Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1915 — Page 2
THE BOY FARMER.
of dte Corn Club
OepyrtoM. by Anjgriosn Press Association.
-Bow many times have you plowed yours. Sam?” -Four.” •'Well, there you hare It in » nut abell” said Mr. Buras. -You broke shallow, Mr. Fagan, didn’t barrow aud plowed twice. Sam broke deep, bar rowed twice and plowed four times Furthermore, you’ll plow yours only once more. Sans'll plow his two or three times more. That’s what makes the difference in the corn. That’s why he’ll gather a whole lot more to the acreWhan you ”
-That’s right. Mlles,** said Bill Googe. "He’s tailin’ It straight It can’t be do other way. I been seein’ it for some time, and I’m changin' my way We been tayln* by crops when they warn’t more’n balf made. 1 didn’t more'n scratch my land to begin with, but you bet I’m plowin’ shallow and lots of It Sam don’t know it but 1 been watchin’ him. and I’m givtn’ my crops the same medicine be does." -Yes, there’s somethin’ tn your way of farmin’," Fagan confessed "I’ve been dead wrong, and I’ll jes’ own up I’ve talked pretty cross to you once or twice, Mr. Burns, and I want to apologise for ft. 1 was a numskull to ad that way. Next year I’m goln’ to fol low your advice, and 1 want my boy to jtne the corn club and learn ar much as he can. 1 treated him mean thia year, and I’m sorry I done It” -That’s all right M'r. Fagan.” said the agent ”I’m real glad you see things, my way. for 1 want to help every farmer in this community. That’s all Tm here for. in fact”
CHAPTER V. THE spring and summer—in fact the whole year was a very busy one for Sam. And it was not less so for Florence and Mrs. Powell. Florence often helped her brother when the work crowded, and Mrs. Powell put in all her spare time in the garden, melon patch and orchard. On the contest acre Sam was forced to do all the work himself. The rules were strict on this point and after Barn’s patch bad been laid off and measured by a committee be himself planted the corn and no one else struck a Uck tn its cultivation. Barn’s first planting was the Irish potatoes. He bedded up an acre, dragged down the beds almost flat and planted them early in March Next came the contest acre, and when that was finished be planted four more acres in corn, making five in all. then turned to the cotton. .Next came the cane, and Sam sowed this broadcast and very thick, tor te fronted to make hay of it. If the ■talks grow large and stiff it doesn’t make good hay. % The young farmer wound up the first round of planting by sowing the orchard in rye. His idea was to let no bit of ground lleidle. but to keep some thing growing on it Instead of weeds. The weed problem was a pretty hard one for Sam, so many bad gone to seed on the place. But he determined that not one should make seed this year So he was the busiest farmer in the whole community. He plowed and hoed constantly, but it was mostly plowing, for Sam soon learned that hoeing is a mighty slow way to kill weeds and grass compared with plowing. People passing along by the Powell place marveled at the clean, well cultivated little farm. But Sam consid ered other needs of the crops besides cultivation.
