JOHN FREDERICK DUGGAR I i ill um\ AGRICULTURE FOR SOUTHERN SCHOOLS THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW >ORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATVANTA • SAN FUANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO.. Limitbo LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MKLBOURMK THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA. Ltb. i TORONTO I AGRICULTURE FOR SOUTHERN SCHOOLS BY JOHN FREDERICK DUGGAR DIRECTOR OF THE ALABAMA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION AND PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ALABAMA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE ' '»♦ • , •> , * e . , THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1909 A/i rights reserved 59683 Copyright, 1908, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1908. Reprinted July, August, November, December, 1908; August, November, 1909, •/ * Vortooatt Ifirtu J. 8. Cunhlnfr Co. — Korwick A Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. PREFACE This little book has been written with the hope of supplying the need for an elementary text-book on agri- culture that shall differ from others in having a definite and limited field, — the South. While many of the prin- ciples of agriculture are universal, the application of these principles is somewhat local. By limiting the field of a text-book on agriculture to the Southern states, it becomes possible to treat the subject in a concrete way ; to avoid many generalities inseparable from a book intended for use in all latitudes ; and to employ as object-lessons only those plants that any teacher or pupil in a Southern school can easily obtain. For example, it is better that a South- ern pupil study the peach bloom fresh from the tree than to read of the flower of some plant rarely found in the orchards or fields in this latitude. The cotton bloom, too, affords a suitable example of how flowers are constructed. This Southern point of view also makes it possible to give fuller, and hence more teachable, treatment to the most widely grown crops of the South. The principal aims that have guided the author in writ- ing this book are these : — I. To arouse the interest of the pupil in nature, and especially in the common plants of the Southern farm, orchard, and garden. yi PREFACE 2. So to present the subject that it may be mastered rather by stimulated observation and quickened thought than by mere memorizing. 3. To make a teachable book, — one that will present fewest possible difficulties to a teacher who has had no special training in either the theory or practice of agri- culture. The effort has been made to lead the pupil by easy steps from the known to the less familiar subjects, and from the concrete example to the general law or principle. 4. To make the language simple enough to be readily understood by a pupil in the sixth grade of the common schools, and yet to present the subject with enough system and substance to suit the pupils in the high school 5. To emphasize, amplify, and illustrate a few princi- ples, which, when understood and practiced, have the power to revolutionize Southern farm practice and to promote the permanent prosperity of the farmer and of the state. The author's experience as a teacher, his long study and practice of agriculture, and his association with chil- dren, lead him to think that all these aims can be real- ized. He must leave to his fellow-teachers of the South the verdict whether this book approaches his cherished ideals. Recognizing the fact that provision has not been made for the special instruction of teachers in agriculture and that many are not familiar with farm practice, he adds this message to all such teachers. You can teach this subject effectively even without this acquaintance with PREFACE vii farm work. Your weakness will become your greatest strength if it cause you to step down in this class from the teacher's desk and to be a comrade with your pupils, — a fellow-seeker after the truth that none of us can know completely. Be a leader in raising questions which you need not be ashamed to own that you cannot answer. If you arouse the interest that will make your pupils desire an answer, you arouse in them for the years to come the spirit of inquiry by means of which, as men and women, they will educate themselves. In teaching agriculture, humility is the teacher's proper attitude, and to show it will not forfeit the respect of either pupils or patrons. The thanks of the writer are due to the many friends who have lent a helping hand in this work. Space does not suffice for acknowledgements to all, but special thanks are here tendered to my associates. Dr. W. E. Hinds, for the sections on insects, and Professor R. S. Mackintosh, for numerous photographs and for critical reading of the chapters on horticulture ; to Miss F. E. Andrews, and other, lovers of flowers, for the sections on flower garden- ing; to Dr. B. M. Duggar, of Cornell University, for writing the chapter on plant diseases ; to Professor L. N. Duncan for suggestions and photographs for Figs. 2, 136, 139-143, and 215; to Miss C. M. Cook for drawings; to the editor, Dr. L. H. Bailey, for many improvements ; and for illustrations, to the United States Department of Agri- culture, and to the Experiment Stations of Georgia, IlHnois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, and Ohio. THE AUTHOR. Auburn, Alabama, January, 1908. CONTENTS PAGB Section I. Introduction i The Plant 7-53 Section II. The parts of the flower. Plant families . . 7 Section III. Pollination 12 Section IV. Germination of seeds . . . . .21 Section V. Water for the plant 28 Section VI. How plants get food from soil and air . . 32 Section VII. How plants are propagated . . . . 38 Section VIII. Improvement of plants 46 The Soil 54-85 Section IX. How the soil was formed. Kinds of soil . . 54 Section X. Suiting the crop to the soil .... 61 Section XI. Moisture in the soil ...... 65 Section XII. Preparation and cultivation of the soil . . 70 Section XIII. Terracing and draining .... 74 Section XIV. How the soil becomes poor .... 82 Fertilizing Materials and Fertilizers . . . 86-115 Section XV. How trees and leguminous plants improve the soil 86 Section XVI. Barnyard manure 93 Section XVII. Commercial fertilizers . . . . '97 Section XVIII. Calculating fertilizer formulas . . . 102 Section XIX. Suiting the fertilizers to the soil . . . 108 Section XX. Lime 112 Farm Crops . . . ii6-i8i Section XXI. Rotation of crops 116 Section XXII. Corn .123 Section XXIII. Selecting or judging seed-corn . . . 129 Section XXIV. Wheat, oats, rye, and barley . . .136 ix X CONTENTS rACK Section XXV. Cotton 144 Section XXVI. Sugarcane 154 Section XXVII. Sweet potatoes 162 Section XXVIII. Peanuts and watermelons . . 165 Section X.\ IX. Legumes and inoculation .... 168 Section XXX. Some forage plants 174 Section XXXI. Weeds 182 Section XXXII. The vegetable garden .... 185 Flowers 192-202 Section XXXIII. Planning the flower garden . . . 192 Section XXXIV. Growing flowers 197 Forest and Fruit Trees 203-224 Section XXXV. Forest trees 203 Section XXXVI. Forest trees (^Continued) .... 208 Section XXXVII. Fruits 215 Diseases of Plants. Germs in the Soil . . 225-245 Section XXXVIII. The causes of diseases of plants . 225 Section XXXIX. Some diseases of fruits .... 229 Section XL. Diseases of oats and wheat .... 233 Section X LI. Diseases of Irish and sweet potatoes . . 236 Section X LI I. Diseases of cotton 238 Section XLIII. Germs in the soil 244 Insects 246-280 Section XLIV. What an insect is 246 Section XLV. How insects grow 249 Section XLVI. How insects feed 253 Section XLVI I. Insect enemies of the farmer . . 257 Section XLVI 1 1. The Mexican cotton-boll weevil . . 264 Section XLIX. Insects and health 272 Section L. The honeybee 277 Farm Live-stock 281-313 Section LI. Improvement of live-stock .... 281 Section LII. Horses 284 Section LI II. Beef cattle 290 CONTENTS XI Section LIV. Dairy cattle . . o , Section LV. Slieep Section LVI. Swine Section LVII. The management of poultry Section LVIII. Breeds and varieties of chickens Feeding Live-stock Section LIX. Principles of feeding animals . Section LX. Calculating rations for live-stock Dairying . Section LXI. Section LXII. The production and care of milk Making butter Miscellaneous . Section LXIII. Section LXIV. Section LXV. The cattle tick . Farm implements and machinery Earth roads .... 295 299 303 306 310 314-322 • 314 . 3'8 323-329 • 323 • 326 330-340 • 330 • 333 • 338 Appendix i-vii Fertilizer equivalents Some fertilizer formulas To destroy insects To prevent or decrease diseases of plants .... To measure grain approximately Dimensions of one acre State Agricultural Experiment Stations .... School gardens Index ix-xiv AGRICULTURE FOR SOUTHERN SCHOOLS SECTION I. INTRODUCTION We all enjoy a trip to a part of the country in which we have never been. It is the newness of all we see Photo by R. S. Mackintosh Fig. I. — Awaiting Discovery Does the showy part of the dogwood consist of petals or of whitened leaves? that excites our curiosity and interest. Would it not be delightful if we could constantly make discoveries of new 2 AGRICULTURE things about the very places where we live, and so find the same interest and pleasure that a trip affords us? Some persons have learned to do this. They make dis- coveries on any day that they spend in the woods or fields. They find flowers that they have not noticed before ; they learn which wild plants and weeds are kin to useful plants that they know ; they observe how plants provide for their seed to be carried by wind, or water, or birds, or by large animals to other parts of the field or pasture. They learn new facts about animals and brooks and the whole out-of-doors. If we try to observe the plants that grow in our woods, or field, or garden, or orchard, we shall always be making interesting discoveries and gaining new plant friends. There is not only delight in collecting the wild flowers and in observing the trees, but there is also pleasure and profit in learning the nature and habits of our cultivated plants. We will know better how to prune a peach tree, an apple tree, or a grape-vine if we observe whether the fruit is borne on new branches or on those one or two years old. Notice this and tell the teacher what you observe. We shall be able to select better seed com if we learn which shape of ear or of kernel is found in the most productive varieties. Agriculture deals with such ques- tions as these. A study of agriculture should enable pupils to under- stand better the common plants and animals of the farm and cause them to take more interest in them. A book like this can give only a few of the most important principles of plant and animal growth. A knowledge of these INTRODUCTION should help one to observe and to form conclusions about the best way to select, feed, and cultivate plants and to Fig. a. — Cotton, the Principal Sale Crop of the Soutb care for animals so that farming may be made more inter- esting and more profitable. 4 AGRICULTURE Agriculture is the practice of producing useful plants and animals. It is based on physiology, botany, chemis- try, and other natural sciences. It is also an art because success in agriculture requires skill and experience and business methods. In agricultural books, papers, and pamphlets is recorded much of the experience of the best farmers. In studying agriculture we shall learn some- thing about flowers, fruits, vegetables, and animals, as well as about crops that grow in the fields. Reasons for studying agriculture. — Agriculture is worthy of our most earnest study. It is the industry that furnishes food to all mankind and on which many arts and industries are built. Its study teaches us how plants feed, grow, and multiply ; how man may take common plants and greatly increase their productiveness, beauty, or hardi- ness ; how he may rear animals ; how a farmer may make his poor soil rich, his scant crops bountiful, and his Ufe and the life of his family full of comfort and pleasure. Surely, it is worth while to learn how to make the crops larger, the farm animals more useful and profitable ; how to make the garden and orchard yield a continuous supply of vegetables and fruits ; and how to beautify the grounds around the home and the school. It is worth while, too, for all of us to know how to pro- tect our plants from disease and how to conquer our insect foes. If blights, smuts, and mildews destroy the crops of field, orchard, or garden, knowledge suggests ways of preventing or destroying them. If caterpillars, bugs, weevils, and a host of other insect pests strip bare the growing crops and despoil the stored grain, knowledge INTRODUCTION of their lives and habits is the weapon with which man conquers them. Wherever farming has proved to be profitable, we may expect to find good roads, good schools, churches, libraries, telephones, and much else that helps to make life in the country pleasant and attractive. Even a child may do his part in bringing these things to pass. Some of the agri- Courlesy Ky. Expt. Station Fig. 3. — An Example of how Knowledge pays Above, the yield of apples from one tree sprayed to prevent rot ; below, the yield of a similar tree not thxis protected. culture that he learns at school he can promptly make use of at home. Still more of it will be helpful to him in later years if he becomes a farmer. Best of all, the study of agriculture should enable him to find a keener pleasure in observing the ways of plants and animals, and thus enrich his entire life, whatever may be his future occupation. Even from this book we may learn how to make the soil richer year by year. If we should remember only this, and forget all else, we should be able to help our neighbor- hood and our country as well as ourselves. He serves his 6 AGRICULTURE country well who transforms a poor and unprofitable soil into a fertile and wealth-producing farm. He serves it also who aids in introducing a better class of live-stock or in producing better milk and butter. Exercise. — Secure a small notebook with a hack that will not easily break. Tic to it a pencil. U.se this for your agricultural exercises, and for no other purpose. Before the end of the .session this little note- book will be more interesting to you than any printed book, — and you will be an author. As you study this chapter, write in your notebook a numbered list of the plants you know. Write down the names of all the field crops cultivated near your home. Opposite each write all of its uses. Like- wise write a list of the names and uses of as many kinds as you can of farm animals and poultry. Note to the Teacher. — Question pupils on the text of every chapter. Encourage answers in the language of the child rather than in the exact language of the book. Grade pupils as much on the exercises at the end of each chapter, and on independent observation, as on the text. By grades or other means stimulate the pupils to bring to the class in agriculture object lessons appropriate to the subject in hand. Require notebooks and examine these often. You will be helped in teaching agriculture by having at hand " Exercises in Elementary Agri- culture ; Plant Production," by Dick J. Crosby. This bulletin is sent free (on application) by the United .States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. Procure bulletins from the Experiment Station in your own state. SECTION II. THE PARTS OF THE FLOWER. PLANT FAMILIES The chief effort of the plant is to produce seed. A flower must be formed before the seed can be produced. Its beautiful colors, its nectar, and its delicious perfume are means to attract insects whose help it may require in making seed. Mustard flower. — As our first example, we may inquire what are the parts of a mustard flower (Fig. 4). In the Fig. 4. — Flower of Fig. 5. — Details of part Mustard of Mustard Flower center of this flower is a column, at the top of which is a rounded knob {o, Fig. 5). The whole central column is called the pistil. Its important parts are the ovule case, near the base, in which the seeds develop ; and the stigma, or knob at the top. In some plants the stigma is divided into several parts. The surface of a full-grown stigma is sticky or rough, so that pollen, which is the yellow dust of the flower, may stick to it. The ovule case, or ovary, 7 AGRICULTURE Oifo/y, Fio, 6. — A Pistil contains little, immature, seed-like bodies, called ovuUs. Each ovule may become a seed. But before an ovule can change into a seed, it must be fertilized; that is, a grain of pollen must fall upon the stigma and grow down into the ovule, after which the latter becomes a seed. In a circle just outside of the pistil are a number of slender stalks (six on the mustard flower) called the stamens (1,4, Fig. 5 ). The most important part of a stamen is the cap at the top. This is the anther, or pollen case. When the anther is mature, it bursts and frees a yellow powder, called pollen. Soon after this powder or pollen is shed, the stamen, now useless, dies. The pollen must be carried by insects or wind or otherwise to the sticky or rough surface of the stigma in the same or in a different flower. If pollen is not brought to the stigma, no seeds develop. In a layer just outside of the stamens is the bright- colored part of the flower (2, Fig. 5). This is called the corolla. In many plants, as in the mustard, it is divided into a number of distinct pieces, each being really a colored leaf, called a petal. Fig. 4 shows that there are four petals in the mustard flower. In a layer just outside of these are the green parts of the flower, called sepals (3, Fig. 5). Let us see whether most flowers have their parts arranged in the same order, the pistil in the center, the stamens around the pistil, the petals next to these, and outside of all, the sepals. Peach blossom. — The peach blossom has this same THE PARTS OF THE FLOWER arrangement (Fig. 7). It has one undivided pistil. This is the part that a fruit grower examines after a frost, for he knows that if the pistils are killed there will be no peaches. Notice that there are numerous stamens ; that there are five petals ; and that there are five sepals, grown together. Apple blossom. — The apple blossom (Fig. 8) is very much like that of the peach, but its pistil is divided into five parts. Like the peach it has five petals and five sepals. In all the examples given above, there has been the same number of petals as of sepals. This is often true. Cotton flower. — The cotton bloom is formed on the plan of fives (Fig. 9). There are five showy petals, and also five short sepals. These last are grown together and form a shallow cup, which incloses the base of the boll. The three large green parts that form the square are not sepals, but bracts, or leaf-like extra parts. You also find bracts around some Photo by R. S. Mackintosh Fig. 7. — Peach Blooms Fig. 8. — Flowers of the Apple lO AGRICULTURE Fic. 9. — Section of Cotton Bloou Other flowers, for example, around the strawberry blossom and the head of the sunflower. There are usually four or five divisions of the pistil in the cotton bloom. From the number of these you will find that you can foretell how many locks of cotton there will be in any boll ; for there will be just as many locks in the boll as there are divisions of the pistil. The stamens in the cotton bloom are numerous. Their lower parts or stalks grow together to form a tube sur- rounding the pistil. Plant families. — Plants that produce blooms are divided into more than two hundred families. A family of plants generally includes the kinds that form their flowers in the same general way. For example, the Bean family in- cludes the garden pea, the sweet-pea, the field or cowpea, the locust tree, all kinds of clovers, and many others. If you will pick from a clover head a single tiny flower, you will see that its parts have the same general shape and arrangement as the large flowers of the garden pea, of the cowpea, or of the beautiful sweet-pea. Perhaps you can find out what resemblances there are between the flowers of the blackberry, the strawberry, the apple, the pear, the peach, the plum, and the wild rose. These all belong to the very large Rose family, which includes most of our fruits and berries. THE PARTS OF THE FLOWER II It will be easy for you to find scores of plants that be- long to the immense family of the Grasses. After carefully examining several well-known grasses, like crab grass, examine plants of corn and oats and see how many resemblances to grasses you find in these useful crop plants. These and other grains are grasses (Fig. lo). "^^^^i^l^fV^ ' ^^at Exercise. — In every large flower you find, point out (i) the pistil, (2) the stamens, (3) the petals, and (4) the sepals. Find the pollen in all the flowers you examine. Does it show in young flower-buds ? Why is there little or no pollen in flowers that are nearly ready to wither or drop? Collect all the cultivated and wild plants that you can find having blossoms shaped like those of the sweet-pea or bean. In your note- ^^^ 10. — Oat Flower, book write the names of all these pea-like opened to show Sta- plants that you know. Leave a long blank space and keep adding to this list all through the season. Examine every kind of plant that you have ever heard called a clover to see whether its separate blossoms have the shape of a pea or sweet-pea bloom. Note to the Teacher. — Devote as much time as possible to having pupils point out the parts of each flower that may be brought to the class. Have them place in separate piles (i) all the pea-like flowers, (2) all the flowers that seem to them kin to the roses and blackberries, and (3) all the grasses. Probably one or two reviews of this chapter must be given so as to afford time for examination of every flower that is brought in. MENS (s), AND StIGMAS (st), ENLARGED. (After Roberts and Freeman.) SECTION III. POLLINATION While you have been learning the names of the differ- ent parts of the flowers, you have perhaps been thinking about the uses of each part. The sepals and petals serve to protect the more important parts inside. For example, the peach sepals and petals while still folded together in the bud keep the pistil from being killed by slight frosts in the early spring ; thus the peach crop is sometimes saved. That the stamens and pistils, however, are more important than the sepals and petals can be proved by care- fully removing all of the petals from a flower of cotton or from a peach blossom. In spite of this injury, a boll or a peach will form if pollen is applied to the stigma. Flowers without petals. — Since the flower makes seed or fruit by means of the stamens and pistil alone, these two parts are called the necessary or essential parts. The flowers of many plants have no showy sepals and petals. The sepals and the petals are not strictly necessary. When you see the flowers of corn and wheat you may not think of them as flowers, because they have no gay colors. The bees and other insects do not often visit such flowers. Function or use of the pistil. — The pistil is the part of a flower that develops into the seed-case or fruit. In its la POLLINATION 13 base it contains the tiny ovules which may develop into seeds. There will be no fruit or seed formed if the pistil is destroyed. Function or use of pollen. — The part of the stamen that is most important is the pollen or plant dust. This is a fine powder and is set free by the opening of the little pollen case, or anther, at the tip end of the stamen. Pollen must adhere to and grow into the pistil (and enter the ovule be- fore seed contained in the pistil can develop. You may learn the im- portance of the pollen to the plant by carefully picking off all the sta- mens of a nearly open flower bud of cotton or peach or other plant. Then tie a small paper sack over the injured bloom to keep the pollen of other flowers from being brought in by wind or insects. In a few days you will find that the pistil to which no pollen can gain access does not grow, but generally dies and falls. If it lives it produces no perfect seed. At the same time, other pistils, on whose stigmas you have noticed tiny grains adhering, will be growing (Figs. 12, 13, 14). If you tie a paper bag tightly over a young corn ear Fig. II. — Pistil and Stamens (Tulip) Fig. 12. — Tobacco Flower 14 AGRICULTURE before the silks show, and keep it there, no grains will form on that cob. This is because no pollen falls on the silks, which are the pistils of an car of corn. For the same reason, if you cut the young silks from one side of an ear shoot, no grains will grow on that side. Every silk is connected with a grain space on the cob, and if that silk Fio. 13. — Sound and Good To- bacco Seed where there was AN Abundance of Pollen Applied Fig. 14. — Chaff, instead of Tobacco Seed, where no Pollen was allowed to REACH the StICUA catches no pollen, a vacant grain space is left on the cob where this silk arises. Pollen does not cause fruit or seed to grow or be pro- duced unless the plant that bore it is of the same kind as, or closely related to, the plant on whose pistil it is placed. Thus peach pollen is useless on apple blossoms. The pol- len may come from the same flower of which the pistil is a part, from another flower of the same plant, or from a different plant. POLLINATION 1 5 Self -pollinated plants. — In the flowers of wheat, oats, and peas, the pistil is usually pollinated by the pollen that is produced in the same flower. Such plants are said to be self-pollinated. Self-pollinated plants do not mix with other kinds in the field. Cross-pollinated plants. — On the other hand, the pistils of some kinds of plants generally receive pollen that grows on a different plant. Such plants are said to be cross- pollinated. If a farmer grows a white and a yellow variety of corn side by side, these will be mixed in a few years. This is because the light pollen dust from one kind is carried by the wind to the silks of the other kind. Many a boy has had his patch of popcorn ruined by planting it near field corn that bloomed at the same time as the popcorn. You have perhaps noticed the pollen of corn as it was carried by the wind, like fine dust. You have probably also noticed in the spring clouds of yellow- ish dust blown from the pine trees. This dust is light pollen carried by the wind. How insects help the flowers to form seed. — Some plants have heavy pollen, which the wind cannot so easily carry. Cotton is one of these. Such plants generally have gayly colored petals that attract the insects. Even children like to taste nectar by touching the tongue to a blossom of honeysuckle after its petals are removed. The flower of- fers nectar to insects and in return the insects usually bring pollen from a blossom of the same kind and place this on the pistil. If we notice a bee as it enters a flower, we observe that much yellow dust adheres to its body. This is pollen that it rubs against while visiting other |6 AGRICULTURE flowers. While it is in the blossoms, it usually happens to brush against the sticky or rough stigma, which catches some of the pollen it brings. It is interesting to watch the movements of the insects when they are thus helping the flower to form seed. Gardeners who grow tomatoes in the greenhouse col- lect the pollen and place it on the flowers by using a brush (Fig. 15). If they fail to do so, they get very few Courleiy Mich. tUpt. aiatUia Fig. 15. — Pollination of Tomatoes The two on the right grew from pistils abundantly supplied with pollen; the two on the left from pistils receiving but little pollen. tomatoes. If there were many large insects in the green- house, they might not need to take this trouble. We do not need to practice this hand pollination when tomatoes are grown in the garden, for then insects might do this useful work instead of human hands. In one locality the fruit-growers thought that bees were injuring their ripe fruits, and accordingly made the keepers of bees remove their hives. As a result, the fruit crop de- creased. Then the bees were brought back, and the crop POLLINATION 1 7 at once increased. If the weather, when fruit trees are in bloom, is so cold or rainy that the bees do not fly from flower to flower, the crop of fruits is usually small. Cross-pollinated plants (those that need to get pollen from other plants of the same kind) can be divided into two classes, first, those whose pollen is carried from one plant to another by wind ; second, those whose pollen is carried by insects. Why strawberries sometimes fail to bear. — A gardener once had a well-worked strawberry bed that showed a mass of leaves and runners, but yielded few berries. This was because he had planted only one variety, and that one variety did not have well - developed stamens. His patch of strawberries would have borne good crops if he had ^ ° '■ Fig. i6. — Flower planted every fourth row with another or Strawberry variety having stamens as well as pistils, with both Pistils J >=> ^ AND Stamens From this you see it pays to know some- thing about how plants are supplied with pollen. Imper- fect varieties of strawberries are called pistillate varieties, because they have pistils only, and the perfect kinds are called statninate or perfect varieties, because they have stamens as well as pistils (Fig. i6). Why the fruit crop sometimes fails. — Even when the flowers contain both stamens and pistils, there is often a failure to produce fruit. This is likely to happen when a single variety of grapes, pears, or apples is planted alone and away from all other varieties of the same fruit. Some varieties of these fruits must get pollen that has l8 AGRICULTURE grown on a different variety. The pollen of a Duchess pear, for example, when it falls on the pistils of a Bart- Fig. 17. — Brighton Grapes, SELr-rERTiLiZKD lett pear tree will cause fruit to grow ; but generally no pear develops when the pollen from a Duchess tree falls After N. T. Slato BsywlaiMl iMlaa Fto. 18. — Brighton Grapes, cross-fertiuzed on the pistils of another Duchess tree. Trees or grape- vines that act thus are said to have pollen that is impo- tent (powerless) on blossoms of the same variety. Im- 4»0LLINATI0N 19 potent pollen is one of nature's many ways of preventing self-pollination (Figs. 17 and 18). In planting an orchard or vineyard for home use it is a good rule to plant several varieties of apples, several of pears, and several of grapes, so that one variety may supply pollen for the blossoms of the others. Pistils and stamens in different parts of the same plants. — We have called the pistils and the stamens the essential parts of a flower because both are necessary to the forma- tion of the seeds. When one flower bears both stamens and pistil, it is called a perfect flower. But the pistil and the stamens are not always found in the same flower. In the corn plant, for example, the silks are the pistils, while the stamens from which comes the pollen are found in the tassel, another part of the same plant. Thus you see that in corn the staminate flowers are borne on the top of the plant and the pistillate on the young ears of corn growing on the stalks of the same plant. On a squash, cucum- ber (Fig. 19), or water- melon the pistillate blossom may be known by the little squash or melon which shows below its yellow petals. These blossoms have pistils but no stamens. In other parts of the same plants are staminate blossoms, that have stamens, but no pistils and no swollen part. Among other plants having stamens Fig. 19. — Cucumber Flowers On left, pistillate; on right, staminate. 