The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., December 02, 1911, Image 1

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

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JBBlt'f’AlSM ODETTE
A Farm and Home Weekly for
Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
P.F. Title Resr’d.U.S.I ---—
Patent Office. JFOUNDED, 1895, BY DR. TAIT BUTLER. AT STARRY ILLE, MISS.
Volume XVI, No, 48,SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1911, Weekly: $1 a Year,
Have Better Land and Bigger Fields Next Year.
IT IS ONE of the gratifying evidences of the great progress the
South is making in agriculture that so much interest is being
taken in drainage, both in the great drainage projects for the rec
lamation of swamp lands and the drainage by individual farmers of the
ditches and substitute the Mangum terrace. This is simply a low,
broad ridge of earth running with the contour of the land. It can
be plowed across, and run over with machinery, and according to our
observation, is just as effective as the old-style terrace.
niimii I'div iug ut « IdUU VII
their farms. It is gratifying, too, to note that
under-drainage is becoming so popular, that
so many fanners have found out that it is
better to put the drain underground, where it
will be out of the way, than to have an
open ditch, which cuts up the field, causes
unnecessary turnings and so a needless waste
of time and labor, makes the use of improved
machinery less satisfactory and profitable,
and often furnishes a breeding place for in
jurious weeds. “1
i ....uer-drains for open ditches and terraces is
ene of the most profitable lines oi work many
farmers could follow this winter. Even if
they are unable to buy tile, they can use
stones or pine poles and get much better re
sults than from open ditches.
Again, it is good to note the growing real
ization of the fact that it is not only swampy
lowlands that need under-drainage, but that
this work will be profitable on any land on
which water is at all likely to stand long
enough to injure crops, as well as on any land
which lacks the ability to absorb and hold a
reasonable quantity of water. We remember
to have read that, “Under-drainage is the hest
A POWER DITCHER ATjWORK—THIS IS THE MACHINE MR. FRENCHJTELLS ABOUT ON PAGE 4. j
suDSOinng , ana we nave an idea that properly laid tile drains would in
many cases be one of the best preventives of washing.
| This is particularly the season, too, to get out the stumps. There are
a whole lot of ways of doing this very important job. The usefulness
of dynamite and of the stump puller has been many times demonstrat
ed; burning seems to give good results in some cases; on another page
we are giving a picture and description of a device that might be of
service to some. In short, if a man is really in earnest about get
ting rid of his stumps, he can find a way to do it. It will cost him
something, to be sure, any way he goes at it; but it will be decidedly
profitable work for all that. Does any man suppose that it doesn’t cost
him anything to dodge about stumps as he breaks and cultivates his
land, to be compelled to use crude implements instead of improved
ones, to repair the breakage and make up the loss of wear and tear
caused by the stumps, to get rid of the weeds which grow about them
to seed the rest of the fields, to lose the use of the land they occupy?
Clearing out the stumps may not add to the actual fertility of the field,
hut it will increase its cultivable area, and enable it to grow larger
crops.
Then there are lots of farmers who have terraces of the wrong
sent. We refer to the little sharp ridges with a ditch above them.
These terraces are always unsightly, always in the way, always
dangerous, because if they break through, the break is likely to re
sult iu the immediate formation of a gulley. On lands that must be
terraced we believe it will pay farmers to get rid of these banks and
Then there are in some cases open ditches to dig; ditch banks, fence
rows and road-sides to clean off; patches of brush and briers and sec
ond growth pines to clear up; gullies to fill, galled spots to reclaim—
all these things will help to better land and bigger liehls.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
ALABAMA DEMONSTRATORS MEET—interesting Reports of Im
proved Fanning. 7
COLLEGE TRAINING FOR THE COUNTRY GIRL—Many Ways
in Which It Will Help Her. 44
GRINDING AND SOAKING CORN OR HOGS—Figures to Show
That Grinding Seldom Pays. 14
JIM MULEKIN’S BIG COTTON CROP—How It Was That Jim
Made No Money on It. 2
KEEPING THE POULTRY HOUSES CLEAN—A Novel Plan to
Get Rid of Lice and Mites. IX
MAKING THE CHRISTMAS CAKES—Mrs. Stevens Gives Some
Good Recipes. 10
MR. ROOSEVELT AND THE TRUST PROBLEM—How Best to
Handle the Trusts. 13
SOME PROBLEMS OF THE LARGE FARMER—The Principles of
Successful Farming Are the Same With Few Acres or Many. . 3
SOME SEED CORN PROBLEMS—Buy Seed Corn on the Ear... 12
TILE DRAINAGE PROBLEMS—Mr. French Answers Some Ques
tions .
VALUE OF A TRAINED NURSE—Also Some Hints About What
to Do in the Sick Room. 17
WHAT A SOIL SURVEY IS WORTH—A Reply to Professor Mas
ses's Recent Article. 4