The soil of the place was not nearly bo poor as the neighbors had said It was—not eVen so poor as Sam had thought The trouble was that the surface of the ground had merely been scratched, and he had remedied this by thorough cultivation. Still the crops lacked something, and be found that each acre had certain qualities. As he studied the farm be began to see that each bit of land was strong in certain ways and weak tn others. There was no time to hare soil analy sis made this year, but be began to study closely the wild vegetation and trees growing about and to read the bulletins and the book be had bought on “How Crops Grow." It wasn't an easy subject by any means.. Sam read and reread the book and finally went over ft slowly and studied it page by page. Pretty soon he knew nearly as much about the soil fie was cultivating as eny expert could have told him. Here is what he learned about soil fertility: Arid in soil that causes crops to fire and die is indicated by sorrel growing <m the land Add can easily be detect ed also by getting a slip of blue litmus paper for a nickel at the drug store and pressing it in a ban of the soil. If ft turns red there is add. An application of lime cures this. * Crops and plants of all kinds are fed by several elements of the soil, but there gre the potasij and txhos-
L
pnOFIC auu. Nitrogen forms the leaves Of plants—that part of the plant body which breathes. e Potash makes the trunk, stalk and tuber of plant or tree. Phosphoric acid reproduces—sets the blooms and makes abundant seed and fruit. Sam learned these things from read ing.- But. when he knew them, all be bad tb do was to look about the farm and learn more things by observation. Where trees grew or had grown well be knew that potash was plentiful. If leaves were rank, nitrogen was abun dant If flowers formed and fell off the plants before they should he knew the soil needed phosphoric acid. Finally the young farmer formed what be had learned Into nine rules and wrote them down in the back of one of bls books, as follows; “1. Nitrogen (or ammonia! encour ages strong leaf, vine and bush growth "2. Potash makes firm tuber, bulb, and fiber.
”3. Phosphoric acid makes blooms set and seeds and seed pods form abun dantly. “4. If the wild growth on your farm is profuse and your tomatoes and mel
Underneath the Dust Mutch He Found That the Soil Perfectly Wet.
on vines run to leaf your soil is rich tn nitrogen. “5. If trees do not thrive, onions seem soggy and tomato vines lack stur dlness of stalk tbe soil needs potash "6. If your tomatoes, melons, grain and cotton fail to set plenty of seed and fruit phosphoric acid is called for. “7. If you expect to take from your land a crop rich in leaf, as lettuce, in crease the proportion of nitrogen tn your fertilizer.
“8. If potatoes or onions are desired provide plenty of potash. “9. If abundant corn, wheat, cotton bolls, melons, peaches, strawberries or tomatoes are wanted see to the phosphoric acid.” * Sam made use of what he had learned In planting and cultivating his crops. He watched them closely, and if it seemed to him that any of them were not doing well he began so bunt and study out the cause. Although he had fertilized all of the farm to some extent before plowing, he worked manure into the furrows when he planted his cotton and tried to give everything he planted the food it demanded to do its best. ‘ He found out that one good way to apply this food was-to sprinkle it on the surface of the ground around the plants and work it in gently with hoe or rake Sam made a top application of this kind to his cotton when It was well advanced in the summer. The soil of the contest acre had been well fertiliai ed in the beginning, but Sam didn’t want that corn to lack for any of the elements it needed to make two big. Inng ears to each stalk and sometimes three. He waited until it was Just about ready to silk; then he went to town and bought 400 pounds of fertilizer. He had this mixed to suit himself, for he had figured out Just what he thought the corn needed —so much nitrogen and so much phosphoric add. With this fertilizer he went over each row of the acre, sprinkled it around the stalks and worked it into the soil. Fine as the corn was before, it now showed still further improvement In a few days it was in full silk, and it. seemed to leap up on receiving the .■tlnmlatingfoodAround ito roots-. But
THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.