20 AGRICULTURE and pistils borne on the same plant, but not in the same flower, are the castor bean, the oak, and the pecan. Pistils and stamens are sometimes on different plants. — This is the case with hemp, willows, and poplars. Exercise. — Tie paper bags or pieces of tough paper snugly around the unopened buds of any kind of plants that may be blooming when you study this lesson. In a week notice whether the pistil is growing and seeds are forming If so, these plants do not need visits from insects, but are self-pollinated. Notice what flowers are being visited by insects and especially by honey bees. Notice the kind of insect. Watch them to learn whether they brush off" any pollen of another flower against the pistil. Note to the Teacher. — If a catalogue of some nursery company can be had, examine its list of strawberries and by questioning the pupils learn which of these varieties arc grown near the school. Have they fruited well? If not, are they marked in the catalogue as pistH- late varieties? Blooms of pumpkins or of any kind of melon make a good subject for examination and discussion in this lesson. The questioning on all lessons should be more to encourage observation and understanding than to measure memory work. Fig. ao. — Section lengthwbk THROCCH A Pistillate Squash Blossou 0, ovule case; c, Inuc of coroUa. SECTION IV. GERMINATION OF SEEDS The seeds have been called the children of the plant. The parent plant provides the seeds with food enough to serve them until the young plants have formed roots and leaves with which to gather their own food. Food for the young plant. — Let us examine a grain of corn to see how the plant packs up the good things for its seed children. Soak a few dozen grains of corn in water over night so that for to-morrow's lesson you may be better able to sepa- rate their parts. Outside is the tough coat, which you will remove from the soaked kernels. With a sharp knife you will cut crosswise through a dry ^^°- 21— Cross-section THROUGH A CORN KeR- or soaked kernel, with its groove side nel up. You will probably be able to see a, germ; h, hard starchy first a cream-colored portion or germ ^^^^'} 1' '°^' ""^'"'^ '■ " starchy layer. next to the groove and near the tip of the kernel ; second, a layer of soft white starch ; and third, a harder whitish layer, also made up chiefly of starch. The germ is the only part of the grain that sprouts. It may be called the baby plant. The two layers of starch and other materials are placed near at hand only to sup- ply the germ with food when it first wakes to begin its 22 AGRICULTURE growth. If it is not too cold, plant several dozen grains of corn either in the ground or in a little box inside a After V. 8. Dcpt. Agr. Fio. 22. — Corn Grains planted at Various Depths IN A Box WITH Glass Sides window (Fig. 22). Dig up a few of these every day to learn how the young plant grows. Roots grow near the tip end. — The sprouting of seeds is called germination. When you dig up seeds that have begun to sprout, you find that a little root has started downward, and that a little shoot has grown upward to make the above-ground part of the plant E\PERi.MENT. — Each day the root and shoot become longer. Find whether the root grows only near the tip, or whether all parts of it lengthen. To learn this, make two marks with India or draw- ing ink or other "fast" color on a white root that is alx>ut an inch or an inch and a half long. Lay a ruler by the side of the root and make the first mark a quarter of an inch from the tip of the root ; make the other mark half an inch nearer the grain. A black thread may be tied GERMINATION OF SEEDS 23 around the root as a marker instead of using drawing ink. Keep the sprouted grain moist by placing it in damp sand or between moist blotting papers kept either in a small tight box or between two saucers. After a day or two measure the distance between the two marks, which you will find to be unchanged. Now measure from the outer mark to the tip of the root and you will find that this portion has grown rapidly. Roots of all plants increase in length only near the tips. However, if you make measurements of the stems of young plants, you will find that all parts of the young stem, as well as the tip, increase in length until a certain age is reached. Moisture necessary to make seed sprout. — Did anybody in this class ever plant seed when the ground was dry and when no rain fell soon afterwards ? Did any seed come up .'' You can prove that seeds need moisture in order to germinate, by planting some seeds in two tomato cans in the window ; keep the soil in one can very dry and in the other barely moist. What happens ? Heat required for germination. — Oats that were sown during very cold weather have sometimes remained un- sprouted for a month. When the sowing was done in warmer weather, they came up in about one third of that time. Seeds of different plants require very different amounts of heat to wake them and make them sprout or germinate. Seeds of wheat, oats, rye, and barley germinate when the soil is quite cool, and so the farmer sows these crops during the colder part of the year. Corn grains require more heat than oats, but less than the seeds of cotton, cowpeas, or peanuts. A farmer never plants these last crops until the soil has become somewhat warm. 24 AGRICULTURE Sprouting seeds need air. — Corn planted in a field that was afterwards overflowed by a creek for several days failed to come up. It was because the water kept the air away from the seeds. Three conditions for germination. — We now understand that for a seed to germinate it must have moisture, air, and the proper amount of heat. How food is stored for the young bean. — You may soak or plant peanuts, beans, or cowpeas to learn another way in which parents pack plant-food for the use of the infant plants. By carefully removing the seed-coat from the soaked seed you find that all the seeds are made up chiefly of two thick " halves," which later will become the seed- leaves, or first pair of leaves. These " halves " are storage places or pantries for the food hidden away by the parent plant for its seed-children while too young to get food from the soil and the air. Mankind's supply of bread comes chiefly from tiny pantries stored in the seeds by grain plants. By carefully opening the halves of the seed of bean or cowpea, you will find the germ, which appears as a very small, flattened, white bud near the point where the two fleshy halves are joined together. "Coming up." — When germination occurs, this bud of the bean, squash, and many other plants is pulled to the surface of the ground in an interesting way. That part of the stem just below the seed-leaves rapidly increases in length, humping itself into the shape of a wire staple. Hence the first thing seen above ground is a part of the stem shaped like the center of a wire staple. One end of this staple is formed by the roots, while the other end GERMINATION OF SEEDS 25 Fig. 23. The Plant breaking OUT OF THE Seed bears the seed-leaves, which are still imprisoned in the old seed-coat underground. However, the stem is steadily pulling this end out of the old seed-coat, and by a backing process it soon brings above ground both the fleshy seed-leaves and the tiny bud nestling between them. The seed-coat may have been left in the ground or may have been lifted out, still imprisoning the bud. Now the stem lifts its head, straightens its back, and if the seed-coat adheres, pushes it off by the growth of the bud. On the other hand, the garden or English pea keeps its two seed-leaves underground (Fig. 25), because the part of its stem that grows rapidly is the part above the seed-leaves and between them and the bud. The young pea stem also humps its back and pulls its real leaves out of the soil backward. The seed-leaves of all these plants, whether coming above ground like those of beans, cowpeas, squash, and cotton, or remaining in the soil, serve to feed the young plant before its own roots and leaves can support it. At first these seed-leaves are thick, but as the food in these pantries is given to the growing plant, the seed- leaves shrivel and finally disappear. Since these seed- leaves have to do a very different work from that done by the later or true leaves, they naturally look very different. Large seeds. — The largest seeds usually make a quicker, stronger growth and a larger yield than small or light 26 AGRICULTURE seeds. It is best, therefore, to separate the largest seeds from the others by using sieves or screens. Testing the germination of seeds. — Seeds of some plants lose the power to germinate after they are a year or two old ; others are good when a number of years old. If seeds become moist and go through a " heat," they lose their power to germinate. Children can often help their parents by testing the field or garden seeds they expect to plant in order to discover what percentage of them can grow. All that is needed is a plate ; a piece of thick, clean, dark cloth, to be dampened and F». 34.— A Home-made spread OH the plate; a similar piece Seed I^ester to be dampened and used as a cover for the seeds; and a second plate to place over it all (Fig. 24). Keep this home-made seed tester in a warm room. Examine the seed on the fifth and eighth days, and as much oftener as you wish. Exercise. — With a sharp knife, cut through grains of com that are soft and dented and through others that are flinty and not dented. Make a drawing to show the difference between the two grains in the thickness of the several layers. Select six grains of corn having the largast possible germs, as shown by the size of the depressed area. Select six others with the smallest possible germs. Which grains would you expect to make the largest, strongest young plants and to be best able to push up if covered rather deep ? Shell ten good ears and measure the shelled corn, so as to calculate how many ears make a bushel (56 lb. of shelled corn). Write in your notebook the number of ears per bushel. A good exercise is to go to a number of cornfields and estimate how many busheb per acre each field will yield. If you can get permission, GERMINATION OF SEEDS 2; gather the corn from a carefully measured area (at least ^V acre). First weigh the ear corn and then compare your estimates with the actual yields. Be sure to record your estimates in your notebook, where you can later write the actual yields. Note to the Teacher. — Have the pupils make a home-made seed tester by following the directions in the text or by dampening many folds of old newspapers kept in a small tight box. In it let them place fifty or one hundred seeds of as many kinds as they can find near home. Let them pick out the largest and smallest seeds of wheat, radish, or peas. Place both sizes in different parts of the germinating box or plate and notice which produces the largest shoots. The in- terest of parents may be enlisted by having the pupils make tests to determine the percentage of germination of the seeds of vegetables or field crops that their parents expect to plant. Fig. 25. — Germination of the Pea SECTION V. WATER FOR THE PLANT In order that plants may grow, they must obtain water from the soil, and food from both the soil and the air. They must form all parts of the plant out of these materials. We shall first consider how plants get their supply of water. The need for water, — There is a constant stream of w^cr flowing upward towards the leaves from the roots, which gather it from the soil. The leaves use some of this water and then throw off into the air that which they do not need. We cannot see this current, but careful measure- ments show that plants send upward through their stems to the leaves an immense amount of water. A clover plant has been found to give off in one day twice its weight of water. A crop of hay on one acre producing two tons has been found to use during its growing season more than six hundred tons or wagon loads of water. Speaking generally, a crop requires about four hundred times as much water in a season as the weight of the dry substance in the crop. Experiment. — What becomes of the water? A part of the water that passes into plants is kept there to make the plant plump and stiff and to help in carrying food. Most of the water merely passes through the plant. The roots take it in and send it up to the leaves. The leaves throw it off as water vapor. You can watch leaves getting rid of their surplus water by turning a glass upside down over a plant that is growing rapidly in the sunshine (Fig. 26). Every minute water is coming from 38 WATER FOR THE PLANT 29 the leaves as vapor. As soon as the air under the glass receives more moisture than it can hold in the form of a vapor or gas, the extra mois- ture gathers in drops on the inside of the glass. How plants lift water. — What force enables plants to collect water from the ground and lift it into the roots and stems .'' To understand this, we need to study the tiny parts or cells of which the plant consists. We may think of a plant cell as a tiny room, too small even to be seen without a powerful microscope. But this little room or cell has no doors nor windows nor other openings into it. It is com- pletely lined on the inside with a layer of living jelly-like material. This layer lets water and the material dissolved in water soak through it and thus pass to the inside of the cell. An important fact to remem- ber is that the water passes in, but will not pass out into the soil again while the plant is healthy. This is partly because the water in the soil is more dilute than the sap which fills the plant cell ; and also because the dilute soil water can flow in through the cell hning more rapidly than the denser sap inside can flow out into the soil. This flow of water towards the sap or denser liquid helps to force water upward from the roots. The leaves assist in the upward flow, for water must rise to take the place of that which the leaves give off into the air. Fig. 26. — Showing that Water is thrown off from the Leaves of Growing Plants 30 AGRICULTURE The water current. — The current of liquid rising from the roots and soil soaks through tiny canals in the stem up to the leaves. In trees, the tubes that carry water from the soil upward are located in the sap-wood, while those that bring the sap downward from the leaves to build up all parts of the plant lie between the outer bark and the sap-wood. If you cut oflf a branch of a grapevine just as the buds are swelling, you will notice next day that the wound has " bled," that is, water has been forced up to and out of the cut portion. When we speak of the sap rising in the spring, we mean that the roots have begun to force water upward. As soon as the leaves appfear, the real sap will flow downward in the inner bark at the same time that the water from the soil continues to rise through the tiny channels nearer the center of the stem. Root-hairs. — The large roots which you easily see when you pull up a plant are not the ones that absorb water from the soil. If you will carefully dig up the smallest roots of a very young plant, you will notice that the slenderest roots are covered near their ends with a white coating like velvet. These white threads are root-hairs (Fig. 27). It is the business of each of these short, velvety threads, or root-hairs, to absorb moisture and Fig. 37. — RooT-HAiKs OF Squash WATER FOR THE PLANT 3 1 dissolve plant-food from the soil. You can see the root- hairs plainly by causing grains of corn or any other seeds to sprout between moist blotting paper and by examining after a few days the roots that have grown out. Root-hairs are tiny workers that have to furnish all the water a large plant needs. There are thousands of them on every large growing plant. Root-hairs can be found only near the tips of young roots. They are so slender that they can push in between the particles of sand or clay and absorb moisture from all the soil grains that touch them. It is important therefore to retain the small or young roots on trees or other plants that are to be transplanted. Leaves do not supply water. — The dew and rain keep the leaves from wasting moisture, but do not enter the leaves themselves. Leaves do not supply the plant with water. Note to the Teacher. — Crosby's Exercise 2 (see note to Sec- tion I) illustrates how water enters the roots of plants. You may well use Crosby's Exercise 5 to show the rising of water in plants. You can substitute the joint of a reed for his glass tube. Have the pupils place seed in moist newspapers, cloth, or soil to germinate. As soon as the root-hairs develop require every one to hand you a drawing showing these. SECTION VI. HOW PLANTS GET FOOD FROM SOIL AND AIR No solid matter can enter a plant. The living matter that lines the inside of each cell-wall will not let even the finest solid particles pass, though they be as fine as those of flour or of phosphate. No part of the soil can act as food until it has been dissolved. Sugar and salt, as you know, dissolve in water, and just so do certain substances in the soil dissolve in the water. In ordinary soil this solution is very weak, so weak that it will usually take several thousand pounds of water to carry to the plant one pound of lime, phosphate, or any other single plant-food. In later chapters, you will learn what food certain plants require and also how the farmer adds this to any soil that is too poor to supply to the plant the needed nourishment. Plants are made largely from the air. — Fortunately for the farmer and for the food supply of the world, the plant obtains more material for its solid substance from the air than from the soil. In every hundred pounds of dry plants there are usually less than three pounds that come from the soil. The grains of wheat, corn, and rice consist chiefly of starch. Other plants are rich in sugar, while the seeds of still others contain much oil or fat Starch, sugar, oil, and many other substances in plants are made 32 HOW PLANTS GET FOOD FROM SOIL AND AIR 33 by the leaves largely from one form of carbon, which occurs as a gas in the air. However, there will be no abundant growth of leaves to make this starch, sugar, or oil unless the roots provide the small but necessary amounts of cer- tain other substances. Food taken from the soiL — There are at least ten elements that plants draw from the soil alone. All but four of these are nearly always present in the soil in quantities sufficient to supply our crops for hundreds of years. The only plant-foods that are taken from the soil and that we need talk about in this book are those four that are sometimes so scarce that the farmer may have to add them to the soil in order to get a good crop. Precious forms of plant-food. — The four plant-foods or elements that are often not sufficiently abundant in the soil are ni'trd gen, phos'pho rus, p5 tas'si um, and cal'- 91 iim. We call these the precious elements, for they are more important to the plant and to the farmer than the precious metals, silver and gold. Besides, the farmer often has to buy them, paying silver and gold for them. One cause of poor crops. — These four elements exist in the soil in combinations ; we speak of the potassium com- binations as potash, and of the calcium combinations as lime. In some soils only one of these four may be in- sufficient ; in another soil there may be a lack of two of them ; in a third three of them may be wanting ; and in yet another soil all four of them may need to be supplied. If a single one is lacking or insufficient in quantity, there will be a failure of the crop, no matter how abundant the other three may be. So it happens that a farmer may buy 34 AGRICULTURE phosphates and potash and furnish these freely to his crops, and yet have them fail because one of the other elements may be lacking. These precious elements and all other materials that go from the soil into the plant must first be dissolved in water. This solution of plant-food is then drawn into the cells of the plant and carried up through the stem, the greater part directly to the leaves, where it is used and mixed with the substances the leaves have made from the carbon of the air. The result of this diges- tion and mixing is a liquid called sap. This sap is slowly distributed to all parts of the Fig. a8.— Showing how a Cut Edge plant, to be used in enlarg- OF A Leaf LOOKS WHEN HIGHLY MAG- ' ^^j making ncw Icavcs, NIFIED A little of the under surface is shown S^CmS, rOOtS, flowerS, and and in it the "gateways" or entrances seeds. Roots help to dissolve soil. — Roots give off small amounts of a weak acid which dis- solves more of the plant-food in the soil that the roots touch than pure water can. This food dissolved by acid is added to that already dissolved from the soil by water, and the mixture is drawn into the plant and started towards the leaves. The leaves prepare this solution still further and make it into sap before it can nourish and build up the plant. Plants need air. — You have doubtless learned in study- ing physiology how persons and animals breathe. They take the air into the lungs and the oxygen gas which it HOW PLANTS GET FOOD FROM SOIL AND AIR 35 contains is there taken from it for use in the body. If persons and land animals remain long under water they drown, because the supply of air is cut off. Likewise ordinary plants die when their leaves or roots are kept long under water, because they are thus deprived of sufficient air. How air enters the leaf. — Why do you suppose that the leaf is made so thin and broad instead of being rolled up into a compact, round little bundle .■* Leaves, even the thinnest, are made up of several very thin layers, each one of which consists of a great number of cells. In the outer layers of the leaf these cells lie close together, making a tight thin sheet which covers layers of more loosely arranged inner cells (Fig. 28). In these thin outer layers are great numbers of tiny openings. These are gateways for the entrance of air into the inside of the leaf. They are also the gates through which leaves get rid of the surplus water sent up by the roots. They are too small to be seen with the naked eye, and exist in large numbers on every square inch of the under side of every leaf. The plant can open and close these by means of special cells called guard-cells. When the weather is very dry, these gateways partly close, to keep moisture from passing too rapidly out of the leaves. Use of air by plants. — Plants and animals are alike in "breathing" fresh air, containing oxygen. Man and ani- mals take oxygen from the air to use in their lungs and give back a gas called carbon dioxid, which consists of carbon and oxygen united together. Plants, too, use oxy- gen, although they have no lungs. In making food for 36 AGRICULTURE themselves green plants use also the carbon dioxid of the air, such as the animals give ofif. In fact, through the pores or little gateways the air enters and comes in con- tact with the inside cells of the leaves. These cells take from the air the carbon it is holding in the form of a gas. This gas is called carbon dioxid. Out of this carbon dio.xid gas and water the leaf cells form starch, sugar, and other substances of which plants are made. Leaves need light. — An interesting fact connected with this latter use of air by plants is that the leaf cannot use this carbon dioxid unless the leaf contains green coloring matter. This green coloring matter usually forms only when there is light. It disappears from plants when the light is cut off. Experiment. — Examine grass covered by a board or straw, or a potato shoot grown in a dark room, and notice that the absence of light has prevented the formation of the green color and left the leaves and stems white. Such plants cannot grow to maturity because they cannot feed on the carbon in the air. So if we accidentally throw dirt over all the leaves of a little corn or cotton plant when cultivating the crop, we cut off the light and stop the growth of the plant. This is one of the ways by which the farmer kills weeds, namely, by covering them with earth. Exercise. — What is the color of young corn plants on wet spots after a long period of wet weather ? This unhealthy color was caused by lack of what ? In the middle of a hot, dry day what shape does a large green leaf of corn take ? Do the edges roll upward or downward ? Do you think this position increases or decreases the loss of water from the leaves ? There are special cells in the corn whose work it is to roll the leaf when water is scarce. They are different from the guard-cells, but likewise help the plant to economize water. Obser\*e whether leaves are most abundant on the tips of the branches of trees or nearer I HOW PLANTS GET FOOD FROM SOIL AND AIR 37 the center of the tree top. In which position would they receive most light? Note to the Teacher. Optional Exercise. — Tincture of iodine maizes starch change to a purple color. Add a few drops of this to a teaspoonful of water ; with this moisten a thin slice of Irish potato, sweet potato, bread, cut corn grain, plant stems, or lettuce leaves. Before staining green leaves with iodine you should dissolve out the leaf green with alcohol very carefully heated in a vessel of hot water. A substance not colored purple by iodine solution lacks starch. Test a slice of meat ; a cut stem of whitened grass from under a board ; the white inner leaves of cabbage ; or the white or white-variegated leaves of coleus, etc. ; and any leaf that has been kept in darkness for several days. Fig. 29. — A Fern that suffers FROM TOO LITTLE SuNLIGHT, SHOWING POOR Foliage and Growth SECTION VII. HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED Most of our field crops are increased or propagated by means of seed. One plant, because of the seeds it forms, may become the parent of hundreds or of thousands of others of the same kind. This method of increasing plants is well understood. There are some plants the seed of which must be sown every year, for example, oats and corn. These are called annuals, because they live during only one growing season. Plants that live two years are known as biennials. A third class consists of X\\q fcrcnniais, that is, plants tliat live for more than two years. Bermuda grass, alfalfa, and all trees are examples of perennial plants. Most cultivated plants, including the perennials, develop from seeds. With most fruit trees and with many other plants, it is best to provide for the increase by budding, grafting, and the like. These and other methods of multi- plying plants without the use of seeds are called propaga- tion by division. Some plants propagated by buds. — Did you ever see seeds on sugar cane or sweet potatoes.' In tropical countries these plants make seed, but not usually in our country. Since these plants as a rule form no seed here, 38 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED 39 we must find some other part of them that will grow. The part of the plant that can most nearly take the place of a seed is a bud. The sugar planter places long sugar canes in the ground, expecting the buds on them to grow. In place of the sugar cane he may plant a piece of an Irish potato containing one or more eyes, or clusters of buds. But if he so cuts the potato that one piece has no bud in it, no plant will grow from it and he will have a vacant hill. Most fruits do not ** come true " from seed. — One reason why the grower uses buds of sugar cane, sweet potatoes, and seedless oranges is because he cannot get seeds to plant. There are advantages in using buds instead of seed in some cases even when the seed can easily be obtained. By planting the seed of the peach we do not get peaches just Hke the one from which the seed came. The same thing is true with apples, pears, strawberries, and most of our fruits. Of such fruits we say, they do not " come true " from the seed. Budding. — The method of growing fruit like that on the parent tree is by budding or grafting. If we grow peach, apple, or other trees from buds, we may be quite sure that the fruit on the young tree will be like its parent and much like all other perfect fruit in the same variety. If you take a hundred buds from one peach tree and cause these to grow into a hundred young trees, they will all bear fruit practically alike. In this case, the trees would be more closely akin to each other than would be a hundred trees grown from the seeds from one tree. This is so because a 40 AGRICULTURE bud is a part of only one plant. A seed is often made by tivo plants, and the different seedlings may resemble either parent, while each budded tree has only one parent. Cuttings. — Plants are increased either by planting seeds or buds. If, however, you should plant in the ground a detached bud from a grape-vine or from }k any fruit tree, it would not grow. It would 1 die (i) because a bud cannot at first get I any food from the soil, and (2) because such a bud has not much food stored up to nourish it until it forms roots of its own. But you may so plant it that it will have much ready-made food convenient. Be- fore the leaves start, cut off pieces of fig trees or grape-vine of last year's growth six or eight inches long and containing at least three buds (Fig. 30). These pieces of stem or branch are called cuttings. Plant these in sandy soil, the upper bud just above the surface and the lower bud deep in the soil. If you have done this as a skilful gardener does, you will see after Fro. 30.