ANIMALS Horses Cows Poultry Hogs Hrs. Min. TTrs. Min. Hrs. Min. TTrs. Min. May 1 May 2 May 3 May 4 Etc. IJ-^ 30 4 30 45 1 10 If horses are used in the chore work, extra columns must be ruled under each heading to provide a place for the entry of hours and minutes of horse labor. A simple time record or card for hired help, indicating the enterprises to be charged with their services can be ruled like the following: 46 AGRICULTURE AND u Pi < C^l o 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ON 00 t^ VO in •^ CO (N ^ O 0\ CO t^ VO u-j rt- ^ ] 1 ^ 1 c^ 1 j 1 I ! ro ^ 1 1 ^ 1 00 1 [ 1 1 1 O) „^ 1 1 _ HW VO 1 1 1 1 1 roi' 1 1 ^"^ T-H 111 ^ ^_ 1 1 ^ 1 CO 1 ] 1 1 1 ; i 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 i en 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 3 1 1 1 1 -, ' ' ' ° 1 ' 1 1 _, Ij 2 "O tn , 5 .^ -3 .5 S -S ^ ^ E 2 ^ [;i PPlhcoHO^OuPhPh;^ ' THE FARMING BUSINESS 47 Of course no set or type of farm records are alike applicable to all farms. They must be changed to accom- modate the different enterprises and divisions that charac- terize the business. The forms given may easily be adapted to different needs. Farm accounts. — A course in bookkeeping and farm accounting is not necessary in order to succeed in farm ac- counts, and in this way through the farm office to have all values, expenses, receipts and balances properly kept and well understood at all times. Every farmer with ordinary ability can learn to keep all these accounts by making a careful study of this chapter and then practising for a few evenings in making the records, inventories and ac- counts as suggested by the forms shown. Take blank paper, rule to proper form, then apply to the business of your own farm and see if you can not master in a comparatively short time the bookkeeping work essential to good farm management. The inventory. — ^The first duty in all farm accounting is the making of the "Inventory." This, of course, should be taken at the beginning of the year in a separate book and should show the amount of crops, grain, stock, machin- ery, supplies, etc., and their cost or the actual value when inventory is taken. Then from ledger and cash-book rec- ords it will be possible to strike a balance at the end of the year and know exactly the financial standing of the farm, its profit or loss for the year. It will also form an intelli- gent basis for the betterment of all farm enterprises or the reorganization of the farm in case it is found necessary. The following inventory form and inventory balance 48 AGRICULTURE AND sheet will show how to handle this part of the business of farming. The forms are the same or similar to those shown in Farmers' Bulletin No. 311, United States Depart- ment of Agriculture. Farm Inventory Name of Farm Amount Date Acres of land @ $ Rods of 4 wire fence @ Rods of hog tight fence @ Head of horses @ Head of cows @ Head of other cattle @ Head of hogs @ Poultry @ Sets of harness (r? Vehicles @ ^ Auto truck @ Farm machinery (■>, 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ^- ^ 1 1 1 1 O 1 1 1 '"' >■ 1 1 1 1 C3 1 1 1 ^^ 1 U) 1 1 ^ 1 1 1 © -s 1 s ' ® ! ! S t5 c ! ^ "S 1 CO ! i . S _^ 2 rt o ^ jr. tc . ? . S 2 , E » •= ^ S 1 5 1?. . = = ::, . a o s f/wfpf M KUB/^NH/^ RED FIFE MINN BweSTEM. Commou varieties of wheat. Groiv'xng the Wheat Crop Wheat grows best on virgin soil, or on land that has been renewed by means of forage crops, such as clover, alfalfa, manure, or some other form of fertilizer. The new regions opened up in the West at first produce large crops, but soon fail in yield if wheat is raised continuously without a plan of rotation with other crops. ^ 118 AGRICULTURE AND Preparing the seed bed. — Since wheat is one of the crops that can not be cultivated after planting, the seed bed should be prepared with especial care. The ground should be plowed, and then disked or harrowed until it is well packed and finely pulverized. The preparation for the fall and spring seeding Is essentially the same. If the ground is new, the plowing may be shallow. The older soils require deeper plowing. Spring wheat is sometimes disked in on corn land with- out first plowing the ground. This, however, is a careless method of farming, and has been proved by careful experi- ments not to secure so large a yield as from plowed land. Selecting and preparing the seed. — As in the case of corn, the best seed for wheat is usually that grown near home. New varieties and seed grown at a distance should not be used for the general crop until carefully tested by agricultural experiment stations and found adapted to the climate and soil of your locality. Wheat selected for seed should possess the following qualities: (1) a plump bright grain of good wheat; (2) a stiff straw, able to withstand adverse weather; (3) a compact head, ripening early, and not easily shattered ; (4) good bread qualities; and (5) ability to resist insect ene- mies and diseases. Once the type and variety selected for seed are decided upon, the wheat should be run through a fanning mill. This will select the heaviest and plumpest grains, as well as remove the seed of noxious weeds. If care is taken thus to secure the best of the crop for seed each year, there need THE FARMING BUSINESS 119 be no fear of the seed "running out." On the contrary, the variety may actually be improved. Methods of planting. — The method formerly used in planting wheat was to sow it broadcast on the plowed ground, and then harrow it in. This is a very wasteful way of planting, however, since some of the wheat fails to be covered, and is picked up by the birds; some of it is just barely covered, and fails to secure good roots; and some of it is covered too deep, and grows imperfectly. The method now used in all successful farming is to plant the wheat with a drill. This sets the seed at a uni- form depth, and gives it a moist fine bed of soil. Nu- merous experiments have shown that the best depth to plant wheat for average years is from one and a half to three inches. Wheat, like corn, loses both time and strength by being planted too deep. Wherever possible, wheat should be drilled in rows run- ning east and west. In dry regions, the prevailing winds then blow snow and dirt into the drills instead of out of them, as is the case when the rows run north and south. In east-and-west rows the drill also tends to shade the roots of the plant, and so protect them from the frequent thaw- ings and freezings which occur in the case of winter wheat when the sun shines directly into the drill. Because of these uses of the drill ridges, the ground should not be harrowed after the wheat is sown. Harvesting the wheat. — Except in the great plains or semi-arid regions of the West where practically no rain falls during the harvest season, wheat should be cut as soon as it 120 AGRICULTURE AND is ripe enough. Many farmers allow their wheat to become so ripe as to shatter, and much loss resuUs. It may be cut while the grain is still soft, so that it can be crushed between the thumb and finger. This will not injure very much the quality of the grain, and the straw will be of much greater value if cut slightly green. Early cutting also "re- duces the risk of storms. Harvesting wheat with a modern binder. In regions where the grain can be allowed to stand with- out shattering until it has become fully ripe and dry, the cutting and thrashing are often accomplished in one process. This is done by a combination harvester and thrasher drawn by from twenty to thirty horses, or by a tractor engine or motor. Wheat cut with the harvester should be carefully shocked, usually in nine-bundle shocks, eight bundles stand- ing firmly on the ground in the form of a circle, and the THE FARMING BUSINESS 121 ninth used for a cap-sheaf. Careless shocking is respon- sible for much loss from weathering. When the wheat is well dried in the shock, it should at once be thrashed, or else stacked in well-built stacks. Wheat is too valuable to leave standing long in the field waiting for a thrashing machine. If once put in stacks, it should be allowed to stand for several weeks before thrashing in order that it may "pass through the sweat." Diseases and Insect Enemies of Wheat Wheat is the prey of many different diseases and insect enemies, which sometimes almost totally destroy the crop. Many of these are coming to be better understood, and rem- edies for them devised. Three principal diseases attacking wheat are scab, rust and stnut. These are all caused by the growth of fungi on the wheat plant. A fungus is a tiny plant organism that grows upon some other plant, or on animal tissue, and draws its living from its host. We call any organism that gets its living off another organism in this or a similar way a parasite. Scab in wheat. — Scab is the least common of the three diseases mentioned, yet it sometimes causes much loss in certain localities. It attacks the glumes, or chaff, which surround the kernels of wheat in the head. The entire head is seldom destroyed, only a few of the glumes being af- fected. Scab results in a shrinkage of the kernels, and hence a reduction in the yield and an injury of the quality of the wheat. No cure has yet been discovered for wheat scab. A second crop of wheat should not follow wheat that has been affected with scab. If this is necessary, how- 122 AGRICULTURE AND ever, the stubble of the first crop should be burned to de- stroy as much of the scab as possible. Rust in wheat. — Rust is one of the most serious en- emies of the wheat crop. It is nearly always present in some degree, and has at times almost wholly destroyed the crop over considerable areas. There are two kinds of rust, one attacking the leaves and the other the stems of the plants. The stem rust is much more destructive than the leaf rust. Rust may in some cases live over winter on the old plants, and be ready to attack the new crop if wheat is again planted on the field. Wheat rust also lives on other plants, especially the barberry, and is spread from them by birds or insects to wheat-fields. Laws have been passed in some states requiring the destruction of barberry hedges because of their part in spreading rust. Moist seasons are more favorable to the ravages of rust than dry. Rust results in weakening the stem of the wheat plant, and reducing the size and quality of the grain. In some cases the heads even fail to fill, and the crop is a total failure. There is no known cure for rust, though cer- tain varieties of wheat are better able to resist it than others. The earlier varieties are usually safer than the later. Smut in wheat. — There are two kinds of smut that attack the wheat plant, loose smut and stinking smut. Loose smut usually destroys both the glumes and the kernels, leav- ing only the bare stem. Stinking smut grows inside the glumes, destroying the kernel only, and taking its place. THE FARMING BUSINESS 123 Stinking smut of whent; smutted head and smut balls at right ; sound head and kernels at left. 124 AGRICULTURE AND The spores from which stinking smut grows attach them- selves to the kernels of wheat, and are therefore often sown with the seed. This fact makes it possible to combat this type of smut by treating wheat seed in such a way as to kill any smut spores that may be present. One of the surest and cheapest ways of treating the seed for stinking smut is by the application of a solution of formalin. One pint of forty per cent, formalin mixed in forty-five gallons of water will treat one hundred bushels of wheat. The wheat may be spread out thin on a tight floor and sprinkled with the moisture, shoveling it over so that each grain is sure to become dampened. After it is well sprinkled the wheat should be covered with sacks or blankets to keep it from drying out too rap- idly. After a few hours, it may be spread out, or stirred, to hasten the drying in preparation for sowing. Ten pounds of copper sulphate dissolved in twenty-five gallons of water may be used instead of the formalin. Loose smut may be prevented by what is called the hot- water treatment of the seed. The wheat is put into sacks and immersed in tubs of water warmed to a temperature of one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. When the wheat has become thoroughly warmed, it is taken Out, drained and again dipped in water, this time heated to a temperature of one hundred and thirty-five degrees. The sacks may now, be dipped at once in cold water, which will serve to keep the kernels from swelling. The wheat should then be spread where it will dry quickly. The general use THE FARMING BUSINESS 125 ^'^^mstxri' Loose smut of wheat. Pound head at left; different stages of smutted development at right. 126 AGRICULTURE AND of these well tested remedies should make smut of rare occurrence. The Hessian fly. — Among the insect enemies of the wheat crop, probably none does more damage than the Hessian fly. On years when this insect is particularly bad hundreds of thousands of acres are either totally destroyed or so injured that the yield is only half or one- fourth what it should otherwise be. The Hessian fly was brought to this country, prob- ably from Europe, at some time during the latter half of the eighteenth century. It w^as thought by some to have been imported by the Hessians in the straw used for their bedding while they were being brought over by the British to fight against the Americans in the Revolu- tionary War. The insect is small and mosquito-like, the body being about one-tenth of an inch long and of a dark color. The larvae attack the young wheat plant, sapping its strength and causing the straw to break over before harvest. Methods for controlling the Hessian fly are, as in the case of many other insect enemies, not wholly successful. The danger can be guarded against however, by sowing only the best of seed, in thoroughly prepared, fertile soil. For winter wheat the seeding should be rather late, after the major portion of the fall brood of insects has made its ap- pearance and passed out of existence. For spring sowing the best plan is to seed as early as possible, allowing the plant to get well under way before the flies are ready for the attack. It is safer for either winter or spring wheat to THE FARMING BUSINESS 127 avoid gowing on the ground used for wheat the preceding year. Rotation of crops, as in the case of other grains, leaves the insect pests without food and causes them to migrate in order to continue their existence. Chinch-bugs. — Chinch-bugs are among the worst of the insect enemies of wheat. They are easily recognized as a small dark-colored insect, with white wing covers. Chinch-bugs damage the wheat by sucking the sap from the plant, and thus checking its growth. The mature bugs live over winter, lay their eggs in the spring, and the young are soon hatched out, showing at first a reddish color. No effective way of controlling chinch-bugs has yet been discovered. It is, however, helpful to burn the rub- bish of any infected field in the fall, as this will destroy large numbers of the bugs, and leave many of the remainder to perish during winter without hiding-places. Grasshoppers. — Grasshoppers are less to be dreaded now than in earlier years, though they occasionally do great damage to the wheat crop. The grasshopper lays its eggs in the summer, and they do not hatch until the following spring. It is possible greatly to reduce their number by late, deep fall plowing, which buries the eggs so deep that the young when hatched do not find their way to the surface. Poisonous sprays are also used to destroy the young hoppers. Improving Wheat Wheat is somewhat easier to improve than corn, owing to the fact that wheat is usually close-fertilized and there- 128 AGRICULTURE AND fore does not have a tendency to mix as does corn. One may grow several varieties of wheat on adjoining plats and each plat will produce pure seed regardless of the surround- ing varieties. Improvement by selection. — The improving of wheat is commonly carried on by what is called selection. A con- siderable number of wheat plants grown on a special plat, or even under ordinary field conditions, are examined and all the poorer plants, or those that show any undesirable qualities, are destroyed. The desirable plants, or those show- ing the special qualities sought, are allowed to mature and the grains used as seed for the next crop. This is the method that Burbank has used in producing some of his most wonderful results in plant breeding. In order to unite desirable characters in two varieties of wheat, artificial fertilizing is sometimes resorted to. This is to say that ripe pollen is taken from the head of one plant and dusted on the stigmas of the head of another from which the anthers have been removed. The uniting of two varieties in this way will often produce striking results. It requires several generations to fix the particular character or quality of the wheat plant sought by the crossing of va- rieties. While it is possible to produce desirable varieties in this way, by far the greater number of our most valuable types of wheat have been developed as the result of selec- tion. The United States Department of Agriculture and each of the state collesjes of agriculture has a score-card for THE FARMING BUSINESS 129 130 AGRICULTURE AND the judging of wheat. These differ some of course, but the f ollowmg is a fair sample : SCORE-CARD FOR SEED WHEAT Minnesota Experiment Station Standard Score YIELD Weight per bushel 25 30 Points Uniformity 5 VARIETY Color 3 CHARACTERS Purity 10 15 Points Kernel Shape 2 Luster 5 VITALITY Plumpness 15 30 Points Germ 3 Odor 7 Weed Seed 10 MARKET Dirt and Dust 3 CONDITION Injured Kernels 2 25 Points Smut, etc. 5 Condition of Bran 5 100 Points Total 100 THE FARMING BUSINESS 131 CHAPTER VI OATS OATS are one of the world's most most important grain crops. Like our other cultivated grains, the oat orig- inated in some wild ancestral form, — just when and how is not definitely known. There is reason to believe that oats are a later development than wheat or barley, and were not known to the early Egyptians, Greeks or Romans. Origin of oats. — As a cultivated crop, oats were prob- ably first raised in central and northern Europe over terri- tory now comprising Austria and Russia. At first oats were used only for the feeding of animals, and were em- ployed as human food only during times of scarcity of other grains. It is only in comparatively recent years that oats have been thought of as one of the prominent food cereals. Oats were brought to this country by the early settlers and are now grown in every state. The United States produces about one-fourth of all of the oats grown in the world. The crop does best in cool moist climate, and its production is practically confined to temperate zones. Importance of the Oat Crop Our oat crop is slightly more than a billion bushels a year, or a total yield of about one-third more than wheat. 132 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 133 Because of the higher price of wheat, however, the value of the oat crop is only about half that of wheat. Among all farm crops, oats rank fifth in value, being surpassed only by corn, cotton, wheat and hay. The oat region. — The great oat producing region of the United States extends from New York and Pennsyl- vania westward to Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas. Each state in this great chain plants more than a million acres of oats annually. The following thirteen states produce about four-fifths of all the oats raised in the United States : Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, North Dakota, Ne- braska, Michigan, Kansas, New York, South Dakota, Penn- sylvania. The yield and profit. — The average yield per acre throughout the United States is about thirty bushels. The highest yields are in the far Northwest, where the rainfall is heavy during the growing season, or where irrigation is used. Here the crop not uncommonly runs from one hun- dred to one hundred and twenty-five bushels to the acre, and sometimes reaches one hundred and fifty bushels. Sixteen southern states have an aggregate of about twelve per cent, of the oat acreage of the United States, and produce nine per cent, of the total crop. While the average yield for the United States is thirty bushels, It is twenty-two bushels for the southern states. Owing to the higher price per bushel generally ruling in the South oats yield about as big returns in this region as in the North. In the corn belt, oats are usually a less profitable crop 134 AGRICULTURE AND than corn. The yield is less per acre, and the market price lower, while the cost of production is about the same. Iowa and Illinois are the two leading states in the amount of oats produced. The cost of growing an acre of oats if we include the rental value of the land, will average from ten to twelve dollars. When oats are thirty-five cents a bushel, it is evident that a crop of thirty bushels to the acre leaves no margin of profit. While oats do not pay so well as corn, it is necessary, nevertheless, to raise them, even in the corn region. For oats are needed, (1) to make possible the rotation of crops, and (2) as a food for stock, especially working horses. This crop, like corn and wheat, can easily be increased in yield and profit by improving the soil and employing bet- ter methods of seed selection and tillage. It is not impos- sible to secure an average yield of from fifty to seventy-five bushels to the acre throughout the oat region. Types of Oats Two general types or classes of oats are easily dis- tinguished — the spreading, or panicled, and the side-bearing or horse-mane. The former has a spreading, bush-like head, branching from all sides of the central stem; the latter carries the grains on short branches, all of which are attached to one side of the stem. Varieties for different regions. — It is impossible to tell how many different varieties of these two types exist. As in the case of wheat and corn, new varieties are being THE FARMING BUSINESS 135 mt ii j^iin j'x j i _, I ii^ I ^ mill hiM •#^ ^\ r ft H ' nU-^ '; -^^ Two types of oat heads: spreading or panicled on the left; side or horse-mane on the right. 136 AGRICULTURE AND developed from year to year. Several hundred different varieties are now shown in the seed lists. In New England, the northern tier of states and the Rocky Mountain region, white oats of rather late-ma- turing, large-grained varieties are usually most successful. pr:i:M\- " ■ ""■ i ' i Two common varieties of oats. Some examples of these varieties belonging to the spreading type are: Clydesdale, Big Four, Swedish Select and Lin- coln; of the horse-mane type, White Russian and Tartarian are well known. THE FARMING BUSINESS 137 In the JMissouri, Mississippi and Ohio River regions, extending- as far south as Kansas, ]\Iissouri, Kentucky, Ten- nessee and Texas, and as far east as Ohio, small-grained, early, yellow varieties have proved the best. The Kherson, Silvermine, Big Four and Sixty Day are examples of these varieties. B D (A) Sixty Day, grain medium-sized, slender, yellow; (B) Red Rustproof, grain large, plump, reddisli-hrown; (C) North Finnish Black, grain medium-sized, plump, black; (D) Swedish Select, grain white, large and plump. Successful fall seeding of oats is possible only in the southern states. For southern fall seeding, Winter Turf and Red Rustproof are the varieties most used. For spring seeding in this region the Burt and Red Rustproof are quite satisfactory. 138 AGRICULTURE AND Raising the Crop Oats are usually planted with less care than any other crop. Where they follow corn in the rotation of crops, they are often sown broadcast on the corn land without previous cultivation or preparation of the ground. The field is then either disked or gone over with a cultivator and harrowed. This is a careless method of farming, and undoubtedly results in a diminished yield. Preparing the seed bed. — When oats are sown after corn the seed bed should be prepared by plowing or two thorough diskings before seeding. The oats may then be covered by harrowing. The corn stalks should be broken down before disking. This can easily be done by means of a heavy pole dragged broadside across the rows when the ground is frozen. A still better method is to cut the stalks with a corn cutter. If the growth of stalks and weeds is especially heavy on the field, it is best to rake and burn the rubbish to get it out of the way of cultivation. It sometimes may not be necessary to plow the ground for oats following a well cultivated crop. Especially is this true if the plowing can not be done in the fall. One of the things most necessary in growing oats is to get the seed into the ground as early as it can be worked in the spring. And the seeding can be done more quickly by disking than by plowing. There is little or no danger to oats from freezing after they are sown, and the seed will sprout and grow in a much colder temperature than that necessary for corn. THE FARMING BUSINESS 139 Methods of seeding. — Oats are sown by two methods, (1) scattering the seed broadcast over the ground, and (2) drilling. The old method of broadcast seeding was to scat- ter the seed by hand from a sack slung over the shoulder. Machines for seeding have been devised which can be oper- ated by hand, and another which may be attached to the end-gate of a wagon. The seeder is driven by one of the rear wheels of the wagon by means of a sprocket and chain. Drilling has been found to result in a larger yield than broadcast seeding. The drill plants the seed uniformly over the field and covers it well. The drilled crop comes up more evenly, and ripens more nearly at the same time than that from broadcast sowing. Less seed is required when the planting is done with the drill, since practically all the seed is covered and given a chance to grow. This is im- possible with broadcast seeding. A mistake is often made in planting oats too deep. The ground is usually moist when the planting is done, and depth is not required to secure moisture to start growth. Many agricultural experiment stations have tested different depths of planting, and recommend about one inch as the best depth for most regions. Preparing the seed. — Seed oats should never be taken directly from the bin and sown, no matter how promising the grain looks. For oats ordinarily contain more dirt, weed seed and light grains than wheat. The seed should always be run through the fanning mill. The current of air blows out the light grains and much of 140 AGRICULTURE AND the rubbish, and the smaller grains are removed by the sieves. This process of cleaning should generally exclude one-third or one-fourth of the oats run through the mill. If the seed is very light a still larger proportion will need to be rejected. Careful tests have shown that seed prepared in this way will yield several bushels to the acre more than if sown directly from the bin. Many of the light grains fail to sprout, and most of those that grow produce weak plants that yield little or nothing. It will well pay every farmer to take time in the winter to prepare his seed oats. Improvement of the seed. — It is possible greatly to improve a variety of oats by careful selection of the seed. This may be done by going into the field just before the crop is harvested, and gathering, head by head, the strong- est, largest grained and best yielding plants, also giving preference to those that are freest from disease. From a peck to a bushel or more thus selected is thrashed out, the small, light or imperfect grains rejected, and the choice seed sown on a special seed plat to raise seed for the com- ing year's crop. Harvesting the crop. — Oats are harvested with the grain binder, the header, the mowing machine, and the combined harvester and thrasher. By far the greater part of our oat crop is cut with the binder. The best time for cutting oats is just as they are pass- ing out of the hard-dough stage of ripening. On account of the fact that they shatter rather easily when ripe, it may be necessary, especially if the acreage is large, to begin THE FAR^rrXG BUSINESS 141 when the grain is passing out of the milk stage. Cutting too early leaves the grain slightly lighter and of a greenish color. The best method of shocking oats depends on the ripe- ness of the crop when harvested. If the oats are in the hard-dough stage when cut, they should be shocked in well- built, round shocks. If the grain is green and the straw heavy or full of weeds, the long shock is better, since it allows freer curing. Either type of shock should be capped, except in regions where the winds are usually strong enough to blow a cap sheaf off, in which case it takes damage from lying on the ground. Thrashing. — Oats may be thrashed from the shock, or stacked and thrashed any time during the fall. A some- what better grade of oats is obtained by stacking and allow- ing the oats to "go through the sweat" before thrashing. The straw is also worth more for feed when the oats have cured in the stack. The custom followed by careless farmers of leaving grain standing for weeks in the shock exposed to the weather while waiting for the thrashing machine can not be too strongly condemned. A period of hot wet weather is almost certain to start the oats to molding or sprouting in the shock. On the other hand, if the weather is very dry, the oats shatter, and many bushels are lost in handling. If the thrashing machine can not be secured as soon as the oats have dried sufficiently to thrash, they should be stacked in well-built round stacks so constructed as to turn the rains. 142 AGRICULTURE AND Insect Enemies and Diseases Oats are, on the whole, subject to fewer diseases, and the prey of fewer insects than wheat. Tlie crop is, there- fore, less liable to total failure from these causes. Insect enemies. — Chinch-bugs attack oats, as well as wheat, though they usually do much less damage to oats than to wheat. They can be controlled only as already described in the case of wheat. In some seasons the army worm has caused much loss to oats, but usually not over extensive areas. There is no satisfactory method known of controlling its ravages. What is known as the green hug, a grain aphis, is one of the most prominent enemies of oats. Grasshoppers occa- sionally consume the greater part of the crop in relatively small areas. Diseases of oats. — The chief diseases attacking oats are rusts and smuts. These are of the same general char- acter as the rusts and smuts of wheat, fungous growths feeding on the growing plant. The rusts are of two chief types: (1) leaf rust, which is of a reddish-brown color, and attacks the leaves, and in some degree the stems, of oats shortly before ripening time ; and (2) stem rust, which is to be recognized as black spots appearing on the stems and leaves of oats just before they ripen. Stem rust is less common than leaf rust, but when present is far more injurious to the crop. Tlie rusts are more serious as an enemy of oats in the South than in the THE FARMING BUSINESS 143 Smut of oats: smutted head at right; sound head at left. 144 AGRICULTURE AND North, appearing in the South almost every year, and greatly reducing the yield. Rust is far worse in moist hot sea- sons than in dry seasons. No sure cure has been discovered for rust in oats, though some varieties are more able to resist its attack than others. Smut ordinarily causes more injury to oats than any other disease. It has been estimated that from two to three per cent, of the entire crop is destroyed every year by smut, causing a loss of from $6,000,000 to $10,000,000. The smut of oats is easily recognized a little time before the crop is ripe. Instead of the kernels are found small masses of smut dust which have taken the place of the grain. Sometimes these smut balls are covered by the chaff, much as the kernel should be, and other times the chaff is lacking and the smut fully exposed. While there are two kinds of smut in oats, both will yield to the same treatment. Smut may be wholly pre- vented by treating the seed with formalin, as described for the treatment of wheat. It may sometimes be effec- tually prevented by the hot-water treatment. In either treatment the method is practically the same as for the seed wheat. With so simple and sure a remedy for smut, every farmer who lives in a smut region should treat his seed before sowing. It costs very little, and may result in an increase of several bushels of oats to the acre. THE FARAIIXG BUSINESS 145 CHAPTER VII AGRICULTURE IN TIIE SOUTH A GRICULTURE is the chief of southern industries, XJL3.nd the South and Southwest are favored above many other regions of the United States in agricultural conditions. This territory has an excellent climate, long growing sea- sons, and, in most regions, a naturally rich, productive soil. Almost every crop that can be raised in the North will grow successfully in the South, and many others besides. The South has no long hard winters to close the soil to cultivation and enforce idleness upon the farmers. Almost every class of farm animal thrives throughout the South. Cattle, horses, hogs and poultry can be grown more cheaply here than in northern regions, for forage is available most of the year; warm and expensive bams are not required; nor must a large amount of feed be stored against the long winter months. Hence the profit on live stock should be greater. More home production needed. — In spite of natural advantages, however, the South has not diversified its in- dustries so widely as has the North. From this it results that the South buys from the North many things it could easily produce at home. Farm machinery, clothing, canned fruits and vegetables, cereal foods, meats, furniture and 146 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 147 household utensils, and many other articles are shipped in and paid for out of the proceeds of a relatively narrow range of crops and manufacturing industries. But the South is awakening industrially and, when it has fully real- ized its wonderful resources and opportunities, it will then be able successfully to compete with other regions for wealth and commercial supremacy. Diversified Farming in the South By diversified farming is meant the growing of a num- ber of diflferent crops instead of devoting practically the whole farm to one crop, such as cotton. Tendency to one-crop system. — Not only in the South but in many regions of the North and West as well, there has been a tendency to a one-crop system. Great areas of the North have been devoted to corn or wheat, while many new regions of the West raise wheat almost exclu- sively. The principal crop of many regions of the South has been cotton, which has in some places been grown suc- cessively on the same soil for twenty-five or fifty years. Several causes have led to a one-crop system of agri- culture. In certain cases the soil is better adapted to some one crop than to others and will therefore yield a larger profit to the farmer. The natural tendency therefore is to plant chiefly the crop that will bring the largest imme- diate returns. Again, where but one crop is raised a smaller assortment of tools and implements is required ; hence less expense is needed for equipment. It is also easier to learn the art of farming where but one crop is used than 148 AGRICULTURE AND where a number are grown, each requiring a different sys- tem of planting, cultivating and harvesting. Certain crops may also find a more ready and constant market than others, thus encouraging farmers to grow the product that can be most easily turned into cash. Disadvantages of one-crop system.— There are a great many disadvantages, however, connected with the one-crop system. These disadvantages are at present felt more in the South than in any other region of the United States, largely because cotton has been almost the only crop raised. It is probably not too much to say that cotton, while it has been a source of wealth to the South, has also been its greatest industrial handicap. For many southern regions that should produce a wide variety of crops have devoted practically all their energies to the raising of cotton. And any one-crop system invites disaster in the end. First, any one-crop system is sure to wear out the soil. This is easily seen from the fact that the crop must re- move the same elements from the soil year after year. And, without the return of sufficient fertilizer to make up this loss, the soil is depleted until only a fraction of its orig- inal fertility remains. Northern and western regions where virgin prairie soil easily produced forty to fifty bushels of wheat to the acre found that after some years of wheat growing without any rotation of crops the yield had been reduced to a half or a quarter of what it was upon the new soil. In a similar way, thousands of acres of southern land that originally produced large crops of cotton have now become so impoverished as to yield only a small part THE FARMING BUSINESS 149 150 AGRICULTURE AND of what the soil is capable of producing, and must be care- fully reclaimed by rotation of crops, fertilization and spe- cial methods of cultivation. Second, a one-crop system encourages the growth of plant enemies in the soil. The insects that feed upon the crop one season are left upon the field ready to reproduce their kind and attack the next season's crop. Various bacteria and fungous enemies also have a tendency to mul- tiply when the same crop is produced from year to year. Let the crop be changed, however, and the insects and fungi, not finding the necessary food, die and the field is in a measure cleared of their danger. Weed enemies dis- appear in a similar way In the presence of the new crop. Third, a one-crop system always leaves the farmer at the mercy of weather conditions. If the season turns out too dry or too wet, or in any other way unfavorable so that a failure of the crop results, the farmer is left with- out resources and faces financial failure. If, on the other hand, he has a variety of crops, seasonal troubles which affect one crop may not affect others, so that the farmer does not suffer an entire loss. If he raises but one crop and the insect enemies or other reverses prove strong enough to ruin the crop, he is left in poverty. But the various plant enemies require dififerent seasonal conditions for their best thriving; hence when they attack one crop they are not so likely to injure others. Fourth, one of the most serious disadvantages of a one-crop system is the changing market conditions. If for any reason the market happens to fail for the par- THE FARMING BUSINESS 151 ticular crop raised, no matter how good the yield may have been, the farmer is helpless with the crop left on his hands. This was well illustrated when in the season of 1914 the South had hundreds of thousands of bales of cotton for which there was no market because of the Euro- pean war. Thousands of southern farmers found them- selves almost bankrupt with a large cotton crop on their hands. And throughout the European war the shipping of cotton was so uncertain as to demoralize the market and leave the whole financial situation in the South in a chaotic state. The farmer who produced several different crops instead of one could not be caught in this condition. Fifth, diversified farming produces an income for the farmer at different seasons of the year, whereas a one- crop system brings in all its returns at one time, leaving the remainder of the year practically without income. In this case the running expenses of the home must often cause the farmer to go into debt, and his crop is not in- frequently mortgaged before it is harvested, and must be sold even at a low price in order to meet the debt. Sixth, no one-crop system affords a wide enough range of forage and grains to enable the farmer to raise the stock which every farm should have. Successful farmers every- where are coming to depend more and more on farm stock as a large part of the profit from agriculture. Advantages from diversified farming. — From these facts it is easy to see some of the chief advantages of di- versified farming. Through raising a variety of products and thereby rotating the crops the farmer can build up 152 AGRICULTURE AND and renovate the soil. He can free his crops from the worst dangers of insects and other enemies. He can relieve himself of the danger of entire failure coming from an adverse season or other conditions threatening the suc- cess of one particular crop. He can become relatively independent of poor market conditions affecting any one crop or can secure for his farm an income that is dis- tributed throughout the year so that he need not go into debt for the current expenses of his farm and household. Diversified farming inckides the raising of a variety of stock as well as a variety of crops, and thus adds to the income while at the same time it reduces the danger of failure through the loss of any one crop. Crops Suitable for Southern Farms Frequent failure of cotton to find a profitable market and the ravages of the boll weevil have induced many south- ern farmers to add crops which they had not previously raised on their farms. The cereals. — Corn can be raised in most regions of the South as profitably as in the North. Indeed the long growing season makes it possible to produce a much more prolific variety of corn than is possible in northern states. Under right cultural conditions much of the land now used for growing cotton can be more profitably employed in the raising of corn. It is evident that this will give an oppor- tunity for rotation and thereby secure all its advantages. Oats can also be grown in most regions of the South and prove almost as profitable as corn. Wheat may also find a THE FARMING BUSINESS 153 larger place in southern agriculture, especially when the right variety for this region can be found. Vegetable raising. — The South is the great vegetable region of the United States and can more profitably produce most varieties than can any other section. Potatoes can be grown to good advantage in many of the states. Cabbages, Field of cow-reas ready to plow uiidur a:> greeu manure. tomatoes, melons, sweet potatoes, onions, celery, and nearly every other garden vegetable will thrive in most southern states and will, on good soil, produce two or even three crops a year. Many southern gardeners and truck raisers are now finding in the North a profitable winter and early spring market for their vegetables.. Improved shipping facilities and the increasing public demand for fresh vegetables and fruit all the year around open up a new opportunity for 154 AGRICULTURE AND southern farmers. Many of the winter vegetables now raised under glass in northern regions can be more econom- ically grown in the South and distributed to northern mar- kets. There is no reason why southern-raised produce should not find favor in the North, at least during a con- siderable portion of the year. While certain of the forage crops most successful in the North are not adapted to the South, there is a wide range both of grasses and legumes suited to southern conditions. Alfalfa, Johnson grass, cow-peas, soy-beans, Bermuda grass, lespedeza and the vetches are freely grown in their respec- tive regions. Agricultural scientists from the United States Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural col- leges are busy in experimenting upon suitable forage crops for the South and demonstrating their value. It is not too much to expect that this region will soon have available at least as wide a range of profitable grasses and legumes as the North. Animals Adapted to Southern Farming Cattle. — Cattle can be more cheaply and profitably produced in the South than in any other part of the country. This is because of the mild climate making it possible to use pastures for the greater part of the feed, and also because of the absence of the long period of cold which not only requires more expensive feeding but reduces the amount of beef or milk. Both dairy and beef cattle should be grown more extensively through the southern states than is now the case. THE FARMING BUSINESS 155 Of? s S 5- w o 09 156 AGRICULTURE AND Hogs in the South. — Southern farmers have not yet entered very largely upon the raising of hogs, though they can probably be produced fully as cheaply in the South as the North. The southern people consume more meat per capita than the people of any other section. Millions of pounds of fresh meats are annually shipped to southern markets from northern and western farms. This means a double loss to the South, hence the importance of a more general study of the swine industry. For money is paid out for what could well be raised at home, and a most profit- able industry is thus omitted from the farms. Horses and mules. — The same conditions that make it profitable to raise cattle and hogs in the South also' make profitable the production of horses and m.ules. Pastures are available almost the entire year and crops of forage can be raised following grain or cotton crops, so that the income from horses or mules can, on many farms, be made almost clear profit. Poultry. — Probably no more important and profit- able extension of farm products in the South can be made than through the raising of more poultry. The feed re- quired can be grown very cheaply, while the shelter may also be inexpensive. Southern farmers could add many millions of dollars to the income of their farms every year by raising more chickens, as well as turkeys, ducks, geese and squabs. Soil Management in the South The management of the soil in the southern states needs careful study with reference to the long growing season. THE FARMING BUSINESS 157 the open winters, lack of winter rest periods, and the thin and rather exhausted condition of a great deal of southern soil. There are two important methods of fertilizing the soil. First, and most important, is to enrich it by deep tillage, the growing of legumes, following a carefully planned sys- tem of crop rotation, and the adding of natural barnyard manures. Second, these methods should be supplemented by adding commercial fertilizers such as experience and experimental investigation prove practical. Owing to the impoverished condition of much of the soil resulting from single cropping, commercial fertilizers will need to be freely used in many southern regions. Local needs and conditions must always govern in the selection and application of the fertilizer, and the help of scientists from the state agricul- tural college or the United States Department of Agricul- ture should be freely used. Fall plowing. — Alost of the southern land should be given fall plowing from eight to fourteen inches in depth. This will enable the soil to "breathe," taking the place of the freezing of the soil in the North. It also permits the seed bed to absorb the rains of the fall and winter and conserve them for the next season's crop. On deep fall- plowed land southern crops flourish in dry winters, because the plants are strong and have great feeding areas for the root system. They also do better on deep-plowed soil dur- ing the rainy winters because of improved drainage. Fall plowing prevents washing and leaching of the soils during 158 AGRICULTURE AND A stalk of prolific corn well adapted to southern agriculture. THE FARMING BUSINESS 159 the winter, and lessens the burden of work during the rush of spring farming. Winter cover crops. — In the southern states the winter cover crop is one of the important factors in good farm management. This is because the soil needs to be covered to protect it from the winds of the winter months and to save it from washing and leaching. The cover crop also furnishes forage for stock. In the spring of the year the forage crop can be plowed under to fertilize the soil. Soy-beans, cow-peas, the vetches, Japan clover and a num- ber of different grasses are being successfully used for win- ter cover crops. Terracing of hillsides. — Thin clay soils or sandy roll- ing land should be protected against washing rains. Ter- races are usually arranged so as to break the long slope of the hillside. All hillside land should be plowed deep and cultivation should all be done on a parallel with the base. A great deal of hillside land now being used for the pro- duction of grains might better be used for pasture, wood lot, and the growing of legumes. The roots of grasses and trees bind the soil together and prevent erosion. Rotation of crops needs to be carefully studied and ap- plied in southern agriculture. Haphazard planning must give way to a scientific mode of procedure that will make one crop prepare for the next, through renewing the soil and the elimination of insect, weed or fungous enemies of crops. Not to know how to work out a practical rotation indicates that one is uninformed as to his business; not to 160 AGRICULTURE AND have the enterprise to carry out such a rotation indicates indolence or lack of initiative and business ability. The following "safety first" measures are recommended by Mr. Bradford Knapp, chief in charge of the Southern Extension Office, United States Department of Agriculture, for southern farms : 1. Produce a home garden on the farm for every family, the year round, paying special attention to a plot of Irish or Oliver Thompson won a silver trophy on ten ears of corn at first National Club Show. sweet potatoes sufficient to supply the family with food of this character. Where feasible, have a patch of sorghurn or other cane to produce sirup for the family. 2. Produce the corn necessary to support all of the people on the farm and the live stock, with absolute safety. 3. Produce the necessary oats and other small grain to sup- plement the corn as food. Pay attention to winter grazing. 4. Produce hay and forage from some forage crop, sufficient to supply all of the live stock on the farm. Use legumes such as clover, cow-peas, velvet beans, soy-beans, and alfalfa for the production of hay and to enrich the soil with nitrogen and humus. THE FARMING BUSINESS 161 5. Produce the meat necessary to supply the people, through increased attention to poultry and hogs, especially. Plan to in- crease gradually the number of cattle and other live stock, so as to have a sufficient number to consume the waste products of the farm and make the waste lands productive. 6. After all of these things have been amply provided for, produce cotton for the market. 162 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER VIII AGRICULTURE IN WESTERN STATES Western Fanning Conditions AN almost infinite variety of climatic conditions abounds Lin the western states. From the Canadian line on the north to the Mexican boundary on the south are to be "liouiul-up" from arid and semi-arid lands of New Mexico. found nearly every range of plant life from subarctic to subtropical. Here also exist many types of soils from the thin, gravelly or volcanic ash covering the mountain ranges to the richest silt of river valleys. The rainfall varies so greatly that while it is possible to farm in many regions THE FARMING BUSINESS 163 under normal humid conditions, either irrigation or dry- farming methods must be employed in other places to se- cure and maintain suflicient moisture. Added to these conditions are great differences in altitude, so that all ranges of climate from arctic to warm temperature may be found in traveling a few miles from mountain slope to valley. Great ranges of slopes subjected to north or south. Western crops are varied and of excellent quality. east or west exposures also affect both climate and crop conditions. Wide range of crops and animals. — Almost every crop known to man will thrive in some parts of the great West. Here we find the richest yields of the cereals, the most abundant forage crops, potatoes, sugar beets, sorghum, vegetables, and a wider variety of fruits than is grown In any other country in the world. 164 AGRICULTURE AND Farm animals thrive throughout the West and on the Great Plains in no less variety. This region was the orig- inal home of great herds of cattle, horses and buffalo, which ranged the endless prairies and mountain slopes. For many years the eastern markets secured a large por- tion of their beef and many of their horses from range- fed stock. These immense ranges are now being cut up into smaller farms, put under tillage, and farm stock kept under more domestic conditions. Soil management in the West. — So great is the vari- ety of climate, soil and moisture in the West that it is im- possible to treat all the conditions fully in any one book. Only the more general and fundamental principles can be stated. The local conditions will require study for each particular crop and region. For convenience in the study of western agriculture we may divide farm practise into three classes: (1) farming under humid conditions, (2) under irrigation, and (3) under dry-farming conditions. Farm practise under hu- mid conditions in the West should not differ sufficiently in method from good farm practise elsewhere to require separate treatment. Farming under arid or semi-arid conditions, however, requires special methods and very careful management. This phase of agriculture is so important in the West that the present chapter will be given principally to its discussion. Hundreds of thousands of acres are now being farmed and managed as dry-farming land, while millions of acres are available for similar pur- poses just as soon as good farming methods are employed, THE FARMING BUSINESS 165 suitable crops adapted, and good business methods adopted and applied to the new conditions. Dry-Farming By dry- farming is meant the management and carrying on of agriculture, such as the production of field crops. ;i iii]i 11 vcr at work in the vast fields of the Northwest. vegetables and fruit, and the raising of stock, in regions where the rainfall is not sufficiently heavy for successful plant growth and crop production under the common meth- ods of farming — especially the careless methods followed in some sections of our country where rainfall and soil conditions are more encouraging for profitable crop pro- duction. 166 AGRICULTURE AND The use of terms.— Territory that has an annual rahifall of above thirty inches is called humid and will do well under ordinary agricultural practises. Regions that re- ceive less than ten inches of rainfall annually are called arid, and can not be successfully farmed by the methods now practised in the central and eastern states without irriga- tion. Regions that receive from ten to twenty inches an- nually are called semi-arid, and those that receive from twenty to thirty inches, sub-humid. By the best methods now known to dry-farming practise, most semi-arid and sub-humid land may be successfully and profitably farmed. A surprisingly large proportion of the land surface of the earth is either arid, semi-arid, or sub-humid. The fol- lowing table gives the proportions of the earth's surface re- ceiving varying amounts of precipitation: (Widtsoe, Dry Farming.) Annual Precipitation Earth's Surface Under 10 inches 25 per cent. From 10 to 20 inches 30 per cent. From 20 to 40 inches 20 per cent. From 40 to 60 inches 11 per cent. From 60 to 80 inches 9 per cent. From 80 to 120 inches 4 per cent. From 120 to 160 inches 0.5 per cent. Above 160 inches 0.5 per cent. 100.0 per cent. It is seen from this table that the greater portion of- the land surface of the earth receives less than thirty inches of precipitation annually, and must therefore be reclaimed THE FARMING BUSINESS 167 by the best known dry-farming method If at all. What a gigantic problem for scientific agriculture! Dry-farm areas of the United States. — Almost three- fifths of the area of the United States receive less than thirty inches of rainfall annually, and more than one-half receives less than twenty inches. All of this great region is therefore dependent on either dry-farming or irrigation for its agricultural success. Typical sceue iu the Suutliwest, sliowing sage-brush in tlie foregroimd. Eighteen states, most of them of large area, comprise this territory. For convenience in study they may be classed in groups as follows : Arid to semi-arid group: Arizona, California, Colora- do, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and part of New Mexico. Semi-arid to sub-humid group: Montana, western part of Nebraska, New ]\Iexico, North Dakota, Oregon and Washington. 168 AGRICULTURE AND Sub-humid to huinid group : western half of Nebraska, and sections of Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.* Dry-Farming Practise The careless and shiftless methods employed in some humid regions will not return a profit to the operator from his dry-farm. The adoption of the best known methods of managing the soil, planting, cultivating and determining the crops to be produced are required. The dry-farmer should be thoroughly trained if he would succeed. Principles involved. — The success of dry-farming de- pends on the use of methods that will eliminate unnecessary and unprofitable labor, store moisture in the soil, keep it there until needed by the growing crops, and then release it to the roots of the plants. It is evident first of all that the soil must be of such nature as will allow it to retain water. Hence a gravelly soil is not well adapted to dry-farming, while a clay loam is. The cultivation must be directed chiefly toward preventing evaporation. The crops to be grown must be selected (1) for their adaptability to dry- farming conditions and (2) for their economy in the use of water during the growing period. Plowing. — Dry-farm land, many maintain, should as a Note: Send to the United States Department of Agri- culture, Washington, D. C, and ask for Farmers' Bulletin en- titled "The Effects of Cultural Methods of Crop Production in the Great Plains" written by E. C. Chilcott, Agriculturist in Charge of Dry Land Agriculture, J. S. Cole, Assistant, and W. W. Burr, Assistant. This bulletin contains the results of a number of years' experimenting in cultural methods at sev- eral of the dry-land farming stations. THE FARMING BUSINESS 169 rule be plowed early in the fall, and to a depth of eight to ten inches. In case the subsoil is lacking in plant food the ground should be plowed more shallow at first, then a little deeper each year until a depth suitable to the locality is reached. Some consider fall plowing to be important as it allows the soil more readily to take in the winter moisture Horse power in the wheat-fields of the Northwest. and permits winter weathering, which improves the physical condition of the soil. There is also considerable evidence as to the necessity of deep plowing when we consult the results of continued experiments of the experiment stations of the Great Plains. 170 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMINCx BUSINESS 171 Providing the dust mulch. — Dry-farming requires, on the whole, more thorough and frequent cultivation than humid farming. Land that is soon to be planted to crops should be disked and harrowed immediately after the plow- ing. This tends to produce a loose soil mulch and will do much to prevent evaporation. Fall plowed land that is to lie fallow through the winter should be left in a rough condi- tion and without cultivation, as this will favor the taking in of winter rains or snow. H the winters are dry the ground should be well pulverized after the plowing. Disking should be started as early in the spring as possible and fol- lowed by harrowing. Crop cultivation. — As soon as the crops are planted harrowing should be started, and continued as long as pos- sible without injuring the crop. Every rain that falls is so much treasure added to the soil. After each rain, there- fore, the ground should be cultivated as soon as possible in order to break the crust, establish a new mulch and so prevent evaporation. All crops should be cultivated as far into the season as possible. Weeds must be kept down at any cost, for they both hinder the growth of the crop and rob the soil of water which belongs to the cultivated plants. As soon as the crop is removed the ground should be plowed, disked and harrowed. The farmer who is not willing to follow the intensive tillage and careful man- agement required for dry-farming conditions ought not to engage in this type of agriculture. Summer fallowing. — In a large part of the semi-arid region it is found necessary to store up the moisture of two 172 AGRICULTURE AND seasons in order to produce a single crop successfully. This is accomplished by what is known as summer falloiving. The process consists of plowing the ground as if for immediate planting, and then keeping it well cultivated without a crop during the season, thus conserving most of the moisture that falls. Fallowing is usually practised every second year in re- gions having less than fifteen inches of rainfall. Where the rainfall is from fifteen to twenty inches the fallowing may be limited to every third or even every fourth year. The fallowed soil should be kept wholly free from weeds as they use up moisture, encourage insects and make the ground foul. In various regions of the Great Plains in- creased frequency of cultivation has been found to take in some degree the place of fallowing. Wherever this system can be successfully used it should, of course, be adopted, as it saves the loss from idle land during the fal- lowing period. Fallow fields also often lose fertility through the blowing of loose soil in high winds. Management of the Dry-Farm Dry-farm crops. — A great degree of the success of dry-farming depends on the selection of crops that are capable of growing with a minimum supply of moisture. While many of the crops grown under humid conditions can be successfully produced by dry-farming methods, yet certain varieties are better adapted to resist drought than others and should therefore be used. A second factor to be taken into account is that plants THE FARMING BUSINESS 173 have the power of adapthig themselves to the conditions under which they grow. Varieties that have become accus- tomed to dry-farming regions and methods of cultivation should be selected. This also suggests that home grown seed should generally be used rather than seed brought from humid territory. Wheat as a dry-farm crop. — AVheat is at present the most important dry-farm crop, and will probably retain this preeminence. Experimentation is still going on to de- termine the best varieties for dry-farming conditions. Among the hard spring wheats, Common or Durum is at present regarded the best, while among the winter wheats the semi-hard and the soft wheats take the lead. Other grains. — Oats, especially such varieties as Sixty-day, Kherson, Burt and Szvedish Select, are a profit- able dry-farm crop. Barley, rye and emmer are also suc- cessful cereals for dry-farming regions. Corn can be profitably grown under semi-arid conditions if proper varieties are selected, as can the sorghums, feterita and mil- let. Alfalfa and other legumes. — On account of its deep rooting system alfalfa can be made a successful forage crop where the rainfall is as much as twelve to fifteen inches. Field peas, beans and other legumes are also adapted to dry-farming. Potatoes. — Potatoes are one of the most promising of dry-farming crops. They can be profitably raised with a rainfall of fifteen inches. The following- varieties have 174 AGRICULTURE AND been recommended as dry-farm varieties : Ohio, Mammoth, Pearl, Rural Nezv Yorker and Bitrhank. Conserving soil fertility. — Dry-farming areas possess soil of unusual fertility. Nor does the fertility exhaust as fast as under humid conditions. Dry-farms in many sec- tions that have been continuously cropped for many years show but little loss of fertility or decrease in the yield of Cultivating a young oi'augo gruvc i>j cuusurw nmislurL'. crops. Yet this fertility will finally be exhausted if care is not used to conserve or replace it. Intelligent dry-farming will therefore plan from the first to maintain fertility. The farms hould be stocked and the manure returned to the soil. Straw left from the header, and stubble, should be plowed under. Legumes should be grown to aid in maintaining the supply of nitro- gen. A careful system of rotation of crops should be adopted and carefully followed. THE FARMING BUSINESS 175 Dry-farm machinery. — Dry-farming usually employs a large acreage of tilled land. It also demands frequent and thorough cultivation. These facts suggest the need of plenty of good machinery, adapted to the work re- quired. Plowing is often done by the gang-plow drawn by a steam or gasoline tractor. Grain is cut by a combination header and thrasher. Large disks, harrows and drills are used. The intelligent dry-farmer will not so much seek to economize on necessary machinery, as to save by giving it the required care for its up-keep. Water for the home. — The dry-land farmer's home should be provided with an abundance of clean pure wa- ter. The barns and the stock should have plenty of water, and a supply is needed for the irrigation of the vegetable garden, shade trees and fruit. The most progressive dry- land farmers provide a reservoir which is continually kept full of water pumped by a windmill, gasoline engine, or other power. If this reservoir is elevated it may easily pro- vide for a running system of water, thus supplying the home, its kitchen and bathroom, with some of the modern conveniences not otherwise available. 176 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER IX FARMING UNDER IRRIGATION A BOUT 300,000,000 acres In the United States of other- wise tillable land have been unproductive because of lack of moisture. This area, which is approximately as large as Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, comprises what is known as the arid and semi-arid region of the United States. The soil in most cases contains abundant plant food and has been found highly productive when the necessary amount of moisture is supplied. Lluch of the arid West formerly called the "Great American Desert" can be transformed into a veri- table garden of America by proper irrigation and manage- ment. This territory extends from the Canadian boundary to the Gulf of Mexico and includes large tracts of practically all of the states in the West, such as Washington, IMontana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, California, New IMexIco, Ari- zona, Texas, Oklahoma, western Kansas and Nebraska, as well as a part of Florida. Causes of Aridity There are three chief reasons why much of the western dry territory is deprived of the normal rainfall. The first is that the Rocky Mountains rob the ocean breezes of their THE FARMING BUSINESS 177 moistures before they have reached the tillable lands. The second is the altitude of a great portion of this territory; millions of acres are at an altitude which makes the pro- duction of much rain impossible. The third is the lack of vegetation and forests, which encourages the evaporation of moisture and its loss after rains by rapid surface drainage. Seasonal distribution of rainfall. — In considerable portions of the arid territory there is sufficient rainfall within a year's time to produce crops. Yet irrigation is necessary because the distribution of the moisture is not seasonable, but irregular or at the wrong time. In most cases the rains come during the time of the year when the crops are not in the ground. In some parts of Florida where the annual rainfall is from sixty to seventy Inches it is impossible to grow a crop without irrigation because the precipitation comes during the winter months. Regions of late summer droughts. — In the central west and eastern states there is considerable territory that suflfers more or less during the months of July and Au- gust, for want of sufficient rainfall to set and mature the grain, fruit or trucking crops. In a very large number of cases irrigation could be supplied without great expense to protect the farmer, fruit grower or truck gardener against failures of crop and so prove highly profitable. Even in the fruit sections of the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains where irrigation has not been seriously considered, many farmers would profit greatly by planning systems of irrigation and by so doing extend the growing season. WHiere now they are producing but one crop in 178 AGRICULTURE AND trucking, with the aid of irrigation and a carefully planned system of rotation, it would be possible to produce two and in some cases three crops. Much of this land could be fed from the mountain streams and rivers with but little cost. Reclamation of Arid and Semi-arid Land By reclaimed land we mean land that otherwise would be unproductive and of little or no value because of its arid or semi-arid condition. This land is reclaimed by some system of irrigation making it possible for the farmer to supply water in sufficient quantities and at the proper time. The United States government, through its reclamation service, has reclaimed millions of acres of land in the West which formerly was a bleak desert, or at best covered with sage-brush, mesquit and cacti, and populated by prairie- dogs and rattle snakes. In this region are now beautiful and thriving citrus orchards, grain and alfalfa fields, and a great variety of truck crops. Some of the most beautiful farming sections of the West can be found on these re- claimed lands and on what is known as territory under irrigation. IMillions of dollars are being spent annually, not only by the federal government, but also by the states and by private reclamation companies to reclaim this land. Practise of irrigation not new. — While irrigation has only recently been developed into an important agricultural science or received the attention of statesmen and men of affairs, it is by no means a modern invention. It was very commonly practised in Egypt, India, Spain, Afexico and Peru thousands of years ago. When the Spaniards first came THE FARMING BUSINESS 179 to America they found irrigation fairly well developed in both Mexico and Peru. The Indians were the first to irri- gate land in the United States and in old Mexico. Even at the present time there can be found a number of Indian tribes practising the same arts of irrigation followed by Regulating gates and inverted siphon, Chestnut Valley, Mis- souri Eiver, Montana. their forefathers hundreds of years ago. In many of the western arid plains from which the Indians have long since been driven there are still remaining signs of their irrigation systems. The first white people in America to develop and organize definite systems of irrigation were the Mormons, who located in the Salt River Valley of Utah. Sources of water supply. — Water for irrigation pur- poses is secured from a variety of sources, such as artesian 180 AGRICULTURE AND wells, canals, reservoirs, streams, lakes, and sometimes from the regular wells from which the water is pumped by windmills, electricity, steam or other power. Systems of Irrigation There are now in use in various sections of the coun- try three different systems of irrigation. These are known as the surface, suh-siirface and overhead systems. Surface irrigation. — This Is the system in most com- mon use, not because it is always the most satisfactory and efficient, but because it can be installed with the least labor and expense. Where water Is scarce, or the rental is high, surface irrigation Is wasteful, since a large amount of wa- ter is lost by evaporation and by running off into fields, lowlands or streams where It is not needed. And In irri- gation territory water has a direct money value and should be handled as economically as possible. Application of water in surface irrigation. — The method to be followed In surface irrigation depends on the source of water supply, the physical condition of the soil, the topography of the field, and the kind of farming to be undertaken. Two principal methods of applying the water are (1) by flooding, and (2) by the use of furrow^ ing, or corrugation, of the field. When flooding Is used, the water is spread from the source of supply over the entire field at regular or neces- sary intervals. It seeps Into the soil and around the root systems of the plants from every point of the surface. When furrowing Is employed the water Is turned into the THE FARMING BUSINESS ISl » it Flooding from cement ditches. Method of lunldug small irrigation ditches. 182 AGRICULTURE AND furrows from the head lateral ditches. From the furrows it seeps through the soil to the roots of the plants. It is evident that for the successful use of either of these meth- ods the fields must be relatively level and only a trifle slop- ing. Saving the water. — The only methods known to pre- vent lavish waste of water through surface irrigation are "Cbecking back" to avoid, waste of irrigation water, California. (1) by economy in the application of water, and (2) by keeping a light surface mulch through frequent and shallow cultivation. This system will produce a greater amount of plant products at less water cost. For most of the fruit, trucking and grain crops the furrow, or corrugation, method is conceded to be more practical and economical than flood- ing. Sub-surface irrigation. — Under favorable conditions THE FARMING BUSINESS 183 sub-surface irrigation proves most satisfactory, chiefly be- cause there is little or no waste of water, and because the supply can be more easily controlled. In this system the water is applied by means of pipes placed beneath the surface. The pipes are full of small holes through which the water enters the soil. A serious objection to this method is that clay soil and small plant roots are likely to clog up the holes. Hence the sub-surface pipes are adapted only to light open soils. Another sub- surface method is by a system of tile or drainage pipes from which the water is forced up through perpendicular pipe outlets or holes. A third method of sub-surface watering is employed where the land has a natural slope and a clay subsoil of hardpan. The water is applied by the head ditch and al- lowed to seep down through the soil to the hardpan. It then rises to the surface by soil capillarity, where it is avail- able for the use of the plants. This method is practical only in a few localities where the source of water supply and the physical conditions of the field are adapted to its use. Overhead irrigation. — Overhead irrigation is accom- plished by a system of overhead piping so placed that wa- ter can be applied to an entire field or garden at one time or by a shifting or portable piping arrangement. The pipes are perforated with many small holes through which are forced fine streams or a spray of water. This method is very efiPective, but its expense limits its useful- ness principally to gardening and trucking. Not only is 184 AGRICULTURE AND a Oi bo g is* fa o THE FARMING BUSINESS 185 the cost prohibitive for large fields, but the piping is in the way for cultivation when using horses and machinery. Determining the method of irrigation. — What method of irrigation is best must be decided by certain important factors. Among these are (1) the available water sup- ply, and its expense, (2) the location and level of the water table, (3) the nature of the soil, (4) the variety of crops to be irrigated, (5) the size of the field. Irrigating small grain, forage crops, alfalfa, etc., is usually best accom- plished by the surface corrugated methods, though flood- ing may prove satisfactory if the land is well drained. Orchard and trucking crops are most economically served by the furrow method. Crop Management tinder Irrigation The application of water. — Water is usually applied as needed from seed time to harvest in from two to six applications. A few irrigations from June to September as a rule insure better results than many. Too much water is the cause of many irrigation difficulties and is quite as harmful to the crops as not enough. The time of appli- cation is more important than the quantity of water applied. Care of the crop. — The general management of crops under irrigation, as to planting, tillage and harvesting, is very little different from the management of the same crops under humid conditions, except in three particulars. First, all work must protect the irrigation system, such as ditches, furrows and piping, being careful not to damage them in cultivating the crop. Second, the tillage must be 186 AGRICULTURE AND « THE FARMING BUSINESS 187 performed with a definite view to conserving the moisture in all possible ways. Third, the management of the farm must be more carefully planned as the cost of production is greater on irrigated land than on humid land, and a mate- Shoshoue project, Wyoming. rial increase of production per acre must result if a sub- stantial profit is to be assured. Rotation. — The desire for immediate cash returns makes the tendency to single cropping as pronounced on 188 AGRICULTURE AND irrigated projects as in the central states or the cotton ter- ritory. Yet the fact that the land is new makes diversi- fication and a carefully planned system of rotation even more desirable than in most other regions. For not a little of the nev^ land which is being brought under irriga- tion is almost entirely devoid of organic matter. This is due to the fact that for many years it has been entirely without vegetation. For this reason and for the purpose of keeping up the natural fertility and the enriching of the soil, it is important to plan a practical system of crop rota- tion from the start. Every irrigation farmer should keep in close touch with the state college of agriculture and state experiment sta- tion of his state by visiting the Institution and reading its bulletins. In this way he can secure guidance and infor- mation from experts who have been provided with both time and money to investigate and experiment in order to discover the safest and best methods for the farmer. Dangers from Over-irrigation The dangers from over-irrigation need to be guarded against as carefully as those of shortage of moisture. The Utah Agricultural College and the Utah Conservation Com- mission have jointly issued the following suggestions to irri- gation farmers : OVER-IRRIGATION IS A MENACE TO UTAH, BECAUSE 1. Smaller crop yields are obtained for each unit of water used. THE FARMING BUSINESS 189 2. More plant food is taken up by the plant for each pound of crop. 3. The quality of the crops is greatly reduced, 4. Straw is produced at the expense of grain. 