cam wusn i turougn witn me acre yet Every now and tben be went over it with a plow. Just skimming the surfece to break up the crust that commenced to form. One month it was unusually dry, and the young farmer had a Chance to see the good effect of this tfork. His corn kept Its dark green color, and by scratching down two inches, just underneath the dust mulch: be found that the soil was per fectly web
Fagan’s corn across the fence was burning and' wiltlbg in the sun. Sam climbed over the fence one day and examined tbe soil. He found it baked hard on top. and when he took his knife and dug a little hole be had to go nearly six inches before he found the slightest moisture. "That shows what conserving the moisture will do,” he said to himself as he went back to his field. “I’ve plowed this acre a good many times, but it’s been easy work and didn’t take long to do it. because it’s in good con ditlon. I may be mistaken, but I believe I’m going to make a lot of corn at mighty little cost on this patch.” Late in the sumnSer, when the corn was almost made and when other farmers had long ago laid by their corn, Sam gave his contest acre a final plowing and sowed black eyed peas broadcast among it as he did go. He had done his best, and it remained to be seen whether other boys in his state could beat him. But if Sam Powell was through with the one acre he wasn’t through work by any means. In fact, he didn’t have much time to think about the contest
CHAPTER VI. SAM’S well fertilized, well cult! vated acre of Irish potatoes surprised the neighbors with the amount it produced. Two hun dred bushels were what he harvested from the patch, and, selling them at 60 cents per bushel, he bad $l2O to show for the first crop. It was only the Ist of June, so he immediately prepared the land and planted the acre again in June corn. After that the work came thick and fast The cane was ready to be cut He moved it let it cure and stocked away two tons of fine hay in the bam He could have gathered another crop of cane if he had let it remain, but the pumpkin yams must be.planted. So he prepared and bedded the ground, and one Cloudy day just before a rain he pulled the potato slips from the bed where be had grown them and planted this acre also with a second crop. The cotton then had to be plowed, and when that was finished the four acre cornfield, in which he was also growing a flourishing crop of pump kins, was calling for him. The peach and plum crops were very short this year, owing to a late frost, but the Powell orchard never suffered in this respect The old trees had a bumper crop. Prices being good, after Mrs. Powell had preserved what she wanted, Sam sold S4O worth of plums and sllO worth of peaches, making a total of $l5O Income from the fruit, not to mention the preservings for fam Uy use. Early In the winter, before the fam ily moved, Sam had made arrangements with a breeder of a fine strain of Plymouth Rock chickens to get ten sittings of eggs. For these he was to pay $1.50 a sitting. Mrs. Eowell already owned a mixed breed flock of fifty hens, but Sam’s plan, with which his mother heartily agreed, was tb replace the mongrel stock with the thor oughbreds. The first of these sittings were hatched while It was yet cold, and before summer came on, with its excessive heat and insect pests, the whole ten had been brought off and more than 100 thrifty young Plymouth Rocks were running about the farm. The ample range and shade and the rye sown in the orchard made the income from poultry almost clear profit. Chickens require little feed when they can get green stuff and insects. Be sides the Plymouth Rocks Mrs. Powell raised six dozen common breed fryers, which she sold at $3 per dozen, or $lB. From the thoroughbred flock, after se lectlng seventy pullets and five roosters to keep, she sold the culls for sls. roosters at $1 and pullets at 50 cents. The egg market was very low during the summer months, but even at a few cents a dozen S2O worth were sold this year and the family had all they could consume at home. Finally, in the fall, the old flock of common chickens was sold, bringing 25 cents each or $12.50 in all. Surplus milk and butter from the two cows brought SSO for the year. But this wasn’t all. The acre of watermelons, cantaloupes and vegetables contributed its share. Sam’s watermelons were a long white variety, with black seed and blood red meat, sweet as sugar. These melons always brought something above the regular market price. In all the young farmer sold S4O worth of melons and vegetables. The June* corn made a fair crop. Sam sold the roasting ears at one cent each. These brought him S3O. Then he cut and cured the stalks for feed. The ground being once more cleared, he plowed, harrowed and planted It in turnips. T - r Sam found that a little farm of fifteen acres can keep two or three people very busy, especially when the farm is made to hump Itself, growing one crop right after another. Hardly a day passed that he or his sister didn’t have to drive to town to sell something. Whenever it could be arranged Sam always let Florence go, for then he could be hurrying the heavy work forward. September came and Florence entered the high school, but Sam, badly c he wanted to begin, found it impossl ble to do so until after Christmas. However, he began studying at night, and for all trehard work haidid M ■eaaaead to keep pretty close up with (To be Continued.)