— A Cut- ^ £g^ weeks that the upper bud has begun TING to develop into a branch, which in time will be a real bearing grape-vine. If you dig up one of these little grape sticks that has thus begun to grow, you will find that tiny roots have grown. It was the food material stored in the stem or cutting that enabled the buds to grow. The use of various kinds of cuttings is the usual way of HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED 41 increasing grapes, figs, poplars, and many other kinds of plants. The cuttings should have two or more joints. Grape cuttings usually have two or three buds. The usual time to put them in the ground is late winter. Under a cover of glass, and sometimes without this covering, many kinds of flowers can be increased by means of cuttings, for example, roses and geraniums. The chief use of the cover is to keep moisture in the leaf, the soil, and the air. Uses of budding and grafting. — So if we wish to make a grape, or peach, or apple bud grow, we must plant it, not by itself in the soil, but joined to enough of the wood and bark to furnish it with a supply of ready-made food. This is what the fruit-grower does when he plants cut- tings of the grape or when he buds his peach or grafts his apple trees. You can learn how to bud and graft fruit trees and roses if you will study the pictures and directions and will prac- tice a little every day for a week or two. By budding or grafting the poorer varieties in your parents' orchards with the buds or twigs from the best variety in some neighbor's orchard, you will be of real help at home and will probably be able to enjoy some of the improved fruit yourself. Directions for grafting. — Grafting consists in making a short piece of twig of one plant unite with the branch or root of another. The plant that furnishes the twig (called a ^t'dn) must be very closely akin to the plant upon whose branch or root the cion is to grow. The plant or piece from which the roots spring is called the stock. Generally, stocks are common young plants that have been grown from seed. Usually, the cion is a short 42 AGRICULTURE piece of twig about one year old and bearing two or three buds. The stock may be a young piece of root, a young or an old branch. Grafting is generally done in the late winter or very early in spring, while the plant is resting. In Figure 31 is shown one way of cut- ting the cions and the stocks in grafting apple cions on small branches or small pieces of apple root. Your knife must be sharp and thin, so as not to split the cion or stock in making the slit. After cutting the two pieces as shown in the figure, place their ends together, mak- ing the two slender tongues lock. The important point is to Showing how small ^^^kc sure that on stocks are grafted. one side the bark of the two pieces comes together evenly. The union is caused by the layer just under the bark of the cion growing against the similar layer in the stock. These growing layers must touch on at least one side of the fio. 3a. -Showing how graft. In setting in the ground cions that have been grafted on roots, the joint or union is placed below the surface of the ground. Grafting on large branches. — When a small cion is grafted on a branch that is one or two inches through, the Fig. 31. — Whip- CRAmNG Large Branches akk CRAFTED HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED 43 limb is cut off square, then slightly split (Fig. 32). In this slit is placed the sharpened cion, which is now cut tapering from both sides. The bark of the young cion must join evenly with the bark on one side of the large spUt limb. To make sure that the two barks are pressed together tightly, the wedge part of the cion is left a little thicker on the outside, that is, on the edge that is going to join the bark Fig. 33. — An Apple Tree, the of the large branch. In all ^op of which has been ke- newed by Grafting kinds of grafts, drying must be prevented by covering the cut portions with grafting wax. Generally, a graft on a small stock is tied with a cloth string and then waxed. Fig. 33 shows a new top made by grafting. Budding. — Budding consists in inserting a || single bud, with a tiny strip of attached bark, just under the bark of a a, showing the sUt; h, b, the bud; c, the • r . q^v v j slit opened; d, the bud in position, and ° ° e, after tying. should be CUt OUt with a Fig. 34. — Budding 44 AGRICULTURE slender piece of bark and wood about three fourths' of an inch long, leaving a part of the leaf stem for use as a handle. This is the way in which peach and most other fruit trees are increased. Budding is usually done in summer while the plants are in active growth. To serve as stock for budding, an apple tree may be about two years old, but a peach seed- ling can be budded in its first year of growth. Two slits in the shape of a T are cut in the stock, as shown in Fig. 34. The bark below the cross slit is gently lifted and the bud placed under these two flaps of bark, and tied in place. In a few weeks, when the bud has united with the stock, the strings should be cut. Next spring the top of the stock above the inserted bud should be cut off, so as to let the inserted bud become the leading branch of the tree. Fig. 35 shows the budding of trees in the nursery row. Exercise. — Practice grafting short pieces of twigs of plum, persim- mon, apple, or other trees and shrubs. Then graft a twig of any of these, that have dropped their leaves, on a slender shoot of the same Fig. 35. — Tying the Buds after Budding HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED 45 kind. See who can cause the greatest percentage of the grafts to live. In warm weather practice budding on any of these plants. Grafting wax may be made by melting together 5 parts of resin, 2^ of beeswax, and I of tallow. When heated, pour the mixture into cold water, grease your hands, and " pull " it as you would " pull " molasses candy. Teacher's Note. — Crosby's Exercises Nos. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 treat the subjects of this section in much more detail than is possible here. After the pupils have practiced on detached twigs, they may graft on standing plants, provided it is in winter. If no fruit trees or roses can be risked, they may at first practice in grafting wild cherry, wild plums, and others. After growth has been going on long enough for the bark to slip well, budding of wild cherries, peaches, etc., may be attempted. Fig 36. — A Cutting-box, filled with sand, SUITABLE FOR A SCHOOL -ROOM WINDOW SECTION VIII. IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS Our valuable cultivated plants have been changed from poor or useless wild plants. The tomato, for example, bore very small and worthless fruits, and the cultivated rose was once a wild rose with few petals. Greatly as man has improved plants in the past, recent discoveries of some of the laws of improvement should make future progress still more rapid. Selection. — By selection, or choosing seeds from the most desirable individuals, plants may be slowly changed. Selection is the easiest, surest, and usual method of im- provement. In plants and animals the general rule is that the offspring resembles the parents and grandparents. But among the five hundred or more stalks grown by planting the kernels of a single ear of com, there may usually be found several that have larger ears than others from the same ear. All crops can be made more produc- tive by using seeds from a small seed-plot that is planted every year with the seeds from the best plants of the year before. In selecting, we may, for example, take a variety of corn that has usually produced only one ear and select the few plants that have several ears. If we plant these seed by themselves and in that crop again select the stalks with most ears, and so on every season, in a few years we shall 46 IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS 47 have a new variety in which most of the plants will bear several ears. This is improvement by selection. Even plants such as potatoes, that do not generally produce seeds, have been improved by selecting the best hills for planting the next year. Select for one quality at a time. — In improving a variety, change can be made most rapidly by selecting FIg. 37. — SOME Results of crossing two Varieties of Corn of Different Colors chiefly for one thing at a time. That is, we must decide, say with corn, whether we would rather increase the length of ear, or the length of kernels, or the number of ears per plant. We might desire all three of these qualities in our new variety, but it would take many years to make the desired improvement, if we chose one plant for number of ears, another for length of ear, and a third for length of kernel, and planted these seeds together. The better way is to find some variety of corn already existing that is 48 AGRICULTURE really good enough to suit us in all qualities except one. Suppose it is desired to increase the number of ears on one stalk. Rapid increase, in this case, would come from selecting our seed ears only from plants bearing sev- eral ears. Among these several-eared plants preference would be given to those that have the other desirable qualities in the greatest degree. Mixture of pollen from inferior plants. — This improve- ment by selection could not be made if the ear selected were planted where the pollen from a field of poor, unim- proved corn would reach the silks (Fig. 37). If some of the stalks in the field are poor or barren, as shown by having no ear-shoot, the tassels of such plants should be pulled off before the pollen has begun to fall. The improvement by selection goes on more rapidly if the offspring of each of the best plants is planted sepa- rately. It is best to plant each set of seeds in a separate row. Selection should be made for planting the seed- patch the next year by choosing the ears from the most productive plants on the best row, or the choice cotton plants in the best row of cotton. Unfortunately the plants of field corn, of cotton, and of most cultivated plants do not show resemblance to the pollen-bearing parent the first season. The crop of common field corn does not suffer in yield the first season from a cross with inferior pollen. The next season, however, the corn from such crosses is poor, and even the best ears thus produced will not bear uniform offspring. Popcorn and sweet com may show the change the first year. Temporary and permanent improvement — It is difficult IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS 49 to distinguish between temporary improvement, and that which will be permanent through later generations. Usually an increase in the size of a plant due simply to one year of special fertilizing, watering, or extra space is temporary. The large size, it seems, is not inherited by the offspring. Improvement due to years of selection is, however, inherited (Fig. 39). The most valuable plant for seed purposes is not always the plant that happens to be the largest, but rather the one that will produce productive offspring of good quality. This is the reason why in a seed-patch it is better to plant all the descendants of one parent plant together in one row, so that the farmer may judge the parent by the average character of the off- spring. The farmer who would improve or " breed up " his com, cotton, wheat, oats, or other crop, should have a special breeding plot or seed-patch and should carefully observe each plant grown there. Sometimes it happens that there is a single plant that is decidedly superior to all the others, and seed of this "sport," or very unusual plant, may start a new and more valuable variety. Home-grown seed often the best. — If seed of corn grown for many years in a colder country is brought to the Southern states and seed from this variety planted for several years in the South, each year the variety gets later and later and the stalks larger and larger. If early vegetables are desired, make them earlier by getting seed grown far North where the plant has learned to be in a hurry to get ripe in a short season. Field corn from north of the Ohio River is earlier and smaller, and in 50 AGRICULTURE most parts of the South yields less, than our native corn. Likewise, when the cotton-boll weevil invades any region, early varieties of cotton grown on the northern edge of the cotton belt ripen a considerable part of their crop before the weevils destroy the squares and blossoms. A change of seed should not be made unless there is good reason for it or unless better seed can thus be ob- FiG. 38. — Preparing Cotton Blooms for crossing On left, flower bud; In center, bud after removal of corolla, showing stamens; on right, pstil from around which stamens have been removed. tained. A crop suited to the South does not " run out " or grow worthless if properly managed. A plant usually becomes better fitted for its new home by being grown there for a number of years. Seed grown from our own field crops in nearly the same climate should be preferred. Improvement by crossing plants. — Sometimes the plant- breeder must resort to crossing in order to unite in one plant the good qualities of two different varieties. Sup- pose, for example, he wishes to improve a variety of com the ears of which are too smajl, by using the pollen from IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS 5I a large-eared variety. Before the silk is seen on the mother plant, he must tie a paper bag over the ear shoot. Soon after the silks show, the plant-breeder carefully pulls a tassel from a plant of the large-eared variety. The pollen should be just ready to fly. He dusts this over the silks of a selected plant and repeats this next day, keeping the shoot under the bag until the silks dry. He may wish also to cause a big-boll variety of cotton to grow a longer staple. Before the cotton-bud or young bloom of the big-boll variety is ready to open, or about sunset or sunrise, the plant-breeder opens or cuts away the upper parts of the white petals, and with a knife, small scissors, or fingers, removes every anther or pollen case (Fig. 38). This is done before these cases have opened and spilled their pollen on the pistil of the same flower. A small paper bag is then tied over the injured flower to keep insects from bringing any pollen to it. Pollen from a selected long-staple plant can now be used, after the pistil is more mature. After most of the cotton blossoms have opened, or between eight and ten o'clock in the morning, our plant-breeder comes back, removes the paper bag, and gently rubs over the top of the pistil a flower from a plant of the long-staple variety, on which the pollen is beginning to shed. The particles of pollen now cHng to the sticky surface on the stigma and grow there. The bag is replaced and removed five days later, when, if all is well, a young boll is found. The seeds pro- duced in that boll are the offspring of both varieties. If, however, the thirty to forty seeds from that boll all grow into mature plants, the next year these sister plants 52 AGRICULTURE will not be all alike. Some will resemble the big-boll mother plant ; some will be like the long-staple father plant; some will be unlike either; and some may combine the likeness of both parents. The plant-breeder must plant the seed, giving a separate row to the seed of each plant ; for several years in succession he must select for seed the plants that come nearest to uniting the qualities that he wishes — large bolls and long lint. It will usually be best for the farmer to rely for improvement on selec- tion alone, rather than on crossing. Cross-pollination generally better than self-pollination. — Generally, pollen is most effective in causing seed to de- velop when the pollen and the pistil are borne on different plants. When the pollen of a corn plant standing alone falls on the silks of the same plants, grains develop. But the plants grown from such corn grains are less vigorous and productive than plants from seed having two parents not closely related. It is to avoid self-pollination that some seed-breeders pull the immature tassels from the com plants on the rows from which they intend to select their best seed corn. Exercise. — Farmers' boys can greatly increase next year's com crop by selecting a few bushels of seed from the best plants. When wheat or oats are ripe, remember, if you live on a farm, to watch for the best plants and to save seeds from a few of them for planting by themselves next year. Have all the wild plants suitable for human use been cultivated and improved? Perhaps you will be the one to bring another wild forage plant or flower into use. Note to the Teacher. — Emphasize the great opportunity for good in selecting seed from the best plants. Weighing the product of good and very poor plants of com, cotton, potatoes, etc., will help IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS 53 to point this lesson, especially if a calculation is made of the difference in yield from an acre of each of the two types of plants. If any large flowers, like cotton, tobacco, or morning-glory, are blooming, let the pupils carefully remove every stamen from a bud in which the pollen sacks have not yet burst. Tie cloth or paper over the injured flower. Grocers' small paper bags are good. After a number of hours collect pollen from other flowers of the same kind and dust this pollen over the tip of the pistil in the injured flower. Cover it again. In a week or two see whether seeds have formed. Fig. 39. — Results of Selection in Wheat, after four years. A, head from sowing small grains; B, head from sowing large grains. SECTION IX. HOW THE SOIL WAS FORMED. KINDS OF SOILS If wc hammer a small piece of stone, we can usually change it into a powder. The tiny particles that make up this powder arc often like some of the grains of the soil that may be found near the stone. What is now soil, in ages past was solid rock. Far mightier forces than the heaviest of hammers cracked and ground these ancient rocks for thousands of years, until they crumbled into sand and soil. As the earth's surface cooled, and shrunk, and wrinkled, the rocks cracked. Water standing in these cracks and tiny rough places froze. In freezing, the water expanded, and thus broke off great and tiny pieces of rock. Air and water, just as they eat slowly into iron, forming iron rust, so changed and dissolved some of the cementing material in the rock. Then the remaining parts of the large rocks crumbled. Water grinds rocks into soil. — Streams of water rolled the sharp-edged pieces of rock against each other, grind- ing off the sharp points, making sand of the fragments, and leaving rounded stones and pebbles. When a boy wishes nice, smooth stones for his sling shot, he knows he will find them in the bed of a stream. While searching for smooth stones, he walks over a sand-bar. This sand-bar shows how soil was formed. It is made partly of fine gravel, partly 54 HOW THE SOIL WAS P^ORMED 55 of similar material ground into coarse sand, and of still finer material which is called soil. When the stream over- flows, it sometimes forms a similar sand-bar in the lowlands along its banks (Fig. 40). Plants aid in forming soil. — At first nothing grows on these sand-bars in the field, but soon a few plants attempt From Fletcner's " Soils." Douliledaj, Page & Co Fig. 40. — Showing how a River forms Soil on the Inside of the Bend to live there. When these decay they serve as fertilizers, so that the next generation of plants is larger. After some years this may become fertile soil. Tiny plants called mosses and llc'j^ens sometimes grow on bare rock. The roots of these not only dissolve the softer parts of the rock, but by their decay fertilize later generations of higher plants, until in time a shallow soil is formed in the pockets in the surface of the rock. 56 AGRICULTURE Soil and subsoil. — We see that the soil is the finely divided surface layer of the earth in which higher plants can g^ow. It consists of two portions, which are not always alike, (i) the looser, upper layer, or soil proper, and (2) the more compact layer under this, called the subsoil. The soil consists chiefly of sand and clay, but neither one of these is food for plants. Sand is useful in keeping soil from packing too closely, and from being too wet and sticky. Clay is useful in holding moisture and cementing the sand grains together. A small part of the clay, under proper conditions, can finally be changed into plant-food. Much more useful to plants as food are the decaying re- mains of earlier generations of plants. These remains of plants are usually spoken of as vegetable, or organic matter, or humus. There is much more vegetable matter in the soil than in the subsoil. Hence the soil produces much larger crops than the subsoil can when it is first brought to the surface. This is because the vegetable matter in the soil supplies plant-food, holds moisture, and makes the soil loose and mellow, permitting the roots and air to penetrate it. The subsoil, when first thrown up from the bottom of a ditch, is unsuitable for plant growth, but after it has been exposed to the air for several years, plants grow on this changed subsoil as well as anywhere else. Available and unavailable plant-food in the soil. — The soil contains all of the chemical elements found in plants, and many more besides. All cultivated soils are rich enough in most of these elements, so only those elements or compounds which are sometimes scarce need be considered. HOW THE SOIL WAS FORMED 57 These are nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and lime. In a soil that brings poor crops there may sometimes be enough of all of these, but they may be held so tightly by the iron or clay that water cannot dissolve and carry them into plants. Such insoluble substances are spoken of as un- available. These can be changed into soluble forms, or available plant-food, by the oxygen of the air, and the de- cay of vegetable matter. To make the plant-food in the stiff soil or subsoil useful, therefore, the soil must be loosened with the plow, and the surplus water drained, thus letting in the oxygen of the air. Oxygen is called the restless element, because it is continually seeking change, and causing other elements in the soil to change also. How decay of vegetable matter prepares plant-food. — The decay of vegetable matter in the soil helps to make the soil elements more soluble, partly by loosening the soil, so that the oxygen of the air can reach all parts of it. It also helps because the carbonic acid formed during its decay is absorbed by the water in the soil ; this mixture of water and carbonic acid has a much stronger dissolving power than pure 'water alone. The rotting of vegetable matter helps to soften or rot the hardest rock and stiffest soil. Of course the decay of former generations of plants also furnishes plant-food directly to later generations. Soils not permanently exhausted. — Even in a rich soil only a small part of the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and lime is in a soluble condition. They become soluble very slowly and gradually, so that roots have near them a small but continuous supply of newly prepared food. This is well, for if all of these elements in the soil were in 58 AGRICULTURE a soluble condition, a succession of heavy rains would dis- solve and wash all of the plant-food out of the soil and carry it to the ocean. But since only a small part of the phosphoric acid and potash of the soil are in a soluble condition, no soil can be permanently or completely ex- hausted. It is possible to restore the fertility of any soil that has a fair proportion of clay in it. Clay and sand. — Examine a little sample of clay soil and another of sandy soil. When you rub them between your fingers the clay soil feels smooth, while the sandy soil feels coarse and gritty. Sand grains are hundreds of times larger than the tiny grains of clay. They are so large that they do not settle closely together, and the spaces between them allow water to run very rapidly through. Sandy soil, therefore, will not hold water well. We can scarcely understand how small the separate particles of clay are. It would require more than fifty thousand fine particles of clay side by side to cover a line one inch long. Since the grains or particles of clay are so small, they can be packed tightly together, leav- ing very little space between. It is difficult, therefore, for air and water to penetrate a clay soil. Granulation. — Fortunately, in well-cultivated, well- drained, clay soils, supplied with vegetable matter, a number of the tiny particles cling together in one group or granule. Each of these groups acts like a single sand grain, leaving spaces between granules open enough for water to drain through and for air to enter. This granu lation, or grouping into granules, is the condition the farmer wishes his clay soil to assume. If, however, he plows when HOW THE SOIL WAS FORMED 59 the soil is too wet, the plow breaks up these groups and packs close together the tiny particles that before formed the granule. Great clods are then formed, so that a single plowing when the clay soil is too wet may injure the field for many years. Coarse- and fine-grained soils. — Soils may be arranged in the following order, according to the coarseness of the particles of which they consist, beginning with the coarsest and ending with the finest : — Gravel. Fine sand. Silt loam. Gravelly loam. Sandy loam. Clay loam. Coarse sand. Fine sandy loam. Clay. Sand. Loam. The most satisfactory soils are those consisting of a mix- ture of sand and clay. These are called loatn soils. They have enough sand to make them pulverize easily and drain well, together with enough clay to hold sufficient moisture for plants and furnish a gradual supply of certain kinds of plant-food. The coarsest soils become "worn out" soonest. Clay soils usually last longer because they contain the largest amount of total plant-food. They require more tillage, however, to make this plant-food available. Treatment of sandy and clay soils. — You have just learned that a clay soil must not be plowed when wet. But if a soil consists almost wholly of sand, plowing it when rather wet does little harm. After plowing a clay soil the large lumps must be broken with a harrow before they dry and become hard clods. Live-stock should not be allowed to pass over clay soil while it 6o AGRICULTURE is wet because their tracks make clods, just as plow- ing does. Exercise. — Find what curious kinds of tiny plants are growing on the bare rock in some shaded spot. Dig into several fields to learn how deep is the mellow soil. What differences do you find between the soil and the harder subsoil ? Do annual crop plants send their roots deep into most kinds of subsoil ? Find a tree that has been blown down, or from around the roots of which the earth has been washed away, and see how deep its roots went into the subsoil. Note to the Teacher. — Samples of several soils, as clay, sandy loam, and woods' earth, each on a separate newspaper, where they can be moistened and worked into mud pies, will impress the varying de- grees of adhesiveness, grittiness, fineness, and their probable relation to (i) ease of plowing, (2) drainage, and (3) wear on implements during plowing. Fig. 41. — A Good School Exekcisb Two kinds of soil that have bern wrt and then dried. The loamy soil remains loose and capable of growing plants ; the day soil below has baked and cracked. SECTION X. SUITING THE CROP TO THE SOIL The proportion of sand to clay or silt in the soil and subsoil determines not only how much water the soil will hold, but also for what crops it is best suited. It is impor- tant to learn the character of the subsoil by digging down below the layer usually plowed. A sandy soil with a grav- elly or sandy, open subsoil may be almost worthless ; but a soil which, when plowed, looks exactly like this, but is underlaid by a clay or clay-loam subsoil, may be a produc- tive and durable soil. In choosing a farm or a field, a farmer must look below the surface. Best uses for sandy soils. — A sandy soil is usually a warm soil for the reason that sand absorbs heat rapidly. Another reason is because it is well drained, there being but little water left in it to be heated, thus allowing the sun's heat to be used to warm the soil grains. This kind of soil, therefore, is one well suited to early vegetables. Peaches also thrive on sandy soils and cotton is better suited to them than is corn. This is because cotton is less injured than corn by a scarcity of soil moisture. A sandy soil is usually not good for wheat nor for hay grasses, but the finer grades of tobacco are grown on it. For certain kinds of tobacco the soils of the Southern states shown on soil maps as " Orangeburg fine sandy 6i 62 AGRICULTURE loam " are especially suited. Peanuts, sweet-potatoes, cowpeas, and watermelons are good crops for sandy soils. Best uses for clay soils. — Since clay soils contain so much water, they are slow in warming in the spring. You know that if you dip your hand in water, even in rather From tldcher'* " SoiU." Oooblcda^, Page ft C». Fig. 4j. — A Hillside too Steep for Cultivation It should be used for p.