The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., January 29, 1910, Page 54, Image 2

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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Professor Massey’s
Editorial Page.
How to Get Good Seeds for the Garden.
■7^ ,1 WANT TO emphasize what the Editor said
in the “Garden Special” about the need of
good seed in the garden. Not merely seed
that will grow, but seed that will produce the de
sired form of plant uniformly. It is easy to test
the germinating quality of a sample of seed. But
that only shows how large a percentage will grow,
and does not show you anything about the quality
of the seed or its power to make a uniformly good
crop. It is often the case that a seed sample that
shows a smaller percentage of germination will
be by far the best seed to plant because it has
come from a well culled stock. Stocks of seed of
the same variety of vegetable differ greatly, ac
cording to the care taken by the grower to rogue
out all variant forms and to keep the stock a*
pure as possible, and this purity of the stock is of
far more importance than the exact percentage of
germination. Of course, we want as many viable
seed as possible, but if w£ have a sample of Wake
field cabbage, for instance, that shows over 90
per cent of germinable seed, but makes all sorts
of heads, some of the typical sugar loaf form,
some round and later, and some flat and still
later, it would be decidedly poorer seed than an
other sample that shows 75 per cent of germina
tion and all making the typical heads you want.
Now, it is very hard to get a perfectly uniform
type of this cabbage, and when we find a sample
that is pure we should at once buy a good supply
of that stock, for cabbage seed will keep for years
good. The same is true of other vegetables One
stock of Alaska peas may have been carelessly
grown and the varying forms or rogues that run
up tall and are later may not have been weeded
out, and there will be loss to the market grower,
while another stock may cost more money, but
being uniform to type, will pay much better than
the other.
As a rule, it is bad policy to buy garden seed
that are offered at low prices, for It costs more to
grow good seed than poor ones, and the \er\ fact
you are offered seed below the price charged by
the best seedsmen Is sufficient evidence that they
should be let alone. Buy only the best, and buy
Trom seedsmen of long standing and unblemished
reputation. If you Ret a seed catalog with the
most Impossible pictures of fields of vegetables,
watermelons, etc., that Is usually a good catalog
to put in the fire. But when a catalog has photo
graphic Illustrations In half-tone taken direct
from the plants themselves it shows a man who Is
not trying to deceive, and generally has good seed.
Then you can not expect to. get the best vege
tables if you depend on the seed that the Con
gressmen send out as taffy to their constituents.
They are generally the refuse of the growers and
' sold cheaply to the Department, and the labora
tory tests there may show that they will grow.
' but what they will grow you only find out after
I you have devoted labor and space to them. Hence,
always buy the best seed, no matter what the
price as compared with the so-called cheap seed
If there is any one man who makes us good
land tired It Is the fellow who will not Improve
his methods of farming lest there should be an
"over-production" of farm products ()\er-produc
tlon Indeed, with Southern children living on
corn bread. Western bacon and black molasses,
when they should have vegetables and fruits and
butter and eggs every day In the year! The great
trouble is non-production of many thing* that
should be staples on every farm.
No fruit on your farm? Then there Is some
thing the matter with the farmer.
$500 More a Year farming: How to Get It
By Producing the Crops at Less Cost.
B7 Tail Butler.
HE PROFIT made from any ;
productive enterprise is deter
minted by the two factors, cost
of production and selling price. Apart
from the comparatively slight and
temporary interference exerted oc
casionally by combinations of dealers
and speculators, the prices of all
^farm products are very largely regu
^Liated by supply and demand,
jj^r With reference to farm products,
^ any other means of regulating or
controlling the selling price is made
especially difficult owing to the large
number of producers and the great
diversity in their conditions and im
mediate interests. Moreover, the
vital or basic relations of farm pro- j
ducts to the maintenance of the race
make it difficult, if not impossible,
to force their price above a certain
moderate figure. Products which
are essential'to the life of the people
can net be put at a price which the
masses are not able to pay. The
prices, therefore, of farm products
are entirely beyond the control of
the individual farmer and only
slightly within the control of farm
ers collectively.
Why Our Crops Cost Us too Much.
On the other hand, the cost of pro- i
duction is within the control of the 1
individual farmer to such an extent
that one man may, under very simi-i
lar conditions, the same season and
in the same section, produce a crop
for one-half or even one-fourth what |
it costs another. In other words, in
crop production, the single factor of
management—the man—very fre
quently so reduces the cost as to
yield a liberal profit to one man
while others suffer a loss.
The cost of producing most of our
crops is too high, but the problem of
The next article in this series will l>e: "Prepar
ing the Work Stock ami Implements for the Spring
Work."