LINCOLN'S FARM POLICY
From Address Made at Milwaukee Sept 30th, 1859. tlonal Crop Improremtnt Service.! JF, other human occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought, as agriculture. Population must increase rapidly, more rapidly than in former times, and ere leug the most * valuable of all arts will be the art of deriving subsistence from the smallest area of soil. No community whose every me,uber possesses this art can ever be the victim of oppression in any of its forms. Such community will alike be independent of c.-owned kings, money ’tings and land kings.
A FARM CLEAN-UP DAY. Assistant Secretary W. L. Nelson of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture is the author of the “Farm CleanUp Day” idea. He suggests that on a stated day or days, every farmer clean up around his buildings and elsewhere within his premises. The work ought to be done on a large scale the same as spring house-clean-ing. Such a day in the spring will doubtless appeal to County Agents everywhere. It will be up to the Community Clubs to insure the success of such a movement. A Clean-Up Day <n the spring and Farm Dress Parade in the fall will certainly make an ideal combination.
FUNCTION OF FARM CLUBS. When the time comes for the farmers’ club to expand, the logical thing to do would be to form a federation of farmer?: clubs, prefexably a county federation working in harmony wife the recognized agricultural leaders of that county, each club retaining its individuality. When we have progressed ;hus tar it is time euongh to think of more ambiticu*- extension of the v. r ork. We advise the advocates of the farmers’ club movement to stick close to the work w’deh has been proven practical and successful, namely “community betterment.” ‘lt anyone proposes to adopt your farmers’ club, Ifet them show what they can do before you give up the identity of your organization and then think it over carefully before you act. —The Farmer.
GOOD ROADS RAISE VALUES. Gladwin county, Michigan, is taking steps to comply with the Michigan „ road law in starting permanent road improvement. In discussing their particular problem it is brought out from government reports that the increase in farm values would more than pay the cost. The lowest increase was $6.47 per acre. This was for the state of Indiana and the estimates were trade by the farmers themselves. Considering this fact with the decreasing ccst of marketing, good roads should be the county issue everywhere. «
LIME DISTRIBUTORS. County agents everywhere are doing wonders in correcting land acidity by the use of lime and Improving soil fertility by the use of different fertilizers. The application of these materials is often a problem. The fertilizer distributor seems to be the best solution. The International Harvester company has kindly offered to furnish and demonstrate a machine, and to supply an expert to run it, to any organization which may apply for such a demonstration, when a field meeting J on this subject is being held. It isa good plan to demonstrate eveiy thing of this nature in the field, in order to find out what methods are best.
COUNTY AGT. NOT A SALESMAN. “Some persons feel that relations v ith buying-and-selling efforts lie outside the function of the farm bureau agent; but I. am not prepared to accept this view. T think that the agent should not himself act of buyer or seller in any case; he should not be an officer in any commercial organization; he should not handle funds; but I am convinced that he may attempt to discover where such co-operating j roups are needed, and that he may give information as to the best means l' establishing and operating them. The cooperators may constitute themselves into a buying organization or they may trade through the regular dealers. The responsibility of the business relations should lie with the people or with their regularly established commercial representatives.”— Dr. L. H. Bailey.
SCHOOLS TEST CLOVER SEED. W. E. McCoy, agent, Decatur county, Ind.: One of the most impoitant phases of the work this past month has been the testing of clover seed for purity and germination, by children in the public schools of the county. Purity ranged from 74 per cent to 99 per cent, while germination ran from 42 per cent to 98 per cent. In some cases farmers having poor seed were advised by the children of the fact and several sold the bad seed and bought seed that had tested out well. This emphasizes the necessity of testing seed when buying. Corn and poultry club work is progressing very satisfactorily. —Purdue Agriculturist,
ADVISERS FOR TOWNS
By S. M. Jordan.