-isture or forest. warm water, and then expose it to the air, the skin becomes cool. This is because evaporation of water (that is, the changing of water from a liquid into the form of a gas or water vapor) has required heat and has drawn this heat from the skin. In a stiff clay soil much of the water must be evaporated from the surface. This uses the heat that ought to be used in warming the soil. Hence a clay soil is a cold soil, and crops growing in it start late. SUITING THE CROP TO THE SOIL 63 Clay soils are moist, and therefore the best crops for them are those requiring much water. As shown in an earlier chapter, a crop of hay requires an immense amount of water. Timothy grass, Johnson grass, red clover, and most hay plants, therefore, do well on clay soils. Apples neea plenty of water and accordingly thrive on the best grades of clay soil. Certain kinds of clay soils afford the best summer pastures. Hilly, rolling, and level land. — Fields that consist of steep hillsides have a tendency to wash. They must be terraced ; but then the terraces and the original steepness of the hill prevent the use of labor-saving implements. For this reason it costs more to cultivate such fields than rolling or nearly level land. The tendency to wash is reduced if the hillsides are covered with a uniform coat of pasture plants, such as Japan clover and Bermuda grass (Fig. 42). Level lands are often poorly drained and in the spring are slow to get in condition for plowing. When drained, either by man or naturally, such lands can be very econom- ically cultivated. For this reason, drainage ought to be the first thing to receive attention. The best labor-saving implements can be used and, if desired, the crop can be cultivated in hills or checks so as to be plowed in two directions, thus almost avoiding hoeing. Rolling lands are those with moderate slopes. They have most of the advantages of level lands, and in addition are more easily drained. Crops for lime soils. — Most cultivated plants grow well on a lime soil, while a few are suited only to such a soil. Alfalfa and red clover, both of them forage plants belong- 64 AGRICULTURE ing to the bean or clover family, require land rich in lime. Thus alfalfa succeeds finely on the best grades of the black lime or prairie lands in Alabama and Mississippi, and on the similar " black waxy " lands of Texas. On the same class of soil, Johnson grass hay is grown for market. Red clover is adapted to the lime lands found in many of the valleys in the northern parts of some of the Gulf states and to limestone soils common in Tennessee, Ken- tucky, and the sections to the north. Color of soils. — If two soils are made up of particles of the same size, the darker one is usually the warmer. This is because dark soils, like dark clothes, absorb the sun's heat. A light-colored, sandy soil, however, may be warmer than a dark clay soil. A dark color generally indicates fertility, and is due to the presence of much humus. Exercise. — In your neighborhood what crops are generally grown on the most sandy soil ? What use is made of the wettest land ? How are clay lands utilized .•• Hilly lands ? Very black lands ? What are the favorite grass lands ? Orchard lands ? Note to the Teacher. —Write to the Bureau of Soils. Washing- ton, D.C., asking for a report on a soil survey of your county, or of the region most like yours. Explain to the pupils the nuiin features of the colored map in that report. SECTION XL MOISTURE IN THE SOIL The difference between a rich and a poor soil consists largely in the fact that a rich soil is usually able to maintain enough moisture, but not too much ; while the unproductive soil does not hold enough water for the use of the plant during periods of dry weather, and becomes too completely saturated during wet weather. Clay soils hold water. — Soils differ widely in the amount of moisture that they can hold. Test this by filling two tomato cans of equal size with thoroughly dried soil, one of them with nearly pure sand and the other with the stiffest clay you can find. Pack both soils thoroughly, and gradually add equal amounts of water to each. Before any dripping from the clay occurs, water will have begun to drip freely from the sandy soil through the holes in the bottom of the tin can. Thus it is seen that clay will hold much more water than sandy soil. Capillary moisture. — The water that drains away from the soil is called free water. It is spoken of as free be- cause it always flows toward the lowest point. If cans of soil are allowed to drain for a day or two, although most of the free water will be removed, the soils will still be moist. The moisture remaining in the soil is called c&p^- il la ry moisture. It is spread out over the surface of the soil grains in such thin layers or films that it cannot col- lect in drops and drain away. If a bag of pebbles i§ F 65 66 AGRICULTURE dipped into a bowl of water, the water which adheres to their surfaces is capillary moisture. It forms a very thin layer. There may be millions upon millions of soil grains in every cubic inch of soil, and to cover every one of these Coartfj of Doublrdajr, Pafr * Co. Fio. 43. — Showi.ng the Amounts of Liquid required to moisten the Sur- face OF Every Pebble in the Tumbler on the Left and or Every Grain of Sand in that on the Right over its entire surface with the thinnest possible coat of moisture requires a large amount of water (Fig. 43). Movements of free and of capillary moisture. — The farmer endeavors to remove a part of the free water from the soil by drainage and to retain in the soil as much cap- illary moisture as possible. He desires the free water to drain away, because it occupies the spaces between the soil grains and thus keeps out the air, which is needed by the roots. Free water moves only toward a lower level ; MOISTURE IN THE SOIL 67 but capillary moisture on the other hand moves in any direction, but always very slowly. This is an advantage, for if this moisture moved as rapidly as the free water it would rise to the surface and evaporate. The earth would then become so dry that plants would die (Fig. 44). It is also fortunate for the farmer that the capillary Courtesy of Doubleday, Page & Co. Fig. 44. — Outfit for showing the Heights to which Capillary Moisture RISES IN Soils moisture moves toward the dryest soil. Thus root-hairs lying in contact with the sheet of water that wraps up one soil grain, absorb a large part of this moisture, but its 68 AGRICULTURE place is soon taken by capillary moisture which moves in from moistcr particles (Fig 45). Air-spaces check the movement of capillary water. — The farmer's part in preparing the ground and cultivating the soil consists chiefly in controlling the movement of capillary moisture. This moisture moves about only when the soil particles touch each other, so that the dry can borrow from the damp -a grain. If an air-space occurs between two soil particles, moisture will not move across this. The soil best prepared for seeds or roots is one having no large air-spaces between the particles, — in other words, a soil that is well settled or moderately compact, but which has been loosened up some time before the seeds are planted. The farmer first loosens his soil, then permits the lower layers to become settled, and later, after the crop begins to grow, he stirs the surface. The surface layer is stirred in order to make large air-spaces, that will prevent the moisture a little deeper down from coming to the sur- face and being evaporated and carried off by the wind. Earthworms are found under logs, boards, and stones be- cause these places are moist, while the ground around is dry. The moisture in the soil cannot easily rise up through the logs, boards, or stones and evaporate. The gardener makes Fig. 45. — Moisture on Root-hairs AND Soil Grains, greatly enlarged e, main root; h, root-hair, i, air-space; 3, soil grain ; 3, film of water surround- ing soil grains. MOISTURE IN THE SOIL 69 use of this principle when he places a layer of leaves over strawberries, potatoes, or any crop that he wishes to keep well supplied with moisture. He calls such a layer of leaves a mulch, which simply means a cover to protect the soil against evaporation. The farmer cannot afford to place layers of leaves over his fields, but he can afford to make a mulch by using material that is already? there. He can make a mulch of the soil itself, proviaed the top layer can be made loose and dry. How Xhh is done will be learned in the next chapter. Exercise. — Repeat with several soils the "dripping test" given in the second paragraph (p. 65). Which of these soils is least in need of artificial drainage? Note to the Teacher. — If practicable, let pupils weigh cans of two different soils, before adding water and after dripping ceases. How much water does each re- tain? Emphasize the difference in the water-holding power of the two soils. If possible, compactly fill two lamp chimneys, or bottles with the bottoms off, with rather dry soil, one a coarse sand, and the other a clay (Fig. 46). Tie ^^^ X^howing the'h^ht to cloth over one end of each to re- which Moisture rises in differ- tain the soil. Several hours be- ent Soils fore class time, set both in a basin ^^ j^^^^ coarse-grained soil; on right, in which the water is kept about fine-grained soil, an inch deep. Notice difference in height to which capillary moisture rises in each. Crosby's Exer- cises 31, 33, 40, 41, will further impress these principles. SECTION XII. PREPARATION AND CULTIVA- TION OF THE SOIL Before the seed is sown the land is plowed. The main object of early plowing is to form a loose, mellow layer of soil through which the roots can spread in any direction. When to plow. — When the plowing is well done, the soil is broken into small particles. This will not re- sult, however, if the soil is very dry when plowed, for then great lumps and clods are turned over. On the other hand, the soil does not pulverize well if plowed when wet enough for it to stick together and to show a shiny, polished surface on the furrow slice. Only experience will tell just how wet or how dry the soil should be when plowed. Extremes should be avoided. Plowing when the land is very dry means poor plowing, but it does the land no permanent harm. But to plow land when it is too wet may injure the soil for several years, especially if it con- tains much clay. A good seed-bed. — In the previous section it was learned that capillary moisture moves toward the roots best when the soil has no very large air-spaces. It is often well, therefore, to plow land a number of weeks before it is to be occupied by the roots of the crop. An opportunity is thus given the soil to settle and become compact. A seed must have moisture in order to germinate, and 70 PREPARATION AND CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL 71 the best seed-bed is one compact enough to permit the capillary moisture to move toward the seed, and yet loose enough to permit air also to come in contact with the seed. Roots, as well as seeds, require enough compactness of soil for the easy movement of capillary water toward the thirsty root hairs, and likewise sufficient looseness of soil to admit a little air and to allow the roots to grow freely in any direction. If the soil is in good condition when plowed, the neces- sary compactness can often be had simply by allowing several weeks for the rains to make it compact or to settle it. Sometimes it is necessary to use implements for Fig. 47. -A Plank Drag this purpose, especially the harrow, the plank drag, or the roller. Clods are most easily broken when first plowed. Let the harrow therefore follow close behind the plow. After plowing or rolling, the harrow should be used im- mediately so as to leave on the surface a loose layer of dry soil. This loose surface layer contains so many and such large air-spaces that the moisture from the compacted layer below cannot easily cross these and rise to the sur- face, where it would be evaporated. Air-spaces in the loose surface layer do good by imprisoning the moisture in the lower layers. v^The largest crops are generally made on those soils where the roots of cultivated plants grow deepest. This 7a AGRICULTURE shows that it is best to plow deep unless there are reasons for not doing so. If land is plowed two or three inches deeper than it has ever been plowed before, there is danger that the first crop after such deep plowing will be injured by the subsoil which is brought to the surface. This subsoil often dries and forms a hard crust that interferes with plant growth. Moreover, the plant-food in this layer of sub- soil may not be in such a form that the plant can immedi- ately use it. But the longer it lies on the surface exposed to the air, the more' fertile it becomes. Generally, deep plowing is beneficial to the second and the third crops, even if not to the first crop. Subsoil plowing. — The depth of plowing can be in- creased without any danger of injuring the first crop if each year the plowing is about one inch deeper than the year before. The depth of the plowed soil can be suddenly increased by the use of a subsoil plow, which simply loosens the subsoil, but does not bring it to the surface. In using a subsoil plow we must make sure that the lower layers of soil are dry enough to be pulverized. Subsoiling is usually best done in the fall, because at this time the sub- soil is apt to be dry and capable of crumbling. Harm and no good comes from plowing the subsoil when it is very damp. When to cultivate. — Most cultivation consists in de- stroying the plants not needed and in forming a shallow layer of loose soil at the surface of the ground. It is just as important to form this mulch, or loose, light layer of soil, as it is to destroy the weeds. Cultivation is often needed when there are no weeds. We may be sure that it PREPARATION AND CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL 73 is needed whenever a surface crust forms on the land, as after a rain. By breaking this crust and the adjacent parts of the soil with a cultivating implement, a layer of loose soil is formed that contains many large air-spaces. Across these air-spaces moisture cannot move, but must remain in the lower layers near the root. A crust must not be allowed to form ; cultivation will prevent it. Exercise. — Take two pieces of chalk of the same length. Break one in half. Pour a thin layer of ink into a shallow tin ckn or can top. At the same moment stand upright in this ink on their flat ends the unbroken and the broken piece of chalk. Carefully place the upper por- tion of the broken piece on its lower part, in the position it occupied before being broken. Watch the ink rise upward into both. Notice that when the liquid reaches the crack, its rise is checked by the air- space between the two broken pieces of chalk. This shows how air- spaces in cultivated soil keep moisture from rising rapidly to the sur- face, where it would be evaporated. A similar experiment can be made with entire and broken lumps of sugar placed in a thin layer of coffee. Note to the Teacher. — Designate two or three pupils to make the following experiment : — Fill five similar open cans with the same amount of damp soil, packed in equally. Leave one as it is, thoroughly cultivate one to a depth of one inch, cover the others respectively with mulches (one inch deep) of leaves, dry sand, and dust from under the house. As soon as prepared, and again after a few days, weigh all cans and see how much water each has lost, so as to learn which best retains the moisture in the lower layer of soil. See also Crosby's Exercises 42 and 44. SECTION XIII. TERRACING AND DRAINING After a heavy rainfall the water in the ditches and the furrows is muddy. This mud is soil — the best kind of soil, too — that the currents of water have washed away. Fig. 48. — A Field sdined by Washes The heavy rains not only bear away the fine particles of soil, but in low places where much water collects and where the little currents are strong, grains of sand and 74 TERRACING AND DRAINING 75 fine gravel are torn loose and hurried along. The re- moval of the soil leaves a wash or scar in the field. Every rain repeats the process, so that in time a gully or ditch deep" enough to hide a horse and rider is formed. Soon the water in each row that crosses this wash cuts a little channel down to the main gully and, in time, the field be- comes unfit for cultivation (Fig. 48). If the first break is mended the field will continue to produce good crops instead of becoming worthless. The old saying that " a stitch in time saves nine " is very true in preventing the washing away of the soil. Terracing, — Most hillsides in this climate tend to wash if cultivated. Terracing is a system of protecting hillsides r- ■■ ■ m/mg/UtK/i^^ W^ Fig. 49. — -A Hillside terraced to prevent Washing against washing. A terrace is a low bank or ridge, winding around a hill or slope, but always maintaining nearly a perfect level. To keep on a level the terrace often has to wind about with many an inconvenient curve and crook. When the top of a terrace is kept even and level, it re- duces the amount of washing. The level top-Hne permits the water to run over the top of the terrace bank along y6 AGRICULTURE its entire length in the form of a very thin sheet. Water moving in a very thin sheet meets with so much friction from the ground that it has to move slowly and therefore cannot exert much force to tear away particles of soil. From rietcher'a " SoiU." DoublmUy, Page ft Co. Fig. 50. — Showing Washes started by kunninc Rows straight UP the Hill How a terrace is made. — By means of either a terracing level, or a home-made terracing triangle (Fig. 51), a curving line is marked out near the top of the hillside by placing stakes at intervals of about ten steps, all of the stakes being on the same level. In the same way stake the next terrace line at a vertical distance of three feet lower down the hill on gentle slopes, or five feet lower on very steep slopes. Repeat the operation until all the terraces are staked out. Now mark each line of stakes by means of a furrow, not passing exactly under the stakes but very near them, try- ing to make the curves in the terrace as slight and gradual TERRACING AND DRAINING 77 as possible. Below this furrow leave a strip of hard, un- broken ground of about two feet wide. On this throw furrows from above and below, forming a slight ridge or bank. If at first this bank is not level or not high enough, the work must be completed with shovel and hoe. A terrace on sandy, porous soil will hold back all the water that falls except during and after very heavy rains. Deep plowing will aid terraces to do this and will often keep them from breaking, even after heavy downpours. Breaks, however, will sometimes occur, especially before Ground Line Fig. 51. — A Home-made Level for locating Terrace Lines weeds and grass have covered the terrace and bound it to- gether with their roots. Such breaks should be mended promptly, using neither logs, stones, nor trash, but soil taken from just below the terrace and some distance from the break. A crop of cowpeas or cotton on the terrace bank keeps the field much neater and more free from weeds. Terraces may be covered with some winter-growing plant, the living roots of which strengthen them in winter. Among the best plants for this purpose are bur clover, vetch, of Texas blue-grass. 78 AGRICULTURE Terraces often inconvenient, but necessary. — Terraces decrease washing, but make many short rows, increase the cost of cultivation, and interfere with the use of improved implements. They are needed only in hilly regions. In Virginia and Tennessee and northward they are seldom used, partly because wheat or oats, pasture or hay plants, alternate with hoed crops and the fields are not cultivated so continuously as in the cotton belt. Farmers in the Gulf states who do likewise, and who plow deep, can often do without terraces as long as no washes appear in the fields. What lands need drainage. — Drainage is needed on fields where water stands in ponds for a long time after a rain, where water oozes to the surface making seepy spots, and on land where swamp plants grow freely or where water stands in a post hole within several feet of the surface, dur- ing the growing season. Fortunately the greater part of the hill lands of the Gulf and South Atlantic states needs little or no artificial drainage except that intended to prevent washing. On bottom land and on some very stiff or seepy upland fields, however, drainage is generally needed. Drainage makes roots go deeper into the soil. — While the purpose of terracing is to cause porous soils to absorb most of the water that falls on them, in order to prevent washing, the object of drainage is to remove the excess of water from soils that otherwise would hold too much water. Strange as it may seem at first, plants are better able to endure a drought on drained than on undrained land. This is because the roots go only as deep into the soil as the air penetrates freely. Drainage opens channels for the air to TERRACING AND DRAINING 79 penetrate farther, and in drained soils therefore plant roots are deeper than in soil that has ordinarily been saturated. When the upper soil dries, the shallow-rooted plants in undrained lands are no longer able to obtain moisture ; but the deep-rooted plants in drained soil, being nearer the ever moist subsoil, are uninjured. Other benefits from drainage. — Drainage makes soils more crumbly and less inclined to be cloddy. It increases in the soil the number of helpful germs, or tiny living plants, that change vegetable matter into available plant- food. This it does by supplying an abundance of air, with- out which they cannot live. Moreover, drainage makes the land ready for plowing earlier. Plants start to grow earlier on drained than on wet soil, for drainage warms the soil by drawing off a part of the water that would otherwise evaporate, and which, in evaporating, would cool the soil. Two classes of drains. — The usual drain is an open ditch. Another kind is the covered or underdrain. A field in which there are underdrains shows no sign of them, for they ate two to four feet below the surface and completely covered over. One of their advantages over open ditches is that crops can be grown above the drains. Underdrains. — These are usually made of tiles, which are hollow tubes of burnt clay one foot long, laid end to end. The water runs into them at the joints, which do not fit together tightly, and trickles in through the porous walls (Figs. 52, 53). Sometimes underdrains are made of four narrow planks nailed together like a long box, with numerous holes for water to enter. In other cases they are made of three largfe poles in a triangular pile, and 80 AGRICULTURE sometimes of old bricks or stones. Although these arc buried several feet in the ground, water flows down to them, thus deepening and airing the soil. They usually Fig. 5a. — Drain Tiles in Position Under- ground Flc. 53. — End View or Drain Tile before ths Ditch is Filled drain the soil more completely and to greater depth than do ordinary open ditches. Open ditches. — According to their use, the principal kinds of open ditches are : — 1. Canals, or very large ditches. 2. Deep drainage ditches. 3. Hillside ditches (usually shallow ditches). The water in open ditches often carries much mud and other fine material. When the current is rapid, this soil material is carried onward by the water, and is not depos- ited. But if any part of the ditch is less steep than the portion above it, the water must necessarily travel more slowly. A sand-bar generally forms where the current is thus checked, for the slower current is unable to carry its TERRACING AND DRAINING 8 1 burden of fine sand and other soil particles. These are thrown down and fill the ditch, making work for the farmer in opening it again. The banks of a deep open ditch should not be upright nor nearly upright, for they invari- ably cave in, and the earth fills the ditch. It is a good rule for a ditch to have a uniform grade, steep enough to carry off the water without filling the ditch with soil, and yet not so steep that the current will cut deep into the bottom of the ditch. This grade varies with the dimensions of the ditch, as you will learn in larger books on drainage. For small ditches there is usually from three to five inches of fall in every one hundred feet. Exercise. — Walk over a field and notice the little washes just be- ginning. Think of a way by which each one could be stopped. When a ditch or river makes a sand-bar at a curve, is the sand-bar on the inner or on the outer side of curve ? Why ? Watch a winding brook as it flows and learn why a ditch or river tends to become more and more crooked (Fig. 40) . Look at one of the ditches on a farm that you know and plan how it could be improved. Note to the Teacher. — If a rain occurs soon after this lesson has been studied, point out that the current is strong and washing is possible only in those places on the school yard or an adjoining field where water collects, and not where it is spread in a thin sheet. Does washing occur on the bare or on the grass-covered parts of the school yard? Perhaps some pupil's father has a drainage-level and will bring it to school and show the class how to use it. If he will lend it, the directions above will be sufficient guide for you to use it in locating terrace lines. Why not have a short excursion for using the level and for inspecting ditches and streams? SFXTION XIV. HOW THE SOIL BECOMES POOR Surface washing is one of the means by which land becomes poor, and it is one that can be prevented by proper use of ditches and terraces and by better methods of farming. If any fields are so steep that terraces or ditches will not protect them against surface washing, they should be allowed to grow up in useful trees. Otherwise they should be planted to some grass or grazing plant, the matted roots of which will do much to hold the soil in place. Bermuda grass is one of the best of these soil- binding plants. When this is not wanted, other grasses or clovers can be used instead. Leaching. — On all soils there is a loss of fertility that cannot be seen and is often not suspected. This is leach- ing or the dissolving of plant-food by the rain water and the draining of this water and of the dissolved plant-food in it through the soil, and into the streams. This loss is greater than any other in our Southern climate. It occurs chiefly during the winter, when rains are heaviest and when there are no living roots to use the soluble plant-food. It can be prevented by causing living plants to occupy the fields during the winter. Wheat, rye, crim- son clover, or any other plants in active growth during the winter send their roots throughout the soil. These roots 83 HOW THE SOIL BECOMES POOR 83 absorb the soluble plant-food, leaving very little that can be dissolved by the rain water as it drains through the soil. Even weeds that keep green during the winter do this much good. Loss of vegetable matter. — Another cause responsible for much of the poor soil in the South is the loss of vege- table matter. This occurs whenever the farmer grows corn, cotton, or any other crop that is kept thoroughly cultivated, and does not leave on the land a large amount of roots, leaves, or stems. Fire is one of the farmer's worst enemies, because it destroys vegetable matter needed to improve the soil. When vegetable matter in the soil disappears, the soil becomes lighter in color, drier in dry weather, more cloddy, and harder to work. Clay soils then become too compact for roots to thrive in them. In dry weather the crop on such land is parched and stunted or ruined, while on simi- lar land, well supplied with rotted vegetable matter, the crop is much better able to withstand drought. This is partly because rotted vegetable matter is somewhat like a sponge in having the power to hold moisture. When the roots come in contact with this decayed vegetable matter, they absorb its moisture and also use a part of it for food. The farmer can replace the vegetable matter that dis- appears where clean cultivated crops are continually grown by producing an occasional crop that leaves large amounts of roots or foliage and stems on the ground. Some of the crops that thus increase the sup- ply of vegetable matter are the clovers, cowpeas, and kin- 84 AGRICULTURE dred plants, and the grasses that form a sod or dense covering over the entire surface. The surest and cheapest way for the fanner to enrich his land and to make larger profits in fanning is by constantly adding vege- table matter. Sale of plant-food in crops. — If a farmer every year hauls crops of grain, or hay, or potatoes from his field with- out putting anything back, there will come a time when he will say that the field is too poor to cultivate. Crops differ greatly in the kind and amount of plant-food they remove from the soil. The lint of cotton and the sugar of sugar cane consist almost entirely of materials drawn from the air, and so these products remove almost no plant-food. Yet cotton may make the soil poorer because its clean cul- tivation causes the loss of vegetable matter; because its seed removes considerable plant-food ; and most of all, because it leaves the land without living roots during the winter, and thus permits the rain to leach and to rob the soil. Sugar cane may be an exhausting crop because the stalks that are carried trom the field contain much plant- food and because the leaves are generally burned. This does not mean that exhausting crops should not be grown, but that something must be returned to the land in exchange for what is removed. Lack of drainage makes soils unproductive- — All the causes of soil-impoverishment mentioned are due to sub- stances taken from the soil. They have all been forms of subtraction. There is, however, an addition to the soil that may make it poor. Too much water injures the soil and the crop if it is not drained away either by HOW THE SOIL BECOMES POOR 85 the porous nature of the soil or by ditches cut by the farmer. This subject was discussed in the last section. Note to the Teacher. — Ask your pupils to explain how lye is made from ashes kept in hoppers. Point out that this process is leaching.