5. Plant food is washed out of the soil. 6. Lower-lying lands become water-logged. 7. Other dry lands are cheated of irrigation water. 8. The extension of the irrigated area is hindered. 9. A wholesome community spirit is lowered wherever ■water is wastefuUy used. The same authorities have set forth the following ir- rigation rules, which are worth the attention of all who are interested in the ultimate success of all irrigation. 1. Store the rainfall in the soil. — Deep thorough plowing enables the soil to absorb and retain most of the rain and snow water. The more rainfall is stored in the soil the less irrigation water will be needed. 2. Use the spring and fall water. — Where the winters are dry, fall irrigation or early spring irrigation will reduce the irrigation water needed during the growing season. 3. Cultivate frequently and thoroughly. — Water is easily lost from soils by evaporation. The soil should be thoroughly cul- tivated early in the spring, as soon as possible after irrigation, and usually once or more between irrigations. Thorough cul- tivation will reduce the water needed in irrigation. 4. Keep the soil fertile. — The more fertile a soil is, the less water is needed to produce a pound or ton of the crop. Plow deeply, cultivate thoroughly, use barnyard manure, and less irrigation water will be needed. 5. Plant in well-moistened soil. — Well-moistened soil at planting time permits better root development, and delays the itime of the first irrigation, and thus saves irrigation water 'during the summer. If rains and snow do not moisten soils sufficiently for planting, irrigate in fall, or in early spring, be- fore planting. 6. Don't irrigate too early. — By postponing as long as pos- sible the first irrigation after planting, a better root develop- 190 AGRICULTURE AND ment is secured and less irrigation water is needed to pro- duce the crop. 7. Irrigate by the correct method. — Where water is plenti- ful, the flooding method may be used; where water is scarce, the furrow method only should be employed. Lead the waste water from the furrows to other fields. 8. Irrigate at the proper time. — Withhold water until the crop is in real need. When irrigating, apply enough water to supply the crop for at least ten days. Irrigate thoroughly, when potatoes are in bloom; corn in tassel or silk; lucerne just be- ginning to bud, and grains forming seed. 9. Use water in moderation. — The acre yield of a crop in- creases as more water is used, up to a certain limit, beyond which more water causes a decrease in the yield. 10. Spread the water over larger areas. — The yield of crop per unit of water always becomes smaller as more water is added. The less water is used in irrigation, the more crop is obtained for the water used. In Utah, land is plentiful, water is scarce; it is more important to get a large crop for each acre-foot of water than for each acre of land. 11. Kill the weeds. — Weeds use up as much water as do many profitable crops. It costs usually one ton of water to pro- duce one pound of weeds. Killing the weeds will leave more water for our crops. 12. Repair the leaky ditches. — Tremendous quantities of water seep from most of our canals and ditches. Stop the leaky places! It will often pay to cement the whole canal. 13. Measure the water. — Land is measured carefully, but water, more valuable than land, is seldom measured. Great progress will be made by Utah as soon as farmers faithfully measure and keep an account of the water used on the land. This is one of Utah's greatest irrigation needs. The Cippoletti Weir may be used by any farmer for the measurement of water. THE FARMING BUSINESS 191 CHAPTER X COTTON COTTON is one of the oldest of the fabric-producing plants. Its origin dates back so far that it is not known where the plant originated, but it is thought to have been a native of India. Certain it is that Columbus found cotton growing here when he came to America, Cotton has, from the beginning of our history, been one of the chief agricultural products and ranks third in value of all farm crops after the cereals and the forage crops in the United States. In a number of the southern states it out- ranks all other crops combined, both in acreage and value. The annual cotton crop is worth over three-fourths of a billion dollars. The cotton plant is raised chiefly for its fiber, though other parts of the plant are also useful. The seed furnishes valuable oils for lighting, cooking and other purposes. The hulls and seed meal and flour left from the manufacture of the oils are used for bread for human food, stock feed- ing and fertilizers. The root ^arks are sometimes used for medicine while the stalk fiber is employed for the manufac- ture of coarse cloth bags. Some paper manufacturers are also using the stalk. 192 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 193 The Cotton Region Most of our cotton is raised in the following twelve southern states, which are named in the order of the amount of cotton they produce: Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma, IMissouri. Cotton is also profitably raised in southern Virginia and in parts of Ken- tucky. It has recently been introduced with success in Arizona, southern Utah, New IMexico, and in southern California, where the long staple varieties are especially successful. Proportion of land in cotton. — Mississippi, Texas, Ala- bama, Georgia and South Carolina devote approximately one-half of their tilled land to the raising of cotton, the remainder of the list, from twelve to about twenty-five per cent. The tendency at present is to diversify the farming in the cotton states, raising a smaller acreage of cotton, and adding corn, oats, legumes and other forage crops. With better methods of growing cotton, this can be done without reducing the amount of cotton produced. Varieties of cotton. — The two leading varieties of cotton are the Sea Island and the Upland. Sea Island cot- ton is grown over a small area located in the southern part of South Carolina, southeastern Georgia and northern Florida. Upland cotton occupies the greater part of the remainder of the cotton area. The United States produces the best grade of Sea Island cotton grown in the world. It is the long, silky 194 AGRICULTURE AND fibers of the Sea Island variety that are used for spinning the finest fabrics, laces and threads. Sea Island cotton also possesses far greater strength and durability than other va- rieties and is used wherever wearing qualities are of para- mount importance. For example, it is this variety that is employed in the manufacture of mail bags and in the making of pneumatic tires, where strength and durability are put to the severest tests. Upland cotton, while never approximating Sea Island in length and fineness of fiber, is, nevertheless, produced in fine quality in various regions of the South. Grades of cotton. — For convenience in marketing, cotton is divided into grades and classes which are so standardized that quotations can be made for certain grades or standards without seeing the product. The official grades as prepared at the present time by the United States De- partment of Agriculture include the following: Above Middling. Below Middling. 1. Middling Fair 5. Middling 2. Strict Good Middling 6. Strict Low Middling 3. Good Middling 7. Low Middling 4. Strict Middling 8. Strict Good Ordinary 9. Good Ordinary Samples have been prepared representing each of these grades, and are widely distributed throughout the cotton regions at the cost of making up the samples. It is well for every cotton grower to know the grades of cotton he is producing and its relation to markets, and it of course pays to produce as high a grade as possible. The principal points considered in deciding the grade of cotton are: THE FARMING BUSINESS 195 (1) Foreign matter, such as leaves, dirt, sand, strings and the like, mixed in with the fiber. (2) Injured or gin-cut fiber, cut seed, or unripe fiber. (3) The color. (4) Length and quality of lint or fiber. Raising the Crop Soil requirements — Well-drained clay or sandy loam soil is considered best for cotton. As a rule, bottom lands are not well adapted to the growth of cotton, because most of the fertility of the soil goes into the production of stalk rather than bolls. There are two important reasons why cotton should be planted only on fertile soil, and given the best of cultivation: (1) A better quality of cotton and larger yields are produced; (2) an earlier crop is secured and the danger from the boll weevil and other insect ene- mies is greatly reduced. Preparation of the seed bed. — The ground in most parts of the South should be plowed deep for cotton. This brings to the surface new soil, and opens up deeper levels for the roots of the plants. Many successful cotton farm- ers plow not less than eight or ten inches deep, and then follow with a subsoiler that breaks the bottom of the fur- row open to an additional depth of four or more inches. It is usually advisable to plow the land in the fall, and then disk or harrow well just before the planting season. Cot- ton grows better on a well bedded soil than on newly pre- pared land. Applying fertilizers. — Cotton land should be rich in humus or vegetable matter. This keeps the soil from 196 AGRICULTURE AND packing-, increases the capacity for water, and adds to the fertility. Barnyard manure should therefore be added whenever possible. Legumes should be grown, alternating with cotton, and an occasional crop of soy-beans, cow-peas or clover plowed under. Commercial fertilizers will pay on certain soils. It is well to secure the advice of an expert as to what fertilizing elements are most needed. Acid phosphate is commonly used to increase the yield and hasten maturity. Cottonseed- meal may be used especially to stimulate stalk growth. Planting. — Cotton should be planted as early as the season will permit. Not only will a better grade of cotton result, but the danger from the boll weevil will be greatly lessened, as the weevils do not become very numerous be- fore the latter part of July. In Texas the cotton Is plant- ed in March ; in North Carolina not until May. The plant requires about six months to mature, hence it is easy to see why the cotton territory is so limited. In some sec- tions it is considered good practise to plant the seed on ridges thrown up about four feet apart. On very dry soils the ground should be kept level. About four feet is the proper distance between rows, and the plants should be set from twelve to twenty inches apart in the row. About thirty pounds of good seed are required to the acre. New system of culture. — Recent experiments in the raising of cotton have developed a new system of cotton culture. By this system the cotton plants are at the be- ginning left closer in the row than is customary, and thinned at a later date than usual. The object in this THE FARMING BUSINESS 197 system is to restrict the growth of vegetative branches, or those that result in foliage only, and thereby induce an earlier developing of the fruiting branches. The effect of this system is to secure an early short-seasoned crop, thereby defeating in some degree the ravages of the boll weevil and other cotton enemies, and at the same time getting the crop ready for the market at an earlier date. Field injured by cottou worm. (Insert) cotton worms. The spacing of the plants and the time at which thinning should take place will depend so much upon local conditions and the variety of cotton grown that no specific directions can be given. The principle involved, however, is clear, and every cotton grower should investigate the possibilities of the closer planting, later thinning system and apply the results to his own crop. It is thought that this system will do much to reduce the amount of damage occasioned by the 198 AGRICULTURE AND weevil and would probably be justified from this standpoint alone. Cotton requires good cultivation to kill the weeds, keep the soil loose and preserve a dust mulch to conserve the moisture. Cultivation should begin with the harrow before the young plants come up. When the cotton is about five days old the cultivation should be repeated. Disk and shovel cultivators are suitable for the later cultivations. Deep plowing should be avoided later in the season, so that the roots may not be injured. Harvesting. — The greatest labor connected with cot- ton production is the picking of the crop. It is a very slow and costly operation and has been performed en- tirely by hand labor. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney for the ginning of the cotton or the removal of the seed from the lint was one of the greatest boons to cotton culture that has come to the South. After the cotton has been ginned it is made up into large bundles called bales, each weighing about five hundred pounds. These bales are shipped to the mills by train or boat, after which they are manufactured into thread and all kinds of cloth. Enemies of Cotton Cotton, like other farm crops, is subject to attack by various insects and diseases. The boll weevil. — The boll weevil is said to be the most harmful insect known to agriculture in this country. It came to the United States from Mexico about 1892, first THE FARMING BUSINESS 199 td 200 AGRICULTURE AND beginning its ravages in Texas. Since that time it has spread over most of the cotton area, and caused the loss of millions of dollars annually to cotton growers. Life history of the boll weevil. — In the spring and throughout the fruiting season eggs are laid in small holes made by the female in the cotton square or boll. In about three days the egg hatches into a grub, which at once begins feeding on the plant. In a little more than a week the grub passes into the pupa stage, which lasts from three to five days, when the second generation of adult, the beetle, is developed. It requires from two to three weeks for the weevil to develop from egg to adult, hence a number of generations are produced in a season. The offspring of a single pair in a season may exceed twelve million individuals. Fighting the boll weevil. — Since the weevil life is spent and damage done chiefly in the square or boll, meth- ods of poisoning and picking have not proved very satis- factory. The most important step in the destruction of the weevil is to kill as large a proportion of them by ex- posure during the winter months as possible. In order to do this the fields should be cleaned of all of the stalks and rubbish and the seed bed prepared in the early fall. Cot- ton stalks should be thoroughly uprooted and if possible plowed under just as soon as the crop is picked. Then the ground should be well dragged and packed close so as to shut all crevices through which the beetle might come to the surface. Rubbish left upon the ground during the winter months will be sure to furnish a safe hiding-place and protection for the weevil, hence should be burned. THE FARMING BUSINESS 201 r^w^-!-.^ THE BOLL WEEVIL AND ITS STAGES. Fig. 1, Adult boll weevil, viewed from above ; a, two teeth on fore feuiur; fig. 2, adult weevil, side view; fig, 3, egg of weevil; fig. 4, grub about two daj'S old; fig. 5, grub at entrance to second stage after shedding first skin, about three days old ; fig. 6, grub fully- grown, about ten daj's from egg; tig. 7, transformation or pupal stage, side view, snout, legs and wings forming ; fig. S, pupal stage, front view of fig. 7. Figs. 1, 2, 0, 7 and 8 enlarged about ten diam- eters; figs, o, 4 and 5 enlarged about twenty diameters. 202 AGRICULTURE AND The next most important step is the planting of an early variety in order to get the crop well out of the way of the larger broods of weevils. Through a system of seed se- lection it is possible to develop a plant that is very strongly resistant to the attacks of the boll weevil. Since the weevils live mainly upon the cotton boll and the cotton plant, it is easy to understand why it is impor-. tant to rotate the crop. Cotton should not be grown on the same piece of ground in boll weevil territory a second year. This plan, if followed, is also bound to bring about the diversification of farming so greatly needed in the South. The weevils can not possibly live in the soil for more than twelve months without direct contact with a source of food supply, hence the effectiveness of a three-, four- and five-year rotation having the cotton-field for each successive year sufficiently separated so as not to make it easy for the weevil to pass from one field to the other. Cotton seed should be treated with carbon bisulphide in order to make sure that no weevils are carried into new soil. The cotton anthracnose or boll rot. — Next to the boll weevil, this is considered one of the destructive enemies to cotton production. It is usually referred to as boll rot and is a disease caused by fungous growth which attacks the seedlings, the stems and the boll pedicels. It causes the loss of many millions of dollars every year. It^ develops readily in hot muggy weather and where the planting has been close. The best way to prevent this disease is by careful seed selection. Healthy seed is very important and THE FARMING BUSINESS 203 6 g a a 204 AGRICULTURE AND the systematic rotation of crops necessary as the disease spores will live upon dead bolls from year to year. It is also possible to develop through selection of seed from healthy stalks a plant quite resistant to the disease. THE FARMING BUSINESS 205 CHAPTER XI THE POTATO THE common white, or Irish, potato is grown in every state of the Union. It is a native of South America and was first brought to North America by the early Span- ish settlers. It has so far played its most important part in the farming of the northern states. While many of the southern states are admirably adapted to potato growing, it is only recently that southern farmers have begun to make the potato an important factor among their crops. Pota- toes are one of the chief vegetables in the world's food supply. The annual world-production of the Irish potato is about five billion bushels. Of this immense supply, the United States produces three hundred million bushels, or somewhat more than one-twentieth of the entire amount. Potatoes are one of the most profitable crops, especially for intensive agriculture, wherever chmate and soil conditions are favorable. The plant. — The potato plant varies from one and one- half to five feet in height, though it does not show this great a height owing to its spreading habits of growth. The terminal clusters of fiower bear seeds, from which new varieties are often developed. For practical purposes the plant is always reproduced from the tubers. 206 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 207 Though both plant and roots die upon the ripening of the seed and tubers, the potato is a perennial and the plant is reproduced by means of the tuber. Since the tubers are destroyed by freezing, they are harvested before frost. Potatoes are annuals in all regions where the soil freezes during the winter. Examining a tuber, which is the food part of the potato plant, one notes small indentations commonly called "eyes." These contain the buds from which the new plants are pro- duced. The end at which the eyes are thickest is called the seed end. Some varieties produce tubers that are more deeply indented at the eyes and more irregular in shape than others. The smoother and more uniform the tuber, other things being equal, the more valuable and marketable. Though there are hundreds of wild plants belonging to tlie same genus as potatoes, comparatively few of these are known as cultivated plants. Among the most closely related cultivated plants are the tomato and tobacco, which belong to the same family. Potatoes as a Farm Crop Potatoes are raised in every state, though the chief potato region consists of ten or fifteen northern states reach- ing from the Missouri River eastward to the Atlantic. More than three million acres are planted with potatoes in the United States each year. The annual crop of from three hundred to three hundred and fifty million bushels repre- sents nearly four bushels to every inhabitant. The yield. — Potatoes, like other crops, vary greatly 208 AGRICULTURE AND in yield owing to differences in the fertility of the soil, and the care taken in raising the crop. The average for the United States during the last ten-year period has been about ninety-six bushels to the acre. It is somewhat humiliating to know, that, in spite of our improved machinery and scientific knowledge of the soil and plant diseases, we are now securing only about the same yield of potatoes that was produced at the close of the Civil War. Experts tell us that this yield can easily be doubled, with comparatively small expense and trouble. No farmer with good soil ought to be satisfied with a yield under two hundred bushels to the acre on average seasons. The state of Maine, which is one of the leading potato regions of the country, not infrequently averages considerably above this amount. The success of the Maine potato raisers is probably due more to the excellence of their cultural methods than to any superiority in the soil, climate, or variety of tubers grown. Raising the Crop The soil. — Potatoes thrive best in a rich sandy loam containing a good supply of humus. Hard stiff soils or heavy clay are not well adapted to potato raising. The best soil on the farm should be devoted to the potato field, both because potatoes demand a better soil than most other crops, and because the value of potatoes per acre is greater than almost any other field crop. Ground that has recently raised clover, alfalfa or some other legume is especially suited to potatoes. While barn- THE FARMING BUSINESS 209 yard manure will greatly increase the yield, it will also favor the ravages of scab and other potato diseases, and so lower the quality of the crop. It is usually a mistake to plant potatoes on a freshly manured field. If manure is used, it is better to follow a heavy manuring with a crop of corn, and then plant potatoes for the second year crop. An Iowa potato club boy and a part of bis crop. Green manuring, that is, the plowing under of green crops such as clover or alfalfa, will add greatly to the yield. If the sod is old, it is usually better to grow one crop of corn before potatoes are planted on the field. Com- mercial fertilizers can be used to advantage for potatoes on most soils. The seed bed. — Potatoes should have an especially 210 AGRICULTURE AND well prepared seed bed. The plowing should be deeper than for most crops, shice the seed is planted deeper and loose soil must be had for the roots and tubers. In average soils the plow should be set to a depth of not less than eight inches. The seed bed must be well pulverized and thoroughly packed. Usually not less than four harrowings and disk- ings are required for the best results. Experiments have shown that the difference in yield caused by harrowing part of a field four times and the remainder of it but twice may be as much as twenty per cent, of the crop in favor of the better preparation. The planting. — Potatoes should be planted not less than four inches deep. If less than this depth it will not give room for the tubers to grow without protruding from the ground. This is sure to result in injury from sunburn. Most potato growers drill the seed, dropping single pieces of seed from twelve to fifteen inches apart in the row. In some regions potatoes are planted in cross rows like corn, with three cuts of seed to the hill. The date for planting differs in various regions, but the greater part of the crop In the northern states is planted during the last half of Alay. From twelve to twenty bushels of seed are required for an acre, depending on how the tubers are cut for planting. Where crops of any consider- able size are raised, the dropping is usually done with a machine or planter, some makes of which are arranged to distribute commercial fertilizer at the same time. Where potatoes are not raised as a commercial crop, the THE FARMING BUSINESS 211 planting is ordinarily done by hand. There are two chief types of potato planters generally employed under commer- cial conditions. In the one type of planter, the seed pieces are picked up and distributed by small steel forks or pickers, and in the other type the pieces are caught in pockets on the revolving disk and delivered from this into the furrow. The usual potato planter is a two-horse machine. The first type of planter can be operated by one man. The disk ma- chine requires a second man to attend to the seed distribu- tion for the disk and insure a more perfect stand. Either type of machine wall plant about five acres a day. The ma- chines are equipped with an attachment for the distribution of commercial fertilizer. From one-half to three-quarters of a ton per acre can be profitably applied. By this system the fertilizer is distributed directly in the drills and not broadcast. Cultivating the crop. — Potatoes demand good cultiva- tion. Flarrowing should be done before the potatoes are up. From one to two harrowings may be given after the plants appear. Throughout the growing season a fine soil mulch should at all times be maintained by means of fre- quent cultivation. Especially after a rain should the soil crust be broken. The cultivation should be rather shallow, and potatoes should not be hilled up as is so frequently done. Harvesting the crop. — When the vines have died the potatoes have stopped growing and the crop is ready to harvest. In the case of small fields, potatoes are often har- vested by being plowed out with an ordinary plow, the 212 AGRICULTURE AND tubers being picked up by hand, and the field afterward harrowed to uncover any that have been missed. In regions where potatoes are grown in large quanti- ties the digging is done with machines, several kinds of which are now on the market. The average machine will turn out about three acres in a day, and will require from five to ten pickers to keep up with it. Storing the crop.^ — In order to keep well, potatoes must be stored in a cool place. The house cellar is usu- ally too warm for them, and they also give out an un- pleasant odor that permeates the house. A common type of vegetable cellar to be found on many farms is built with concrete or stone walls, the excavation being made on a side hill. It is covered with a shingle roof, and has a board floor on a level with the ground at the upper side, thus making an excellent tool and machinery house over the space used for vegetables. Improvement Throng Ji Selection of Seed One of the first factors in successful potato growing is the securing of good seed. Without this, fertility of soil and careful cultivation are largely wasted. Good seed will possess the following qualities : It must (1) be pure, that is, free from mixtures of varieties; (2) be taken from productive plants, "hills selected"; (3) be uniform in size and shape; (4) be firm and sound, not shrunken or decayed; (5) be entirely free from disease; (6) not wholly mature when harvested ; (7) have sprouts just showing at time of planting. THE FARMING BUSINESS 213 It has been estimated by experts that attention to these points would add at least ten per cent, to the potato crop each year. This would mean an increase of nearly thirty- five million bushels, worth about twenty-one million dol- lars. Pure seed. — IMixed varieties present several disad- vantages in potato growing. The crop will not mature evenly. Thus, when the earlier variety has ripened and is ready for the market or table, the later one will have the potatoes just setting, and unfit for' use. Mixed vari- eties do not cook evenly, and when baked or broiled to- gether some will be overdone before others have softened. General mixture of varieties in potatoes as in other crops tends to degeneration and running out of the strain or breed. Seed from productive plants. — Seed should be taken only from the strongest and most productive plants, no matter what the variety. This can not be accomplished by selecting seed from the potato bin, any more than the best seed corn can be selected from the crib or wagon. For a certain tuber may itself be of good size and look promis- ing, but have come from a plant that produced but one or two potatoes, or that grew only one tuber of fair size, with several culls. One of the most successful methods of developing high- grade seed potatoes is what is called the tuber-unit method. This consists of selecting from the seed bin a quantity of the most perfect tubers, each to weigh from six to eight ounces. 214 AGRICULTURE AND These are cut for planting by splitting the tuber into four quarters, from seed end to stem end. The tuber-unit method. — ^The four pieces of each po- tato are planted in succession twelve inches apart in the row. A longer space is left between the sets of fours, thus mak- Club boj', aud prize seed potatoes, sprouted enougli for plant- ing. ing it possible to watch the outcome of each tuber by itself. Before the plants begin to die, careful inspection is made, and any mixtures, and imperfect or weak plants are marked for rejection. Only the most promising and uniforni are re- served for the selection of seed. When the crop is harvested, each set of four is dug by THE FARMING BUSINESS 215 itself. A further selection is made by rejecting the total product if any one of the four plants has failed to pro- duce uniform, desirable tubers. The potatoes produced by each set of four selected for seed are put into separate sacks and kept for further examination. Finally, the contents of each sack are inspected for the weight of marketable and unmarketable tubers, and other desirable qualities of the type. From each of the four-plant units the best ten tubers are to be selected for the next year's planting. This selected seed is planted the following year, with forty plants to the unit instead of four. The product from the best forty-hill rows is kept for seed for the general crop for the following year. By thus keeping a breeding plat for seed, potatoes can be greatly improved, and the yield much increased. The tuber-unit method can be rendered even more ef- fective by making the first selection from the field instead of the potato bin. This is done by going into the field before the vines begin to die and marking a number of the most vigorous and desirable plants. These are har- vested separately before wholly mature, and seed taken from the best hills. The practise of planting for seed the small and unmar- ketable potato culls can not be too strongly condemned. It lessens the yield, lowers the quality of the crop and causes the variety to deteriorate or "run out." Cutting seed potatoes. — AVhether it pays better to cut potatoes for seed or plant the whole tuber has been much discussed. It is believed by many potato growers 216 AGRICULTURE AND. that under average conditions the yield will be greater when quarters are planted than when pieces with single eyes are used, and that halves will produce more than quarters. It is not sure that whole tubers will produce a larger yield than that produced from halves. The weight of experi- ence seems to favor planting halves. Immature seed. — For vitality, high yield and good market qualities, potatoes intended for seed should be har- vested before entirely ripe (by hill selection) ; that is, be- fore the vines are dead. Many experiments have shown that immature seed will produce a considerably higher yield than seed allowed to ripen before digging. Contrary to the rule with most farm crops, seed brought from another region often produces a better crop of potatoes than home-grown seed. Especially is this true when north- ern grown potatoes are taken farther south. Not only is the yield increased, but the time required for maturing is shortened by securing seed from colder regions. Great care should be taken in importing seed tubers not to introduce new forms of potato diseases. Potato Enemies Potatoes have many enemies, and the number seems to be increasing, owing to diseases being brought in from other countries. Scab. — Scab is one of the most wide-spread and de- structive of potato diseases. It causes a rough, pitted, scabby condition which may attack the tuber in patches, or extend over the entire surface. A\^hether scab is caused THE FARMING BUSINESS 217 by a fungous growth or a species of soil bacteria is not certain. It is fortunate, however, that a very simple and effective remedy is known. This consists in treating seed potatoes before planting. There are several mixtures used for this purpose; the cheapest and most easily applied is a formalin solution. This is prepared by mixing one pint of formalin with thirty gallons of water. The seed potatoes are soaked in the solution for two hours, and then planted without allowing them to come into contact with bags or utensils in which scabby potatoes have been kept. Leaf, on early blight. — Leaf blight is another common potato disease. It attacks the leaves and stems, first show- ing about the time that the tubers begin to form. Its pres- ence may be detected by the presence of grayish brown spots on the leaves, the part of the leaf attacked soon be- coming hard and brittle. Within three or four weeks the leaves are all killed, and the stem is also affected. The tubers grow but little after the leaves are first attacked; hence the crop is ruined unless the blight can be checked. The ravages of leaf blight can be almost if not wholly prevented by spraying the plants with the Bordeaux mixture (see page 399). This solution is applied with a spraying machine at the rate of about fifty gallons to the acre. From three to five sprayings during the season are required when leaf blight threatens. One pound of Paris green to the acre at the first spraying, and the same amount later in the season will also destroy the potato beetles, which often prove such a pest. 218 AGRICULTURE AND Late blight, or rot. — The blotches and blackish streaks often seen running through tubers are caused by late blight, or potato rot. This disease first attacks the leaves and stems, causing them to soften and decay and pro- ducing a bad smell. Late bHght often appears suddenly, and spreads through a field with great rapidity. A green, healthy-looking field may- turn almost black in a day or two. The treatment for late blight is the same as for leaf blight, and should never be neglected in regions where blight is common. It is far better to commence the spraying before either form of bHght begins to appear, for this is the easiest time to prevent it. Rules for Protecting Against Potato Diseases The University of Wisconsin ofifers the following advice concerning certain potato diseases : Powdery Scab. — A bad European disease, recently brought into Canada and some eastern states. Hard to control. Keep it out of Wisconsin. Do not buy eastern seed. Send any suspicious potatoes to the Experiment Station for examination. Common Scab. — Found wherever potatoes are grown. Germs live over on tubers and in soil. Lime and ashes and horse manure increase disease; plowing under green crops (clover, etc.) checks. Use disinfected seed on clean soil, rotate crops. Black Scurf. — Common. Does little harm under Wisconsin conditions, but serious south and west, hence seed for these sections should be free from it. Rotate crop and where needed disinfect seed. Silver Scurf. — Not serious, chief damage from shriveling in storage. Use clean seed on clean soil, rotate. Seed disinfec- tion only partially successful. Black Leg and Rot. — Germs on seed tuber. This rots after planting, giving weak or partial stand. Rot spreads from seed THE FARMING BUSINESS 219 tuber up base of stem; plants narrow, spindling, yellowish. May cause soft rot in crop. Probably does not live over in soil. Use only sound seed, disinfect. Late Blight and Rot. — Sometimes very destructive. Worse in northern counties and heavy soil. (Do not confuse with early blight and tip burn which are leaf diseases only.) Late or wet rot (if heavy wet soil). Winters over inside tubers. Get seed from healthy fields. Spraying, Bordeaux mixture on leaves, controls. Black Wart. — Has spread rapidly through Europe. Attacks eyes, deforms with repulsive warty growths. No remedy known. European potatoes quarantined to keep this out. To Disinfect Seed Potatoes. — Soak seed tubers for two hours in either of the following: 1. Formaldehyde (formalin, 40% strength) one pint in thirty gallons of water. Can use same solution repeatedly. Fully effective for common scab and black leg; helps with other scab and scurf diseases. 2. Cor- rosive sublimate (mercuric chloride; deadly poison) one part by weight to 1000 parts water (or four ounces in thirty gallons of water). Equal to formaldehyde for scab and better for scurf, especially black scurf. 220 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XII SUGAR FARMING SUGAR is one of our most important foods. It has great nutritive value, is easily digested, and is palatable to nearly every one. We consume about four million tons a year, or more than eighty pounds for each person in the United States. In less prosperous nations sugar is found too expensive a food, and a much smaller proportion is used. Only about one-fourth of the sugar required for home consumption is grown In this country, the remainder being imported. There are five principal varieties of sugar used: cane sugar, beet sugar, maple sugar, corn sugar and sorghum. Cane sugar leads both in the amount used, and in the num- ber of grades produced. Most of the finer table and manu- facturing sugars are from cane. Beet sugar comes next in amount. Maple sugar is not produced in large amounts. Large quantities of corn sugar and sorghum are used in the form of sirup, or molasses. Less important varieties are grape sugar, from starch ; fruit sugar, from fruits and honey ; malt sugar, from malted grains ; and milk sugar from the milk of cows, goats, etc. The chemist usually divides all sugars into two classes, saccharose and glucose. Great quantities of sugar are produced in Cuba, Porto THE FARMING BUSINESS 221 Rico and other of the West Indies Islands. The northern- most countries of South America also grow and manufac- ture much sugar, as do the Dutch East Indies. Hawaii has large sugar industries. Germany and France are lead- ers in the raising of sugar beets and their manufacture into sugar. Russia and Austria are also important beet sugar countries. The Sugar Regions Nearly every state grows some amount of one of the five principal kinds of sugar. Cane sugar region. — By far the greater part of the sugar used in this country is made from sugar cane. Only a small proportion of what we require is produced here, most of it being imported from the West Indies and other tropical or semi-tropical regions. Practically all our home- grown cane sugar is raised in the following states, which are named in the order of the amount produced: Louis- iana, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, California, North Carolina. Of these states, Louisiana has produced more than twice as much as the other eight states combined. Beet sugar region. — The beet sugar region is far more widely distributed than the cane sugar region. The following are some of the leading beet sugar states : Colo- rado, California, Michigan, Utah, Idaho, Wisconsin, Mon- tana, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. This wide area indicates that sugar beets will thrive in a great variety of climates and soils. Sorghum sugar regions. — Sorghum also thrives over 222 AGRICULTURE AND « THE FARMING BUSINESS 223 a wide range of territory, as will be seen from the dis- tribution of the following leading sorghum producing states: Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, Oklahoma, Indiana, Alabama, Missis- sippi, Louisiana and Ohio. Maple sugar region. — The leading maple sugar states are Vermont, ' New York and Ohio. New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana also produce consider- able quantities. Producing Cane Sugar The cane sugar plant, which grows much like corn, was originally a tropical plant, but most varieties under culti- vation will thrive best in a semi-tropical climate. Some varieties will even succeed in temperate regions. Terri- tories having a temperature of from sixty-five degrees to ninety degrees Fahrenheit during midsummer are consid- ered best. Under good conditions the plants will grow from twelve to twenty feet high. Sugar cane was first introduced into Europe by the Moors. It was known as the "honey-bearing Indian reed." Plantations were later established in Spain and Sicily. Spanish sailors then carried the seed to the Azores, Canaries, West Indies and other islands. From these sources the plant was brought to America. Varieties of sugar cane. — The most common varie- ties grown in the United States are Louisiana Purple, which is known in Georgia as Red Cane ; Louisiana Striped 224 AGRICULTURE AND .or Ribbon Cane; a strain known as D-74, and another known as D-75. Moisture. — Cane sugar, because of the large amount of fohage, requires abundant moisture during the grow- ing season. The average rainfall should be from two to four and one-half inches per month during the period of greatest growth. The cane may be successfully grown by irrigation, as it is capable of drawing from the soil practi- cally all the water supply necessary for its development. Soil requirements. — The soil requirements of the cane sugar plant are very much the same as those of the sugar beet, corn, potato and trucking crops. The soil should be well filled with humus, light and well-drained. The plant requires a well-prepared seed bed and is thought to produce the largest quantity of sugar content where the soil is best adapted for the production of corn and heavy forage crops. The cane sugar plant resists drought better than corn and is sometimes grown successfully in the semi- arid land of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Nebraska. Cultivation and management of crop. — The cultiva- tion and general management of the soil before planting are similar to those required for successful corn production. After the seed bed has been thoroughly prepared by deep plowing and subsolling where possible, the soil should be pulverized thoroughly, and a fine surface mulch should be maintained throughout the growing season. This Is best done by shallow cultivation, and harrowing. The crop should be kept entirely free from weeds and should be thinned so as to permit the proper development of the canes. THE FARMING BUSINESS 225 Harvesting and manufacturing. — When the cane is used for forage purposes, as is often done, it is usually cut early in the season, when it has attained a height of about three or four feet. It can be fed at once, or put into a silo, or even cured in the field as hay and fed during the winter months. When used for sirup or sugar the cane should be cut before frost, or as soon as the heads are past the milk stage and before they harden. The heads or tops should be cut ofif and leaves stripped and kept for forage pur- poses. These are valuable for farm stock and the seed is especially prized for poultry. For seed purposes the best heads are cut when nearly ripe and hung up to dry. After the tops and leaves have been stripped, the canes are cut and hauled to the sugar house where they are run several times through crushers. The juices extracted from the cane are strained, allowed to settle in order to remove the impurities, and then evaporated to the proper consist- ency. If used as sirup the juice is canned in tin, if used for sugar it is kept in form of sap and then purified, evap- orated and refined, finally becoming either ivhlte, granu- lated, hroimi, or open kettle sugar, or New Orleans mo- lasses. Grozvlng Sugar Beets Under right conditions of climate and soil and with a sugar factory near at hand the raising of sugar beets can be made a very profitable industry. A farmer who drives to the factory with a ton of sugar beets has in them about two hundred and eighty pounds of pure sugar. Nature has 226 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 227 stored up in these ugly looking roots a large amount of sweetness and a valuable food. She has also made it pos- sible for the American farmer to make much profit in growing sugar content in his beet fields. Soil. — Sugar beets grow successfully in any soil that will produce a good crop of corn, wheat, potatoes, or other common crops. New soil, so favorable for most crops, is not so good as cropped soil for sugar beets, especially if the soil contains much decaying vegetable matter. Beets are a good reclaimer of run-down soils, and may some- times be used to help improve worn out or depleted land. Climate and moisture. — As far as temperature alone is concerned, regions having an average of seventy degrees Fahrenheit for June, July and August are most favorable for sugar beets. Sugar beets require a fair amount of moisture. This may be provided (1) by rainfall averaging from two to four inches per month during the growing season; (2) by irrigation; or (3) by sub-surface water seeping upward to the roots through soil of such a nature as to favor this method of irrigation. Sugar beetsi on irrigated land. — No more favorable conditions for raising sugar beets can be found than on the irrigated lands of the West. Nor can a more profitable crop be discovered for many semi-arid regions than beets. It has been estimated that one million acres of western irrigated land devoted to the raising of sugar beets under intensive cultivation would increase our sugar crop to such 228 AGRICULTURE AND an extent that we could raise all we need instead of only twenty-five per cent, of it. Raising the crop. — Special methods are required for the successful raising of sugar beets. The ground should be plowed not less than nine inches deep. Tlie plow should be followed furrow by furrow with a subsoiler, loosening the soil to a depth of six or eight inches and more if possi- ble. The weeds must be kept down, as beets are not good fighters of such enemies. Frequent cultivation is required to maintain a loose soil and a fine mulch for the preserva- tion of moisture. In the manufacture of beet sugar the beets are hauled to the factory, dumped into a sort of flume through which water is flowing, and elevated by a large auger-like arrange- ment, to the upper story of the factory. By the time they have arrived at this stage they are thoroughly washed and ready for the sheer which cuts them up into long thin, diamond-shaped pieces. They are next run into wrought- iron tanks where they are allowed to stand in water under pressure. By repetition of this process from tank to tank, the water gradually absorbs the sugar from the beets, robbing them to within one-tenth of one per cent, of all they contain. This sweet juice is of a chocolate-brown color and needs much treatment before it is ready for use as table sugar. A succession of boiling, filtering and clarify- ing, together with the addition of lime for purifying and removing organic matter, brings the product to the sirup consistency. The sirup is put into large whirling drums and THE FARMING BUSINESS 229 by centrifugal force the fine sugar grains are separated and prepared for the market. Producing Saccharine Sorghum The sorghums comprise a wide range of varieties, which may be divided into two great groups, ( 1 ) grain sorghums ; and (2) saccharine sorghums, used for forage purposes as well as sirup and sugar. Varieties of saccharine sorghums. — There are seven important saccharine sorghums : Sumac, Amber, Orange, Planter, Gooseneck, Honey and Sapling. Of these, the Sumac has proved the best for southern regions, and the Amber for northern regions. The Sumac is the sweetest, has the largest supply of leaves and yields best of the saccharine varieties. It re- quires from one hundred and eight to one hundred and four- teen days to mature seed. The Amber is more slender of stem, has fewer leaves, and matures seed in from ninety to ninety-four days. Climate and soil. — Sorghum will grow in any cli- mate and soil that will successfully produce corn. It roots more deeply than corn, and often does well for one or two crops on soil too much exhausted for a good yield of corn. Sorghum is, however, hard on the soil, since it produces so large an amount of forage and grain. Sorghum resists drought better than corn. It has proved successful in southwestern regions too dry for good corn production. The methods of fertilizing and cultivating suitable for 230 AGRICULTURE AND dent corn are equally practical for production of the sorg-htim plant. Harvesting and manufacturing. — Sweet sorghum used as forage may be cut green from the time it is two or three feet high until it is ripe, and fed at once or cured for hay. If the sorghum is to be used for sirup or sugar, it should be cut from the time the seeds are well on in the milk stage until they are hard. The crop should be harvested before frost. The stalks are cut about six inches above the ground. The seed tops are cut off and saved for forage. The canes are run through a roller crusher to extract the juice, which is treated much the same as the juice from sugar cane in the process of its manufacture. Producing Maple Sugar The United States and Canada are the only regions where maple sugar is made. The American Indians un- derstood the art of making sugar from maple trees before the earliest explorers reached this continent. The sugar maple region. — While all maple trees have sweet sap, only a few varieties produce sugar in pay- ing quantities. The sugar maple stands first and the black maple second in importance. The red maple, silver maple and Oregon maple produce sugar sap, but hardly in paying quantities. The sugar maple is spread over a wide area, but occurs in large enough quantities for commercial sugar produc- THE FARMING BUSINESS 231 tion only in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, the states of the Ohio Valley and around the Great Lakes, Tapping the trees. — Tapping should be done as early in the season as the run of sap begins. Not only does this insure a larger quantity of sap, but the first runs are the Tapping maple trees in Vermont. Too many taps. sweetest. The time of tapping varies with the season and locality, usually from late in February till the middle of April. The hole bored in the tree should be from three-eights to one-half inch in diameter, and from one and a half to 232 AGRICULTURE AND two inches deep. It should slant slightly upward into the tree so that the sap will easily drain out. As a rule only one tap to the tree should be made. Spouts, preferably of metal, are fitted into the holes, and covered buckets hung from the spouts to collect the sap. Making the sugar. — The sap should be kept free from dirt, strained and evaporated while the sap is fresh and sweet. Old sap which has been allowed to stand for any length of time will not make a high-grade product. It is usually evaporated by boiling in kettles, tanks, or other specially adapted apparatus. When the right consist- ency has been reached, the sirup is poured into molds and allowed to cool. It is then ready for market. Maple sugar is considered a delicacy, and many attempts have been made to produce substitutes as acceptable as the genuine article. Some of these have been so successful that it is often difficult to tell the imitation from the real. One authority says that were all the maple trees cut down we would continue to have "maple sirup" on the market. It is hoped, however, that the pure sirups, such as are now being produced in Vermont, New Hamp- shire, Maine and New York, will be produced in increasing quantities and that the lilllsides of much of this country will be reforested with maple trees and the maple sugar industry not only conserved but greatly encouraged and enlarged. THE FARMING BUSINESS 233 CHAPTER XIII TOBACCO CULTURE OUR of the leading agricultural plants have been given to the world by America. They are the white potato, the sweet potato, corn and tobacco. Tobacco belongs to the order of plants known as the nightshades, of which there are a countless number of varieties. History of tobacco. — ^The Indians of North America were probably the first users of tobacco. It is certain that they cultivated the plant long before the coming of the white men. Marquette and LaSalle, the early French ex- plorers, found it in cultivation and used by Indian tribes up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and their tributaries, as early as the last half of the seventeenth cen- tury. Other explorers found the Indian tribes at various points in what are now the states of Ohio and Kentucky raising and using the tobacco plant. The white men soon became addicted to the use of tobacco and began its systematic cultivation, particularly in Virginia and North Carolina. When pioneers from these colonies pushed westward into Kentucky they brought the tobacco with them and began its cultivation in this new region. It was found that Kentucky and the 234 AGRICULTURE AND surrounding states were particularly well adapted to the growing of tobacco and its production soon became a leading industry. So important did tobacco become as a commercial product that it became a medium of exchange and took the place of money in the payment of debts. Although portions of the crop were from the first ex- ported to European countries, the steadily increasing de- mand of the home market kept most of the crop in this country. It was not until after the Civil War that any considerable foreign market was supplied. Since that time, however, American tobacco has found its way into prac- tically every country of the globe, and certain varieties now bring the highest price in England, France, Spain, Ger- many and other European nations. The Tobacco Region Soil and climate. — Tobacco may be successfully grown in all latitudes in the United States from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Yet the quality and flavor of the plants are so greatly afifected by climate and soil that the crop is nearly all raised in a relatively small area. On fertile clay soil the tobacco plant grows large and heavy with leaves rich in oil or gum and cures dark red or black. In light sandy soil the same strain will produce thin leaves, fine tex- ture, and will cure yellow or mahogany color, hence the ne- cessity of selecting the soil carefully. Kentucky and the states bordering upon it produce more than half of our native crop. The best tobacco soil, both for productivity and also for THE FARMING BUSINESS 235 color and flavor, seems to be cleared timber land. Soil of tliis type is light, friable, reasonably clear of weeds, and possesses the fertility required for tobacco production. Where timber land is not available, brush land is often cleared and used for tobacco. In regions where neither is available, prairie land is pressed into service and is found, in many places, to yield excellent results. Tobacco grow- ers have found that blue-grass sod land gives tobacco an excellent color and flavor. Where blue-grass is not avail- able it is desirable to plow under clover or some other legume, to increase soil fertility and add organic matter. The tobacco states. — The twelve leading states in tobacco production are : Kentucky, Virginia, North Caro- lina, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Wiscon- sin, South Carolina, Connecticut, Maryland and Missouri. This territory grows more than ninety-five per cent, of the native commercial crop. Uses and Classes of Tobacco In accordance with the use to which it is put tobacco may roughly be divided into two great classes: (1) cigar tobaccos, and (2) tobaccos for other lines of manufacture. Each of these classes has several types or varieties. Cigar tobaccos. — A cigar consists of three different parts, -wrapper, or the outer layer of tobacco leaves ; hinder, or the second layer ; and filler, or the central portion. Each of these parts requires a different type of tobacco. The tobacco in a single cigar may therefore come from three widely separated regions. 236 AGRICULTURE AND For example, the Connecticut valley and parts of Flori- da and Georgia are the principal wrapper-leaf sections of the United States. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania produce chiefly a binder-leaf type. Certain districts in Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and New York, and small areas in Florida, Georgia and Texas grow the filler-leaf types. Three important varieties comprise most of the cigar tobaccos produced in this country. These are: (1) the Broadleaf, or Seedleaf, group, grown chiefly for wrapper and binder purposes ; (2) the Havana Seed group, a wrap- per and binder variety, though grown also for filler; and (3) the Cuban group, grown principally in southern re- gions for use as filler. Manufacturing tobacco. — Kentucky and parts of ad- joining states are the chief region of the United States for the production of manufacturing tobacco. Many different varieties are grown, chief among which are White Burley, Maryland, Oronoca and Pryor. These and other similar strains are also produced in ^most states of the South. Raising the Crop Tobacco requires more careful cultivation than almost any other farm crop. This, in part, is because the plant is very sensitive to soil and climatic conditions, and in part because the flavor is affected by the soil conditions and the care given the plants. Soil and seed bed. — Rapid and unhindered growth from time of planting to maturity is necessary to secure fine THE FARAIlXXx BUSINESS 237 texture and good flavor. The seed bed should therefore be worked to the finest tilth Tobacco, like cotton and corn, requires a rich soil and a careful rotation of crops. A free use of fertilizer, es- pecially nitrogen and potash, is necessary for the best re- sults. From ten to twenty tons of stable manure to the acre should be plowed under, preferably in the fall, and the ground well cultivated in the spring before planting. Com- mercial fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphorus and po- tassium are often profitably used in addition to manure. Most tobacco soils also require the application of lime, not alone to improve the growth of the plant, but also to bet- ter its quality. An eight-year rotation of crops with tobacco the pre- dominating interest is recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture in Bui. No. 343, and is as follows : (1) Tobacco. (5) Clover, timothy, blue-grass. (2) Tobacco. (6) Timothy, blue-grass. (3) Wheat. (7) Timothy, blue-grass. (4) Clover, timothy, blue-grass. (8) Blue-grass. It is noted that in this rotation, clover, timothy and blue-grass are used after the third year. If these three grasses are sown together, they will all appear the first and second years after their seeding. By the third year the clover has practically died oiit, leaving but timothy and blue-grass. By the fifth year timothy has also disap- peared, and blue-grass is supreme. The sod can now be plowed under and tobacco again planted. (1) Tobacco, (2) Wheat. (3) Clover. (4) Corn. 238 AGRICULTURE AND Two shorter rotations particularly for the Kentucky region are recommended as follows : (1) Tobacco. (2) Wheat. (3) Wheat. (4) Clover. Burning the seed bed. — Many tobacco growers find it profitable to burn the rubbish of the seed bed surface before planting the crop. This is usually done either (1) by shoveling the top two or three inches of soil into a specially constructed sheet-iron box heated by a wood fire and moved over the field ; or (2) by the application of steam heat directed to the surface of the field by means of appa- ratus devised for the purpose. The object of this heating of the soil is to kill the weeds and other tobacco enemies and thereby give the plants a better chance for free growth. Burning is an expensive process and it is doubted by some growers whether it pays, provided clean cultivation is used to keep the weeds down and rotation is practised to hinder the development of insect enemies. Burning has but little effect on soil fertility, possibly favoring cer- tain elements and hindering others. Humus and other forms of organic matter so necessary to the soil are in some degree injured or destroyed by the burning process. Seed selection. — The seed from the tobacco plant should be as carefully selected from the mother stalk as is the cotton or seed corn. Seed should be taken from the healthy plants with well-shaped leaves free from suckers. THE FARMING BUSINESS 239 The proper standard of a plant for quality and high pro- duction should be considered. Planting and cultivation. — Tobacco plants are grown from seed planted in hotbeds or cold-frames. The plants A typical Counecticut tobacco field. are transplanted to the field in rows about three and one-half feet apart. The transplanting may be done by hand or with a horse machine. Cultivation should begin as soon as the plants have started to grow and continue as long as the size of plants will permit. The first cultivation should be deep, 240 AGRICULTURE AND New cigar leaf, Cooley lij-brid plant. THE FARMING BUSINESS 241 and the later ones should be shallow to avoid cutting the roots and to conserve the soil moisture. Certain types of tobacco, as for example the Burley, require topping in order to produce the best results. This process Involves breaking or cutting out the top of the Curing tobacco in bai'u on a large Kentucky plantation. plant when the growth has attained from ten to fourteen inches, so that the leaves will spread and develop proper body and thickness. Topping requires certain skill and judgment on the part of the grower. Each plant must be judged and the right amount taken from the top. A slow 242 AGRICULTURE AND growing plant should not be topped so high as a rapid grower. Similarly, plants produced on poor soil should not be topped so high as those grown on rich soil. If the topping is skilfully done, the plants will produce leaves of about equal body and all will ripen at approximately the same time. Harvesting the crop. — Tobacco is harvested by one of two different methods. Either (1) the entire plant is cut off near the ground when the middle leaves are ripe, allowed to wilt for a time, and then hung under cover to cure; or (2) several pickings of leaves are made by be- ginning with those nearest the ground, which ripen first, and stripping them from the central stalk. When this plan is followed the leaves are carried to the curing barn when partly wilted and hung in rows to dry. Usually five pickings are required for harvesting the entire crop. Insect Enemies The tobacco plant is subject to fewer enemies than most other farm crops, yet much damage at times results from the ravages of certain insects. The tobacco flea-beetle. — The tobacco flea-beetle or "flea bug" is widely distributed and does much harm to growing tobacco. It is a small insect, oval in shape and reddish-brown in color. The beetles usually appear in July, beginning their attack on the lower leaves and grad- ually proceeding to the upper. The leaves upon which the beetles have fed show small dry spots which later become holes through the leaf. As the leaf is the valuable part THE FARMING BUSINESS 243 of the plant it is evident that great damage may be done the crop by these pests. A few simple remedies are efifective in large degree in destroying the tobacco flea-beetle. First, since the insect thrives on several different kinds of weeds, such as the jimson and various nightshades, the margins of the field Small farm tobacco curing bam, South Carolina. should be kept clear of all weeds that might serve to harbor the beetles. Second, a few clumps of such weeds may be left at certain places about the field to attract the insects and these clumps then treated with arsenate of lead or any other of the arsenical sprays. Third, the to- bacco plants themselves may be sprayed with similar poisons. The hornblower. — The "hornblower" is also found in 244 AGRICULTURE AND almost every part of the tobacco region, and it frequently causes great damage. The horn worm is the larva, or caterpillar, of either one of two species of sphinx moths. The worm is from two to three inches in length, green in color, with the horn, or tail, end of the body either red or black, depending on the species to which it belongs. Tbe row to row variety test of a tobacco experiment station. Nortli Carolina. Since the horn worm feeds on the leaves of the plant, it may be controlled in the same way as the flea-beetle, by the use of arsenical sprays. Some planters depend on hand picking of the worms when the number is not too great. The. moths from which the caterpillars come are sometimes poisoned by placing sweetened cobalt in the flowers of the jimson weed from which the insects suck honey. THE FARMING BUSINESS 245 Tobacco bud worms. — Two different species of worms attack the buds of growing tobacco, biting holes in the young leaves. One of these, called the true bud worm, occurs frequently in southern tobacco regions. The moth from which the caterpillar comes is small and of a green- ish color. The other species, called the false bud worm, is the same caterpillar that attacks cotton, corn, tomatoes and various other crops. It is familiar throughout the South as the cotton boll worm, and in the North as the corn-ear zvorrn. The best remedy so far devised for these pests is the arsenical sprays already recommended. Rotation of crops, clean culture and freedom from weed fringes about the fields will also tend to reduce their number. 246 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XIV FORAGE CROPS THE forage crops in the United States rank next in value after corn and cotton. The total acreage of im- proved pastures and harvested forage crops is considerably greater than that of all of the grain crops put together. Be- sides the improved pastures and harvested crops there are milHons of acres of wild land, timber land and other so- called waste places, covered with grasses capable of feed- ing thousands of head of live stock. Tv^^o groups of forage plants. — In thinking of our forage plants it must not be forgotten that our great cereals, corn, wheat, oats, barley, rice, rye and so on, are members of the grass family and so belong to the forage group. Besides producing grain they yield thousands of tons of roughage, indispensable in the feeding of certain animals. The two great classes of forage plants are, (1) grasses, and (2) legumes. Classes of Grasses Grasses differ from legumes in that they bear their seeds either in a spike like wheat, barley or timothy, or else in a panicle, like oats, blue-grass or meadow fescue; legumes produce their seeds in pod-like structures, as in the case THE FARMING BUSINESS 247 of beans and peas. Most of the grasses have hollow stems with nodes or joints dividing the stems into sections. The grasses have widely differing roots, but practically all are alike in the fibrous and spreading quality of their root struc- ture. Some of the grasses are annuals, that is, they make their growth, flower, and produce seed and die all in one season. Such is the case with oats, corn or wheat. These and other annual grasses must be planted afresh from the seed each year. Other grasses are perennial; they live on from season to season without replanting, as timothy, Bermuda grass, redtop and many others. In such grasses the stems die down to the ground each season, but the roots live on, throwing up a new plant when the growing time comes again. Timothy. — Probably one of the most important of the grasses, considering the extent of territory over which it thrives and its feeding value, is timothy. Timothy grows throughout all of the northern, central and eastern portions of the United States, being especially luxuriant throughout the great corn belt. It commands the highest price of any of the grasses, especially for the feeding of horses. Timothy does not do well in the cotton region, except in the extreme northern section and does not well withstand the drought of the semi-arid regions of the West. Blue-grass. — Kentucky blue-grass is one of the two most important forage plants, which also grow best in northern, central and eastern regions. It makes its best growth in the fall and spring and remains green through- out the winter, thereby affording excellent picking for 248 AGRICULTURE AND stock in northern regions when other grasses are dead. Redtop, or herd's-grass, while it is seldom used alone either for hay or grazing, is an important factor in both meadows and pastures. It makes its best growth on soils that are damp and too poorly drained for most other crops, there- by making productive much land that otherwise would be relatively useless. Redtop, like blue-grass, is excellent for winter grazing. Fescue. — Meadow fescue may be made an important grass for certain regions, but has so far been raised chiefly in the eastern part of Nebraska and Kansas. It is adapted to the entire central and eastern portion of the United States and is a better resistant of drought than blue-grass. Mea- dow fescue is perennial, with long fibrous roots, a panicle head and a stalk that grows to the height of twenty-four inches on good soil. It will survive well in wet places, even when trampled by stock, and is therefore of value in the pasture mixture. It is palatable to all grass-eating animals and will probably be used far more extensively as its value becomes known. Bermuda grass. — Bermuda grass is the foundation of many permanent pastures in the South and in many locali- ties is important for its yield of hay. -It endures severe drought and is an excellent grazing grass from spring until late fall. Bermuda grass is desirable for lawns and its thick tough root system makes it excellent for binding levees and ditch banks which are in danger of washing. It thrives best in rich heavy soil. Carpet grass is to the light sandy soils of the South what Bermuda grass is to the THE FARMING BUSINESS 249 richer soils. It is found in its greatest perfection near the Gulf coast where it volunteers very quickly where the land is pastured or heavily trampled. Carpet grass, while valu- able for grazing, is worth little for hay, since it does not grow to sufficient height for harvesting. Johnson grass. — Johnson grass, also adapted to south- ern conditions, makes an excellent hay and gives good grazing. It is, however, so hard to eliminate when growing in fields where it is not wanted, that is comes dangerously near making a pest of itself and can as yet hardly be recom- mended for general use. Soudan grass. — A new grass recently introduced into the South came from Khartoum, Soudan, in 1909, and is called Soudan grass. In appearance It resembles Johnson grass, but is taller, more erect, and has a broader leaf. It also lacks the underground root-stocks of the Johnson grass, and hence does not cause trouble by spreading where it Is not wanted. Several cuttings a season can be made under favorable conditions, the yield varying from one to eight tons of cured hay to the acre. This new grass promises to become the great hay grass of the South as timothy is of the North. It also bids fair to find a place in irrigated regions as a forage to combine with alfalfa hay. Millet. — Another important group of grasses are the millets, which comprise a wide range of cereal producing grasses, whose seeds are usually small as compared with other cereals, such as wheat, oats or barley. Millets are not only important as forage plants, but in many parts of the world they constitute one of the most important parts of 250 AGRICULTURE AND the human food supply. It has been estimated that they form one of the most important articles of food for about one-third of the inhabitants of the globe. India produces nearly forty million acres of millets each year, and Japan uses annually some thirty-five million bushels of millet seed for human food. Korea, China and other countries of Asia also use large quantities of the millets for food. It is doubtful whether the millets should be made the chief crop in any section of the United States. Their place on the farm is rather a supplementary one, — a "catch crop," where corn has failed because of hail, poor seed or inifav- orable weather, or as a substitute for corn in regions where that crop is not easily or profitably grown. Millet is also an excellent crop to put on foul land to get rid of weeds. It is considered in some sections a good supplement to the regular and permanent pastures and meadows where the forage supply is short from other sources. Farmers should be familiar with the value and mode of cultivation of the millets and bring them into service wherever they promise profitable results. The Legumes The legumes constitute as great a variety of forage plants as the grasses. While f e\v of them will thrive equally well in all parts of the United States, there is no region where some legumes can not be grown with profit. Not only do legumes furnish as good a forage crop as the grasses, but added to this they can be made to contribute greatly to the conservation and upbuilding of the soil, both as to its fer- THE FARMING BUSINESS 251 tility and physical qualities. Both grasses and legumes tend to improve the soil through their decaying roots, stems and leaves. This decaying organic matter forms, after certain chemical changes have taken place, the important part of the soil called humus. This vegetable matter not only en- riches the soil, but makes it lighter and more porous so that air can better get to the roots of growing plants. The porosity of the soil favored by the presence of this vegetable matter also results in better drainage for wet soils. Legumes as nitrogen gatherers. — Legumes, however, enrich the soil in a special way, and are widely cultivated for this purpose. In order to understand how legumes do their work of improving the soil, it must be known that plants demand certain foods from the soil. One of the most necessary plant foods is nitrogen. If this is lacking in the soil, the crop does not grow well, and the yield is re- duced. For example, wheat takes much nitrogen from the soil ; this is the main reason why wheat can not be grown profitably on the same land year after year. The nitrogen becomes exhausted. The soil is "worn out." It is esti- mated that a twenty-bushel crop of wheat removes about thirty-five pounds of nitrogen from each acre. Nitrogen may be returned to the soil in several ways. One of the most common ways is by means of barnyard manure, which is rich in nitrogen. Another way is through commercial fertilizers, such as sodium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, or dried blood saved from slaughter-houses. But the amount of manure is limited, and the commercial fertil- izers are expensive. And this is where the legumes come 252 AGRICULTURE AND in to help. Legumes are able to gather nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the soil at very little expense to the farmer. Nitrifying bacteria. — There are milHons of pounds of nitrogen in the atmosphere resting on every acre of ground. But the plants can not make use of this nitrogen in the form in which it exists in the air. It has to be made over for them. This is accomplished by bacteria which have their homes in the tubercles or nodules found on the roots of le- guminous plants. In the small tubercles to be seen on the roots of clover, alfalfa, soy-beans or cow-peas are millions of bacteria, each able in the process of its own growth to take nitrogen from the air, change it into the form needed by growing plants, and leave it in the soil for the next crop. In this way the legume is able not only to secure its own growth, but to leave the soil richer through the action of these bac- teria friends. The raising of legumes is, therefore, one of the best and most economical ways of enriching the soil. So important is the group of legumes that a separate chapter will be given to the most important ones. Forage Producing Region Measured by the acreage and also by the value, the most important forage-producing region in the United States is found in the north central states, reaching from Michigan and Ohio on the east to Kansas and Nebraska on the west, and as far south as the cotton region. It Is in this territory that we find the great dairy herds and the largest THE FARMING BUSINESS 253 number of beef cattle and of horses. Where good pasturage is available, little or no grain is fed to growing stock, and often none even to milk cows ; and when grain is used to fat- ten stock or give strength as in the case of work horses, forage is essential to supply the volatile oils and mineral content, as well as the bulk and coarseness necessary to digestion. Forage in tlie form of clover and alfalfa is also coming to be recognized as one of the most profitable foods for growing pigs. Forage crops in South and West. — Forage grasses and legumes adapted to southern and southwestern regions are now being studied and tested with great care and there is every reason to believe that these territories, as well as the great central section, will soon have available a consid- erable range of forage plants, enabling them to compete still more successfully with other sections and countries in economic production of live stock and in the upbuilding of their soils. 