Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 173, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1916 — PRACTICAL FARMER CAN, WITHOUT BANK ACCOUNT, DO GOOD FARMING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PRACTICAL FARMER CAN, WITHOUT BANK ACCOUNT, DO GOOD FARMING

Mississippi Farmer Changing Stumpy, Run-Down Cotton Plantation Into Profitable Dairy and Diversified Farm—New System Put Into Operation and Modern Implements Have Replaced Old Ones—Soil Is Sandy Loam.

(By G. H. ALFORD, State Demonstration Agent, Maryland.) W. K. Wood, Brookhaven, Miss., Is changing a stumpy, rundown gullied, cotton farm into a profitable dairy and diversified farm. He is attempting to show how an average farmer can, without a bank account or the use of the credit system, do good farming. An entirely new system of farming has been put into operation; modern implements have taken place of the old ones; stumps have been removed from all but eight acres of the land; better drainage has been established; improved seed has been introduced ; the land has been broken deeper; better methods of cultivation have' been practiced; plenty of feed for man and beast is now grown; fairly good pastures have been established ; a dipping vat built; a silo built; a cream separator purchased and so on. The farm consists of about 160 acres of hill and bottom land. The soil is

a sandy loam with yellow clay subsoil. The lower levels of the farm were very poorly drained and as a consequence the crops on these portions have suffered severely during the seasons of excessive rainfall. During the past five years the willows in all the low places have been cut and ditches opened and the bottom drained. Land Wai Unproductive. For upward of 75 years the crops have been for the most part cotton, grown under the negro tenant system. As a result of this practice, the land was badly washed and reduced to a very unproductive state. It had a local reputation of being both poor and unprofitable. It sold for SI,OOO in 1898.

A, in good farming, Is clearing land of stumps and roots. We have reached a point where the use of labor-saving machinery on the farm is absolutely necessary if we are to supply the growing demands of a rapidly increasing population and reap the highest rewards of prevailing prices. The necessity for labor-saving machinery has become more and more obviotfs with the growing scarcity of labor and the consequent high cost of production. The water supply for all stock comes from a deep well. The water is raised by means of a pump and a fcur-horse-power engine and is piped to the dwelling and to the troughs and hog pas-

tare and feeding lots. Since Mr. Wood began to give his milk cows pure water, he has added a female college, several soda founts, and numerous famfllM to his list of customers. More Live Stock Needed. This farm and the surrounding country was thoroughly infested with the cattle or Texas fevpr tick. This tick prevents the importation of cattle from

the North for breeding purposes. It often decreases the weight and always lessens the rate of putting flesh on beef cattle and decreases the amount of milk produced by dairy cattle as the result of the Irritation and loss of blood occasioned by great numbers of ticks. It decreases the price that southern cattle bring on the market on account of the quarantine line This territory needs more and better live stock and a larger and better dairy Industry and these objects will be greatly promoted by the destruction of the tick The concrete dipping vat filled with arsenical solution has proven to be the most effective method of destroying the cattle tick. Mr. Wood built a dipping vat by the plans and specifications and under the direction of Doctor Chambers, Inspector of the United States bureau of animal husbandry. Lincoln county furnished the necessary money to purchase all material

and he built the vat and filled it with a mixture of 72 pounds of sal-soda, 24 pounds of white arsenic, three gallons of pine tar and 1,500 gallons of water. His cattle and other farmers’ cattle are dipped in this vat regularly. The value of a silo on a farm cannot be overestimated. The dairy farmer who has been unable to see the value of the silo in connection with his dairy farm is generally looked upon as an unprogressive farmer. Especially in the winter does the value of the silo become apparent as it is possible at all times to feed green fodder to the milk cows and thereby preserve both the quantity and quality of the milk product. With the use cf the silo the farmer is enabled to save the shucks, the fodder, the corn stalks and the ears, and to keep up summer feeding throughout the winter without a break.

