The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., February 05, 1910, Image 1

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

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
A Farm and Home Weekly for the 8tates of Mississippi
Alabama. Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee]
_FOUNDED 1895. BY DR. TAIT BUTLER. AT STARKVILLE. MISS. 1
Volume XV. No. 5. SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 5.1910. Weekly: $1 a Ye]
No Good Farming Without Good P/oh?/hj
1C"'" l at the foundation of all good farming lies the matter j
of good plowing. Whenever a farmer breaks a piece of
land improperly, or in a slipshod, half-hearted fashion, he makes
it certain right then that he is not going to get from it the best
crop that it is capable of producing. Maximum crops come only
as the result of a combination of favorable conditions, and when
the essential preparation for the crop is faulty this maximum
ufiiM {m mnrla •’nntirh/o __
in the season’s very be
ginning. No subsequent
cultivation can take the
place of good plowing.
Now, most of the plow
ing done in the South is
not good plowing. Itusual
ly lacks depth? the soil is
too often flopped flat over
instead of being set on
edge ; when a hard place
is reached the plow is
allowed to run out instead
of being forced through ;
the deepest plowing is
usually done on the fri
able loams or the soft,
sandy soils where it is
least essential, while on
the tight clays, where deep
plowing is so much need
ed, the soil is simply
scratched two to four
inches ; often the plowed
field is full of “breaks’'
and “skips" and other
9 e * - -_
r v I u r n v ra uy itirdcraa
workmanship. These faults must be corrected before we produce
the crops we should ; but before they are corrected we must have
three things: better plows, better work stock, and better labor.
That is, we must have plows capable of going down 6 to 8
Inches in tight soils, we must have enough work stock to pull
these plows, and we must have plowmen who take enough in
terest and pride in their work to do it well.
The man who has only one mule and a little plow that one
male can pull can pull cannot hope to do good plowing, exet
at a very great cost; while although he may not realise it— i
man who does not care whether his furrows are turned eyen
whether his plow runs at uniform depth, or whether he lem
the soil thoroughly broken up and mellow, is making it certm
by that same careless work, that he is not going to get the crx
he might or the profits from his work that he should.
VLi- 9 mrn
J «« me season Wi
farmers should he h
breaking their lands 4
getting them ready
plant in the spring. Ev
one who can possibly
so should be at it wh
ever soil conditions j.
mit, and by begijwt
now he can have tmis
do the work properly 4
to harden his stock b
gradually.
In this correctionR
trust that no one wilt,
to read what is said
page 3, about getting
work stock ready fee
busy season, and i
every reader will act
on the suggestions th
made. Neglect to k
the patient animals i
pull the plow in goods
dition and make th
comfortable while at w
is one of the surest 1
aences of a poor fam
Again, it is a sheer waste of labor to try to work with tools tU
are not in good shape. Every farmer knows that it take fetfeil
much labor, of both man and team, to plow a field with a
rusty plow as with one bright and sharp.
Get a good plow, a good team to pull it; keep the plow
and sharp, the team well fed, well groomed, and comfortable^
the harness; and turn well each foot of land you go over. In (fofl
this you will be laying the foundation for a good crop this y#ll
THE FAITHFUL TURNERS OF THE SOIL.
These servants of the fanner can only do mxxl work when well fed and cared for. To afflict the work stock
with ill-tittinic an«l uncomfortable harness and collars is not only cruel, but is also wasteful and improvident to the
hitches! detcree. The comfortable animal is the profitable one.
Index to This Issue.
OHmMin Clover for Corn. 74
Vann Work for February. 74
HM)0 More a Year FanniiiK: Ky
tact ting the Stork and Machin
ery Ready for H|»rint( Work. . . 7.1
Felnuary Live Stork Work. 85
Floats or Arid Phosphate?. 77
Home .Mixing of Fertilizers.... IM>
How to Prune IVarli Trees. 8»
Is Your Hepreseutative an Oleo
Man? .8*J
Living With a Consumptive.... 80
.Make Moucy Haiti) Days. >2
Mississippi's Greatest Need. 8.1
Plant Only Good Heeds. 78
Short Talks About Fertilizers:
What Commercial Fertilizers
Are . 70
The Farm Home, Types and Lo
cations . 80
Twelve Tilings to Do This
Waterproofing Woolen
“What’s the News?”.
Why We Should Breed
Hogs .
Why the Dane* Succeed
Fanners .