254 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XV MEADOWS AND PASTURES ALTHOUGH meadows and pastures claim more than Lhalf of all the farm land of the United States, they re- ceive far less attention than ^ny other part of the farm. About one-fourth of the acreage from which hay is harvested is native wild meadow ; this is chiefly located in the newer portions of the West. Pastures are often used from year to year with no care taken to improve them. Yet in many cases meadows and pastures well repay the time and expense nec- essary to make them more productive. Aleadozvs Requirements of a meadow. — Meadows are commonly used for a double purpose — the production of hay, and providing the rotation of crops required to maintain the fertility of the soil. It is necessary therefore to select such plants for the meadow as will serve both of these ends. This is possible with our wide range of grasses and legumes from which to choose. Meadow plants should (1) yield well; (2) be palatable; (3) tend to improve the soil; (4) grow strong and thick enough to keep down the weeds; (5) produce an even firm sod, free from high tufts or bunches. THE FARMING BUSINESS 255 The surface of the meadow should be smooth and free from obstructions of all kinds that will interfere with the harvesting of the hay crop. Meadow grasses and legumes. — Most of our meadows are mixtures of grasses, or of grasses with legumes. Al- falfa seems to thrive best alone, but most meadow plants grow well in company with some other variety. Red or Baling bay in the West directly from tlie meadow. crimson clover and timothy, for example, are commonly found growing together. Several advantages come from planting mixed meadows : the different plants draw their nourishment from various depths of the soil, thus using its full strength more com- pletely and increasing the yield of hay ; mixtures accommo- date themselves to peculiarities of seasons, sometimes one grass and sometimes another thriving better; mixed forage provides variety for stock, making the feed more palatable and aft'ording a wider range of food elements. 256 AGRICULTURE AND When hay is raised for market instead of being fed on the farm, liowever, it is often best to devote the meadow to one plant alone, thus producing what is called a "pure" hay. Timothy is the favorite meadow grass for pure hay, and leads the market in all the great hay-buying centers. For working horses, timothy is thought by many to be su- perior to clover or to mixed forage. Pure red clover or alfalfa is often desired for fattening stock. Meadow mixtures. — The mixture to be used in seed- ing a meadow will depend on the climate, soil and use to which the forage is to be put. Red clover and timothy are the most common mixture found throughout the north- ern states, the proportion of seed used being about three- fifths timothy and two-fifths clover. For damp undrained soil, alsike clover is substituted for red clover, or mixed with it. A very common mixture for average soils is the following amounts per acre: Timothy 15 pounds Red clover 6 " Alsike clover 4 " This combination will produce about a half-and-half mix- ture of hay the first year, with timothy predominating the second year, and pure timothy thereafter. On very wet soils, redtop may be substituted for the red clover. If the soil is also strong in acid, it is best to omit both clovers, and use the redtop with the timothy. Management of meadows. — Under our system of rota- tion of crops meadows are usually not left down more than from two to four years, with sometimes a year or two of THE FARMING BUSINESS 257 pasturing before the sod is broken up for other crops. Most of our meadows are therefore new and, hke a straw- berry bed, must be constantly remade. One of the chief enemies of the meadow are weeds. They not only hinder the newly seeded meadow from getting a good start, but injure the value of hay, reducing the mar- ket price. If allowed to grow in the meadow from year to year, the weeds will also leave the soil foul for the crops that follow when the meadow is again tilled. Spring seeded meadows should not be pastured the fol- lowing fall even if the plants look thriving. This is sure to reduce the yield of hay the following season, and may cause the plants to winter kill by exposing the roots. The aftermath, or second growth, on older meadows may be pastured, though it does not pay to feed them close. Es- pecially should new meadows not be trampled by stock while wet. Permanent meadows. — Many meadows are located on wet ground, or on soil that for some reason is not cropped. In other cases there is neglect to rotate the meadow land with the remainder of the fields in the crop series. It is often found that meadows that are thus left for a number of years have a tendency to "run out." The yield of hay on almost any meadow left without attention for several years decreases from one-third to one- half. Weeds begin to appear, and patches here and there become thin or die out. The less desirable grasses crowd out the better ones. Such a meadow is highly unprofitable. If tillable, it should be plowed up and put into other crops, 258 AGRICULTURE AND If not tillable, it should be improved and its quality kept up. It is not hard to keep permanent meadows in a state of high production, but it requires some labor and expense. The following treatment will do much to keep permanent meadows in good condition: (1) No weeds are to be al- lowed to go to seed; (2) if the soil is run down, the field should be manured or other fertilizer used on it; (3) the soil should be loosened and the sod-bound condition relieved by disking ; (4) fresh pure grass seed should be scattered, especially over thin or weedy places. Pastures More improved farm land is devoted to pastures than to any cultivated crop. Pasturage supplies the greater pro- portion of the feed for the production of milk, butter, beef, mutton and wool and is an important factor in the produc- tion of poultry and pork. The annual value of our pastur- age is more than that of any other crop raised. Requirements of a pasture. — Pastures should possess in general the same qualities as meadows. They should (1) yield well; (2) have such grasses as will start early and continue to grow late; (3) be palatable and nutritious to stock; (4) form a firm tough sod that will stand tramp- ling; (5) have fine rather than coarse grasses; and (6) be free from weeds. Pasture grasses and legumes. — The best meadow grasses are not always the best pasture grasses. For ex- ample, timothy, the queen of hay grasses, is too coarse THE FARMING BUSINESS 259 when used alone for the best pasture grass, and does not stand trampling so well as some others. Pastures should usually be made of a mixture of plants. This will provide some varieties that start earlier than others, root at different depths, adjust themselves to various kinds of seasons, supply variety for stock, and endure longer without running out. Pasture mixtures should contain a much greater variety than meadow mixtures. liny loader nt work. Second-yen r timothy. Pasture mixtures. — Over the greater portion of the United States north of the cotton belt and the region west of the Missouri River, Kentucky blue-grass and white clover are the most common and valuable pasture grasses. No mat- ter what mixture is sown, one or both of these grasses is sure to make its appearance, and gradually force most other grasses out. When blue-grass and white clover have taken possession of a pasture they grow reasonably well to- gether, though in some seasons one of them will predomi- nate, and again the other. Throughout the South, Bermuda grass is the chief pas- 2C0 . AGRICULTURE AND ture plant, though it is commonly mixed with Rhodes grass for dry soils and with orchard grass for wet regions. Redtop is successful on wet heavy soil. Bermuda is a per- ennial plant spreading rapidly by root stocks, and may be- come a troublesome weed where it is not wanted. It is an excellent grass for hay and makes a good foundation for southern lawns. For starting a pasture on good land in northern regions, a mixture may be made of something like the following proportions : Timothy 10 pounds Red clover 3 Alsike clover 2 White clover 2 Kentucky blue-grass 3 Brome-grass 2 Meadow^ fescue 2 Orchard grass 2 This will make sufficient seed for one acre. If the pas- ture is on very wet undrained land, the red clover may be omitted and redtop substituted in its stead. Even though timothy will soon be driven out by blue-grass and white clover, it should head the mixture as it roots more quickly than the others, and acts as a cover crop while the slower grasses are getting started. Care of pastures. — If permanent pastures are to be kept up to a high state of efficiency they demand even more care than meadows. On fairly good soils, pastures do not usually require manuring, though a light coat of manure will increase the THE FARMING BUSINESS 261 yield of any pasture. Nearly every pasture needs the as- sistance of a mower to keep down the weeds. This is be- cause stock do not find most weeds palatable, and so eat the grass, leaving the weeds to flourish. Many pastures are thickly sprinkled with weeds which not only rob the soil but prevent cattle from eating the grass growing Stacking by means of moderu machinery saves much labor. close to their roots, thus adding to the waste. Weeds should be cut from the pasture each year before they bear seed. Grazing stock not only reject the weeds for the more palatable grass, but also have their preference among grasses. All have noted that the uplands in a pasture are 262 AGRICULTURE AND grazed close, while low wet areas are hardly touched. In many cases the low parts of a pasture are almost wasted, because the redtop and other wet-soil grasses are less palatable than the blue-grass and clovers which thrive only on well-drained soil. Such marshy places should be drained ; the better pasture grasses will then soon take possession. Pastures, like meadows, may become sod-bound. Almost every pasture can be improved by disking or cultivating with a knife-toothed harrow. When this is done, fresh grass seed should be scattered on thin places, or a desirable new variety added to the plants already established. After being grazed, pastures grow better if they have a rest from trampling and cropping during the wet season. It is therefore best to have two pastures, using them alternately, instead of feeding the one continuously through- out the season. Such an arrangement usually requires only the expense of a partition fence, which the increased yield and comfort to animals from the pasture will well repay. THE FARMING BUSINESS 263 CHAPTER XVI THE CLOVERS CLOVERS are the most widely grown family of legumes among the farm crops. There are many dif- ferent types of clover, such as red clover, white clover, al- sike clover and crimson clover. The most important of these is the red clover, especially throughout the central and northeastern quarters of the United States. The great red- clover section reaches from Maine to Virginia, and as far west as the Missouri River. Either alone, or mixed with grasses for hay and pasture, red clover claims from one- eighth to one-third of all the cultivated land throughout the northeastern and north central states. It is now also being successfully grown in Montana, Washington, Oregon and in the far Southwest. Red clover is so common a plant that every one Is familiar with it wherever it grows. It has a larger and more deeply penetrating root system than timothy and its rootlets, particularly during the early part of the growing season, bear many tubercles inhabited by the nitrifying bacteria. Value of Red Clover on the Farm Red clover as forage for stock.— Red clover makes an ideal forage crop for all classes of farm stock. Besides 264 AGRICULTURE AND . being highly palatable, it contains a large proportion of protein, one of the most necessary elements of food for ani- mals. So essential is protein for the growth of animals and the production of milk and butter, that bran, oil meal, and cottonseed-meal are commonly fed to supply this ele- ment. Where red clover can be successfully raised it largely takes the place of the more costly foods, and at the same time supplies the roughage needed by all animals. When grain is fed, as to chickens, hogs or cattle, red clover, either green or cured, forms a most valuable item of food. The worth of clover as an animal food has not been fully understood. It has been com7uted by experts that a ton of red-clover hay has almost two-thirds as much feed- ing value for farm stock as a ton of wheat bran, and more than two-thirds the feeding value of a ton of shelled corn. Red clover as a soil renewer. — As a soil stimulant and fertilizer red clover is almost without a peer except alfalfa. By its use in the rotation of crops, it is possible to keep the supply of nitrogen and humus nearly undiminished in the soil, throughout years of cropping. The bacteria living in the root tubercles transform atmospheric nitrogen into soil nitrogen and leave it for other crops. The roots and stems, decaying, add to the humus. At the average price for commercial fertilizers often used to enrich land, a ton of clover is worth nearly ten dol- lars to plow under as a fertilizer. Fields which have been in red clover frequently produce ten bushels more of grain to the acre than before the clover was grown. THE FARMING BUSINESS 265 In the use of clover as a fertilizer it must be remem- bered, however, that clover adds to the soil chiefly nitrogen and humus; and that if the crop is all removed each year, none being plozved under and no manure returned, the amounts of nitrogfen and humus in the soil are increased but very little. Potash and phosphorus, two other plant foods often failing in worn soils, must be supplied either by the use of commercial fertilizers or barnyard manure. The Raising of Red Clover Red clover will grow successfully on any soil that will raise corn. Soil that is wet and heavy or lacking in humus will not produce a satisfactory stand of clover. Red clover has a remarkable root system, sending its main roots down as deep as six or eight feet in light friable soil. This en- ables plants which have received a good start to withstand considerable drought. The seed bed. — The seed bed for clover should be finely pulverized, but well packed. If sown on freshly plowed land, it is necessary to harrow until the ground be- comes firm, otherwise a poor stand is sure to follow. The ground should be clean, as clover is not a good fighter of weeds. Red clover nTay be sown in the early spring on fields of winter wheat. In this case no preparation of the seed bed is required. The covering of the seed may be accomplished by weathering. A more certain way is to harrow the wheat after the clover has been sown, or even both before and after the seeding of the clover. If properly done this 266 AGRICULTURE AND A young red-clover plant, showing tlie characteristic nodules (,n the roots. THE FARMING BUSINESS 267 does not injure the wheat. Red clover is also often sown in the spring with oats as a nurse crop. Another common method of seeding red clover is in a field of standing corn just following the last cultivation. This plan has worked successfully, especially in some of the eastern and southern states. If the crop of corn is heavy enough to shade the ground, or if the fall happens to be dry, a successful stand is uncertain. Time of sowing. — In the larger part of the red-clover region, it does not seem to matter greatly whether the clover is sown in the spring or the fall. Which time is better depends on the season. Young clover plants do not easily withstand drought. If a dry season follows the seeding, the stand will not succeed no matter when the planting is done. In spring seeding with a nurse crop of winter wheat, the clover should be sown at the earliest possible moment. If the ground is not to be harrowed to cover the seed, it may be sown on a late fall of snow. This gives the clover plants the advantage of a start before the moisture is out of the soil, and also before the nurse crop gets large enough to shade the young plants. If the seeding is done in the fall, the crop should be sown early enough so that the clover plants will attain a growth of from four to six inches before the freezing weather. Otherwise they may not be able to live through the winter, especially in the northern states. Seeding after August fifteenth is unsafe in the northern states. Clover seed. — A great deal of the trouble found in securing a good stand of red clover comes from poor seed. 268 AGRTCI^LTIT"RE AND Good red-clover seed should (1) be plump, and not shriv- eled; (2) look bright instead of dull; (3) vary in color %»> c 1^ _ l\et\ duvet' TvefoW m CurUi> 6V\i\\d «fe7 ^rk ^2%H-iM, :ji} 10 \\(,vV\cvvy 11 - Seeds of red clover find many of the common impurities. from violet to light yellow, but not be a dull brown; (4) show individual seeds medium to large size; (5) be free THE FARMING BUSINESS 269 from all weed seed and rubbish; (6) be free from what is called "hard" seed. By hard seed is meant grains whose seed coat is such that the seed absorbs moisture but slowly, hence may not germinate for several weeks or even months. The seed of very new varieties may contain as much as fifty to sixty per cent, of hard seed. As is the case with most other farm crops, it is safer to secure clover seed from near home than from a distance. In this way one may be sure that the variety is adapted to the season, climate and soil conditions of the vicinity, and be sure that the seed does not contain noxious weeds and other impurities. Cleaning red-clover seed. — Ordinary red-clover seed contains many different kinds of weed seeds. Some of these look enough like clover grains that they may pass unnoticed. Sowing clover mixed with weeds not only reduces the stand of clover, but compels the clover to divide its moisture and food with its worst enemies, besides ren- dering the ground foul for other crops. Screening red-clover seed through a sieve with twenty meshes to the inch will remove all the smaller weed seeds, while retaining the medium-sized and larger clover grains. Seeds of wild carrot, ragweed, thistles, buckthorn, wild chickory, and several other weeds bearing large seeds are not removed in this way. Clover seed should first of all be selected from a field that is as free as possible from weeds. Even then, screening will pay for the removal of the smaller clover and weed seeds. 270 AGRICULTURE AND Harvesting the Red-Clover Crop Red clover should be cut for hay just as it is past full bloom. If cut much earlier than this the entire food value of the plant is not obtained; if it is allowed to stand too long the leaves begin to fall, and the stems become dry and stiff. If the second crop is to be cut for seed, it may be necessary to cut the first somewhat early. The care of clover hay. — In stacking or mowing the hay in a barn, the important thing is to avoid exposure to the weather, or becoming dry enough so that the leaves crumble and are lost. For the leaves of red clover, while they are only about forty per cent, of the weight of the plant, contain almost two-thirds of the protein of the whole plant. Clover hay that has become too dry is also very dusty, and not so good for feed. Red-clover hay does not shed rain so well as the grass hays, and should therefore be stored in a barn where pos- sible. If it must be put into stacks, these should be built with the greatest care, keeping the middle of the stack full and well tramped. The top should be covered with canvas, or with a coating of grass or straw. Care must be taken not to put red clover into the barn or stack when it is damp from dew or rain, as it has a tend- ency to heat. This heating not only damages the hay, but not infrequently sets fire to the stack or barn and burns it down. Harvesting red-clover for seed. — Red-clover seed is usually secured from the second crop of the season, the THE FARMING BUSINESS 271 first being harvested for hay. The clover is cut either with a mower or a special header, and run through a clover huller. By special adjustment an ordinary thrashing ma- chine may be used for hulling the seed. Clover straw still possesses good feeding value after the seed is removed. 1 Second crop of red clover nearly ready to cut for seed. The first crop yielded two and one-half tons to the acre. The Enemies of Red Clover In the starting of the clover crop, the two principal ene- mies to be encountered are drought and hard winters. A stand not infrequently fails from one or the other of these natural causes, which can not be guarded against, except to sow the crop at proper times, and according to proper meth- ods of seeding. Red clover is so valuable, however, that an occasional failure to secure a stand should only spur the farmer to try for better success. 272 AGRICULTURE AND Insect enemies. — -Various Insects seem to find red clover highly palatable, and hence feed upon it. Yet only a few of these do the crop any great damage. One of the worst of these pests is a small species of beetle known as the clover root-borer. This beetle is of a brownish color, and grows about one-sixth of an inch in length. The larvae of this insect attack the roots of the Effect on clover seed of Stages iu developmeut of red-clover tlie clicilcis fly. seed: (a) flower; (b) immature seed vessel ; ( c ) flower ripe ; ( d ) ma- ture seed, vessel; (e) seed. clover, usually during the second year of the crop. They have done the most damage in regions east of the Alissis- sippi River, especially in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. The only remedy so far found is to plow the damaged field as soon as the hay is removed. The larvae are then without food and soon die, leaving the field free of their kind for a future crop. The seed-bearing qualities of red clover are often seri- ously damaged by the clover-seed chalets fly. This is an THE FARMING BUSINESS 273 insect shaped like a wasp, and about the size of a seed of red clover. Just before the clover seed begins to harden this fly lays its eggs in the growing seed. As the larvae develop they use the seed for food, entirely destroying it by the time they secure their growth. The chalcis fly is respon- sible for much of the poor yield of clover seed. It is one of the worst clover crop pests in the United States. It is thought that light pasturing in the early spring, or even mowing the clover soon after it starts will do much to reduce the danger. Clover has at least one enemy that works after the crop is stacked or mowed ; this is the clover-hay zvorm>. It usually works in the bottom of the stack or mow, eating the softer portions of the plant, but also damaging the feeding qualities of the hay by its excrement and a web that it leaves. Salting the hay near the bottom of the stack or mow will do much toward stopping the work of this pest. While the botanists tell us that red clover is a perennial, it is seldom able to maintain a stand for more than three or four years, when it must be reseeded. Red clover is usually followed by a grain crop before clover is again grown. Other Types of Clover White clover. — White clover is well know'n over most of the red-clover region. It differs in its manner of growth from red clover, being of a creeping habit, and therefore not well adapted to use as a hay crop. White clover is very hardy, and will often work its way into a pasture with- 274 AGRICULTURE AND out seeding, the seeds being carried by winds and the birds. It makes an excellent pasture grass, and is also often used in lawn mixtures. Alsike clover. — Alsike clover is named from a town in Sweden, where it is said to have originated. It resem- bles red clover but is of a finer, more delicate type, and therefore does not yield so well. While red clover will produce two crops each season, alsike clover will grow but one. This clover is especially suited to wet heavy soil which will not grow red clover, and in such regions proves a valuable crop. Japan clover. — Japan clover, or lespedeza, comes from Asia, and was first noticed in this country in 1846. It has now spread so that it is to be found throughout the southeastern portion of the United States. Over most of this region it has been used chiefly for grazing, though in southern Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, IMississippi and Alabama it is cut for hay. Lespedeza will grow on almost every type of soil, including the pine barrens and gravelly wastes where other grasses fail. It has great feeding value, is highly palatable to live stock, will thrive under even most adverse conditions and will stand grazing well. Crimson clover. — Crimson clover is to the southeast- ern portion of the United States what red clover is to the central regions. It has remarkable value as a soil renewer. It makes its growth during the fall and early spring and is ready for grazing long before most other grasses are avail- able. Its feeding value is nearly equal to that of alfalfa, and it is highly palatable to farm animals. THE FARMING BUSINESS 275 S'.VL't't clover ou au Iowa farm. 276 AGRICULTURE AND A severe handicap in the raising of crimson clover has been the expense and difficulty of securing seed. The plant is a vi^inter annual, and must be reseeded each year late in the fall. The seed has sold high, and from three to five million pounds have had to be imported each year to supply the demand. Various methods for collecting the seed more economically are being devised, and will in time make prac- ticable the securing of a sufficient amount for our use. Sweet clover. — The sweet clovers have been known for centuries, but only recently has their value been realized. The bitter taste of the foliage has kept sweet clover from being a favorite with farm animals. Yet it has been found by experiment that once animals are trained to eat it, it is as palatable as other kinds of forage and preferred before many. In feeding value it rivals alfalfa. Sweet clover is one of the best soil renewers known, and its large roots facilitate drainage and improve the tilth of the soils that lie below the reach of the plow. While sweet clover occurs as a weed along roadsides, it is not troublesome in cultivated fields except in irrigated regions of the West, where the seed is carried by the water. THE j'ARArrxr, business 277 CHAPTER XVII ALFALFA A LTHOUGH alfalfa is a relatively new crop in most X \. parts of the United States, the plant is one of the oldest known to agriculture. Its original home seems to have been somewhere in the southwestern part of Asia, from which region it has spread to practically every part of the world where agriculture is pursued. The name, alfalfa, which comes to us from the Arabs, means "best fodder," and well describes the plant. In southern Eu- rope the plant was called "lucerne" and this was the name first used in the eastern part of the United States. The term alfalfa, is, however, now commonly used throughout this country. Alfalfa an old plant. — So old is alfalfa in agricul- ture that it was grown in Greece in the fifth century before Christ, having been carried there by the Persians. Italy grew alfalfa about the beginning of the Christian era. It was carried to Spain probably by the Moors in the eighth century. The Spaniards introduced it into Mexico and South America when they began their colonization in the New World. Alfalfa has been grown in the eastern part of the United 278 AGRICULTURE AND States for at least two hundred and fifty years, having been brought to that region from England about 1650. The Value of Alfalfa as a Forage Crop Alfalfa is the queen of forage crops. It has the high- \LFALF\ Comparison of coru and alfalfa roots, showing wliy alfalfa is a drought register. est feeding value for practically all farm animals of any forage plant practicable to agriculture. It can be fed to all classes of farm stock, either green, as ensilage, or seasoned THE FARMING BUSINESS 279 as hay. Like clover, alfalfa contains a high degree of that most important element in the ration of all animals, protein, which goes to make both bone and muscle. With such forage as timothy, corn stover, or straw fed to stock, pro- tein must be supplied in the form of bran or some other such feed. Alfalfa serves the same purpose, and it is much cheaper to produce than are these special protein foods. Feeding value of alfalfa. — The following table shows the feeding value of eight dififerent kinds of feed, based on the digestible nutrient material in each : (Fanner's' Bul- letin, 339. These figures are only relative, since prices vary from year to year.) Value Value Feed per ton Feed per ton Green alfalfa $7.00 Timothy hay $9.00 Green clover 5.96 Cow-pea hay 19.76 Alfalfa hay 20.16 Wheat bran 22.80 Clover hay 14.12 Shelled corn 20.16 It is seen that the feeding value of alfalfa hay is more than double that of timothy. It is almost equal to wheat bran, and just equal to shelled corn. Alfalfa has an addi- tional value for feeding stock because it is highly palatable to almost every farm animal, even to poultry and hogs. Bran costs an average of over twenty dollars a ton; to raise alfalfa hay costs an average of about five dollars a ton. \\'hy not grozv the protein needed by the farm animals instead of buying it? As farmers learn more of the value of alfalfa this is what they will do. 280 AGRICULTURE AND Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds. Pounds Cured Hay Pounds carbohy- Pounds protein drates fat Alfalfa 11.7 40. 1.0 Red clover 7.1 37.8 1.8 Alsike clover 8.4 39.7 1.1 Mixed grasses 4.2 42.0 1.3 Timothy 2.8 42.4 1.3 Orchard grass 4.9 42.4 1.4 Redtop 4.8 46.9 1.0 Kentucky blue-grass 4.4 40.2 0.7 Barley hay 5.7 43.6 1.0 Oat hay 4.7 36.7 1.7 Fodder corn 2.5 34.6 1.2 Corn stover 1.4 31.2 0.7 (Wis. Exp. Sta.) Alfalfa and milk production. — The production of milk from dairy cows requires a high protein ration in order to get most profitable results. Tests made by the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station show that with alfalfa hay at ten dollars a ton and wheat bran at twenty dollars, a saving of two dollars and eighty cents for every one hun- dred pounds of butter, and two dollars for every thousand pounds of milk can be effected by substituting alfalfa for bran. A similar proportion of saving can be efifecfed through using alfalfa as forage for the fattening of beef cattle. Alfalfa either green or in the form of hay has been found equally valuable as food for sheep, hogs, horses and poultry. "There is no other combination of feeds so economical for the production of beef, pork, butter, and eggs, and for growing animals as corn and alfalfa. Neither will give THE FARMING BUSINESS 281 the best results alone. We need alfalfa because It balances up the corn ration and saves the large waste of starch which always takes place where corn is fed alone. We need alfalfa because we can in this way grow on our own farms the protein more profitably than we can buy it as feed stuffs. We need alfalfa because it feeds the soil and enables us to grow larger crops of corn and oats. We need alfalfa because it produces on an average double the feed value per acre of clover or any other forage crop." — (Holden.) Alfalfa As a Rcnezver of the Soil Alfalfa is the best of the legumes as a renewer and con- server of the soil. The alfalfa plant lias a most generous system of roots which commonly penetrate to a depth of from four or ten feet and, in the case of older plants and under favorable conditions, to a depth of twenty feet. Millions upon millions of nitrifying bacteria make their homes in the tubercles of the root system of one plant. Through the action of these bacteria, nitrogen is taken directly from the air and added to the soil in such form that it can be used by other crops. Since nitrogen is one of the soil elements first to become exhausted in most soils, it is clear that the productron of alfalfa can do much to reclaim worn-out soils. How alfalfa helps the soil. — The deep rooting system of the alfalfa plant also enables it to bring other minerals from the lower layer of the soil, and deposit them near the surface where other plants can use them. The roots upon 282 AGRICULTURE AND decaying add much organic matter to the soil in the form of humus. The abundant roots also increase the porosity of the soil and so favor drainage and the introduction of air to the roots of growing plants. One alfalfa enthusiast testifies as follows with reference to its value : "This wonder plant is to revolutionize agricul- ture, country life, the country school, the country church, and the country and village social life at a no far-distant day. It will transform the poor, hilly and clay wastes into fields rich in plant-food. It will enable the tenant to become the land-owner. It drills into the earth and reaches up into the air and sunshine for food which it transmutes into cash to enrich its fortunate owner. It toils on, day and night, winter and summer, to bring earth's hidden treasures to light and pour them into the lap of man. No other plant performs such enormous labors for the same length of time for the human race." The Returns from Alfalfa Under favorable conditions the return from alfalfa is probably greater than that from any other forage crop. This is from the fact that it is a perennial plant, enduring for many years without reseeding, and that it produces a high yield per acre of forage, exceedingly rich, as we have already seen, in nutritive value. One Illinois alfalfa grower testifies that his income from an acre of alfalfa is as great as from six acres of timothy and that he is obtaining three times as much profit from his acreage of alfalfa as from the same amount in corn. THE FARMING BUSINESS 283 Profits from alfalfa. — It has been found by the Wis- consin Agricultural Experiment Station that the weight of green forage per acre obtained for the season from alfalfa in that state is approximately double that of clover, three times the weight of timothy and five times the weight of brome grass. The proportions for hay are approximately the same as for the green forage. In another form of com- parison, alfalfa yields three times as much protein per acre as clover, nine times as much protein as timothy, and twelve times as much protein as brome grass. Alfalfa will produce from two to six or more cuttings per season, depending on the character of the soil, the cli- mate and the amount of moisture available for the crop. The yield in dry hay per acre will run from two to nine or more tons each season. Since the feeding value of alfalfa is approximately that of wheat bran, which costs twenty dollars a ton, it is seen that the gross income per acre may run from forty to nearly two hundred dollars. The farmer who objected to alfalfa as a farm crop "because it had to be cut so often" had not figured closely on the profits to be obtained. Where Alfalfa Can Be Grown The adaptability of alfalfa to widely varying conditions is shown by the fact that it will thrive in almost every climate and in practically all types of soil in the United States. It is the staple leguminous forage crop throughout the western half of the country at the present time, and is being rapidly introduced in almost every part of the United 284 AGRICULTURE AND States. Alfalfa is grown several hundred feet below the sea level in the southern part of California, and at altitudes exceeding eight thousand feet in Colorado. Under irriga- tion it yields bounteous crops in the deserts of Arizona, which contain some of the hottest regions in the world. Hardy strains have been developed which are able to with- stand the severe winters of the northern part of the United States, and some areas in Canada. It is successfully grown without irrigation in some of the semi-arid regions where the rainfall reaches not more than fourteen inches a year. ESSENTIAL POINTS ^ fi r^ c\ is is I THE FARMING BUSINESS 309 Kind of Vegetable Asparagus Beans, bush Beans, pole Beets Brussels sprouts Cabbage, early- Cabbage, late Carrots Cauliflower Celery- Corn, sweet Cucumbers Dasheen Eggplant French endive Horseradish Lettuce Melon, muskmelon Melon, watermelon Onions, seed Onion, sets Peas Peppers (all) Potatoes, Irish Pumpkins Radishes Rhubarb, plants Salsify- Squash, bush Squash, late Swiss chard Tomatoes Turnips Chinese cabbage Fennel Time of rLAN-nNG Ready for use South 2soktii AixjiB planting Fall or early spring Feb. to Apr. (Aug. to Sept.) Late spring Feb. to Apr. (Aug. to Sept.) Jan. to July Oct. to Dec. June and July- Mar. Apr. Sept. Jan. Feb. June Aug. to Oct. Feb. to Apr. Feb. Mch. Sept. Mar, to Apr. Feb. to Apr. May to Oct, Early spring Sept. to Mar. Feb. to Apr. Mar. to May Oct. to Mar. Early spring Sept. to Apr. Early spring Jan. to Apr. April and May Sept. to Apr. Sept. to Apr. Sept. to Apr. Spring Spring Feb. to Apr. Dec. to Mar. Aug. to Oct. May to July May to July Early spring 1 to 3 years Apr. to July 40 to 65 days May and June Apr. to Aug. May and June Mar. and Apr. May and June Apr. to June Apr. to June May and June May to July Apr. to July Apr. and May May to June Early spring March to Sept. Apr. to June May and June Apr. and May 50 to 80 days 60 to 80 days 90 to 120 days 90 to 130 days 90 to 130 days 75 to 110 days 100 to 130 days 120 to 150 days 60 to 100 days 60 to 80 days 140 to 180 days 100 to 140 days 100 to 130 days 1 to 2 years 60 to 90 days 120 to 150 days 100 to 120 days 130 to 150 days Fall, Feb. to May90 to 120 days March to June 40 to SO days May and June March to June May to July March to Sept. Fall or spring Early spring April to June April to June Apr. to Aug. May and June April (July) March to Aug. March to Aug. 100 to 140 days 80 to 140 days 100 to 140 days 20 to 40 days 1 to 3 years 120 to 180 days 60 to 80 days 120 to 160 days 60 to 80 days 60 to 80 days 100 to 140 day 60 to 100 days 60 to 100 days 310 AGRICULTURE AND Garden crops requiring rich soil and much tillage. — Although the whole garden should be much richer than for the field crops, the following vegetables require an espe- cially rich sandy loam soil : cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, celery, onions, dasheen, French endive, Swiss chard and melons. Melons may have the hills well manured and the remainder of the area no richer than the rest of the garden. In general it may be said that the plants which demand a very rich soil also need a greater amount of tillage than the remainder of the garden. Vegetables that require transplanting. — The season required for certain vegetables to mature for the table is so long that in the North and Northwest they must be started in hotbeds in the latter part of the winter and transplanted when the weather is warm enough. The com- mon plants belonging to this group are cabbage, celery, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, sweet potato. Lettuce and muskmelons may also be trans- planted to good advantage. Many of these may also be transplanted to advantage in the South. The hotbed. — For small gardens the plants that are to be transplanted are often started in shallow boxes, egg shells, paper cups, or berry boxes. The more common method is, however, to use a hotbed. A hotbed is made as follows : Select a sunny place shel- tered by a building or fence from the north winds, and make a bed of coarse manure from the horse stalls eighteen inches deep, eight feet wide, and any multiple of three feet THE FARMING BUSINESS 311 Typical dasliecu hill, a new vegetable potato for the South aud Southwest. substitute the 312 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 313 long. The manure must be fresh and contain a good amount of straw. Pack the bed well by thoroughly tramping. Place on top of the bed a board frame six feet wide, twelve inches high at the north edge and six inches at the south. The frame may be as long as required. After placing the frame in position, put in it a rich garden loam to the depth of three to six inches, packing and smoothing it well. Cover the frame with thirty-six-inch glazed sash. If the manure is in good condition it will begin heating almost at once, and will soon raise the temperature of the soil. Do not plant the seeds until the heating has been well tested and the temperature has begun to go down. This will be in about three days. The hotbed is now ready to receive the seed. In raising the hotbed crop care must be taken to lift the sasli during the warm part of bright days, and also to water sufficiently. Watering should be done in the morning on smmy days, otherwise the cooling may chill the plants. If the temperature grows too high the sash must be lifted, or the plants will be destroyed. Transplanting. — When the time comes for transplant- ing -to the open soil care must be used or the change may kill the tender plants or greatly check their growth. To avoid this, hotbed plants are often transplanted to another bed, called a cold-frame, covered with glass but not heated. This is known as the "hardening off" process. Transplant- ing almost any plant is of great advantage since it causes the multipHcation of many small roots which add to its growth. 314 AGRICULTURE AND Vegetables that require special treatment. — The larger and later varieties of peas grow so high that they require support, so they will not spread out on the ground and the pods rot. Where an abundance of brush is avail- able, rods may be stuck in the ground for them to run on. Woven chicken wire is an excellent substitute and takes much less time. Lima beans also need poles. Because of this, bush varieties are sometimes grown in their stead. Celery and French endive, as well as most head lettuce varieties require bleaching to produce the best results. To accomplish this, the plants are usually set at the bot- tom of a trench which is gradually filled in as the plants grow ; or the outer leaves may be folded up and tied around the heart of the plant to shade it from the sun. At the end of the season the rows may be hilled up so that the plants are covered to the top. Insect Enemies of the Vegetable Garden Fortunately, most of the garden vegetables are not sub- ject to great injury from insects. Certain plants are, how- ever, special targets for these pests, and must be protected or they will almost certainly be destroyed. The most common enemy of cabbage and cauliflower is the cabbage-worm, which is the larvae of the common white butterfly seen about the cabbage patches. The most ef- fective remedy is spraying with the arsenate of lead prepa- ration, made by mixing three pounds of the paste with fifty gallons of water. To this should be added a mixture of resin and lime, or soap, to cause the insecticide to stick to the leaves. THE FARMING BUSINESS 315 The white grub : (A) pupa; (B) beetle; (C) larva. 316 AGRICULTURE AND The cucumber beetle. — The worst enemy of cucum- bers is a small striped beetle which eats the leaves of the young plants. When only a few hills are raised they may be kept ofif the plants by making a small wooden frame over which is stretched wire mosquito netting, and plac- ing these boxes over the hills. These pests can also be controlled by spraying with the arsenate of lead compound. The roots of the plants are sometimes attacked by the larvae of the beetle. Tobacco dust sprinkled on the roots is an efifective remedy. The cucumber beetle is also the most troublesome enemy of squash, muskmelons and watermelons. These plants may be protected in the same way as the cucumber. The aphis. — The aphis, a small green fly, is a sucking insect that attacks lettuce, peas and other green leaf crops. It is also frequently found on flowering shrubs. It may be controlled by spraying with a mixture of soap and water, or with a nicofume preparation mixed according to direc- tions on the package. The cutworm. — The cutworm attacks a number of different vegetables, cutting them off just at or near the surface of the ground. The remedy is fall plowing, and poi- soning. An effective method of attracting to the poison is to dip clover blossoms in Paris green, or add Paris green to a mixture of bran and molasses, and strew around the roots of the plants. PLAN FOR SMALL HOME GARDEN This garden plan is based upon very intensive cultivation, very fertile soil, and plenty of moisture throughout the entire growing season. In order to mature the beans, carrots, and THE FARMING BUSINESS 317 tomatoes in mid-summer it will probably be necessary to irri- gate when the rainfall is not sufficient for the garden. It will be noted that the plan calls for a second and third planting in the case of a number of vegetable. These should be planted in the same, rows after maturity of the previous crop. Nasturtiums or Astors for Border on One Side First Planting O Tomatoes Carrots Stringless Beans Carrots Tomatoes Carrots Wax Beans Carrots Tomatoes Beets Stringless Beans Beets Tomatoes Onions Onions Onions Radishes Radishes Lettuce Lettuce Lettuce Second Planting Third Planting Late Icicle Radish Late Icicle Radish Late Head Lettuce Turnips Early Beans Spinach Late Beans Early Beans Spinach Late Beans Early Beans Spinach Late Beans o Parsley and Mint (half of each) for Border The eastern and western borders may be of vegetable greens, such as spinach, Swiss chard, etc. Distance between rows, nine inches. In place of two rows of carrots as shown in the plan it may be well to substitute peas. In the eastern states the early varieties will keep the ground occupied through- out the season. Instead of one or two rows of tomatoes use a row of salsify and a row of parsnips. The first row of onions should be onion sets, with the idea of harvesting them early 318 AGRICULTURE AND 3 as o o a o M Q C5 THE FARMING BUSINESS 319 and getting them out of the way before the tomato plants are large. Bulbs of the early blooming flowers, such as tulips, cro- cuses, etc., may be placed in the ground late in the fall and much of their blooming completed before planting time for the garden. Fall greens such as spinach and kale should be planted as other crops mature. Plant asters and other fall blooming plants wherever possible. Leave no vacant space in your garden. Profit From Home Canning of Vegetables and Fruit Purchased for Cash (Canning work done at Pawtucket, R. I.) Market Returns Market for Article Quantitj' Cost of Sugar Number Canned Product of Jars Products Asparagus 61b. $0.45 2 $1.00 Shell Beans Vz bu .50 4 2.40 String Beans 2 bu. 2.00 Z2 16.00 Wax Beans Ibu. 1.25 15 8.00 Beets 10 bunch. .25 • 4 1.44 Carrots 10 bunch. .25 4 1.44 Cherries 2qt. .30 lib. 1 .60 Corn 13 dz. cars 1.30 9V2 9.50 Currants 10 pt. .50 21b. 4 2.00 Peaches 41 qt. 3.45 141b. 27 13.50 Peas 2bu. 2.00 12 7.20 Peppers Sy2 lb. .92 7 2.80 Pineapples 82 6.30 231b. 361/2 21.90 Plums 12 doz. , .55 lib. 2 1.20 Raspberries 22 pt. 2.20 41b. 7Vz 7.50 Rhubarb 9 lb. .18 3 .75 Squash 10 lb. .20 5 1.50 Strawberries 20 qt. 3.00 101b. 10 10.00 $25.60 55 1b. @6c- $3.30 \S6V2 $108.73 320 AGRICULTURE AND Receipts: Market value of 186 jars $108.73 Cost: Fruit and vegetables $25.60 Sugar 3.30 Salt 1.10 Fruit jars, 16 dozen 15.55 Total cost $44.55 44.55 Net profit $ 64.18 Members of Market Gnrden and Home Canning Club packing vegetables for parcel-post shipment. If a net profit of over one hundred per cent, or sixty- four dollars and eighteen cents can be made on canning food products purchased at a local market at regular prices how much more certain is a large profit in home canning if products are produced at home in your own garden ! THE FARMING BUSINESS 321 CllAlTER XX THE TOMATO TOMATOES are becoming so important a garden and truck crop as to deserve a special chapter. They came originally from tropical regions, where the vines bear fruit all the year. Importance of the Tomata For a long time tomatoes were not known to have value as a food, but were thought to be poison. The plants were then cultivated for ornamental purposes and were known as "love apples." Used now as food. — The chief value of tomatoes as a food lies in the sugars and protein, and in a stimulating effect on digestion. More than three hundred recipes have been worked out in preparing tomatoes for our tables. Many more people will use tomatoes as a part of their diet when they come to know more of their value. Tomato growing states. — Tomatoes will grow suc- cessfully in almost every part of the United States. Mary- land is one of the largest tomato producing states, and has the largest number of tomato canning factories. New Jersey, Indiana, California and Delaware rank next. Hundreds of thousands of cases of tomatoes are now Z22 AGRICULTURE AND being grown and canned annually by the boys and girls of the home canning clubs. It is estimated that, after paying the expenses of raising his crop, a club member from ten to eighteen years of age can make from ten to twenty-five dollars a day for the time he puts in canning the crop. ^r---— jjOT A tomato garden in the city. Varieties In selecting the varieties for the home garden the length of season, quality, yield and appearance of the crop should be considered. Early varieties. — There are a great many varieties from which to select. Among the favorites are: Earliana, Chalk's Early Jewell, Bonnie Best, Globe and Prince's June Pink. THE FARMING BUSINESS 323 Late varieties, — The chief late varieties are : Stone, Matchless, Beauty, Ponderosa, Dzvarf Stone, Acme and Trophy. Raising the Crop Where the seasons are short it is necessary to start the plants in a hotbed and transplant them when all danger of frost is past. In the northern states it is well to use the cold-frame for hardening off the plants before setting in the garden. This process strengthens the plants and ena- bles the crop to mature before freezing in the fall. Transplanting, — Have the seed bed well prepared by deep spading or plowing, thoroughly manured with a well- rotted barnyard manure, and well pulverized. The plat should be marked off in rows three or four feet apart, accord- ing to the variety of tomatoes grown. The large hardy vari- eties will require a distance of four feet each way, while the dwarf varieties will do well three feet apart. In trans- planting, have the holes opened up, remove the plants from cold-frames or hotbed without injuring the roots. Allow enough soil to accompany the roots so that the plant may go on growing without pause. Pruning. — Much of the success of the tomato crop depends on proper pruning and staking. Tomatoes are especially liable to fungous and bacterial diseases, and there- fore need to be kept from the ground and given an abun- dance of sunlight. The vines should be pruned at the time of transplanting or soon afterward by pinching off the suckers, or secondary leaf buds, found in the axils of the leaves. This will cause the plant to grow tall instead of 324 AGRICULTURE AND r A plot of tomatoes in Geauga County, Ohio, produced by the Turner sisters of Cleveland, showing the result of careful prun- insr and staking. THE FARMING BUSINESS 325 spreading out. After each vine has developed four or five clusters of fruit the top bud should be pinched oflf to prevent the plant from growing too high. Staking. — The method of pruning described requires staking to support the vines. For this purpose a singly stake may be driven beside each hill, or a continuous meshed wire or other form of fence may be used. Soft twine or cloth should be used for tying the vines. No loop should be drawn tightly around the plant. Spraying. — The tomato vines should be thoroughly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture several times during the season. The first spray should be given about the time the first fruit begins to form, or even earlier if the season is warm and moist. This will prevent the plants from being attacked by mildew. Remove at once any tomatoes that show a brownish discolored area about the blossom end. This will prevent the spread of disease. Harvesting and Marketing Gathering the crop. — Tomatoes should be gathered when ripe and firm and should be handled with great care to prevent crushing or bruising. For marketing they should be graded in three classes, prime, medium and cidls. The more nearly uniform in size, shape and color, the more will the market offer for the product. Primes and even the medium may be wrapped in thin paper, placed in boxes, crates or baskets, and sold at a good price and by the pound. Canning. — Tomatoes for canning purposes should be thoroughly ripened and be of a deep red color, smooth 326 AGRICULTURE AND Waterloo, Iowa, club girl demonstrating how to prune tbe to- mato plant by pinching off the axillary bud. THE FARMING BUSINESS 327 and firm. They should be canned whole so as to permit the use of the tomato in as many different ways as is pos- sible with the fresh tomato. Water should not be added to jars or cans when canning tomatoes, as this will dilute their flavor and Injure their purity. The culls may be put up for such purposes as puree, for tomato soup and breaded tomatoes. 328 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XXI HOME CANNING OF FRUITS, VEGETABLES, MEATS AND SOUPS IT is both practicable and economical to can the surplus vegetables, fruit, sweet corn, greens and other prod- ucts that commonly go to waste in the orchard, field and garden. Home Canned Products and the Table When the average home has learned to can its surplus fresh food products, then the family may have a balanced ration every day in the year, the cost of living will be greatly reduced, and it will turn the garden and orchard by- products into net profits. Home canned foods. — The average family should plan to have for table use from the home-canned supply one quart of vegetables, one quart of fruit and one quart of greens for every day in the year when these foods are not available fresh in the garden. The ration based on these foods and supplemented by meats is better balanced and less expensive than one based on meats with a scarcity of fruits and vegetables. Such a system will have a ten- dency to cut down both the doctor's bills and the grocery bills, and will furnish a more palatable diet. THE FARMING BUSINESS 329 330 AGRICULTURE AND The surplus food products. — The importance of home canning is still more fully realized when we stop to con- sider that in most states probably from one-fifth to one-half of all the fruits and vegetables raised are allowed to go to waste. They are not needed for immediate consumption, and methods of grading, crating and marketing are not understood. Home canning may save all of this surplus. Utah home canning girl and her exhibit of fifty-nine varieties of canned food products. Successful canning not difficult. — By following simple directions and time-tables for sterilization, even school children may successfully can anything that grows in the garden, field or orchard. Once canned the product has a money value, and is as standard in the market as sugar or nails. The list of directions and time-tables given in this chap- ter are written for use in connection with the usual home- canning utensils, and with the five distinct types of canning THE FARMING BUSINESS 331 outfits. Such outfits are not expensive. They can be bought all the way from eighty-nine cents up to fifty dol- lars, depending on type and size. All kinds of glass jars, bottles and tin cans commonly used in the old methods of canning may be used with these devices and with this method. The following recipes and canning instructions are taken from the "N. R." Series of Home Canning Club Instruc- tions prepared by one of the authors and his assistant for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Extension Work, Northern and Western States. These instructions are equally valuable for home canning in any part of the United States, Canada, island possessions, Alaska and Eu- rope. Methods of Canning. — Home canning as now prac- tised may be classified by the following methods : 1. Open-Kettle Method. — The oldest method is what is known as the "hot-pack" or "open-kettle" method, which re- quires the cooking of the food products before packing, and sealing the pack after the sterilizatioif has been completed. Tliis is the most laborious and the most unsatisfactory method, especially when canning vegetables and meats. Very few people succeed by this method in the conservation of their surplus vegetables, soups, meats and fish, though they may succeed very well in canning of the general and more expensive fruits. 2. Intermittent Method. — The "intermittent" process, or fractional sterilization method of canning of fruits, vege- tables and meats is a method that requires the cooking or 332 AGRICULTURE AND sterilizing of food products for one hour periods for three or more successive days and is successful in so far as the sterilization of food products is concerned, but is very un- satisfactory, in that it requires too much time and con- sumes too much fuel as well as the energy of the al- ready overworked housewife. There are few people who would be encouraged to go into extensive canning of the by-products and surplus fruits and vegetables, such as greens, peas, snap beans, lima beans, tomatoes and sweet corn, if the only way open to them would be through the intermittent process. 3. Vacuum Seal Method. — The vacuum seal method of canning is a method of home canning in which jars are sealed by a vacuum caused by exhausting or by use of an air pump. In using this method you can follow the cold- pack, one period directions given in this book excepting that you will have to secure in some cases the special vacuum seal jars. 4. The cold-water method of canning referred to by housewives is a metliod often used for the canning of rhu- barb, green gooseberries, and a comparatively few other sour and highly acid vegetables and fruits. We do not recommend this method for the reason that most of these products will need to be cooked anyway before they can be used, either for pie-filling or sauces, and it is a saving of labor to do the cooking at the beginning, when the product is canned. For the benefit of those who wish to know the cold-water method, we simply suggest that the product is thoroughly washed, placed in a strainer, and THE FARMING BUSINESS 333 scalding hot water poured over the product very rapidly; then the product is packed in its fresh state, and cold pure water applied until the jar is full. Seal jar under water. If these steps are taken quickly, in rapid succession, the method may be successful, especially with rhubarb and gooseberries. 5. Cold-pack Method. — This method is used by the best canners in the United States and is known as the "cold-pack" and single period method of canning. This sim- ply means that the fruits are packed in their fresh and natu- ral state into the glass jar or container. No sirup is ap- plied, and the sterilization is done in the jar or container after it is partially sealed, thus making it impossible for bacteria, spores and molds to enter or come in contact with the food product after the sterilization has taken place. By this method vegetables are blanched in boiling hot water, plunged quickly in cold water, skins removed and products cut in sections or prepared, then packed quickly in container and sterilized in partially sealed glass jars or the completely sealed tin cans. By this method, all food products, includ- ing general fruits, vegetables and meats can be successfully sterilized in a single period, with but one handling of the product. The double-shock efifect upon bacteria in the pre- liminary steps is very important and should be taken quickly and the cover placed over each jar as soon as filled. There has been some misunderstanding as to the meaning of the term "cold-pack method of canning." It is often interpreted as meaning the cold-zvater method of canning, which is not true. The cold-pack method simply means 334 AGRICULTURE AND that the food products are packed hi the containers, jars or tin cans, in their fresh state after blanching, and cold dip- ping and all sterilization or cooking performed after the pack has been completely or partially sealed. The cap is never removed after the cooking has been completed until the product is to be used during the year. All recipes given in this book are based upon this "Cold-Pack" method. The object of these Instructions is to encourage the canning of larger quantities of the cheaper food products, available on practically every farm, and having these fresh vegetables and fruits available for three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, rather than for an occa- sional holiday or Sabbath, or for use w^hen friends have been invited into the home. By adopting the single period method and sterilizing in closed packs and following the recipes given in this book it will be possible to reduce the cost of fuel for canning purposes to one-third of that required by the intermittent process, and it will reduce the amount of labor and time on the same basis. We trust, by the adoption of these methods, that it will not only be possible to have a larger supply of common vegetables and fruits for daily use, thus making a better-balanced ration for the family, but that it will result in a greater net profit to the average farmer, and a lower cost of living to both rural and city dwellers. Canning Equipment The canning outfits available for the sterilization of food products during the canning season may be divided into THE FARMING BUSINESS 335 A commercial hot wnter bnth outfit for outdoor canning, showing interior arrangements of fire-box and sterilizing vat. 336 AGRICULTURE AND five general classes, and aside from these steamers, firelcss cookers, and bake ovens are often used. 1. Home-made outfits, such as wash boilers, tin pails, milk cans, wash tubs and lard pails. These are made especially convenient and more efficient when false bot- toms, with lifting handles, are added, and tight fitting covers are made possible. Two types of canning ouUil.s: (a) tlie water seal; (b) tlie aluminum steam pressure type, used by canning club mem- bers. 2. Hot-water bath commercial outfits. These out- fits are constructed usually for out-of-door work and have sterilizing vat, lifting trays, fire-box, and smoke-pipe all combined into one piece. They should be light and conve- nient, and planned as portable outfits. The only advantage THE FARMING BUSINESS 337 of these outfits over the home-made devices is that they are made for convenience and have all of the necessary equip- ment with which to can and operate the outfit. Both the home-made and hot-water commercial canners are classed as hot-water bath outfits. They contemplate that the sterili- zation of all food products will be done in boiling hot water with water over top of the highest jar or can. 3. Water-seal outfits. This is a type of canning out- fit made with an inner seal and jacket and a cover that passes into seal and between the outer jacket and inner jacket, thus making three tin or galvanized jackets and two water columns between the sterilizing vat and the outer surface of the canner. The chief value of this type of can- ner is in the fact that one can maintain a higher tempera- ture, and keep it more uniform than with the hot-water bath outfits. This is especially valuable in the canning of vegetables and meats, where the higher temperature means so much in the saving of time, fuel and energy in efifecting a complete sterilization of the food products. 4. Steam-pressure outfits. This type of canner is manufactured so as to carry from five to thirty pounds of steam pressure and is equipped with vat, crate, cover, thermometer or pressure gage, safety valve and steam pet-cock. The safety valve can be easily regulated so as to carry different pressure values and thus accommodate the needs of various vegetables and food products. 5. Aluminum pressure-cookers. This is a combina- tion outfit, which is used for both general cooking purposes and the canning of fruits, vegetables and meats. Because 338 AGRICULTURE AND of its general utility in the home, for the cooking of all kinds of meats, vegetables, soups, gravies and stews, it can Stenm pressure outfit made of cast iron and supplied with a gas beater. be made to be of great labor-saving value to the housewife. It is considered the fastest canning outfit on the market. This is due to the fact that it is made entirely of aluminum THE FARMING BUSINESS 339 and transmits heat very quickly and will carry as high as thirty pounds of steam pressure. Its make-up and necessary parts are practically the same as in the all steam-pressure outfits. The new steam-pressure, safety-lock canner is properly classed with the steam-pressure outfits except that it has an automatic safety lock which will not permit lifting the cover until steam-pressure has been lowered or completely released.* Temperature for Boiling Water at Different Altitudes Water boils at sea level at 212° Fahrenheit. As the alti- tude increases, the degree at which water will boil gradually decreases. The following table is intended as a guide to de- termine the increase of time required for the sterilization of foodstufifs in the canning process : 500 feet above sea level, 211 degrees Fahrenheit. 1,000 feet above sea level, 210 degrees Fahrenheit. • 2,000 feet above sea level, 208 degrees Fahrenheit. 3,000 feet above sea level, 206 degrees Fahrenheit. 4,000 feet above sea level, 204 plus degrees Fahrenheit. 5,000 feet above sea level, 202 plus degrees Fahrenheit. 6,000 feet above sea level, 201 plus degrees Fahrenheit. 7,000 feet Above sea level, 199 plus degrees Fahrenheit. The time table given in these instructions will be based upon the first altitude given, five hundred feet above sea *The time scheduled for sterilization given in all of our recipes is made to accommodate the several distinct types of home canners. The home-made outfits and hot-water com- mercial outfits are classed as the same in all directions and un- der the head of "Hot-water bath outfits." The other four are classed in the order given above and under the same name, thus making the four classes with different time requirements. 340 AGRICULTURE AND level. For every four thousand feet increase in altitude it will be well to add twenty-five per cent, to the time require- ments given in the time schedule for the canning of all kinds of fruits, vegetables, greens, meats and soups. Containers Glass Jars. — For home use it is conceded by most people that glass jars are the most desirable and economical for home canning, as they can be used from year to year, or indefinitely, by simply adding new rubbers and caps each year. Practically all of the various types of glass jars avail- able on the market can be used successfully in the canning of all kinds of fruits, vegetables, meats and soups by the "cold-pack method" outlined in these instructions. In the handling of all glass top jars, with the top and clamp springs, it is important to remember that the rubbers, caps and top spring are put in place, while the clamp spring is left up or raised during the entire period of sterilization. In handling "screw top jars," it is important to remem- ber that rubbers and caps are put in place and turned until they touch the rubber (sealed partially) not too tight. They should be loose enough to allow the escape of excessive or expanded air. All suction or self -seal tops such as Economy, Airseal, etc., are closed completely as possible before steril- izing the products. Making of Brines and Sirups Brines. — Brines arc made by boiling salt and water to- gether to a certain degree of density. This is what is meant by the expression "making a five per cent, brine." THE FARMING BUSINESS 341 Table for Making Brine Salt Water Per Cent. 1 lb. m gal. 1 H lb. 121 gal. H 2 lb. 12i gal. 2 4 lb. 12* gal. 4 5 lb. 12 1 gal. 5 10 lb. 12| gal. 10 Sugar Sirups. — Fruit sirups are made by boiling sugar and water together to a certain density. This den- sity is usually denominated by per cent, density and is meas- ured by a density gage or in the absence of the instrument the estimates may be made by what is sometimes termed a "mental-finger gage," which should be explained as an ap- proximate estimate of the thickness or density of sirups. Table of Sirup Density Sugar ]Vatcr Per Cent. 1 pt. 2 pts. 14 1 pt. Ipt. 24 Ipt. ipt. 32 Ipt. 1 gill. 40 2-1 lb. 1 gal. 10 31 lb. 1 gal. 15 4:^ lb. 1 gal. 20 6^ lb. 1 gal. 30 8 lb. 1 ral. 40 The Western formula for sirup is three parts of sugar to two parts of water boiled to a thin, medium thin, vicdiuni thick or Ihick siruj\ Two parts sugar to three parts of water may be used for sweet fruits. 342 AGRICULTURE AND The formula for sweet common fruits is made of three quarts of water to two quarts of sugar, boiled to a thin, medium thin, medium thick or tJiick sirup. Density Terms Defined 1. Thin sirup is sugar and water boiled sufficiently to dissolve all sugar, not sticky. 2. ]\Iediu}n thin Is when sirup has begun to thicken and becomes sticky when cooled on finger tip or spoon. 3. Medium thick is when sirup has thickened enough to roll or bank up over edge of spoon when you try to pour it out. 4. Thick sirup is when it has become so thick that it is difificult to pour out of spoon or container (not sugared). Thin sirups are used for all sweet fruits that are not too delicate in texture and color, such as cherries, peaches, apples, etc. Medium thin sirups are used in the canning of the me- dium sweet fruits, such as blackberries, dewberries, huckle- berries, raspberries, etc. Medium thick sirups are used in the canning of all sour fruits, such as gooseberries, apricots, sour apples, etc., and delicately colored fruits, such as strawberries and red rasp- berries. Thick sirup is used for general preserving and in making all kinds of sun preserves. THE FARMING BUSINESS 343 Useful Tables 1,000 No. 2 empty tin cans will weigh 212 pounds. 1,000 No. 3 empty tin cans will weigh 310 pounds. 1 case for 24 empty No. 2 tin cans will weigh 13 pounds. 1 case for 24 empty No. 3 tin cans will weigh 17 pounds. The following table will shozv approximately hotv many No. 2 and No. 3 cans can be filled from a bushel of various fruits and vegetables. No. 2 cans No. 3 cans or pint or quart Product filled filled 1 bushel windfall apples 30 20 1 bushel standard peaches 25 18 1 bushel pears 45 30 1 bushel plums 45 30 1 bushel blackberries 50 30 1 bushel windfall oranges (sliced) 22 15 1 bushel windfall oranges (whole) 35 22 1 bushel tomatoes 22 15 1 bushel shelled lima beans 50 30 1 bushel string beans 30 20 1 bushel sweet corn 45 25 1 bushel shelled peas 16 10 1 bushel sweet potatoes 30 20 Reasons and Explanations for use of terms, "Scalding," "Blanching" and "Cold-Dipping" Scalding. — The most important reasons for scalding fruits and veirctables are as follows : 344 AGRICULTURE AND 1. To loosen the skins. 2. To eliminate objectionable acids and acrid flavors. 3. To kill spores, bacteria, etc., by the "double-shock" method.* 4. To make it unnecessary to exhaust the product be- fore final cooking or sterilization. The term "scalding" is used in connection with the hand- ling of fruits and vegetables from which skins are to be removed, and simply means to place in boiling hot water or steam long enough to loosen the skin. Blanching. — The important reasons for blanching arc as follows: 1. To eliminate objectionable acids and acrid flavors. 2. To reduce the bulk of vegetable greens. 3. To make it unnecessary to use the exhaust period and intermittent process. 4. To kill spores, bacteria, etc., by the "double-shock" method. The term "blanching" means to place product in hot water or greens in live steam for a sufficient time not only to loosen the skin, but remove excessive and objection- able acids and to reduce bulk. Cold-dipping. — The important reasons for using the cold-dip in canning are : 1. To harden the pulp under the skin and thus permit the removal of skin without injury to the pulp. 2. To coagulate the coloring matter and make it harder to break down during the sterilization period. 3. To make it easier to handle the products in packing *A11 bacteria and spores given to product from cold water are immediately subject to sudden (shock) change of tem- perature by adding hot water from kettle to product and plac- ing rubber and top in position at once. These three steps must be taken in rapid succession in order to get best results. THE FARMING BUSINESS 345 and to shorten the time of processing by quickly removing them from hot and exposing them to cold water. 4. To kill spores, bacteria, etc., by the "double-shock" Canning surplus vegetables "cold packed" method and by use of wash boiler as canner. which means the sudden transfer from hot to cold water and from cold surface to hot water again. 346 AGRICULTURE AND DIRECTIONS FOR HOME CANNING, COLD PACK METHOD Classification of Fruits and Directions for Canning For convenience we suggest that fruits be classified into four distinct groups or classes, such as soft fruits, sour berry fruits, hard fruits and citrus fruits and that this simple method be followed rather than to apply a confusion of recipes to home canning work. 1. Soft fruits, such as strawberries, blackberries, dew- berries, sweet cherries, blue berries, peaches, apricots, etc. Directions for Canning Soft Fruits: Can the same day- fruit is picked. Grade and rinse the fruit by pouring water over the fruit through a strainer. Cull, seed and stem. Pack immediately in glass jar or tin can. Add boil- ing hot sirup to top. Place rubber and top in place. Par- tially tighten. (Cap and tip tins.) Sterilize in hot-water bath outfit 16 minutes ; in water-seal outfit 10 minutes ; steam-pressure outfit, under 5 pounds of steam 8 minutes ; in aluminum pressure-cooker, with 10 pounds of steam, 5 minutes. Remove. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joints. Wrap glass jars in paper to prevent bleaching and store. Shrinkage of fruits before packing may be done by steam- ing the fruit for a few minutes before packing. 2. Sour berry fruits, such as currants, gooseberries, cranberries and sour cherries. Directions for Canning Sour Berry Fruits: Can same day picked. Stem, seed, hull and clean. Blanch in hot water 2 minutes. Remove and dip quickly in cold water. Pack berries closely in container. Add hot sirup until full. Place rubber and cap in place. Seal partially, not tight. (Cap and tip cans completely.) Sterilize in hot-water bath outfit 16 minutes ; in water-seal outfit, 12 minutes ; in five-pound steam-pressure outfit, 10 minutes ; in aluminum pressure- cooker outfit, under 10 pounds of steam, 5 minutes. Re- move jars. Tighten covers and invert to cool and test joints. Wrap in paper and store. THE FARMING BUSINESS 347 3. Hard fruits, such as apples, pears, quince, etc. Directions for Canning Hard Fruits: Grade. Blanch 1| minutes, and plunge quickly into cold water. Remove skins if necessary. Core, pit or skin. Pack whole, quar- tered, or sliced, as desired. Add boiling hot sirup. Place rubbers and tops in position. Partially tighten. (Cap and tip tin cans.) Sterilize 20 minutes in hot- water bath out- fit; 12 minutes in water-seal outfit; 8 minutes under 5 pounds of steam in steam-pressure outfit ; 6 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker, under 10 pounds of pressure. Remove jars. Tighten covers and invert to cool and test joints. Wrap glass jars in paper to prevent bleaching, and store. 4. Citrus fruits. — Oranges, canned whole for break- fast dishes or sliced for fruit salads. The object of can- ning citrus fruits is : first, to save the surplus and the get-away food prodvicts ; second, to furnish wholesome fruits at reasonable cost to more people ; third, to help pro- ducer to transform his by-products into net profits. Directions for Canning Whole Oranges: Select windfall or packing plant culls. Use no unsound or decayed fruit. Remove skins and surface pulp. Blanch fruit in boiling hot water 1^ minutes or in live steam. Dip in cold water quick- ly. Pack containers full. Add boiling hot thin sirup about 18 or 20 per cent, density. Place rubber and cap in position. Partially seal, not tight. (Cap and tip tin cans.) Sterilize 12 minutes in hot-water bath outfit ; 8 minutes in water-seal outfit ; 6 minutes in steam-pressure outfit, under 5 pounds of steam ; 4 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker outfit, un- der 10 pounds of steam. Remove jars. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joints. Wrap glass jars with paper and store. Directions for Canning Sliced Oranges for Salad Pur- poses: The oranges may be divided into their natural sec- tions or sliced with a knife. Pack jar or container full. Pour over product hot sirup of 18 per cent, density. Place rubber and cap in position. Partially seal, not tight. (Cap and 348 AGRICULTURE AND tip cans.) Sterilize 10 minutes in hot-water bath outfit; 6 minutes in water-seal outfit ; 5 minutes in steam-pressure outfit, with 5 pounds of steam ; 4 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker outfit, under 10 pounds of steam. Re- move jars. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test the joints. Wrap glass jars with paper and store. Classification of Vegetables and Directions for Canning For convenience in the discussion of canning directions and methods of procedure, we divide vegetables into five classes. 1. Vegetable greens, both wild and domestic (30 varieties). Directions for canning vegetable greens: Prepare and can the day picked. Sort and clean. Blanch in vessel with a little water under false bottom or in a regular steamer 10 to 15 minutes. Remove. Plunge quickly into cold water. Cut in convenient lengths. Pack in glass jar or other container closely and season by adding strip of bacon or a little chipped beef, olive oil, etc., to taste. Add hot water to fill crevices and level teaspoon ful of salt to each quart. If using glass jars place rubber and top in posi- tion, partially seal ; if using tin cans, cap and tip com- pletely. Sterilize 90 minutes in hot-water bath outfit; 60 minutes in water-seal ; 50 minutes in steam-pressure out- fit, under 5 pounds of steam; 25 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker outfit, at 15 pounds of steam. Remove from canner. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joints. Wrap in paper to prevent bleaching and store. Edible Cultivated Greens: Swiss chard, kale, Chinese cabbage leaves, upland cress, French endive, cabbage sprouts, turnip tops, New Zealand spinach, asparagus, spinach, beet tops, cultivated dandelion, dasheen sprouts, native mustard, Russian mustard, collards, rape, fennel. TPIE FARMING BUSINESS 349 Edible Wild Greens: Pepper greens, lambs' quarter, sour dock, smartweed sprouts, purslane or "pusley," chic- ory, poke weed, dandelion, marshmarigold, wild mustard, milk weed, tender sprouts of red-root. All are canned by the same directions. Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts and Cauliflower — The direc- tions for canning these vegetables is practically the same as for the above named vegetable greens and the same instruc- tions may be followed, except that these products should be allowed to stand in cold, slightly salted water for 20 or 30 minutes before blanching. Experience alone will teach the slight variations neces- sary in amount of time required for blanching, amount of seasoning necessary for the various vegetable greens, and the actual or best time required for sterilizing. 2. Root and tuber vegetables, such as carrots, par- snips, beets, turnips, sweet potatoes, etc. Directions for Canning Root and Tuber Vegetables: Grade for size, color and degree of ripeness. Wash thor- oughly. Use vegetable brush. Scald in boiling hot water, sufficiently to loosen skin. Plunge quickly in cold water. Scrape or pare to remove skin. Pack whole or cut in sec- tions or cubes (sweet potatoes may be mashed if desired), as required by the home or market standard. Add boiling hot water and one teaspoon ful of salt to the quart. Place rubbers and tops in position. Partially seal, but not too tight. (Cap and tip tin cans.) Sterilize 90 minutes in hot- water bath outfit ; 75 minutes in water-seal outfit ; 60 min- utes in steam-pressure outfit, under 5 pounds of steam; 35 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker, under 15 pounds of steam. 3. Special vegetables, tomatoes and corn. Directions for Canning Tomatoes or Ripe Red Peppers: Grade for size, ripeness and color. Scald in hot water or 350 AGRICULTURE AND steam enough to loosen skins. Plunge quickly in cold water (do not leave tomatoes or peppers in water while you skin and core them). Remove. Core and skin. Pack whole, crowd them closely into space. Fill container with whole product only. Add 1 level teaspoon ful of salt to each quart. Place rubber and cap in position. Partially seal, but not tight. (Cap and tip tin cans.) Sterilize 32 min- utes in hot-water bath outfit ; 22 minutes in water-seal outfit ; 15 minutes in steam-pressure outfit, under 5 pounds of steam; 10 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker, under 10» pounds of steam. Remove jars. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joints. Wrap jars in paper and store.* Directions for Canning Stvcct Corn on the Cob: Can corn same day picked. Remove husks, silks, and grade for size. Blanch ears of corn in a steam chest or steamer 10 to 15 minutes. Plunge quickly in cold water. Pack ears, alter- nating butts and tips in half-gallon glass jars, or gallon tin cans. Pour over boiling hot water and add one level tea- spoonful of salt and two tablespoonfuls of sugar to each gallon. Place rubbers and tops in position. Seal partially, but not tight. Cap and tip tin cans. Sterilize in hot-water bath outfit 180 minutes, one period; 90 min- utes in water-seal outfit ; 60 minutes in steam-pressure out- fit under 5 pounds of steam; 40 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker under 20 pounds of steam. Remove jars. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joints. Wrap glass jars with paper and store. f Directions for Canning Szveet Corn off the Cob: Can the same day picked. Remove husks, silks. Blanch on the cob in steamer or boiling water 1 to 15 minutes. Plunge cjuickly in cold water. Cut the corn from the cob with a thin *In handling the ripe hot peppers it will be necessary to use rubber gloves or handle so as to avoid getting the bare hands in contact with the hot peppers while coring and peeling. fWhen sweet corn is taken from jar or tin can for table use, remove ears as soon as jar or can is opened. Heat corn, slightly buttered, in steamer. Do not allow ears to stand in water or to be boiled in water the second time. THE FARMING BUSINESS 351 sharp-bladcd knife. Pack corn in jar tightly until full. Add 1 level teapsoonful of salt and two or more of sugar to each quart, and sufficient hot water to fill. Place rubber and top in position, seal partially but not tight. (Cap and tip tins.) Sterilize 180 minutes in hot-water bath outfits ; 90 minutes in water-seal ; 60 minutes in steam- pressure under 5 pounds of steam ; 40 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker under 15 pounds of steam. Remove jars. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joints. Wrap with paper and store. 4. Other vegetables, such as lima beans, string beans, peas, okra, etc. Directions for Canning: Can same day vegetables are picked. Cull, string and grade. Blanch in boiling hot water or in steamer for 5 minutes. Remove and plunge quickly in cold water. Pack in container until full. Add boiling hot w'ater to fill crevices. Add 1 level teaspoonful of salt to each quart. Place rubbers and tops in position. Partially seal but not tight. (Cap and tip tins.) Sterilize in hot- water bath outfit one period of 120 minutes ; 90 minutes in water-seal outfit ; 60 minutes in steam-pressure outfit, under 5 pounds of steam ; 40 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker, imder 20 pounds of steam. Remove jars. Tighten covers and invert to cool. Wrap jars in paper and store. 5. Pumpkin, squash, chayote fruit, etc. Directions for Canning (pie filling): Cut into conve- nient sections, core and remove skins. Cook for 30 minutes to reduce to pulp. Pack in glass jar or tin can. Add one cup of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt to each quart of pulp. Place rubber and top in position. Partially seal, but not too tight. Sterilize 60 minutes in hot-water bath outfit; 50 minutes in water-seal outfit; 40 minutes in steam-pres- sure outfit, under 5 pounds of steam ; 30 minutes in alumi- num pressure-cooker, under 15 pounds of steam. Remove. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joint. Wrap in paper and store. Directions for Canning, Special Dishes (fried, creamed, baked): Cut the pumpkin, squash, chayote into small uni- 352 AGRICULTURE AND form-sized cubes. Blanch in boiling hot water for 10 minutes. Plunge quickly in cold water. Pack in jar until full. Add boiling hot water and 1 level teaspoon ful of salt and one-half cup sugar to the quart. Place rubbers and caps in position, not tight. Sterilize 60 minutes in hot- water bath outfit ; 45 minutes in water-seal outfit ; 35 min- utes in steam-pressure outfit, under 5 pounds of steam ; 25 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker, under 20 pounds of steam. Remove. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test joint. Wrap in paper and store. Canning of Windfall and Cull Apples The windfall and cull apples may be divided into two grades. For first grade use the whole, reasonably sound fruit; for second grade use the sound portion of worm- eaten, partially decayed; do not allow apples to become over-ripe before canning. Directions for Canning Whole, Reasonably Finn Apples: Wash apples. Remove core and blemishes. Place whole apples in blanching tray or blanching cloth, and blanch in boiling hot water or steam for two minutes. Remove and dip quickly into cold water. Pack in large, empty glass jars or gallon tin cans. Pour over the product a hot thin sirup of about 18 per cent, density. Place rubber and top in po- sition, seal partially, not tight. (If using tin cans, cap and tip completely.) Process one-half gallon or gallon contain- ers 20 minutes in boiling hot water, if using home-made or hot-water bath outfits; or 15 minutes in water-seal; or 10 minutes in steam-pressure outfit, with 5 pounds of steam pressure ; or 5 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker out- fit, under 15 pounds of steam pressure. Remove jars, tighten covers, invert to cool and test joints. Wrap in paper and store. The time will have to be varied according to variety as well as ripeness and condition of the fruit. Use just enough time to sterilize perfectly, and yet not to change the color or reduce the pulp to sauce. THE FARMING BUSINESS 353 If the apples are firm and tart, the same recipe can be used in canning whole apples with both cores and peelings removed. Daily Use of Above Canned Whole Apples. — 1. Break- fast dish, with cream and sugar added. 2. Apple salad. 3. Apple dumpling. 4. Apple pot pie. 5. Baked apple. 6. Apple puddings and filling for pot roasts. Directions for Canning Apple Pie Filling: Use second grade of windfalls or culls. Wash, core, pare and remove all decayed or injured spots. Slice apple quickly into a basin containing slightly salted cold water, to keep from discolor- ing. Pack fresh cold product in glass jars or tin cans. Add one teacup ful of hot thin sirup to each quart of about 18 per cent, density. Place rubber and top in position ; partially seal, but not tight. Cap and tip completely if using tin cans. Sterilize 12 minutes in hot-water bath, home-made outfit ; 10 minutes in water-seal outfit; 6 minutes under 5 pounds of steam pressure; 4 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker, under 10 pounds of steam pressure. Remove jars, tighten covers, invert to cool, and test joints. Wrap in paper and store.* Directions for Canning Quartered Apples for Fruit Salads: Select best grade of culls, firm and rather tart va- rieties. Core, pare and quarter. Drop into a basin containing slightly salted cold water. Pack these quartered pieces tightly in jar or tin container. Add a teacup ful of thin hot sirup to each quart. Place rubber and top in position ; partial- *When using this filling for apple pies, strain the sirup from the pulp and save for use, place sliced product on pie crust layer in the apple-pie tins, sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon or nutmeg, place pic dough over top, trim and bake in a properly heated oven for 10 or 12 minutes. The apple pie baked from this product will be as good, if not better, than the ordinary pie baked from fresh apples, and can be prepared and baked in less than half the time usually required when making pie from the fresh and more expensive fruit. 354 AGRICULTURE AND ly seal, not tight. Cap and tip completely tin cans. Sterilize 12 minutes in hot-water bath, home-made outfit ; 10 minutes in water-seal outfit; 6 minutes under 5 pounds of steam pressure ; 4 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker under 10 pounds of steam pressure. Remove jars, tighten covers, invert to cool and test joints. Wrap in paper and store.* Keeping Apple Juice Siveet by the Home Canning Method: Fill fruit jars with fresh apple juice. Add a tablespoon ful of sugar to each quart. Place rubber and cap in position, partially tighten, or cap and tip the tin cans. Sterilize in hot-water bath outfit for 30 minutes, 180 degrees heat ; in water-seal outfit for 20 minutes, same temperature. Remove jars, tighten cover, invert to cool and test joints. Do not undertake to sterilize apple juice or any other fruit juice under steam pressure or high temperature. If using bottles, put a plug of cotton in neck and leave during sterilization period, then remove bottles and place cork or cap in position without removing the cotton plug. Apple Sirup The average fruit farmer may not be able to make apple sirup commercially profitable, but during seasons when there are a large number of culls and windfalls, when markets are glutted, it is a matter of business economy to^ utilize by- products and reduce these apples to food value of some kind. The making of apple sirup for the family's winter use is then quite worth while. Reducing Szveet Apple Cider to Sirup: Wash ap- ples, remove all decayed and worm-eaten spots. Use only sweet apple juice. The sterilizing, reducing vat or ket- tle should be a third larger than required to hold contents. *Apples canned this way will sometimes discolor and deteriorate if allowed to stand over one year. THE FARMING BUSINESS 355 Directions for Making Apple Sirup: Add five ounces of powdered calcium carbonate* to seven gallons of apple cider. Boil in kettle or vat vigorously for a period of five minutes. Pour the liquid into vessels, preferably glass jars or pitch- ers, allow to stand six to eight hours or until perfectly clear. Pour the clear liquid into preserving kettle. Do not allow sediment at bottom to enter. Add to this one level tea- spoonful of lime and stir thoroughly. The process is com- pleted by boiling down rapidly to a clear liquid. Use den- sity gage or a candy thermometer and bring it up to 204 degrees F., or without thermometer reduce bulk to one- seventh of original volume. Remove and cool rapidly in cold water until it shows same consistency as maple sirup. Do not allow to candy. Pour sirup into fruit jars, pitchers, bottles, etc., and allow to cool slowly. (Slow cooling is important.) The sirup can be cooled effectively in fireless cooker or wash boiler. The white sediment which settles during the cooling process is called by chemists malate of lime, and is a harmless compound of lime or acid of the apple. After this process the sirup is ready to be poured into fruit jars or bottles. Place rubber, cap or cork into position and not tight. Insert containers in hot water and sterilize for 12 minutes in hot-water or wash-boiler outfit ; 10 minutes in water-seal outfits ; 8 minutes in steam-pressure outfits under 5 pounds of steam, or 5 minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker under 15 pounds pressure. Apple sirup made by this method is a very pure and high-grade product. Orchardists who have a large amount of waste every year would do well to establish a local apple sirup plant or perhaps a group of orchardists could com- bine and secure building, steam retort canners and con- venient apparatus, simplify the method and get most suc- cessful and profitable results, by transforming windfall apples into sterile apple juice (canned cider) or apple sirups. *Powdered calcium carbite is sometimes called car- bonate of lime and is a low-priced, harmless chemical available at any drug store. It looks something like powdered chalk. 356 AGRICULTURE AND Tinning, Capping and Soldering, Repair Work Tin cans. — The use of tin cans in the canning of the "get away" fruits and vegetables is entirely practical for the average farmer, trucker and fruit grower. The ques- tion of soldering and tipping the caps is a comparatively A lioiue cau-se;iler. Seals rim-seal cans without heat or solder, simple matter. Any child, twelve years of age or over, can easily learn how successfully to seal a tin can. It requires a hand capping iron and tipping steel, a little soldering flux, small brush, and a little practise. Self- heating capping irons are available and hand or auto- matic tin can sealers can be purchased or even rented by the year. THE FARMING BUSINESS 357 When tin cans are used for the canning of green vege- tables, meats, fish, oysters, etc., it is sometimes desirable to use the lacquered or enameled cans. Size of tin cans. — There are several standard sizes of tin cans in common use for canning purposes. They are denominated by number and with reference to the diameter of the opening. It is always necessary to state whether you desire plain tin cans, lacquered or enameled.' In buying caps, always ask for the solder hemmed caps and give diameter of can opening. When buying tin cans to be used with the automatic sealing machines you will not need either solder or additional heat. Simply buy caps and the metal rims and paper rings or gaskets with your cans. For the other sealing device use the standard rim-seal cans. Soldering equipment necessary. — Capping steel tip- ing copper, solder, sal ammoniac, a few scraps of zinc, two and seven-sixteenths inches opening tipping, solder flux, a small brush, porcelain, glass or stone cup in which to keep flux, a soft brick and a file. If using automatic sealer none of those things is needed. Soldering flux. — Soldering flux, which may be pur- chased ready for use, is a solution of crude muriatic acid and zinc diluted with water and strained through a cloth. Flux is used for cleaning the Irons and for brushing the tin and solder surfaces so as to make it possible for the solder in its melting condition to adhere to the tin. Pow- dered resin is sometimes used instead of the soldering flux. A soldering paste is also manufactured which is very 358 AGRICULTURE AND Automatic can sealing niacliiue, seals without beat or solder. Sold, or rented by tile year, to clubs and individual growers. THE FARMING BUSINESS 359 serviceable. The following soldering preparation or flux has been found to be very desirable, and is cleaner than the old flux : Zinc chloride 3.6 oz. Ammonium chloride 72.0 grains. Water 1 quart. Tinning a capping iron. — Purchase five or ten cents, worth of sal ammoniac at the drug store. Melt in this a lit- tle solder. Heat the capping iron enough so that it will melt the solder easily. Place the iron in the vessel containing the mixture of sal ammoniac and solder. Rotate iron in this until the soldering edge of the iron has become bright or thoroughly covered with the solder. Tinning a tipping copper.^ — The tipping copper is tinned very much the same as the iron. Sometimes it is desirable, however, to file or scrape the tipping copper a bit so as to make it smooth and to correct the point. Heat the iron and rotate the tip of this iron in the mixture of sal ammoniac and solder until the tip has been covered with the melted solder and rendered bright as silver. The copper should be filed to nearly a sharp point. All particles of smudge, burned material, etc., should be removed from iron before tinning. Capping a tin can. — When capping full cans, ar- range them in rows upon the table while the capping and tipping irons are in the fire heating. Take a handful of solder-hemmed caps and place the caps on all cans, ready to be capped. Then take the flux jar and small brush. Place finger on vent hole, hold cap in place, and run the brush around the solder-hemmed cap evenly, with light 360 AGRICULTURE AND Cappiuy iron, showing i)ositiou of band ami Also how iron is applied to solder hemmed cap. iii)riglit ruii. THE FARMING BUSINESS 361 stroke of the hand. Do this with all cans ready to be capped. Then take capping iron from the fire. Insert the upright steel in center. Hold capping iron above cap until center rod touches cap and holds it in place. (See page 360.) Then bring cap down in contact with all four points of solder-hemmed cap and rotate back and forth about three strokes. Do not bear down on tipping iron. A forward and /] jj (A) Self-heating capping ii'on. (B) Flux jar and brush. (C) Solder-hemmed cap. (D) Ammonia bar for cleaning irons. (E) Wire solder. (F) Tipping copper and method of applicu- . tion. back stroke of this kind, if properly applied, will perfectly solder the cap in place. Remove capping iron and inspect the joint. If any pinholes are found, repair or recap. It may be necessary to use a piece of wire holder or a waste solder 362 AGRICULTURE AND rim from a cap to add more solder to the broken or pinhole places of a cap. Tipping a tin can. — Now take flux cap and brush. Dip brush lightly in flux and strike the vent hole a side stroke, lightly, with brush and flux. Use the waste solder-hemmed cap rim or wire solder. Place point of wire solder over vent hole. Place upon this the point of the hot, bright tipping copper. Press down in a rotary motion. Remove quickly. A little practise will not only make this easy, but a smooth perfect joint will be the result.* Use of soldering tools for repair work in the home. — By the use of the solder, flux, sal ammoniac, capping steel and tipping iron, it is possible in a few minutes of time to solder the leaks in wash boiler, tin pails, milk pans and other vessels of kitchen, creamery, etc. This will not only save time for the farmer and the housewife, but will often- times save considerable expense and worry. *After the fruits, soups, meats and vegetables have been sealed and processed the required length of time, they should be removed and cooled quickly. When using tin cans, it is best to plunge them into cold water at once after the sterilization has been completed. THE FARMING BUSINESS 363 CHAPTER XXII SPECIAL SUGGESTIONS FOR CANNING FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND SOUPS THE following directions have been carefully tested by experts and practical housewives, and if carefully followed, will give excellent results. Fruit Canning Strawberries. — Can fresh, sound berries, same i;;,s,hl g • lor tdoUin;; av the H .•iiulVni ,t rt.J f ti I'Dik'i iMttrn l-v'I m H<> to 4!) i.ijiuiU'oinI h be ti-Liloiu iil(l<.!,rsf^ e.-.n I i.~ m.j) at»«. S4 /-S tables or meats l«»r j '*■ tabic list W ilh ihi* ea er nav> heaitscf n twl conker] , o 1% OH THE FARMING BUSINESS 387 The soil should be kept free from weeds and a constant dust mulch maintained throughout the season for the conserva- tion of the moisture. From the fact that an orchard will continue bearing- for years there is great danger of depleting the soil of its fertility and making the orchard unpro- ductive, hence the necessity of cover crops, the plowing under of legumes, the adding of barnyard manure, lime, potash and other fertilizing material from time to time as they are needed. In matters of tillage and cultivation the citrus orchard should be as carefully managed as a corn- field or a vegetable garden. The irrigated orchards of the Southwest require a little different type of management owing to the peculiar conditions under which the land is handled. IMost of the irrigation of citrus orchards is done by surface irrigation, bringing the water from its source to the head of the orchard by means of lateral ditches and then distributing by sublaterals, furrows or corrugations. The water is conveyed from this head ditch down through the orchard and is absorbed by the root system by means of radiation. Annual pruning, thinning and spraying of the orchards are of greatest importance in the management of citrus fruits. The neglect of these usually means not only a de- feat for the following year, but an enormous loss for a number of succeeding years. Picking and packing. — Great care and skill are re- quired in the picking and packing of all citrus fruit. In the best commercial orchards we find great packing plants erected at considerable expense where the fruit is not only 388 AGRICULTURE AND Bud grafting. 1. Showing position of knife in removing biifl. 2. Rucl ready- to be grafted. 3. Face of bud, to be treated and fitted to stem or tree trunlv. Use grafting wax and tben Iiind in position. THE FARMING BUSINESS 389 sorted and carefully crated, but washed and polished and then wrapped and placed in neat packages or in boxes ready for the market. Those who would make a success A cleft Set to bring Grafting graft. in contact wax. with growing tissue. Itoot and stem cut ready for grafting. of the citrus fruit business need to give a great deal of time and attention to this particular phase of the work. Marketing. — Most of the citrus fruit at the present 390 AGRICULTURE AND time is marketed through various associations. The indi- vidual grower is at a disadvantage when it comes to mar- keting his products, first, because he does not have enough in quantity to command the attention of leading buyers; second, because he can not secure the same transportation rates given to larger concerns; third, because he does not have time to study the markets and so exercise the best busi- ness judgment in a matter so essential to a profitable return from his fruit. The importance of the marketing end of this business is shown by the fact that some of the largest grow- ers are investing thousands of dollars in packing and mar- keting facilities where in former years the packing was done in the orchards and marketing attended to only in a sort of haphazard way. Many of the companies and coop- erative packing plants in California and Florida cost up- ward of ten thousand dollars. OtJier Important Fruits of the South and West The pineapple. — This is one of the desirable and promising fruits of southern Florida, southern California and southern Texas. The range of its territory will un- doubtedly be considerably expanded within the next few years. Much of the region in the southern sections of the gulf states, as well as southern New Mexico and Arizona, especially when the land in the latter states has been re- claimed and water made available, will permit the growing of this fruit. The pineapple is widely used for sauces, sal- ads and other desserts, as well as for flavoring extracts, marmalades, etc. THE FARMING BUSINESS 391 The olive. — The olive is one of the oldest fruits known to the world. It is fast becoming a profitable fruit industry in our southern states, especially in southern Cali- fornia. The olive tree is of a low branching, evergreen variety from fifteen to thirty-five feet high. It has small dark green leaves, and a dark green fruit which turns a brownish black when ripe. It is native to Africa, Asia and Greece. The commercial orchardists are growing the olive in Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Asia Minor, Mexico, Peru, Algeria, Tunis, and in the United States. Some very large commercial orchards are found in southern California. The trees will begin to bear when from six to eight years old. A good tree of this age will produce from five to eight gal- lons of oil, and the yield increases gradually up to as high as fifty gallons. An olive tree will bear profitably from forty to fifty years, but the tree itself will continue to live and appear hardy and strong for upward of a hundred years. Figs. — The fig is a very valuable and profitable fruit. It grows well in Florida, southern Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, southern Utah, Arizona and southern California. The tree is propagated from cuttings taken from roots in the fall of the year or in early spring. The fig tree produces every year, and at the age of two or three years a tree will bear a considerable crop. Peaches and pears. — Peaches and pears are grown extensively in practically the entire southern half of the United States. The fruits are very desirable not only for practical food dishes and dessert, but for canning. The 392 AGRICULTURE AND peach and pear industry has greatly developed in recent years under more scientific management, the adaptation of varieties to climate and other local conditions. Increased facilities for transportation, cold storage, etc., have given Four-year-old pear tree, Idaho. Orchard club members gather- ing fruit for home cauuing purposes. great encouragement to this fruit industry. Peaches espec- ially will not stand much handling, and are too perishable a product to ship a great distance from grower to consumer. Success in the handling of these orchards depends very THE FARMING BUSINESS 393 largely upon the amount of business management and in- telligence exercised. Nut Farming The largest commercial nut orchards of the United States are found in the southern and southwestern states. This industry has greatly developed during the last fifteen years, and as the cultural methods become better under- stood the area will be greatly increased. Nuts constitute a very important part of our daily diet. They furnish a very excellent substitute for meats, which are increasing so rapidly in cost to the consumer. Most of the nut trees grown in this country are considered very excellent trees for the farmer's wood lot, and for ornamental or shade pur- poses in our village and city lots. Some of the leading com- mercial varieties are the almond, English walnut, pecan and filbert. The almond. — The almond tree very much resembles the peach tree in size, foliage and flower. The almond is a very valuable nut because of the high percentage of food to shell. When the fruit ripens the almond brealcs open, the pulp dries, and the nut falls to the ground. It is then gathered and prepared for the market. The largest almond groves are found in the southern half of the states of Florida, Texas and California. Almonds were brought to this country from Spain and countries adjoining the Mediterranean Sea. They are used very extensively for confections, cooking purposes, medicine, flavoring extracts and sometimes for perfumery. 394 AGRICULTURE AND The English walnut. — The English walnut is one of the largest and finest nut trees of the South and Southwest. It will bear profitably at the age of six years and will con- tinue to bear for thirty years. The walnut industry has not developed in this country nearly so far as 'is possible. It is conceded by the authorities that this nut will grow profitably in eight or ten states, yet at the present time it is confined largely to the southern half of California and southern Texas. It is found growing fairly well in states as far north as Illinois, Indiana, Delaware, Virginia, Mary- land, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The pecan. — One of the most profitable nut indus- tries of America is that of the pecan. The tree grows wild in a number of our states and is cultivated in prac- tically all of the southern region, and particularly by some of the largest commercial orchardists in southern California, Texas, Louisiana, southern Mississippi and Georgia. The pecan industry has only fairly begun, and it is probable that the area and output will be greatly increased. The trees are produced in practically the same way as the citrus fruit trees, by budding and grafting. They are set about forty feet apart and will begin to bear at from five to eight years of age, and continue to bear from twenty-five to forty years. There are a large number of varieties of pe- cans. The best commercial varieties are the ones known as the Louisiana and the Texas Paper Shell. The tree is valued not only for its food qualities, but also for orna- mental and shade purposes. Other varieties of nuts. — The United States was at THE FARMING BUSINESS 395 one time well covered with nut trees in the forests from the east to the west and as far north as the Canadian line. The deforestation which is constantly going on has, how- CURRENT VEAR FRUIT BUDS FORl^ED^ 1914 FRUIT 5CAR 1911 _ , FINE FRUIT^/> FRUIT 5CAR 1909 GROWTH- 1903 GROWTH-"-' 1906 ^" FRUIT SCAlT 1905 FRUIT SCAR -GROWTH 1913 GROWTH 1912 NO FRUIT .GROWTH (911 „:rGRO\AiTH 1910 ^FRUIT SCAR 1910 ><'FRUIT PROBABLV PIP NOT RIPEN FRUIT SCAR 1908 -.GROWTH '^ 1907 FRUIT SCAR 1906 GROWTH 1905 OLPER 5CAR5 Hlstovy as It Is \VrIftcii on an Apple Twig ever, greatly reduced the number of wild nut trees. The black walnut, butternut, hickory nut, chinquapin, chestnut, and hazelnut are all fast becoming extinct as wild nuts, 396 AGRICULTURE AND and sooner or later, in order to conserve these varieties, it will be necessary to produce them as domestic trees. Every farmer should be especially interested in including the nut trees in his work of reforestation or the develop- ment of his farm wood lot. In setting out shade trees in the cities, on vacant lots, in dooryards and back yards a care- ful selection of nut trees will be well worth while. The apple. — The apple is without question one of the most important of all American fruits. The fruit is used in practically every home and is no longer considered a lux- ury, but a daily necessity. Apples are grown in all the eastern, central and western states with profit. The cul- ture and success of the apple orchard depends on good management, clean culture and fertile soil, pruning, spray- ing and the business handling of the products fully as much as is required with any other fruit. Score-Card for Apples — Exhibit of Ten Name of Variety Where Grown Score of Points. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Average Score. Uniformity of ten Samples Freedom from blem- ishes __ _ _ - - - - 20 20 Utility and market value Trueness to Type Size, Form and Color- 20 20 20 Total 100 THE FARMING BUSINESS 397 Explanation of Score Points 1. Uniformity of Samples — Has particular reference to the uniformity of size, form, color, of all ten apples constituting the exhibit. 2. Freedom From Blemishes — This has particular reference as to whether the apples are free from rust, scale, scab, infec- tion, worm eaten or broken surfaces. Every apple making up the exhibition should have a smooth, clear, clean coat or skin. 3. Utility and Market Value — This has reference to the prac- tical and commercial value of apples for eating, cooking and marketing. (Will they prove of superior value in home for eating or cooking and will they command a uniformly high price on the market.) 4. Trueness to Type — This refers especially to the type of variety and in scoring upon this point, you should consider very carefully as to whether the samples conform properly to the size, form and color required for the type or variety they represent and also as to the locality requirements in which they are grown. 5. Size, Form, Color — In scoring these points, the question of the market requirements in size, form and color, should be considered. An apple above average size, clear in color and of true form, should be accepted. (Color has reference to whether the fruit is red, green, striped, blush, high russet, etc.) Clear and distinct coloring or blush should not be considered of great importance, uniformity should not be considered under this score. Note. — The main object of a score-card of this kind is to teach a standard of perfection and call, attention to the points that make up the standards. >. >. >i »i >, any Jerse rio York nla Jerse O 1 ■s ^ 1 |- 1 o ^ & B & ^ & >.n &C.2 fe ft c CZO<5>^ y.s J5 iSiSo ^ ;^ < iped blush iped ■a CO c v 2: t: tj 2;-a°'>> ■o t- j<; §2SSg5 *^ = 6 c & o i! t p;asr3^-« MK^hO K^ c Q C ooco „ in in r-r-l=gM.-l^ " o5 1 1 1 1 M MM 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 .-1 " S' o c "3 2 S g •2 -J ^g^^_0,y-r-^^^ ^^g ^ JD §. § C u Months for Eating Cold Storag Will Iiiclud t- o t- t- t^ OJ >. >. c3 < < a a a oz?:oca fcf=.fe,t:, fcpat. a) (^ s' ^ s' ^tf s S >-S >>< ' "^ C" ggfec Sai;£ S^gl3^-gS Its o i i i s" J^ c^ ^^ J 1-5 fc I-! -h> ■«-< c c a a s^ ■S's^-o^.-g 'S'-'S g 3 6a Kt^fc-td CfcC fc <- C o SP3 c c c c c c a g C ^73 'S-o-3'3'3'3 'S'o'^'5 "S'SS" 'w '3 ^ •o w5 t^ o >^ s.- w H t:w^W CO u ^ fe o ^ ^ pitzenbei 1 (RedC pin Q >» n3 & 2 is O s •g •2 2-3 t. CC a, 3 = f3i J^ rt t* Graven Tonipki Mclnto Jonatha Grimes Wagene Esopus DelJcio Banana Ortley Monnio s§ MP? S OS J£ rn (M ,v: .^ ttl SI t- 00 a-, o rt i-(t4 f-( s S ^ THE FARMING BUSINESS 399 CHAPTER XXIV GARDEN AND ORCHARD SPRAYS POISONOUS sprays for the destruction of insects and fungi of gardens and orchards have come into general use. Upon their successful application often depends the value of the crop, both as to quantity and quality. Not in- frequently an entire failure of yield results from the attack of these pests when they are not destroyed in time. Wormy and scabby apples, rotting peaches and plums, blighted ber- ries and diseased* vegetables prove the necessity for some effective means of stopping their ravages. The purpose of the two classes of mixtures, fungicides and insecticides, is indicated by the name applied; the cide in each word means to kill. Only the more important and common fungicides and insecticides will be described here. Bordeaux Mixture Bordeaux mixture is one of the most successful and widely used fungicides. Used at proper strength it is harm- less to most plants, though it has been found injurious to some, especially plums and, in less degree, peaches. It will also stain foliage and fruit upon which it falls. Composition. — Bordeaux mixture Is made when needed, of copper sidphate (blue vitriol) and lime. The 400 AGRICULTURE AND Ci-op ironi jour ^pniyed peach trees; inie basket of scabby fruit at the left; the remainder sound. Crop from (same orchard referred to above) four unsprayed peach trees. Sound fruit in three basliets at left ; the remain- der scabby. THE FARMING BUSINESS 401 strength may be varied, depending on the required use. The proportions most generally accepted are : 4 pounds of copper sulphate. 6 pounds of fresh lime. SO gallons of water. The copper sulphate is the active agent in killing the fungi, while the lime prevents injury to the plant. Besides this "4-6-50" mixture, other formulas frequently used are of the proportions 4-4-50, and 5-5-50. Making the mixture. — When but a small amount of spraying is to be done the only equipment required for making Bordeaux mixture is a fifty-gallon barrel, two twen- ty-five gallon tubs, buckets and a fine-mesh sieve. Fill one of the smaller tubs with water, and suspend just below the surface four pounds of copper sulphate in a loose bag, giving it time to dissolve. This will require about an hour, though the process can be hastened by using hot water. Slake six pounds of lime in the other tub, us- ing hot water and reducing the lime to a paste. When the lime has cooled, dilute to twenty-five gallons. Now stir the contents of the tubs, and pour bucketfuls of each mixture simultaneously through a sieve into the larger barrel, making sure that the streams mix. Stir well, and the compound is ready for the spraying machine. Use. — The amount needed for a garden can be judged from the fact that a tree in full leaf and having a spread of twenty-five feet will require about four gallons of the mixture. !Most beginners use too little, hence fail to get the best results. 402 AGRICULTURE AND Bordeaux mixture is not effective against insects. If, however, arsenate of lead in the proportion of two pounds to each barrel of the mixture be combined with it, the com- pound will serve as a check on both insects and fungous diseases. Scab, apple blotch, bitter rot, wilt, mildew and brown rot are controlled by Bordeaux mixture. Ducliess aiililc's. . of pUUCture^ "i mh- i.iuiU cur- culio. Tills iujuiy could have beeu saved by proper spraying. Lime-Sulphur Mixture The lime-sulphur mixture, besides being an insecticide for certain plant insects, is also a fungicide serving the same general purpose as Bordeaux mixture. It has the advantage of not injuring certain plants, such as peaches and plums, to which Bordeaux mixture is not adapted. Some fruit growers are coming to employ it as their principal fungi- cide. THE FARMING BUSINESS 403 Composition. — The strength of the mixture may- vary, the proportion of the ingredients commonly being : 8 pounds of flour of sulphur. 8 pounds of fresh lime. 50 gallons of water. Making the mixture. — The lime-sulphur compound may be made by several different processes, one of the sim- Spraj'iug aiipie trees. plest of which is the self-boiling process. To make the self- boiled mixture, put eight pounds of lime to slake, and while the slaking process is going on, sift over the lime eight pounds of finely powdered sulphur. Stir constantly, adding water until a thin paste is secured. Dilute to fifty gallons, and strain before using. Lime-sulphur may be purchased ready for use. Al- though it costs slightly more than the home-made product, 404 AGRICULTURE AND the time saved makes the commercial form cheaper if but a small amount is required. Use. — Lime-sulphur controls scale insects and cur- cullo, as well as such fungous diseases as scab, leaf curl, brown rot, etc. Arsenate of lead may be used with this mixture also. Arsenate of Lead Arsenate of lead is one of the most important stomach insecticides known, and has largely taken the place of Paris green with most fruit growers. It seems to be palatable to all garden insects. It adheres well to foliage, hence does not easily wash off in showers as does Paris green. It will not injure plants no matter how strong the solution. And it also acts as a fungicide, especially when mixed with lime-sulphur. Composition. — Arsenate of lead is easily compounded, the usual formula being: 22 ounces arsenate of lead dissolved in 2 gallons of warm water. 8 ounces arsenate of soda dissolved in 1 gallon of water. (Use wooden pail in each case.) The two solutions are now poured together and diluted with water to make a mixture of fifty gallons, then it is ready to spray. Arsenate of lead may also be procured in the form of a paste ready to dilute for the spraying machine. Three pounds of the commercial paste will make fifty gallons of spray. It will hardly pay to go to the trouble of mixing the compound at home, since the ready-made product usually THE FARMING BUSINESS 405 costs no more than the ingredients for making the mix- ture. Use. — The arsenate of lead mixture may be used alone or with fungicides for destroying nearly the whole range of biting insects attacking garden fruits. It has proved of the greatest service, especially in the spraying of apples. Paris Green Paris green is one of the oldest and best known of the insect poisons. Several thousand tons are used each year for this purpose. Composition. — Paris green is often prepared for spraying by simply dissolving from four to eight ounces in fifty gallons of water. The standard formula, however, is : 4 ounces of Paris green. V2 pound of lime. 50 gallons of water. '' The lime is to be slaked and mixed with the water. The Paris green is mixed to the form of paste in a small quan- tity of water, and then added to the water. Use. — Paris green may be used in combination with the Bordeaux mixture, but not with lime-sulphur. When mixing it with Bordeaux, the Paris green should be com- bined with the diluted lime before it is brought in contact with the copper sulphate. Kerosene Emulsion Kerosene is one of the best of contact insecticides. A small particle of it on any part of the body means certain death to any insect. Pure kerosene, however, will injure 406 AGRICULTURE AND most plants, hence must be used in a mixture. The best of these is what is known as kerosene emulsion. Composition. — The formula for the mixture commonly used is : V2 pound hard laundry soap shaved fine. 1 gallon of soft water. 2 gallons of kerosene. Making the emulsion. — One of the advantages in the use of this spray is the ease with which it can be made. Dissolve the soap in one gallon of boiling water; remove from the stove and at once add two gallons of kerosene. Stir while cooling until a soft, butter-like mass is obtained. Dilute one part of this stock solution with ten or twelve parts of water as needed for spraying. Use. — Kerosene emulsion may be used on all kinds of tender foliage without injury. It will control the vari- ous kinds of plant lice, slugs, etc. The Resin-Lime Mixture One of the difficulties in using many of the insecticides and fungicides is that they do not adhere well to the smooth foliage of the plants. The resin-lime mixture is often used in combination with other compounds to insure their stick- ing to the plants until they have done their work. Composition. — The formula employed is: 5 pounds of pulverized resin. 1 pound of concentrated lye. 1 pint of fish or some other animal oil. 5 gallons of w^ater. THE FARMING BUSINESS 407 This mixture is the stock solution, which is still further diluted as used. Making the mixture. — The oil, resin and one gallon of cold water are to be put into an iron kettle and heated A small hand spray. until the resin softens. Add the lime and stir well. Then add four gallons of hot water and boil until a little mixed with cold water gives a clear amber-colored liquid. Add water to make up for what has boiled away, making five gallons of the compound. 408 AGRICULTURE AND Use. — This spray, besides causing other mixtures to adhere to the foliage of plants, is itself an excellent contact insecticide. Its principal efifect is through making a smoth- er-coating over the body of the Insect. It Is used in some regions as a dormant wash for the control of scale insects. When used with Paris green or Bordeaux, two gallons of resin-lime compound are mixed with eight gal- lons of water, and this added to forty gallons of the spray. THE FARMING BUSINESS 409 CHAPTER XXV WEEDS ONE of the most serious problems confronting the farmer is his trouble with and complete mastery of weeds. A weed has been defined as a plant growing out of the place where it is wanted. Any plant may become a weed when it insists on growing in the wrong place, when it spreads rapidly or when it brings on conditions hostile to the growth and prosperity of desired or cultivated crops. If the weed is particularly injurious, if it is unsightly, un- usually persistent or very troublesome, it is classed as a noxious weed. Classification of Weeds Like other plants, weeds may be classified into groups in accordance with their length of life and consequent manner of growth and their method of reproduction. Annuals. — Weeds are called annuals when they spring up from the seed, grow to full maturity, produce seed for the next crop and die, all in the same year. Among many examples of annuals are the foxtail, ragweed, smartweed, Spanish needle and mustard. Biennials. — Biennial weeds are those that spring up from the seed and produce a leaf and stem growth the first 410 AGRICULTURE AND season. The leaf and stem may die down during the winter but the next spring the roots send up a stem shoot which produces flowers and seeds, after which the plant dies. The seeds are then ready to start the life cycle over again. Familiar examples of biennials are mullein, bull thistle, wild carrot and black-eyed Susan. Perennials. — Perennial weeds are those whose roots live on from year to year and do not require reseeding in order to assure the continuance of their lives. Familiar ex- amples of weeds of this class are quack-grass, milkweed, or horsenettle, and the dandelion. Many classes of weeds die out under conditions of cultivation which are hostile to their growth and welfare. Few classes of the prairie-growing weeds are now to be found in the older regions of the country. Marsh weeds disappear when the wet lands are drained. But in the place of the disappearing classes of weeds, new varieties are constantly appearing. Many of the weeds that are now so troublesome have been brought to us by immigration from Europe. It is said that more than six hundred species of weeds have been introduced into New England since the first cutting of the forests. Damage Done by Weeds The amount of damage done by weeds is almost incalcu- lable. It has been carefully estimated that American farm- ers lose at least three hundred millions of dollars a year from the ravages of their weed enemies. Add to this direct loss from weeds the labor required THE FARMING BUSINESS 411 to free crops from their presence, and the indictment against these intruders is greatly increased in its strength. We must not forget however that on the other hand weeds do some good as legumes and cover crops and protect against injuries caused by erosion of soils. There are other important duties not credited to them by farmers and experts. How Weeds Injure the Farm Weeds always cut down the yield of crops. A field can not successfully grow weeds and a maximum crop of grain at the same time. The weeds rob the plants of the room, the light, the plant food and the much-needed mois- ture which should go to the production of the crop. Two adjoining fields, one of which was badly infested with stink- weed, and the other field kept clean, showed a yield of forty bushels of oats to the acre for the clean field and only fifteen for the weedy field. Stunted stalks of corn which have been choked by weeds, clover strangled by dodder, oats crowded in spots so that they ripen unevenly and show irregularity of stand and yield are familiar examples of the effects of weeds. Weeds usually an enemy. — Weeds do not injure plants solely by robbing and crowding them, however. Cer- tain weeds seem to poison the soil and produce conditions affecting the health of the crop. Weeds also furnish a harbor for noxious insects and for fungous diseases of plants. It is known that a number of the worst enemies of 412 AGRICULTURE AND farm crops are thus protected and encouraged by certain weed hosts. In addition to all this, many weeds are unsightly. They always advertise a farm adversely and are a poor recom- mendation for its owner or tenant. Weedy fields actually reduce the market value of farm land, and a prospective buyer may well hesitate to purchase acres which will require time and labor to free from the weeds that are sure, unless checked, to defeat the manager in production of maximum crops. Hozv Weeds Spread Probably the greatest agency in the spreading of weeds is unscreened grain or farm seed. Practically all of the small grains have weed seed mixed with the grain and unless the seed is cleansed, the farmer actually plants the weeds which later must be eradicated if his crop is not to suffer. No one should sow weed seed. There is plenty of it distributed to his land from other sources which he can not control. The farmer who lives in a state that has no pure seed law is particularly liable to imposition in purchas- ing seed from other states. For example, Canada has very strict laws on the subject of pure seed for use on Canadian farms. As a result much seed which can not legally be sold in Canada is sent across into the States where it finds a market. Similarly, seed that can not safely be sold in Indiana, which has a stringent seed law, may be shipped to border states which lack such laws. Even comparatively pure seed contains many weeds. One sample of approved seed showed one and one-half THE FARMING BUSINESS 413 per cent, of weed seed, which equaled about fifty-nine thousand weed seeds to the bushel of grain. Various agencies for carrying weed seed. — Hay, straw and manure are other means of distributing weed seeds. Hay or straw that is shipped from one section of the country to another is almost sure to result in the distribution of certain weeds. The seeds of some weeds are carried great distances by the wind. This is particularly true of such plants as thistle, milkweed and dandelion, whose seeds are provided with wings or sails which enable them to carry great distances. Even such seeds as the rag- weed, millet and the grains of oats and wheat have been known to carry several miles by high winds. It is easy to see, therefore, that the weeds grown on the land of a care- less farmer injure not him alone, but also make trouble and expense for all his neighbors who live in the direction of the prevailing winds. Running water is also responsible for the distribution of weed seeds, and particularly is this true of spring or fall floods after the ground is frozen so that the water can not sink into the soil. Birds, while they are good weed fighters, are also dis- tributers of weed seed. All farm animals in some degree carry the seed of weeds from place to place. The same may be true of farm tools; for example, quack-grass may easily be carried from field to field by the teeth of the harrow. Thrashing machines, clover hullers and wheels of other machines may distribute large quantities of weed seed as they move from farm to farm or travel along the road- way. 414 AGRICULTURE AND Fighting the Weeds Weeds must be fought. Left to themselves they will multiply until they have taken possession of our fields. It is a part of the education of every farmer to know at sight all the most troublesome weeds of his neighborhood. Not only should he be able to recognize the plant, but he should know the seed whenever and wherever it is seen. Clean the seed. — No careful farmer will sow seed that he does not know to be reasonably clean of weeds. He will be so anxious to be on the safe side that he will take no chances, but will use a fanning mill and run all seed through, it before planting. He will be inquisitive, if not suspicious, concerning seed shipped from a distance, and will make sure that he is not adding to his weed troubles before he makes a purchase of foreign grown seed. Rotate the crops. — Rotation of crops is one of the most fruitful methods of handhng the weed question. Weeds which escape annihilation in the'Vnethods of cultiva- tion used in one crop may be destroyed by the different cultivation required in another variety of crop. Pasturing weedy ground with sheep or goats is a simple and easy method of clearing out certain weeds. Heavy crops of buckwheat, rape, hemp or millet if sown thickly, will smother out most perennial weeds. In fact the simplest and easiest, if not always the most practical way of keeping weeds out is to grow something else so thickly upon the soil that the weeds have no chance. Cultivate. — In all cultivated crops the remedy against weeds after they are once started is, of course, thorough THE FARMING BUSINESS 415 cultivation. The weedy corn-field proclaims to all observers that its owner did not cultivate sufficiently to control his worst enemy. Some few weeds of the most obnoxious sort need to be dug out wherever they are found. If the patch is small and the weeds really noxious, this will not only pay but it is the only safe way. Develop community sentiment. — Above all, it is nec- essary to cultivate a community sentiment against weeds. All concerned should promote and obey laws against the selling of weed seed in grain intended for planting. A further requisite is to cultivate and enforce laws requiring the cutting of weeds along roadways, railroads, reserva- tions and in other public places. If this is not done the farms adjoining such weed patches are seeded afresh each season, and require much additional labor and expense to keep them clear of the weed nuisance. Every foot of road- way in the United States should be kept so clear of weeds that none are allowed to grow seed from season to season. 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  • o O o O ^ +-' ■^ "^ "^ u. •d tn Td *0 O u tn .2 c 'bO "en C tn 3 o tn To c To tn J5 o % 3 '5* c o o r-; o c w O (J "^ "o en O! C tn tn ;_ ? en tn 03 ^ O ^ X ^ S ^ ^ H H a c c3 a 3 5 o O X (U a tn 3 a .5 'c a _3 a u '— • 3 3 »— < *-*-t p-i < e4 P< K t J< TS -M tn 3 IS > ,Q 03 ft 'o tn 3 t3 n! O ;- c O a a o C tn ■p 03 o! tn 1 o bo o 13 03 ft -a fT •5 CO ^ ^ ^ -o ^ 2 4; o o •a o ^ "o ''^ >^ >^ PH >< THE FART^IING BUSINESS 427 A poster bulletin of the University of Wisconsin Ex- periment Station contains the following: HELP FIGHT THESE WEEDS They Annually Cause Us a Loss of Millions of Dollars. We Can Rid Our Farms of These Pests if We Work Together. HOW WEEDS TAX THE FARMER 1. They reduce crop yields by crowding and shading the plants, by robbing the crop of plant food and moisture. 2. They increase the cost of harvesting by causing extra wear and tear on machinery and heavier work for horses. 3. They lower the value of farm products by injuring the qual- ity of grain, by causing waste of hay, by getting into and injuring wool. 4. They reduce profits in farming by reducing crop yields, by increasing cost of harvesting, by lowering quality of farm products and the value of land, and by increasing labor. HOW WEEDS ARE SPREAD 1. By the scattering of the seed and by running roots. 2. By sowing impure seed and by the use of weedy hay. 3. By weed-seed-infested thrashing machines and other tools, binders, wagons, etc. 4. By feeding weedy grain without grinding. 5. By using unrotted manure. Manure containing weed seeds should be thoroughly rotted before being applied. 6. By the infested highways where weeds are allowed to seed. HOW TO GET RID OF PERENNIAL WEEDS. 1. Pull, dig, or cut all scattered plants while in bloom. Burn them if seed has formed. Where weeds are few, cut off two or three inches below the surface of the ground, make funnel-shaped hole about the root and fill with strong brine or salt. 2. Smother with a rapid growing crop. Plow the weed in- fested field early in the fall, cultivating deeply and fre- quently until ground freezes. Plow again in spring. Cul- tivate frequently so as not to allow any growth above 428 AGRICULTURE AND ground. Then sow buckwheat or millet (rate, a bushel to the acre) the first of July. 3. Smother with paper. With small weed areas cover patch with overlapping strips of building paper, weighting it down and leaving it on during growing season. 4. Plant cultivated crops. Treat field the same as for smother crop. Harrow frequently with spring tooth harrow until corn or potato planting time. Plant potatoes or corn in check rows. Cultivate crop both ways, hoeing out weeds not killed by cultivation. Success can only be secured by most persistent work. THE FARMING BUSINESS 429 CHAPTER XXVI BIRDS AND OTHER INSECT DESTROYERS ONE of the farmer's greatest problems is the protection of his crops against insect enemies and weeds. In this warfare he is greatly assisted by birds and other creatures that prey upon these pests for food. It is well that all who are interested in agriculture should come to know the birds that are most useful, that they may be protected and en- couraged in every way possible. Birds as "Policemen of the Air" It has been carefully estimated by expert entomologists that insects yearly cause a loss of more than $700,000,000 to the farmers of the United States. Were it not for the work of our birds the amount of this loss would be incal- culably greater. Indeed, some authorities claim that with- out the help of these feathered friends the insect enemies of farm crops would ultimately triumph and successful agriculture would come to an end. Birds prey upon insects. — Not only do most birds in general find a considerable proportion of their diet among the harmful insects which so constantly levy tribute on the farmers' crops, but because of their powers of flight they can easily gather at points where any unusual outbreak of 430 AGRICULTURE AND A favorite food of tlie birds. THE FARMING BUSINESS 431 insects threaten completely to destroy the crops. For ex- ample, it has been noted that an unusual abundance of grasshoppers is sure to attract a large flock of birds from widely scattered areas and that these visitors leave the region only when they have exhausted the grasshopper supply. It has been similarly observed that any large increase in the number of small rodents, such as field mice, gophers and the like, quickly draws a large number of hawks and owls, which, while satisfying their own enor- mous appetites, produce a diminution in the number of the foe, if indeed they do not succeed in their entire extermina- tion. Birds require an unusual amount of food for their size and weight. While they are usually short lived they live at a rapid rate, breathing more rapidly and maintaining a higher temperature and a faster circulation than other vertebrates. This characteristic renders it necessary for birds to devote the greater part of their time to the hunting of insects, weeds, berries and whatever else may enter into their supply of food. Parent birds are also stimulated to additional activity and the industrious gathering of food during the time when their young are to be fed. For the young of birds which are not strictly insectivorous require large quantities of a food during the first few weeks of their lives. It is fortunate for the farmer that this carnivorous demand comes during the summer months and at the time when insects are most threatening to crops and gardens. Number of insects destroyed by birds. — So industrious are birds in the collection of their food supply that they are 432 AGRICULTURE AND not content to fill their stomachs with insects or seeds of weeds and plants, but after the stomach is stuffed so full that it will hold no more, they continue to eat everything they find until the crop or gullet is also crammed full. It is often found that when the digestive tract is opened and the contents of the stomach and gullet placed in a pile, the pile is two or three times as large as was the stomach when filled. The remarkable capacity of birds for eating a large supply of food is shown by the following facts learned by stomach examinations of many birds made by assistants of the United States Biological Survey : "A tree swallow's stomach was found to contain 40 entire chinch bugs and fragments of many others, besides 10 other species of insects. A bank swallow in Texas devoured 68 cotton-boll weevils, one of the worst insect pests that ever invaded the southern half of the United States; and 35 cliff swallows had taken an average of 18 boll weevils each. Two stomachs of pine siskins from Hay- wards, California, contained 1,900 black olive scales and 300 plant lice. A killdeer's stomach taken in November in Texas contained over 300 mosquito larvae. A flicker's stomach held 28 white grubs. A night-hawk's stomach col- lected in Kentucky contained 34 IMay beetles, the adult form of white grubs. Another night-hawk from New York had eaten 24 clover-leaf weevils and 375 ants. Still an- other night-hawk had eaten 340 grasshoppers, 52 bugs, 3 beetles, 2 wasps, and a spider. A boattailed grackle from Texas had eaten at one meal about 100 cotton boll worms, besides a few other insects, A ring-necked pheasant's crop THE FARMING BUSINESS 433 The meadow lark. 434 AGRICULTURE AND from Washington contained 8,000 seeds of chickweed and a dandelion head. More than 72,000 seeds have been found in a single duck stomach taken in Louisiana in February." Birds Useful to the Farmer It may in general be said that most of our birds found in the United States are useful and that but few of them are harmful. There are, however, but few that are always useful and never do any harm. For example, various insec- tivorous birds which destroy vast numbers of harmful insects, may also kill some insects or parasites which are themselves harmless and which prey upon harmful kinds. Such birds may also eat small quantities of fruit or grain, but taking the year round, nearly all of the common birds do vastly more good than harm and should in every way be encouraged around the farm and home. Crov^s, hawks and cwls.-^Even the crow, which par- ticularly during the spring season adds greatly to the farm- er's trials by pulling up the newly planted corn, far more than earns his way on the farm by eating many insects, especially white grubs and cutworms. He also destroys many meadow mice and other such small rodents. Along with the crow, the hawks and owls, which usually receive a bad name and are freely hunted and killed wherever found, are to be classed among the useful types that should be protected because of their destroying vast numbers of insects and harmful rodents. While these birds are gen- erally classed as thieves and robbers, a great majority of them spend most of their long life in pursuit of enemies of THE FARMING BUSINESS 435 the farmer. As many as one hundred grasshoppers have been found in the stomach of a hawk, and this represented but a single meal. In the nest of a pair of barnfowls were found more than three thousand skulls, the greater part consisting of field mice, house mice and common rats. In another case nearly one-half bushel of the remains of pocket gophers was found adjoining the nest of a pair of this species. Wherever birds of prey of such sort are killed ofif there is immediately noticeable an increase in the number of noxious rodents. Only a few species of hawks are in- jurious, their depredations consisting chiefly in attacks on birds and chickens. The Cooper's hawk, the sharp-shinned hawk and the Goshawk are three species which should be known by every farmer and killed on sight. Several years ago the state of Pennsylvania offered a bounty on hawks and owls. The result was the killing of more than one hundred thousand of these birds. It was estimated by Doctor C. H. Merriam of the United States Biological Survey that the state of Pennsylvania sustained a loss of nearly four million dollars in eighteen months through the killing of these birds. It is needless to say that the law was quickly repealed when the mistake in policy was discovered. Other helpful birds. — The rapid-flying swallows, swifts and night hawks are especially adapted to the cap- turing of all flying insects, and the darting tireless flight of the swallow and its hunting mates results in a great reduc- tion in the number of mosquitoes, flies and other annoying pests. Other birds are similarly adapted for their own 436 AGRICULTURE AND peculiar work in reducing the farmer's insect enemies. For example, the woodpecker is provided with a remarkable set of claws by which to hold himself firmly while at work. He has a drill-like bill driven by powerful muscles with which to dig out insects ; and he is even provided with an exten- sible tongue by means of which he can still further explore the hidden retreats of larvse or insects which hide away from their foes. Such birds as the creepers, tit-mice, warblers, fly-catch- ers, quails, doves and other families have each their own special adaptation to the work required for their food sup- ply. And however these birds may differ in other quali- ties, they are all alike in the fact that they possess a bound- less appetite for insects and weed seeds. Birds as weed seed eaters. — The great value of birds as weed seed eaters is shown by an estimate made by ex- perts in the United States Department of Agriculture: Their conclusion after careful computation is that the tree sparrow requires one-fourth ounce of weed seed per day as an average ration. On this basis the tree sparrows in a state like Iowa, annually eat approximately eight hundred and seventy-five tons of weed seeds. Only the farmer knows the harm which seeds do to his growing crops and can ap- preciate the great saving accomplished by the destruction of this vast quantity of weed seeds. If the comparison is extended to the entire United States, the estimate is that the tree sparrow saves to the farmers through its weed-eating habits, something like ninety millions of dollars each year. Value of birds proved by scientific study. — As a still THE FARMING BUSINESS 437 further example of what birds mean to the farmer, the following facts gathered from a report of the United States Biological Survey are of interest : The bluebird's diet con- sists of sixty-eight per cent, of insects to thirty-two per cent, of vegetable matter, the largest supply of insects being grasshoppers first, beetles second and caterpillars third. Almost none of the vegetable part comes from cultivated varieties. Robins live on almost every kind of insect avail- able, being especially fond of earth worms. While half of the robin's food is fruit, this bird prefers wild varieties chiefly and does but little harm in orchards and gardens. Grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, bugs and spiders are the principal food of the house wren, though cutworms, weevils, ticks and plant lice are also acceptable. The barn swallow gets more than one-half of its food supply from flics. Beetles stand next in order, while ants, wasps and bees follow. The purple martin finds more than three-fourths of its ration in such insects as wasps, various bugs, beetles, flies and moths. The rose-breasted grosbeak is so fond of potato beetles that it has been called the "potato bug bird." The meadow lark lives chiefly on beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers and weed seed. The quail or bob-white eats weed seeds, potato beetles, squash beetles, boll weevils, chinch bugs, grasshoppers and cutworms. Mourning doves live principally on weed seed with a small proportion of waste grain. Cuckoos select for their diet caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, moths and other harmful insects. It will not be necessary to extend this list which might 438 AGRICULTURE AND .^^- % :-c V Br^^f /I i ^^^^ j 1 ■■§r r i t ■ ■ ■ / .r Tbe hairy aud downy woodpeckers. THE FARMING BUSINESS 439 be made to include scores of other birds tliat join with the farmer in his effort to rid the crops of insects and weed enemies. Among the many species that should be encour- aged and protected are: meadow-lark, house wren, song sparrow, oriole, scissor-tail fly catcher, mocking-bird, blue jay, red-winged blackbird, cardinal, red-headed wood- pecker, killdeer, screech owl, robin, bluebird, snow bird, warbler, kinglet. In general, the birds are the farmer's friends and deserve his attention, protection and good will. Harmful birds — A few species of birds do much more harm than good and therefore do not merit protection. The English sparrozv has been declared a pest and should be exterminated. Wliile in some regions it eats a certain proportion of weed seed and harmful insects, on the whole its diet consists of orchard fruits, young garden vegetables and field grains, especially wheat. It also eats the eggs and attacks the young of a score of useful birds, thus reducing their number. Campaigns of extermination have been waged against the English sparrow in various parts of the country. The house finch and the sapsucker also do sufficient damage that they have no claim to the farmer's good will nor protection. Other Enemies of Harmful Insects and Animals Besides birds, a number of other creatures, most of them so lowly as all but to escape observation, are also good friends of the fanner. The toad. — The common ugly toad, which we often 440 AGRICULTURE AND either avoid or kick out of our path, deserves better treat- ment. Its food consists of flies, caterpillars, cutworms, June-bugs and other harmful insects. The horned lizard fancies almost the same bill of fare and joins with the toad to protect our gardens from pests. Snakes. — The small snakes common to most regions are entirely hannless, and live on our enemies, such as mice, various beetles and weevils. It is therefore a mistake to kill them. Protecting Our Friends Farmers should encourage their boys and girls to make a study of the life and habits of the humble friends who do their best to rid our fields and gardens of their enemies, and should always encourage and protect them. Attracting the birds. — Bird houses consisting of small boxes roofed over, cans open at one end, or other suitable receptacles placed in trees or on posts in secluded places will do much to attract certain birds. The building of bird houses and feeding and watering devices should be encouraged in every neighborhood. This can be done by contests, through fairs, club festivals, and promoted by the schools in cooperation with their patrons. When deep snow covers the ground in winter, thus hiding the seeds and other food, it will pay well to scatter a little grain each day where the non-migrating birds will find it. How to treat a friend. — Bird hunting should not be with a gun, but with a camera, field-glass or alert eyes for the purpose of becoming acquainted with our feathered TTTE FARMING BUSINESS 441 friends. Birds' nests should never be disturbed, the eggs handled or the young worried during nesting time. The fashion which decorates hats with the plumage of birds, thus requiring their destruction, should be severely con- demned. We should even come to look upon toads, lizards, snakes and frogs as our friends and treat them with in- tellisrent consideration. I_^ _.