Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 236, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1916 — MAKING the FARMPAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAKING the FARMPAY

By PROF. P. G. HOLDEN,

Former Dean of the lowa Agricultural College.

LIVE STOCK AND LEGUMES A ton of average lowa or Illinois soil contains but a few pounds of actual fertility; that Is plant food material which Is available or ever can become available for the use of crops. The remainder Is slinplj' waste* material and cannot"be used by plants as food. When this fertility has once been exhausted, remember that It is gone forever and will not return except as it Is purchased. _____ The actual value of soil is shown by Its power to produce crops. This productiveness depends'not only on the kind of soil, but upon the condition of it. The soil must be well drained, contain a sufficient amount of vegetahle matter or humus and be well worked, in order to be in proper physical condition to produce crops. These conditions are brought about principally by tillage and crop rotation. « If it is possible then for the farmer to control tlfc* air circulation in the soil, Its water-holding capacity, the bacterial content, and its available plant food by proper soil tillage, it Is surely profitable for every farmer to give his land careful, personal study so that the conditions in it are the best for the production of the largest crops of the best quality. « Productive Land. On farms where live stock is kept, the land is much more productive than on farms where exclusive grain fanning is followed. Where the crop Is sold on the market all of the plant food contained in the crop removed, Is lost to the soil. Where all crops nre sold, a practice familiarly known as “mining the soil," the result is, without fail, the impoverishment of the soil. This practice will result In a deficiency in organic matter, which Is one of the most valued properties In farm manure, and can be most economically supplied by Its use. No man should expect to make a profit from farmlfig by growing one

crop and devoting two-thirds of his time to doing' it. Farming is a business and requires all of our energies intelligently directed. Interesting Experiments. Among hundreds of experiments conducted in the past 25 years with different cropping systems one of them carried on for a period of 17 years by the Missouri agricultural college stands out as a striking example of the influence we have upon the soli, to improve it, or exhaust it ms we choose. 1 Live Stock and Legumes. For 17 years three systems of farming were practiced on three plots of ground. On plciti-one a system of - live-stock farming was practicedthat is corn, wheat and clover were grown tn rotation with grain crops, the crops fed to live stock and the manure returned to the land. i On plot two a simple rotation of corn, wheat and clover was followed nnd the crops harvested and sold off (the farm. On plot three corp was grown ev<ery year for 17 years, and every cropJiarvested and removed from the land. On this plot the-yield was reduced in <the last year of the experiment to 11.8 (bushels per acre. \ Where the land had simply been rotated so corn, wheat, and clover, the yield was 50.7 bushels per acre, and ■where manure was added in a corn, wheat and clover rotation, the yield r jwaa 77.6 per acre. I No more striking results of the effect of crop rotation could be found anrt there is little doubt that the most {important cause of this increased Inlaid is in the fact that the humus

supply, and therefore the supply of available plant food, had been more nearly maintained in the rotation of the manured plots. A great difference in the color of the soil of the two plots at the Missouri station where corn had been grown continuously both with and without manure was noticeable. The unmanured plot was much lighter in color and of much poorer texture, thus showing very clearly its lack of humus as compared with the one beside it. It must not be understood froth this that crop rotation alone will maintain fertility, but it is the first essential, and the rot ati on must include legume crops. Legumes are humus-building crops, because in order to put humus in the soil, nitrogen is necessary, and these plants secure it from the air. This experiment shows ’clearly the advantages of live stock farming in maintaining soil fertility. Upon the plot where farm manure was applied with a rottition of corn, wheat and clover, there was a margin of 53 bushels of corn per acre above the cost of growing. Estimating that it will cost 25 bushels or about $lO per acre to grow thff corn, there is a cash profit of 50 cents per bushel, of $26.50 per acre. In the second plot, where no manure was applied, with a rotation a? corn, wheat and clover, there was a margin of 26 bushels above the cost of growing or a cash profit of sl3. On the plot where corn was grown continuously for 17 years, without rotation, there was a loss of $6.50 per acre, or 13 bushels below the cost of producing an acre of corn. Feed What You Raise and Raise What You Feed. Some of the crops will be marketed, but in the end you will find that hog skins and steer hides are the best grain sacks that you can have on the farm. Convert your grain and hay crops into beef and pork and drive it to market on the hoof. Alfalfa,

