The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., February 03, 1912, Image 3

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

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the progressive farmer
___________TITLE REGISTERED IN IT. S. PATENT OFFICE.
Vol. XXVII. No. 5.__SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1912. Weekly: $1 a Year.
TIMELY FARM SUGGESTIONS.
By TAIT BUTLER.
IF ONE-HALF as much time and attention were
given to increasing our 6oil fertility as is
given to petty politics, it would not matter in a
material way whether Lawyer A. -or Professional
politician B. represented us in the United States
Senate; or how much money was spent to im
prove the public schools. We wouldn’t need the
politicians to take care of us and give us jobs,
nor would we miss the money to keep the rural
schools going nine months in the year.
IN THAT portion of the United States, self-styled
the “Corn Belt,” they deem a yield of 100 or
110 bushels of corn per acre as worthy of special
mention in the agricultural press. In the South
1C 0-bushel yields are so common among our Corn
Club boys that one must get near the 200-bushel
mark to stand much of a show of winning either
prizes or publicity. Nature has given us the two
factors essential to corn growing which are only
slightly within the control of men: (1) a long
growing season of sunshine and warmth, and (2)
abundant moisture. The other essential to large
crop yields, a fertile soil well filled with humus,
is largely under the control of the farmer, and
when obtained gives us the essentials for maxi
mum yields.
DO NOT neglect to purchase any seeds needed
for spring planting as soon as possible.’ If
any considerable quantity is wanted, send to sev
eral sellers for samples and decide the purchase
on the quality of the sample of seed, rather than
on the price. Plan the crops and provide the seeds
early and there will be less complaint of lack of
time to do the things needful in good farming. It
is astonishing how much easier it is to keep up
with the work when we plan before hand and
prepare the things needed early. If it is right
and profitable to do any particular thing it can
usually be done if we plan early and work to that
end. One never will find time to plant the oat
and wheat fields in soy beans or cowpeas if the
seed are not provided until needed. In the same
way the garden will never be planted at just the
right or best time if the seeds are not provided
before-hand.
ANY person who travels with his eyes open
cannot fail to see that more cotton has been
held this year than ever before. It is true that
it has been ginned and counted, but a large
amount is still unsold and if this persisted in, a
rise in price is certain to follow. If a rise in price
occurs, it should not be allowed to prevent the
reduction in the acreage of 1912, which every
consideration of prudence or business judgment
demands. The only thing that can prevent a re
duction of the acreage in 1912 is a rise in price
sufficient to deceive the planter. This is not
likely to occur and the efforts being made to
secure a reduction in acreage are almost certain
to bear fruit. The safe and sensible thing to do
is for every cotton planter to adopt a rotation
of crops that will not put more than one-third
the cultivated land in cotton. This will mean
diversification and in the long run will be more
profitable to the individual grower and will effec
tually solve the cotton acreage problem.
How Book-Keeping Would Pay.
HR fntsodnetfcm of more book-keeping on the
farm would certainly mean better business
methods, and would also mean more inter
1 in the business of farming and inevitably bet
ter results all along the line.
it is usually a source of much interest, even
to the farmer who does not keep books, if he
can learn the cost of producing any given crop. If
the farmer had this information about his own
"°rk, whenever the cost was too high this know
ledge would nearly always result in better work
the following year.
‘ onditions vary so greatly that it may be of
lr’ie value to know what it costs others to pro
| duce farm crops; but it is always of value to
L kpow what it costs you to produce them. To
i _xs_ _..s_
jotted down each day will at the end of the year
furnish all the facts needed to give much valuable
information in planning and doing future bus
iness. There is no doubt less reason for the
farmer keeping accurate accounts of his business
and farming operations than there is for the
merchant or manufacturer; but it would be prof
itable for the average farmer to do more book
keeping.
The only way to know whether certain crops
are being produced at a profit is to know what it
it costs to produce them. If it costs one man
more than another to produce any given crop,
it is the duty of the man who is not producing
for as low a cost as the other to reduce his cost
-------r
TEN THINGS TO DO IN FEBRUARY.
1. Do all the plowing you can; there won’t
be any leisure next month.
2. Fence in some hog lots and sow some rape;
clean off the pastures and repair the fences.
3. Remember that your soil needs humus and
that the weeds and grass should be plowed under,
not burned off.
4. Buy your seeds, both farm and garden.
5. Get <o work in the garden; manure and fer
tilize it; plant hardy crops, peas, radishes, onions,
lettuce, potatoes, etc., outdoors; sow tomatoes,
pepper, eggplant seed in hotbeds or boxes.
6. Prune the fru t trees; clean all trash out of
the orchard; spray with lime-sulphur.
7. Look after the poultr/ houses; set the incu
bator or some hens; order needed stock and eggs.
8. Fix up about the house; plant shrubs; top
dress the lawn; fix up the yard and garden fences.
9. M-ke a split-log drag and try it on your
road; lay some walks to the barn and out-build
ings.