>v^^-.,'^ ir^i. i '-m. ■ -=^,-^5«f9^.5^l Feeding places for birds. Fig. 1 — Bird feed slielter for post. Fig. 2 — Bird feed plat- form for side of building. Fig. 3 — Bird shelter and feeding platform for lawn. Fig. 4 — Bird watering platform for top of post. Fis. ,5 — Combination, shelter, feed and watering arrangement 442 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XXVII NATURE OF SOIL IN our discussion of plants and crops we have constantly referred to the soil. What is soilf Whence does it come? What relation does it bear to plant life, and hence to our own lives? Take a handful of "dirt" and crumble it between your fingers ; of what does it consist, what is its nature ? Origin of the Soil ^Soil did not always exist as it is to-day. When the earth was young and the crust was forming there was no soil types as they are found now. There was only rock. And it is out of the weathering of this surface rock that the soil has come; and the process is still going on whenever rock is exposed. Soil is but particles of rock, to which has been added organic matter coming from the plants and animals that have lived on it or in it. The v^reathering of rock. — Rock is made into soil by two different processes, disintegration and decomposition. By disintegration is meant the breaking up of rock into small particles without changing their nature. By decom- position is meant such breaking up by chemical action that the nature of the particles is changed. The chief agencies causing the disintegration of rocks are sudden changes of temperature and the action of frost. THE FARMING BUSINESS 443 When masses of rock are heated by the sun they expand; sudden cooling at night or from change of weather causes so rapid a contraction that they are rent asunder. Water freezing in crevices also constantly breaks masses of rock into smaller pieces. Rocks undergo decomposition largely through changes due to the action of chemicals carried in water. The min- A plowing contest offers sport as interesting to farm boys as baseball. eral substances in the rocks are dissolved, and new prod- ucts formed. Surface and subsoil. — The terms soil and subsoil are used to distinguish the top portion from the soil that lies underneath. The line between the dark humus-colored part and the lighter soil below is sometimes spoken of as the division between soil and subsoil. Another distinction made is to call all that lies below the depth of tillage subsoil. No 444 AGRICULTURE AND such dividing line can be sharply drawn, however, as much organic matter is found below the humus line, and the depth of tillage does not mark a natural division in layers of the soil. Surface soil differs from subsoil chiefly in the organic matter it contains. The depth of the surface, or cultivated soil can be increased by deep plowing, which brings up new layers to receive a supply of organic matter and mix with the upper soil. Classes of Soils Classes of soils based on origin. — It is evident that soils will differ in accordance with the nature or material of the rocks from which they come. They also vary on the basis of the mode of distribution or laying down of the lay- ers ; for example, some are formed from the rocks directly underneath, and others are transported long distances by water or wind. Still others are built up with a relatively small proportion of rock particles and a large proportion of organic matter called humus. On the basis of their origin the most important classes of soils are, (1) residual, (2) glacial, (3) loessial, (4) alluvial, and (5) humus. (1) Residual soils, or those formed from the underly- ing rocks will of necessity partake of the nature of the mother-strata. In the formation of soil from granite rocks the quartz, refusing to decompose, remains as grains of sand. The feldspars, on partially decomposing, yield clay. Limestone when weathered produces a fine textural clay. (2) Geologists tell us that large areas of North Amer- ica and Europe were at one time in the grip of glaciers — gigantic fields of ice flowing slowly southward foot by foot, THE FARMING BUSINESS 445 like a great river only much slower. These enormous blocks of ice would, of course, gouge and scrape and wear the rocks over which they moved. They would push along great masses of soil, and gather other masses of soil and rocks from over-hanging cliffs against which they passed. In these ways the great ice rivers would transport and dis- tribute soils over other regions than those where they were formed. They would carry granite boulders and leave them strewn over territory miles away from the home of the rocks. They would wear down the sharp angular hills and leave great masses of earth dumped where the ice field melted, thus giving us the more undulating hills and valleys of the great central region of the United States. Thus were the glacial soils formed. (3) The wind is always at work carrying particles of soil from one place to another. Though these grains are small, the aggregate thus transported is gigantic, and large areas of the world have soils of this loesslal formation. Such soils are found extensively in Iowa, Illinois, south- western Wisconsin, eastern Kansas and Nebraska, Missouri, and southward along the IMississippi River. Since the pre- vailing winds in these regions are from the west, the general movement of the loessial soils over this territory is eastward. Since the formation of loessial soil continues, while glaciers are no longer at work except in extreme latitudes, it is evi- dent that loess will overlie glacial deposits wherever it is being formed. Loessial soils, being carried from dry regions where the lime and other basic elements have not been washed out, are usually very fertile. 446 AGRICULTURE AND (4) Wherever water is found it holds certain soil ele- ments in suspension or in solution. In running water, soil particles are constantly being carried downward toward lower levels. Where streams or sheets of water overflow, layers of sediment are deposited, thus producing alluvial soils. The drying up of lakes or other bodies of standing water also leaves an alluvial deposit in the former bed. All great river systems have, by their overflow, built up alluvial soils along their course. Since the coarser soil particles are heavier than the finer particles held in suspension in flowing water, the coarser particles will settle first, while the finer particles will be carried farther down-stream. This fact ex- plains why alluvial soils along the upper courses of rivers are coarser than those along the lower courses. Streams formed by the melting glaciers carried immense deposits, sometimes filling valleys to a depth of fifty to two hun- dred feet with sand and gravel. Many such deposits are to be found throughout the northern part of the United States and in Canada. Large areas of clay and heavy silt soil in northwestern Minnesota and North Dakota were formed by the drying up of a gigantic glacial lake in that region. (5) Humus soils are found wherever organic matter, either animal or vegetable, has a chance partially to decay underneath the surface. Under these conditions it changes into a blackish substance, giving the soil the well-known black surface observed in its top layers. Humus is chiefly derived from the roots of plants and the vegetable matter that is turned under in tilling cultivated land. Because of THE FARMING BUSINESS 447 the plentiful root system of most grasses, the prairie regions usually show the black humus soil to considerable depth. The maintenance of a generous supply of humus In soils is of prime importance in agriculture, as will be shown later. Classes of soils as influenced by climate. — Strange as it may seem at first thought, climatic influences play a greater part in determining the nature of soils than do the mother rocks from which they came. The prairie soils so common in the Mississippi Valley and other large regions of the world owe their chief char- acteristics to climatic conditions resulting in luxuriant crops of grass and to the conditions as to heat and drainage favor- ing the formation of humus. Tropical climates, because of their excessive heat and moisture hasten the decomposition of organic matter, hence humus does not readily form. The excessive rainfall also washes soluble salts from the soil and so deprives it of elements needed for fertility. On the other hand, arid climates lack sufficient rainfall to carry away certain salts formed by the weathering of the soil. The accumulation of these salts results in what are called alkali soils. Wherever the annual rainfall is less than about fifteen inches in regions of moderate temperatures or less than twenty inches in regions of high temperature, alkali is likely to occur. Large regions of the semi-arid West have alkali soils. Organic Matter in Soil Examine carefully a lump of common field soil. Pul- verize it and spread it out on a paper. In addition to the 448 AGRICULTURE AND grains of sand, silt and clay which represent the rock por- tions, note all the different organic particles, such as pieces of roots, fibers of plants, and parts of insects. Place it under a magnifier, and see whether you can make still fur- ther discoveries. Need o£ organic matter. — Although the rock particles make up far the greater part of the mass of the soil, or- ganic matter is of the highest importance to plants. Indeed, it is practically impossible to raise crops on soil lacking in organic constituents. All the upper layers of ordinary soil contain from two to fiive per cent, of organic material, com- ing chiefly from the roots and stems of plants. Humus. — When vegetation decays on top of the ground it is really burned up as effectually as if put into a stove, only more slowly. The gases pass off into the air and only a little ash remains on the soil. From this proc- ess the soil receives comparatively little benefit. If, how- ever, decay takes place under the surface, where but little oxygen is present, a substance is produced which is called humus. All soil on which plants are grown is therefore constantly producing humus from the roots, and from the stubble and stems if these are turned under. Dig up a piece of timothy sod and note the mass of roots — about two tons of roots to the acre on a good field. Blue-grass yields some six tons of roots to the acre. Soils that are cropped contin- uously with the common cereals and the crops removed with- out returning manure to the field become deficient in humus, and the yield is decreased. THE FARMING BUSINESS 449 Effects of humus on the soil. — The most easily noted effect of humus is in the darkening of the soil. The so- called "black" soils get their color from the abundance of humus they contain. The coloring is accomplished by the partially decayed and partially preserved black organic mat- ter coating over the small particles of the soil. The depth to which humus extends, ranging from a few inches to sev- eral feet, can be noted at any wayside ditch by the line be- tween the dark soil on top and the lighter soil beneath. Humus serves several very important uses in the soil: (1) it acts as a storehouse for different kinds of plant food; (2) it increases the capacity of the soil to hold water; (3) it aids in both creating and conserving heat in the soil ; (4) it favors the growth of bacteria helpful to plants ; (5) it im- proves the physical condition of the soil, making it more porous and more easily cultivated. Living organisms. — Reference has already been made to the influence of certain bacteria in the fixing of nitrogen in the soil. The soil harbors many different kinds of bac- teria and other organisms. It is fairly teeming with life, some of which is hostile to plant growth, but more of which is necessary to successful plant development. Other organic matter. — Besides living organic matter and that which has undergone chemical changes converting it into humus, most soils contain a certain amount of veg- etable matter in the form of roots and stems of plants which have not yet begun the process of decomposition. These affect the soil chiefly in making it more accessible to air and light, and more permeable to water. 450 AGRICULTURE AND Texture of Soils Secure samples of three different field soils, (1) a clay soil, (2) a silt soil, and (3) a sandy soil. Place each of these one inch deep in a bottle. Now fill all three bottles with water and shake for several minutes. Put the bottles in a quiet place and let the contents settle. Note which soil settles to the bottom most quickly. The time it requires to settle depends on the coarseness or fineness of the tex- ture. From the point of view of texture, soils are classified as follows : clay, silt, sand, or gravel. Meaning of texture. — By texture of soil is meant the degree of fineness or coarseness of the particles of which it is composed. The finest soil particles, which will remain in suspension clouding water for hours, are called clay. The next finest, which will settle in about one hour, are silt. The coarser particles, which will settle almost at once, are called sand or gravel. Most crop soils have all of the first three of these grades or sizes of particles in their make-up. The texture of the soil depends on the proportion of each in the mixture. Soils are named in accordance with the particular one of these elements that outweighs all others. If the very fine particles are in excess, we speak of a clay soil ; if the texture is intermediate, of a loam soil ; and if coarse, of a sandy or gravelly soil. We also use the terms clay loam, silt loam and sandy loam, etc., to describe the texture. Composition of three soil types. — A mechanical an- alysis of three types of soil texture made by the United THE FARMING BUSINESS 451 States Department of Agriculture shows the following pro- portions of soil particles in each: Type of soil Fine gravel C'se sand Med. sand Fine sand Very fine sand Silt Clay Norfolk sand (truck soil) Wabash clay (riv. bot.)- Silt loam (corn soil) ._.3% .__0 .__0 15% 1% 1% 22% 1% 1% 38% 3% 2% 10% 7% 8% 8% 49% 4% 39% 15% From this table it is seen that Norfolk sand, which is an excellent soil for truck gardening on the Atlantic, is eighty-eight per cent, sand and gravel, and only twelve per cent, silt and clay combined. Middle western silt loam, such as grows most of our field corn, is three-fourths silt, and fifteen per cent, clay and twelve per cent. sand. River- bottom clay soils are slightly more than one-third clay, and almost one-half silt. Structure of Soils Take a piece of clay in your hand. Try to crumble it into small particles. Do the same with a piece of loam; with a lump of sandy soil. Note that some soils plow up in great clods, while others break up into small pieces, pro- ducing what is called a mellow condition. You have no- ticed that in some places the ground cakes and cracks open when it becomes very dry, while in other places it remains soft and unbroken no matter how dry it becomes? These differences are matters of soil structure. Soil structure. — By soil structure is meant the mode in which particles adhere to one another, causing them to 452 AGRICULTURE AND cling together in solid masses hard to break up, or forming but loosely joined lumps which are easily broken or pul- verized. Clay soils are of a heavy, dense, dinging structure, dif- ficult to break apart, hence hard to plow. Silt loams and sand loams, on the other hand, are friable; that is, they are easily broken up. They plow or pulverize easily because they are not so adhesive. All soils that are lacking in humus tend to become dense and resisting in structure. Causes affecting soil structure. — The chief adhesive force holding soil particles together in clusters, grains or lumps is the ivater aims that surround the particles. Each separate particle is covered by a thin film of water, whose effect is much the same as a film of rubber. Let a number of small soil particles, each surrounded by its water film, come into contact, and their individual films all merge into one, and by Its tension unites these particles in a single gran- ule, or cluster. These clusters are In a similar way joined into still larger clusters, and so on until, in fine clay soils, one continuous mass Is formed. As clay soils dry out the films break, shrinking occurs and the surface cracks open. The greater adhesive power of clay soils comes from the fineness of their particles. The larger the numxber of particles in a given mass of soil, the greater the aggregate surface of these particles, and hence the greater the amount of water films needed to bind the particles together. Sandy soils do not form Into granules, or lumps, because the aggre- gate surface of the particles Is not sufficient to supply the binding force of water films necessary to hold them together. THE FARMING BUSINESS 453 It has been carefully estimated that the particles of a cubic foot of soil of different textures have the following aggregate amount :^.'" '^"^ Crimson Corn and Clover Crimson Clover Small Grains Small Grains Crimson Clover Cotton or Tobacco Cow-peas c- 11 ^j. ^ Small c 1 Grains Soy-beans Note that the above system of rotation provides for both corn and cotton each year, but never in the same field for two or more successive years. It also provides for forage and cover crops and small grains for necessary feed for farm animals. Year Field A Field B Field C Field D Field E First Corn Corn Oat,s Clover Pasture Second Corn Oats Clover Pasture Corn Third Oats Clover Pasture Corn Corn Fourth Clover Pasture Corn Corn Oats Fifth Pasture Corn Corn Oats Clover First Corn Corn Oats Clover Pasture Principles of rotation. — In the southern states as a rule it will be found much more profitable to grow a crop of cotton or tobacco once every three, four or five years on the THE FARMING BUSINESS 471 same field than every year. There are four kinds of crops that should be considered in every rotation. First, a ready- money crop, and upon this crop the rotation should be based. In the South these crops are usually cotton or to- bacco, sometimes wheat. Corn is also fast becoming a good basic money crop for the South. Second, there should always be a fodder crop available for necessary feeding of farm animals. Third, there should be at least one legume in the rotation in order to furnish humus for plant growth. Fourth, in every rotation there should be a plan for the growing of a winter cover crop to prevent the erosion and leaching of the soils. The latter is especially important in the southern states. In working out a system of rotation no plan will be safe to follow for all states or all districts. It is therefore quite important that the farmer should consult the local experi- ment station and college of agriculture with reference to a suitable system of rotation. In general, the following principles of rotation should be carefully considered: Rotation Rules. — 1. Rotate the crop so as to give not less than one money market crop every year. When plenty of land is available, two or more money crops should be grown. 2. Rotate crops so as to have as much green feed as possible for the entire year. 3. Rotate the crop so as to make use for each suc- ceeding year of the remains or residue of former crops, such as manures and other fertilizers. 4. Rotate the crops so as to secure as much nitrogen 472 AGRICULTURE AND as possible from the air. Clover, alfalfa, cow-peas and other legumes will do this. 5. Rotate the crops so as to defeat or check the de- velopment of insect pests and plant diseases. Lack of this has been the chief cause of the rapid advance of the Mexican boll weevil in cotton territory. 6. Rotate the crops so as to make use of all tillable land every season. 7. Rotate the crops so as to secure an even distribu- tion of labor for both man and beast during the entire year. 8. In southern territory rotate crops so as to pro- vide for winter forage for live stock and cover crops to prevent leaching and erosion. Improvement of Sandy Soils The following rules for the improvement of sandy soils of northern states are given by the Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin : 1. BY ADDING LIME. What Kinds. — Ground limestone, quicklime, air slaked lime or marl. When. — In spring or fall on plowed land. How Much. — From one to two tons per acre depending upon acidity. How Applied. — With manure spreader or fertilizer spreader. 2. BY GROWING LEGUMES. Why.— 1. To add nitrogen. 2. To furnish humus. How. — 1. By use of lime. 2. By use of plant food. 3. By inoculation. THE FARAIINCx BUSINESS 473 4. By compacting soil. The corrugated roller is very useful in bringing moisture to germinating seed. Which. — Red or mammoth clover, soy-beans and alfalfa. 3. BY ADDING PLANT FOOD. In stable manure which contains all the elements needed by sandy soils or in commercial fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium. Nitrogen may be supplied by raising clover or some other legume. 4. BY ROTATING CROPS. You will maintain nitrogen by use of legumes. You will maintain humus by green manuring crops. You will prevent growth of weeds. You will prevent insects and diseases. 5. CONSERVING MOISTURE. How. — By the use of the harrow or cultivator to keep ground covered with a fine dust mulch. When. — As soon after rain as possible to keep soil water from evaporating. The plants will need it. 474 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XXIX SOIL MOISTURE WATER is as necessary to the growth of plants as fer- tile soil. All the food taken by plants from the soil must first be dissolved in water. The tiny root-tips suck in this food-laden water which circulates to every part cf the plant, producing its growti The amount of water required by a growing crop is enor- mous. For every pound of dry matter made by the plan/", from three hundred to eight hundred pounds of water must be drawn in by its roots and circulate through it. To pro- duce a ton of dry hay on an acre of ground demands that approximately five hundred tons of water be pumped by the grass stalks from the soil. When the soil lacks water, plants are cut ofif from both necessary food and. drink. Forms of Soil Water Gravitational water. — Soil that is thoroughly satur- ated contains a certain amount of free water that will drain ofif if there is some outlet. That is, the force of grav- ity pulls it down through the soil; hence its name, free, or gravitational water. To watch how this works, place some soil in a funnel closed with .a stopper. Pour water over the soil until it is THE FARMING BUSINESS 475 completely soaked. Then remove the stopper and allow what will of the water to drain off. All the water that thus escapes is free, or gravitational water. Plants can not use gravitational water for their supply. This is to say that they can not grow in a soaked soil. "Wa- ter-logged" soil excludes air from the roots, and the plants soon suffer for want of oxygen. Standing water also keeps the roots of most plants too cold for good growth. Hence the necessity of conditions that will allow the soil to drain readily after rains, so that the free water may escape. Capillary water. — Soils will not drain entirely dry. After your funnel of earth has lost all the water that will run from it, it is still wet. This wetness is caused by what is called capillary water. Capillary water exists in the form of thin films around the soil particles and in the spaces between them, as de- scribed in an earlier chapter. Each separate particle is sur- rounded by its own film, while larger films bind the separate particles together in granules. Since the particles of a given weight of soil of fine texture present a larger surface area than the particles of a soil of coarse texture, it is evident that the finer the soil the greater the amount of capillary water required to make up the films. Plant growth and capillary water. — It is the capillary water of the soil that plants use in their growth. Their root-tips come in contact with the water films surrounding the soil particles and drink this water in. One of the first requisites of soil to produce a good crop, therefore, is its 476 AGRICULTURE AND ability to act as a reservoir for a large amount of capillary water. Capacity of Soils of Capillary Water Soils differ greatly in their capacity for capillary water. This can easily be shown by a simple experiment. Bake a pint of sand and a pint of clay until all the water is dried out; then place the samples in separate funnels over the lower ends of which are tied pieces of cheese cloth. Now slowly pour water from a graduate over each soil until the water begins to drip from the bottom of the funnel. Note carefully how much water was required in each case. Soil texture and capillary water. — Because of the fineness of their texture, clay and silt soils have much greater capacity for capillary water than sandy or gravelly soils. Under average field conditions the difference in the amount of capillary water held in the first two feet of fully saturated soil is about as follows : Sandy loam soil will hold 5 inches of water Clay loam soil will hold 73^ Muck soil will hold 12^ This is to say that it would require a sheet of water five inches deep to supply the capillary water for the first two feet of saturated sandy soil ; a sheet of water seven and one- half inches deep for the first two feet of saturated clay soil ; and a sheet twelve and one-half inches deep for the first two feet of saturated muck soil. Drawing ground water by capillarity. — A very simple experiment will test the capacity of different soils for draw- THE FARMING BUSINESS 477 ing capillary water from below. Take four glass tubes at least one inch in diameter and from fifteen to twenty inches long, or four chimneys from student-lamps, and arrange them suspended in a rack. Tie over the lower end of each a piece of cheese-cloth. Fill the tubes with soils of different texture, from fine clay to coarse sand. Place a pan beneath the tubes, and pour water into it until the water stands half an inch above the bottom of the tubes. Now watch the wa- ter rise in the different soils. Keep accurate track of the time required, and of the height reached in each. Humus and capillary water. — The capacity of any soil for holding capillary water is greatly increased by the presence of decaying organic matter. It has been care- fully estimated that one ton of humus will absorb two tons of water and give it up as needed by growing plants. Tillage and Soil Wafer One of the chief problems of agriculture is to conserve the capillary water of the soil and make it available for plant growth. Capillary water is removed from the soil in two ways, (1) by evaporation, and (2) by being absorbed by the roots of growing plants. What is lost by evapora- tion is wasted as far as crops are concerned. Tillage for conserving capillary moisture. — All loos- ening of the soil increases its absorbing power, and thus causes rain to soak into the ground instead of running off along the top. The deeper the plowing the greater this ef- fect will be. Fall plowing, by opening the soil for the ab- 478 AGRICULTURE AND sorption of the winter snows, adds to the amount of soil water. The most effective tillage for conserving capillary water, however, is the frequent cultivation during the growing sea- son which results in a fine soil mulch over the surface. To see the truth of this, make the following experiment : Effect of a soil mulch. — Fill two glasses nearly full of the same soil ; if the soil is dry, add an equal amount of water to each, making the soil fairly damp, but not soaked ; pack them equally by striking the glass gently down on the table. Now put a half inch of fine, dry road dust over the top of one, leaving the other without covering. Set the two glasses side by side, and note the time it requires for each to dry out by losing its capillary water through evapora- tion. The fine mulch made by frequent harrowings and culti- vations has precisely the same effect on our fields. In dry regions summer fallowing is used for the purpose of col- lecting a supply of capillary water. Whatever rain falls is saved by keeping the surface covered with a fine soil mulch, and what moisture is drawn up toward the surface from the ground water by capillary attraction is also conserved for the crop that is to follow. Soil Drainage Necessary as water is to plants, however, much of our soil needs drainage to rid it of an oversupply of free or gravitational water. There are some eighty million acres of marsh lands in the United States. The greater part of this THE FARMING BUSINESS 479 The riglit kind of mulch for moisture conservation is granular — that is, the dirt should not be pulverized too finely. The wrong Icind of mulch. The ground is almost dust. Such mulch blows away easily. The granular mulch rained up- on and left standing for a number of days. Observe that the ground is cracking and that moisture is escaping through these cracks. The crust can be easily broken. Dust mulch rained upon and left standing in the hot sun. Note that the crust has cracked, and that the moist- ure is escaping very rapidly. It is impossible to work up this seed bed properly. 480 AGRICULTURE AND Undisked stubble plowed. Ob- serve that the ground is turned up in lumps; that there are open spaces at the bottom of the furrow which prevent the close compact- ness of the lower portion of the turned furrow with the soil beneath. Disked stubble plowed. The mulch formed by the disk harrow fills up the open spaces at the bottom of the furrow, thereby forming a close connection with the sub- surface. d ^^^^ m m S ^^^ W^^^^ gP; ^^ ' ^-'^'^ ^^^^ w -I- i m- This illustration represents the This illustration represents the field above treated with a pegtooth harrow after plow- ing. The surface is in com- paratively good condition, but the bottom is not compact. field above harrowed with a pegtooth harrow. The air spaces are still at the bottom of the furrow. THE FARMING BUSINESS 481 waste territory would make excellent farm land if properly drained. But perhaps fully as important Is the occasional small piece of wet ground on farms now under tillage. In cer- tain regions there is hardly a farm that does not have its low marshy places where crops drown out in wet times, or which are allowed to lie without cultivation. In nearly all cases this land could be made the equal of the remainder of the farm by drainage and proper management. Surface drainage. — Surface drainage is never so thorough and satisfactory as underdrainage, yet it will often improve conditions enough to pay. By surface drainage is meant the opening of runs or ditches to allow the escape of surface water that otherwise would stand on the soil, flood over lower ground, or percolate down to add to the gravitational water already in the subsoil. Low ground is sometimes plowed in narrow strips, the frequent dead furrows allowing surface drainage. If there is a slight slope and the furrows can open freely at the end, this will prove of great benefit. Where such simple drain- age will not serve, it is sometimes necessary to construct open ditches, though these should give way to underdrain- age when this Is possible. For underdrainage Is under most conditions a more successful way of removing the water, and it saves much loss of ground and the cutting up of fields. Making surface drains. — Surface runs which are only required to remove surplus water during flood seasons may be made one and one-half feet deep and ten feet wide at the 482 AGRICULTURE AND top at a cost of about twenty-five cents a rod, using a road grader for the excavating. Such shallow runs are often seeded, and the edges leveled oflf and cultivated, thus avoid- ing waste of land. Open ditches of this kind are often de- sirable in connection with underdrainage. They also serve as eaves-troughs to prevent flood water of surrounding uplands from entering lower areas. '^>^^//^''Xf/^//^/^.;¥/^'y. V ' Section of common tile drain. a. Ditch prepared for tile. b. Tile hook and wooden rim for laying in. c. Tile draining scoop. Deeper ditches are required when the main drain is to receive the discharge of lateral drains. The size and depth will depend on the territory to be drained, and the fall of the ditch. In the Middle West, open ditches, many of them miles in length, are being constructed, each farm served paying its share of the expense. Open lateral ditches or THE FARMING BUSINESS 483 underground tile then empty into this main drain. Under average conditions, the cost of opening a ditch seven feet deep and twenty feet wide at the top by means of a dredging machine has been about one thousand dollars a mile. Underdrainage. — Underdrainage has the advantage of carrying off the ground water to any desired depth. This is an important matter in the growth of most crops. For where the level of ground water is near the surface, plants will not strike their roots deep in the soil, but spread them out near the top. This leaves the crop at the mercy of drought later in the season, when the upper layers of soil dry out. Deep rooting is also necessary to make full use of the plant food of the soil. Tile underdrains. — Burnt clay and cement are the materials chiefly used for underdrains in most regions. These materials are made into cylinders from three to thir- ty-six inches in diameter, and from twelve to thirty inches in length. For lateral drains, tiles four or five inches in diameter are most used. The main outlet drain usually requires tiles from eight to twelve inches. Moderately heavy clay soils require laterals about four rods apart to carry off the rainfall. If the subsoil is sandy, the laterals. may be as much as eight rods apart. Sometimes the marshiness of a piece of ground is caused by seepage leading to it from some higher area. In this case, there should be a line of tile at the edge of the lower ground to receive the seepage. Several lines of parallel drains are more economical than one central line into which diagonal laterals run. This is 484 AGRICULTURE AND because with parallel drains there is less area receiving double drainage. Several parallel lines can often be car- ried into one line of larger tile, and all discharge through the same outlet, thus saving trouble and expense. Depth of tile. — Tile should be placed deep enough that the level of ground v^ater will not stand too near the surface, and yet not too deep to carry ofif the gravita- tional water without allowing it to stay too long in the soil. In clay subsoil the most common depth is about three feet. In partially sandy subsoils, the depth may be fou*- feet. All tile meant to catch seepage should be as deep as four feet. Gradient, or fall. — The larger tiles may be laid with a fall of an inch to one hundred feet. Laterals should have from two to three times this much fall. Lines for catching seepage should have still greater slope; as much as five inches to one hundred feet, if this is possible. Cost of tiling. — The cost of tiling will, of course, vary with the size of tile used, the depth it is laid, and the character of the soil. The average cost under normal con- ditions is about as shown in the following table: Depth til e is laid Size of tile 3 feet 4 feet 5 feet 6 feet 4 inch $ .30 $ .50 $ .80 $1.25 5 inch .35 .55 .85 1.30 6 inch .40 .60 .90 1.38 8 inch .45 .65 .95 1.40 10 inch .50 .70 1.00 1.45 12 inch .55 .75 1.05 1.50 THE FARMING BUSINESS 485 ':^D£^c-c/rKa7/7e, _z Fig. 1. System of drainage with double-drained area. Fig. 2 Minimum area of double- drained laud. Fi?. 3. Kandom drainage system will not give the desired results. 486 AGRICULTURE AND The United States Department of Agriculture offers the following advice concerning drainage: Placing the Tiling. — On rolling lands where only oc- casional wet spots are to be drained the random system (Fig. 3) is commonly used. On level lands needing arti- ficial drainage a uniform system (Figs. 1 and 2) must be planned that will provide drains for the entire area. The most economical arrangement of such a system is one which permits the use of long laterals and requires the shortest total length of main drains. The advantage of this ar- rangement is shown graphically by Figures 1 and 2, in which the systems drain equal areas. The cost of pur- chasing and putting in the tile is, however, considerably greater for the system shown in Figure 2. Size of the Tiles. — No hard and fast rule can be given for determining the sizes of tile to be used. Drains should be large enough to remove the surplus water before the crops are injured, even after a heavy rainfall in continued wet weather. It is better to use sizes too large than too small, and no .tile less than four inches inside diameter should be used. In the Middle West the tendency is to use nothing smaller than five-inch tile. The mains should be large enough to take the flow from the laterals. Actual practise has shown that for the dark silt loams of Illinois and Iowa, where the average annual rainfall is approximately thirty-six inches, eight-inch tile having a fall of two inches in one hundred feet will pro- vide outlet drainage for forty acres, seven-inch tile for thirty acres, six-inch tile for nineteen acres, five-inch tile THE FARMING BUSINESS 487 for ten acres, and four-inch tile for six acres. On stiff soil with equal rainfall the same-sized outlets will be adequate, but on the level soils of the South Atlantic and gulf states where the annual rainfall is approximately fifty inches, only about one-half the areas named above can be drained with tile of these sizes. 488 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XXX MANURES AS FERTILIZERS THE term manure was originally used to include any- thing- which, when appHed to the soil, increased its productivity. Thus, George Washington "manured" his thin Mount Vernon acres with the rich muck from the over- flow of the Potomac. The Romans and Greeks "manured" their land with chalk, marl and wood ashes. The word ma- nure is now generally used in practical American agricul- ture to include (1) farm manure, such as comes from the barnyard ; and (2) green manure or crops such as legumes plowed under to increase soil fertility. Value of Farm Manure The various classes of farm manures are described by Doctor H. J. Wheeler, of the Rhode Island State College, as follows : "The term 'farm manure' covers properly the dung of all the domestic animals kept on the farm, includ- ing the customary litter, night-soil, peat, muck, leaf mold, other vegetable refuse, and composts. Barnyard manure, as usually understood, relates to the Mung' of neat cattle with the usual litter. Stable manure is a term at present more commonly applied to the 'dung' and 'litter' from horse stables." THE FARMING BUSINESS 489 Value of manure. — One of the best evidences of good farm management is a well-kept manure heap and its care- ful distribution to the fields. It has been estimated by experts that if animals are kept in stalls or pens throughout the year, given a reasonable amount of litter for bedding and all the manure saved, the annual value of the manure from each animal will be : horses or mules, twenty-seven dollars ; cattle, twenty dollars ; hogs, eight dollars ; sheep, two dollars. Differently stated, the value of the manure produced during the seven winter months on a farm keep- ing four horses, twenty cows, fifty sheep and ten hogs would be at least two hundred and fifty dollars. These figures are based on the cost of an equal amount of com- mercial fertilizer. The immense value of farm manure to our soils is not yet fully realized. Said Doctor C. G. Hopkins, "If corn were to sell at one dollar and five cents a bushel, the aggregate corn crop would then be worth approximately what the aggregate crop of manure is worth each year." Manure and fertility. — Because manure is so valuable and the maintenance of fertility so difficult, every care should be taken to get the most possible out of the barn- yard manures. Even the best that can be done with it, all the manure that can be produced on a farm will not wholly return to the land what the crops take from it. While feeding farm crops to animals and returning the manure to the soil is far ahead of selling the crops off the farm, this process is also in a sense wasteful of fertility. It has been carefully estimated that domestic animals pro- 490 AGRICULTURE AND duce for our tables only about twenty per cent, of the food value they themselves eat, thus wasting four-fifths of what they consume from the soil. No wonder that meat is an expensive food, available to the common people only in favored countries like our own. Hundreds of millions of people, in many parts of the world, are compehed to live on a vegetable diet alone so as to save this wastage. Whether the American nation shall finally come to this condition will depend in no small degree on the faithfulness and skill with which the animal wastage is returned to the soil. Manurial value of farm crops. — While Ii is true that not all the fertility taken from the soil by farm crops can be returned by using the manure from the feeding of crops, no small portion of it can. The manurial value of different farm products, based on the cost of commercial fertilizers, is shown in the following table: (Fanners' Bulletin 193, United States Department of Agriculture.) Value as fertilizer in one ton of farm products. Product Nitrogen Phosphoric acid Potash Total Meadow hay $ 3.47 6.83 8.35 17.87 23.06 6.38 6.21 5.62 $ 0.57 .78 3.82 2.25 3.96 1.11 .87 .83 $ 1.06 1.46 1.14 .99 1.17 .42 .35 .30 $ 5.10 Clover hay _ 9.07 Wheat bran 13.31 Linseed meal Cottonseed meal Wheat 21.11 28.16 7.91 Oats — 7.43 Corn 6.75 We see from this table that the farmer who sells a ton of meadow hay loses from his farm fertilizer value THE FARMING BUSINESS 491 that would cost about five dollars if purchased in commer- cial form. If he sells clover hay, he loses almost as much value in fertilizer as his hay brings him. If he pays twenty dollars a ton for wheat bran he gets over thirteen dollars' worth of fertilizer, leaving the feeding cost about seven dollars, Bacterial value of manure. — Of course It is evident that these values will not be obtained from the feeding of farm crops unless the manure is carefully saved and prop- erly used. Not only has manure great chemical value be- cause of supplying the elements needed in plant growth, but it has bacterial value as well. For manure contains an enormous number of bacteria, many of which aid in plant growth. The excrement of all animals Is swarming with micro-organisms, many kinds of which are necessary to plant growth. It is calculated that as many as one hun- dred millions of these may be found in a single grain of offal. Certain conditions affect the value of manure. In gen- eral, the manure of mature animals has greater fertilizing value than that of young animals. The manure of animals that are fed chiefly on grains, milk or other rich foods is richer than that of animals living on grass or roughage containing but little nitrogen. Preventing Loss from Manure It is not to be forgotten that the liquid excretions of animals possess as high manurial value as the solid portions. Any plan for conserving the value of farm manure must 492 AGRICULTURE AND therefore provide for saving the hquid as weh as the solid part. Although there is a steady and unavoidable loss from manure when it is exposed to the air, the greatest sources of loss under general farm conditions are two: (1) fermen- tation, or heating, which reduces the supply of nitrogen; and (2) weathering, or leaching from rains, in which all the valuable elements suflfer great losses. Controlling fermentation. — The fermentation of ma- nure is caused by two different kinds of bacteria, one of which works near the outskirts of the heap where there is air, and one deeper down where the air is excluded. A certain degree of fermentation is necessary to the best rotting of the manure, yet overheating, or the "fire- fanging" so common in horse and sheep manure, greatly reduces its value. The rapidity of fermentation can be controlled in part by packing. If the heap is too loosely built, the air-working bacteria become active, the heat grows intense and nitrogen and humus-making material are lost. On the other hand, if the heap is packed too closely, the decomposition is slow and the manure does not have the best effect when spread on the soil. Frequent sprinkling with water will aid in checking too rapid fermentation. With some classes of farm stock, as beef cattle, or horses running in open sheds, tlie "deep-stall" method is a satisfactory way of collecting the manure. Under this plan the manure is simply allowed to accumulate in the sheds or stalls until it has reached one, two, or more feet in depth, THE FARMING BUSINESS 493 when it is removed and spread at once upon the soil. The close trampling serves to reduce the amount of wastage. Of course the matter of cleanliness and hygiene is to be taken into account. For obvious reasons this method would not be suitable for dairy cows. During the warm season, such places are also a breeding place for flies. Preventing leaching. — Great loss is suffered from leaching when manure is exposed to the weather. It has been found that six months' leaching of horse manure re- duces its value fully one-half. The custom, once rather prevalent, of throwing the manure out under the eaves of the barn, where it would not only be exposed to the rains, but also to the water from the roof, is so wasteful as to have nothing to commend it. The remedy lies in collecting manure under cover, so that it is not exposed to leaching. It should also be pro- vided with a water-proof kit and floor for the heap, so that the liquid parts may not drain away into the soil. The profits from open-yard, badly leached manure are so small as hardly to pay for spreading it on the field. It is a care- less, shiftless method of farming that allows this great waste, so easily prevented. Old piles of manure that have been lying for several years while the land has been sufifer- ing for want of its help are a poor advertisement for the farmer and surely an eyesore and a nuisance. The Application of Manure No general rule can be given for the application of manure to the soil. The mOst common European practise 494 AGRICULTURE AND is to use it as a top-dressing. With thoroughly rotted manures, especially if the application can soon be followed by harrowing or disking, there is probably no better way. Where the manure must be applied without rotting, this will of course not work. Economical distribution of labor also demands that the manure be handled at some other time than when the soil is just ready for the crop. The custom The wrong way to handle barnyard manures. on most farms is therefore to distribute the manure in the fall or early spring and then plow it under. Right and wrong methods. — For heavy soils, which need to be made porous by the addition of vegetable matter, it is well to spread manure on the field fresh from the stalls without waiting for it to rot. It should not, however, be allowed to lie long before being plowed under, as much of THE FARMING BUSINESS 495 its strength is lost in this way. For all lighter soils, and especially such as have a tendency to dry out, the manure should be rotted before being applied. Throwing the manure in heaps on the field and later spreading it is not good practise. For here also the leach- ing takes place. Some of the best elements of the manure The better way. Manure carrier and spreader. are drained into the ground immediately under the heap, and some are lost by passing off into the air. The most economical and satisfactory method of spreading man- ure is by use of the manure spreader. This machine saves labor, and distributes the manure more evenly than is pos- sible by hand. The amount of manure to be used will depend on the strength of the manure and the condition of the soil. Five tons to the acre is a light application, ten or twelve tons average, and twenty tons a heavy application. 496 AGRICULTURE AND Green Manuring Meaning of green manuring. — By green manuring is meant plowing under any green crop for the purpose of im- proving the soil. Green manures improve the soil both by adding to its fertility and bettering its physical condition. Hogs in clover. After pasturing, this clover will be turned under as green manure. If the soil is light and sandy, green manure prevents it from drying out. On heavy clay soil green manure has cjuite the opposite effect, because of admitting the air, loosening the soil and improving its drainage. Green manure crops. — For most purposes the best green manure crops are the nitrogen gatherers already dis- cussed — the clovers, alfalfa, cow-peas, soy-beans, the vetches and other legumes. Rye, buckwheat, rape and turnips are THE FARMING BUSINESS 497 among other crops used as green manures. This group, however, lacks the advantage of gathering nitrogen. Green manuring must be practised if we are to maintain our soil fertility. Barnyard manure can not be excelled as far as it goes. But it does not go far enough. For example, they tell us that there are animals enough in the state of Illinois to produce but one and one-half tons of man- ure annually for each acre of farmed land in that state. This Is, of course, much less than is required to compen- sate for the drain upon the soil from the growing of crops. The great value of green crops turned under as manure is seen in the fact that one ton of clover plowed under will return as much organic matter to the soil as will be supplied from three tons of clover fed to animals, even if none of the manure were wasted. The same truth will hold in gen- eral for other green crops, such as cow-peas, alfalfa, or soy- beans. 498 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XXXI THE USE OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS ALTHOUGH proper systems of manuring and rotation Lof crops will insure fertility on naturally good soil for many years, the land will finally become exhausted under normal treatment. This is for the simple reason that the crops remove from the soil each year more of the elements necessary to their growth than are returned to it. The de- ficiency must finally be made up if permanent fertility is to be maintained. This is accomplished by supplementing manuring and rotation with what are called the commercial fertilisers. Importance of Commercial Fertilizers The use of commercial fertilizers plays an important part in the production of crops in most European countries. Through their use farm crops in some countries are in general on the increase, while in large regions of our own country they have decreased. For example, the Director General of Agriculture for Holland gives the following table showing the increase of staple crops in that country during a period of sixty years : AVERAGE YIELD PER HECTARE IN HECTOLITRES 1851-1860 1891-1900 1906-1908 Wheat 19.3 24.9 32.4 Rye 18.0 21.0 23.0 Barley 32.8 41.8 46.5 Oats 32.4 42.8 50.0 Potatoes 120.0 181.0 211.0 THE FARMING BUSINESS 499 The Director General attributes this increase to the use of commercial fertilisers combined with better selection of seed, manuring and improved tillage. Increased yields in England. — England has during the last eighty years succeeded in increasing her yield of wheat in certain regions by about eighty per cent,, the larg- est single factor, as judged by their agricultural experts, being the use of commercial fertilizers. England now se- cures an average of thirty-two bushels of wheat to the acre as against about fourteen bushels in the United States. Increase in Germany. — Professor Von Seelhorst, of the Royal Agricultural Experiment Station of Gottinger, writing to Doctor C. G. Hopkins concerning the increase of crop yield in Germany, says: "I believe that the prin- cipal increase of the harvest is to be attributed in part to the application of artificial 'fertilizers themselves and in part to their combination with green manures. Through the application of the two the yield upon the average has been doubled on our common light soils. In some cases the yield has even been increased two and one-half to three fold. Clay soils become tillable to a greater degree when applications of artificial fertilizers are made. In general, I assume that of the one hundred per cent, increase in the yield, fifty per cent, can be attributed to the use of artificial fertilizers, twenty-five per cent, to better tillage, fifteen per cent, to the use of better seed, ten per cent, to better crop rotation." Increase in France. — In France, where there has been a similar increase in yield, the Minister of Agriculture es- 500 AGRICULTURE AND timates that the effects of farm manures and artificial fer- tilizers together account for from fifty to seventy per cent, of the increase, better tillage from fifteen to thirty per cent, and seed selection from five to tv^enty per cent. Italy, following the example of England, Germany and France, uses large amounts of commercial fertilizers. In 1907 Italy, w^ith an area only about twice the size of Illinois, used over one million tons of phosphorus, ninety thousand tons of nitrogen fertilizers, and nearly eight thousand tons of potassium salts. Germany did buy large quantities of phos- phates from the United States and other countries. We must use commercial fertilizers. — That the United States must follow the example of these older countries there can be no doubt. The pressing necessity is that we shall come to a realization of this fact before our soil is further depleted. Speaking on this point. Doctor Hopkins says: "Do you ask how the smaller European countries, such as England and Germany, maintain their crop yields at a point about double the average of the United States? In large part by the application of American fertility which we export in foodstuffs and in phosphate rock. England raises 50,000,000 bushels of wheat and imports 200,000,000 of wheat, 100,000,000 of corn, 800,000,000 pounds of oil cake, and other foodstuffs, and great quantities of phosphate from the United States and other countries. Germany raises 125,000,000 bushels of wheat, but Germany consumes 200,- 000,000 bushels of wheat, and imports, besides, 40,000,000 bushels of corn, more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of oil cake THE FARMING BUSINESS 501 and some other foodstuffs, large amounts of phosphate, etc. ; while her principal export is 2,000,000,000 pounds of sugar, which contains absolutely no plant food of value. Denmark produces 4,000,000 bushels of wheat and, in addi- tion, imports 5,000,000 bushels of wheat, 15,000,000 bushels of corn, 800,000,000 pounds of oil cake, and large quanti- ties of phosphate; while Denmark exports, principally, 175,000,000 pounds of butter, which contains practically no plant food of value. Belgium raises 12,000,000 bushels of wheat and imports 60,000,000 bushels." Increased use of commercial fertilizers. — Commercial fertilizers have long been used in a small way, but it is only recently that they are coming to be employed on a large scale. The farmers of the United States are now paying out considerably more than $100,000,000 a year for such fertilizers. There are at present more than five hundred manufacturers selling the various fertilizing products. Since, as we have seen, only three of the elements neces- sary to plant production are likely to run short, commercial fertilizers are commonly limited to these three — nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Lime, though not strictly a fertilizer, is often, because of its beneficial effects on the soil, treated as a fertilizer. Commercial Phosphorus Fertilisers Phosphorus has been called the "key to permanent agri- culture in the United States." While there is probably no one "key," it is nevertheless true that phosphorus must finally be added in sufficient quantities to make up the 502 AGRICULTURE AND difference between what phosphorus is removed from the soil by crops and what is returned in the form of farm manure. In regions where grain is sold from the farm the problem becomes all the more acute, since about three- fourths of the phosphorus used by the plant goes to the grain. And large quantities of grain must always, of course, be sold from the farms in order to feed the people and ani- mals who live in towns and cities. Forms of Commercial Phosphorus Fertilizers. — Phos- phorus fertilizers are supplied commercially in the form (1) of the bones of animals killed at the slaughter- houses; (2) of mineral deposits in phosphate rock; immense beds of which are found in Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Montana; and (3) of slag from the furnaces where certain ores containing phos- phorus are smelted. Bone phosphate is sold either as ground bone, which is raw bone ground up ; or bone meal, which is made by grind- ing after the bones have been steamed under high pressure to remove the fats and oils. Mineral phosphate is sold in two forms: (1) that first treated with sulphuric acid, and (2) the natural rock finely ground. The first form has the advantage of being more immediately available for plant use. The second form is considerably less expensive and, when mixed with organic matter like some form of manure, proves equally as valu- able as the more expensive compound. Native mineral phosphate. — The supply of high-grade phosphate has been thought by experts to be limited in this THE FARMING BUSINESS 503 country. Discoveries of beds of high-grade phosphate in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana have been welcomed with great satisfaction, and serve to reUeve the apprehension caused by the rapid exhaustion of the phosphate fields in eastern states. The discovery of great phosphate fields in northern Africa turns the European demand in that di- rection, thus serving further to conserve our supply for domestic use. There is no doubt that some form of phosphorus ferti- lizer could be applied with profit to thousands of farms in nearly all parts of the United States. The intelligent farmer will, however, not guess, but will find out, either by his own investigation or by consulting with agricultural experts at experiment stations and colleges acquainted with local con- ditions, what the needs of the soil are and what form of phosphates is most economical and best adapted to the requirements. Effects of phosphate fertilizers. — The effects of the application of phosphate to depleted soil is shown in an experiment on a run-down Wisconsin farm where a portion of a field was treated with three hundred pounds of acid phosphate to the acre and then planted to corn. The re- mainder of the field was planted to corn without the appli- cation of phosphate and both plats given the same tillage. The increase from the phosphate is shown in the fact that when cut^ the corn and stover from the treated plat weighed two and three-fourths times as much per acre as from the untreated. At the Ashland, Wisconsin, Experiment Station, a test 504 AGRICULTURE AND . was made to determine the effect of phosphorus fertilizers on heavy red clay as a supplement to manure. The crop raised was potatoes. With manure alone the yield was eighty-seven bushels per acre, and with rock phosphate added to the manure, one hundred twenty-eight bushels. In raising rutabagas the yield with manure was one hun- dred eight bushels, and with manure and phosphate one hundred thirty-seven bushels. The following table shows the effect of phosphorus fertilizer in a three-year rotation of crops on average clay loam soil of Ohio, as determined by Director Thorne, of the Ohio Experiment Station : Yi elds per A( :re Treatment Corn, Wheat, Hay, 10 years 10 years 6 years Bus, Bus. Lbs. None 35 51 10 18 2,000 Manure 2,400 Manure and acid phosphate 60 25 3,500 Manure and rock phosphate 60 24 3,800 Cost of Phosphorus Fertilizers. — The determination of what form of phosphorus fertilizers to use rests on (1) availability of supply, (2) cost, and (3) adaptability to soil conditions. Bone meal. — Ground steamed bone meal containing about twenty-eight per cent, of phosphoric acid costs from twenty-two to twenty-five dollars a ton at a central market like Chicago. This is the form usually best adapted for marsh soils or for upland clay loams that have become acid. It has the advantage that it becomes available to plant use more rapidly than the raw rock form. When used as a sup- THE FARMING BUSINESS 505 plement to manure in a four-year crop rotation it should be applied at the rate of from two hundred to three hundred pounds to the acre every fourth year. A convenient way to apply it, especially if a manure spreader is used, is to spread a proportionate amount on top of each load of manure as it goes to the field. Rock phosphate. — Raw rock phosphate contains from twenty-three to twenty-eight per cent, of phosphoric acid. It varies in cost from three to five dollars a ton, at the mines, to which freight charges must be added. The rock is finely ground so that about ninety per cent, of it will pass through a sixty-mesh screen. This is the cheapest form of phosphate on the market, at least for regions where dis- tance from the mines does not make freight charges exces- sive. On clay soils that have become considerably exhausted the first application should be at the rate of about half a ton to the acre. After that, if manure is used, about one hundred pounds to the acre each year will maintain the soil phosphorus under average conditions. An excellent way to apply rock phosphate is to mix it with the litter of the stable. It readily absorbs the elements of the manure and is distributed to the soil without extra labor. Care must of course be used to get the right amount for a given quantity of manure. A little experience will make this easily possible. Acid phosphate. — This form of phosphate is prepared either from rock phosphate or steamed bone, by combining the raw phosphate with sulphuric acid. The acid changes the phosphorus into a form more easily absorbed by plants 506 AGRICULTURE AND and the acid phosphate will show its effects more quickly than raw rock phosphate. Because of this fact it is often best to make the initial application in acid phosphate form, both to test the need of phosphate and to secure earlier returns from its use. From three hundred to three hundred and fifty pounds per acre is an average application of acid phosphate. It should be worked well into the soil before planting the crop. The Use of Lime on Soils Lime can hardly be called a fertilizer, since it does not contain any of the elements in which the soil is generally lacking. Yet because of its action on certain other elements of the soil it is necessary to plant production. When lime does not already exist in the soil it must be added in com- mercial form if the fertility of the soil is to be maintained. The purpose of lime is to cure the soil of its acid condition. Acid soils. — All soils have a tendency to become sour, or acid. This acidity comes about in several different ways : in the decay of organic matter in the soil, certain acids are produced ; hence the soils rich in humus are likely to be acid. Plant roots give off acid in the process of their growth, and this acid remains in the soil. The action of the nitrifying bacteria also adds to the acidity of the soil. Heavy non-porous clay soils which do not allow the en- trance of fresh air are usually sour. The degree of acidity of soils can be judged (1) by the refusal of certain plants to groiv in them ; for example, the legumes will not thrive in acid soils, and the failure of clover THE FARMING BUSINESS 507 or alfalfa to do well should arouse a suspicion of too much acid. (2) The presence of such weeds as sheep-sorrel, horsetail rush, corn spurry and wood horsetail indicate acid. (3) Blue litmus paper turns red when placed in con- tact with a soil containing acid. (4) Other tests are used in various sections. Liming acid soils. — Lime is a certain remedy for acid soils. In some regions, especially where limestone abounds, the natural supply of lime in the soil is sufficient to overcome the surplus acid. In other regions, lime needs to be applied in commercial form. This is the only cure for acid soil within reach of the farmer. Nearly all prairie soil is in some degree acid, especially on slopes where leaching of the soil has carried away the original deposits of lime, and wherever large supplies of humus have formed from the decay of organic matter. Thousands of acres of acid land would well repay the cost of liming by increased yields. Llany farmers now look on liming as a regular and necessary requirement. Of course lime should not be applied unless needed, but the tests are so simple that this is easily determined. Forms of lime used. — Lime is available for applica- tion to the soil in several forms: (1) Quicklime, or lime ready for use in making plaster, when finely ground may be applied at the rate of about one ton to the acre. (2) Air- slacked lime, or ordinary lime that has been exposed to the air, is an excellent form, and may be applied at the rate of two or more tons to tlie acre. (3) Ground or finely crushed limestone direct from the quarries is widely used 508 AGRICULTURE AND in regions where it is easily obtainable. From one to two tons to the acre will usually correct the acidity. The form of lime to be used will depend chiefly on which is most easily available and cheapest. The amount required is determined by the degree of acidity in the soil. Commercial Potassium Fertilisers Potassium fertilizers are available in several commercial forms, none of which is produced in large quantity in this country. The potash mines of Germany have been the chief source of supply. The crude potash may be used on the soil directly as mined, or it may be made into more concentrated form. It is usually sold commercially as a fertilizer (1) as muriate of potash, (2) as saltpeter of potash, and (3) as kainit. German potash mines. — The German mines of potash salts are one of the most valuable natural resources pos- sessed by any nation. They were discovered many years ago, and were at first considered merely an obstacle in the way of producing common salt. About half a century ago the value of potash salts began to be understood and many companies were formed to operate the German mines. The supply there seems practically inexhaustible. It is evident, of course, that shipping so great a dis- tance will make potassium much more expensive to the American farmers than if we had our own deposits. No investigations have as yet, however, located any important deposits of potassium salts except in Germany and a few in Austria. THE FARMING BUSINESS 509 The crude potassium salts may be used directly as mined, or they may undergo a process of concentration. The chief of the crude potassium fertilizers is kainit, which contains eleven to thirteen per cent, of potassium. The concentrated forms, such as muriate and sulphate contain from forty-five to fifty per cent, of potassium. Kainit is used extensively in Europe, but less in this country, owing to freight charges. Its chief use here has been in making up compounds called "complete" com- mercial fertilizers. Because of its depressing effect on the production of starch and sugar in certain plants, kainit is to be avoided in the raising of sugar beets, tobacco and potatoes intended f»r the manufacture of starch. The use of potassium. — A shortage of potassium in the soil affects some plants more than others. The size of the grain in wheat and other cereals is lessened by a lack of potassium. Clover and timothy will die out on soils very deficient in potassium, while red-top is less affected by the shortage. It is also thought that certain plant diseases, as in potatoes and other crops, are much more severe in the absence of sufficient potassium. On the other hand, there is strong evidence that the application of potas- sium where it Is not needed may even result in positive in- jury to the crop. Both because of this fact and the high cost of potassium fertilizers it is best to secure expert ad- vice before deciding on its application. Potassium is not easily leached from the soil and may therefore be applied at any convenient time of the year. Enough may even be used at one application to serve for 510 AGRICULTURE AND several crops. The quantity needed will, of course, depend on the amount already in the soil and on the crop to be raised. From one hundred to two hundred pounds to the acre is an average application for a crop of small grain, while a truck crop may require as much as three hundred pounds. Other sources of potash production.— Aside from the potash mines of Germany the greatest known sources of potassium salts are various forms of sea-weeds found growing over great areas especially along the Pacific coast of the United States. Owing to troubles with the German potash producers, and the derangements growing out of the European war, extensive and promising experiments have been made in producing potassium from kelp and other forms of marine plants. This is not a new idea, as sea-weeds have been used for this purpose in Spain, Sicily and other countries of Europe for many years. More common sources of supply for potassium are wood ashes, which may contain as much as ten or twelve per cent. of potash, and lime-kiln ashes, which contain much less potash than wood ashes. The ashes from cotton-seed hulls are relatively rich in potash and make a good fertilizer. Corn cobs are also rich in potash and have great fertilizing value, as do tobacco stems. Commercial Nitrogen Fertilizers Nitrogen is the most expensive of the three essential fertilizers. Commercial nitrogen fertilizer is sold chiefly in four different forms: (1) nitrate of soda (Chile salt- THE FARMING BUSINESS 511 peter) ; (2) sulphate of ammonia, which is a by-product of the manufacture of coke and gas; (3) dried blood, ground or steamed hone, or other animal products from packing houses ; (4) caleium nitrate, produced from the air by electricity. The nitrogen fertiHzers cost from fifteen to fifty cents a pound. Instead of depending on them the intelligent farmer will therefore use every effort to maintain the supply of nitrogen in his soil through the use of farm manures and the nitrogen-fixing legumes, occasionally plozving tinder a crop of clover, alfalfa, cow-peas, vetches or soy-beans. Where these can be grown successfully, there will be little need to buy nitrogen ; it can be obtained from the seventy million pounds of free nitrogen in the atmosphere above each and every acre. Use of commercial nitrogen. — Yet in many instances it will pay to add some form of commercial nitrogen fer- tilizer. This is especially true m the production of truck crops which will respond to a forcing process. The grass crops also respond well to the use of artificial nitrogen. Nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia is usually applied at the rate of from one hundred pounds to two hundred pounds per acre, although certain truck crops may require more. To save leaching the fertilizer is often used in two or more applications during the growing season. Dried blood or steamed bone is commonly applied in quantities varying between two hundred and four hundred pounds to the acre. In maintaining the nitrogen in soils it must not be for- 512 AGRICULTURE AND gotten that an acid condition is hostile to all nitrifying legumes, and that this condition is to be remedied by liming. The continued application of sulphate of ammonia tends to produce soil acidity. This form of fertilizer should there- fore usually be accompanied by the use of lime. The application of commercial fertilizers. — Because commercial fertilizers are expensive, and also for the reason that the application of a fertilizer when it is not needed may do positive harm, the advice of the county agricultural agent or some other agricultural leader of the state should be sought before purchasing. An agriculturist, after a survey of your soil, may be able not only to suggest the best kind for local needs, but also the amount that should be used. THE FARMING BUSINESS 513 CHAPTER XXXII FARM ANIMALS AND AGRICULTURE FARM animals form one of the most important sources of wealth in the nation. The five most important groups of animals, ranked according to their market value, are horses, cattle, hogs, mules and sheep. If these animals should all be sold, they would bring the enormous sum of nearly six billion dollars, or sixty dollars for every man, woman and child in the United States. Work Animals Farm animals serve several important uses: (1) they provide food for man, (2) they work for him, and (3) they supply various useful products. The total market value of the working animals, horses and mules, is slightly greater than that of the food producing group, cattle, sheep and hogs. Using animals for work. — Centuries ago man had not yet domesticated the animals and trained them to work for him. Since the uses of steam and electricity had not been discovered, all labor had to be done by men themselves. The implements used for cultivating the soil were all crude and ineffective, and could only be operated by hand. It 514 AGRICULTURE AND then required much more time and effort to secure a living by agriculture than it does now. One of the greatest lines of progress in America has been the substitution of animal and machine power for man power in doing farm work. In this we are far ahead of Colt judging contest at a Wright County commuuity festival. most other nations, even those of Europe. For example, we have in the United States almost twenty-five million horses, or approximately one to every four persons. In France, one horse has to serve ten people ; in Germany, thirteen, and in Great Britain, twenty-six. Saving in time by work of animals. — The use of work THE FARMING BUSINESS 515 animals has resulted in great saving of time. It has been estimated that in 1830 each bushel of wheat grown in the United States required three hours of a man's time; it now requires less than ten minutes. In 1850 it took a man four and one-half hours on an average to grow, harvest and shell a bushel of corn ; it now requires less than forty min- utes. The greater part of this saving has come through the use of improved farm machinery drawn by horses or mules. Where the peasants of European countries use shovels, hoes, scythes or other primitive implements, we employ gang-plows, disk harrows, auto trucks and self-binders. The great saving in human energy and time growing out of this difference is seen when it is remembered that one horse hitched to modern machinery can do the work of at least ten men with hand tools. Many an American boy with his four-horse team is therefore accomplishing the labor of forty European peasants with their hand work and poor implements. The animals used for work. — Among the various ani- mals that men have trained to work for them are horses, cattle, mules, buffalo, reindeer, camels, dogs, and even sheep, goats and elephants. No animals, except horses, mules and cattle, have ever been extensively used for farm work in this country. The use of oxen for work has now been almost wholly discontinued. During recent years, horses and mules have found a com- petitor in the automobile and the traction-engine. Thousands of farmers now own their cars, and the gasoline tractor is 516 AGRICULTURE AND a common sight on many of the larger western farms. In spite of these facts, however, the number of horses and mules on our farms is constantly increasing, and the mar- ket for them is growing better and more uniform. The price of work animals is considerably higher than it was when automobiles and traction-engines began to come into use. Horses will always have an important place in the economy of the farm. Animals That Supply Food ' Meat and other animal products form a very important part of our food supply. Even vegetarians, who are op- posed to the eating of flesh, depend largely on such foods as butter, eggs and milk. Meat as food. — A great proportion of all our farm crops goes to the feeding of meat proaucing animals. The most progressive nations of the world are those that in ad- dition to fruit and vegetables for the diet make much use of their domestic animals in supplying food prod- ucts. Meat is a more expensive food than grains, fruits and vegetables, and people of the poorer classes can not afford to eat it. Millions of those living in oriental countries sel- dom taste meat in any form. Lack of nutrition and a bal- anced ration is shown in absence of ambition and enter- prise. According to careful estimates the food supply in American homes is divided among the different foods in approximately the following proportions (Farmers' Bulletin 391): THE FARMING BUSINESS 517 Meats and poultry 16% Dairy products ^ 18% Cereals and their products 31% Vegetables and fruits 25% All other foods 10% It is therefore seen that we derive more than one-third of all our food in this country from animals, either by con- suming their flesh or other products from them, such as milk, butter, cheese, etc. Animals used for meat. — The animals whose flesh is chiefly used for food are cattle, hogs, poultry and sheep. So great has the industry of preparing their flesh for food be- come, that many cities have great stock-yards and slaugh- ter-houses, where hundreds of thousands of animals are killed every year. Cold storage vaults are provided in which meats can be kept at a temperature below freezing for months at a time. Aluch of the meat that is now used on the farms is first shipped to the city packing houses for slaughter, and then brought back by retail dea;lers as needed, in the form of bacon, ham, canned or dried beef, or as fresh meats shipped in refrigerator cars. Many small towns also have their local slaughter-houses, where animals purchased from the farms are killed for home consumption. Other food products from animals. — The other food products from animal life, such as milk, butter, eggs and cheese, are even more important. Milk and eggs contain more of the different food elements needed by the human body than any other foods ; and butter is as necessary as meat. The dairy and poultry industries are therefore among the 518 AGRICULTURE AND most important enterprises connected with agriculture. Milk and butter are shipped to the cities in refrigerator cars or special trains. Hundreds of creameries are operated to save time for the farmer and insure him greater profit. Alany train loads of eggs and butter are collected during the summer Making liogs of tbemsclves. months and put in cold storage and kept for the winter supply. Other Animal Products The farm animals are useful in other ways than doing work and providing food for man. Many practical neces- sities are supplied by them. Leather, — The skins of all the common farm animals THE FARMING BUSINESS 519 are saved for leather. Cattle, horses, sheep and even pigs, contribute to the making of our shoes, gloves, mittens, har- nesses, saddles, cushions and many other articles in com- mon use. Wool. — Sheep furnish one of the most valuable cloth- ing materials known. Alany sheep ranches are maintained chiefly for the fleeces, mutton being of secondary consid- eration. More than thirty-eight million sheep annually give up their wool in the United States for the making of cloth- ing and other articles for the household. Other products. — We owe many other articles of common use to some form of animal product. Our brushes are made from bristles. Buttons are cut from bone. Gelatin and glue are both animal products. Many soaps are made from animal parts not suitable for meat. Blood and bone are used for fertilizers. So completely are all parts of slaughtered animals saved for some useful purpose that it is said nothing is lost of the pig when it is killed, except the "squeal." It is estimated that the value for fertilizing purposes of the manure of all farm products in the United States, if properly saved and applied to the soil, would annually reach the stupendous amount of more than two billion dollars. 