clover, corn, oats and other crops when sold on the market take away fertility which will never return td your soil. The accompanying chart shows the fertility contained in alfalfa, clover, corn and oats in comparison with milk, beef, pork and butter. When you grow three tons of alfalfa, about the average acre yield, and sell it, you rob your soil to the amount of about S2B. When you market 50 bushels of corn you lose about ( sls in fertility —value; but if you feed tiie corn and alfalfa to a steer or a hog or a dairy cow, 70 to 80 per cent of the fertility will be returned to you In manure and go back to the land If you save the manure. For every 400 pounds of beef shipped away the loss will be about $1.90; 600 pounds of pork about $1.87; 100

pounds of butter about 4 cents. Market your crops through live stock, and you willfnake more money from your farming operations. Build up your soil and make your farm worth more.

The lowa Beef Producers’ association carried on an investigation in lowa covering a period of five years. Data was gathered from 20 lowa fanus In nine different counties throughout the state. (See chart.} On ten average live-stock farms 52 bushels of corn per acre were produced as against 36 bushels per acre produced on ten average grain farms. On ten average stock farms 39 bushels of oats per acre were produced, as against 32 bushels per acre on ten average grain farms. Ten average stock farms produced 2.2 tons of clover per acre as against 1.2 tons per acre on ten average grain farms. These comparisons speak for themselves. One-Crop System. A one-crop system will-impoverish any country, and in turn it will impoverish the people that are on its farms. It is only through diversification of crops and the Using of our energies every day of the year, that we can make a rich country. Live-stock farming is diversified fanning and calls for a system of crop rotation with legumes. It returns fertility to the soil. It adds Interest to the work of the young people and finally it is best insurance of an income. The kind of live stock depends upon local conditions. First, the preference of the farmer, second, the environment. Cows, hogs, horses, mules, beef cattle and sheep, offer a large range of choice and fit into many conditions. Horses and hogs are found on every farm and they become very profitable to the man who understands them. Sheep raising and dairying may be combined as one herd or handled separately. In either case they will be found profitable. Varying combinations of live stock may be found profitable. Live-stock farming requires d dependable feed supply. Silage and alfalfa are an excellent basis. Corn, kafir, and other similar crops furnish silage. Each farmer should make a business of growing his own beef as well

as his own vegetables. Also his owi protein feed for his stock, and expend as little money as possible for bran, cottonseed meal, and other highpriced protein feeds. Dairy Essentials. The dairy business, too, calls for intellectual activity. Such exercise is good for the boys and girls. The dairy business evens up things on the farm. It gives steady employment. It is a cash business. A man feels independent when he knows that his income is steady. Dairying builds up the farm. It requires few-er acres and consequently leads to more neighbors. There is always an air of prosperity about a well handled dairy farm. The dairy business adds permanency to the community. The success of the man engaged in it depends upon keeping inllk VeCdfUS. —It costs hut Httie and returns a hundredfold. There are good cows and poor cows. A farmer should find out win ch are the poor cows and which are the good ones. This can be done by marking down what they produce each day, and using the Babcock test. Milk the good cows and sell the unprofitable ones for beef. “Feed what you raise, and raise what you feed” has been the watchword of the best farmers in America for many years. It is the only safe system. - Living on the farm means more than most of us realize. Not just to live there, but to make it a home. Not just to grow corn, wheat and alfalfa, but for the benefits that may come to our homes and to our children through the things that we produce. It does not make much difference how much wheat we raise or how much corn We grow, but it does make a tremendous difference w’hat we do with the profit that we get frdm the corn and the other things that are produced from the soil.

Farmer Was Power. . The pioneer American farmer of the nineteenth century was a power in his day. He did well bls work of clearing away the forests, establishing homes, building roads and settling the wilderness, And If he did not cultivate and care for the soil as he should have done, we cannot blame him, because the need was not pressing that day. It was not his problem. The care £ of the soil is the problem of the farmer of today. He is being called upon for many things that are real necessities. He must Improve his soil. He must not forget that Live Stoclj and Legumes are the basis of Permanent Agriculture.

Hogs Raised on Alfalfa.

Excellent Beef Specimens.