10. Go into the kitchen and study it for a
while; see what labor-saving equipment your wife
needs and then get it for her.
of production. To do this the first essential step
is to find out what each phase of the producing
operations is costing. Guess work is always un
reliable. The total or final results may be un
satisfactory and perhaps the high cost is mainly
in one part of the work and if known and care
fully considered could be corrected.
Reasons for a Variety in the Pasture.
READER wishes to know why we advise a va
riety of plants for a permanent pasture. He
says he notices that the best pastures are
usually solidly set in some one particular grass
and concludes that this one grass is all that it is
necessary to put out.
The following are the reasons usually given
for the use of a variety of plants in making a
permanent pasture.
1. By a variety of plants pastures can be bet
ter furnished for the entire season. For instance,
Bermuda grass does not furnish much grazing
until warm wea'her, whereas bur clover, white
clover, redtop, etc., grow in the early spring.
Again Bermuda stands dry, hot weather better
than the clovers or bluegrass, while paspalum
dilatatum or Dallas grass is not killed so readily
In the fall by frost as is Bermuda grass.
2. No pasture is likely to be equally well
drained in all parts, nor to have the same sort of
soil all over the field. On the wet spots alsike
clover, redtop or some of the water grasses might
do best, while on the dry parts Japan clover, bur
clover and Bermuda may be better. A variety
of plants will come nearer occupying all the soil
and therefore produce more pasture.
3. The clovers pnd other legumes usually have
a root system which feeds on a deeper layer of
soil than do the grasses. By a variety of plants,
therefore, more soil is drawn from and more pas
ture afforded.
4. Just as grass hay does not furnish a ration
grass fail to furnish a ration as well balanced as
that from grasses and clovers mixed.
5. A pasture having several varieties of pas
ture plants will furnish satisfactory grazing for
a greater variety of livestock. The pig, for in
stance, does better on the more nutritious legume
pasture plants than on the grasses, while the
cow will do well on the less nutritious but larger
growth of grasses.
These are the principal reasons for a varioty of
pasture plants for the permanent pasture and
they appear to be good.
The pastures which have only one kind of
grass may present the best cr most uniform turf,
especially at a certain time of the year, but the
best pasture is the one which furnishes the most
and best feed during the year. We know of pas
tures that in hot weather show little else but
Bermuda grass, but in the cool weather make a
good growth of bur clover, white clover and even
bluegrass. Bluegrass and Bermuda grass, where
they do well make a good sod or turf and at tho
favorable time of the year for the growth of
Bermuda no other plants may be seen, but this
same pasture, if seen in the early spring, may
show little elso than bur clover or other spring
growing plants.
In most sections there is one pasture plant
which occupies the land for a longer portion of
the year, or covers more of the land, than any
other. In the South this plant is generally Bermuda
grass and for that reason a Bermuda pasture If
seen during the summer is likely to appear to be
solidily set in Bermuda grass; although, If well
seeded with bur clover, It will have an entirely
different appearance early in April.
HARROWINGS.
lhe mg Question Again.
THAT was a fine discussion of crop rotation by
Prof. Morgan in the issue of January 20. But
how are we to harmonize the frequent plow
ing under of crops advocated by Prof. Morgan
with the rule so often laid down by Dr. Butler
that as a general rule no farm product fit for feed
for man or farm livestock should ever be turned
under for fertilizer? Is it necessary in order to
maintain the humus supply of our soil to continue
indefinitely to turn under feed or forage crops?
Of course, we must concede the necessity for sac
rificing a few forage crops until the humus con
tent of our soils is ample, but must we consider
this indefinitely? Harrow feels that any system
of farming or cropping or rotation which does not
maintain the humus supply without using food
stuffs for fertilizers is essentially wrong, but he
Is not sure that any of the rotations suggested
will leave enough vegetable matter on the land
in the stubbles, roots and remains of crops, to
maintain the humus Bupply. He is almost cer
tain that longer rotations Including pasturage
and the stable manure made from feeding all the
crops practicable would maintain the supply of
humus if the soil was once well filled; but if short
rotations, which are more popular in the South,
are to be followed, perhaps an occasional forage
crop must be plowed under. This is certainly a
wasteful method of maintaining soil fertility and
I doubt if it is necesary.
* A *
The "resting” of land, as Btated by Prof. Mas
sey, is founded on error. Land, no more than
man, is benefitted by idleness. Likewise, the
land, like the boy, 1b never idle. If the boy can
not be directed so that he will expend his energy
along useful or at least harmless lines he will get
into mischief. It is the same with the land. The
germs or bacteria in the soil work unceasingly
under proper conditions in preparing plant foods
for the UBe of crops. If the crops are not growing
on the land and the rains come, the nitrogen that
has become soluble in the soil water is leached
out and lost. There is nothing like constant and
regular work to keep all things in the best run
ning order. Even a piece of dead machinery runs
better when kept going every day. Keep the land
busy, not merely for the sake of keeping it busy,
but because it can be kept in better condition
while growing a useful crop and is kept from
wasting its energies or soil fertility.
More men rust out than wear out. More land
washes and leaches away than is worn out by
growing the best forage crops. Why cultivate
ten acres In one crop each year, when five acres
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