520 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XXXIII CATTLE CATTLE range second only to horses in market value in the LTnited States. Our farms support some twenty- two million dairy cows, or one to approximately every four people. In addition, there are about thirty-seven million other cattle, chiefly calves and beef stock. The value of each of these two great groups is about the same, nearly a billion dollars, or almost two billion dollars for the whole. Dairy Cattle Dairying is one of the leading American industries. Each of six states, Wisconsin, New York, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Texas, has more than a million dairy cows, and four other states, Pennsylvania, Ohio, ]\Iichigan and Mis- souri, have more than three-quarters of a million each. These ten states supply fifty-three per cent, of all our dairy products. In deciding whether dairying will pay as a principal farm project, each farmer must take a number of conditions into accourtf. The labor required for handling dairy cows is considerably greater than that demanded for producing beef, mutton or pork. Milking when done by hand is hard work and requires time and patience as does the handling of the milk, cream and butter. The availability of markets for milk, cream or for butter and cheese products must also THE FARMING BUSINESS 521 be taken into account. The same amount of feed will pro- duce greater profits with a dairy herd than with beef stock. The farmer's problem is therefore to decide the proper balance between his labor, market conditions and the amount of feed available for his herd. Profitable and unprofitable cows. — Whether a dairy herd yields a profit or a loss depends first of all on the milk and butter-fat producing capacities of the individual cows. A poor cow may require as much feed as a good one, and demands as much labor and attention. All cows, whether good or poor, must of necessity re- quire a certain proportion of a full ration for the up-keep of the bodily functions. A first-class dairy cow will demand approximately half of a full ration for bodily maintenance and will be able to put the remaining fifty per cent, into milk production. A poor dairy cow, after using the half of her ration for bodily maintenance, will have a tendency to put a part of the remaining half into body fat in place of into milk. Of course all surplus fat produced at the ex- pense of milk is so much sheer waste in the dairy. The ideal arrangement would be to find dairy cows whose nutritive processes are so arranged that all food material above that required for good bodily up-keep should go to the production of milk. The best dairy cow, therefore, never fattens while milking, but she nevertheless utilizes a suffi- cient proportion of her food to keep the body organism strong, healthy and vigorous. It has been estimated that one-third of the dairy cows in the United States are kept at an actual loss. Twice every day, therefore, there are milked some seven million 522 AGRICULTURE AND cows, mere "boarders," that not only return no profit, but use up the profit from good cows. Profit differences in herds. — It is estimated that the skim-milk, calf and manure from a dairy cow are worth the cost of caring for her. This leaves the milk to bal- ance against the value of the feed. The difference between the best and the poorest cow in almost any herd is surprising. This difference is well shown in the fol- lowing records of cows for one year in Illinois herds : (Bui. 111. Agric. Exp. Sta.) Herd No. 1 No. Lb. Lb. Per cent. cow milk fat fat Profit Loss 1 1204 49 4.07 $27.52 2 1236 50 4.05 27.20 3 2944 88 2.99 15.17 4 2597 91 3.50 15.38 5 2548 98 3.85 13.18 6 2475 99 4.00 13.18 7 2569 105 4.09 10.98 8 3164 117 3.70 8.37 9 2829 123 4.34 8.67 10 3380 149 4.41 1.58 11 4582 158 3.45 $1.41 12 4146 174 4.20 3.41 13 4103 177 4.31 5.41 14 4993 191 3.82 8.40 15 4435 200 4.51 10.21 $28.84 $141.23 28.84 Bal ance of loss 3147 .-_ $112.39 Av. 124 3.94 $ 7.49 Diffei 'ence in profit between best and poorest ( :ow, ^7.73 THE FARMING BUSINESS 523 This was an exceptionally poor herd, so poor that it lost the owner $112.39 for the year — an average loss of $7.49 per cow. Either of the two poorest cows lost almost as much as the best five made their owner. Even the best cow of this herd is poor enough, but there is a difference of ^37.73 in the year's record between the best and the poorest. Herd No. 2 No. Lb. Lb. Per cent. cow milk fat fat Profit Loss 1 2496 102 4.09 $13.18 2 3158 107 3.39 10.57 3 3369 110 3.27 10.57 4 4178 121 2.90 7.59 5 3389 123 3.63 8.18 6 3349 124 3.70 8.37 7 3036 124 4.08 8.57 8 3415 125 3.66 5.98 9 3947 128 3.24 5.59 10 3438 132 3.84 5.98 11 3263 133 4.08 6.17 12 3435 134 3.90 5.98 13 3547 145 4.09 1.58 14 3686 149 4.04 1.38 15 2429 151 6.22 2.18 16 3922 157 4.00 $ 1.01 17 3612 158 4.37 .62 18 4185 158 3.78 1.21 19 4296 161 3.75 1.21 20 4328 168 3.88 3.41 21 4131 170 4.12 3.41 22 4290 175 4.08 5.61 23 4528 181 4.00 5.81 24 4458 182 4.08 5.81 25 5014 184 3.67 6.20 524 AGRICULTURE AND No. Lb. Lb. Per cent. cow milk fat fat Profit Loss 26 5191 195 3.76 10.87 27 5403 196 3.63 11.13 28 5673 200 3.53 11.40 29 5333 211 3.96 13.07 30 5215 213 4.08 13.07 31 5820 218 3.75 15.80 32 5953 221 3.71 16.06 33 5822 227 3.90 18.00 34 6606 254 3.84 22.96 $166.66 $101.87 101.87 Balance of profit- ._$ 64.79 Av. 4233 163 3.85 $ 1.91 Difference in profit between best and poorest cow, $36.14. Herd No. 2 was composed largely of grade cows but contained six animals which had a preponderance of dairy- blood. Probably the most striking fact shown in the table is that the entire herd of thirty-four cows yielded an annual profit of only sixty-five dollars, or an average of less than two dollars per cow. It is also to be noted that the owner had fifteen cows which were losing him money and that his loss from this source was more than one hundred dollars. Had he disposed of these fifteen cows he would have made one hundred sixty-six dollars from the remaining nineteen in place of the sixty-five dollars which he made from the entire herd. This would have saved him the milking of fifteen cows which were kept at a burden and loss of both labor and feed. With another form of comparison, he THE FARMING BUSINESS 525 would have made more from the best four cows than he made from the entire herd, so great was the difference in earning power of the different animals. It is the discovery of just such differences as these in a dairy herd and prompt action with reference to the disposal of poor stock that determines the profit the dairyman is to receive from his investment and labor. Herd No. 3 No. Lb. Lb. Per cent. cow milk fat fat Profit Loss 1 6921 220 3.18 $ 16.65 2 53S0 223 4.14 15.53 3 5432 223 4.10 15.53 4 6652 226 3.40 18.70 5 7461 227 3.04 19.15 6 7272 235 3.23 19.00 7 6664 237 3.55 20.90 8 7027 240 3.41 21.05 9 6512 263 4.04 25.16 10 8087 264 3.26 26.04 11 7449 278 3.73 30.15 12 7051 289 4.09 32.05 Balance of profit — ._$259.91 Av. 6826 244 3.57 $ 21.66 Difference in profit between best and poorest cow, $16.52. The difference between keeping herds all of which yield a fair profit, and herds a considerable portion of which are kept at a loss, is shown in the case of Herd No. 3. In this instance with a herd of twelve cows, the poorest of which made a profit of more than fifteen dollars, there is an 526 AGRICULTURE AND aggregate profit of about two hundred and sixty dollars, as against the sixty-five dollars coining from thirty-four cows of Herd No. 2. Herd No. 3 contains no remarkably profitable cows, the best returning but thirty-two dollars. But the fact that no individuals were kept at a loss leaves the aggregate profit at a reasonable figure. With more herds like No. 3, even if these herds are relatively small, the dairy business will return considerably larger profits than are now received and dairy farmers will be much more contented with their reduced labor and larger income. Selecting Dairy Cozvs According to Type Dairy cows may be selected by two dififerent methods: (1) keeping a record of the amount of milk produced, with the percentage of butter-fat it contains; and (2) judging whether the cow conforms to the physical type knovv^n as good dairy stock. The first of these is the only absolutely sure method. The second is also of great value, for cows are often bought without any possibility of learning their milk record. Every farmer should, therefore, know the points of a good dairy cow. The dairy type of cow. — Dairy cattle and beef cattle present two rather distinct types as to form, or build, and appearance. In general, the frame of the beef animal is the shape capable of taking on the largest amount of flesh, while that of the dairy cow is adapted to the production of milk. Both types must be good eaters, for only the food above the amount required for maintaining the body can go to the production of either beef or milk. THE FARMING BUSIITESS 527 The good dairy cow is spare of flesh, for the surplus food must be turned into milk instead of fat. She appears somewhat loose-jointed, but the muscles are well developed. The coat is smooth and soft, the eyes are bright, and the dis- position is wide-awake and active. The jaw is strong, the stomach and other organs of digestion are capacious. The circulatory system needs size and strength, as it must supply abundance of material for the production of milk. The udder is well shaped and large. Shape of the dairy cow. — The typical dairy cow has what is called a zvcdge conformation, especially if viewed from front to rear; that is, the body outline as a whole, whether viewed from side, top, or front, roughly resembles a wedge. The side wedge has its base in a line formed by the depth of the body through the hips to the lower extremity of the udder, with the point of the wedge at the head. The top wedge has its base in a line across the width of the hips, and its point at the withers. The fj'ont wedge has its base in a line across the floor of the chest, and its point at the top of the withers. It is readily seen that the shape given the body by these three wedge conformations allows a generous amount of room for the digestive and circulatory systems and the udder. This form does not, however, give a frame capable of taking on a large amount of flesh, and is therefore not adapted to beef cattle. Various score-cards are in use for the judging of dairy cows. Judging by use of the score-card trains one in accu- 528 AGRICULTURE AND Showing wedge formation of dairy cow. ABC. Wedge shape looking along the back. A D E. Rear view looking from main body to shoulder ridge. THE FARMING BUSINESS 529 rate observation and judgment, and shows the relative value of the different points. The Score-Card for Judging Dairy Cows Scale of Points. Standard HEAD— 8 Points 1. Muzzle, broad 1 2. Jaw, strong, firmly joined 1 3. Face, medium length, clean 1 4. Forehead, broad between eye dishing 1 5. Eyes, large, full, mild and bright 2 6. Ears, medium size, fine texture, secretions oily and abundant, yellow color 2 FOREQUARTERS— 10 Points 7. Throat, clean 1 8. Neck, long, spare, smoothly joined to shoulders, free from dewlap 2 9. Withers, narrow, sharp 3 10. Shoulders, sloping, smooth; brisket, light 3 11. Fore legs, straight, clean, well set under body — 1 BODY— 25 Points 12. Crops, free from fleshiness 1 13. Chest, deep, roomy; floor broad • 6 14. Back, straight, strong; vertebrce open 3 15. Ribs, long, deep and well sprung 3 16. Barrel, deep, long, capacious 10 17. Loin, broad, strong . 2 HINDQUARTERS— 12 Points 18. Hips, prominent, wide apart I 19. Rump, long, level, not sloping 4 20. Pin bones, wide apart 1 21. Tail, neatly set on, long, tapering 1 22. Thighs, spare, not fleshy 3 23. Hind legs, well apart, giving ample room for udder 2 530 AGRICULTURE AND MAMMARY DEVELOPMENT— 30 Points 24. Udder, large, very flexible, attached high behind carrying well forward; quarters even IS 25. Teats, wide apart, uniformly placed, convenient size 5 26. Milk veins, large, tortuous, extending well for- ward 4 n. Milk wells, large 6 GENERAL APPEARANCE— 15 Points 28. Disposition, quiet, gentle 2 29. Health, thrifty, vigorous 3 30. Quality, free from coarseness throughout; skin soft, pliable; secretions abundant; hair fine 4 31. Temperament, inherent tendency to dairy per- formance ^ 6 Total 100 Selecting the Dairy Cozv by Milk Tests The profit from a dairy cow depends on two factors : (1) the amount of milk produced, and (2) the percentage of butter-fat in the milk. The first of these questions can be determined by weighing the milk ; the second, by testing the milk with the Babcock milk test. ^ Testing the milk of different cows. — In order to de- termine the record of each cow of the herd, the milk must be weighed and tested regularly throughout the season. The testing and weighing may be done daily, though this fre- quent a test is hardly necessary for practical fann purposes. A plan followed by many farmers is to zveigh the milk daily, and test the hiitter-fat of both night's milk and morning's milk once a month. Making the Babcock test for butter-fat. — It Is not THE FARMING BUSINESS 531 the quantity of milk alone that determines the value of a cow. Practically all milk and cream now sold from the farm for butter-making purposes are paid for, not by weight or bulk, but by the amount of butter-fat they contain. The purpose of the Babcock test is to measure the percentage Marzlo 8 Neck 15. Bibs '..2. Thifha . Jaw 9 Withers 16! Baxrel 23. Hind logs raoB 10 SliouWerc 17. Z/>ln C4. UddBT Torehosd 11 Fore legs 18. HipB 25. TaatB Byes 12 Crops 19. Romp Pin bonn 26. Mlllc Tslns Ears 13 Chest 20. ;?, MUS weaii! Throat 14 Back n Tail Parts of a dairy cow. of butter-fat in milk. Every dairy farm should regularly use this test. The materials for making the Babcock test are (1) a hand-power centrifugal tester; (2) two or more milk test- bottles ; (3) a pipette to measure the milk ; (4) a small glass measure for acid; (5) sulphuric acid with specific gravity of 1.82; (6) hot water. The necessary apparatus can be bought for about five dollars, though a fuller equipment 532 AGRICULTURE AND may cost as much as twenty dollars. Full directions for making the test come with each set of apparatus. Steps in the Babcock test. — The Babcock test is not difficult to make, nor does it require much time. Yet great care must be taken if the results are to be trustworthy. The following are the steps required in making the test : 1. Stir the milk thoroughly before taking the sample. 2. Fill the pipette to the height shown by the mark. 3. Empty the pipette into the test-bottle, blowing to drive all the milk out. 4. Fill the acid measure to the mark shown with sulphuric acid, and add to the test-bottle. 5. Shake the bottle to mix the milk and acid thoroughly. 6. Place the bottles in the machine, and whirl five minutes. 7. Add hot water to each bottle until filled to bottom of neck, and whirl one minute. 8. Add more hot water to bring the top of the fat nearly to the top of the marks on the neck of the bottle, and whirl one minute. 9. Read the per cent, of fat in the neck of the bottle; this indicates the quality of the milk. 10. Empty the test bottles and wash. The percentage of butter-fat ought to be not less than three and five-tenths, and should range up to five or occa- sionally even six in the milk of the better cows. Dairy Breeds Dairymen are not agreed as to the type of cow that is most profitable. Some prefer what they call a "general- purpose cow," combining as far as possible the qualities of both dairy and beef breeds. Such animals are usually of large frame, take on flesh readily, and so are easily con- verted into beef when this is more profitable than milking. Other dairymen select the pure dairy breeds, preferring to THE FARMING BUSINESS 533 get their profit out of the milk produced, rather than from the beef. Which is the better plan will depend on local conditions and demands. Choosing the dairy breed. — It is impossible to select any one breed of dairy cattle as the best under all condi- tions. Some are noted for producing large quantities of milk, and others for producing milk rich in butter-fat. Some do best when allowed a wide range for foraging, and others when they are kept close and fed high. Some give a large flow of milk for a short season, and others a smaller flow for a longer time. The dairyman should decide what par- ticular qualities are best adapted to his needs, and then select the breed that will meet these needs. Leading dairy breeds. — Among the best-known breeds of dairy cattle are the Holstein, or Holstein-Friesian, as they are officially named ; the Jersey ; the Guernsey ; and the Ayrshire. The Shorthorns are also a favorite class, combining in large degree both dairy and beef qualities. Records kept for one year in various experiment stations of the United States Department of Agriculture show the fol- lowing average ratings as milk producers of the first four of these breeds in the station herds : Pounds Per cent. Pounds Per cent. Breed of milk of fat of fat total solids Holstein 8699 Jersey 5508 Guernsey 5509 Ayrshire 6533 Average 6562.25 4^355 277.25 13.5925 3.45 300 12.99 5.14 283 14.2 4.98 274 14.2 3.85 252 12.98 534 AGRICULTURE AND The Holstcin cattle have been known, as a dairy breed for more than two thousand years. Some three hundred years B. C. a people known as the Friesians, coming from somewhere on the shores of the Baltic, settled in the Rhine Valley in Germany, bringing with them their white coated cattle. Within the next century the Batavians entered this "Banastine Belle do Kol," a cliampiou Iloli>teiu cow vvitli a record of 1,058.34 pounds of butter-fat iu 365 days. same territory bringing with them herds of black cattle. The combination of these two herds produced the black and white cattle now known as the Holstein-Friesian. They were first brought to the United States about the middle of the last century and have since that time become one of the foremost dairy breeds. The Holsteins are noted for their marvelous milk production, great food and diges- tive capacity and strong constitutions. Their milk, however, THE FARMING BUSINESS 535 is not so rich in butter-fat as that of the Jersey or Guernsey. The Holsteins are larger than any of the other dairy breeds. In point of numbers they come next after the Jersey in the United States. The Jersey cattle are famous the world over for their abundant and rich milk production. They were, in fact, the first of the dairy breeds to attract public attention for dairy efficiency in this country. Among the strongest points are the following: They convert a very large proportion of the food consumed into milk, using almost none for the produc- tion of unnecessary fat ; they give milk of the richest quality, commonly showing an unusually high percentage of butter fat; they mature at an early age and hence can early be used for milk or breeding purposes, thus avoiding the neces- sity of long delays before they come into profitable useful- ness. The Jerseys originated on the Island of Jersey, whose people 'are among the most prosperous and contented of the United Kingdom. The chief support of these Islanders is found in their herds of Jersey cows and the breed is kept pure by the strictest of laws against the importation of for- eign animals. The Guernseys are another of the dairy breeds originat- ing among the islands of the English Channel. This famous breed of cattle came from the Guernsey Island where they probably had a common origin with the Jerseys. The two breeds are now entirely independent, however, although they resemble each other in general appearance and characteristics. The Guernseys are somewhat larger than Jerseys and carry more flesh. Next to the Jersey, the 536 AGRICULTURE AND Guernsey produces the richest milk knowfi, and in quantity the Guernsey often excels even the Jersey. In early days the Jerseys and Guernseys were in this country classed to- gether under the general name of Alderney, but were later recognized as separate breeds. The 1914 dairy champiou of the T'niled .stales. "May Ililuia," a Guernsey. Her record for 365 days was 19,639.5 pounds of milk and 1,059.59 pounds of butter-fat. Not only are Guernseys prolific milk producers, but their gentle disposition makes them a favorite family cow. They are lighter feeders than the Holstein but devote a large proportion of their ration to the production of milk. The yielding of more than fifteen thousand pounds of milk in a year is not an unusual performance for many Guernsey cows. THE FARMING BUSINESS 537 The Ayrshires are a Scotch breed, originating in the mountainous parts of Scotland, later brought to the state of New York in the early part o^ the last century. Like other famous dairy breeds, the Ayrshires are noted for their economy in feeding and the large amount of milk produced in proportion to the feed consumed. Ayrshires are of a less quiet disposition than the other dairy breeds and somewhat inclined to be quarrelsoine. Many stock raisers believe that the Ayrshire breed, will thrive under less favorable conditions than either the Jerseys or Guernseys. This breed has become very popular in America within the last few years. Feeding Dairy Cows Just as the soil must contain the food elements needed in the growth of the plant, so the dairy cow's rations must contain the elements required to produce milk and upbuild the body. If proper food is not supplied, either the amount of milk or its quality will be sure to sufifer. Only three different food elements, or nutrients, are likely to run short in the ordinary rations of the cow; these are (1) protein, (2) carbohydrate, and (3) fat. Protein. — Protein is required in the animal body for the making of all muscular parts, blood and connective tissue. It supplies nearly one-third of the solid part of milk, going to form the curd and albumen. It is fortunate that the nitrogenous plants so valuable in building up the soil are also rich in protein. Alfalfa, clover, cow-peas, soy-beans, the vetches and other legumes are therefore desirable as a part of the dairy ration. Bran, 538 AGRICULTURE AND linseed meal, cottonseed-meal, gluten feed and oats are also rich in protein. Protein should make up approximately one- sixth of the cow's ration during the milking season; no other food can take its place. It is the most expensive part of the ration, and should be secured as far as possible from home-grown legumes. Carbohydrates. — The carbohydrates are necessary to supply energy, heat and fat for the animal body, and sugar and fat in the milk. All the common grains are rich in carbohydrates, which are the cheapest nutrient of the cow's rations. Among the more common carbohydrate feeds are corn, com silage, corn stover, oat straw, millet hay, sugar beets and dried beet pulp. In some cases sugar beet feeds have not proved satisfactory owing to their temporary efifect upon quality of the milk. Timothy hay should not form a part of the dairy ration, as it has few of the elements re- quired in producing milk. Fat. — Fat is used for practically the same purposes as the carbohydrates in maintaining the body and produc- ing milk. It is contained in some degree In all feeds, though in smaller quantities than carbohydrates, and in more concentrated form. It has been found that one pound of fat will serve the same purpose in the dairy ration as two and one-fourth pounds of carbohydrates. The balanced ration. — By a balanced ration is meant a ration which contains the right digestible proportion of each kind of nutrient demanded by the animal. The term nutritive ratio is used when speaking of the relation of pro- tein to carbohvdrate and fat in the ration. The nutritive THE FARMING BUSINESS 539 ratio of the dairy ration is 1:6; this is to say, one part of digestible protein to six parts of carbohydrates and fat com- bined. The following tables show several balanced and economical rations for dairy cows:* Ration I Ration II Corn silage 30 pounds Sugar beets 25 pounds Cow-pea hay 10 " Alfalfa hay 10 " Corn stover 2 " Corn stover 5 " Corn 6 " Corn 5 " Cottonseed-meal 1.5 " Dried brewers' grains 5 " Ration III Ration IV Clover hay 18 pounds Corn silage 30 pounds Corn 5 " Canadian pea and Wheat bran or oat hay 10 " oats 6 " Oats 5 Cottonseed-meal 1 " Gluten feed 4 " It must be remembered that, no matter what the feeds used to supply the protein, carbohydrate and fat, there must also be a certain amount of roughage in the ration. All browsing or grazing animals require bulky feed, and can not thrive on concentrated material alone. Producing Clean Milk Milk is perfectly clean as it comes from the cow. It is easily tainted, however, either by filth that may fall into the pail during the milking, or from dirty utensils. Dirty milk makes dissatisfied customers, endangers the health of users, especially children, hastens souring, makes a lower grade of butter, and indicates shiftlessness and low stand- ards of dairying. * (Purdue Ext. Bui No. 21.) 540 AGRICULTURE AND The cow barn. — The cow barn should be constructed for the comfort, cleanHness and hygiene of its occupants. It should be well ventilated and have plenty of light. The floor should be of some hard material, preferably cement, and water-tight. The stalls should be the right length for the cows, and have a shallow gutter at the rear with slope enough toward one end to permit drainage. Instead of a A clean dairy barn. feed manger in front, there should be a liquid-tight trough, also with a slight slope, that it may be washed out. All floors should be kept thoroughly washed by means of a hose and stiflf brushes. Cleanliness in milking. — Before the milking is begun, both the cow and the milker should be clean. If the cow is dusty, the dust should be well brushed out. The udder should be wiped clean, washed, or sponged ofif, as may be THE FARMING BUSINESS 541 required. The milker's hands should be freshly cleansed, as it is almost impossible to keep the milk from touching them. Special suits should be kept for milking, and should be frequently washed. The practise of putting on old, greasy and unwashed clothes, simply to save soiling other garments while milking, is too filthy to be permitted in any dairy. All utensils should be kept in a perfectly clean place, and well scalded once each day. A careful analysis of the dirt contained in milk shows about nine-tenths of it to be cow manure. The other tenth is hair from the cow, dirt from the cow or the milker, par- ticles of the feed used, and disease germs from the cow or hands of the milker. No dairyman should ask a consumer to eat such an array of filth as this. Milking machines. — Successful mechanical milkers of various types are now in common use. Each individual farmer must decide with reference to his entire set of farm enterprises, including the cost of labor, whether it will pay to install a mechanical milker for his herd. Where an electric current is available for power very excellent types of milkers can be obtained, each section of which will milk several cows at a time, one man being able to take care of the milking of four cows at once. Gasoline or other power will accomplish the same results if carefully adjusted to the work in hand. Straining the milk. — Much of the dirt that gets into the milk can not be strained out, since it fully dissolves and will pass through the strainer as easily as the milk itself. 542 AGRICULTURE AND A good strainer will, however, if used while milking or im- mediately afterward, remove a considerable portion of the insoluble matter. A wire mesh strainer should never be used. The strainer should be cone-shaped, with gauze and absorbent cotton forming the outlet. One thickness of the cotton is placed between four thicknesses of gauze, two on each side, and held in place by a ring which fits over the edges and at- taches it to the bottom of the receptacle. The cotton should be destroyed after each straining, and never used a second time. The additional expense for this type of strainer is slight, and should keep no progressive dairyman from us- ing it. Cooling the milk. — After cleanliness, the next essen- tial to good care of milk is quick cooling. So important is quick cooling to prevent souring of milk and keep it in good condition that a higher price is often paid for milk properly cooled than for uncooled milk. For the best results some form of cooling apparatus is necessary. Various machines for this purpose can be had for from ten to twenty-five dollars. An average of about five cents' worth of ice is required for each hundred pounds of milk during the warm months. Milk should be cooled down to forty-five degrees in a few minutes of time. Standard for Judging Butter In judging butter, the different characteristics are given different values according to their relative importance. Following is given a standard used commercially and based upon one hundred per cent, grade as perfect : THE FARMING BUSINESS 543 Score Flavor 45 Body 25 Color IS Salt 10 Style 5 Total, (perfect score) 100 Flavor. — As shown in the score above, flavor is the most important characteristic. Good butter should possess a clean, mild, rich, creamy flavor, and should have a delicate, mild, pleasant aroma. Flat flavor is noticeable in butter made from unripened cream. Rancid flavor is applied to butter which has a strong flavor, and develops in butter which has been standing a long time. Cheesy flavor is common to butter which has little or no salt. Weedy flavors are due to the condition of the milk before churned and are caused by the cows pasturing where weeds are growing, such as wild onions, garlic, etc. Acid flavor is due to im- proper ripening of the cream. Body. — Next in importance to flavor is body. Butter that is greasy, tallowy, spongy, or sticky is undesirable. The body must be firm and uniform. Color. — The color should be bright and even, not streaky or mottled. A light ripened out straw color is the one most desired. Salt. — The amount of salt depends upon what the market wants. The principal thing is to have the salt thoroughly dissolved and evenly distributed. Medium salt- ing is most desired. 544 AGRICULTURE AND Style. — By style is meant the appearance of the butter and package. It should be clean, neat and of pleasing form. Beef Breeds Larger profit can be secured from dairy than from beef cattle with the same amount of feed, but dairy animals re- quire a much greater amount of labor and a more costly equipment. The work necessary to care for fifteen or twenty dairy cows will be sufficient to tend two hundred beef animals. Properly managed, the raising and feeding of cattle for beef from home-grown feed can be made highly profitable. The beef-producing type. — Beef and dairy cattle dififer widely in their type. For the production of beef, the animal must be able to use a large proportion of its food in the putting on of flesh ; it must also have a form capable of holding a large amount of muscle and fat. The beef animal should have a conformation that (1) favors the production and carrying of flesh; (2) supplies the best proportion of good cuts of meat on the block; (3) indicates good constitution and feeding capacity. The form of beef animals. — Instead of the wedge con- formation of the dairy cow, beef cattle should in their shape present a series of rectangles; that is, they should be "block." The body is reasonably long, and deep, with short sturdy legs. The whole form presents a plump full- shaped appearance. The back is broad and straight, with ribs well arched to give breadth to the body. The quarters THE FARMING BUSINESS 545 are well filled and thick. The skin is pliable, rather thick, and the coat smooth and glossy. In selecting feeders or judging beef stock, there is per- haps no point more important than the back of the animal. A wide, level, strong back with well arched ribs is essential. The girth should be large, for this means not only room for meat, but also space for vital organs to insure a better constitution. A good beef animal usually carries a wide head and is a good feeder. The wide head commonly goes with width of body across the back, which gives room for a large quantity of high priced meat. The eye should be promi- nent, clear and quiet, showing the good disposition so neces- sary in animals that are required to take on flesh. The chest should be of great depth as well as girth, indicating large lung capacity and adding to the meat area of the ani- mal. Reasonably broad shoulders are desirable but extreme width at this point is not to be sought as it usually stands for coarseness and unduly prominent hip points. The coupling or the distance between the last rib and the hip point should be short, as great distance in this measure indicates looseness of build with probable inability to take on flesh. The rump should be long, wide and level, the flank full and low. Shortness of legs is a prime point in the selection of beef stock for short legs decrease the amount of waste and increase the killing percentage of beef. Short legged animals also have less tendency unnecessarily to travel about and thus save their energy for the production 546 AGRICULTURE AND of flesh and fat. The bones of a good beef anhnal are strong without coarseness. Wholesale Cuts on the Beef Carcass CUTS OF BEEF Per cent. of Value per Per cent, of value Name carcass pound* of carcass 1. Round 23 9.5 cts. 23.18 2 Loin 17 14.5 cts. 26.15 3. Flank 4 7 cts. 2.97 4. Rib 9 12.5 cts. 11.93 5-6. Plate 13 7 cts. 9.65 7. Chuck 26 7.7 cts. 21.24 8. Shank 4 5.5 cts. 2.33 9. Suet 4 6 cts. 2.55 Judging beef cattle with the score-card. — Because of the difference in type between dairy and beef cattle, it is best to use separate score-cards in judging them. Score-Card for Beef Cattle Pos- Points STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE sible Defi- Score cient Weight, estimated lb., according to age 10 Form, straight top line and underline; deep, broad, low-set; compact, symmetrical 10 Quality, fine hair; bone firm but strong; skin pliable, mellow, even covering of firm flesh; especially in region of valuable cuts; ab- sence of ties and rolls 10 Condition, prime, flesh deep; evidence of finish especially marked in cod, at tail-head, flank, shoulder and throat; absence of ties or rolls 10 *Variablc, of course, with market and location. THE FARMING BUSINESS 547 STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE Head, clean-cut; symmetrical; quiet expression; mouth and nostrils large, clear and placid; face short; forehead broad, full; ears me- dium size, fine texture, erect Neck, thick, short, tapering neatly from shoul- der to head; throat clean Shoulder vein, full Shoulder, well covered with flesh; compact Brisket, full, broad but not too prominent; breast wide Dewlap, skin not loose and drooping Chest, deep, wide, full Crops, full, thick, broad Ribs, long, arched, thickly fleshed Back, broad, straight, thickly and evenly fleshed Loin, thick, broad; thickness extending well forward Flank, low and full Hooks, smoothly covered; width in proportion to other parts but not prominent Rump, long, level, wide, and even; tail-head smooth, not patchy Pin bones, not prominent, width in proportion with other parts Thighs, full, fleshed well down to hock Twist, deep, full; purse full Legs, straight, short; arm full; shank fine, smooth Total (Courtesy Kansas Agriculture College) Pos- Points sible Defi- Score cient 1 1 4 2 100 Beef breeds. — Among the chief breeds of beef cattle in the United States are Shorthorns, or Durhams, Here fords, Aberdeen-Angus and Galloways. Several different breeds have also developed a polled, or hornless, type. Except for 548 AGRICULTURE AND the lack of horns, the polled breeds closely resemble the parent breed from which they were derived. The Shorthorns are the most popular breed of beef cattle in the United States as shown both by the fact that they outnumber any other breed and by their general dis- tribution over all parts of the country. Besides their excellent beef qualities they produce a generous amount of milk. They have a gentle disposition and have come to be called the "farmer's cow." The Shorthorns have been found to cross well with other breeds and to be especially adapted to building up herds out of the common or scrub .stock of the plains or western ranges. The Shorthorns mature early and fatten readily. The steers are in demand as profitable feeders, although they have not won prizes so readily as the Aberdeen-Angus at the Fat Stock Shows. The Herefords rank next after the Shorthorns as a favorite beef breed and their number is constantly increas- ing, especially where cattle must be produced under adverse conditions, as on the western ranges. In ability to look out for themselves and prosper with rather a scant feed, the Herefords are not surpassed by any breed of beef cattle. The Hereford cow has been criticized somewhat because of scanty milk flow, but enough is usually produced for the raising of a good calf. The Herefords mature early and fatten readily under feeding conditions. The Hereford and Shorthorn breeds weigh practically the same, mature bulls ranging from eighteen hundred to twenty-two hundred pounds, and good cows from twelve hundred to sixteen hundred pounds. The Hereford is red with white mark- THE FARMING BUSINESS 549 ings, the white usually being found on the face and head from where it extends backward along the top of the neck and shoulders and downward over the throat to the bottom of the chest. The Aberdeen-Angus breed are black in color and have no horns. While this is an old breed of cattle, it is only within recent years that it has come to be popular in the A fine speciment of Angus bull. United States. Although they stand next after the Here- fords as grazers on scanty pastures, they have not become so popular on the western ranges as the former breed, nor indeed as the Shorthorns which they far surpass in their ability to thrive under adverse conditions. The Aberdeen- Angus cattle mature very early and can be readily fattened at any age. This latter quality makes them a favorite for baby beef production. Because of their excellent build for 550 AGRICULTURE AND the block, their exceptional vigor and early maturity, they are the most popular of all breeds as feeders. The Galloways are one of the oldest breeds of cattle. They are hornless and usually deep black in color, although some brown is occasionally shown in their long, curly, silky coat. The Galloway breed has unusual power to transmit the breed characteristics to offspring from cows of any breed. This is shown by the fact that as high as ninety per cent, of the calves from various colored cows are black, and more than ninety-five per cent, of the offspring from horned Cuts of beef, cows are polled. The Galloways are somewhat smaller than the other beef breeds and rather slower in maturing. They are exceedingly good feed rustlers and their heavy coat enables them to stand severe weather. For these rea- sons they have become popular on many of the ranges of the far Northwest and Canada. Because of their smaller size and their relative slowness in maturing, it is doubtful if this breed will become widely popular in the United States except where climatic conditions and the scarcity of range grasses require the Galloway characteristics. Feeding beef cattle. — Feeding grain and roughage to beef cattle is a more profitable way to market crops than THE FARMING BUSINESS 551 to sell them off the farm. In this way the fertility of the soil is also conserved, and better crops produced. The fattening ration for cattle is slightly different from the dairy ration, the nutrient ratio for beef being 1 : 7 as against 1 : 6 for milk production. That is to say, that the fattening animal should have a balanced ration consisting of one part protein food for every seven parts of carbo- hydrates and fats. Diseases of Cattle Tuberculosis is a common disease among cattle. It is more common among dairy cattle than beef cattle. This is probably because dairy cows are kept to a greater age than beef cattle, and are more closely confined In barns. The effects of tuberculosis in a dairy herd are (1) lowered milk production and final loss of the tuberculous animal by death, and (2) danger of giving the disease to people, especially children who use the milk. Prevalence of tuberculosis in herds. — There is no way of telling the exact number of cattle affected by tuber- culosis, as comparatively few herds are examined for the disease. It is not uncommon to find as high as seventy to eighty per cent, of the cows in a herd diseased, some with the disease just starting, others with it well along and still others in the last stages. Since tuberculosis is contagious, it is evident that when it once gets started in a herd it is hard to stamp out. The tuberculin test. — It is impossible to make certain of the presence or absence of tuberculosis in a herd by any 552 AGRICULTURE AND Showing beef cuts. THE FARMING BUSINESS 553 set of symptoms. The only sure way is by the tuberculin test. This test is required by law of all dairy herds in many of the states. Experts have shown that tuberculin, if properly used, will reveal the presence of tuberculosis in at least ninety-eight per cent, of the cases. Tuberculin is a fluid in which tubercle germs have been grown, but from which they have all been removed. This fluid is injected with a hypodermic needle under the skin of all the animals of a herd which is being tested. It will not injure well animals nor give them the disease. Animals that have tuberculosis reveal this fact by a feverish condition which arises from eight to twelve hours after the tuberculin is administered. Well animals show no such reaction. Suppressing tuberculosis in cattle. — Little can be done in the way of treatment to cure tuberculosis in cattle. Those that have contracted it in a mild form often recover. Animals found to be well advanced with the disease should at once be slaughtered. All diseased stock should be sep- arated from well animals, and kept in different barns and pastures. The milk from mildly diseased cows is sometimes used, but it should first be carefully pasteurised. To pasteurize milk, it is kept at a temperature of one hundred and forty- nine degrees for twenty minutes, or one hundred and seventy-six degrees for five minutes. This heating is suf^- cient to kill the germs of tuberculosis. Texas, or tick, fever. — A troublesome cattle disease common throughout the southern states is tick fever, some- 554 AGRICULTURE AND o THE FARMING BUSINESS 555 times called Texas fever. The disease is caused by a small animal parasite carried to the affected animals by a small tick. The parasite works in the blood of the animal, caus- ing a high fever. Loss from the Texas fever ticks. — Not only does the tick carry to the animal on which it lives the parasite that causes serious disease, but it lives off the blood of its host, decreases its vitality, and reduces the amount of milk or The Tick Takes Milk as Well as Blood. Milk from Tick-Free Cows. From Cows with Few Ticka. From Cows with Many Ticks. beef produced. It is estimated that the annual loss to the South from this one species alone has amounted to many millions of dollars. Freeing cattle of ticks. — Treatment of animals sick with tick fever is usually not satisfactory. The remedy lies in prevention, which means getting rid of the ticks. Sev- eral methods are used for freeing cattle of ticks: (1) The ticks are picked off by hand, or scraped off several times until the animals are free from the pests. (2) The cattle 556 AGRICULTURE AND are sprayed or rubbed with cottonseed oil, fish oil, or a mix- ture of kerosene and oil. (3) A dipping vat is used con- taining a carefully prepared disinfecting solution. Care must be exercised not to pasture cattle on land infested with ticks. Foot-and-mouth disease. — This is a highly contagious disease greatly dreaded by farmers. It attacks not only cattle, but hogs, sheep, horses, dogs, cats and poultry. Human beings may also take the disease, especially chil- dren who drink the milk of diseased cows. Men who take care of diseased stock have occasionally become affected. The first symptoms of the foot-and-mouth disease in animals are loss of appetite, and chills followed by fever. In a day or two eruptions the size of a pea make their appearance over the linings of the mouth and tongue; these small vesicles contain a yellowish watery liquid. The feet become swollen, sore and inflamed. Eruptions may then appear around the feet, and on other parts of the body. Foot-and-mouth disease is not always fatal, but the effects in loss of milk, the stoppage of growth and inter- ference with fattening for beef are so serious that the most stringent efforts are made to check the disease wherever it makes its appearance. Affected herds are often slaught- ered under the direction of government officials, and the car- casses burned or buried. Rigid quarantines are established, and no live stock, meat, hides or other animal products cap- able of transmitting the disease are allowed to be shipped from the territory affected. In 1914 and 1915 fifteen states, THE FARMING BUSINESS 557 including many dairy herds of large cities, were quarantined in whole or in part because of the foot-and-mouth disease. To prevent contagion, there should be absolutely no passing between diseased herds and other territory. Vis- itors should stay away from afifected farms; dogs and cats should not be allowed to roam about; even birds such as have the habit of alighting in barnyards may carry the germs. The pasteurizing of milk renders it less dangerous, and this precaution should never be neglected at times and places where the foot-and-mouth disease prevails. Stern measures necessary. — So important Is the pre- vention of foot-and-mouth disease that the United States Department of Agriculture has issued a poster of warning to farmers which contains the following words : "Foot-and-mouth disease is so contagions that one stricken animal invariably affects the entire herd. The first symptoms are sores in the mouth, followed by similar ones around the hoofs. The milk may be contaminated and the supply is greatly diminished ; the flesh is lost rapidly. Even if the animal recovers, its value is greatly decreased. In Europe, where the disease is firmly established, the plague costs farmers many more millions of dollars each year than it has cost the United States to eradicate any of the past scourges by killing. No price is too great to keep it from getting a firm foothold in this country. "Foot-and-mouth disease can be spread in many ways — by horses, dogs, cats, poultry, pigeons, human beings, hay, straw, manure, etc. If there is infection in your neighbor- hood, keep your own animals on and other people's animals 558 AGRICULTURE AND off your farm. If you are feeding skimmed milk, boil it. "The slaughter and burial of all exposed herds and the thorough disinfection, of premises are the only known measures that can stop the rapid spread of this disease. The government will do this work and pay its fair propor- tion for the slaughtered stock. Rigorous local quarantines are absolutely necessary until disinfection is completed. Township and county officials should cooperate actively with state and federal authorities." Judging the Age of the Cow by the Teeth The cow has a series of eight incisors in the lower jaw, but none in the upper. Like the horse the middle pair are known as the middles, the next as the intermediates, the third as the second intermediates, and the outer pair as corners or laterals. At birth the calf usually is in full possession of the middles; if not, they will make their appearance in a very few days and within a month the remaining incisors appear. At the age of eighteen to twenty-six months, the middle pair of milk teeth is forced out and a permanent set takes their place. In like manner the intermediates are changed for a new and permanent set at the time the calf is from twenty-six to thirty-eight months old. The changes in the second intermediates are made when the animal is about thirty to forty-eight months old. The corners are changed at from forty-five to sixty months of age. Up to this time it will be comparatively easy to judge the age of an animal. After five years the age can only be approximately esti- mated from the actual wear shown by the teeth. THE FARMING BUSINESS 559 CHAPTER XXXIV HORSES MORE than twenty million horses are to be found on the farms of the United States. These horses of the farms alone are worth the enormous sum of two and a quarter billion dollars, or more than all our cattle, both dairy and beef. The raising of horses is therefore one of the leading industries connected with agriculture. The Leading Horse Raising States Slightly more than fifty-two per cent, of all the horses found on the farms of this country are raised in the follow- ing ten states : Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Ne- braska, Ohio, Indiana, IMinnesota and Oklahoma. The farms of Iowa and Illinois support approximately one and one-half million horses for each state; Texas, Kansas, IMissouri and Nebraska have more than a million each, and Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota and Oklahoma, more than three-fourths of a million each. Horses are adapted to a wide range of climates, and can be successfully produced in every state. The market for horses is good and, under skilful management, they can be raised with profit on almost all farms. 560 AGRICULTURE AND Classes of Horses Class and grade. — Regardless of breed, horses are classed in the markets according to the uses to which they are suited. The different classes are : draft horses, chunks, ivagon horses, carriage horses, road horses, saddle horses A fine type of draft horse. and ponies. Animals are graded within each class as choice, good, medium, common and inferior. The class to which a horse belongs depends on (1) weight, (2) height, (3) conformation, or build, and (4) quality. Draft horses. — To be in the draft class a horse in good flesh must weigh from one thousand six hundred pounds to more than a ton. The height ranges from 15-2 THE FARMING BUSINESS 561 to 17-3 hands. The form of draft horses is broad, com- pact and rugged, with legs short as compared with the depth of the body. This build brings the weight close to the ground, where it can exert the greatest power in draw- ing a load. Draft horses are used largely for city teaming, for logging and the like. Chunks. — The form of this class of horses is indicated by their name. Chunks are heavy-set, short legged, com- pactly built horses, of lighter weight than draft horses. Their weight varies from eight hundred pounds among the lightest of the southern chunks to one thousand five hundred and fifty pounds in the North and East. The height is from 15 to 15-3 hands. The typical farm horse belongs to the chunk class. Wagon liorses. — Wagon horses are required to com- bine weight with action and endurance. City delivery and express, fire and artillery horses are selected from this class. They must have sound feet ; strong clean legs ; broad deep chests ; and show good constitution and quality. Their weight is from one thousand and fifty pounds to one thou- sand seven hundred pounds; and their height from 15 to 17-2 hands. Carriage horses. — The carriage, or heavy harness, class is required to have good action, a fair amount of speed, and to be of an elegant form and carriage. The head should be small, and well-set, on a long arching neck. The body should be smooth and rounded, the back short and well coupled, with a long level croup, and the hindquarters strong and well developed. The height ranges 562 AGRICULTURE AND from 14-1 to 16-2 hands, and the weight from nine hundred pounds to one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. The carriage class supplies the coach, park and cab horses. Road horses. — Road or light harness horses are lighter in build, more angular in form, and possess better action than the carriage class. They must have good speed, life and quality. They are used for light and fancy driving, and for racing. Their weight is from nine hundred to one thousand one hundred and fifty pounds, and their height from 14-3 to 16 hands. Saddle horses. — Saddle horses are built for ease of action, strength and sureness of foot. They are also re- quired to have mettle, coupled with a good disposition and intelligence. The withers are high and thin, and the shoul- ders oblique. The back must be short, well muscled and strongly coupled, and the gait easy. The height runs from fourteen hands for polo ponies to sixteen hands for hunters or cavalry horses. The weight may vary from eight hun- dred and fifty to twelve hundred and fifty pounds. Ponies. — Ponies are chiefly used for children, and must therefore first of all have good dispositions. To be in the pony class, the height must be under fourteen hands. The body is deep and well rounded, the legs and neck are short, the croup is level, and the quarters are strong and well developed. These different classes of horses often merge into one another so that it is difficult to tell in which of two classes a certain animal belongs. For market purposes it pays to THE FARMING BUSINESS 563 breed for well marked classes, as these always bring higher prices than mixed stock. Breeds of Horses While the breed to which a horse belongs has little bearing on its market value if the class marks are strong A good pair of chunks, and their offspring by pure-bred sires. and the grade high, yet the only way to secure class and grade is by pure breeding. Millions of dollars are being lost by American farmers every year through the breed- ing of grade or scrub horses. The value of breeding. — An excellent illustration of the difference in market value between pure-bred and grade- bred horses is shown in the case of Wisconsin horses (Bui. 186, Wis. Ag. Exp. Sta.) : 564 AGRICULTURE AND Average value of horses by ages 4 to 6 months 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years From pure-bred sires $78.77 $132.84 $196.84 $218.00 $303.00 From grade sires 51.25 85.00 127.50 156.45 200.20 Difference in favor of pure-bred sires 27.52 47.84 69.34 61.55 102.80 This table is very convincing when it is remembered that it costs no more in care and feed to raise a well-bred horse than a scrub. The farmer who uses only pure-bred sires for his breeding will get almost fifty dollars more for his colts as yearlings than if he uses grade sires, while if he does not sell until the colt has reached maturity he will receive at least one hundred dollars more. If pure-bred dams are also used, the difference will be greater still. Will it not pay well to "breed up" our horses ? Draft breeds. — The chief breeds of draft horses in the United States have been imported frorn Europe. The fa- vorite of these is the Percheron, which comes from France. The Percherons have good spirit, are strong-boned, and have sound feet. They show good action, have a high degree of intelligence, and respond well to training. The Clydesdales come from Scotland. They are longer in build than Percherons, have smaller bodies, and less rug- ged constitutions. They are strongly marked by a heavy growth of hair on the lower part of the leg, especially at the fetlock. For use in wet and muddy times this excess of hair is a disadvantage, since it is hard to keep dry and clean. The Belgians come to us-from Belgium, and the English THE FARMING BUSINESS 565 Shires from England. Both are excellent breeds, though they have not yet come into the favor enjoyed by the Per- cherons, or even the Clydesdales. It is chiefly from the heavier breeds that come all our draft horses, chunks, wagon horses, carriage, or heavy A typical Percheron. harness horses. A comparatively small proportion of horses in any of these classes is as yet pure bred, most of them be- ing a cross with grade or common stock. The lighter breeds. — Relatively few farmers 'have undertaken the raising of the lighter and speedier breeds of 566 AGRICULTURE AND horses. This has been left to special breeders and stock farms that make a specialty of horses. The heavier breeds are better adapted to the farm, since the dams can then be used for general farm work, and thus serve a double pur- pose and thereby add to the profit. Among the lighter breeds raised in this country, the English Hackney, the French Coach and the German Coach are the favorites for the carriage class. For lighter road use the breeds most favored are the American Trotter, the American Saddle horse and the English Thoroughbred. Judging Horses The horse is to many people the most interesting animal on the farm. The satisfaction and profit from horse raisii.g depend very largely on the breed, class and grade. For these reasons all who are interested in farm animals should learn to judge horses readily and accurately. The score-card. — Before undertaking to use the score- card in actual judging, one must become thoroughly familiar with all its points, understanding as far as pos- sible the requirements for a perfect score under any point. With this ideal in mind, the animal is to be examined, and the score put down on the card. Do not be afraid to mark oiT for all bad points. It takes a good animal to grade eighty per cent, when marked by a trained judge, and an exceptional one to grade ninety per cent. Judges do not usually mark closer than one-fourth per cent, on any point. The following is used by many authorities and we repro- duce it here as one of practical value to both farmer and student. THE FARMING BUSINESS 567 SCORE-CARD— DRAFT HORSES Points SCALE OF FOIXTS Stand- Defi- ard cient GENERAL APPEARANCE— 19 per cent. 1. Height, estimated hands; actual hands 2. Weight, over 1600 lbs., estimated lbs. actual lbs., according to age 6 3. Form, broad, massive, well proportioned, blocky, symmetrical 4 4. Quality, refined; bone clean, hard, large, strong; tendons clean, defined; skin and hair fine; feather, if present, silky 6 5. Temperament, energetic; disposition good- 3 HEAD AND NECK— 9 per cent. 6. Head, lean, proportionate size; profile straight 1 7. Ears, medium size, well carried, alert 1 8. Forehead, broad, full 1 9. Eyes, full, bright, clear, same color 2 10. Lower jaw, angles wide, clean 1 11. Muzzle, neat; nostrils, large, open, free from discharge; lips, thin, even, firm — 1 12. Neck, well muscled, arched; throatlatcli clean; windpipe large 2 FOREQUARTERS— 24 per cent. 13. Shoulders, moderately sloping, smooth, snug, extending into back 3 14. Arm, short, strongly muscled, thrown back, well set 1 15. Forearm, strongly muscled, wide, clean 2 16. Knees, deep, straight, wide, strongly sup- ported 2 17. Cannons, short, wide, clean; tendons de- fined, set back 2 18. Fetlocks, wide, straight, strong, clean 1 568 AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMING BUSINESS 569 Points SCALE OF POINTS Stand- Defi- ard cient 19. Pasterns, moderate length, sloping, strong, clean 2 20. Feet, large, even size, sound; horn dense, waxy; sole concave; bars strong; frog large, elastic; heel v^ride and one-fourth to one-half the lineal length of toe 8 21. Legs, view^ed in front, a perpendicular line from the point of the shoulder should fall upon the center of the knee, can- non, pastern and foot. From the side, a perpendicular line dropping from the center of the elbow^ joint should fall upon the center of the knee and pastern joints and back of the hoof 3 BODY— 9 per cent. 22. Chest, deep, v^^ide, large girth 2 23. Ribs, long, well sprung, close; coupling strong 2 24. Back, straight, broad, strongly muscled 2 25. Loins, wide, short, thickly muscled 2 26. Underline, low; flanks full 1 HINDQUARTERS— 30 per cent. 27. Hips, broad, smooth, level, well muscled 2 28. Croup, not markedly drooping, wide, heav- ily muscled 2 29. Tail, stylishly set and carried 1 30. Quarters, deep, broad, heavily muscled, thighs strong 3 31. Gaskins, long, wide, heavily muscled 2 32. Hocks, large, clean, wide, well set 6 33. Cannons, short, wide, clean; tendons de- fined 2 34. Fetlocks, wide, straight, strong, clean 1 35. Pasterns, moderately sloping, strong, clean 2 570 AGRICULTURE AND lb ^ M ^ S^ ^ ^ "b ^ - i^j~>-s^ lA Jr ~ Wo THE FARMING BUSINESS 571 SCALE OF POINTS Points Stand- Defi- ard cient 36. Feet, large, even size, sound; horn dense, waxy; sole concave; bars strong; frog large, elastic; heel wide, and one-fourth to one-half the lineal length of the toe_ 6 27. Legs, viewed from behind, a perpendicular line from the point of the buttock should fall upon the center of the hock, cannon, pastern and foot. From side, a perpendicular line from the hip joint should fall upon the center of the foot and divide the gaskin in the middle, and a perpendicular line from the point of the buttock should run parallel with the line of the cannon 3 ACTION— 9 per cent. 38. Walk, fast, elastic, regular, straight 6 39. Trot, free, springy, balanced, straight 3 Total 100 Common Defects and Unsoundness in Horses Any defect or tmsoundness lowers the value of a horse. All who have to do with horses should be able to identify the more common faults, and know their causes. (See Pur- due Circidar, No. 29.) Defects of head, eyes and ears — 1. Poll evil; sore on top of head, caused by bruises. 2. Blindness; either with or without defects of eyeball. 3. "Blue-eyed"; a peculiar bluish color, may indicate blind- ness. 4. Over-mobile ears; showing viciousness or blindness. 5. Immobile ears; showing deafness or lockjaw. 572 AGRICULTURE AND Defects of the mouth — 1. Nose discharge; indicating catarrh, glanders, diseased molars. 2. Bit sores, showing tender mouth, or abuse. 3. Diseased molars; affect health and interfere with eating. 4. "Parrot" mouth; upper jaw too long, front teeth project over lower. 5. Undershot jaw; lower jaw short; front teeth do not meet. 6. Clipped tongue; tip cut off to prevent lolling. Defects of neck, withers and shoulders — 1. Neck sores; caused by collar wear on top of neck. 2. Fistula; running sore on withers or shoulders. 3. Collar sores and boils; dirty and ill-fitting collars. Defects of feet and legs — 1. Shoe boil; sore at elbow from injury by shoe while lying down; also sore from harness band. 2. Splint; caused by overstrain and abuse of animal in driving or riding. 3. Broken knee; bent backward from injury. 4. Buck knee; bent forward from stiffening of tendons. 5. Capped knee; sore on knee — cap caused by injuries. 6. Greased heel; sores which refuse to heal. 7. Scratches; sores under fetlocks from filth or dampness. 8. Windgalls; puffs around fetlock joint from hard driving or standing on hard floors. 9. Cocked ankles; ankles bent forward from misuse. 10. Navicular disease; contracted foot, favored in action. 11. Toe cracks; transverse checks across the hoof. 12. Quarter racks; split in hoof extending up to heel. 13. Corns; caused by improper care of feet, neglect in shoe- ing or misfit shoes. 14. Thrush; usually caused from standing in damp, filthy stalls. 15. Knocked-down hip; one hip lower than the other from blow. 16. Spavin; either bog, or bone, indicating sprain or injury. 17. Thorough-pin. 18. Curb; enlargement at back of hock from sprain. General defects— 1. St. Vitus's Dance; twitching of muscles. 2. Crampness; tendency for muscles to cramp. THE FARMING BUSINESS 573 Limbs and hoofs In profUe: a, Side view of foot with the foot-azlB broken backwara ua a result of too long a toe. The amountof horn to be removed from the toe In order tOBtralghlenHho footballs la denoted by a dotted line; 6, side view of a properly balanced foot, with a straight foot-azla of desirable slant; c, side view of stumpy foot with foot-axis broken forward as a result of overgrowth of the quarters. The amotint of horo to be removed in order to straighten the ioot-axls is shown by a dotted line. (a) Fore feet of regular form in regular standing position. (b) Cocked ankles caused by misuse and overstrain. (c) Fore feet of base- wide form in toe-wide standing position. (a) Fore hoof shod to quicken breaking-over. (b) Hind hoof shod to slow the action. 574 AGRICULTURE AND 3. Springhalt; one or both hind feet lifted too hig^h. 4. Roaring; a wheezing, roaring sound in breathing; from bad wind. 5. Heaves; spasmodic breathing. Vices — 1. Cribbing; habit of biting mangers, posts, etc., caused by teeth trouble. 2. Windsucking; habit of biting, and at the same time suck- ing in air. 3. Halter pulling; habit of pulling back when tied. 4. Biting; vicious tendency to bite people or other horses. 5. Balking; refusing to move when commanded. 6. Rolling in stall; likely to become "cast" and cause in- jury. 7. Kicking; showing vicious temper. 8. Striking; with front feet to injure attendant. How to Determine Age by the Teeth of a Horse The incisor teeth of the horse offer a convenient and comparatively true gage as to age. The horse has six incisors in each jaw, the middle pair commonly spoken of as the middles, the second pair as intermediates, and the outer pair as corners or laterals. Colts at birth are without in- cisors ; the middle pair appears when the colt is from ten to fifteen days old and is followed by the intermediates when the colt is from fifteen to thirty days old. The corners or laterals appear when the colt is about four and one-half to five months old. These teeth are sometimes called the milk or colt teeth, and are gradually replaced by permanent teeth as the animal develops into maturity. The middle teeth usually drop out when the animal is from two to two and one-half years old and are replaced at three years by per- manent teeth. At three and one-half the intermediates THE FARMING BUSINESS 575 are forced out by the succession of permanent teeth. The corners or laterals are removed when the animal is four and one-half years old ; in their stead five permanent corners are developed. Relation of teeth cups to age. — This represents a series of changes from colt to horse teeth, and under normal conditions the animal at five years of age should possess what is known as a full mouth of teeth. All the in- cisors are permanent and should have in their bearing sur- face little black cups plainly noticeable in the early life of horses. When the horse is six years old, these black cups should disappear from the lower middle incisors. At seven they disappear from the lower intermediates ; at eight from the lower corners ; at nine they disappear from the upper middles; at ten from the upper intermediates, and at eleven from the upper corners. The changes in all of the upper teeth do not take place with quite so much uniformity as those of the lower, and therefore do not ofifer so reliable a guide in determining the age of a horse. Every student of horses should make a careful Study of the teeth, be able to recognize the cups and determine the different ages. In addition to the loss of the cups, the continued chang- ing in the shape and position of the teeth from the maturity of the animal to death, offers an approximate guide to the determination of the age. When the animal is mature the incisors are short and wide, the thickness being about one- third of the width. The teeth of the upper and lower jaws should at this age meet squarely or nearly at right angles to the jaw. As the animal grows older these teeth lengthen 576 AGRICULTURE AND lor 2 wee Ks 8 weeKs 8 months firit Permit Teeth 2 y^5 ^ndPermAt leeVn J>yrs AlLPermitTeeth 5yr5. Gyrs old 7 years old Q^c old THE FARMING BUSINESS 577 out, become narrower and thicker, and at the same time gradually incline somewhat forward. Care of the teeth. — ^The horse, like the human being, should have a perfect set of teeth in order that the food may be properly masticated and digestion aided in every pos- sible way. The eyes, feet, stomach and teeth of every living animal constitute the machinery that should be properly cared for, and of these four, teeth are not the least im- portant, as they bear very close relations to the entire working efficiency of animals. We would suggest, there- fore, that careful study be made of the teeth and of their care, repair and treatment. The Care of Horses The horse is the most intelligent and companionable of the farm animals. It quickly shows the effects of ill treat- ment or lack of care and, on the other hand, easily responds to training and good usage. Unsoundness due to ill usage. — Not a few of the defects common to horses should be blamed to their own- ers or users. For example, poll evil is frequently caused by striking the head against a door or stall beam that is too low. Bit sores indicate either a careless or a cruel driver, or a bit unsuited to the horse on which it is used. Neck and shoulder sores seldom occur if the collar is a good fit, and if kept clean. Fistula on withers on shoulders comes from collar bruises. Szveeny is the result of a wrench or strain, often due to ill-fitting collars. In similar way, splints, spavins, curbs, thorough-pins and 578 AGRICULTURE AND other injuries to the legs are often caused by excessive driv- ing or pulHng, especially of young horses. Misshapen knees and ankles are an evidence of hard usage. Greased heel, thrush and scratches come from damp and filthy stalls. Roaring is the result of driving until the wind is "broken" ; heaves usually come from eating dusty feed; cribbing is a sign of the neglect of teeth that need attention. The effect of training. — The vices which reduce the value of many horses and make them unpleasant to handle are usually due more to training than disposition. Halter pulling commonly begins in the colt being frightened and made to break loose when tied, or else being tied with an old and easily broken halter that encourages pulling on it. Balking often indicates lack of intelligence and patience on the part of the trainer fully as much as stubbornness on the part of the horse. Biting may be started by teas- ing; and kicking often has its beginning in fright from something loose about the harness or vehicle before the colt is well broken. Treatment of horses. — The horse should be treated with kindness and firmness. The driver who strikes or jerks because of his anger or petulance deserves the con- tempt of all lovers of animal life, and should not be en- trusted with horses. One who will work a team in the heat and dust and then allow them to stand overnight with- out cleaning shows either lack of intelligence about horses or cruelty. To drive a team until they are sweaty and then allow them to stand in a cold wind unblanketed reveals not only heartlessness but bad business management. THE FARMING BUSINESS 579 The horse can not be taught like a person. Therefore, only one single word of command should ever be used for the same act. Whoa should always mean an immediate and dead stop; back should mean to step backward, and not merely to stop. Some one signal alone should be used to start, and the horse never allowed to start without this sig- nal. Care in such simple points as these would result in much better broken and safer horses. Feeding Horses The feeding of farm work horses is a different prob- lem from the feeding of most other farm stock. This is because the horse is fed for work, while other animals are fed for meat, milk, eggs and so on. The ration for horses. — The ordinary farm ration for working horses is some form of hay for roughage, and one or more cereals, such as oats or corn. The particular kind of hay fed is not important, so that it is in good con- dition and free from dust. If dusty hay must be used, it should be sprinkled with water as it is fed. Horses seem to find timothy hay more palatable than most other kinds, but red clover, alfalfa, meadow fescue and other grasses have been found satisfactory. It is thought that less grain is necessary to keep up the weight of horses at hard work when alfalfa is fed instead of some other hay. Grain ration for farm horses. — Oats are the choice of the cereals for horses wherever they are obtainable. They are relished better than most grains, and seem especially suited to the horse as a nutrient. Horses fed on oats also 580 AGRICULTURE AND seem to show better mettle than those fed on other grains. In the corn producing region corn is usually a more economical feed for horses than oats, and has therefore come into quite general use as a part of the ration. Corn and alfalfa hay make a satisfactory ration, at least for a limited time, and are cheaper than oats and timothy hay. A very satisfactory and rather heavy daily ration for a horse weighing from one thousand two hundred to one thousand three hundred pounds, and employed at general farm labor is : 7V2 pounds of whole corn. 7V2 pounds of whole oats. 1 pound of oil meal. 3 pounds of wheat bran. 7V2 pounds of timothy hay. 7^ pounds of clover hay. Other rations that have been proved satisfactory by ex- periment are as follows : 1. Corn, 6 pounds; gluten feed, 6 pounds; bran, 2 pounds; timothy hay, 10 pounds. 2. Corn, 8 pounds; bran, 7 pounds; timothy hay, 10 pounds. 