- Leaching does more harm to rich than to poor soils. This process removes from the soil chiefly nitrogen and little or no phosphate and potash. The loss of plant-food due to the sale of lint cotton and of cotton seed is shown in Fig. 94. Fig. 54. — The Poor Subsoil In the foreground the top soil has been removed by grading. Note the contrast with the corn on normal soil. SECTION XV. HOW TREES AND LEGUMI- NOUS PLANTS IMPROVE THE SOIL In a forest, year after year, the trees drop their leaves; the decayed leaves and roots make the soil very loose and rich. When the trees are removed, the "new-ground" pro- duces good crops that use the vegetable matter as food. The crops are good on " new-ground " also, Wcause the humus in dry weather holds moisture like a sponge. Drought, therefore, is not much felt by crops on land con- taining much humus. When plowed, the dark, loose soil crumbles readily, for the reason that vegetable matter in the soil keeps the particles of clay from sticking together and from turning up in great useless clods. Resting land not the quickest way to enrich it — Farm- ers have learned that even a crop of weeds adds vegetable matter, and so they sometimes leave certain poor fields uncultivated for a year or two to "rest" or improve. Such improvement of the land is slow under any conditions. Making land fertile by growing certain crops. — Differ- ent plants are very unlike in the value of the vegetable matter they add to the soil. Those that make the best fertilizer are the plants rich in nitrogen. Look carefully at the picture (Fig. i lo) and notice how much more com grew on a square yard where vetch plants had grown the year before. Twice as large a crop of oats, wheat, or hay has 86 HOW TREES AND PLANTS IMPROVE THE LAND 8/ been grown where cowpeas had been the year before as where no soil-improving crop had grown. How to know plants that improve the soil. — The plants that are most valuable for plowing under to enrich the land Fig. 55. — Leaves of Leguminous Plants I, bean; 2, hairy vetch; 3, pea; 4, Akike clover; 5, red clover; 6, white clover; 7, sweet-pea; 8, peanut; 9, black locust ; 10, sweet clover: 11, alfalfa; 12, soy- bean. are all closely akin. The clovers, cowpeas, vetches, and similar plants belong to the bean family. Legumes, or leguminous plants, is the name given to them. All of the legumes the farmer makes use of have flowers shaped like the flower of the garden pea, sweet-pea, and cowpea. The 88 AGRICULTURE flower of each of these consists of (i) a broad petal standing up somewhat like the wings of a butterfly at rest, (2) a folded portion that reminds us of the butter- fly's body, and (3) a petal standing up straight and alone on each side of the folded part. The leaves of common leguminous plants are com- pound, that is, made up of several smaller parts called leaflets (Fig. 55). The seeds are in pods that split along both edges when ripe. You will quickly see that garden peas, cowpeas, sweet- peas, locust trees, and some plants called weeds have blossoms of this shape. The clovers have very different heads, more like the shape of the end of a finger. Each clover head is not a single flower, however, but a mass Each of the little flowers has the same general shape as the pea blossom. Plants on which the flowers are of this shape are found to make the soil richer. These plants have bean-like pods (Fig. 59). Tubercles or nodules on the roots of legumes. — Care- fully dig up cowpea, clover, and other legumes without stripping off the smaller roots. Do you not find little round or pear-shaped knots attached to the roots ? This HOW TREES AND PLANTS IMPROVE THE LAND 89 is an indication that the plants are legumes and that they Fig. 57. — Tubercles on the Roots of a Young Vetch Plant are at work making the soil rich. These knots are root tubercles or root nodules (Figs. 56, 57). The farmer's tiny helpers. — Each tubercle is a busy 90 AGRICULTURE workshop inhabited by multitudes of germs, so small that 25,cxx) of them could be placed side by side on a line one inch long. These germs are actively at work helping the farmer. The tubercle in which they live serves as a house for them. It is really a fertilizer factory, and the germs are the workmen, busy making fertilizer that will be used by the plant on the roots of which the tubercle grows. The plant on which the tubercle forms is called the host plant. It furnishes the germs in the tubercle with starchy food made by the leaves. In exchange the tubercles send up through the sap a fertilizer rich in nitrogen. This fertilizer nitrogen is constantly being made by the germs in the tubercle from the nitrogen gas in the air. The farmer can help the germs to manu- facture fertilizer nitrogen by plowing the land before sow- ing legumes. Plowing or cultivation permits an abundance of air, with the nitrogen gas which it contains, to pass through the loose soil to the tubercle, where the tiny workmen are ready to use it for the farmer's benefit. What the cowpea or clover plant does with nitrogen. — Let us consider what becomes of the nitrogen a tubercle sends up in the sap current to the cowpea or clover plant on which it is growing. A part of it is deposited in the roots of the cowpea, another part in the stem, another portion goes to make the leaves, and still another part helps to make the seeds. All clovers and most other legumes use their fertilizer nitrogen manufactured in the tubercles just as the cowpea does, and they enrich the soil in the same way. Even if the farmer mows and hauls away the vines for HOW TREES AND PLANTS IMPROVE THE LAND 91 hay, there is still left in the land the nitrogen that was stored in the roots and lower part of the stem and in the fallen leaves. Even the roots and stubble of legumes, therefore, can enrich the land, both in nitrogen and in vegetable matter. The enrichment is much greater if the Fig. 58. — A Field of Velvet Beans, one of the Best Soil-improving Plants tops, as well as the roots, are plowed into the soil, either as soon as growth is finished or after being eaten by- animals pasturing on the field. Shall the tops of soil-improving plants be plowed into the ground? — The plants that most enrich the land are those that make the richest hay and pasturage for horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry. The farmer often asks, " Does it pay better to use the vines or tops of cowpeas or clover as food for live-stock or to plow them into the 92 AGRICULTURE ground as fertilizer?" The best answer is that letting these crops pass through an animal does not greatly lessen their value as fertilizer. The starch, sugar, and fat that the animal takes out of its food have no value as a fertilizer. Enough live-stock ought to be kept on all farms to con- sume the legumes that are grown. The farmer can, there- fore, make a double use of the leguminous crops : he can use them as stock-food, and later for fertilizer. The roots and stubble of legumes enrich the land. The little fertilizer factories on the roots of leguminous plants are worth more to mankind than all the gold in the whole world. Nearly every farm that to-day is too poor to keep the farmer's family in comfort can be made fertile by the wise use of cowpeas, crimson clover, and related legumes. Exercise. — Make a mud ball of stiff, poor clay and put it away to dry. Make another of half clay and half dark, fine woods' earth. Let it dr}'. Try to make a firm mud ball of dark woods' earth alone. After drying, which of the first two crumbles most easily ? Why ? Find all the plants that you think may be legumes. Learn all you can about the leaves, flowers, pods, and about the size and shape of the fertilizer factories on their roots. How many stamens in a pea or cowpea bloom? Are all of them partly grown together? Note to the Teacher. — Objects needed: (i) soils of different colors, due to different amounts of vegetable matter ; (2) seed, flowers, plants, or roots of any legume, as garden pea, cowjjea (Southern field pea), sweet-pea, clover, etc. Fic. 59. — Pods or a Lecckinoos Plant SECTION XVI. BARNYARD MANURE A FARM with many animals is generally rich and produc- tive because of the supply of manure. Experience in all countries shows that this material is an excellent means for enriching all kinds of soil. Some chemical fertilizers, however, are beneficial only on certain soils. Manure has these good effects : (i) It makes the earth loose and mellow, allowing the roots and air to come into contact with all parts of the soil. (2) After it has rotted, it enables the soil to hold moisture in dry weather. (3) It furnishes plant-food to the roots of growing crops. (4) It adds needed germs and causes the beneficial ones already in the soil to thrive and multiply, thus helping the crop. Richest manure from richest food. — Barnyard manure is composed largely of ground-up parts of plants, and con- tains very nearly what the plants contained. The richest is made by feeding cotton-seed meal and other foods rich in nitrogen. Hay from cowpeas and other legumes makes better manure than that from shucks, straw, or grass. Fertilizing crops by buying food for live-stock. — A farmer may buy 100 pounds of cotton-seed meal and place it in the ground as fertilizer. It would pay him better first to feed it to cattle and then to use the manure. If all of this, solid and liquid, were carefully saved, it would have the same value as a fertilizer as 80 pounds of cotton-seed 93 94 AGRICULTURE meal. Animals take from the food fed them chiefly those substances that arc worthless as fertilizers, such as starch and fat. The farmer, therefore, who buys cotton-seed meal to use as a fertilizer for his crop can make two profits by first feeding it and then using the manure as fertilizer. Any pasture or field can be made rich by keeping on it live-stock that is fed partly on purchased food or food grown on other parts of the farm. The manure from different animals is different in fertiliz- ing value largely because they are fed on different foods. Manure from the poultry house is several times more valuable than any other. When only the solid waste from animals is saved, the farmer gets only about half the fertilizer available. If andsecond.howmostofitsValoe the manure pile has no roof IS Retained over it, the rain water de- stroys much of the fertilizing value. Manure that has been exposed to rain for a number of months is sometimes worth less than half as much for fertilizing crops as it was at first. Most of the plant-food has been dissolved and carried off by water ; some of the nitrogen has changed into ammonia and passed off into the air as a strong-smell- ing gas ; and a large part of the soil-loosening material Fig. 6o. — Showing first how most OF THE Value of Manure is Lost, BARNYARD MANURE 95 has disappeared or been slowly " burned," for rotting is a kind of slow burning. A roof over the manure pile pre- vents the great loss caused by water, but the other losses go on even with the roof. The best plan, therefore, is to put manure into the ground as soon as possible and before any waste has occurred. Composts. — Compost heaps are piles of manure mixed with other materials, such as leaves or cotton seed, with sometimes phosphate added. Partial rotting makes the manure less coarse and makes it act more quickly on the crop. The same materials can be mixed in the furrow in the field. When they rot there, the soil prevents loss. Moreover, when organic matter rots in the soil, it causes the soil touching it to "rot" too, that is, to change some of its compounds into substances that plants can use as food. It is generally best to plow manure under so that the soil will absorb the ammonia that might otherwise be lost. Barnyard manure is dilute. The farmer must get it to the field with as little labor as possible, for fully three fourths of its weight is water, that has no value. Large amounts must be used on an acre. In a ton of manure there are only about 25 to 35 pounds of the three precious forms of plant-food (nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash), or about as much as in 200 pounds of a high-grade complete com- mercial fertilizer. The plant-food in a -ton of manure could generally be bought in the form of commercial fertilizers for between 1^1.50 and $$. But a ton of manure contains, besides direct plant-food, billions of helpful germs and about a quarter of a ton of organic matter that is very 96 AGRICULTURE beneficial in making the soil mellow and able to hold mois- ture. These cannot be bought in commercial fertilizers, which increase the crops chiefly in the year in which they are used. Stable manure makes the soil richer for a number of years. Fio. 6i. — Good Tolace, making Good Fektilizing Profitable Note, on the left, that the peach trees are set on contours or terraces. SECTION XVII. COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS Soils have abundance of all necessary plant-food materials except nitrogen, phosphates, potash, and lime, which may be deficient in some lands. When one or more of these valuable forms of plant-food is deficient, poor crops result unless something containing the element wanted is added. The lack of even a single one of these pre- cious substances, or forms of plant-food, will cause the crop to be about as poor as if all Fig. 62. — Grass Hav from equal Arkas four of them were de- ficient. It is important to find out which of these is wanting, and to use on each field a fertilizer that contains just the kind of plant-food that is needed in that soil. Plants, if denied nitrogen or phosphates, but given an abundance of everything else needed, would die. Nitrogen and ammonia. — Commercial fertilizers (so named from the word commerce, meaning trade) are those prepared and furnished by merchants or manufacturers. When they contain only nitrogen, they are called nitroge- H 97 On left, unfertilized; on right, fertilized with nitrogen and potash. /7-*»# - AfinoAf/A. 98 AGRICULTURE nous fertilizers. The most important commercial ferti- lizers that arc rich in nitrogen arc cotton-seed meal and nitrate of soda. If nitrogen occurs in mixtures with other precious plant-foods, the fertilizer may be called an am- moniated fertilizer, or "guano." Ammonia is a combination of fourteen parts by weight of nitrogen with three parts of hydrogen (Fig. 63). Fourteen pounds of nitrogen, the most precious of plant-foods, may become seventeen pounds of ammonia. Hence, if there is printed on a bag of fertilizer the state- ment that it contains two per cent of nitro- gen, you can calculate how much ammonia Fxc. 63. — Showing THE Weight OF Ammonia this equals, multiply- EQUIVALENT TO I4 PotJNDS OF NiTKOCEN . , . mg the amount of nitrogen by 17 and dividing the product by 14. On the other hand, if the printing on the bag shows that cotton- seed meal contains eight and one-half per cent of ammonia, change this to nitrogen by dividing by 17 and multiplying by 14. The amount of ammonia is always larger, because it contains all the nitrogen and another element besides. Cotton-seed meal. — Cotton-seed meal is a yellowish, powdery material made from the kernels of cotton seed after removing most of the oil and hulls. Cotton-seed meal is more than twice as rich in nitrogen as the whole cotton seed from which it is made. Cotton-seed meal usually contains between six and seven pounds of nitrogen in each hundred pounds of meal and is therefore expensive. It also contains some phosphate COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 99 and potash. There are several grades of this meal, those that contain the largest proportion of hulls being the least valuable. This meal cannot be used by plants until it has decayed. It is more suitable, therefore, for crops that occupy the land in the warm weather than for very early crops which make their growth in cool weather. Nitrate of soda. — Nitrate of soda is a fertilizer with more than twice as much nitrogen as cotton-seed meal. It costs more than twice as much per ton, but does not need to be used in such large amounts. It is brought by ships from South America, for in that hot country the nitrogen has already been changed into the form of a nitrate, ready to be used by plants at once. When nitrate of soda is sown broadcast on the sur- face of the ground where young wheat or oat plants are growing, the moisture of the soil dissolves the ferti- lizer and carries it down- ward to the roots of plants. Within a week after this fertilizer is sown, wheat and oat plants become much greener and more luxuriant. It is especially suitable for plants that make their growth during the cool months (wheat, oats, etc.) and for vege- Fig. 64. — Corn from Equal Areas On right, no nitrogen in fertilizer; on left, fertilized with 240 pounds of nitrate of soda per acre. Yield per acre without nitrogen, 3.2 tons; with nitrate of soda, 6.7 tons. 100 AGRICULTURE tables, like lettuce and radishes, in which quick growth is desired. Three kinds of phosphates. — Phosphates are those fer- tilizers that contain the element phosphorus, in the form of phosphoric acid. There arc three kinds of phosphate, that are of very different value. The first is natural or raiv phosphate, sometimes called Tennessee phosphate, Florida phosphate, or floats. It is simply the phosphate rock just as it is dug or brought up by dredges from its place in phosphate beds, except that it has been ground into a very fine powder. Since roots generally cannot absorb much of this form of phosphate because it will not dissolve in pure water, it is called insoluble phosphate. Acid phosphate is so called because it is made by ad- ding sulfuric acid to the raw or natural phosphate. This acid so changes the phosphate that roots can immediately absorb it. The phosphate in acid phosphate is called soluble. There is a third or intermediate form that plants can use. This and the soluble phosphate are added to- gether and called the available phosphoric, that is, the kind that plants can use promptly. Acid phosphate usually contains from 12 to 16 per cent of available phosphoric acid, that is from 24 to 32 pounds of available phosphoric acid in every 200-pound bag. The farmer can afford to pay fully one third more for the acid phosphate with 16 per cent than for that with only 12 per cent of available plant-food. He will need less of the high-grade than of the low-grade fertilizer, and thus will save freight and expense of hauling and handling. Although raw or crude phosphate cannot be dissolved COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS lOI in pure water and cannot be used immediately by the roots, nevertheless it has some value as fertilizer for some soils and crops. When ravv phosphate is kept for some time in contact with decaying vegetable matter or mixed with manure, a part of its phosphate changes into a form which roots can use. Fertilizers containing potash. -;- The commonest of these is kainit. It is dug from deep mines in Germany. It contains about twelve per cent of potash. Muriate of pot- ash is obtained from the same source. About half its weight, or fifty per cent, is potash. Kainit and muriate of potash are nearly white, resembUng somewhat coarse table salt. Exercise. — Try to get samples of as many as possible of the fer- tilizers mentioned above for the teacher to show during class. In your notebook describe them. Be ready to report the effects of any fertilizer test you may know about. Note to the Teacher. — If possible, exhibit small samples of any of the fertilizers mentioned in the lesson. Which ones dissolve quickly ? Which ones get lumpy? Exhibition of ordinary mixed or manufactured fertilizers will be of doubtful profit to the class, and may involve per- sonal interests. .....wiaiiiKKT-.... Fig. 65. — A Window Plant well treated AS TO Light and Food SECTION XVIII. CALCULATING FERTILIZER FORMULAS Fertilizers are sometimes spoken of as chemicals. Those made by mixing any two such chemicals are called mixed, manufactured, or manipulated fertilizers. The laws of most states require that there shall be printed on the out- side of each bag of fertilizer a statement showing the per- centage of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash it contains. No fertilizer should be bought until the buyer has calcu- lated its commercial value from these figures on the bag, using the method shown on page 103. After he has calculated the commercial value, he should compare this figure with the cash price asked by the seller. The two figures should differ by only enough to pay the dealer a fair profit and the cost of freight. The commercial value of a pound of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash is the average wholesale selling price of these substances in the largest fertilizer markets. Chemists average these prices every year, and publish the figures as the commercial values for that year. Generally the com- mercial value is about 15 cents per pound of nitrogen, 5 cents per pound of available phosphoric acid, and 5 cents per pound of potash. How to calculate the commercial value. — Multiply the prices given above by the number of pounds of nitrogen, available phosphoric acid, and potash respectively in a ton READY-MIXED FERTILIZER I03 of the fertilizer. Add the products ; the sum is the com- mercial value of the fertilizer. Example. — What is the commercial value of one ton of complete fertilizer which the printing on the bags guarantees to contain 1.65 per cent of nitrogen, 10 per cent of available phosphoric acid, and 2 per cent of potash ? Plant-food Lbs. Cents Commercial in one ton value Nitrogen i .65 % x 2000 lbs. = 33 lbs. 33x15= $ 4.95 Available phos- phoric acid 10% X 2000 lbs. = 200 lbs. 200 X 5= 10.00 Potash 2% X 2000 lbs. = 40 lbs. 40 x 5= 2.00 $16.95 The above calculation shows a commercial value of $16.95 when nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash have the prices of 15, 5, and 5 cents a pound respectively.^ If the cash price asked by the dealer is many dollars per ton above the estimated commercial value for that year, a calculation should be made to learn what it would cost for the farmer to make his own fertilizer by mixing together acid phosphate, cotton-seed meal, and kainit, or other chemicals. Example. — What will it cost to make a home-mixed fertilizer, having the same composition as the fertilizer given in the table, with cotton-seed meal at $22 per ton, acid phosphate (with 16 per cent available phos- phoric acid) at $15 per ton, and kainit at $14 per ton? The price asked for the ready-mixed fertilizer is $21 per ton. How much meal, phosphate, and kainit must be mixed in order to obtain an equivalent, but less expensive, fertilizer? 1 These figures will answer for practice. To get the exact prices of nitro- gen, phosphoric acid, and potash for any particular year, write to the State Commissioner of Agriculture at the state capital. 104 AGRICULTURE In one ton Plant-food needed Nitrogen 1.65 lbs. per cwt. x 20 cwt. = 33 lbs. Available phos- phoric acid 10 lbs. per cwt. x 20 cwt. = 200 lbs. Potash 2 lbs. per cwt. x 20 cwt. s 40 lbs. First find how much cotton-seed meal is needed to aflford 33 pounds of nitrogen. The table on page 106 gives the per cent of nitrogen in cotton-seed meal as 6^ ; this means that each hundredweight of meal contains 6i lb. of nitrogen. Evidently to supply 33 lb. of nitrogen, as many hundredweight of meal are needed as 6} is contained times in 33. Thus 33 -^ 6i = 5.07 cwt., or 507 lbs., of cotton-seed meal are needed. Next find how much phosphoric acid and potash this amount of meal will supply. From the tables below it is seen that i cwt. of cotton-seed meal contains 2.8 lbs. of phosphoric acid ; therefore, 5.07 cwt. contain (5.07 X 2.8) 14.196 lbs. Likewise for potash, 5.07 cwt cotton-seed meal contain 5.07 x 1.8 = 10.126 lbs. of potash. Lbs. phosphoric acid needed 200 Less lbs. phosphoric acid supplied in 507 lbs. c.-s. meal 14.2 Lbs. phosphoric acid to be supplied in phosphate 185.8 How many pounds of phosphate containing 16% of available phos- phoric acid are needed to furnish 185.8 lbs. of phosphoric acid? Evi- dently as many hundred as 16 is contained times in 185.8. Thus, 185.8 -T- 16 = 11.61 cwt., or 1161 lbs. of acid phosphate are required. Calculate how many pounds of kainit to use. Lbs. potash needed 40 Less lbs. potash in 507 lbs. c.-s. meal IO.a Lbs. potash to be supplied in kainit 39.8 To furnish 29.8 lbs. of kainit requires as many hundredweight of kainit as 12 (the number of pounds of potash which the table shows is contained in 1 cwt.of kainit) is contained times in 29.8. Thus 29.8 -t- 12 = 2.46 cwt., or 246 lbs. of kainit are needed. Combining these three results : 507 lbs. cotton-seed meal ] rnitrogen 33 1161 lbs. acid phosphate (16%) [contain |av. phos. add 200 246 lbs. kainit J [potash 40 READY-MIXED FERTILIZER I(>5 Cost. 507 lbs. cotton-seed meal at $ 22.00 per ton = $5-58 1 161 lbs. acid phosphate at $ 15.00 per ton = 8.75 246 lbs. kainit at $ 14.00 per ton = 1.72 1914 lbs. mixture $16.05 Price asked for one ton of manufactured fertilizer $21.00 Cost of home mixture affording same amounts of plant-food 16.05 Saved in cash by home-mixing $ 4-95 A slight reduction in the amount saved must be made for the labor used. Advantage of home-mixing. — By mixing his fertilizers the farmer can usually save several dollars per ton. He Fig. 66. — On left, Cotton Unfertilized: on right, Cotton supplied WITH A Complete Home-mixed Fertilizer can also make a variety of mixtures, adapted to each crop and to each field. io6 AGRICULTURE Fillers in fertilizers. — A full ton of the mixture is not always needed to afford the desired amount of plant- food. If a full ton having the given percentage composition is wanted, add the necessary amount of some worthless mate- rial, such as ground stone or cinders. Such worthless addi- tions to fertilizers are called fillers. If manufacturers add them it is for the purpose of making a fertilizer that they can afford to sell at a low price. To avoid buying and hauling useless filler, use only the highest grades of manu- factured fertilizers. These are higher in price, but gener- ally furnish nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash at a lower cost per pound than do low-grade, cheap fertilizers. In choosing fertilizers, select that one in which a pound of plant-food costs the least. COMPOSITION OF FERTILIZERS Available loo Pounds contain NlTKOGBM Phosphomc Acio Potash Lbs. Va%. Lbs. Cotton-seed meal .... 6.5 2.8 1.8 Nitrate of soda .... 15.0 0.0 0.0 Acid phosphate (i6%) . 0.0 16.0 0.0 Acid phosphate (14%) . 0.0 14.0 0.0 Kainit 0.0 0.0 12.0 Muriate of potash .... 0.0 0.0 50.0 Cotton seed . . ' . 