Well, Well! What have we here? Really a “town advisei!” So easy to see the mote in the “other fellow’s** eye, isn’t it? The towns have seen so clearly the need of a “farm adviser,” but have not seen that the towns are “run” as a rule a blamed signt worse than are the farms. Whan something is “rotten” on the farm every fellow can place the blame. Our “smeller” tells it on him, and we can find the offender, but when there is “something rotten” in the town, and there commonly is, we cannot find out who is to blame. Maybe no one person is to blame',- but the system of management renders it impossible to place the blame. This will not be remedied until the “system” is so arranged- that the blame for conditions may be placed, and placed quickly and s> rely. Now comus St. Joseph and hires an adviser for the town, not a town doctor, nor cabbage expert, but a man “schooled fcr b andling municipal matters. The situation for the “town adviser” is like that of the “farm adviser” —not many are “ready for the job,” but it would look like a good step in the direction of greater town efficiency, and cne town at least Is to be congratulated on seeing the “beam in its own eye!”
ORDER CRUSHED LIME
Carload Sent for by County Representative at Direction of Farmers. [National Cr»> Improvement Service.] Thirty-eight tons of ground limestone, a carload, have been ordered shipped to Antigo, Wisconsin, from the quarry of the Lake Shore Stone company of Milwaukee by County Representative F. G. Swoboda for a dozen or more farmers who will spread it on their clover and alfalfa fields to correct acid conditions in the soil and promote plant growth. SCHOOLS DO GOOD WORK. The following clipping from the -Chicago Record Herald is very satisfactory evidence that the work of testing seeds in the schools which has been pushed hard by the Crop Improvement Committee during the past winter can be made an efficient force In every community. The public school system is one of the greatest factors in furthering any forward step that Is to be taken:
The Department of Agriculture has indorsed a system of co-operation by which school children of Oklahoma test seeds for the farmers. This system, the department believes, could be adopted with satisfactory results In other states. Every teacher In Oklahoma has a scoring sheet on which to record the tests. “No movement has been started In our state which can result in as much good with so little cost to the people generally,” declares Mr. Wilson, superintendent of education of Oklahoma, In a letter to the Department of Agriculture. "It furnishes one of the best lessons that can be taught in botany or agriculture and affords the opportunity to come in closer contact with every farmer in the community, a thing which all good teachers are anxious to do.”
GOOD RULES FOR CORN CLUBS. Farm bureau, Butler county, Fa.: The application blanks for membership in the boys’ corn growing clubs, sent to the teachers some time ago, ate being returned to the farm bureau office in large numbers. Many boys who were not Interested in the work last year ere arranging to_grow an acre or quarter-acre of corn this season. Rules governing the cost of production are worthy of note, and are here. The farm is a factory, and like a factory should endeavor first of all to decrease its unit cost of production. In estimating: cost and profits 12.50 per acre shall be charged as rent of land. Labor of member or person assisting, 12 cents per hour. Labor of member and ons horse, 20 cents per hour. Labor of member and two-horse team, 27 cents per hour. Labor of member and three-horse team. 32 cents per hour. , Manure, >1 per .ton in the yard. Seed corn, $2 per bushel. Perhaps nowhere else can this lesson be learned so well as in the boys’ corn dub work.
STOP EROSION BY TERRACES. Mr. T. B. Wood, Trinity county, Texas: I have terraced about 600 acres of cultivated lands in the county »,wned b/ more than 40 different farmers, same having been put in first class condition to prevent soil erosion. Several farmers followed put instructions and planted winter crops for covering during th» winter,, thereby preventing loss of soil from winter rains.
CONTOUR FARMING. Contour farming to prevent washing and to conserve water is covered in a recent bulletin of the Kansas State College of Agriculture by Edward G Johnson, state leader. * BOOST FOR COUNTY PLAN. A Joint meeting of the Bankers’ Group No. 9 was held in Jacksonville, Illinois, under the auspices of the Illinois Commercial Federation and the Crop Improvement Commit/ tee of the Council of Grain Exchanges. Morgan county.was established ass the center of a group of nine counties and .active steps are being taken to establish a county agriculturist. The county agent is beset by numerous and varied calls; and he must always aim to solve problems of community, ratherthan of individual interest, for, in this way, he beet Sanaa I his county.