3. Oats, 6 pounds; corn, 4 pounds; bran, 2 pounds; hay, 12 pounds. Larger horses should receive more, and smaller horses less, according to weight. It is also to be noted that some horses require more feed than others of the same weight. How to feed. — For horses with good teeth it is not essential whether the grain is ground or fed whole, except that the same amount will yield somewhat more nourish- THE FARMING BUSINESS 581 ment if ground. This difference may sometimes be as much as one per cent, in favor of ground feed. On days when work horses are allowed to stand idle the amount of grain should be reduced about one-half. If the idleness contin- ues beyond three or four days, the amount of grain may gradually be increased, but should not reach the full work ration. Most of the hay should be fed at night and in the morn- ing, as there Is not enough time at noon to secure the neces- sary nourishment from roughage. The noon feed of grain may be slightly heavier than that for night or morning. About twice as long Is required for horses to eat ground grain fed dry as when it is dampened. Watering horses. — Much difference of opinion exists concerning the best time for watering horses, some prefer- ring to water before feeding, and others after. Careful ex- periments have shown that the time of watering is not highly important. If horses come from the field thirsty, it is rea- sonable to suppose that they will relish their meal better if they have had a drink. If the feed consists largely of dry roughage it also seems best to water before feeding. What- ever system Is adopted should be followed regularly, as changing about often injures the appetite or produces some other derangement. Horses should never be given a large amount of water when highly heated from working or driving. 582 AGRICULTURE AND SCORE-CARD FOR MULES SCALE OF POINTS. Age, estimated yr., actual ^ GENERAL APPEARANCE— 26 Points. Height, 16 hands or over; estimated Possi- Points ble Defi- Score. cient. actual Weight, 1,200 to 1,600 lbs. in good condition; estimated lbs., (score according to age) Form, broad, massive, symmetrical, blocky — Quality, bone, clean, large, strong; tendons de- fined, skin and hair fine Action, energetic, straight, true, elastic; walk, stride long, quick, regular; trot free, bal- anced, rapid Temperament, active good disposition; stylish carriage HEAD AND NECK— 9 Points. Head, proportionate size, clean-cut, well-carried, profile straight or slightly Roman-nosed Muzzle, neat; nostrils large, flexible; lips thin, even, firm Eyes, full, bright, clear, large, same color Forehead, broad, full Ears, large, tapering, fine texture, well-carried, alert Lower jaw, angles wide, space clean__ Neck, medium length, well-muscled, arched; throatlatch fine; windpipe large FOREQUARTERS— 22 Points. Shoulders, long, moderately sloping, heavily and smoothly muscled, extending into back- Arms, short, heavily muscled, thrown back, well set Forearm-, long, wide, clean, heavily muscled— Possi- Points ble Defi- Score. cient. 2 2 1 3 THE FARMING BUSINESS 583 SCALE OF POINTS. Knees, straight, wide, deep, strong, well-sup- ported Cannons, short, wide, clean; tendons large, clean and well-defined, set back Fetlocks, wide, straight, strong, clean Pasterns, moderate slope and length, strong, clean Feet, large, even size, sound; horn dense, waxy; soles concave; bars strong, full; frog large, elastic; heels wide and strongly supported- 6 Legs, viewed in front, a perpendicular line from the center point of the shoulder should fall upon the center of the knee, cannon, pas- tern and foot; from the side, a perpendicu- lar line dropping from the center of the elbow joint should fall upon the center of the knee and pastern joints and the back of the hoof 3 BODY— 10 Points. Withers, moderate height, smooth, extending well back 1 Chest, deep, wide; breastbone low; girth large 2 Ribs, deep, well-sprung, closely ribbed to hip_ 2 Back, broad, short, strong, muscular 2 Loin, broad, short, heavily muscled 2 Underline, long, low; flank well let down 1 HINDQUARTERS— 33 Points. Hips, broad, smooth, level 2 Croup, long, wide, heavily muscled, not mark- edly drooping 2 Tail, attached high, well-carried 1 Thighs, deep, broad, strong, heavily muscled-- 2 Quarters, deep, heavily muscled 2 Stifles, strong, clean, muscular 2 Gaskins (lower thighs), long, wide, clean; ten- dons large, heavily muscled 2 584 AGRICULTURE AND SCALE OF POINTS. Hocks, large, strong, wide, deep, clean Cannons, short, wide, clean; tendons large, clean and well-defined, set back Fetlocks, wide, straight, strong, clean Pasterns, moderate slope and length, strong, clean Feet, large, even size, sound; horn dense, waxy; soles concave; bars strong, full; frog large, elastic, heels wide and strongly supported Legs, viewed from behind, a perpendicular line from the point of the buttock should fall upon the center of the hock, cannon and foot; from the side, a perpendicular line from the hip joint should fall upon the center of the foot and divide the gaskin in the middle; and a perpendicular line from the point of the buttock should run parallel with the line of the cannon Fossi- Points ble Defi- Score. cient. 7 2 1 2 5 Total _.- 100 THE FARMING BUSINESS 585 CHAPTER XXXV SWINE HOGS outrank every other farm animal in number in the United States, and are exceeded in value only by horses and cattle. There are more than sixty million hogs on our farms, or nearly two porkers for every three of the population. The aggregate market value of swine is about two-thirds that of dairy cattle, and not far from equal to the value of beef cattle. American farmers own more than six hundred million dollars' worth of hogs. The Pork Producing Region A large proportion of our hogs is produced in the states forming the corn belt. This is natural, since corn is one of the cheapest and best grains for raising pork. Many other regions can grow hogs as successfully as the corn states, however, and the industry is spreading, espe- cially in the South and West. The leading states in hog production. — Sixty per cent, of all our pork is raised in ten states. In the order of their importance in pork production these states are: Iowa, Illi- nois, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Texas, Wisconsin, Georgia. The number of swine in these states runs from about two million in Georgia to nine million in Iowa. 586 AGRICULTURE AND Breeds of Hogs Many of our important breeds of cattle and horses orig- inated in Europe, but we have ourselves developed nearly all our chief breeds of hogs. The breeds most favored in the United States are Poland-China, Duroc-Jersey, Ches- ter-White and Berkshire. The Berkshire, the only imported breed, came from England, Other less well-known breeds are the Yorkshire, Cheshire, Suffolk, Hampshire and Essex. Poland-China. — Poland-China has long been a favorite breed of hogs, especially in the corn states. They are black in color, with irregular white markings on almost every part of the body. The ears are drooping. The Poland- Chinas make a rapid growth, and reach good size. They are rather small of bone, and not so good foragers as some other breeds. Some fault has been found with them for not producing larger litters. Duroc-Jersey. — The Du roc-Jerseys are easily recog- nized by their reddish color. They are one of the most prolific and vigorous breeds, somewhat slow in develop- ing, and strong of frame. Their bones are large, and they reach good size and weight. They have large droop- ing ears, are good foragers, and thrive well on pasturage, or when following a herd of fattening cattle. Chester-White. — The Chester-White breed are of large frame, rather slow in maturing, and possess good constitutions. They are white without markings, and have drooping ears. They are raised more in New England than in the corn region. THE FARMING BUSINESS 587 Berkshire. — Berkshires resemble the Poland-China breed in color and markings, being black with white mark- ings. They may be distinguished by their erect ears. They have a compact frame, are good feeders, and make a quicker growth than most other breeds. The Berkshire has long been a favorite breed, especially throughout the Middle West and is fast becoming the favorite in the southern states. The Care of Hogs Pigs are generally considered not so cleanly in their habits as some other farm animals. In so far as this is true it is often made possible because of neglect of . owners. Many farmers seem to think that it does not matter how hogs are kept. Nothing could be a greater mistake. Hogs thrive only under hygienic conditions of feeding and hous- ing. Millions of dollars are thrown away every year by failure to give hogs the care they require. Need of good housing. — Hogs are the most poorly housed of our farm animals. Any kind of place is thought good enough for them on many farms. Yet hogs are far more sensitive to cold than horses or cattle, which have thick fur coats to protect them, while the hog has almost none. Hogs lie down more than most animals, and need a better bed. They live close to the ground, and easily breathe in dust and impurities. They need sunshine more than do horses and cattle, yet little is provided for them. Hogs take cold very easily. Little pigs, especially, need to be kept warm, dry and away from drafts, if they are not to have their growth checked, or even lose their lives by 588 AGRICULTURE AND catching cold. Neglect of these simple rules indicates shift- less farming, and causes great loss. Hog-houses. — Every farm that makes a business of raising pigs will find a well-built hog-house a paying invest- ment. The most economical and convenient hog-house has a row of pens along each side of a central alley which, in larger buildings, should be wide enough to drive through. This allows the hauling in of straw for bedding, and corn Hog-house for southern states. or slops for feeding, thereby saving much labor. It also provides for the easy removing of manure. The separate pens should be from five to eight feet wide, and from eight to twelve feet long, depending on the use to be made of them. Pens for brood sows need not be larger than eight by ten feet. If feeding is to be done in the pens they should be larger, or, better still, the partitions should be removable. The floor may be of cement, though for farrowing sows a temporary board floor should be laid over the cement, because of the coldness of a cement floor. THE FARMING BUSINESS 589 Woven wire stretched over the top of the ground to pre- vent rooting is sometimes used as a floor. Such a floor, however, is hkely to be either dusty or wet. Board floors are expensive and drafty if built above ground. They also har- bor rats, which not infrequently kill young pigs. A dou- ble trough may supply each pair of pens. Young pigs should have their own troughs outside the main pens. Hog-honse for northern states, side elevation ; showing arransenient of outside feeding itens. Lighting and ventilating hog-houses. — It is not un- common to find hog-houses that cost several thousand dol- lars built almost without windows or other means of admit- ting light, air and sunshine. Other houses are built with windows in unfavorable positions, so that the sunlight 'can not fall on the floor of the pens where it is needed by the pigs. The hog-house should run east and west, so that it may have one full side exposed to the sun. This arrangement will necessitate having one row of pens along the north side. In order to get sunlight into the north pens, the ''broken 590 AGRICULTURE AND roof" style of building is used. Care must be taken to place both upper and lower windows at such a height that the sunlight will reach the floor during the winter and early spring months, or during the farrowing season. To do this, the angle of the sun, say in February and March, and the width of the building must be carefully com- puted. At the latitude of southern Iowa, or central Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Nebraska, the tops of the upper win- dows of a hog-house twenty feet wide should be ten and one-half feet from the ground. The windows should be placed higher in southern and lower in northern states. If the north pens are eight feet long, and the alley is four feet wide, the sunshine will just reach the back line of the pens at ten o'clock and at two o'clock on the first of March. Care to such details will save the lives of many young pigs farrowed in the northern states during early spring. Bill of Material The following material is necessary for the construction of the portable house: Board feet. Seven pieces, 2 by 4 inches, 16 feet long for the entire framework 75 One piece, 3 by 6 inches, 18 feet long, for two runners 27 Four pieces, 1 inch by 1 foot by 16 feet long, for the floor floor atid two ventilators 64 One piece, 1 by 6 inches by 18 feet long, for braces on doors and ventilators 9 Fifty pieces % by 2 inches, 16 feet long, tongued and grooved, for entire covering of the house 133 Total 308 THE FARMING BUSINESS 591 Two 4-lnch barrel bolts, one for the door and one for the back ventilator, 4 button latches for the two end ventilators. Six pairs of 12-inch strap hinges for the roof, doors and ventilators. Six 5-inch hooks and eyes, No. 6 wire, to hold up ventilators when open. Two pieces of No. 9 hog fence, 1 by 7 feet, for two end ventilators. Two pieces of burlap, 1 foot square, for windows. Fifteen feet No. 11 wire, to hold up ventilators when open. Nails: 20-penny nails for the framework, 8-penny common- head nails for the lighter lumber, 8-penny coated nails preferred for thfe tongued-and-groved boards. Individual hog cots. — Many hog raisers are now pro- viding two types of hog-houses, the large permanent house for farrowing purposes, and the small individual cot for the sows and their litters as soon as the pigs are old enough n Individual hog cot, on runners, so that it can be drawn from place to place. 592 AGRICULTURE AND to be put out-of-doors. The individual cots may be scattered about the lot or pasture, and moved as often as necessary to keep the quarters clean. For winter service the cots can be collected side by side in a sheltered place, banked and used for sleeping quarters. The feeding floor. — The use of a sanitary feeding floor should be much more common than it is. It is a great waste of grain to scatter it in the mud or dust of a dirt yard. This mode of feeding is also injurious to the health of the pigs, for it compels them to breathe in a great amount of dust and to eat impurities in order to get the grain. The effect is seen in such diseases as "thumps" and "wheezes," and in the greater liability to colds, tuberculosis and other troubles. The best feeding floor is made of concrete, slightly raised above the level of the ground, if made outside the hog-house, and sloping slightly so that it can easily be washed off. Such a floor is not expensive, and will pay for itself many times over in the feeding of hogs. Feeding Hogs Hogs are probably the best money makers on the farm, if properly handled. The same amount of feed will produce a greater value of pork than any other meat. The returns also come in sooner than with most other farm animals. Money invested in hogs can be turned rapidly, as pigs are marketable when eight months old. The yearly sales from a herd of hogs should be from two to four times the orig- THE FARMING BUSINESS 593 inal investment. Much of the profit depends on intelli- gent feeding. The feeding of pigs requires the consideration of three stages in their development: (1) from farrowing to wean- A good tyi>e of feeding pen for smiiU pigs. ing, (2) from weaning to fattening, and (3) fattening for market. Feeding young pigs. — Little pigs do not need any food other than their mother's milk for the first two or three weeks of their life. \\'hen they have reached this age, they will begin to nibble on shelled corn. A little of this 594 AGRICULTURE AND should be fed them in a place outside the pen. By the time they are from three to four weeks old, they may be fed a small amount of skim-milk, in which has been mixed a little ground feed, such as shorts. They should have a trough of their own where it can not be reached by the mother. The amount of mixed feeds and shelled com given small pigs may be increased till they are ten weeks old, when they should be weaned. When they are deprived of their moth- er's milk, which up to weaning time supplies the basis of Weaning trougli used on experimental farm, Beltsville, Md. their nourishment, it is very important that they be fed a ration capable of producing the most rapid growth and best health. Feeding pigs after w^eaning. — At the time of weaning, the feed should not be greatly changed, except to increase the amount, until the pigs have become accustomed to the loss of the mother's milk. If pasture is available, the quan- tity of corn may be increased. If the pigs mirst be kept in a dry lot, a larger proportion of soft feeds should be used. It is to be remembered that the leadnig purpose in feed- THE FARMING BUSINESS 595 ing pigs from the age of two months up to the age of six or seven months is not to fatten them, but to cause them to grow large frames and develop good constitutions. I£ they are fattened too early, it stops their growth, and re- duces their vitality, thereby making it unprofitable to con- tinue feeding them up to full maturity. SAME LITTER ALONl Pasturage for growing pigs. — Growing hogs, there- fore, require muscle and bone making food, instead of a ration that will fatten them. They need exercise to pro- mote their growth, and give them strong vigorous frames for the taking on of fat. For these reasons, pasturage should supply the basis of the young hog's ration. Clover, alfalfa, peas, rape, vetch and other succulent plants are the 596 AGRICULTURE AND cheapest and best feeds for the period between weaning and fattening time. To this green feed will need to be added a certain pro- R.nck for Feedina: Alfalfa ITay to Hosts., portion of com, or other grain, in order to make a balanced ration. But the poorest and most expensive way to grow pigs is to shut them in a dry lot and feed them a ration of corn alone, as is so often done. The farm lacking in well arranged hog pastures is not ready for the business of mak- ing money out of pork. THE FARMING BUSINESS 597 Balanced rations for young hogs. — No matter what other ration may be fed pigs, milk is always desirable. For milk is highly palatable to hogs, and it contains more of the necessary food elements than any other food. The fol- lowing are suggested as rations suitable for growing hogs that have, in addition, access to good pasturage : 1. Corn, 60%; shorts, 30%; tankage, 10%; or 2. Corn, one-third; wheat, one-third; oats, one-third, ground; or 3. Corn, one-half; shorts, one-half; or 4. Corn, 607o; shorts, 20%; linseed-oil meal, 20%; or 5. Corn, one-third; milk, two-thirds. It has been shown by careful tests that if pigs must be fed in dry lots, ration No. 1, consisting of corn sixty per cent., shorts thirty per cent, and tankage ten per cent., will produce double the gain that can be secured from corn alone. Fattening hogs. — Pigs should be ready for fatten- ing by the time they are from six to six and one-half months old. \Mien fattening begins, the ration should have a much larger proportion of corn. In fact, hogs may be profitably fattened on corn by the addition of milk to the ration. While being fed for fattening, the hog does not require the amount of exercise needed during the growing period. It is not best, however, to shut feeders up in a close pen, for a certain amount of exercise is necessary to keep the hog in a healthy condition and with good appetite. Snapped corn is preferable to husked ears on account of the greater amount of w^ork demanded of the hog, and the slower eating required. Where the fields can be properly 598 AGRICULTURE AND fenced off, the best of all ways to feed corn to hogs is to allow them to do their own harvesting. This method of feeding, called "hogging down" corn, gives the hogs about the right amount of exercise, allows them to eat whenever they desire, and saves the farmer the labor of husking, hauling and feeding. The same amount of corn will also produce more pork. i'cUis ui . I liOg. A. Snout K. Back S. Hock B. Eye L. Loin T. Hind leg C. Face M. Side U. Fore flank D. Ear N. Tail V. Foot E. Jowl O. Rump W. Pasterns F. Neck P. Breast X. Dew claw G. Fore leg Q. Hind flank Y. Stifle H. Shoulder R. Ham Z. Belly I. Chest line THE FARMING BUSINESS 599 Diseases Affecting Hogs Young pigs are not particularly liable to any one dis- ease, but easily fall prey to troubles arising from improper care. Cold, wet, dirty pens cause the death of many new- farrowed pigs. Dusty floors, filthy mud-holes and un- cleaned troughs are always harmful. Exposure to extreme cold or to burning heat is sure to tell in loss of health or weight. It is safe to say that half the troubles attacking the younger pigs, at least, could be saved by providing them with more sanitary surroundings. Thumps.' — This is a disease that manifests itself in a spasmodic manner of breathing, which suggests the name. It is usually a digestive trouble caused by overfeeding and lack of exercise. Certain worms may also cause thumps. The best preventive for thumps, especially with young hogs, is plenty of pasture with green feed. The treatment for thumps is to reduce the amount of feed, give a laxative, and make sure that the pigs get exercise. Scours. — Scours, or too great a laxness in the digestive tract, are caused in young pigs by overfeeding, a feverish condition of the mother sow, soured feeds, dirty troughs, or some other unsanitary condition connected with their feeding. The first step in applying a remedy is to find and remove the cause. If the trouble continues, each pig may be given a few drops of laudanum. Worms. — Worms are a source of great trouble in raising pigs. Through rooting in the dirt, and being fed on dirt floors, young pigs pick up certain kinds of worms which continue to live in their digestive organs. Pigs 600 AGRICULTURE AND never thrive when afflicted with worms. The coat shows rough, growth is hindered, the general health affected, and a large proportion of the feed wasted. A simple remedy is to give one teaspoonful of turpentine to sixty or eighty pounds of hog, and repeat the dose in three days. Another remedy is five grains of santonin combined with three grains of calomel for each sixty or eighty pounds of hog. This should be followed by an effective physic. Whatever the remedy employed, the pigs should be starved for twelve hours before being dosed. Lice. — Many hogs are lousy. The lice can easily be detected by looking between the legs or behind the ears. Hogs suffering with lice will make a slower growth and fatten less easily than clean hogs. So important is this matter that many hog raisers provide as a part of their equipment a dipping tank, in which some form of crude oil or coal tar is used as a bath. Where the dipping tank is not available, or in the case of young pigs, the remedy should be sprayed or rubbed on. Tuberculosis. — Hogs, like various other animals, are subject to tuberculosis. Many hogs have this disease in some form. Its effects are seen in a stoppage of growth, a general run-down appearance, loss of appetite, and in some cases, death. Because hogs are kept so short a time, and tuberculosis is so slow a disease, there is comparatively little loss owing to deaths from tuberculosis. But many animals when slaughtered are found to be unfit for food be- cause of the disease. Tuberculosis is caught either from diseased pigs, or from THE FARMING BUSINESS 601 drinking the milk of tubercular cows. It is probable that most of the tuberculosis in swine comes from the latter cause. ]Many hog raisers now pasteurize the milk before feeding it to the pigs. This is the only sure preventive against tubercular milk. Hog cholera. — By far the worse disease scourge af- fecting hogs is cholera. It not infrequently wipes out en- Two hogs: one a pure bred, the other a "razor-back." The hirge one was owned and raised by the club boy, receiving good care and a balanced ration. The small one, owned by a farmer with old notions and habits, had poor cai'e and a nar- row ration. tire herds within a few weeks. The average yearly loss from hog cholera for one year in a single state was esti- mated at three million dollars. In one single "cholera year" another state lost at least twenty million dollars from this cause. Other states suffer in like proportion. It is, there- fore, of the highest importance that the causes of cholera, and the modes of prevention be well understood. 602 AGRICULTURE AND Hog cholera is a germ sickness caught by infection from hogs that have the disease. It is not necessary for well animals to come in direct contact with cholera hogs in order to catch the infection. The germs may be carried by dogs ; by pigeons, crows, or other birds that alight in the hog lot to pick up grain ; by men who have tramped through a lot where cholera hogs have been ; by new stock brought into the herd ; and by streams that have become infected. Wlien hog cholera is in the region, therefore, it is necessary to observe every precaution to keep infection away from the herd. Effects of cholera. — The disease Is so marked in Its symptoms that it is not hard to distinguish from most other hog sicknesses. In hog cholera, the lymphatic glands, lungs, intestines, kidneys and liver are highly Inflamed. Red blotches appear on the skin. Appetite is lost, the gait be- comes staggering, the eyes inflamed. Not infrequently bleeding at the nose and vomiting occur. The temperature is usually from one hundred and seven to one hundred and eight degrees Fahrenheit. The first ones of the herd to be stricken commonly die within a few days ; those that take the disease later may live for several weeks, or even recover. Treatment. — No absolute cure has been discovered for hog cholera. Nearly all animals that take the disease usually die. A method of preventing well herds from contracting cholera has, however, been discovered. This is to give well hogs anti-cholera serum ; or, in efifect, vaccinate them, as is done with people for smallpox and diphtheria. THE FARMING BUSINESS 603 The hog cholera serum is secured by drawing blood from a hog which has first been rendered immune to cholera, either by having had the disease or being given a special treatment for the purpose of immunizing, and then having had cholera germs injected into his veins. Each animal of the herd to be treated is given by hypodermic injection a certain quantity of this serum in proportion to its size. I had serum. I v/ish I had. If the treatment is successful, it will immunize the herd against cholera for several weeks. When the serum is given to well herds, a cholera hog is sometimes brought among them, or its carcass even fed them, at the time the treatment is given. This method is thought to make the immunity more certain. Success of the serum treatment. — The success of the serum treatment is still questioned by many. It seems rea- sonably certain, how^ever, that w^iere failure has followed its use, it was because the serum was improperly prepared 604 AGRICULTURE AND or not skilfully administered. Various experiment stations have found that there is a loss of only about ten per cent, of the hogs treated in herds already infected, and of only one or two per cent, in well herds where the serum treat- ment has been carefully used. The manufacture of serum by the state, or official inspection of its manufacture by pri- vate plants, will make its use as a cholera preventive still more effective. No one is justified in neglecting to treat his herd with the serum when hog cholera threatens. The following excellent advice is given on a poster issued by the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station : Symptoms of Acute Cholera 1. Failure to come up for feed, or refusal to eat. 2. Huddling together in pens or nests. 3. Stififness, cough, discharge from eyes, and redness of skin. 4. Constipation followed by persistent diarrhoea. 5. Rise of body temperature (fever) above 104 F. . 6. Death after being sick for a few days. To Prevent the Introduction of Cholera 1. Quarantine for four weeks all hogs brought to the farm. 2. Keep away dogs and all other animals and persons coming from cholera-infected farms. 3. Pasture the hogs at some distance from main highways and away from contaminated streams. 4. Feed a laxative diet but avoid feeding very much new corn. 5. Disinfect the troughs daily and the pens and yards each week with quicklime. 6. Have an experienced person vaccinate, with serum, all hogs while healthy if the disease is in your locality. THE FARMING BUSINESS 605 To Insure Your Herd Against Cholera, Use Hog Cholera Serum The state legislature has provided for the manufacture of hog cholera serum which is sold at one cent per c. c. (cubic centimeter). It costs about 25 cents each to protect pigs and 75 cents to $1.00 for mature hogs. The serum treatment is recommended on the strength of the favorable results obtained from its general use during the past five years. To Control Cholera If In Your Herd 1. Sell all well hogs which are ready for market. 2. Call a competent veterinarian immediately to give the serum treatment. 3. ■ Burn carcasses of dead hogs promptly, also all rubbish. 4. Clean pens and apply quicklime liberally for disinfection. 5. Keep hogs from wallows and insanitary nesting places, and provide roomy, dry sleeping quarters. 6. Use every precaution to prevent spread of the disease to neighbors' herds. ludging the Age of Hogs by the Teeth In these days when a pure-bred pig is worth all the way from twenty-five to one thousand dollars, it is quite important to be sure about the age. It is therefore worth while to study the methods of judging the age of the pig. As in the case of other animals the age can be approxi- mately told by the teeth. The pig has six incisors in either jaw; the corner pairs appear at birth, the middles and intermediates come when the pig is from three to four months of age. When he is from six to ten months, the corners are replaced by the permanent teeth, all intermediates are replaced at from 606 AGRICULTURE AND twenty to twenty-four months and the middles at from thirty to thirty-six months. It will be interesting to note that the order of changing for the permanent is the oppo- site or reverse of that of the horse, the cow and the sheep, commencing as you will note from the corners and work- ing toward the center. In all the other farm animals they commence at the center and work toward the corners. The first teeth to appear with the pig are the corner teeth and the last the centers. THE FARMING BUSINESS 607 CHAPTER XXXVI SHEEP THE raising of sheep has never received the attention it deserves in most regions. There are at present only a little more than fifty million sheep on the farms of the United States. Almost sixty per cent, of our sheep are found in ten states, seven of which are in the far West, one in the South, and only two in the middle and eastern states. Ac- cording to their importance in sheep raising, these states are: Montana, Wyoming, Ohio, New Mexico, Idaho, Ore- gon, California, Michigan, Texas and Utah. Other states having important sheep interests are : Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa and Illinois. Importance of Sheep on the Farm Sheep could be raised with good profit on thousands of farms where they are now unknown. They are among the most hardy of the domestic animals, and will thrive in al- most every part of the country. Sheep as foragers. — Sheep have no equal among the farm animals as foragers. They will eat a wide range of roughage, much of which is not of value to other stock. Certain weeds not palatable to most animals are eaten by sheep, and they therefore aid in keeping pastures, meadows 608 AGRICULTURE AND and fields clean. Sheep will graze steep hillsides not acces- sible to horses or cattle, and will feed from the foliage and twigs of brushland pastures. They find a good living on stubble-fields, and will clean up the waste leaves, husks Sheep grazing in "Washington. and stalks of corn-fields, being able to thrive in fields where cattle and horses have gleaned all that they can well find. Sheep can therefore obtain a considerable part of their liv- ing from material that would otherwise be lost. Sheep require little labor. — Comparatively little labor THE FARMING BUSINESS 609 is required in caring for sheep. In order to maintain the fertihty of the soil, we need to raise more stock on our farms. Half a dozen sheep will produce as much income as a dairy cow, and demand much less labor for their care. Their heavy coats enable sheep to live in relatively open sheds in the winter, providing they are kept dry. The cost of shelter is therefore low. One of the chief practical difficulties in sheep raising is that the fences suitable for horses and cattle will not hold sheep. The present tendency, however, is to build closer fences, so that fields will be available for both hogs and sheep. In some regions serious loss of sheep occurs from vicious dogs, wolves and coyotes. Sheep-killing dogs should be relentlessly shot. Sheep bring quick returns. — Sheep are almost as good as poultry for quick returns. For ordinary farm purposes dual purpose breeds are usually selected to produce both wool and mutton. In this way a double yield can be se- cured — fleeces from all the flock, and either lambs or mut- ton in addition. It is estimated that the fleece from good sheep should pay for their feed, thereby leaving the lambs raised or the mutton produced as profit. Lambs are ready for market at from seven to twelve months of age, thus allowing the money invested in them to be turned quickly. Breeds of Sheep Sheep, like cattle, are kept for two purposes. Just as cattle include both the beef and the dairy breeds, so sheep comprise mutton breeds and merino, or zvool breeds. 610 AGRICULTURE AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF BREEDS According to Use Mutton Breeds Hampshire Oxford Down Leicester Romney Marsh* Ryeland* Shropshire Wensleydale* General Purpose Breeds Cheviot Cotswold Dorset Southdown Wool Breeds Suffolk Tunis* Herdwick* Highland Lincoln SMALL Merino Herdwick* Merino (American) Tunis According to Length of Staple SHORT Cheviot Dorset Hampshire Herdwick* Highland MEDIUM Merino Suffolk Oxford Ryeland* Shropshire LONG Southdown Cotswold Highland Leicester Lincoln Wensleydale* Cotswold Leicester Dorset Hampshire Merino Cheviot Herdwick* According to Most Congenial Altitude SEA LEVEL TO 1,000 FEET Romney Marsh Lincoln Wensleydale* 1,000 TO 2,500 FEET Oxford Down Southdown Ryeland* Suffolk Shropshire Tunis 2,500 TO 4,000 FEET Highland Welsh* Shetland* THE FARMING BUSINESS 611 According to Horns POLLED ■ Romney Marsh Shropshire Southdown Suffolk Tunis Wensleydale* Cheviot Cotswold HORNED Hampshire Leicester Lincoln Oxford Down Dorset Exmoor* Merino Herdwick* Welsh* Highland Females Polled Lonk* According to Quality of Wool Merino FINE MEDIUM Cheviot Dorset Hampshire Herdv^ick Suffolk Oxford COARSE Ryeland Shropshire Southdown Cotswold Highland Lincoln Leicester According to Size LARGE Wensleydale* Cotswold Hampshire Leicester Lincoln Oxford Down Romney Marsh MEDIUM Suffolk Wensleydale* Cheviot Dorset Jiiehland Merino (French) Ryeland* Shropshire Southdown Hampshire Highland Oxford Cheviot Cotswold Dorset According to Color of Face DARK Ryeland* Southdown Shropshire LIGHT Herdwick* Leicester Lincoln Tunis Romney Marsh Wensleydale* *Too little known in America to be of importance. 612 AGRICULTURE AND Market classes of sheep. — Wholly regardless of breed, market demands divide sheep into three groups or classes. These are : ( 1 ) fat, or mutton sheep, or those ready for slaughter; if the animals are less than one year old, they are called lambs; (2) feeders, or animals ready to be fat- tened; and (3) breeders. SCALE OF POINTS 1. Age Score-Card TS Stan- Points dard Deficient GENERAL APPEARANCE— 38 per cent. 2. Weight, score according to age — 8 3. Form, long level, deep, broad, low set, stylish 10 4. Quality, clean bone; silky hair; fine, pink skin; light in ofifal, yielding high percentage of meat 10 5. Condition, deep even covering of firm flesh, especially in regions of valuable cuts. Points indi- cating ripeness are, thick dock, back thickly covered with flesh, thick neck, full purse, full flank, plump breast 10 HEAD AND NECK— 7 per cent. 6. Muzzle, fine; mouth large; lips thin; nostrils large and open. 1 7. Eyes, large, clear, placid 1 8. Face, short; features clear-cut 1 9. Forehead, broad, full 1 THE FARMING BUSINESS 613 SCALE OF POINTS Stan- Points dard Deficient 10. Ears, fine, alert 1 11. Neck, thick, short, free from folds 2 FOREQUARTERS— 7 per cent. 12. Shoulders, covered with flesh, compact on top, snug 5 13. Brisket, neat, proportionate; breast wide 1 14. Legs, straight, short, wide apart, strong; forearm full; shank smooth, fine 1 BODY— 20 per cent. 15. Chest, wide, deep, full 4 16. Ribs, well sprung, long, close 4 17. Back, broad, straight, thickly- fleshed 6 18. Loin, thick, broad, long 6 HINDQUARTERS— 16 per cent. 19. Hips, far apart, level, smooth 2 20. Rump, long, level, wide to tail- head 4 21. Thighs, full, deep, wide 4 22. Twist, plump, deep 5 23. Legs, straight, short, strong; shank fine, smooth 1 WOOL— 12 per cent. 24. Quantity, long, dense, even 4 25. Quality, fine, pure; crimp close, regular, even 4 26. Condition, bright, sound, clean, soft, light 4 Total 100 614 AGRICULTURE AND Judging the Age By the Teeth The sheep like the cow and the horse has a series of eight incisors in the lower jaw and none above. The new- born lamb as a rule has no incisors, but the entire set will develop during the first thirty days of life of the animal. These teeth are called the lamb's milk teeth and are soon Sheep grazing, typical of western states. replaced by permanent teeth. At the age of fifteen to eighteen months, the middles appear ; about two years of age the intermediates; from three to three and one-half years the second intermediates, and from four to four and one-half years of age the corners are developed. Up to this time the determination of age of sheep may be quite definite ; after this approximation only can be reached by a study of the general wear, appearances and condition of the teeth. THE FARMING BUSINESS 615 This test will of course depend in a large measure upon the physical condition of the animal and the care that has been given in both housing and feeding. Feeding Sheep What has been said about the ability of sheep to forage for a great part of their food must not be understood to mean that it does not matter what sheep are given to eat. For sheep are exactly like all other animals in requiring the right proportion of nutritive elements In their food. Lacking a proper ration, they will be checked in growth, delayed in fattening, or short on the quantity and quality of wool. Feeding ewes kept for breeding. — Ewes that are to produce lambs in the spring may be fed through the winter on a cheaper ration than that required for the feeders. The ewes need more of the muscle-forming, and less of the fat- producing foods. Their rations may therefore consist more largely of roughage, and less of grains than for the fat- tening lambs. For breeding ewes weighing from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty pounds, the following daily rations have been tested by the Minnesota Experiment Station and have been found to be economical and satis- factory : Ration No. 1. Ration No, 2. 3.5 pounds of corn stover. 2.0 pounds of clover hay. 2.0 pounds of roots. 1.4 pounds of corn stover. 0.4 pounds of oats or shelled 0.4 pounds of oats and corn corn. mixed. 616 AGRICULTURE AND Feeding for market. — The ration for fattening re- quires a larger proportion of fats and carbohydrates than the ones just described. It has also been found that lambs fatten best with a mixture of succulent food along with the usual roughage and grain. Montana sheep ready for shipment. The Cornell University Experiment Station has tried extensive experiments in fattening different lots of lambs during a period of one hundred and ten days. Each of the following rations served fifty lambs for one day : THE FARMING BUSINESS 617 Ration No. 1. Ration No. 2. 60 pounds of silage. 65 pounds of mixed hay. 50 pounds of mixed hay. 35 pounds of corn, 35 pounds of corn. 15 pounds of oats. 13 pounds of oats. 5 pounds of brewer's grains. 5 pounds of brewer's grain. Ration No. 3. Ration No. 4. 65 pounds of mixed hay. 60 pounds of silage. 10 pounds of corn. 50 pounds of mixed hay. 20 pounds of brewer's grains. 10 pounds of corn, 20 pounds of gluten. 20 pounds of brewer's grains. 5 pounds of oats, 20 pounds of gluten. 5 pounds of oats. It should be understood in studying these rations that at the beginning of the feeding period a larger proportion of roughage and a smaller proportion of grain were fed. By the end of the one-hundred-and-ten-day period this propor- tion had been reversed. The rations as given are the daily average for the whole time. The actual amount of nutrients is the same for each of these four rations, yet the results differ considerably both as to cost and the amount of fat produced, as is shown by the following comparisons : Average gain per sheep Cost per pound Ration in 110 days of gain 1 22.7 pounds 10.6 cents 2 15.7 " 15.9 " 3 18.9 " 13.2 " 4 25.1 " 9.6 " It will be noted that the most rapid gains, and at the lowest cost per pound were from the rations that contained 618 AGRICULTURE AND silage. It is also seen that the lowest gain, and at the highest cost per pound, was from ration No. 2, where all succulent food was lacking, and most of the grain ration consisted of corn and oats. Value of Mutton in the Diet From the earliest times mutton has been a popular food both in eastern and western countries. The ease with which the sheep is raised has made it a favorite with all primitive peoples, as well as more advanced nations. The flesh of the sheep has approximately the same value for food as beef. The percentage of waste from the two animals is about the same, averaging a little less than twenty per cent, in each case. Mutton is also a favorite meat diet because of the ease with which it is digested and the fact that its use agrees with nearly every one. Many people who can not stand a diet of pork or even of beef find it possible to eat mutton. THE FARMING BUSINESS 619 CHAPTER XXXVII POULTRY THE raising of poultry is considered of rather incidental importance on most farms. A few chickens are kept for supplying the table with fresh eggs and an occasional fowl. Perhaps a flock of turkeys, ducks or geese are added for the sake of variety. Little attention is usually given to the possibility of large profits from the sale of eggs and poultry. Yet, in spite of this somewhat haphazard method of treating the poultry industry, its aggregate returns are very large. For more than five and one-half million farms have a flock of chickens or other fowl. In addition, not a few people in villages and towns keep enough fowl for home use. Distribution of Poultry Production Nearly five hundred million fowls are kept on the farms for our population. Considerably more than one and one- half billion dozen eggs are produced annually. This is enough to supply every man, woman and child with fifteen dozen eggs per year. The value of the eggs is in excess of three hundred million dollars a year, or sufificient to pay nearly three-fourths of the running expenses of all our 620 AGRICULTURE AND public schools. The fowls themselves are worth above two hundred million dollars. The ten leading poultry states. — Ten states supply about fifty-four per cent, of all the eggs we produce. These states are Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan. Poultry Raising as a Farm Industry There are several good reasons why the raising of poul- try should occupy a more important place than it now does on most of our farms all over the United States. Increasing demands for eggs and poultry. — Eggs form one of the most necessary and palatable articles of food. With improved methods of shipping, parcel-post service and cold storage they have increasingly become a staple on almost every table, city as well as country. The prices are high, a dozen eggs bringing the farmer about as much as a pound of butter. The demand for fowl as a sup- plement to other kinds of meat has also greatly increased, and there is now a ready market throughout the year for all kinds of poultry suitable for the table. Low^ cost of feeding poultry. — A fair-sized flock of poultry can be kept on the farm with but little expense for feed. This is because fowl will gather up the greater part of their living from material that would otherwise be wasted. Scattered grain from the feed lots ; undigested grain from farm animals ; weed and grass seeds ; grass and various green plants about the barn lots, worms, bugs, grasshoppers THE FARMING BUSINESS 621 and other insect pests form a large part of the diet of farm poultry during most of the year. The labor of caring for poultry is light. — The labor connected with poultry raising is much lighter than with other farm animals. ]\Iuch of the work is suited to the strength and interest of children, and gives the training in responsibility which every child needs. With a little over- A year's product of au average beu and a good hen. The average hen laid 75 eggs, the good ben 223 eggs. sight, children from ten to eighteen years can successfully take almost entire charge of poultry raising and make it highly profitable. This has been fully demonstrated in many boys' and girls' poultry clubs in every state. Quick profits are realized. — The profits from a well managed flock of chickens are not only liberal and certain," but quick. Chickens are ready for market within a few 622 AGRICULTURE AND months from the time they are hatched, and hens are at their best as layers during the first and second years of their life. And the eggs afford a continuous source of income to meet the expense of any feed or other supplies that are bought, or to add to the bank-account. Almost all boys and girls could become expert chicken raisers and, by making arrangements with their parents to receive a share of the income from the flock, earn their own money for a farm, clothes, books, schooling, travel or whatever else they may desire. Breeds of Chicketis According to experts there are over one hundred standard varieties of chickens raised in the United States. There are many other varieties not sufficiently developed to be called standard. For practical purposes the standard varieties may all be grouped in four classes; (1) General purpose breeds; (2) meat or table breeds; (3) tgg breeds; (4) ornamental breeds. General purpose breeds. — The general purpose breeds are the result of an attempt to combine egg-laying with good table qualities. The favorites of these breeds are : Plymouth Rocks, Barred, White and Buff. Wyandottes, Silver, Golden, White, Buff, Black, etc. Javas, Black and Mottled. Dominiques, Rose-comb. Rhode Island Reds, Single-comb and Rose-comb. Buckeyes, Pea-comb. Orpingtons, Buff, Black and White. Houdans, Mottled. THE FARMING BUSINESS 623 Barred Plymouth Rocks. Siugle-corub Rhode Island Reds. 624 AGRICULTURE AND . Meat breeds. — The meat, or table, breeds are chiefly raised for the large markets. They must be of good shape and size, quick growers and ready fatteners. The principal breeds of this class are : Brahmas, Light and Dark. Cochins, Bufif, Partridge, White and Black. Langshans, Black and White. Dorkings, White, Silver-gray and Colored. Indians, White Game. Egg breeds. — The prime consideration in the egg breeds is that they shall be good layers, begin laying young, and continue for a considerable period of time. The chief breeds are: Leghorns, Brown, Buff, White, Black, etc. Minorcas, Black and White. Spanish, White-faced Black. Andalusians, Blue. Anconas, Mottled. Hamburgs, Gold and Silver Spangled, White and Black. Redcaps, Rose-comb. Ornamental breeds. — The ornamental breeds are not important for practical farm purposes. Some of the favor- ites of these breeds are : Polish, White-crested Black, Golden, Silver, White, Golden. Crevecoeurs, Black. La Fleche, Black. Bantams. Games. It is best not to mix breeds of chickens. First one should decide what class is desired, whether egg, meat, or general purpose. Then a pure breed of this class should be selected, and the strain kept free from mixture with other breeds. THE FARMING BUSINESS 625 Single-comb Buff Orpingtons. Black Langshans. 626 AGRICULTURE AND Producing Chickens A successful hatch depends (1) on securing fertile un- injured eggs, and (2) on proper incubation. Eggs for hatching. — Heredity has its effect in fowl as well as other animals. The eggs for hatching should there- fore come from the choicest and most vigorous members of the flock. The best plan is to separate from the main flock a sufficient number of desirable hens to produce the eggs required for setting. These can be kept by them- selves until the hatching season is over. In order that eggs may hatch at all they must be fertile. They are made fertile by the presence of a male bird in the flock during the laying season. One male should be supplied for every ten or twelve hens. Since one-half of the heredity of the entire flock is dependent on the male bird, he should be pure bred, the best of his kind, young and vigorous. Care of eggs before setting. — Eggs shcald be fresh when they are set, never more than two weeks old, and better if not more than a few days from the nest. They should be kept rather cool, a suitable temperature being between fifty and sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Eggs that have been badly chilled will not hatch. It is necessary, therefore, that eggs intended for hatching shall be gathered at fre- quent intervals during cold weather. Many poultrymen think it is best to turn the eggs over every day or so during the time they are stored before setting. They should never be jarred or shaken. Hatching with the hen. — Eggs may be successfully THE FARMING BUSINESS 627 hatched either with a hen or an incubator. If the hatch is not to consist of more than from one hundred to two hun- dred chicks, and if the hens come of a breed of good setters, it is doubtful whether it pays to use an incubator. Only quiet, motherly hens of good disposition should be used for setting. The nest should be made of a box from fourteen to sixteen inches square, and six inches deep. Four Light Brahma s. inches of earth should be placed in the box, hollowed slight- ly, and covered with chaff or straw. The broody hen should be removed to the nest at night and given a few china eggs for a day or two to make sure that she is in condition for sitting. From thirteen to fifteen eggs may then be given her for the hatch. It is well to dust both hen and nest with insect powder to destroy vermin. The sitting hen should 628 AGRICULTURE AND be well fed on such grains as corn, wheat, or oats, have plenty of fresh water, and be let off the nest a short time each day for exercise and a dust bath. Hatching with the incubator. — Although there are many different makes of incubators, they all supply the heat necessary for hatching by one of two methods, either hot air, or hot water. All of the standard makes will be found satisfactory, though the hot-air type seems less likely to get out of order. Success with the incubator depends much more on the operator than the machine. For unless the temperature and ventilation are kept right, the eggs properly turned, and other necessary conditions met, the hatch is sure to fail. The directions supplied with the machine must be faith- fully followed, else one need not hope for success. Testing for infertile eggs. — About the sixth day after setting the eggs should be tested and the infertile ones re- moved. The testing may be done by placing a small lamp or a lantern in a box through one side of which just oppo- side the light a hole has been cut somewhat smaller than an egg. The testing should be done in the dark, preferably at night. The egg is held against the opening in front of the light. As the light shines through, the infertile eggs will appear clear, while the fertile egg will show a network of threads leading out from a center, and floating about as the egg is turned. If a number of hens were set at the same time, and many infertile eggs are found, one hen may be released, or given a new supply, and the fertile eggs distributed among the others. THE FARMING BUSINESS 629 Care of newly hatched chicks. — The chicks first hatched from a setting should be removed from the nest in about twenty-four hours. If they are not, they will begin to leave the nest themselves, and the hen is likely to desert the nest before all the eggs are hatched. The chicks must Testing eggs with candle. be kept warm and comfortable until the mother is ready for them. When the hatching is done in an incubator, the chicks are left for twenty-four hours after hatching and then re- moved to the brooder, w-hich must be at a temperature of 630 AGRICULTURE AND from ninety to ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. By the time the chicks are a month old the brooder may be brought gradually down to seventy degrees. Feeding Chickens Feeding young chickens. — For the first forty-eight hours after hatching the young chick needs no feed of any kind. Nature had provided for this period by having the yolk Children and chicks take to each other. of the egg absorbed into the abdomen of the chick just before it is hatched. This food must be used up before the chick is ready for more. The first food given the chicks may be stale bread soaked in milk and squeezed dry ; hard boiled eggs chopped fine, shell and all ; or cracked corn, wheat or oats. A good grain ration for chicks is made of equal parts of cracked com, cracked wheat and cut oats fed five times a day. An excel- lent supplementary ration to hasten growth is the follow- THE FARMING BUSINESS 631 ing : bran, ten pounds ; shorts, ten pounds ; cornmeal, five pounds ; meat scraps, five pounds ; charcoal, two and one- half pounds ; grit, one and one-half pounds. This mixture may either be fed wet or dry. Plenty of sour milk will add greatly to the efifectiveness of the ration. Green foods should also be supplied from the first. Feeding laying hens. — Hens, like other animals, do best on a ration balanced to meet their needs. There is no one best ration, since the necessary food elements can be obtained from many different sources. It is certain, how- ever, that fowls require grain, meat, or milk, mill feeds such as shorts, or bran, green foods, sharp grit, shell and water. The following is recommended as a well balanced lay- ing ration, though wheat may be left out and more corn and oats added, or milk supplied instead of the meat scraps. (Purdue Exteiuion Bulletin, 10.) Geain Dry Mash 10 pounds of corn. 5 pounds of bran. 10 pounds of wheat. 5 pounds of shorts. 5 pounds of oats. ZV2 pounds of meat scraps. The grain is fed in a litter of straw night and morning, and the mash left before the fowls the greater part of the day. Green food is added to this ration. Grit, charcoal and oyster shells are to be fed in a hopper to which the fowls should have access all the time. Feeding chickens for fattening. — Chickens should be specially fattened for market. Not only is weight added, but the quality of the meat greatly improved by fattening. 632 AGRICULTURE AND and a higher price obtained. When unfattened chickens are selling at ten cents, the same fowls when fattened will bring fifteen cents in the city markets. Both the pen and the crate method of fattening are used. Pen fattening requires less time and attention than crate fattening. The fattening pen should be kept darkened ex- cept at feeding time, in order that the chickens may remain A well-arrauged interior, showing nests and feeding equipment. quiet. A suitable ration is fed at regular intervals, and in as large quantities as the fowls will eat in from twenty to thirty minutes. Crate feeding. — ]\Iore rapid fattening is possible by- placing from six to nine chickens in a crate. The fowls are given a regular ration, and kept from all exercise. About two weeks is the average time required for fattening. An excellent fattening ration may be compounded as follows : THE FARMING BUSINESS 633 10 pounds of cornmeal. 5 pounds of shorts. 5 pounds of ground oats. 40 pounds of buttermilk. Cramming. — Poiiltrymen who make a business of fat- tening for city markets often use the cramming system of feeding. This method is based on the fact that chickens will not eat so much as they can assimilate and use in mak- ing fat. The fowl is taken from the pen or crate and held while soft food is pressed down the throat into the crop, or passed into the crop by means of a tube attached to a cramming machine. This forcible feeding will considerably hasten the fattening process. Producing and Marketing Eggs Properly handled eggs are the most profitable part of the poultry business on the farm. It is therefore well to study the conditions necessary to the largest production of eggs. The number of eggs produced by a flock depends (1) on the breed, whether of the laying, or meat, type; (2) on the feed, whether it consists of a balanced ration con- taining the elements required by the egg; and (3) the housing and care. Profitable layers. — There Is a great difference in the laying qualities not only of different breeds, but also of individual hens. An average grade or scrub hen will lay about seventy-five eggs in a year ; a high-class hen of a lay- ing breed, more than two hundred. These two hens eat the same amount of food, take the same amount of room, and 634 AGRICULTURE AND require the same amount of care. The one hardly pays for her keep, the other makes possible a substantial profit. It will pay every farmer to weed out the poor layers from his flock, and fill their places with productive hens. Age and egg production. — Young hens are the best layers. Only in the case of exceptional layers should hens be kept after they are two years old. Hens that have passed their second year will continue laying and produce a fair number of eggs, but younger hens will produce more eggs, and should therefore take the place of the older ones. Pullets should begin laying in the fall of their first year. In order that they may do this, it is necessary to have them hatched out early in the preceding spring, preferably not later than March or April, and about two months earlier in the South. They should then lay throughout the winter, and be at their best the following summer. The quality of eggs. — Eggs are rated commercially according to size as extras when the weight is from twenty- six to twenty-eight ounces to the dozen ; as firsts when they weigh from twenty-four to twenty-six ounces to the dozen ; and as seconds when they weigh less than twenty-four ounces. In some places eggs are now sold by weight. For these reasons the size is of great importance. To command the highest price, eggs should also be uni- form in shape and color, the shell smooth and free from spots, and clean without having been washed. Tested with the candler the air cell should be no larger than a dime, thus indicating freshness ; the contents must appear opaque, the yolks barely visible, and free from any discoloring; the THE FARMING BUSINESS 635 white must show thick and compact, the yolk not floating about. Effect of infertility on quality. — No eggs except those intended for hatching should be fertile. This is because infertile eggs keep much longer and in better flavor than fertile eggs. If a fertile egg is allowed to stand in a warm temperature for two or three days it begins to develop blood-rings; that is, it begins to develop the young. This process is sure to go on during the marketing and shipping, thus greatly reducing the value of the eggs. The infertile egg is free from all this difficulty, and wall keep fresh much longer. It is estimated that the loss from allowing eggs to be- come fertilized is more than fifteen million dollars annually in the United States. All male birds should therefore be kept away from laying hens when the eggs are to be used or sold. This will have no effect on the number of eggs pro- duced. Rules for egg production. — The follow^ing rules for egg production are given by the Poultry Division of the United States Department of Agriculture: 1. Keep the nests clean; provide one nest for each four hens. 2. Gather the eggs twice daily. 3. Keep the eggs in a cool drj^ room or cellar. 4. Market the eggs at least twice a week. 5. Market, kill or confine all male birds as soon as the hatching season is over. 636 AGRICULTURE AND Housing the Poultry There are almost as many different styles of poultry houses as dwelling houses. The exact form of the poultry house is not important, though some types are more pleas- ing in appearance and less expensive than others. Every state agricultural college has plans for poultry houses adapted to the region and will be glad to supply these to citizens of the state. No matter what the style, however, certain fundamental requirements should be met by all poultry houses. Drainage. — Poultry are especially sensitive to unhy- gienic surroundings. Impurities arising from ground sat- urated with unclean seepage, and dampness coming from undrained soil are sure to injure the fowls. The poultry house should be built on well drained ground. Drain tile should be used to carry the water away if necessary. Room. — In many Instances a flock of chickens are crowded into a space far too small for them, and the owner then wonders why they do not thrive well or lay eggs. The amount of floor space should be from four to five square feet for each bird. If there is free access to a shel- tered yard, somewhat less than this may serve, but better sell part of the flock than overcrowd them in small pens. Ventilation. — Chickens require far more air accord- ing to their weight than larger animals. Confinement in close, ill-smelling rooms is certain to lower their vitality, bring on diseases, and interfere with laying. In climates where the poultry house can not have an open front, two or more sashes should be covered with muslin instead of THE FARMING BUSINESS 637 being glazed, and hung on hinges so that the window may be thrown open in good weather. In bad weather the sash may be closed and yet admit sufficient air. Drafts should never strike chickens either while they are on the roost or the floor. Sunlight. — Sunlight is the best of disinfectants. The poultry house should front the south, and have a reason- able number of glazed windows besides the muslin sashes. Too much glass makes the house excessively hot in the summer and very cold in the winter; too little glass leaves Inexpensive poultry house for small flock. the quarters dark and gloom}', hinders the chickens in feed- ing, and encourages disease. Freedom from dampness. — AA^hen frost gathers heav- ily inside the poultry house in cold weather it shows too great a degree of dampness. This may come from the ground floor, or lack of ventilation and sunlight. If a soil floor is used, there should first be filled in several inches of broken rock. On top of this may be placed a coating of cinders, and over the cinders a layer of soil. The soil floor at its best is hard to keep clean, dry and free from odors. 638 AGRICULTURE AND Cement makes an excellent floor, as it can easily be washed. Over the cement should be spread four inches of straw or hay. Comfortable roosts. — Fowls spend much time on the roosts. It is therefore important that the roosts be com- fortable. Roosts may be made from two-by-two-inch stuff, rounded on the upper edges ; they should be placed about two and one-half feet from the floor. Eight inches below This roosting-nesting outfit is easy to keep clean, and can be car- ried out-doors for treating witla lice exterminators. Hens enter nests tlie back way. the roosts should be a removable board or floor to catch the droppings. Nests. — The nests may be built in a series of boxes along the side, or, better still, under the dropping board. Hens lay best in a secluded place. The nests should there- fore be covered, and sufficiently enclosed to make them partially dark. Openings through the outer wall large enough to admit the hand into the nests will allow the gathering of the eggs withotit entering the building. Care must be taken, however, to provide a way to close these holes so that drafts may not strike the nests. THE FARAIING BUSINESS 639 Colony houses. — Colony houses are small buildings intended for from fifteen to twenty-five fowls, and are movable. They may be constructed on the same plan as the larger building, and are placed on sills or runners so that they may be dragged from place to place with a team. Poultrymen who use colony houses move them frequently thus securing better h3^gienic conditions. The colony house is especially desirable for hens with broods of chickens. Colony Louses r.uJ runs for ducks. Massachusetts. Many large poultry raisers use both the permanent building and the colony house for their flocks. Poultry Diseases The poultryman's aim should be to prevent diseases rather than cure them in his flock. For a fowl sick with any serious disease is hard to treat, and the bird should usually be killed at once to save time in caring for it and the danger of infecting others. • 640 AGRICULTURE AND Sanitation in the poultry yard. — Chickens are subject to a number of diseases that depend chiefly on lack of FCINTS pjCKLK$y /( %- ^^-^. <9V \fluff 30Dr rs^,l;^i -*ap;- - p /f L^A\V' ^ '1 The parts of a chicken. cleanliness around the premises. Lice and various para- sitic mites attack little chicks or older fowls alike. Fre- quent whitewashing of the poultry house, washing the roosts THE FARMING BUSINESS 641 with kerosene, and spraying with kerosene emulsion such as is used for fruit trees, are some of the preventives for these pests. A simple and effective lice powder is made of one pint of tobacco dust mixed with two quarts of fine road dust. Sul- phur may be used in place of the tobacco dust, and finely sifted hard coal ashes in place of the road dust. The soil of a poultry yard should occasionally be sprayed with kerosene emulsion, or coated with whitewash after all refuse has been removed. If the ground is plowed or spaded late in the fall and allowed to freeze during the winter many para- sites and disease germs will be destroyed. White diarrhea. — This is a disease affecting young chicks within the first four days of their life. They are most subject to attack the first twenty- four hours, and im- mune after ninety-six hours. The disease is caused by a bacterium found in the egg laid by a hen that carries the germs in her body. It may also be caught by contagion from chicks that have the disease, or from contact with in- cubators where the germs have lodged. There is at present no wholly successful remedy. A good measure of preven- tion is to keep incubators, brooders and all feeding utensils thoroughly disinfected. Professor Knapp, of the North Carolina Experiment Station, recommends the following as a good remedy fof the disease : Zinc sulphocarbonate 15 grains Calcium sulphocarbonate 7^ grains Sodium sulphocarbonate 7i/2 grains Bichloride of mercury 6 grains Citric acid 3 grains 642 AGRICULTURE AND This amount should be mixed with one gallon of water and used for drinking purposes during the first month. After this the chicks should have it two times a week for two weeks. Gapes. — Gapes is another disease attacking young chicks. It is caused by a small worm picked up from the soil. The worms attach themselves to the inner walls of the windpipe, where they draw their food from the blood of the chick, thereby weakening it, and also clogging the passage so that the chick gasps for breath. Mite, louse and gape worms. Here again prevention is mostly a question of sanita- tion. If the soil is free of the worms, there will be no gapes in the chickens. It is well, therefore, to keep the young chicks on clean new ground on which former broods have not been raised. Cholera. — Several dififerent kinds of germs commonly found in the intestines of chickens may, under certain con- ditions, cause a disease known as cholera. True chicken cholera is caused only by one particular germ, however. Cholera is contracted by contact with fowls sick with the disease, by germs carried by new birds brought into the THE FARMING BUSINESS 643 flock, by germs brought by wild birds that alight in the poul- try yard, or by dogs and other animals that roam from place to place. It does not pay to try to cure fowls that have contracted the disease. It is best to kill them at once, burning or deeply burying the bodies. Care should mostly center on prevention. First of all, the flock must have sanitary sur- roundings — good air, sunshine, quarters that are dry and clean, and should have suitable food. The poultry house and yard must be disinfected fre- quently. New fouls brought into the flock must be kept by themselves for a week to make sure they do not carry in- fection. Stray animals should be shut from the chicken yard. The careful following of these simple precautions will greatly lessen the danger from chicken cholera. Roup. — This is but another name for a kind of con- tagious catarrh among poultry which closely resembles in- fluenza, or grippe, in man. Roup is thought to be contracted only by contact with infected birds. It attacks the mem- branes of the eye, mouth and throat, causing inflammation and a sticky discharge. The disease is accompanied by high fever. Roup may be brought into the flock by newly purchased birds, by fowls that have been taken to poultry shows, or by pigeons and other birds. Roup is one of few poultry diseases that may be suc- cessfully treated. The sick fowl should be separated from the flock and given a warm, dry, well-ventilated place. All the afifected parts should be washed with some antiseptic mixture. This may be done with a spray, or by plunging 644 AGRICULTURE AND the head into the liquid wash. The following are suitable washes : 1. Boric acid, 1 ounce; water, 1 quart, or 2. Permanganate of potash, 1 dram; water, 1 quart, or 3. Peroxide of hydrogen, 1 ounce; water, 3 ounces. THE FARMING BUSINESS 645 CHAPTER XXXVIII THE FARM HOME ALL successful farming must make the farm home the Lcenter of interest and effort. It is the home and home life after all that set the final purpose for improving the fertility of the soil, raising good crops and producing fine herds and flocks. The end and aim of all one's work and planning is not merely to make more money in order to buy more land and therefore raise more stock. The home and its life must be made to share in the general prosperity. The ideal for the home. — The home should be a place of which every member of the family is proud and in which all can be satisfied and happy. This does not require that the home shall be expensive and elaborate, but it must be home-like and its atmosphere must radiate the home spirit. A good home is an anchorage to the children which will hold them in times of temptation and moral stress as almost nothing else can do. Happy is the child whose home is such that the thought of bringing reproach or disgrace upon it is beyond the reach of his imagination or understanding. The true home is not only a place to rest from labor and to eat when hungry, but a spot in which to live the fullest, broadest and happiest life possible. It is a place to which fond memories cling and to which one's steps gladly return 646 AGRICULTURE AND ■■ ii-m < iiildren's market day. The college or technical school seeks through a long period of study the completion of such lines of work as to produce a leader, a teacher or a farmer ready to put his education into common service, both for his own benefit and that of the public. The aim of the college is thus of a more remote type and plans for a broader culture and develop- ment than is possible through extension teaching. This, however, in no sense disparages the methods of extension 714 AGRICULTURE AND teaching, which have their place and will aim at as definite and valuable results in making for efficiency of all the people as does regular class-room teaching. Organization of extension teaching. — Because of its practical character and the lack of opportunity for long continued study, extension teaching needs to be even more carefully planned and carried out than does resident teaching. Sane- as well as practical methods devoid of all scholastic cant and directly related to the immediate prob- lems and needs at hand must be worked out. Otherwise results will fail to show the largest returns for the invest- ment of time, energy and money, both on the part of the state and of the patrons receiving the benefit of the exten- sion teaching. The subject matter taught in extension work, while of the same general character as that presented in the class room and approved by scientific research, must be freed from all technicalities, unexplained theories and fan- ciful applications. Its key-note must be its fruitfulness and immediacy of application to the interests and needs of the farm and home. A liberal use of common sense is most imperative in the difficult problem of keeping constantly before us the ideals of science while at the same time fitting scientific discoveries and principles into immediate concrete practise. The organization of extension teaching is usually car- ried out through state and government agencies, but more directly through some local representative and community organization. The United States Department of Agriculture, every state college of agriculture and various other organi- THE FARMING BUSINESS 715 zations are busily at work making plans and perfecting arrangements for administering their part of the great work of educating our people in their homes and at their occupations. Many highly trained and experienced leaders A Lincoln. Nebraska, clnb prirl who became extension helper to state extension service. and practical men of affairs are giving their time, their thought and their energy to this great work. The day is not far distant when every farm and home in the nation 716 AGRICULTURE AND may, if it chooses, be in touch with educational oppor- tunities which a generation ago were available only to those most highly favored by fortune. Farmers' Institutes The farmers' institute is one of the oldest known agencies of extension work and as such is considered by many as the "forerunner of modern extension methods and agencies." For many years it has been in active operation in practically every state of the Union. The in- stitute is not only held for the farmers and their families ; but is organized and conducted almost entirely by them. At the institute meetings the farmers themselves discuss all kinds of problems relating to the home, the farm, the school and the common social life of the community. In many respects the fanners' institute is as democratic and broadly representative of the community needs and inter- ests as are perhaps any other extension organizations. Demands upon the farmers' institutes. — In order to be of real helpfulness and service the farmers' institute must keep fully abreast of the times. This must hold not only in the discussions and in the subject matter presented, but also with respect to the general organization and meth- ods of conducting the institute and its meetings. Unless the institute is progressive and deals with live vital prob- lems, it is not worthy the support of the people, much less worthy the encouragement and support of the state. This does not mean, however, that the farmers' institute must present a highly technical or theoretical program or THE FARMING BUSINESS 717 that it must deal with speculative problems of doubtful interest and application. The best type of institutes keeps close to the real needs and definite problems of the farming community, and seeks to afford practical help upon the most puzzling and important problems confronting its members. Institute program. — The institute program should be as carefully planned and carried out as the program of any scientific or professional organization. Exemplifying this principle, a recent farmers' institute held in one of the central states consisted of a three days' program. In it were given addresses of both practical and scientific value bearing upon farm and home management. There were large exhibits of products raised on the farm and pro- duced in the home. The local rural schools had exhibits of their work. Stock and grain judging contests were held and instruction given in these subjects. All kinds of demon- strations, such as butter-making, baking, canning and the like were carried out. First aid to the injured was ex- emplified and the care of babies and young children demon- strated. Cooking contests were engaged in and a study of soils, grains and farm tools pursued. Different methods of spraying were demonstrated and practical work given in the setting, pruning and grafting of trees. Demonstrations were