Mr. Wood built a .round stave silo, 60-ton capacity, on a concrete foundation at a total cost of $1H5.35. It cost $2.05 per ton to grow the corn and put the silage in the silo. This silo was built according to the plans and specifications and under the personal supervision of Mr. L. A. Higgins of the United States dairy division. Dairying Is Profitable. There is no branch of farming that is more needed in the cotton belt than dairying. It is a most profitable industry in itself and is the means of rapid-

ly increasing the productiveness of the soil and at the same time of promoting a better type of agriculture. Mr. Wood started with ten scrub cows. He purchased a purebred Jersey bull, “International Boy,” and is rapidly culling out the cows whose yielding ability is below' par. He keeps’daily records of every cow’s actual performance at the pail. Every cow’s milk is

tested each month for butterfat by the “Babcock test." He keeps only cows that show profitable records at the pail. These cows are kept in clean quarters, furnished pure well water to drink and every precaution is taken to prevent contamination of the milk. The cows graze in a bermuda and lespedeza pasture and are fed on lespedeza hay, silage and cottonseed, molasses and cornmeal during the winter months. The velvet beans, soy beans, corn stalks and grass furnish good grazing in the fields during the winter months. He sold >12.65 worth of dairy products in June, 1911. He sold >128.70 In October, 1915. Mr. L. A. Higgins, dairyman for the United States dairy division, deserves much credit for the success of this dairy. He planned the work and visits the dairy every fifteen days and gives full instructions which are carried out to the letter. He and the many other dairymen employed by the United States dairy division are doing a great work in the South.

Disposition of Milk. He sells nearly all of the milk to the female college, soda fouhts, and private families. However, he purchased a separator to separate the surplus milk. He does not make butter as he can easily dispose of the cream obtained from the milk that he does not place on the market. The separator gets all the cream of the milk, the cream obtained is sweet and of the highest purity and brings the top price on the market The warm, sweet milk skimmed by the use of the separator is at once fed to calves, pigs and poultry. Practically all of the fat has been taken out, but the milk still contains proteids; that is, the material for the formation of lean flesh, blood, tendons, nerves, brain and horn. Barnyard manure is rich in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, and may be regarded as just so much vegetable matter. When left exposed in thin layers or small piles in the barn lot, the rains leach out a large per cent of the soluble plant food. He allows the horse manure to remain in the stables, using plenty of straw for litter. It is kept dry and keeps with practically no loss. He built a common large manure pen for the cow manure. The rain water is not sufficient to le&ch through but is usually sufficient to keep the pile moist Farm Poorly Drained.

A considerable area of the farm was poorly drained, Fortunately a small creek crosses the farm and affords an outlet for the water from the whole farm. Although the fall in the bottoms is very gradual, the water runs off slowly after heavy rains. Tiling and other forms of under drainage were too expensive to be considered for the entire farm, so flat bottom ditches have been dug to thoroughly drain the land. Only ten acres have been tiled. The great problem before Mr. Wood is to restore the fertility of his wornout cotton farm and to make the necessary money to support a family and equip the farm while he is accomplishing this much desired result. Grass is the foundation of successful dairy farming, and dairy farming is probably the most practicable means of increasing the fertility of the soil and at the

same time of furnishing the necessary cash to pay all expenses. In the farming sections of our country which "have enjoyed the greatest and most lasting prosperity, the grasses and clovers have always occupied an important place. He has 53 acres in a bermuda and lespedeza pasture. The larger part of the land now devoted to permanent pasture was first planted to winter oats. Small areas of the pasture is now well sodded in bermuda and lespedeza or Japan clover. He will thoroughly sod every square foot of this pasture land in bermuda grass and lespedeza within the next year or two. The best pastures in the cotton belt are perhaps those which in summer consist of bermuda grass and lespedeza. With the addition of burr clover, white clover, crimson clover, hairy vetch and red top, when the soil is sufficiently fertile, such pastures can be grazed the year round. Mr. Wood is not only increasing the productiveness of his soil;, he is also improving the yielding power of the oat, corn and/otfier seed planted on this farm. He realizes the fact that like produces like and he has purchased the very best seed from perfectly reliable seed breeders and will use every known scientific method to further improve the yielding power of the seed. His part in obtaining the most prolific seed and in growing, selecting and caring for such seed will not be appreciably greater than the work necessary to handle scrub seed.

Type of Horse Used on Wood Farm.

Alfalfa Field on Wood Farm.

Velvet Beans in Corn.