HOMINY CORN CLUB
A Plan for Improving White Corn f©» Human Food. [National «rop Improvement Service.] At every meeting of farmers you will find quite a large proportion who prefer growing white rather than yellow corn; but as a rule, the quality of the white corn has been steadily going down until the white corn which is now received on the market is frequently badly damaged and must be thrown into feed grades, which sell for five cents under the price of white corn used for human consumption in coin meal, hominy and gritp. White corn which weighs 55 or 56 pounds per bushel Is worth from one to three cents more than yellow corn of the same quality, as a general rule. No man cab improve both his yellow corn and his white corn if they are planted within reach of each other's potlen. Therefore, it is suggested that the friends of white corn form a hominy club and grow white corn exclusively, breeding it up to its highest efficiency. The agronomy department at your state college will undoubtedly help you establish a fine type of white corn. The variety does not matter so much as the growing of the one kind by all of the neighbors so as to obtain sufficient quantities to •sell this corn by sample rather than sacrificing it by mixing it with inferior corn.
The county agent can do a great deal of good by establishing a seed plot for white corn where it will be unaffected by neighboring yellow corn. The idea of the club will be to get as Urge a membership as possible to grow the best white corn, if they are Dot already committed to improving their yellow corn. There is danger of overlooking the quality of white corn. ■
IS THE COUNTY AGENT NEEDED?
Is the county agent needed? Many argue that other forms of extension work—the farm press, the institute, the bulletin—meet the situation satisfactorily. The warmest friends of the farmers* institute recognize its serious deficiency in a total lack of follow-up work. There is such a great likelihood that those attending the institute will assent to the preachments of the speaker and then go back home and farm the same old way. Instead of one institute a year, as at present, with an agent there can be twelve; instead of only two or three in the county, there can be one in each township. Furthermore, the agent can help the farmers apply the lesson of the institute.
The bulletin is sent out from the experiment station or the department of agriculture when it is published. The agent will see that it is sent out when it is needed. The scientific cussions in the bulletin can frequently be summarized in a few terse paragraphs; and the agent, through the press and through the institute, will carry the message from the scientist to the farmer. The agent is needed, not to displace other work, but as an efficiency man to second all legitimate forms of extension work and to bring to the conc: ete problem of the farm all the teachings of agricultural science, tempering their application by the acid test of local farm experience.—Farm Management Monthly.
MADE SILO SURVEY OF COUNTY. To meet the demand for accurate information about the different types of silos, the farm improvement bureau of Montgomery county, Kan., recently made a complete survey of all the silos in that county. They have on file a list giving the name of every silo owner and the kind of silo he has in use, so that other farmers or outsiders desiring facts about the success or failure of any type can visit the farms and find out for themselves. It is hoped that by this method the farmers will be helped to find which type of construction is best adapted to their conditions, and they will be saved from the large amount of misinformation which is commonly spread about. E. J. Macy is the county agriculturalist. —Orange Judd Farmer.
SCHOOL RUNS EGG CLUB. An egg club has been organized by the Evergreen Park (Cook county, ’Ji.) public school which has worked with great success so far and promises to be permanent. Membership It this club is Open to all children in the school owning not less than five or more than twenty-five chickens. Each member is assigned a number, snd on certain days he brings to the school all of his eggs laid the previous day, each egg being marked with his number. The president, secretary, and treasurer of the club, together with the principal of the school, form a marketing committee and dispose of the -eggs. On the first and fifteenth of eaih month, the secretary gives each member a statement, showing the total receipts from sales of eggs and his pro-rata share; and later the treasurer settles with the members. The club now has fifty-four active members. Besides enabling the school children to earn a little money and dispose of their eggs gt top prices, Ibe dub work also trains them in busaess matters and gives them practical training In mathematical