given in grading, picking, labeling and general market- ing methods of important orchard and garden products. In addition to these activities special conferences were held on cooperative buying and selling. Moving pictures of various farm interests were shown. Recreation hours were enjoyed and luncheons and social gatherings 718 AGRICULTURE AND abounded on all sides. In short, everything was up-to-date and every part of the program expressed the intelligence, the ambitions and the progressive ideals of the community. As would be expected, agricultural trains, short courses, chautauquas, county agricultural agents, boys' and girls' club work, and other means of education were to be found and were well patronized in this county ; yet none was more popular than the modern institute and probably none ren- dered more immediate inspiration and help. The speakers. — At its best the farmers' institute has oflficers as well as program committees who are concerned first and foremost only for the efficiency and success of the institute. They aim at making it a force for the profit and enjoyment of all. Consequently, ambitious politicians, favorite friends of the officers and influential citizens or office holders are not permitted to monopolize program time unless they have something of true value to offer. Favoritism or weakness is never allowed to interfere with efficiency. Every person who speaks on the institute plat- form must have something of fundamental value to offer, preferably from his own experience. The program as well as the individual speeches must be timed just right and run according to schedule. Nothing must be overdone and everything must be well done. Everybody, young and old, is to be welcomed and especially provided for at the institutes. Farmers, teachers, preachers, lawyers, bankers and doctors will all find something of interest and value in a well balanced and well presented farmers' institute pro- gram. Special lectures and demonstrations must be planned THE FARMING BUSINESS 719 and efficiently executed for the boys and girls. Every person who is interested in agriculture or in rural life should be able to find in the institute a source of inspira- tion and practical education. Short Courses or Movable Schools Another valuable opportunity open to farmers is found in the short courses, or "movable schools" conducted dur- ing the winter or slack season usually by the colleges of agriculture. In most states these short courses run from six days to two months. Generally they are held at the colleges, but in other instances they convene in various parts of the state as extension courses, or movable schools. Short courses definitely center on certain specified subjects, and involve class instruction and demonstration work, rather than free-for-all discussions and a general program of wide range. General discussions and practical questions are by no means barred, however, in short-course work. Work of the short courses. — In the short courses the special problems confronting the farmers of the region are brought forward, and the experimental results of much careful work and investigation are freely given to them. The best type of crops, the most favorable rotations, the most successful means of combatting insect and other plant enemies, instruction on breeds of live stock adapted to local conditions, protection against animal diseases, systems of marketing, and many other vital problems are discussed and taught in a helpful way. In addition, instruction is usually given in stock and grain judging and the farmers are so 720 AGRICULTURE AND trained to efficiency in these lines that they can judge their own stock or crops with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes. Good returns. — Time and money spent in attending short courses, movable schools, or other types of educa- tional meetings relating to farm interests are profitably invested. The progressive farmer who not only compre- hends helpful scientific truths, but has the enterprise and ability to put them into practise upon his own farm will reap many-fold in returns for all he has expended. In addition, the pleasure and satisfaction that come from co- operating with the most progressive members of his county or neighborhood are in themselves sufficient compensation for all the sacrifice required. The County Agricultural Agent's Work One of the new agencies which has more recently en- tered the field of agricultural extension education in the in- terest of rural development is the county agricultural agent. The county agent is an agricultural or household science leader or extension representative whose business is to organize, lead, instruct and give agricultural direction and bring from every source helpful instruction and advice to the farmers and their families at home, in the field and in the schools of the county. Purpose of the county agent. — ^The relation of the county agent's work to the agricultural interests of his county is suggested in the following words from Doctor B. T. Galloway, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Cor- THE FARMING BUSINESS 721 nell University: "The successful county agent is one who can properly represent the whole community and the state and federal agencies aiding him, and who can use these agencies and all other agencies to the fullest advantage to the benefit of the community. The most suc- cessful work will be accomplished through the agent as an organizer and administrator. If he attempts to do much of the detailed work, he will so scatter his energies as to County agent's exhibit at county fair. accomplish little. It is not to be expected that the farm bureau agent can qualify as an expert upon all subjects that will have to be used in his county. He should depend- largely upon specialists in subject-matter in departments of the college and in the United States Department of Agricul- ture to aid him in this work. His work can be made much more effective if he will so organize it as to utilize these 722 AGRICULTURE AND subject-matter specialists in his county rather than to at- tempt to do all of the subject-matter work himself." In connection with the county agent, and back of his work, there is in many of the states an organization of farmers of the county, organized for the purpose of furnishing a sort of clearing house for agricultural and household in- The country agricnltural n,gent is discussing sraiu problems and smut explosions with tbe farmers at tlirasbiug time. formation and an organization through which the county agent may work. This organization is commonly known as the Farm Bureau. The work of the county agent. — The advent of the Mexican boll-weevil in the cotton-fields of Texas was re- sponsible for the beginning of this work. So great were its ravages that in 1904, 1905 and 1906 the United States De- THE FARMING BUSINESS 723 partment of Agriculture employed Doctor Seaman A. Knapp to investigate what could be done to exterminate the boll-weevil and to demonstrate to the southern farmer that cotton could be grown in spite of the pest. Doctor Knapp soon discovered that printed circulars of instruction, public lectures and other former means of agricultural instruction would not accomplish what was needed to be done. So he determined upon a plan of field and farm demonstration work for the purpose of showing upon a man's own farm not only how to exterminate the boll-weevil but how to grow an earlier variety of cotton, and if possible, a weevil-resistant strain. From this begin- ning there has been a very rapid growth of this type of extension work, until at the present time county agricul- tural agents are employed in every state in the Union. The county workers. — Men employed as county agri- cultural agents are required to be possessed of scientific information as well as successful experience on the prob- lems of agriculture. They are expected also to have had practical experience in the general management of a farm. Plans have already been made by which the county agent is assisted by a woman agent who will be thoroughly trained and fitted to advise and direct the girls and women in all matters relating to the making of better homes. Several hundred women agents are now at work in as many counties in all sections of the United States. Organization of the county work. — The county agents live in the county and are supplied with an office where they may be consulted on special office days. They are fur- 724 AGRICULTURE AND nished with some means of transportation so that they may travel about the county from farm to farm and from group to group. In this way the county agents carry to the very door of the farm home the services of speciaHsts. They are able to bring to those who can not go to college the help, ad- vice and leadership of the best scientific investigators, and really make the farms a part of the campus, class rooms and laboratories of the agricultural college and demonstra- Teaching seed selection to farmers of to-morrow. tion centers of the experiment stations and the United States Department of Agriculture. Character of help rendered. — The work of the county agents is calculated to increase the profits of farming, and to make more possible the comforts and efficiency of the farm home; to aid in conserving and building up the soil; and to encourage the advancement of community edu- cation and social interests. Like the physician or surgeon. ■ THE FARMING BUSINESS 725 the county agents are to be called when advice, treatment or preventive measures are needed. They plan for a system of demonstrations to show the best methods of managing the soil, preparing the seed bed, selecting and caring for seed, management and care of farm animals, preparation of foods, home canning, organization and care of gardens and orchards, and the handling and conservation of farm buildings and machinery. If a herd is stricken with tuberculosis, the hogs with the cholera, the cotton-field with the boll-weevil, or the corn- field with cutworms, or the members of the family with some disease caused by tubercular milk or foul water, the county agent should be notified and his help secured. If he is not able directly to give the information and aid he will know where to secure assistance on short notice. In like manner the county agent will be of special assistance in planning the proper management of soils and crops when the seasons are too dry or too wet ; in the best organization of farm enterprises ; and in the management of all the efficiency factors important to the success of American agriculture. Financial support. — The county agent work was first supported by the United States Department of Agriculture by the use of funds directly appropriated by Congress to the department. This was liberally supplemented by a fund from the General Education Board. The work under Doctor Knapp's direction made definite progress toward the extermination of the boll-weevil and the development of resistant types of cotton. The best part of his work was 726 AGRICULTURE AND . the fact that through the county agent movement he suc- ceeded in getting the soutliern farmers to appreciate that they needed to grow their own pork, beef, poultry and dairy products and that crop rotation was quite as possible in the South as in the central and western states. He also dem- onstrated through these men that growing cotton as a single crop enterprise from year to year meant certain destruction agriculturally to the South. This work called for a more liberal appropriation of funds from year to year from four different sources: (1) the United States Department of Agriculture; (2) the slate legislatures ; (3) the General Education Board; (4) the local or county government. Congress in the year 1912 appropriated an additional amount of money to be expended for the development of farm demonstration and county agent work in the northern, central and western states for the first time. The fund was supplemented by one hundred thousand dollars donated by a Chicago business man. In 1914 the Smith-Lever Act y/as enacted and this made federal aid available for every state in the Union, beginning July 1, 1914. The entire amount appropriated for the first year was four hundred and eighty thousand dollars, to be divided equally among the forty-eight states. The appropriation is gradually to increase until the federal government is contributing some four and one-half million dollars annually for the encour- agement of agriculture. The Smith-Lever law contemplates that the greater part of this immense fund shall be spent in supporting county THE FARMING BUSINESS 727 agricultural agents, state and district leaders in boys* and girls' club work, demonstration work in home economics, and other assistance in shaping and building up agricultural interests throughout the nation. The agricultural colleges and the United States Department of Agriculture are to cooperate in carrying out the provisions of the act. Steps to be taken in securing a county agent. — The matter of securing an agent for a county should first be taken up with the state leader, whose headquarters are with the agricultural college of each state. He is in a position to assist in planning and conducting the campaign for an agent and can give information in regard to available sources of county, state and federal funds, and the amount of funds necessary properly to finance the movement. When the county is ready for the appointment of an agent the state leader will doubtless be able to recommend a man qualified for the work. Agricultural Publications Probably in no other occupation are there so many helpful publications available, with little or no cost to those who are interested and will use them, as in agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture has printed and is distributing free of charge to all who desire them, many hundred different bulletins relating to the farm and its interests. In addition to this vast array of practical, scientific material, special bulletins for farmers, circulars and dififerent series of follow-up instruction for boys' and girls' work are available ; also various state agricultural 72S AGRICULTURE AND colleges and experiment stations are annually publishing helpful material bearing upon the agricultural problems of their state. These publications are all free to the citizens of the state. Use a real measure in agricultural acliievement. An abundance of valuable material. — Added to these lines are many circulars of information, agricultural reports and special bulletins upon definite farm problems, distri- buted either by federal, state or private organizations. In- deed the amount of this material is so plentiful that its very THE FARMING BUSINESS 729 quantity is in dangei of defeating its purpose. When a farmer has before him a list of several hundred state and federal bulletins on farm and home interests, and adds to this a list of a hundred or more from his own state agricul- tural institutions, it requires some care to make a wise selec- tion, yet he may be sure of finding the very ones needed for the particular problems of his own farm or home. Each region of the country or even each section of a state, indeed every individual farm, has its own particular problems. It is the business of the progressive farmer, therefore, not to try to read everything printed upon agri- culture, but to select from the available material those par- ticular helps which relate directly to his needs. In this way one can secure the assistance of scores or even hun- dreds of highly trained and thoroughly experienced agri- cultural scientists and practitioners, and, without expense to himself, add much of their knowledge to his own in the advancement of his economic interests. Agriculture in the home library. — Every home library should therefore contain a general selection from among the agricultural bulletins, reports and circulars available for free distribution. In addition to these, the agricultural section of the home library should contain a few well se- lected reference books upon the subjects of cooking, house- keeping, home-making and agriculture. These are neces- sary in conjunction with bulletins for one who desires to get the general idea of the whole field of agriculture and home-making. For while each bulletin deals with its own specific problem, a book puts one in touch with the 730 AGRICULTURE AND wider relations of his vocation. By such means as these the farmer who has not had the opportunity of technical schooling can, nevertheless, keep in touch with the best agricultural thought and practise of his day. And one who does this need have no fear of becoming an "old fogy" or "getting into the rut." Not only will he better his farming and thereby increase his financial success, but Agricultural ageut's iiortablt' rur;:i library, will keep an alert mind and grow mentally while im- proving his economic welfare, and will by their educational processes be able to remove the thorns and stingers from the so-called drudgery of farm life. The home library. — But one should always be broader than his occupation. It is not enough for the farmer and his family to keep in touch with the best agricultural litera- ture of the day. Our farming population probably aver- ages higher in intelligence and natural capacity than any other great body of industrial workers. The interests of THE FARMING BUSINESS 731 the farmer and his family will therefore naturally lead to reading matter covering a wide range of interests. The library of the home will need to have a well selected stock of books of literary, historic and practical scientific nature. On the library table will be found not only some farm journals, but the daily paper, a weekly magazine of national scope and one or more of the best monthly maga- zines. A fair proportion of one's income expended in this way will yield the highest returns in personal satisfaction, in broadened interests and intelligence and in all that goes to make life most worth while. The progressive farmer is therefore, like his farm, im- proving daily. He is characteristic of the highest type of intelligent citizenship. He provides not only for the physi- cal welfare of himself and his family, but also for intellec- tual needs. Not satisfied to follow blindly the methods learned when a boy upon his father's farm, he appropriates the lessons of modern science and profits by the results of experimental agriculture. He is too well balanced to be led off by mere fads, but at the same time he is sufficiently open minded so that the really valuable never passes him by. The progressive farmer, whether he is a graduate of an agricultural college or of a rural school of his native community, makes use of all educational agencies and adds to his storehouse every year, net earnings of health, wealth and increasing intelligence. 732 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XLIV EXTENSION EDUCATION BY MEANS OF BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUB WORK CLUB work is one of the several forms of extension teaching now being systematically conducted through- out the entire nation. In Canada, and in several of the for- eign countries the work is also being introduced. Purpose of Club Work These clubs are an organized system of extension teach- ing for young people, and contemplate the carrying on of home, farm, orchard and garden projects throughout the growing season and in fact throughout the entire year. Boys and girls are organized into groups called clubs. All members of these groups carry on a uniform or definite line of work outlined by national, state and local leaders. Systematic instructions are given from time to time through- out the season, club meetings are held, programs are fur- nished for detailed guidance, field and demonstration meet- ings are conducted by state, district or local leaders. These club leaders attend meetings, conduct fairs, special club festivals, play tournaments, club fairs, pageants and ban- quets, some of which are held for the purpose of creating enthusiasm and interest, and to give the members of the THE FARMING BUSINESS 7ZZ group the encouragement and common motive needed for success in their work. Correlation with home interests, — Club work is dis- tinctly a back-to-the-home movement, and seeks to corre- late and coordinate the activities of the school with those of the community and the home. The club organization through its group meetings aims to develop leadership, inde- pendence of initiative, cooperative strength, and an appre- ciation of what constitutes community welfare and effi- ciency. Other of the leading objects in this type of extension work are to offer young people of rural and village life the careful guidance and direction in agricultural and home work and interests such as will retain for the farming busi- ness many of the best young people of every community. The purpose is also to demonstrate through these trained boys and girls the highest efficiency and best practise for the farm and the home. The boys and girls through this group organization are likewise afforded the training in industry and team work that will make for better com- munity ideals. The club presents also a plan of systematic study that renders help to the ruril and village schools which are endeavoring to teach agriculture and home economics. It gives to the isolated boy and girl of the country the educational advantages so essential to all- around development. It teaches habits of thrift, economy, industry, and a positive liking for the work of the farm. Finally, the boys' and girls' club inspires a greater interest in all the activities and enterprises of the farm through 734 AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTFm. CONTEST ORCANIZAT/ON ■'<-S The large star shows location of county leader, black dots location of boys' and girls' club groups in the country for the year, each group receiving help and inspiration from a local leader. THE FARMING BUSINESS 72>5 Large star represents the county leader, black dots show club groups and small circles represent the club member- ship of each group. 736 AGRICULTURE AND developing a broader culture and giving a knowledge of the plant and animal world with which the farmer and his family have to do. Some of the Club Projects Given to Groups Field, farm, fruit and garden projects. — In corn, po- tato, sugar beet or mangel, market-garden, alfalfa, apple, rotation, home garden and canning work. A New England club exhibit. Home demonstration projects. — In home canning and marketing, mother-daughter home canning, garment- making, home garden, boys' and girls' home canning, wheat and bread work. Animal husbandry projects. — In pork and crop pro- duction, poultry project consisting of hatching and rear- ing and egg-laying and marketing, beef and crop pro- duction, and dairy work. THE FARMING BUSINESS 7Z7 Special club projects. — In home management, farm management, farm and home handicraft work. Requirements of members in all projects. — The re- quirements for all clubs are practically the same; namely, every member is required to make application for mem- bership, agree to requirements, such as attend meetings, fol- low instructions, and faithfully manage at least his acreage or project unit. There is as a rule no limit to the size of the plot nor the amount of work which may be undertaken. The member must keep a record of observation, cost, re- ceipts, and make an exhibit of his products at the time and place designated by state and local leaders. Basis of award. — For basis of award, follow-up in- struction, enrollment blanks and organization circulars, write to the state agent in charge of boys' and girls' exten- sion work at the state college of agriculture of your own state. If possible arrange for the county club leader or county superintendent of schools to assist you in getting a club or group of boys and girls organized in one or two of the above projects. In some communities it is very im- portant that one project be used for the boys and another of more definite application to the home used for the girls. No school community or district should undertake more than two club projects or groups. It is much better to be content with one or two club groups and make a definite success of them than to have many and practically fail in all. 738 AGRICULTURE AND Results from Club Work The results of boys' and girls' club activities in agri- culture and home economics are both immediate and re- mote. The more immediate result is the economic effi- ciency that it brings to the farm and the farming community by making of every boy and girl a demonstrator of the best knov^n practises of agriculture and home economics. Boys and girls as a rule, with their open minds free from prej- Parcel post and market exhibit. udice, unpossessed of habits of bad practise, and in the formative period of life, are in position to take and put into immediate practise the instruction and directions of scientists and specialists. Indeed they are much more readily influenced than are their parents and adult neigh- bors who have been practising for so many years in other ways, and therefore have developed habits that are difficult THE FARMING BUSINESS 739 to overcome. The demonstrations made possible through boys and girls render it a simple matter for the adults to secure through each object lesson the facts essential to their own advantage in conducting the farming business. Results upon character. — A more remote but not less important result is that club work offers under skilful leadership and direction just the kind of out-of-door indus- trial life required for the conservation of the health, character and ideals of young life ranging from ten to twenty-one years of age. The club work also develops within the member a desire for ownership and possession of things worth while, and teaches the dignity of achieve- ment through personal effort with soils, farm animals, crops and kitchen enterprizes. A very important result is that the work sets standards of achievement for young peo- ple in connection with the common duties of the farm and home life. To teach a child to earn a dollar through his own investment of time, money and energy is certainly one of the important things in connection with education. Such training will go a long way toward teaching to save or spend the money and may later prevent the common abuse or the misuse of wealth. Club Leadership In every state of the Union there are from four to forty people devoting all of their time to the leadership, organiza- tion and direction of the boys' and girls' agricultural and home project activities. In addition to these there are also a corps of specialists and national leaders who assist the 740 AGRICULTURE AND state forces in the promotion and reinforcement of the work. Economic support. — The state, district and county leaders are usually paid from funds obtained from a number of different sources — from the Smith-Lever Act, from the state colleges of agriculture, from the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, from the local, county or city govern- ment, and sometimes from still other sources. Prizes, premiums and general awards used in connection with the work are not furnished by the state and federal govern- Superintendent Sussen and Harold Straiiderg — boy cliam- pion. ments but are usually supplied by interested individuals, or- ganizations, institutions and commercial concerns. Relation to Schools The relation of the boys' and girls' club work to the schools of the state and county should be similar to that of the general extension activities to the larger educational THE FARMING BUSINESS 741 institutions. Surely the natural and legitimate extension work of the rural and village school lies in the boys' and girls' clubs. This agency is designed to translate the theories of text-book and class-room work into terms of life. Opportunity of the school. — It is now generally con- ceded that it is impossible properly to teach the subjects of agriculture and home economics from text-book and class- School com club testing seed corn in sawdust germination boxes. room work alone. Definite efforts therefore need to be made to help the young people put into immediate practise the truths, experiments and laboratory results, not at the end of the course, but at the end of each day's lesson. Surely then every farmer and farmer's wife will be inter- 742 AGRICULTURE AND ested in seeing that the local school makes an effort thus to correlate, through the force of club extension work, the book and class-room education with the life of the home and the farm. Club Records The table opposite will show something of the results that may be obtained from the boys' and girls' club work in any state. The greater the number of young people who enroll, stay in the work, and complete all of the work required by the leaders of the state, the greater the tangible results shown in this table will be. Application of Terms Used in the Boys' and Girls' Extension Work The federal government, together with all the state ex- tension departments, is putting out a large amount of organization and follow-up instructions for this type of work. The following terms are used systematically in all of this printed material and it is important that the gen- eral public be familiar with the use of these terms as they are intended to be used by the leaders in charge of the work: 1. Club Work — Club work is an organized system of ex- tension teaching for young people through demonstrations in the lield and home. It contemplates the organization of young people into groups called clubs, for the purpose of definite work under carefully prepared projects and with adequate local lead- ership. 2. An Experiment — An experiment is an effort designed to discover principles or facts and the methods of their applica- tion. 3. A Test — A test is an efifort to prove or disprove the 'f 2 K =» a> Ji a "1 1^0 t. M M - O "^i 1-; ■>»< CI CI o t- o 1-; . eg M -r t~ IN o -cc 1-5 o -i> •* .-■ ^. lo .^ co IE CI ^5 C3 -)l CI ^ : CI CI o CI W TH rt rjl « 33o;aD333333533sa;3CMp33ca3cMK°^ji O = CI >■■' ^ ^^ a* CI »"; t^ t- L'^ CO o o -J x" 1-: CI t~ I- -c I- op ■;> w 1-5 o S o o ?3 -^" ® ■* f i "^ "^ iM S M ''^ "= ® rieox i<-«irt03 ci*-ioo". L-". CI 10 o Soo ■* C ?! P3 00 o OS 005! fla'2 3tjo55rtnc_2'5)-=^" OOcSoo^^OOoO-oOCCSOOCSoOoOiI^OBWOoIinra Ull|OUW«f-iOtioPHMO&HfLiC>!JP-iOUC-iOC-i<:C-i;«aP40SO ooc3oo®®oooo,-oocc3ooc3oooo2ioswoo::: -;= c o' -H O CO o 1- o q o CI o » ^ =^ CO t~ § in CI L-3 CO CI 10 MCI M CD tH to O i3> 1-- jO CO ?s ■= ,^ c §2 So B O) 744 AGRICULTURE AND practical, local application of established principles and facts under a given set of conditions. 4. A Demonstration — A demonstration is an effort de- signed to show by example the practical application of an established fact. Demonstrations may be of methods or of results. 5. Field Meeting — A field meeting is a gathering of young Boys and girls bringing corn to school for judging and testing in a Cook County rural school. people for the purpose of observing, discussing, and studying the progress or results of a definite field demonstration. 6. Club Visit. — A club visit is a personal call by state, dis- trict, or local club leader to the club group or club meeting, which may be held in the home, school, club room, court-house or other convenient place. 7. Club Project — A club project is the particular home work of field, garden, etc., to be undertaken by the entire club group. 8. Home Project — A home project is the individual work THE FARMING BUSINESS 745 undertaken by each club member at home, as part of the club project or work of the group. 9. Contest — A contest is a competitive phase of the club work, in which club members measure themselves and their work by a common standard, called a basis of award. 10. Club Festival — A club festival is an organized part of the club work and has reference to the organized activities of a single day, on which members exhibit products, demonstrate Apple Club boys pruning orcliard under direction of comity ageut, Cortland Cuuuty, >«'e\v York. methods, hold related plays and other program features, for the purpose of arousing interest and creating enthusiasm for the work. 11. Basis of Award — The basis of award is a standard of measurement, outlined for the convenience of leaders in deter- mining the achievement, grade, or standing of a club member, and is used for both the awarding of school credits for club work and the awarding of prizes, medals, diplomas, etc. 12. Score-Card — A score-card is a standard of measure- ment employed for use in judging work to determine the quality 746 AGRICULTURE AND of products, animals, grains, and articles produced in connection with the boys' and girls' club work, 13. Agricultural Club — An agricultural club is a club of young people organized for systematic instruction, for the pur- pose of developing the efficiency of its members in all general agricultural subjects and country life interests. 14. Follow-up Instructions — Follow-up instruction is the especially prepared, typewritten, multigraphed, or printed direc- tions, and subject-matter directions prepared for club members, Selecting seed corn. and may deal with both the club group work and the subject- matter instructions for the individual home projects. 15. Follow-up Work — Follow-up work is the term used to denominate the different efiforts, activities, and organization which seeks to aid, from time to time, the club group or indi- vidual member upon the plot in connection with the work, for the purpose of showing definite and concrete results at the close of the year. 16. Specialist in Club Work — A specialist in club work is an individual who has been assigned to extension teaching in boys' and girls' club work on a particular subject, and who, THE FARMING BUSINESS 747 as a rule, deals with subject matter and not the general organi- zation work. 17. Local Leader — The local leader in boys' and girls' club work is the one who has been selected by the State, district, or county leader for the purpose of looking after the local group of club members, meeting with them at their regular meetings, holding field meetings and demonstrations, visiting their club plots and home project work, and in other ways representing the state agent in the conduct of the work. This person may be a paid or volunteer leader. 18. Club Program — A club program is a definitely outlined series of activities required of club members, club groups and club leaders, for a given season or year. 19. Club Plot — A club plot is a piece of ground required as the unit or acreage upon which the home project and field work is to be performed. 20. Club Unit — The club unit is the outlined unit of work and refers to quantity or measurement of projects that can not be estimated in terms of acreage and yield. 21. Completed Project — A completed project is an expres- sion used in boys' and girls* club extension work to indicate that a club leader, club group or club member has worked out the ent'-e program and fulfilled all requirements of the leaders in charge of the work including attendance at meetings, growing of the crop, harvesting, marketing, making exhibits and sub- mitting a properly filled out, signed, and attested crop report to the leader in charge at the end of season or year. 748 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XLV PHYSICAL HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY NO question of farm administration is more important to the farmer than the health of himself and his fam- ily. Good health underlies all satisfaction, happiness and success. Sickness not only causes worry, but results in a more or less permanently lowered standard of efficiency. It shortens life and is expensive from every point of view. Every normal person wants to live long and be strong and vigorous while living. None would knowingly manage his life or work so as to shorten his years or produce invalidism as the result. The cost of sickness. — A person who is ill on an average of one day a month and requires the attention of some member of the family to take care of him, with per- haps a call from the doctor can figure on at least five dollars outlay in loss of time and labor, doctor's bills and medicine. This for one year would aggregate sixty dollars, and for a family of five, three hundred dollars a year of actual out- lay. While one may not realize this much loss because of our common habit of counting but our doctor's bills and the medicine wdien we are sick, yet time is money and a day spent in bed in place of the field is so much income lost. If, however, one is not ill to the extent of requiring medical THE FARMING BUSINESS 749 attention or of being obliged to go to bed, but is only feeling out of sorts and incapable of doing his best work, he may not think to count the financial loss at all. But the fact, of course, is that one who is working up to but half of his physical efficiency is in fact losing half of his time and therefore half of the wage that he should earn. No small part of the planning and the care of the home should, therefore, be given to matters of hygiene and physi- cal health and its consequent efficiency. This will pay in dollars and cents, in happiness, satisfaction, long life and the ultimate success of every member of the family. Rural Health and Hygiene For many reasons the country should be more healthful than the city, yet our medical authorities and students of public health and efficiency are coming to doubt whether the greater part of our farm population live under as good hygienic conditions as the industrial workers of equal finan- cial rating in towns and cities. There is more than a sus- picion that farmers and their wives have a tendency to age earlier than is necessary, and in spite of the rush and tumult of the cities it is found that disease is as prevalent in rural as in urban districts. It is a notable fact that many of the preventable diseases year after year show a higher mor- tality rate in the country than in towns. With all of the country's natural advantages over the city, our health sta- tistics while far from complete, reveal approximately as high a death rate for rural communities as for the cities, with all our bad housing conditions in certain sections of 750 AGRICULTURE AND cities and with a greater danger of contagion because of multitudes living close together. Death toll from preventable diseases. — The result of these easily remedied unhygienic conditions is measured in the annual loss of more than eighty thousand of our rural population through the ravages of tuberculosis; of nearly sixty thousand through intestinal troubles other than typhoid; of fifty-five thousand through various forms of colds; of fifty thousand through pneumonia; of sixteen thousand through typhoid ; and so in less numbers through diphtheria, scarlet fever and other such diseases. Here, then, is one of the greatest lines open to good farm and home management — to provide and plan for better living that life may be longer, health and happiness greater, and physical efficiency more perfect. Factors Bearing on the Health of the Farm A few illustrations will show some of the practical direc- tions that may be taken in securing for the farmer and his family better hygienic conditions. Water. — Careful studies of the water supply in a large number of wells in various parts of the country have con- vinced experts in these matters that approximately sixty per cent, of the farm wells are polluted by house and barn- yard drainage. Not only is the thought of drinking this seepage revolting, but it is a well-known fact that all such drainage contains bacteria, many species of which are detri- mental to health and vitality even where they do not pro- duce actual disease. A large proportion of cases of disen- THE FARMING BUSINESS 751 tary, summer complaints and other forms of digestive derangements are directly traceable to the bacterial element in water, milk and other food. It hardly need be argued that intelligent farm management should relieve the family of all such danger to health and life. Any other point of view indicates a degree of carelessness inexcusable in the light of present-day knowledge on matters of hygiene and public health. Milk. — It is natural and right that the farm family should use a greater proportion of milk in their diet than any other people. Farm children especially should be sup- plied with an abundance of fresh pure milk and use less of tea and coffee. Yet it is beyond question as proved by thousands of tests that milk is being constantly used without pasteurizing from tubercular cows, thus exposing the chil- dren of the farm family to the danger of this dread infec- tion at an age when they are most susceptible to its ravages. A large proportion of the milk now sold in the cities has been pasteurized, or otherwise rendered sterile to the dangerous forms of bacteria so easily transmitted through milk. With the tuberculin tests easily available to every farmer, and with the possibility of simply and easily pasteur- izing the milk at home for the table, it would seem that we should not endanger health and life for want of either enterprise or care to make certain of the purity of the milk supply. Ventilation. — Not uncommonly the air breathed in our farm homes during the winter months is impure be- cause of inadequate ventilation. Windows are sometimes 752 AGRICULTURE AND stuck or nailed fast that should be opened and sleeping rooms that should be freely aired are left entirely closed to shut out the cold. Cold air is often thought to be pure air and the outer atmosphere is carefully shut from sleeping rooms when we should permit a free circulation of air with- in. It is undoubtedly the lack of ventilation in our homes that causes so large a crop of pneumonia cases late in the winter and during the early spring of each season. When we come to realize that one does not "catch cold," that he does not "take" pneumonia, but that the cold and pneumonia germs are always present in some degree in our system, only to get the better of us and give us colds or pneumonia when our vitality is exhausted and when we are run down from lack of pure air, sleep, rest and unhygienic conditions, then we shall seek the causes resulting in this lowered vitality and so escape the ravages of disease. Drainage. — Farm cellars are not infrequently damp and improperly drained. The musty and "close" smell so often recognized as one comes into the house out of the open air indicates a condition that requires immediate remedy If we are to escape physical danger. Especially should the housewife, the greater part of whose work is in the house, not be subjected to the impurities always to be found in air of this sort. Cellar drains are inexpensive and concrete can easily be used to make the cellar walls and floor as clean and sweet as those of the upper stories. Windows can be put through the foundation walls admitting sunshine and fresh air to the basement, so that it may be as habitable as any room in the house. Such matters are only THE FARMING BUSINESS 753 questions of enterprise and administrative ability and do not require any considerable outlay of money. The Farm Table The farm is the source of all food supply and furnishes town and city homes as well as farm homes witli all that goes on the table. There is every reason, therefore, why the farmer's table should be the most bountiful and hygienic table to be found anywhere. American farmers particularly do not stint their table. They have enough to eat and may be said to live well. Need of varied diet. — Yet many farm tables could be greatly improved by increasing the variety of the foods available. Especially does every person need an abundance of vegetables and fruits as a regular part of the dietary. Every day in the year should see the farm table supplied with an abundance of vegetables and fruits, whether in the winter months or during the growing season. Many of our tables, however richly supplied with "green stuff" during the summer months, are relatively destitute of any wide range or variety of these important foods during the winter and spring. And these are the times, because of the strain of the severe cold in the more northern regions and because of the more sedentary life lived by many families In the winter season, that we most need the effects of vegetables and fruit diet to maintain our health and vitality. Contribution of garden and orchard. — Good farm man- agement will, therefore, provide plenty of garden and or- chard products for the home table. Tliis will pay abun- 754 AGRICULTURE AND dantly even when there is no attempt to market truck crops for profit. Equipment, and help when necessary, should be supplied in the home for the canning of an abundance of these foods to have throughout the entire year so that there may be no shortage or scrimping during the winter months. Attention given in these directions will not only render the diet more palatable, but will tend greatly to reduce doctor's bills and increase physical efficiency. Farm Sanitation and Flies The elimination of flies is one of the greatest of sanita- tion problems in the farm home, for wherever there is re- fuse left to decay, there flies will propagate and multiply. So rapidly is the process of generation with these pests that the progeny of a single pair by the end of a season results in millions of offspring. Danger from flies. — Flies are a nuisance from every point of view. They are dirty. They are born and bred in filth and live chiefly on manure and other refuse. Many of them are domestic in their tastes and seek the house, helping themselves to the food which comes to our table, sipping from the cups of milk before the children get their drink, cleaning their filth-laden feet upon our bread or our pastry and finally drowning themselves if they are not watched, in our cofifee or soup. Flies carry disease. The bacteria which transmit typhoid fever are so small that many thousands can be carried by a single fly, and enough distributed by one trip to a piece of food to give one or two members of the family the disease. THE FARMING BUSINESS 755 Flies are a source of no small loss in the production of meat, milk and butter. They torment animals and cause a large part of the energy and food supply that should go to the production of flesh or milk to be expended in fighting flies. Flies annoy horses, causing them to fret and adding greatly to the strain and burden of the day's work, thereby causing loss of flesh and reducing the working efficiency of the animals. Getting rid of flies. — There are two remedies for flies, the first and most effective is not to raise them. This, the authors appreciate, is more easily prescribed than accom- plished under practical farm conditions, and yet much can be done on any farm to eliminate the breeding places of flies. Since it takes from one to two weeks, depending on temperature and other conditions, for flies to hatch, it is evident that If all manure and filth which are the essen- tials of fly production should be removed every few days and not allowed to accumulate, flies would then cease to exist for the simple reason that they could not be hatched. But when flies exist around the barns and house, re- course must be had to screens and traps. The farm-house should be thoroughly screened as a protection against flies and mosquitoes. Traps can easily be made or purchased very cheaply, which if properly used will practically elimi- nate the fly pest about the farm-house. Such small matters and foresight do not demand the outlay of money and therefore are to be solved upon the basis of administrative ability and enterprise. 756 AGRICULTURE AND Recreation and Health Health and happiness on the farm as anywhere else demand opportunity for relaxation and recreation. The farmer must occasionally have something more recreative and restful than the alternation of the day's work with the nightly chores. The farm wife must now and then have an opportunity to meet other people than those for whom she cooks and sews. The young people of the farm have as strong a desire for recreation and amusement as their city cousins. The social impulse in farm boys and girls is natural and right, and must have opportunity for its proper expression, if development is to be normal and if the desires are not to be turned away from the farm and toward the city or town. All work and no play will result in dulness on the farm as anywhere else. The farm can never hope to hold its boys and girls permanently to rural life unless it recognizes the necessity for a reasonable amount of free- dom from labor and of opportunity for social mingling and the fun and frolic that belongs to youth and in this way lightens many heavy burdens of farm and home life. Need of the holiday. — There are busy times on the farm, to be sure, when "a day off" is not to be thought of. Every member of the family loyal to the farm interests will be found in his or her place doing the utmost to finish plant- ing the crop or to gather the harvest on time. But when the rush is past and the press of the season is over, relaxa- tion must come. The home games, neighborhood parties, lectures, chautauquas, entertainments, short courses, club meetings, and athletic events are as much a part of good farm management in a community as the selecting of the THE FARMING BUSINESS 757 breeds of live stock, the planning of rotation of crops, or the administration of the activities of the farm. Planning for efficiency. — In order to live a life of high physical efficiency, therefore, certain social and recreational laws must be followed ; the farm home must be carefully organized with all these values in view. Its food supply must be abundant and well selected to provide a nutritious and balanced ration for each member of the family. The air breathed must be pure and free from taint at all times during the day and night and during every season, winter as well as summer. The water and milk supply must be carefully guarded that no danger can come from these sources. Flies and other insect pests must be reduced to the lowest possible minimum. The labor of the farm, in- tense and exhausting as it often is, must find relief in the relaxation of social mingling, athletic games and harm- less amusements of every good sort. The supplying of these conditions is an important part of good farm man- agement. 758 AGRICULTURE AND CHAPTER XLVI MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION Hozv to Remove Stains Iron rust. — Apply salt and lemon juice to the damp- ened spots. Place in the sun or near the fire. Then rinse or wash thoroughly. Burned cooking utensils. — To clean granite wares where mixtures have been burned on the surface, fill con- tainer half full of water, add good soap, washing powder, or baking soda. Bring water to a boiling point and scrub with a small brush. Tea, coffee or cocoa. — Wash with cold water, pour glycerine over spots and let stand for a few hours. Then wash with cold water and hard soap. If stains are fresh, pour over the stains boiling water from a height of four or five feet, after soaking. Blood. — Wash in warm water until stain disappears. Use ammonia to assist in dissolving the blood. Rub with naptha soap and soak in warm water. If heavy or new goods, as a new blanket, make a paste of raw starch and warm water. Spread on stain, and as fast as starch is discolored, make a new application. Bluing. — 1. Wash in boiling water. Boiling will THE FARMING BUSINESS 759 draw out the spots of blue formed from imperfect bluing. Vinegar or dilute acid will assist, if necessary. This is effective for pale and black blues. 2. Apply Javelle, and follow immediately with boil- ing water. Thorough rinsing will prevent Javelle from affecting fiber. A yellow cast may remain if the bluing has been an iron compound. This yellow cast or these spots may be taken out as iron rust. (See iron rust.) Chocolate. — Cover with borax, wash with cold water. Boiling water will remove trace of stain. Coffee. — Spread stained part over a bowl, pour boiling water on it from a height so as to strike the stain with force. Covering the spot with glycerine or borax will often assist in removing a stubborn stain. As a last resort, Javelle water may be used. Cream. — Wash in cold water, then in warm water and soap. Remove as grease. Ink. — 1. Moisten with salt and lemon juice, lay in the sun. 2. Apply a few drops of oxalic or hydrochloric acid, follow with a few drops of Javelle, and rinse quickly with boiling water. 3. Apply ammonium sulphide, wash with water, then wash with very dilute hydrochloric acid. Can be success- fully used on colors. Printers' ink. — 1. Spread stained portion over a bowl containing one quart of water and one teaspoon of borax. Apply acid, drop by drop until stain brightens, then dip stain at once into water. If not removed use same method 760 AGRICULTURE AND until stain disappears. Care should be taken to use either borax or ammonia in rinsing water. 2. Sprinkle stain with salt and moisten with lemon juice; lay in the sun. This method is slower and less likely to affect material. Either method will extract color. Milk. — Wash in cold water, then follow with soap. Mucus. — Mucus as found on handkerchiefs may be soaked in salt and water, then wash in warm water with ammonia or with soap. Paint. — 1. If paint is fresh, use at once soap and water if goods are washable. 2. Wash the spot in gasoline, turpentine or benzine, remembering that they are inflammable and should not be near fire or lamplight.* Varnish. — Wet the stain with alcohol or turpentine and allow it to stand a few minutes, then wet again and sponge off with a clean cloth. Continue this until stain is removed. In case the color is affected by alcohol, sponge with chloroform ; but for blue material use diluted vinegar. Vaseline. — Wash a fresh vaseline stain with turpen- tine. Soaking may aid the removal. Stain can not be re- moved after it has been boiled. Wagon grease. — Rub either oil or lard on stain, then wash with warm water and soap. It will be found of help to keep a cloth or blotter under stain while rubbing on the oil. Wax. — Scrape off all that is possible, then place blot- *01d stains may be softened first with lard, oil, kero- sene, before using any of the remedies. THE FARMING BUSINESS 761 ting paper over spot and press with warm iron. This will soften wax and cause it to be absorbed by the paper. If there is color, as from colored candle wax, use alcohol to extract color after removing wax. Javelle may be needed to bleach the color. Fruit. — 1. Spread stained part over a bowl, pour boiling water on it from several feet above so as to strike the stain with force. Borax will assist in removing stub- born stains. 2. Use Javelle solution and boiling water in equal quan- tities and immerse stained portion, allowing it to soak a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly with boiling water. This is best for peach stains, if alcohol fails. 3. Borax and ammonia may be used instead of Javelle which destroys woolen, silks and colors. 4. Apply a few drops of oxalic acid. Rinse well with hot water. Grass. — 1. Wash a fresh stain with cold water with- out soap, rub with molasses, let stand a few minutes. Wash out in warm water. 2. Alcohol or ether will dissolve the green coloring matter when material can not be washed. Grease (oil). — 1. W^ash in warm water and soap. Remove traces of grease stains by bleaching with Javelle, (For white cottons and linens.) 2. For delicate fabrics, apply ether, alcohol or benzine with a cloth, preferably of the same material, rubbing the stain lightly until all the reagent has evaporated. (These reagents are inflammable.) 762 AGRICULTURE AND 3. A mixture of equal quantities of acetone and ben- zote with Fuller's earth may be used without fear of water rings appearing or of changing color. Apply the powder to the stain and let stand several hours, then brush off lightly. Machine oil. — 1. Wash in soap and cold water. 2. Rub stain with turpentine. Mildew. — 1. If the mildew is very fresh, and has not attacked the fiber, it will wash out in cold water. 2. Apply potassium permanganate, then wash with warm water, use oxalic acid and then wash. 3. Apply Javelle, then wash with hot water. Perspiration. — 1. Wash in warm water and soap, and if cotton or linen, place in sun to dry. (For white wash- ables.) 2. Javelle water may be used for cottons and linens according to directions for white goods given above. 3. Apply a dilute solution of sodium hydrosulphite and wash in water. To remove perspiration stains from colored goods with anything other than soap and water, means in most cases, removing color. Redyeing is the final remedy. The odor may be removed by chloroform. Scorch. — 1. For cottons and linens, hang in sunlight, and slight scorch will be removed. 2. Wash in soap and water and place in sun. Scorch on woolens and silks means that the fiber is destroyed. Shoe polish. — 1. Use lard or grease, rubbing in well, then wash in warm water with soap. (For black paste.) THE FARMING BUSINESS 763 2. Use hydrochloric acid and ammonia alternately. Wash with soap and warm water. (For bronze.) 3. Use oxalic acid and ammonia alternately. Then wash with soap and warm water. (For tan.) Quatittty of Seed to Soiv Per Acre Alfalfa (broadcast) 15 to 20 lb. Alfalfa (drilled) 12 to 16 lb. Artichoke, Jerusalem 6 to 8 bu. Barley 8 .to 10 pk. Bean, field, small varieties 2 to 3 pk. Bean, field, large variety 5 to 6 pk. Beet 4 to 6 lb. Brome grass 12 to 15 lb. Broom corn 3 pk. Buckwheat 3 to 5 pk. Bur Clover 12 lb. Carrots (for stock) 4 to 6 lb. Clover, alsike 8 to 15 lb. Clover, Japan 12 lb. Clover, mammoth 12 to 15 lb. Clover, red (on small grain in spring) 8 to 10 lb. Clover, sweet 8 to 10 lb. Clover, white 4 to 6 lb. Clover, crimson 10 to 12 lb. Corn 5 to 9 lb. Cotton 1 to 3 bu. Cow-pea 1 to 1% bu. Cow-pea (drilled with corn) % to 1 bu. Cow-pea (for seed) 3 pk. Field pea, small varieties 2j/2 bu. Field pea, large varieties 3 to ZVz bu. Flax (for seed) 2 to 3 pk. Flax (for fiber) IVa to 2 bu. Hemp (broadcast) 2>y> io A pk. Hungarian grass (for hay) 2 pk. Johnson grass 1 to Wz bu. Kafir (drilled for grain) 5 to 8 lb. 764 AGRICULTURE AND Kafir (for fodder) 50 to 70 lb. Kale 2 to 4 lb. Lupine P/^ to 2 bu. Mangel 5 to 8 lb. Millet, barnyard (drilled) 1 to 2 pk. Millet, German (for seed) 2 to 3 pk. Millet, pearl (for hay) 8 to 10 lb. Milo 4 to 6 lb. Oat grass, tall 30 lb. Oats 2 to 3 bu. Orchard grass 12 to IS lb. Parsnips 4 to 6 lb. Pop corn 3 lb. Potato, Irish 10 to 14 bu. Potato, Irish (cut to one or two eyes) 6 to 9 bu. Rape (drilled) 2 to 4 lb. Rape (broadcast) 4 to 8 lb. Redtop, recleaned 12 to 15 lb. Rice 1 to 3 bu. Rutabaga 3 to 5 lb. Rye 3 to 4 pk. Rye grass 2 to 3 bu. Sorghum (forage, broadcast) 1^ to 2 bu. Sorghum (for seed or sirup) 2 to 5 lb. Sorghum, saccharine (for silage or soiling, drilled) 6 to Vz bu. Soy-bean (drilled) 2 to 3 pk. Soy-bean (broadcast) 1 to 1% bu. Sugar beets 15 to 20 lb. Sugar cane 4 tons of cane Sunflower 10 to 15 lb. Timothy 15 to 25 \h: Timothy and clover (timothy) 10 lb. (clover) 4 lb. Turnip (broadcast) 2 to 4 lb. Turnip (drilled) 1 lb. Velvet bean 1 to 4 pk. Vetch, hairy (drilled) 1 bu. Vetch, hairy (broadcast) 1 to Ij^bu. Wheat 3 to 9 pk. THE FARMING BUSINESS 765 Commodities for IVhich Bushel Weights Have Been Widely Adopted. a ^■s .2 c 2 i d ^ S t- eS <» 3 cj ^ o H M iS 3 (S tt M U. fe 48 42 48 32 60 Ala. 60 '56 '76 32 60 Ariz 45 55 32 60 Ark 'so 60 • . . "14 '20 '52 '56 'is '70 '60 32 '57 60 Cal 50 40 32 60 Colo 48 "eo 'ii 52 '50 '70 'eb 32 '57 60 Conn '<8 48 60 "eb '20 48 50 60 32 52 60 Del . . • 60 D. C Fla 'JS '48 '60 '20 '56 'is 32 '56 'eb Ga 4T 60 'ii 20 '52 56 48 '70 'eb 32 57 60 HawaU . . . . 48 32 60 Idaho Ill '48 'eb 'ii '20 '52 '56 'is '70 'eb '32 '57 'eb Ind 48 60 14 50 56 SO 60 32 48 60 Iowa (M 4X 48 60 '56 H '20 52 56 50 '70 60 32 57 60 Kaii3 .. 60 48 48 60 56 14 20 50 56 70 60 32 57 60 Ky 47 60 14 20 56 56 '5b 60 32 57 60 La 48 60 Me "•ii 48 'eb 'eb 'is 'sb '32 '52 60 Md , ;■. 'go 48 60 ii '2b 56 48 '70 'eb 32 57 60 Mass '48 48 60 'eb 20 'is 50 SO 60 32 52 60 Mich 48 48 60 'ii 48 56 50 '70 60 32 54 60 Minn 50 48 60 'so 14 50 56 70 60 32 52 60 Mis3 48 60 14 "2b 48 56 'is 72 60 32 57 60 Mo '48 48 60 14 20 52 56 so 60 32 57 60 Mont 45 48 60 'so 14 20 52 56 so '76 60 32 57 60 Nehr '.'. 'cb 48 48 60 14 20 52 56 50 70 60 32 57 60 Nev .. 60 48 48 60 '56 20 50 56 48 60 32 57 60 N. H 4S 48 GO 20 48 50 60 32 52 60 N. J 50 48 "go GO 50 64 30 57 60 N. Mex. .. N. y '48 '48 'eb '2b 'is 'sb 'eb '32 '57 'eb N. C " '60 48 48 60 'ii 50 48 '7b 60 32 57 60 N. r»ak. ... 50 48 60 'eb '26 42 '56 70 60 32 52 60 Oiiio 51) 48 60 56 50 56 6S 60 32 55 60 Okla '.'. '60 48 48 60 60 'ii '2b 52 56 '50 70 60 32 57 60 Oreg 45 46 42 eo 32 60 Pa 47 48 60 32 'so eo R. I "48 48 'eb "sb '2b 48 '56 'sb '7b 60 32 50 60 s. c 48 S. Dak. ... '48 'eb 'ca '2b '42 '56 '70 'eb '32 '52 'eo Tenn '50 48 60 50 'ii 20 50 56 70 60 32 56 60 Tex 45 48 60 20 42 56 70 60 32 57 60 Utah Yt '46 '48 '62 '60 'is 'en '30 '52 'eb Va 48 60 'ii 52 '56 '50 '7b 60 32 57 60 Wash '■45 48 42 eo 32 60 W. Va. ... 48 'eb 52 60 32 60 Wis 'so 48 60 'sb "2b 50 'sb GO 32 '57 60 W.vo -ll! H^ O S '- ^ 1 «^ o "W <0 ^k -4-) ^^3 03 ■u a A P.S t»-. >i "O "O 'O ri o3 Ift o T-i CD CO i-H •*** ?2 5o2 ° - 2o O o ^ . ^ ! 1 be M M £? S <) o a ^ o t>s c <,; 'C c rt - C CS ?i -W 60*^02 O ^2 »5 Pi o ;i rr! ^ sa o. a g '2 ■o'^S'T „ .S.3 3 *-■ s- ti "^i ■|i „•_; • "O:^ eg >>S j5 gj3 Ess} OS § 3 OS 3 3 0) a> c c a c c 3 3 3 3 3 o o o o o C 3 3 3 :g - . m m" 3 o ■§■§ ^ is- c .03«- C2 ma J=T3L --'Jq.D.5^ ^® 3.Q '5^^ r:; t-ti"oo c».- H^ l-r-l riO rH i-i C-gCl^-ICOr- 00 CO rH iH COrH r- >, C4 • r— I • • • o t-i tB ■^ bn ^ t-. to r r.Q ; ; I ci I t^ I *"' c ■n g : 1-3 ' * * ' ' 1^ • "5-3 • • ca pt . . and May. (Start bed during March.) . [July.] spring St and Septem arch and April.] U to May , h to May , h to September.... to June. (Start e 3 '.■^ '. '(4 « 3 . X 3 . ffl 3 . . •0 1 o :i : : • a '• '• '■X \ '• & ca 3 t~, J3 fa •3 3 3 .& : -'S-a ; S : :^S : *' o C2 5 § EC fe'OoT) ':'^c •S§ S-S-go*^ il >^.3 7) ; : M • . : s :>? • : : : S|l : : "g^gao Z r- ''l-S^" C3 CO < c Ci^ci53'"^^ ^^ft a ill fes a 0. £ .aSfa-g^ •^ ^' • J3 • Q, : : :::|:§ . . ^ ei . o . i 1 ; ;l :l J3 . . a 2 . sa tut;. t t: • 3 ce s ca-! ^ • - 5j ■•E C3 . o. :_ ' S S ' ry to Ap ry to Ap spring . . p to Febr ber to M Septenil ber to M ry to Apri ^* to £ 'S ►< : ^ >, B "> . Si 1 * o ' ^ : :© :'^ •g fe : : § • S! • ej ^ - : S £ : : 2 ° : : s 2 i ai a 25f Februa Februa Early Octobei Septem .May t Septem Februa x° 2 5 a -a f 3£?c-g>? 2 :£ «3§ils S:£ "-. o •« .S c o - ^ o ! 3 ' ' 3 .■ ; ; •* Cl = -* OOOO^D*- o^ooo*'*' c 90 *^ 00 ** rH lO rt r-. kO O C5 C ' t - • \ t-00 • O O O O O O O OT " ^ O O t. 1- » t- o o o o a __ - "OO-tJocS^ r ; c I +J t- CO i ^ O ♦J *- O o ^ ^ *j ij *_. t»- .i; .^z ^ = G - :c- ==C 00 OO'WOO •"*3 g-'SS"-' c 01OJ2 T CO "Z •.** i q 00 CO JO CD IM t- i 15 B 3 " »a _g .'cc ccc'tj iS'H£'d£.3 .; 3 C *j i £=d=.S3 S J _gj «i 4 ^ o 'orK ^ooooo (MOO to ■^ OD 00 O -^ CD - 1« ^t< CO lO c 3 00 CD 10 -rt" r^ 00 ^ M C 3 ^ ^M CO -ODiM (NClr-1 l-H i-l CO I-H I-H ,- 1 C-) CO C ■4 Cl CO H rH CO CJ c^ .-H O COO oooo C O O O C O ^ SB M 2 ^ o o c 5 C < 3 C 5 00 «44 CO-^OO 00-^ MO 00 CI •»< CO C-l M c lOO o c O OD .* CO D CQOCOOOOOM Cv 3 fr- • CO COOO fH (?) rH fH 1-1 i-H -ii-HCC r H f-i ' G c c 2 : *J c" a c 3 c' B ■ S '-dBBB J 3 J c £ «D 'O CO CO CO -00 C-1 CD • iT CD CD CC CD-# CI 3 CO CO in c «D ilOCDCOCD •<* C m coci « CO C^ o ^oo ooco O O C O O O C c o c 5 O o o c > .S C C 00 c> ooo oooco OOOCO-* -"S* ■* -<* O'CO c s o o CO 0^ ^^coo p. b- « -.S^QO c*3 ro CO CO CO CO CO CO C"i ^1 >o ^3 3£2 = £ 1 3 £ ol 1 £l (3 wa^ wj^a S? 3 C oo £ P< Sp 5 1 £ P j:x: 3 c3 5 a K K cfj aj c a e ^ ^1 768 AGRICULTURE AND Location of Colleges of Agriculture, Extetuion Departments and Experiment Stations Letters addressed to any of these institutions, request- ing information on agriculture or home economics subjects will be answered with courtesy. Help will be rendered or farm bulletins supplied when possible. __,,_,_, College of Extension Experiment STATE Agriculture Department Station Alabama Auburn Auburn Auburn Union town (Sub.) Tuskegee (negro) Arizona . Tucson . Tucson , Tucson Arkansas Fayetteville Fayetteville Fayetteville California . Berkeley Berkeley Berkeley Colorado Fort Collins . Fort Collins Fort Collins Connecticut Storrs Storrs Storrs New Haven Delaware Newark Newark Newark Florida Gainesville Gainesville Gainesville Georgia Athens . Athens Experiment Hawaii Honolulu Honolulu Honolulu Idaho Moscow Boise Moscow Illinois Urbana Urbana Urbana Indiana Lafayette Lafayette Lafayette Iowa Ames Ames Ames Kansas Manhattan Manhattan Manhattan Ken^^ucky Lexington Lexington Lexington Louisiana Baton Rouge Baton Rouge Baton Rouge New Orleans New Orleans Auburn Park (brch.) Calhoun (branch) Crowley (branch) Maine Orono . Orono Orono Maryland College Park College Park College Park Massachusetts . Amherst Amherst Amherst Michigan East Lansing East Lansing Eggt Lansing Minnesota St. Paul, Care W. Farm__ St. Paul gt. Paul Mississippi Agric. College Agric. College Agric. College Missouri Columbia Columbia Columbia Montana Bozeman Bozeman Bozeman Nebraska Lincoln _, Lincoln Lincoln Nevada Reno Reno Reno New Hampshire Durham Durham Durham New Jersey New Brunswick New Brunswick New Brunswick New Mexico State College State College State College New York Ithaca Ithaca Ithaca Geneva North Carolina West Raleigh West Raleigh West Raleigh North Dakota Agric. College Agric. College Agric. College Ohio Columbus Columbus Wooster Oklahoma Stillwater Stillwater Stillwater Oregon Corvallis Corvallis Corvallis Pennsylvania State College State College State College Porto Rico Mayaguez Mayaguez Mayaguez Rio Piedras (Sub.) THE FARMING BUSINESS 769 Oollese of Extension Experiment STATE Agriculture Department Station South Carolina Clcmson College Clemson College—. Clemson College South Dakota . Brookings Brookings Brookings Tennessee . Knosville Knoxville Knoxville Texas College Station College Station College Station Utah Logan Logan Logan Vermont Burlington Burlington Burlington Virginia Blacksburg Blacksburg Blaeksburg Hampton Hampton (negro). Norfolk (branch) Washington Pullman Pullman Pullman West Virginia jrorgantown Morgantown Morgantown Wisconsin Madison Madison Madison Wyoming Laramie Laramie Laramie THE END INDEX INDEX ACCOUNTS, FARM: books for, 50. methods of keeping-, 42. samples of, 45. AGRICULTURE: American, 1. and rainfall, 166. crops suital3le for southern, 152. in the South, eh. on, 145. in Western states, ch. on, 162. "ten commandments" of, 30. ALFALFA: as forage, 27S. as soil renewer, 281. chapter on, 277. chief region of, 283. enemies of, 292. feeding value of. 279. harvesting- of, 289. soil requirements for, 284. ANIMALS: farm and agriculture, 513. food supplying, 516. products of, 518. work of farm, 515. APHIS: corn root, 66. ARSENATE OF LEAD SPRAT, 404. AUTOMOBILE, THE: and good roads, 689. care of, 684. chapter on, 676. dangers from use of, 681. driving, 686. farm uses of, 678. production of, 692. women and, 688. BABCOCK: steps in test, 531. test for butter fat, 530. BACTERIA: nitrifying, 252. 77Z BEEF: breeds of cattle, 544, 547. cuts, 546. feeding cattle, 550. BIRDS: and their food, 431. as friends, 429, 434. chapter on, 429. harmful, 439. methods of protecting, 440. useful varieties of, 432. BORDEAUX MIXTURE, 399. BUTTER: judging of, 542. CANNING FRUITS AND VEGE- TABLES: chapter on, 328, 363. cold pack, 346. equipment for, 334. methods of, 331. recipes for, 346, 363. sirups and brines for, 340. special directions for, 372. tables for, 343. technique of, 357. CATTLE: beef, breeds of, 544. chapter on, 520. dairy, 520. diseases of, 551. feeding, 550. judging age of, 558. score-card for beef, 546. tick fever in, 553. tuberculosis in, 551. CHICKENS: breeds of, 622. chapter on, 619. diseases of, 639. feeding for eggs, 631. feeding of, 630. houses for, 634. the raising of, 620. CHINCH-BUGS, 127, 142. 774 INDEX CLOVERS, THE: alsike, 274. as forage, 263. as soil renewer, 264. chapter on, 263. crimson, 274. enemies of red, 271. harvesting of, 270. impurities of seed, 268. red-clover plant, 263, 266. successful growing of, 265. white, 273. CLUB WORK: and the schools, 740. chapter on, 732. leadership for, 739. projects taken up in, 736. purpose of, 732. results from, 738. terms used in, 742. COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER: application of, 512. chapter on, 498. increased use of, 498. lime, 506. nitrogen, 510. phosphorus, 501. potassium, 508. use in foreign countries, 499. CORN: barren stalks, 62. binder, 99. chapter on, 58. cultivation of, 95. depth of planting, 94, ear worins, 67. enemies of, 63. for silo, 101. grading seed, 90. harvesting and storing, 97. "hogging down," 100. judging, 82. plant, the, 59. preparing seed for planter, 89. root aphis, 66. root worm, 63. roots and moisture, 92. score-card, 83. seed bed, 91. seed saving, 69. seed selection bed, 77. seed testing box, 86. shocker, the, 99. smut, 69. stand of, 61. suckers, 62. testing seed, 80. time for gathering seed, 71. time for planting, 94. types of, 75. uses of, 105, CORN— Continued: uses of stalk, 106. varieties of, 77. COTTON: chapter on, 191. enemies of, 200. grades of, 194. harvesting, 198. raising the crop, 195. region of, 193. COUNTY AGENT: financial support of, 725. how to secure, 727. the agricultural, 720. work of, 722. COW: dairy type of, 526. feeding of dairy, 537. judging the dairy, 529. milk tests of the, 530. COW-PEAS: as forage, 296. as soil renovator, 296. plant, 294. DAIRY: breeds, 532. cow score-card, 529. profitable and unprofitable cows, 521. types of cows, 526. DIVERSIFIED FARMING: advantages of, 151. in the South, 147. DRAINAGE: soil, 478. surface, 481. under, 483. DRY-FARMING: and farm management, 172. areas in United States, 167. crops adapted to, 173. in the West, 165. principles involved in, 168. EGGS: for hatching, 626. producing and marketing, 628, 633. rules for production of, 635. EXTENSION EDUCATION: agricultural publications, 727. and the farmer, ch. on, 708. INDEX 775 EXTENSION EDUCATION— Continued: help rendered by, 711. method of, 712. • short courses, 719. various agencies for, 709. FARM MANAGEMENT: and high grade products, 28. and profit, 14, 21. chapter on, 13. need of specialists in, 31. FARMER: agencies that help the, 9. responsibility upon the, 4, 6. the American, 3. FARMING: as a career, 12. diversified in South, 147. sugar, chapter on, 220. types of, 17. FARMERS' INSTITUTES: program of, 717. purposes of, 716. FERTILIZERS, COMMERCIAL, 498. FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE, 556. FORAGE CROPS: chapter on, 246. importance of, 242. region of, 247, 252. FUNGICIDES. 399. GARDEN, THE FRUIT: apple score-card, 396. chapter on, 380. citrus orchards, 381. grapefruit in, 384. important fruits in, 390. lemon in, 384. marketing from, 389. orange in, 382. picking and packing in. 387. soil for, 385. sprays for, 399. GARDEN, THE VEGETABLE: chapter on, 304. cultivation of, 307, 310. insect enemies of, 314. location and soil for, 305. plan for, 306, 308, 316. planting time. 309. profit from, 319. sprays for, 399. GRASSES: for meadows, 255. for pastures, 258. uses of, 247. varieties of, 246. GRASSHOPPERS, 127. HEALTH: chapter on, 748. cost of sickness, 748. factors determining, 750. flies and, 754. recreation and, 756. rural, and hygiene, 749. the farm table and, 753. HESSIAN FLY, THE, 126. HOGS: breeds of, 586. care of, 587. chapter on, 585. chief region for, 585. diseases of, 599. feeding, 592. houses, 588. prevention of cholera in, C02. HOME, THE FARM: beautifying the grounds, 658. chapter on, 645. equipment for, 652. grounds and wood lot, chap- ter on, 658. kitchen, 653. library, 729. plan for, 651. wood lot, 661. HORSES: breeds of, 563. care of, 577. chapter on, 559. classes of, 560. defects of, 571. determining age of, 574. feeding of, 579. judging of, 566. leading states for, 559. score-card for, 567. HOTBED, THE, 310. HUMUS, 448. IMPLEMENTS: farm and mechanics, chapter on. 667. stable and feeding devices, 671. INOCULATION: of soil for alfalfa, 287. 776 INDEX INSECTICIDES, 399. IRRIGATION: causes necessitating', 17(5. chapter on, 176. crop management under, 185. dangers of over, 188. reclamation by, 178. systems of, 180. KEROSENE EMULSION, 405. KING ROAD DRAG, THE, 701. LEGUMES: chapter on, 294. for meadows, 255. for pastures, 258. ' uses of, 250. varieties of, 294. LIME: use of on soils, 402. LIME SULPHUR SPRAT. 402. MACHINERY, 667. MANURES: and fertility, 490. application of, 493. barnyard, 489. chapter on, 488. fermentation in, 492. green, 496. preventing loss from, 491. value of farm, 488. MEADOWS: care of, 256. chapter on, 254. grasses for, 255. permanent, 257. requirements of, 254. seed mixtures for, 256. MILK: Babcock test, 530. cooling of, 542. producing clean, 539. tests for the dairy cow, 527, 530. tuberculosis in, 550. MILKING MACHINES, 541. MULES: score-card for, 582. NITROGEN: commercial fertilizers, 510. gathering bacteria, 252. in soils. 463. NUTS: and fruits, chapter on, 380. grown in United States, 393. OATS: chapter on, 137. cultivation of, 138, enemies of, 142. harvesting and threshing, 140. importance of, 131. types of, 134. OFFICE, FARM AND AC- COUNTS: chapter on, 35. equipment for, 37, 55. necessity for, 35. suggestions for, 57. PARIS GREEN SPRAY, 405. PASTURES: care of, 260. grasses for, 259. mixtures of seed for, 260. requirements of, 258. PEANUT, THE: plant, 301. uses of, 302. PHOSPHORUS: fertilizers, 501. in soils, 465. POTASSIUM: fertilizers, 508. in soils, 466. POTATOES: as a farm crop, 207. chapter on, 205. cutting the seed, 215. disinfecting seed, 217, 219. enemies, 216, 218. planting, 210. region, 207. selection of seed, 212. soil and seed bed for, 208. storing of, 212. the plant, 205. POULTRY: as a farm industry, 620. breeds of, 622. chapter on, 619. diseases of, 639. housing of, 634. increasing demands for, 619 leading states for, 620. producing, 626. INDEX 177 "RAG DOLL" SEED TESTER, RATION: balanced for beef, 551. balanced for dairy cows, 538. balanced for hogs, 597. for fattening- chickens, 631. for laying- hens, 631. for sheep, 617. RESIN LIME SPRAY, 406. ROADS: chapter on, 695. club projects, 706. construction of earth, 700. importance of public, 695. location of, 699. maintenance of earth, 702. types of, 697. ROPE -TYING, 672. ROTATION OF CROPS: . and fertility, 468. plan for, 237, 470. rules for, 471. RUST: oat, 142. wheat, 122. SAWDUST SEED TESTERS, 86. SHEEP: agricultural importance of, 607. breeds of, 609. chapter on, 607. feeding- of, 615. score-card for judging-, 612. SILO, THE, 101. SMUT: corn, 69. oats, 143.. treatment for wheat, 122. SOIL: acid and lining-, 472. barnyard manure and, 488. capacity of for water, 476. chapter on, 442. classes of, 444. drainag-e, 478, 481. erosion of, 453. fertility and legumes, 472. fertility and manure, 489. fertility of, 4, 457, 459, 468. SOIL — Continued : forms of water in, 477. management in South, 156. management in West, 164. moisture, chapter on, .474, organic matter in, 447. origin of, 442. structure of, 451. texture of, 450. tillage and water, 477. SOY-BEANS: feeding value of, 301. SPRAYS, GARDEN AND OR- CHARD: chapter on, 399. compounds for, 401. machine for, 407. SUGAR: beets, 225. chapter on, 220. maple, 230. producing cane, 223. regions, 221. sorghum, 229. varieties of plant, 220. TILE, 484. TOBACCO: chapter on, 233. classes of, 235. enemies of, 242. harvesting and curing, 242. history of culture, 233. producing the crop, 236. region, 234. TOMATO, THE: as a garden crop, 321. chapter on, 321. culture, 323. harvesting and marketing, 325. pruning and staking, 324. varieties of, 322. TRACTOR, THE FARM, 689. TREE ENEMIES, 665. TUBERCULOSIS: in cattle, 551, 553. in hogs, 600. tuberculin test for, 552. VEGETABLES. (See Garden.) VETCH: common, 297. hairy, 298. types of, 297. 778 INDEX WEEDS: birds as enemies of, 429, 436. chapter on, 409. classiflcation of, 409. damage done by, 410. fighting the, 414, 427. killing in corn, 93. means of spreading, 412. table of common farm, 416. WHEAT: chapter on, 108. diseases and enemies of, 121. grading, 116. harvesting, 109, 119. WHEAT— Continued: importance of, 109. improvement of, 128 planting, 119. score-card for, 130. seed bed for, 117. selecting seed, 118. spring, 115. types of, 113. winter, 115. WOOD LOT: chapter on, 658. enemies of, 665. the farm, 661. LIbKAKi ^jr t-'i-p EGRESS 00DaSfib2fiH3