3' 1-3 1.3 Exercise. — Copy in your notebook the two examples given in this section and understand them so that you can work similar examples on the blackboard, or for some farmer. Note to the Teacher. — If the sixth grade studies agriculture, this section may be omitted. It should be required, together wiih the ad- ditional problems, when the class in agriculture consists of the seventh READY-MIXED FERTILIZER 107 or some higher grade. It is suggested that several problems like the preceding be worked in class, either by dwelling long enough on this lesson, or by substituting this class of problems for the usual lesson in arithmetic. Additional Problems : — (i) What is the commercial value of a ton of complete fertilizer con- taining 8 % available phosphoric acid, 3 % nitrogen, and 3 % potash ? (2) How much nitrate of soda, kainit, and x6% phosphate contain the same amounts and kinds of plant-food as the ton of the fertilizer just mentioned? (3) What would this mixture cost with acid phosphate at $15, nitrate of soda at $55, and kainit at $14 per ton? (4) How much 16 7„ phosphate, cotton-seed meal, and muriate of potash would afford the same number of pounds of each plant-food as one ton of the fertilizer mentioned in first problem ? (5) Which should a farmer buy, muriate of potash at $55 per ton, or kainit at $14? What would a pound of potash cost in each? (6) Which should a farmer buy, acid phosphate containing i67o available phosphoric acid, costing $14 per ton, or a lower grade con- taining 12 7o? costing $12 per ton? What does a pound of available phosphoric acid in each cqst? Fig. 67. — Nodules on a Legume, aiding thb Farmer to secure Nitrogen SECTION XIX. SUITING THE FERTILIZERS TO THE SOIL The amount of fertilizer per acre varies with the land and with the crop. Vegetables and cotton generally pay better for large amounts of fertilizer than does corn. For cotton, many farmers use only 200 pounds per acre. Good farmers often use 400 to 600 pounds. Growers of vege- tables increase this to as much as one half or one ton of commercial fertilizer per acre. As labor and land become scarcer or higher it pays to increase the amount of fertilizer. Some land may be too poor for very large amounts of fertilizer to be very profitable. This is because a poor soil may be so shallow or sq deficient in vegetable matter that in dry weather it can hold just enough water to make good use of only 300 pounds of fertilizer per acre. When this same soil is made deeper and supplied with vegetable matter, it may hold enough moisture to use profitably double this amount. Experienced farmers often apply more phosphate than the crop will remove from the land because the clay or iron in the soil changes some of it into a form that plants cannot use. This cannot be prevented and fortunately phosphate is not very expensive. Nitrogen, however, is about three times as expensive as phosphoric acid, hence 108 SUITING THE FERTILIZERS TO THE SOIL 109 more of this than the plant requires is not applied. For fields where soil-improving crops have grown and on stock- farms, often there is no need to buy any nitrogen, or very little at the most. The agricultural value of a fertilizer. — The agricul- tural value of a fertilizer is the value of the increase in the crop caused by using the fertilizer. Suiting the fertilizer to the crop. — Different plants require different kinds of fertilizer. Since legumi- nous plants get nitrogen from the air by the work of their root tubercles they generally do not need nitro- gen. To add a fertilizer containing nitrogen is therefore a useless expense. Suiting the fertilizer to the soil. — What a soil needs cannot be told by looking at it. There are, however, some helpful rules. Generally, a soil that is black or very dark con- tains much vegetable matter, which in turn contains much nitrogen. On the other hand, if the stalks of crops cul- 1 ii . M M, 1^ ]l Ji \ w w K Fig. 68. — Sorghum from Equal Areas On left, no nitrogen in the fertilizer; on right, fertilized with nitrate of soda. no AGRICULTURE tivated on a field are small, there is probably need of nitrogen in the soil. A crop of cowpeas or clover usually leaves the soil rich in nitrogen. Clay soils gener- ally contain more potash than sandy soils. Whether a soil is rich in phosphoric acid cannot be told by looking at it. How to find what fertilizer the soil needs. — Even when a chemist analyzes soil and finds out just what it contains, I I'lG. Oy. — WHfcAT muM Lk^UAL AktAS On left, fertilized with nitrate of soda ; on right, no nitrogen in the fertilizer. he cannot tell how much of every precious element is in a condition for plants to use. The chemist's analysis does not, therefore, show what fertilizer to apply. The only way to determine the kind of fertilizer a soil needs is to make an experiment on that soil with different fertilizers. It will pay to make this experiment with the principal crop of any farm. The following diagram shows how to make such a test. The areas must be of exactly the same SUITING THE FERTILIZERS TO THE SOIL in size, for example, one eighth of an acre. The figures in the table show the number of pounds of fertilizer for one acre : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Si CJ rt H rt V rt 73 ^3 rt "O (4 -o a, O in O en t 1 "o, g V J3 Cu a. -S a, 'S IH 2 1 ^ Ih .-2 S 12 2 '2 'rt *G -ti c3 -^ S o -^ "o .ti rt ^ rt a 2 a N rt a rt • a ^ en in o5 u5 u5 ^ ^ c/i ui u5 tn tn XI ^ ^ x jn J3 -Q £ X> J3 ^-« ^^ ^i •—1 ^^ ^^ •— • 8 8 8 8 8 o 8 8 8 8 8 N N N >-i N !-• N M The plots must be on the same kind of soil and equally well drained. If it is not convenient to harvest the crop separately on so many plots, use only plots i, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Fertilizers that do not work well together. — Two ferti- lizers that must not be mixed are lime and phosphate. The lime changes the phosphate into a less soluble form and thus reduces its value as a fertilizer. Now, ashes contain much lime ; therefore ashes and phosphate should not be used together. Exercise. — Learn from a farmer in the neighborhood, or from the printing on fertilizer sacks, the composition of the fertilizer most used in your neighborhood. Is it used on all sorts of soils? If it suits poor clay soils, is it apt to be the best for sandy land? By making the fertilizer experiment described in this Section, you may be able to inr crease greatly the profits of some farm the next year. Note to the Teacher. — The calculation of the commercial values of fertilizers and practice in calculating fertilizer formulas of definite composition should be continued. SECTION XX. LIME Chalk is one form of lime. Another form is quicklime, which consists of large lumps, from which bricklayers make their mortar. If a bricklayer pours only a small amount of water on a lump of quicklime, the lump absorbs the water and falls into a powder. This lime that has been slacked or changed into a powder by water is the fofm generally used when the farmer employs lime as a fertilizer. He buys the quicklime and lets it slack or absorb water after it reaches the farm. Lime overcomes sourness of soils. — All of these forms of lime are alkaline, that is, the opposite of acid. Quick- lime is more alkaline than the other kinds of lime and fresh-slacked lime ranks next. If either of these forms of lime is placed in contact with an acid, the lime unites with the acid and by forming a substance different from either, that is, neither alkaline nor acid, it destroys the acidity. If, therefore, lime is put on sour soil, it unites with the acids that made the soil sour, changing them into harmless substances. How to know that a soil is sour. — A doctor cannot well cure sickness until he determines the nature of the disease. When he has done this, he knows what medicines to give. Likewise it is important for the farmer to know the condi- tion of his soil. If sourness is the principal trouble, lime will aid some crops to grow much better on this soil To LIME 113 test soil for sourness or acidity strips of blue litmus paper are used (purchase at drug store). Acid turns the paper pink or red. Since the acid in a sour soil is weak, it will change the color of blue litmus paper not to red, but to pink. Cut a slit with a knife in the moist soil to be tested and place the blue paper in this slit. Press the damp soil against both sides of the paper for about two minutes. If the paper becomes pink where it has been moistened by the earth, the soil is acid. The deeper or redder the color, the more acid is the soil. Large areas of acid soils in the South. — In regions where the long-leaf or yellow pine is the principal forest tree, much acid soil is usually found, especially in the low places. Farther from the coast sandy soils are sometimes found to be acid even on the tops of mountain plateaus. Spots of poorly drained bottom lands, known as " crawfish land," are often sour. Some plants are able to grow in a slightly acid soil. — Fortunately for the farmer who has acid soil, many useful After R. I. Expt. Station Fig. 70. — Watermelons from Equal Areas I and 3, limed; 2 and 4, not limed. plants grow fairly well in such land. Some of the crops that can endure slight acidity of the soil are cotton, corn, cowpeas, and watermelons (Fig. 70). It may not pay to 114 AGRICULTURE buy lime for these. There are other plants, however, which will not thrive on a sour soil until lime is applied as a fer- tilizing material. Among these are red clover and alfalfa. Wheat, peanuts, sorghum, onions, beets, and cabbages yield much better when lime is used on a soil that previ- ously was acid. How to use lime as a fertilizer. — Quicklime (or lump lime) must be slacked before being spread. This can be done either by pouring water over it while in boxes or in the wagon body, or by covering piles of a few bushels of quicklime with a layer of damp earth. Within a few days or weeks the water in the earth will reduce the lumps of lime to powder, and it is then ready to be spread broad- cast on the plowed ground and harrowed in. From six to twelve barrels of quicklime (which will occupy much more space and weigh more after slacking) are used on one acre. Lime need not be applied oftener than once in three or five years. Other uses of lime when added to the soil. — Lime is a plant-food. Besides overcoming the acidity of certain soils, lime causes the beneficial nitrate-forming germs to increase. It is useful also in hastening the rotting of vegetable matter, such as leaves or weeds which have been plowed under. This rotting must occur before roots can use such vegetable matter. Lime makes stiff clay soils more porous, and more easily worked. Like cultivation, it is a stimulant. It changes some of the potash in the soil into a form that plants can use. It may cause a poor, sandy soil to become exhausted rapidly by putting into crops the little fertility LIME 115 that was in it. This can be avoided by constantly adding vegetable matter and necessary plant-food. Do not mix lime with barnyard manure or acid phos- phate, nor add it to a manure pile or compost heap. It rots these materials so rapidly that it drives off into the air a part of the nitrogen or ammonia of the manure, the* loss of which is rhade known by the strong smell of the escaping ammonia gas. A covering of soil over the compost pile would absorb and hold the ammonia ; hence lime in the soil would not do the harm it might when mixed above the ground with manures or fertilizers. Exercise. — If possible get a lump of builder's lime ; weigh it and notice its size ; let water drip slowly on it. Again weigh it and notice its size. What has happened? At this rate a barrel of quicklime weighing 165 pounds would make how many pounds of slacked lime ? Note to the Teacher. — It will be worth while to buy from a wholesale druggist a 15-cent bottle of blue litmus paper. Obtain in addition a bottle of red litmus paper, which is turned blue by lime. Have pupils test a number of soils with the blue litmus paper, afterwards showing to the class the paper used and describing the kind of soil found, acid, neutral, or alkaline. Test with blue and red litmus all obtainable fertilizers, also salt, soda, various well-waters, etc. Fig. 71. — Well Colttvated and Poorly Tilled Soils. Much Reduced in Size Lime aids in crumbling clods. SECTION XXI. ROTATION OF CROPS Rotation means change in some regular order. Rota- tion of crops is the exact opposite of the growth of the same crop year after year on the same land. It has been found that when one kind of plant is grown year after year on the same land, the yield decreases. If a different kind of crop, peanuts or cowpeas for example, comes in between two cotton crops or two wheat crops, the yield of the cotton or wheat is greatly increased. The different crops ought not only "to take time about" on any one field, but should follow each other in a somewhat definite order. It is impossible in this limited space to arrange tables showing the best order for all crops on the different soils. However, some reasons for rotation are given in the following pages. Rotation to get rid of weeds. — A corn field generally contains more grass and weeds than a cotton field, because the cultivation of the corn is usually stopped earlier in the summer, thus giving grass a chance to spring up. Cotton is cultivated so late into the summer that in the fall a well-kept cotton field is nearly clean. If a field produces several crops of oats or wheat in succession, it becomes quite weedy. The wise farmer will grow on that field one or two crops of cotton or of some other plant that he cultivates very tlioroughly, in order to get rid of the weeds. ii6 ROTATION OF CROPS 117 Rotation to add vegetable matter. — No soil can be kept fertile unless vegetable matter is added to it, either by the decay of large amounts of plants grown on the land or by other means. Place must be made in any rotation for an occasional crop that leaves much vegetable matter to be plowed under. Such crops are hay plants, which com- pletely cover the surface and leave a mass of roots and fallen leaves. The stubble of wheat and oats, together with the growth of weeds that usually follows these grains, also affords consider- able vegetable matter. Rotation to add nitrogen. — Plants like cowpeas and clovers get nitrogen from the air. This nitrogen is added to the soil when the growth of cowpeas or clover is plowed into the land. Even the stubble and roots of these crops, when plowed under, increase the nitrogen in the soil. Hence a wisely planned rotation makes room for the growing, as fre- quently as can well be done, of some leguminous crop, such as cowpeas, clover, peanuts, or velvet beans. When oats or wheat are grown, cow- peas ought usually to be sown in June after the grain crop is removed. • Cowpeas ought generally to be sown among Fig. 72. — Twenty-five Corn Plants IN EACH Bundle On left, grown after plowing under the stubble of mixed vetch and oats; on right, after oat stubble. Weights, 33 and 18 pounds. Il8 AGRICULTURE the growing corn plants to improve the soil. Figure 72 shows that the nitrogen in the stubble of a previous crop of vetch, a leguminous plant, increased the yield of com planted as soon as the vetch was cut. Another reason for rotating crops is to diversify the farm products. The farmer who grows several crops has his labor better distributed over the entire year than the farmer who grows only one or two crops and is less injured if storm, accidents, or low prices cut off his profit on one crop. Rotation to avoid diseases and insect pests. — Every cultivated plant has its own special diseases and insect enemies that do not attack most other farm crops. Many kinds of disease germs and insects remain alive in the soil for one or more years, ready to do injury when the proper plant is grown on that field. If the plants that would be attacked by these pests are kept away from that field for a few years, all or most of the germs or insects die of starvation. If, however, the plant subject to attack is put on the same le.nd again, the pest increases and does more and more harm. Examples of rotation. — Rotation must vary with the kinds of crops to be grown and with the number of acres given to each. Here is a rotation in which about one third of the land is to be used for producing cotton : — Plant one third of the land in cotton ; one third in corn, with cowpeas sown later between the corn rows (Fig. 73); and one third in oats or wheat, planting cowpeas in June after the grain is harvested. This is called a three- year rotation, because at the end of three years each ROTATION OF CROPS 119 field starts over again with the same crop. The cow- peas grown between the corn rows fertilize the oats, which is the next crop. The cow- peas planted just after the oats are cut may be picked or cut for hay or grazed. But no matter what way they are used, they fer- tilize the succeed- ing crop of cot- ton. Of course, phosphate, and sometimes pot- ash, will need to be purchased to help fertilize the crops. Thus cotton following cowpeas on only one third of the Fig. 73. — Cowpeas sown between the Rows of cultivated land will usually produce as many bales as when half or more of the cultivated land is used for cotton and only a few cowpeas grown. Each year let corn follow cotton ; sow oats or wheat on the field that has just borne a crop of corn and cow- 120 AGRICULTURE peas ; and plant cotton every year where oats or wheat (and afterwards cowpeas) grew the year before. Study the following diagrams until this order of cropping is understood. Under this rotation the soil bears a soil-improving crop two years out of every three and the farm becomes richer year by year. A soil-improving crop can be grown every year by sowing crimson clover, vetch, or bur clover in September among the cotton plants. If a farmer wishes half his cultivated area to be in cotton, he can easily do this by growing cotton two years in succession, changing the three-year to a four-year rota- tion. In a four-year rotation each field bears the same crop in the fifth year as in the first. The smaller areas used for peanuts, sweet potatoes, vetches, sorghum, water- melons, and other minor crops are rotated on different parts of a single field near the barn, letting crops that add nitrogen to the soil rotate with those that do not have this power. A good rotation for sugar cane in regions where the cane stubble lives through the winter is : — first year, corn, with cowpeas grown between for fertilizing the cane ; second year, sugar cane ; third year, or third and fourth years, sugar cane from the stubble. In climates where a good stand of sugar cane does not spring up from the stubble, a rotation for sugar cane is : first year, cowpeas or velvet beans ; second year, sugar cane. In the region just north of the cotton-belt a satisfactory rotation is: first year, wheat, among which red clover or grass seeds are sown ; second year, clover or timothy hay ; ROTATION OF CROPS 121 third year, corn (after clover), or timothy hay ; fourth year, corn or wheat. First year Second year Third year Fourth year 6 "v Corn ; cowpeas between rows ; in fall sow in oats or wheat. Oats ; after cut- ting oats sow cow- peas for hay, seed, or grazing. Cotton. a 6 Oats ; after cut- ting oats or wheat sow cowpeas for hay, seed, or grazing. Cotton. Corn ; cowpeas between rows; in fall sow in oats or wheat. b d I- Cotton. Corn ; cowpeas between rows ; in fall sow in oats or wheat. Oats ; after cut- ting oats sow cow- peas for hay, seed, or grazing. s C/2 Fig. 74. — Diagram showing a Simple Three-year Rotation The soil will be enriched still more rapidly if crimson clover is added to a rotation for a cotton farm. This three-year rotation then takes the following form : — First year Second year Third year Summer Winter Summer Winter Summer Winter Corn, with cowpeas Oats or Wheat Cowpeas Crimson Clover Cotton Crimson Clover Fig. 75. — Diagram showing a Three-year Rotation for rapidly IMPROVING A Cotton Farm 122 AGRICULTURE In three years under this rotation a field bears three fiber and grain crops (cotton, oats, and corn) and four crops of soil-improving forage plants (cowpcas and crim- soQ clover, each twice). Exercise. — What farm or garden crops, that are extensively grown in your neighborhood, leave the field most free from weed^ ? Which one permits weeds to grow ? Can the corn crop be harvested in time for wheat or fall-sown oats to be sown ? Note to the Teacher. — Encourage pupils who have grown up on farms to write on the blackboard a statement of the best rotation in use by any farmer of their acquaintance, and to decide whether any of the teachings of this Section and of Section XXX suggest a possible improvement in the local rotation of crops. Fic. 76. A Cotton Field, showing a Bountiful Yield ruou Rotahon or Crops and Tuosoucii Cultivation SECTION XXII. CORN Corn belongs to the grass family. Some of the plants to which it is related are all true grasses, as sugar cane, wheat, oats, rye, barley, and rice. Corn differs from most of its relatives in having both a tassel and an ear, and in having these located on different parts of the plant. A corn plant in full tassel gives off a cloud of dust-like particles when shaken. There are estimated to be about 18,000,000 tiny pollen grains formed by each tassel. Most of these are wasted, but those that fall on the silks are useful. There are as many silks as spaces for grains of corn on the ear. Races of corn. — There are only a few races of corn, the most important being pop, sweet, dent (or common), and flint corn. In each race there are many varieties. Mixing of races of corn. — Some ears of popcorn have some kernels like those of field corn. These have been crossed with common com. Hence popcorn should not be planted near other kinds that will tassel at the same time. If it is impossible to plant it away from all other kinds, arrange the date of planting so as to have it silk and tassel before the other corn, or after the tassels on the common corn have shed their pollen and dried. Sweet corn readily crosses with field corn, and some of its grains are then smooth instead of wrinkled, as dry kernels of sweet corn ought to be. When these races cross, the 123 124 AGRICULTURE character of the grain is generally changed the same year that the mixing occurs. Varieties of field or dent corn. — There are several hun- dred varieties of field com. Many of them are Northern kinds, too small and early to yield well in the South. Ex- periments have shown that the following varieties are often among the most pro- ductive for the Gulf states and regions with similar cli- mate : Mosby, Cocke, and Henry Grady. In most ex- periments in the South varie- ties with two medium-sized ears have yielded more corn than those having a single large ear per plant. Mixing may not show the first year. — There may be a large amount of crossing be- tween varieties of common corn, and yet the farmer may be unable to see it by exam- ining the ears. A white va- riety may grow beside a yel- low variety of dent com and yet the first year there may be no white grains on the yellow ears. This is be- Fio. 77. — A Tall Variety of CoKN, Mexican June CORN 125 cause crossing between two varieties of dent corn does not always change the character of the grains the first year. The growing of two varieties of corn close together (unless they are planted at such dates as to cause them to tassel at different times) should be avoided. Corn is a plant easily improved by the method given in Section VIII. It is also a plant that quickly becomes mixed, and hence inferior, if great care is not taken in the Fig. 78. — Showing Three Methods of planting Corn selection of seed. Learn the best kind of corn for your soil, then keep it pure and improve it. Corn roots and the preparation they require. — A corn plant may have 20 to 50 roots, many of them as long as the plant itself. These, with their branches and root- hairs, are always busy taking water from the soil. Hence corn yields best on a soil that is always moist (but not wet). It needs land so deeply plowed before planting and so well drained that some of its roots can grow deep down where there is moisture even when the weather is dry. Plow deep in preparing a field, if you can plow early. 126 AGRICULTURE Corn is planted either in elevated ridges or beds, in de- pressions or water furrows, or in level ground (Fig, 78), according to the soil and the farmer's judgment. Plant corn just deep enough to make sure that it will continually be in moist soil until germinated. Usually a depth be- tween one and three inches is best. Distance between plants. — The poorer and drier the land, the greater must be the distance between plants. But land on which corn requires more than three feet between plants, in rows five feet apart, is probably too poor and dry for corn. The richer and moister the land, the more the plants can be crowded ; the rows on some bottom lands are only three and a half feet apart. In the South, corn is usually planted from the first of March to the middle of June. Cultivation. — Corn roots are long and near the surface ; this shows that cultivation ought to be shallow. Heavy rains after planting make some clay lands very compact. This causes some farmers to give one deep cultivation while the plants are very small. Avoid this unless sure that it is necessary, and then make this deep cultivation only when the plants are very young. A corn plant six inches high may have roots twelve to eighteen inches long. Many of them would be cut by deep cultivation. It is possible and wise to cultivate corn before it comes up. This is done by running a spike-tooth harrow or a weeder over the field, either across or along the rows. In this way millions of tiny weeds and grass plants are killed just after they have come up. This early cultivation also forms a loose layer of earth all over the field, which holds CORN 127 the moisture in the ground, thus making the corn come up more completely and quickly and causing the young plants to grow more rapidly. This cultivation with the weeder can be kept up until the corn plants are several inches or even a foot high. One man with a horse or mule can thus cultivate 10 to 12 acres in a day. In the cotton belt, upland corn is usually thinned to one plant in a hill. Corn should be cultivated as soon after every rain as the soil is dry enough. A cheap implement much used in the South for cultivating corn is the " heel scrape." Various styles of one-horse and two-horse culti- vators are used. Cultivation usually ceases before all the silks appear. In cultivating corn avoid ridging the land very much, because this takes earth from the middle of the row and because ridging increases the amount of surface that evaporates moisture. Fertilizers. — Corn grows best on rich, moist land, and it pays better to enrich the land by growing cowpeas or other soil-improving plants in previous years than to use large amounts of commercial fertilizers. Manure, applied early, is the best fertilizing material for corn. When this cannot be had, moderate amounts of commercial fertilizers rich in nitrogen may be used on land needing fertilizer. A mix- ture of 200 pounds of cotton-seed meal and 100 pounds of acid phosphate per acre is often satisfactory. Stripping the leaves. — Many farmers in the South strip off the corn leaves to obtain " fodder " with which to feed their teams. When the farmer strips the green leaves from the corn plant he stops the accumulation of carbon, the material of which the corn grain chiefly consists. 128 AGRICULTURE Thus he reduces the yield of corn grain several bushels per acre. The same amount of labor employed in making hay as in " pulling fodder " would produce much more food for stock. The practice of cutting and shocking the corn plants just after most of the shucks have turned brownish does not greatly reduce the yield. Exercise. — Find ears or even kernels of sweet com and popcorn, and bring these, as well as dent-corn ears, to the class. Write in your note- book a description of the shape, size, etc., of grains of each. Examine a com plant and locate the brace roots. Examine ten ears of corn and record in your notebook the number of rows on each. Can you find any ear with fifteen rows? Can you discover any law or rule about the number of rows? Note to the Teacher. — Helpful object lessons for this chapter are : Dried or fresh corn tassels ; unhusked ears of corn with adhering silks ; ears of sweet, pop, flint, and dent corn, and ears of pop or sweet com with a few dent grains. Com kernels planted close to the glass side of a box (Fig. 22 ) or near the glass inside of a tumbler permit a study of com roots. Keep the glass covered with black pai)er or cloth except when making observations. Washing the soil from the roots of a growing corn plant, by the use of a small stream of water from an elevated barrel or bucket, will reveal the length and position of the roots and thus enforce the lesson of shallow cultivation. SECTION XXIII. SELECTING OR JUDGING SEED-CORN By careful selection of seed-corn, five bushels or more per acre can be added to the usual yield. It pays well, therefore, to learn to select or judge corn. It is im- portant to select seed from good plants, and also from the best ears. Selecting the best ear. — On p. 131 is the score-card adopted by the corn-growers of one state. It gives all the points to be taken into consideration in judging corn. Experi- ence is needed to bring skill in this. General Directions. Begin with the second horizontal line in the table, which is for "shape of ear." Carefully examine the ear to discover whether or not the shape is perfect. Among defects may be slight crookedness, too much taper, or rows of kernels twisting around the cob instead of being straight. A shape that is very good may be scored "9"; a perfect shape, 10, is rare. If there are very great defects in shape, give it some lower number, say " 8," if its only weak point is a moderate twisting of the rows of kernels. After deciding on the score for each quality, write the figure or grade in the proper blank column in the table. When all the other qualities have been noted, score the first one. K 129 Fig. 79. — Tip, Side View, and Butt OF A Prize- winning Eau OF CORH I30 AGRICULTURE Color of grain and cob. — The color of all kernels on the same car (or on the same set of ears in exhibits at fairs) should be the same. The color of the cob should not be different from the usual color for that variety. White cobs are preferred if the grain is white, and red cobs if the grain is yellow. The yield, however, is not affected, whether the cob be uni- formly white or uniformly red. Cobs of different colors in one variety indicate impurity or crossing, and such ears should be rejected. Vitality or seed condition. — A germination test shows the vitality most accurately. However, the appearance of Fig. 8o. — Tips and Butts or Cor.v On right, poor; in center, better; on left, good. the tips of the grains often indicates how they may germi- nate. Poor or low germination results when the tips of the grains are either (i) black or brownish, (2) shriveled, SELECTING OR JUDGING SEED-CORN 131 O O O O "^"^O u^O ir\ ir\ ir\ O K. -§ s C "^ *j C5 h W ^ ^ ^ ^ -^ -^ ,. *^ B L^ ^« ^^ !