I
reducing the cost of their production
does not receive the attention it
merits. As a general rule it does not
cost too much to produce our crops
because we live extravagantly, nor
because we pay too high prices for
labor. It is not because we have too
much money invested in equipment
nor because of extravagance in the
quality or amount of the tillage giv
en the crops; but because we have
neglected to give due consideration
to the two most important factors In
determining the cost of crop produc
tion, the effectiveness of the human
worker and the fertility of the soil.
The Southern farmer is generally
economical; but his economies are in
small things, while he is extravagant
of human labor and neglectful of j
that most important of all factors in
crop growing, the productive capac
ity of the land.
We Can' Double the Kfliciency of
Human Labor.
To the farmer who has been fol
lowing the generally accepted meth
ods of cultivating the crops, it may
appear impossible to so manage that
each laborer can do twice the amount
of work he now does. In a few cases
where proper methods are now used,
it will not be possible to make such
an improvement, but very generally;
in fact, almost universally through
out the South, it is entirely practi
cable to double the efficiency of each
farm worker. In looking over the
figures submitted by a large number
of farmers as to the cost of produc
ing cotton, we have been struck with
the variations in the cost of doing
the same thing. For instance, we
find the variations in the cost of
plowing or breaking the land range
from $1 to $1.50 per acre. In this
case it is possible that the variations
in cost indicate different quality of
work, but such variations actually
exist In the cost of doing the same
qaullty of work. In fact the man
who breaks the land cheaply Is more
than likely to be the one who does
the best work; for in plowing, the
farmer who uses three horses to the
man, with a large plow, usually doe*
better plowing at less cost per acre.
Again, we find bedding the land
costs from 37 He. an acre to 62c.
an acre, while others do not bed the
land at all. Different conditions
may necessitate different methods,
but the man who goes twice, or as Is
more frequently done, four times
across a field to make a bed. when
once is sufficient, Is extravagant of
human labor, the most expensive fac
tor In crop production.
We also find that some give one
hoeing, while others give three, and
that the cost of hoeing varies from
40c. to $1.50 an acre. The cost of
harrowing varies from 20 cents to 60
cents per acre. The greater cost for
this work does not indicate that one
man does for 20 cents as much work
at another accomplishes with 60
cents, but It does show a variation
In methods, and, as a matter of fact,
the man who spends 60 cents an
acre for harrowing and 40 cents an
acre for hoeing, usually does more
and better work than the man who
spends $1.60 for hoeing and 20 cents
for barrowing, and does It at a little
over half the cost.
The man who spends 33 1-3 cents
an acre for chopping, while another
spends $1 has evidently employed a
different method, and even though
we can not conclude that the entire
difference 1b saved In the total cost
of making the crop, we can see the
opportunity for a possible change of
methods which may lesson the cost
of growing the crop.
Finally, we find the number of cul
tivations varying from one to six and
the cost of each cultivation ranging
from 30 cents to 76 cents per acre.
The Best Way Often the Cheapest.
These facts show that we nre not
agreed as to methods of cultivation
| and a further study shows that those
who cultivate best usually do it at
the least cost per acre. They ac
complish these results by reducing
the man labor, which is expensive,
and substituting therefor machine
and horse labor which la compara
tively cheaper, and. as stated, usu
ally more efficient.
On these same figures on the cost
of cotton production we find that It
costs the average farmer |1S to cul
tivate an acre, allowring fair wages
for man and teams and a moderate
rental. Since It takes about 2 *4
acres to make a bale of cotton, this
gives a cost of $37.60 a bale to
which must be added the cost of the
fertilisers when such are used.
It is quite possible to reduce these
fixed or regular expenses per acre for
cultivating the crop, but even a su
perficial consideration of the subject
will reveal that Increasing the pro
ducing ability of the soil offers a far
greater opportunity for reducing the
cost of growing a given quantity of
crop.
We Must Increase Our Yields U> the
Acre.
The numerous positive demonstra
tions of the ease with which the pro
ducing potters of Southern soils can
be doubled and trebled, and the sim
ple force of this Increased soil fer
tility as a means of reducing the
cost of production and thereby In
creasing the profits, would seem to
be sufficient to arouse every tiller
of the soil to the Importance of soil
Improvement. It Is so plainly the
most Important subject for Southern
farmers that it seems almost childish
to repeat It, but the strange fact re
mains that we have as yet done
practically nothing towards reducing
the cost of production of our crops
by an Intelligent system of soil Im
provement.
We must have greater profits We
can only get them by reducing the
cost of production or by Increasing
the price. The fixing of the price Is
largely beyond our control; hut the
cost of production can he reduced by
better methods of cultivation and In
crease the soli fertility. Both of
these are problems with which the
Individual farmer must deal, but as
yet they have received little serious
and intelligent consideration. These
are our problems, here uro our op
portunities. Shall wo continue to
neglect them or shall »e give them
practical consideration and reap the
rewards?