> i* u .t3 a, a. I;^ tii hJ U CO c/2 I >-i(Srr)'^u^vOt~vCOOO'->Mm 132 AGRICULTURE (3) covered after being shelled by small bits of the cob, or (4) very slender and sharp-pointed. Generally a grain with well-filled shoulders next the cob and with a large kkkkkkkkUiii kkkkk wniiiiiii If 9f f Courtny lova Ezpt. 8taUo«. Fic. 81. — Good and Poor Shapes of Corn Kkrxels germ (Fig. 82 below) affords strong sprouts that make good plants. Tips of ears. — The grains near the tip of the ear should be well shaped and the rows should extend well out to the end of the cob. The less cob ex- posed, the better (Fig. 80). Butts of ears. — On the butt, or larger end of the ear, there should be straight rows of grains and very few irregularly shaped kernels. The best butts are those in which the grains extend beyond the end of the cob, leaving a Fic. 8a. After HoMra. Various Shates or Corn Kernels I, 3, 8, and 9 are the best. SELECTING OR JUDGING SEED-CORN 133 medium-sized depression where the ear stalk or shank was attached to the cob. Stand the ear on end. If the butt is even, as it should be, the ear will stand erect or vertical. An ear with butt much larger than the remainder of the ear, or with several extra, short rows of grains, is badly shaped. Uniformity of kernels. — Except the grains near the ends of the ear, the kernels on one ear and in one variety should be nearly similar in shape, size, and de- gree of denting on the top. When corn is planted by machinery, it is important for the grains to be of one size, so that the same number may be dropped in each hill. Shape of kernels. — The grains are most compactly arranged when they are almost square-shouldered, both at the crown or top, and next the cob. A grain rounded at the top wastes space and is apt to be short. A well-shaped kernel is well filled next to the cob, giving room for a large germ. The larger the germ, the better. The grain should be large, and it is best when the shape is like numbers i, 2, 8, 9 (Fig. 82). Length of ear. — The best length dif- fers for different varieties. If the ears are short, the yield is reduced. If they are unusually long, there is danger that the ear may not be well covered by the shuck. In varieties bearing only one ear to the plant, the ear should generally be more than nine inches long. Fig. 83. — Cross Sections through Ears of Corn I, grains too short; 2, too much space be- tween rows and cob too small; 3, good shape of kernels. 134 AGRICULTURE Circumference of ear. — The measure around an ear is taken with a tape-line a: a point one third the distance from the larger end. The usual rule is for the circumference to be three fourths the length of the same ear. An ear much larger around than this may have too large a cob, and may dry out too slowly. A very slender ear may have too small a cob, and grains that are much too short. Space between rows. — If these fur- rows are deep and wide, they indicate a poorly shaped, round-shouldered kernel. Such ears yield a low percentage of grain (Fig. 83). Space between kernels at cob. — Spaces between the flat sides of the kernels, near the cob, show that the grains are not oc- cupying all the room they might (Fig. 84). On right, too much On such ears, the tips of the kernels are space between ker- ^ . i ^ .t • . n • t n nels at the cob- on ^P^ ^° "^ ^°° ^"'" ^^ ^^^ "^* ^*'" ^ Small left, kernels 6tting germ ; the grains seem loose when the close together. . . • ^ ^ ear is twisted. Proportion of com to cob. — This is determined by shell- ing the ear (or half the ears in an exhibit of ten ears), and weighing the shelled corn and the cob. The weight of the shelled grain is then divided by the weight of cob and grain. The quotient gives the per cent of g^ain on the husked ear. With most highly bred varieties the selected ears arc expected to show at least 86 or 88 per cent of grain. Germination test. — Vacant hills, or poor stands, greatly reduce the yield of corn. They are often due to planting 2 Fio. 84. — Sections THKOIJGH TWO Eass or CoKN SELECTING OR JUDGING SEED-CORN 135 ears on which the germs in the grains are dead or injured. A very even stand may be obtained by testing between moist blotting-paper six grains from every ear of seed- corn. Do not plant the ears whose grains fail to sprout or that make small, weak sprouts. Exercise. — Every pupil should bring to school at least one ear of com for use in reciting this lesson. After one ear has been scored under the teacher's direction pupils may by themselves practice scoring or comparing other ears. Note to the Teacher. — The first day let every pupil carefully score one ear. Repeat this exercise from two to four times, being care- fol that each day every pupil scores a different ear or ears. Encourage every one to give the reasons why he scored each quality of a certain ear high or low, and by consensus of opinion try to decide which are really the best ears. When the class shows some proficiency in scoring single ears, and before interest wanes, endeavor to have every pupil bring from home either five, or better ten, selected ears. Let them first place the ears quickly from left to right in supposed order of merit ; then score every ear, re-arranging the ears according to the scores now given. Two or more days may well be spent on each set of ten ears. Then new sets may be brought or the different sets may be exchanged. It will stimulate interest and proficiency to promise that when the class has had five to ten days of practice in corn judging, it may give a public exhibition of corn and of corn judging. The public exercises should consist of (i) the placing in order of merit of five or ten ears, (2) the careful scoring of some of these ears, and (3) in answer to the teacher's questions, a statement of reasons why certain ears are scored or arranged low down. This may be supplemented by a display of sets of ten ears of corn brought on invitation by neighbors ; by the display of the results of a germination test; by the reading of a short composition on some phase of corn growing ; and by the reading of extracts from bulletins on. corn published bv some experiment station. SECTION XXIV. WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY These four crops are called the small-grains. Each one of them is an important human food in some part of the world. Oats and barley are largely used as hay or pasturage. Their straw is fed to live-stock or used for bedding. Wheat makes better bread than any other grain. Resemblances between the small-grains. — Wheat, oats, rye, and barley all bear seeds or grains at the top of a hollow stem or straw. Although the walls of the straw are thin, the hollow form gives great strength to a small amount of stem material. These small-grain plants are alike in having no tap- root, but only a great number of fine roots springing from a center or crown. This crown, or starting-place for the permanent roots, is usually about one inch below the surface of the ground, whether the seed be planted deep or shallow. The seeds are sown one to three inches deep. Some differences between the plants of wheat, oats, rye, and barley. — The heads of oats are branched and open, but those of wheat, rye, and barley have grain clusters or spikelets closely joined to the main stem. The heads of rye are long, somewhat flattened, and have long beards. Common barley and bearded wheat have shorter heads with stiff spreading beards. Some of the best varieties of wheat, however, do not have beards. «36 WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY 137 Fig. 85. — Part of a Young Barley Plant, showing Large " Clasps" How to recognize the seeds of the small-grains. — The threshed grain of wheat, oats, rye, and barley may be distinguished as fol- lows : — Oat kernels are wrapped tightly in a long tough hull. Barley grains are covered with a hull that has grown to the kernel, forming an angular grain. Wheat grains have no hull after being threshed, and are short and usually plump. Rye grains, like wheat grains, have no attached hull, but are longer and more wrinkled than those of wheat. How to recognize the young plants. — It is possible to distin- guish between fields of these plants when they are small. This can be done by the width of the leaves, and the erect or spreading growth. It is sometimes puzzling to decide whether a single young plant is wheat, oats, rye, or barley. On the leaves of young barley, wheat, and rye plants there are tiny growths like little horns, clasping the stem. These may be called " clasps." They Fig. 86. -Part of a Young ^gi ^^ identify the plants (Figs. 85, Plant of Oats, showing j l \ o THE Absence of "Clasps" 86, 87, and 88). Barley has larger clasps than any other kind of small-grain. Wheat has the 138 AGRICULTURE next largest, or medium-sized clasps. They are unlike those of barley and rye, and bear on their edges a few very fine, short hairs. Rye has smaller clasps than either wheat or barley. The oat plant has no clasps at all. The flowers of the small-grains. — Wherever there is a single grain of oats or wheat, there has once been a flower. It had no brilliant color, but resembled a flower only in that it had the essential Fig. 87. — Part of a parts, that is. Stamens and pistils. The sho'^winT SmaTi! gi'een flower of oats, wheat, rye, or bar- " Clasps" ley before the grain has begun to form contains in each grain place three stamens or pollen-cases and two feathery, plume-like stigmas (Fig. 10). Oats, wheat, and barley do not need bright colors and nectar in their flowers to attract insects, because they are self-pollinated. That is, the pollen in any one flower fertilizes the pistil in that same flower. Self-pollination does not seem to injure plants that are accustomed to it. It keeps varie- ties of wheat or of oats from mix- ing with each other through the carrying of pollen by wind or in- sects. Thus red oats do not naturally cross with Burt or Turf oats. However, rye may be cross-pollinated. Fig. 88. — Pakt or a Youno Wheat PLA>rr, showing " Clasps " bokdeked with Hairs WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY 139 Preparation of land. — Good preparation should be given to the land intended for wheat. This grain requires a seed-bed that at the time of planting is compact or settled in the lower layers but loose and fine in the upper ones. This is best secured by plowing land for wheat a number of weeks before sowing the seed. Then pulverize the clods with a harrow. Unfortunately, some farmers seem to think that any kind of preparation or none at all is good enough for oats. An oat seed is well protected by its hull and can lie for weeks uninjured among dry clods. But, nevertheless, oats should not be deeply buried under large clods, for this makes the plants come up at different dates and ripen unevenly, and makes the stand thinner than it would otherwise be. Thickness of sowing small-grains. — When planted at the usual distance, a wheat or an oat plant generally ripens from two to six heads on an equal number of stems or branches. But a plant well fertilized, planted early, and given abun- dant space, may form more than a score of stems and heads. This habit of branching from buds at the crown permits the plants of these crops to occupy as much or more than the usual space. It explains why sometimes just as large a crop comes from sowing two bushels of oats as from sow- ing three bushels per acre. About five pecks of wheat or rye per acre are generally sown. Varieties. — Among the standard varieties of wheat for the Southern states are Blue Stem and Fultz, which are beardless or smooth, and Fuicaster, which has beards. Red oats is the standard Southern kind. It is called rust- proof because it is less injured by rust than most other I40 AGRICULTURE varieties. The Burt oat is an early Southern variety and is sown after Christmas. Southern rye affords more forage than does rye seed brought south from higher latitudes. Fio. 89. — Showing the Larger and Earlier Growth in Spring made BY Oats sown in the Fall than by those sown in February Time to sow small-grains. — Rye and wheat are usually unhurt by the coldest weather that occurs in the Southern states. Hence they are always sown in the fall. Barley and winter, or Turf, oats are usually sown in the same season. In the southern part of the cotton-belt, Red oats can be sown either in the fall or after Christmas. Wher- WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY 141 ever oats can live through the winter, the yield is much larger from sowing the seed in the fall than from sowing oats after Christmas (Fig. 89). Increasing the resistance of oats to cold. — Fall-sown oats are much more productive than those sown later, and so it pays to help oats live through the winter. Notice young oat plants on a clay soil late in a cold winter, and you may observe that the whitened roots of many young plants are partly above ground. In this position they are easily killed. The repeated freezing of the water in the soil has lifted them. Water swells in turn- ing to ice, so that the ice is forced up above ground. In rising it lifts a little earth, and with the earth the young and slightly rooted plant is carried. When the ground thaws, the uplifted earth, being heavy, falls back into place, but the plant remains in its raised position. This heaving may be repeated several times. Courtesy Cal. Expt. Station Fig. 90. — A Good Sample of Wheat 142 AGRICULTURE If oats are sown early enough in the lall, they form long, strong roots which tend to anchor them. A more certain method of pro- tecting them against death from cold con- sists in planting them in deep furrows that are not entirely filled in. The young plants are safer here because it is more difficult for a plant in a low place to be lifted by a freeze than for one in a higher place. In sowing oats thus in open furrows a one-horse planter is used, run in the bottom of a furrow made with a shovel-plow. The drills are i8 to 24 inches apart. Improvement of seed. — Large seeds generally produce larger crops than do light seeds (Figs. 90, 91). Both wheat and oats can be greatly improved by selecting the best plants and sowing their seed in a small seed-plot. Any improvement once made is apt to be permanent, because wheat and oats do not cross with inferior kinds. On any farm where oats or wheat mature large, plump grains, it is better to use home-grown seeds than those from other Courtoj Cftl. Expt. SutloD Fig. 91. — \ Poor Sample of Wheat; Grains Shriveled WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY 143 parts of the country. When properly cared for, wheat and oats do not " run out " and do not require change of seed. Fertilizers for small grains. — These plants make much of their growth during the cooler part of the year. Then the vegetable matter in the soil is not then rotting very rapidly so as to furnish the plant with available nitrogen. For this reason the fertiHzer for the small grains ought to be rich in nitrogen. Nitrate of soda is especially suited to the small grains. This can be sown on the growing plants in spring and need not be covered. Acid phosphate, ap- plied when the seed are sown, is often a profitable fertilizer for small grains On very poor soils, it may be necessary to add also some form of potash, making a complete fer- tilizer. Exercise. — If this chapter is studied just after rye has formed heads, notice the abundance of pollen. What does this suggest? Examine a head of oats to learn how many grains in each spikelet or cluster ; which one is the larger ; and where the beards, if any, start. In the same way examine a head of wheat. Resolve to save seeds of the best plants of oats or wheat, when ripe, for a seed-row where the seeds can be improved by continued selection of the best plants. Note to the Teacher. — A comparison of heads (or of grains of young plants) of the four small-grains will suggest many points of similarity and of contrast. Be sure to give practice in identifying the plants by means of the clasps. If any of the small-grains are in bloom, have each pupil examine a flower and describe the stamens and pistils. SECTION XXV. COTTON Every nation depends largely upon the southern part of the United States for cotton. The Chinaman, as well as the Englishman, is clothed in American cotton. All classes of people, from beggars to princes, make use of it, and the world is continually calling for more. Foreign countries send more gold into the United States in pay- ment for our cotton than for any other American crop. Fio. 92. — Cotton Leaves a, upland; b, Sea Island. Fic. 93. — Cotton Bolls a, upland ; b. Sea Island ; c, Indian. The cotton crop of the Southern states, which is usually between ii,cxx),cxx) and 13,000,000 bales per year, gen- erally sells for an amount between ^600,000,000 and $750,000,000, including the seed. The next largest producer of cotton is India. Most Indian cotton, however, is of poorer quality and lower price than the American. Egypt stands third as a cot- ton-producing country. Its product has a very long staple, and sells for a higher price than American cotton. «44 COTTON 145 Some of it is imported into the United States for use in making goods where a long staple is required. In length, the staple of Egyptian is between that of American long- staple and Sea Island cotton. Egyptian and Indian cottons are not nearly so productive in America as are the varieties generally grown in the Southern states. The cotton plant. — Cotton belongs to the Mallow family, which includes not only all kinds of cotton, but also okra, hollyhocks, and a number of common weeds and flowers. The several kinds of cotton differ greatly in their stalks, leaves, blooms, and lint. In tropical countries, cotton is a tree-like plant, not dying in winter. In the southern part of Texas cotton plants springing from roots that live over winter are troublesome because they give food to the cotton-boll weevil early in the spring. Why cotton makes strong thread and cloth. — Cotton is popular for making thread, cloth, and rope, in spite of the fact that a single fiber of the common kind is generally not over one inch long. This is because a cotton fiber is a twisted, hollow tube (Fig. 94). The twist makes the separate cotton fibers cling tightly to each other, just as two chains would do if twisted together. The fibers are so small that 1200 to 1500 of them could be laid side by side in the space of one inch. The kinds of cotton in the United States. — There are only three main kinds of cotton grown in the United Fig. 94. — Fibers or Strands of Cotton, enlarged 146 AGRICULTURE States. These are, (i) common or short-staple, (2) long- staple upland, and (3) Sea Island cotton. Long-staple upland cotton resembles common cotton very much in appearance and has the same shape of leaf; but its bolls are usually more slender and the lint longer, usually being one and one eighth to one and one half inches I \ aouTM G* JKKJNA / \ \ ^ w^^ yO^ J^^~*~\/ k A A' v,fi^^ • ) 0 , v\ X *^-« -J-1 r< Xi^ VfT:e.vy/<^ ' « / ^ P\ -A. rP?Svr < if\)^ Va?^g|»N r^ft5vS v\ 1 A^^ V r^^':' ki\ V^^^Sh ^V- ofs \ m^^ K Afiri I'. S. Urpi AA.-O.S/bs. P-S.3-/ba, m m A/-6/-/b3. Fic. 96. — Showing Amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash removed frou the soil by 5oo pounds of cotton lint and looo Pounds of Seed Shaded squares indicate the small amount of plant-food in the lint; unshaded squares show the large amount in the seed. quality, and then select from good plants that make the nearest approach to this desired quality. The first rule in cotton-breeding is to select chiefly for one quality at a time and to keep up this selection for the same quality every year. The second rule is to keep separate the seed of each of the best twenty or more mother plants and to grow each in a separate row the next year. The seeds from the best rows should be saved. Always locate the breeding-patch as far from other cotton as possible. Insects carry cotton COTTON 151 Fig. 97. — A Cluster Cotton Plant Fig. 98. — A Semi-cluster Cotton Plant pollen and thus mix varieties, but not to the same extent that the wind causes the mixing of varieties of corn. As the boll weevil spreads over the cotton belt, it becomes more important to select seed from plants that form their bolls early. Preparation of land and cultivation of cotton. — Thorough and deep prep- aration usually pays. Cotton comes up better if the harrow is used to pre- FiG. 99. — A Cotton Plant of the vent the formation of a King Type 153 AGRICULTURE crust and the drying of the land during the few weeks before the seeds are planted. Cot- ton is planted as soon as dan- ger of frost is past. Cultiva- tion should be shallow and frequent, and if possible af- ter rains and before a crust would form on the soil, rather On poor land the rows may be Fig. ioo. — A Long-staple Upland Cotton Plant than at regular intervals, as narrow as three feet and the plants as close as one foot apart. As the land becomes richer or is better fertilized, the space for each plant must be increased, be- cause the limbs grow longer. On rich land the rows may be four feet or more apart and the plants about two feet from each other. Planting cotton in checks saves Fio. loi. — A Big-boll Cottoh Plant labor, but requires COTTON 153 good or well-fertilized soil and nearly level, well-drained fields. The fertilizer for cot- ton is usually a com- plete fertilizer (Fig. 96). Generally it should contain two to three times as much phos- phoric acid as nitrogen or potash. On soils where cotton rust is usual the proportion of potash may be in- fig. 102. — The Peterkin type of Cotton creased. If the plants make a very small growth on any soil, the proportion of nitrogen should be increased. Exercise. — Write in your notebook the names of the varieties of cotton grown in the neighborhood. Which of these have large bolls? Small bolls? Long staple? Very green seed? Partly sleek or very dark seed ? Small seed ? Examine ten plants or even ten dead cotton stalks and notice how widely they differ. Would there be any advan- tage in selecting seed from uniform plants? Decide which kind of plant you would select from. Why ? When the next cotton crop is mature, be- gin to select and improve cotton by the method described in this section. Note to the Teacher. — If possible, make one or more excursions into the cotton fields. Bend every effort to make the pupil see more in a cotton plant than ever before ; for example, variations in leaves and bolls on the same plant, ribs of leaves, the relation between earliness and form of plant, etc. If this lesson is studied after the stalks have been plowed under, let the practice be largely a study of the seed, — sizes, colors, fuzz, shape, hull and kernel, germination, etc. Dampen seeds slightly with extremely thin flour paste, stir, then dry. Do the seeds stick together? What is the practical advantage of this treat- ment in planting? Advise pupils to try it at home on a bushel of seed, using one cup of flour in two quarts of water. SECTION XXVI. SUGAR CANE Sugar cane and corn both belong to the grass family. Safely hidden under the clasping or tube-like lower portion of each leaf are buds or eyes, one at each joint. These serve instead of seed to multiply the plant. When a stalk of sugar cane is planted, the moist, warm soil causes the buds to grow into young sprouts, which for a little while feed on the juice of the mother cane. Roots and suckers. — At each bud or eye and extending entirely around the stalk are several rows of small, whitish dots. If cane is planted and a few weeks later dug up, it will be found that the roots have grown out from these spots. Unfortunately these dots, especially in some varieties, also throw out roots when the cane is blown down and lies touching the damp ground. Roots from the joints above ground are not wanted. In a row where only one con- tinuous line of cane has been planted, there may be single hills from each of which three or more canes may grow. The first grew from the bud ; the others from buds on the base of the young cane. Stalks that grow from a bud on a young plant, rather than directly from a bud on the planted cane, are called suckers. Suckers that start early add to the yield, but those that form late are useless. »54 SUGAR CANE 1 55 The plant changed by climate. — Sugar cane, like cotton, first grew in countries warmer than the Southern states. Like cotton also, it has greatly changed its habit of growth as it has been carried northward. In the tropics it con- tinues to grow fifteen months or more before being cut. In Louisiana the tops cannot live through the winter, but the stubble and roots remain alive and furnish a supply of shoots for a second and sometimes for a third crop. Planting, therefore, is necessary only every second or third year. Only once in a number of years is planting neces- sary in tropical countries. In the central part of the Gulf states, and farther north, the roots usually do not live through the winter, so that stalks of cane have to be planted every year. Varieties of sugar cane. — Sugar cane forms seeds in very warm countries, but not in the Southern states. The chief use of these seeds is to start new varieties. Plants grown from seeds are more unlike their parents than are plants grown from buds. When a seedling is better than its parent, it is prized as a new variety and is increased by planting canes (Fig. 103). The variety most generally grown is the red or purple cane, so named from the color of the stem. The striped or ribbon cane that is sometimes grown is so named be- cause it is streaked with irregular stripes of white. Green cane is also grown to some extent. Some of the newer varieties introduced by the Louisiana Experiment Station are proving superior to all of the old varieties and are dis- placing them in Louisiana. Japanese cane is one of the hardiest varieties and can be grown for syrup farther north 156 AGRICULTURE C(amine an Irish and a sweet potato. Do the roots extend through and beyond the sweet potato ? Beyond the Irish potato ? Which of these is a true root? Note to the Teacher. — If this lesson is studied before frost, pupils should bring in sweet potato leaves for comparison and for draw- ing. If sweet potatoes are extensively grown in your neighborhood, write to Experiment Stations and the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., for bulletins on that crop. SECTION XXVIII. PEANUTS AND WATERMELONS Peanuts. — The soil should be loose, sandy, and well prepared. It need not be very rich, because the peanut is a legume and therefore gets its nitrogen from the air. It must, however, get phosphoric acid and potash from the soil or from fertilizers. If fertilizers are not obtainable, wood ashes may be used. The newly burnt ashes from oak and hickory are richer than those from pine wood. Lime often increases the yield of peanuts and its use is believed to reduce the number of "pops," or empty hulls. Shell the peanuts without spUtting the two halves of the kernel and plant after cotton comes up in a place where the chickens and pigs cannot get them. The plant forms its nuts by sticking its sharp, needle-like pistils into the ground. The seeds are borne underground. The peanut is an important sale crop in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. It is grown for home use and for hog food throughout the cotton belt. A good yield is 40 to 60 bushels per acre. Peanuts for planting should be hand-picked, so that only sound seed may be planted. Peanuts should be dug as soon as mature, and cured in rather tall slender shocks (Fig. 109). The peanut makes the land rich if the vines are allowed to decay in the ground. 165 l66 AGRICULTURE There are two principal kinds of peanuts, the Spanish and the running. The Spanish variety has short, upright stems and small nuts, which are firmly attached to the plant. The running peanuts have larger nuts and require more labor in harvesting. Watef melons. — Every Southern farm needs its water- melon patch for producing melons for home consumption. The watermelon is also an important sale crop. From some localities thousands of car loads are shipped each year. Varieties for shipping should have a firm rind, which often accompanies rather inferior quality. For home use there are numbers of good varieties. The watermelon likes a warm, sandy, well-drained soil. If the soil is poor, manure should be freely used. The field should be thoroughly plowed and then marked off into checks lo by lo or lo by 8 feet. Where these check fur- rows cross, work into the soil one or two shovelfuls of well-rotted compost, made of manure and wood mold or of manure and cotton seed. On the manure, sprinkle a handful of complete commercial fertilizer or guano. With a hoe mark two trenches one inch deep across each hill. Plant at least six seeds in one of the trenches. A week later plant a like number in the other trench in each hill. Thus if frost kills the earlier plants there will be later ones to take their place. Thin to two plants in a hill and cultivate shallow, fre- quently, and in both directions. Avoid unnecessary mov- ing of the vines, or cultivation while the leaves are wet Before cultivation ceases sow a row of cowpeas between the rows of watermelon hills. PEANUTS AND WATERMELONS 167 Do not plant watermelons for more than one year on or near the same field. A very fatal disease, watermelon wilt, is especially liable to attack watermelons planted on land on which the same crop has recently grown. Where this disease occurs, it may be necessary to fertilize only with wood mold and commercial fertilizers, omitting the manure. This is because manure frequently contains and carries the germs of the disease. Wilt-resistant varieties of water- melons are now being perfected. Exercise. — When peanuts begin next season to form nuts, examine them carefully and find the flower, the pistil, and the seed. Notice the position of the leaves of peanuts at night. Are there tubercles on the roots of peanuts ? Are they as large as those on the roots of cowpeas ? Is any of the soil from the field where peanuts last grew brought to the new peanut field ? When watermelons bloom, notice the difference between the pistillate and the staminate flowers. Fig. 109. — Peanuts or Goobers drying in Shocks SECTION XXIX. LEGUMES AND INOCULATION In former times learned men thought that mankind would finally starve to death because there is not enough nitrogen in the ground to produce food suflficient to feed the growing population of the world. There is no longer any fear of this, for it is known that certain plants called legumes can make use of the limitless amounts of nitrogen in the air. There are about 36,000 tons of this nitrogen gas in the air above every acre. Yet cotton, corn, wheat, and most plants cannot use a pound of this nitrogen gas until legumes have changed it into fertilizer nitrogen. Any of the legumes, for example, the cowpea or clover, by the aid of the tubercles on its roots (Fig. 112), can grow on ground where cotton, corn, or wheat would starve for want of nitrogen. Not only do legumes get from the air enough nitrogen to enable them to make luxuriant growth on a poor field, but they also enrich the soil with a part of this nitrogen. When the roots and fallen leaves decay, the nitrogen in them is added to the soil. Still more is added if the stems and leaves, as well as the roots, are left on the field where the plants grew. That crops often grow much larger after a legume is shown in Fig. 1 10. Each germ grows only on the kind of plant to which it is accustomed. — Every tubercle on the roots of legumes is 168 LEGUMES AND INOCULATION 169 inhabited by thousands of useful germs, or plants too small to be seen by the naked eye. When the tubercle decays, these germs are set free, and spread through the 11 f 1 I- 1 { t i '■',* r v/j ///, ^1 k % %##i II %k m ji ' 1 i w^^mai^ 9 m i w hml m ■ 'V %.'^ ^ fmam j^ :^, ,. t'mH: ^ Fig. 1 10. — Sorghum from Equal Areas In center, fertilized with rye; on left, with vetch, entire growth ; on right, with vetch stubble. soil by means of water. These little workmen are alive. They must wait until the same kind of legume is planted 170 AGRICULTURE there again. As soon as a clover plant throws out roots, the clover germs attach themselves to the root, multiply rapidly, and form a tubercle. Strange to say, clover germs will not grow on cowpea roots. Perhaps this is because the clover germ has Fig. III. — Red Clovek I, inoculated; a, not inoculated. become accustomed to liv- ing on the special kind of food it finds in clover sap, and perhaps the diet the cowpea or alfalfa offers does not agree with it. If a fertilizer factory is started, it must be by germs accus- tomed to work on that kind of plant or on one very closely akin to it. Clover germs make tubercles on clover, alfalfa germs cause nodules on alfalfa, vetch germs organize fertilizer factories on the roots of vetch, and so on. Inoculation of leguminous crops. — If a farmer, there- fore, desires to grow clover Fig. 112. — Roots or Soy Bean, INOCtTLATKD LEGUMES AND INOCULATION 171 on a soil where there have been no clover tubercles, he must place the clover germs there (Fig. iii). He can do this by sowing in that place soil from a field where clover has turned loose its millions of germs. If he wishes to grow alfalfa, he must likewise sow on the new field soil from an old alfalfa field. Inoculation is the name given to this placing of the proper germs where . they can form tubercles. To inoculate a legume is to bring the proper germs to its roots (Figs. 112, 113, 114). How to inoculate leg- umes.— Legumes can be in- oculated in several ways, (.1) by sowing soil, (2) by dipping the seed in water mixed with this soil, or (3)' by mixing the seed with a special preparation made originally from ground-up tubercles of a plant like that to be grown. Using the proper soil. — This is a reliable method of inoculating the soil. Care must be taken not to use soil that has in it seeds of bad weeds or that contains the germs of serious plant diseases. Promptly cover inoculated seed or soil used for inoculating legumes, for much sunshine will kill the germs. Fig. 113. — Roots of Soy Bean, not inoculated 172 AGRICULTURE Legumes that need inoculation. — There are or have been tubercles on nearly every cowpea plant found in the region where cotton grows. Cowpea plants in the North, however, have no tubercles where this crop is but little grown. In the South- ern states, where cow- peas are generally grown, the wind has blown the germs into almost every field. However, in most sandy soils in the South, where crimson clover, vetch, and al- falfa are seldom grown, the farmer will need to inoculate the seed of these three very useful plants. Figs. Ill, 114 show how inoculation often helps these rarely grown legumes. Fic. 114. — Crimson Clover, thk Same Number or Plants in Each Bundle On right, inoculated; on left, not inoculated. Grown at Ala. Agr. Expt. Station. Exercises. — Ask your parents to tell you how much their crops are usually increased by a preceding crop of cowjjeas or clover. Examine every leguminous plant you can find. Make drawings of tubercles on some of the leguminous plants you find. LEGUMES AND INOCULATION 173 Note to the Teacher. — Much time can here be given to a study of the tubercles on different plants. Assign drawings from nature of the tubercles on several legumes, as on garden pea, clover, and on any others that may be available. Write to your state Experiment Station and to the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington for any bulletins on soil-improving plants ; also ask that the library of your school be put on their permanent mailing lists, so that the school may receive their future publications. Fig. 115. — Nodules on Winter or Hairy Vetch SECTION XXX. SOME FORAGE PLANTS Cowpea. — There are more than a score of varieties of cowpeas. Some, like the Speckled, grow almost upright, make a good crop of seed, and are easy to mow. Others make long runners that sometimes lie almost flat on the ground and are hard to mow because they tangle. Still others, like the New Era, make ripe pods so quickly that two crops of them can be made in the Gulf states in one year, by sowing the second crop with seed ripened by the first crop in July. This is helpful when seed for planting is scarce. Bushy, upright cowpeas form "runners" and tangle, if the seed is sown very early. Late sowing, say in July, makes the branches, or " runners," of a running variety shorter. Cowpeas may be planted at any time in May or June and even later. Almost every acre of corn ought to have cowpeas sown between the rows, so as to enrich the land. After oats and wheat are cut, cowpeas should be sown on the stubble land either to be used for hay, for grazing, or only for fertilizer. In corn fields and when sown alone, cowpeas may be sown either broadcast or in drills. The fertilizer most frequently needed is acid phosphate, or on some very sandy soils both phosphate and potash. Crimson clover. — This plant (Fig. 114) is as useful as it is beautiful. It prevents leaching and loss of fertility in winter. It adds to the soil about as much nitrogen as »74 SOME FORAGE PLANTS 1 75 does a crop of cowpeas. About the latter part of April, the richest kind of hay can be made from it. This will take the place of part of the corn that so many farmers buy for thejr teams. As soon as the hay is cut, corn or sorghum or sweet potatoes or other late crop may be planted to fatten on the nitrogen which the clover roots and stubble have added to the soil. Crimson clover is very easy to grow. Land that has just grown cotton does not even have to be plowed. A little more than a peck of seed per ^^°- "^- —Hairy Vetch acre may be sown broadcast in the cotton in September and covered by passing a one-horse cultivator between each pair of rows. It is easy to fail with crimson clover if the land is not inoculated. To inoculate land for crim- son clover, sow with the seed soil from a field where crimson clover, red clover, low white clover, or other true clover has grown. Vetches. — These plants (Figs. 115, 116) have slender stems or branches, too weak to stand alone. Hence they need to be sown with oats or wheat, so that the weak vines may climb up the grain plants and be high enough for mowing in May. Vetches are useful for hay, for pasturage, and for enriching the soil. Hairy vetch is the most popular kind. The seed should be sown broadcast about Septem- 176 AGRICULTURE ber, 2 to 4 pecks of vetch seed per acre being mixed with the usual amount of seed of wheat or oats. Vetch has an advantage over crimson clover, for, unlike clover, it can re-seed the land. If the farmer will let vetch plants form seed, these seed, dropped in May, will remain sound in the ground all summer while a crop of cowpeas or sorghum is growing on the field. In the fall they sprout and grow without requiring that the land be plowed. To make sure that seeds are dropped on the ground, vetch should not be closely grazed after the middle of April in the Gulf states. If it is mixed with an early variety of beardless wheat, the hay may be mown so early that enough second growth of vetch will afterwards be made to mature seed. Vetch may be inoculated either with soil from a field of any kind of vetch or with soil from a spot where garden peas have grown. This is because vetch and garden peas are very closely related. Alfalfa. — This is a clover-like legume, the roots of which may live for many years. Alfalfa seed may be sown in the cotton belt either early in the fall or early in the spring. Three to five cuttings of hay can be made each year. It is, therefore, the most valuable of all forage plants for soils that suit it. Unfortunately, it does not generally do well in most sandy soils in the Southern states. Sometimes fertile, sandy land will grow it well if the farmer can get rid of the seeds of crab grass and weeds, and if he uses much lime, besides manure or fertilizer. Favorite soils for alfalfa are the stiff, waxy lime lands of Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, and stiff, rich, but well-drained river bottom lands. SOME FORAGE PLANTS 177 One of the worst enemies of alfalfa is love vine or dodder. This is a vine like the one that twines around blackberries and weeds in swampy places. Dodder seeds are bought with the poorer grades of alfalfa seed. It ruins alfalfa Fig. 117. — Red Clover On the left a complete fertilizer was used, but the plants were not inoculated; on the right clover germs supplied all the nitrogen ; in the center the plants received no nitrogen and were not inoculated. (Grown at 111. Expt. Station.) by wrapping its small yellow threads around the host plant and sucking its sap. The spots where it appears should be covered with trash and burned. Red clover (Fig. 117). — Except in the extreme Southern and Western states this is the most widely grown legume. It lives for two years, the seed usually being sown in the spring, on growing wheat or grass, or alone. The seed may be sown in the fall. Red clover affords two or more cuttings the second year, sometimes even the first year on 1/8 AGRICULTURE suitable soil in the extreme Southern states. It requires a lime soil and is unsuited to most of the sandy lands from the Carolinas to Louisiana. Japan clover. — This is a soil-improving plant, but not a true clover ; hence soil from near its roots will not inocu- late crimson or red clover. Its true name is Lespedeza. It is the best pasture plant among the legumes for the poorest Southern soils. It grows wild over the greater part of the Southern states. Although an annual, it comes up every spring from seed shed the preceding fall. The seed may be sown in early spring alone or on a field of oats or wheat. On rich, moist land it sometimes grows tall enough to be used for hay. The pasturage and the hay are very nutritious. Soy bean. — This annual legume (Figs. ii8, 119, 120) is used like the cowpea for hay, seed, and soil improvement. It has the advantage over cowpeas that the hay does not tangle and that the seed are threshed out instead of being picked. It is sown in May or early in June in rows about three feet apart. Grass plants used as food for live-stock. — Common grasses all have slender, pointed leaves, which wrap partly around the stem. Those that creep along the ground and form roots from the joints, like Bermuda grass and carpet grass, are generally good for pasturage. North of the Gulf states favorite pasture grasses are blue grass, orchard grass, and red-top. Those that stand erect, like Johnson grass, sorghum, and millet, are chiefly useful for hay. Many pastures are more profitable than any cultivated land on the farm. Any land that has become too poor to SOME FORAGE PLANTS 179 be worth cultivating should generally be used for pasture. Scatter over it seed of Japan clover (Lespedeza) or of Fig. 118. — Part of a Soy Bean Plant Fig. 119 — A Mature Soy Bean Plant, SHOWING THE PODS x8o AGRICULTURE other suitable forage plants. Land improves while being used for pasture chiefly because much vegetable matter is formed near the surface and because some of the wild clovers creep in and start the fertilizer factories on their roots. In the Southern states much more land should be used for pasturing live- stock. This becomes doubly necessary where the boll-weevil is, because cotton cannot there be profitably grown on the poorest land. This, how- ever, would yield a fair profit if used for pasture. Bermuda grass. — Some Fio. lao.-PoDs OF Soy Beans farmers fear to introduce this grass because it is difficult to destroy. There will seldom be any desire to destroy it if pastures of it are started in the right location. With Bermuda grass may be mixed Japan clover for summer grazing and either bur clover or vetch for winter grazing. Another excellent grass for pasture is carpet grass, which is not difficult to destroy. Portions of the plants or roots must be set, or the seed of carpet grass must be saved from the low spots. Sorghum. — This annual plant will grow on almost any soil. It is useful for green forage or for hay, and for mak- ing syrup. The seed must be sown thick to make good SOME FORAGE PLANTS l8l hay. Sorghum endures drought better than most annual grasses. It greatly exhausts the soil and hence should generally be followed by a legume. Kafir. — This plant, also called kafir corn, is a kind of sorghum without sweet juice. It is used in Oklahoma and Texas, both as a grain crop and for forage. It endures drought better than corn, and hence in dry climates it largely takes the place of corn. Kafir for grain is planted in rows wide enough to permit cultivation. The plants are usually harvested by machinery and cured in shocks. Exercise. — Write in your notebook a list of names of all varieties of cowpeas (southern " field pea ") grown near your home. Write a description of the seed of varieties of cowpeas that you know or that you can examine. If you can find specimens of any of the plants men- tioned in this section, carry them to the teacher. Would you like to make an acre of land rich by sowing on it inoculated crimson clover seed .-* Note to the Teacher. — Most experiment stations, as well as the U. S. Department of Agriculture, have published bulletins on some of these forage plants, and these bulletins are generally sent free to applicants. If you succeed in interesting your pupils in these soil- improving plants, you may be the means of greatly increasing the pros- perity of the community. SECTION XXXI. WEEDS A WEED is simply a plant growing where it is not wanted. Hence a kind of plant that is useful in some fields may be a weed in other fields because it interferes with the growth of some crop. Among the plants that are sometimes weeds and at other times useful are Johnson grass, crab grass, and beggarweed. How weeds injure the farmer. — Weeds are injurious because (i) they use plant-food and fertilizer needed by the more valuable crop plants; (2) they rob the culti- vated plants of water by taking up the moisture of the soil for their own use; (3) they greatly increase the ex- pense of cultivating the crops. Weeds are robber plants and must not be allowed to become large and strong, for then the crop will be ruined. Poor farmers cultivate their crops only as much as weeds compel them to, but good farmers cultivate the ground when there are no weeds, so as to keep the lower layers of the soil moist. Study the habits of weeds. — To get rid of weeds in the easiest and cheapest way, study their habits. First make sure whether they are annuals. If they are annuals, such as crab grass, foxtail, ragweeds, and bitterweed, all that has to be done is to keep them from maturing seed. If they are biennials, like sweet clover, no seeds should be allowed to form for two years. If they are perennials, ' like Johnson grass, nut grass, thistles, and dock, the forma- 182 WEEDS 183 tion of seeds should be prevented by cutting the tops down for a number of years. Even if the growth of seed is prevented, there is still more work to be done to rid the land of the roots of these long-lived, robbers. The vigorous growth and abundant formation of seed by some weeds are shown in Figs. 121 and 122. Killing perennial weeds. — Weeds that come up year after year from the roots are usually not easy to kill. Fig. 121. — Mullein Fig. 122. — Narrow-leaved Dock Plowing them with a sharp plow sometimes destroys them if the roots are all brought to the surface and thus dried. This is one of the easiest ways to kill Bermuda grass. Shal- low plowing is best for killing this grass because the shal- low furrow-slice dries out more completely than a thicker layer of upturned soil. Any plant is more easily killed l^te in its growing season, for then it cannot so easily l84 AGRICULTURE mend an injury. Johnson grass is more easily killed in August or September than earlier. In killing biennial or perennial weeds, they must be cut off below the crown. Smothering weeds. — Sometimes the farmer can hire other plants to kill weeds. A crop of cowpeas or of velvet beans will sometimes smother Bermuda grass so that very little of it is left at the end of the season. The cowpeas or velvet beans kill the grass by shading it and by taking up the soil water which the grass needs. Keeping weeds off the farm. — Good plowing and care- ful preparation may greatly reduce the number of weeds on the farm. But their seed or those of worse weeds may be brought back mixed with purchased seed of grain, clover, or grass. Weed seeds are sure to be present in the cheaper grades of grass and clover seeds. It pays to buy the best of these in spite of their e.xtra cost. Exercise. — Learn to recognize the seeds of some of the worst weeds. A collection that is interesting and useful consists of small bottles of weed seeds, properly labeled. Note to the Teacher. — Let pupils make a list of weeds of which they can find the seeds and ask them to obser\'e whether these are spread by (i) wind, (2) adhering to men or animals, (3) by the popping of the pods or seed cases, or (4) otherwise. If Bailey's " Lessons with Plants" (Macmillan) is at hand, read pp. 336-341. Fic. 133. — One or Tax Tboublesome MounNo-CLOUKS SECTION XXXII. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN The products that a half-acre garden affords are gener- ally worth more than those produced on several acres of common field. From a half acre of land a man whose business is gardening sometimes sells enough vegetables to bring him ^loo to ;^200 or more. To make a garden productive, treat it as follows : — (i) Manure it heavily, using 20 to 40 wagon loads of compost or manure per acre each year. (2) Keep every part of it busy, growing two or three crops a year on the same rows. (3) Plant such vegetables as will furnish something for the table every week in the year. (4) Plow the garden deep in the late fall or winter and keep it always so clean that a crop of rank weeds and weed seeds will not need to be plowed under. The garden will pay well for all the manure put on it. Vegetables are more tender and better, as well as earlier and more abundant, when grown on rich land. Planting seed. — In planting garden seed, cover the large seeds, like beans and peas, with several inches of earth. The small seeds must be covered very lightly. Seeds will not readily germinate in rather dry, loose soil unless it be pressed closely against them, so that it may bring up moisture, just as a wick brings oil to the lamp flame. Many gardeners tread on nearly every seed they plant, walking on the open drill on top of the seeds. The i8s l86 AGRICULTURE same packing of the seeds against the soil in the bottom of the furrow can be secured by rolling an empty wheel- barrow over them before they are covered. The ground must not be wet when packed. Loose soil should cover the footprints or the track of the wheelbarrow. This loose layer of soil keeps the moisture from rising above the seeds and evaporating. How to set a young plant. — Many kinds of vegetable seeds, such as those of cabbage and tomatoes, are sown in boxes or hotbeds before they are safely planted out of doors. In these boxes or hotbeds the seeds should be planted thickly in tiny trenches several inches apart. If possible, the plants should be thinned as soon as they show the first well-developed true leaf. The surplus plants should be transplanted to other boxes or to other parts of the cold- frame. Plants that have been moved once while still in boxes or coldframes are stronger, better shaped, have a better root system, and grow better when placed in the garden. Let the plant grow several inches high in the seed-box if it must be transplanted directly from the box to the garden. In transplanting, avoid doubling the roots. If the ground is so dry that the young plants must be watered when transplanted, first punch the hole ; next insert the plant; then pour in a cupful of water, which will settle the soil snugly around the roots. Last and most impor- tant of all, draw up loose, drier soil around the plant and over the wet spot. Every time a young plant is watered, the wet spot should afterwards be covered with loose, dry soil to hold the moisture and to keep a crust from forming. When rather large plants are transplanted, it is best to THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 187 pinch off some of the leaves so that they may not evaporate water faster than the broken roots can supply it. A succession of vegetables. — A little work and a little planning every week are worth more to a garden than twice as much work every two weeks. By thus planning, it is possible to have vegetables every week in the year. Most well-cultivated gardens in the Southern states afford an abundance of vegetables during May, June, and July. To be sure of a continuous supply through August, Sep- tember, and October, make late plantings of tomatoes, butter beans, okra, corn, eggplants, and other vegetables that thrive in hot weather. The period when fresh vegetables are scarce is from November to March. During this time, there should be a stored-up supply of sweet potatoes, fall-grown Irish potatoes, cushaws, pumpkins, dried beans, dried sliced okra, and ruta-baga turnips. Fresh vegetables can also be had during most of this time by planting in July, August, or September seeds of collards, cabbage, ruta- baga turnips, beets, beans, and turnips. The planting of onion sets in the fall and the sowing of seed of kale and spinach for winter " greens " should not be forgotten. Salsify is a delicious vegetable available for fall use. Hotbed or coldframe. — To obtain early vegetables a hotbed or coldframe will be helpful, because under this the young plants can be started during the winter. The frame is made as shown in Figure 125. It has no bottom, but rests over a shallow pit into which a layer of damp manure has been placed, and covered with several inches of soil. The purpose of this manure is to afford, by l88 AGRICULTURE fermentation, heat to warm the soil in which the seeds are to be planted. Place the seeds in drills a few inches apart. When the frame is placed over such a layer of heating manure, the whole is called a hotbed. A similar frame is called a coldframe if no manure is used under it. The cover usually consists of several glass sashes. On a coldframe the cover may be of white cloth. To make a small hotbed or coldframe to be covered by a single sash construct a wooden frame six feet long and at least three feet wide. The back should be twelve inches high and the front eight inches. It is better to make it at least six feet wide, thus requiring two sashes. The glass sashes slide on strips nailed to the sides or on crosspieces, as shown in Fig. 125. The earth should be banked around the outside of the frame. The slope of the glass sash should be towards the south. The sun's rays strike through the glass, which serves as a trap for the heat. In this heated air and soil young cabbage, tomatoes, and other plants grow rapidly. On mild days, the glass must be lifted so as to prevent disease and to accustom the plants to cool weather. A box kept near a window indoors, or covered with a few panes of glass, may take the place of a hotbed. Vegetables that may be planted in cool weather. — Among the plants of the garden that can endure rather cold weather are peas, kale, mustard, radish, spinach, and lettuce. The seeds of these plants are therefore usually the first to be planted, in February or earlier. Young cabbage plants endure much cold. In the central part of the Gulf states they often live through the winter THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 189 when set on the south side of a high ridge or bed. Irish potatoes are planted while the weather is still cold. Among the vegetables that are not entirely killed by slight frosts are beets. Asparagus is one of the earliest Photograph by R. S. Mackintosh Fig. 124. — Planting Asparagus Roots of the season and comes each spring from the old roots. It may be grown from seed sown in early spring. The next winter the roots of the young plants are trans- planted (Fig. 124) to rows that have been plowed very I90 AGRICULTURE deep and made very rich with well-rotted manure. A quicker crop is secured by buying the roots instead of growing them. Onions are among the hardiest of vegeta- bles. Onion sets are placed in the ground in the fall, or in January or February. Some varieties of onions grow well from seeds planted in the fall or late winter, the young plants being afterwards transplanted. Garden peas are planted three or four inches deep, usually in January, February, and March. Tender vegetables. — Among the plants easily killed by frost are beans, tomatoes, eggplants, squash, and all the other members of the gourd or melon family. These cannot safely show above ground until danger of frost is past ; so they are usually planted about the same time as the earliest cotton. Tomatoes are generally started under glass and transplanted as soon as the danger of frost is past. Vegetables that suffer from hot weather. — Peas and lettuce do not thrive during hot weather. Cabbages and turnips are usually ruined by the harlequin cabbage-bug and by other insects after midsummer ; they should, there- fore, be grown either as very early crops or in the fall. Exerci.se. — Write the names of all plants the leaves of which you know to be cooked for "greens." During what months can each one be used ? Make a list of all the vegetables you have ever .seen growing in your home garden. What vegetables besides these have you seen growing elsewhere? If you have never grown any plants that were really your own. ask at home if you may not have one row in the garden for yourself. Among the plants that can be mast quickly grown in it ire radishes, turnips, lettuce, and in warm weather, bunch snap beans. Note to the Teacher. — Let the pupils examine and compare all obtainable garden seeds, as to size, color, germination, etc. Write to the Department of Agriculture, Washington. D.C., for Farmers* Bulletin THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 191 No. 255 on vegetables, also for publications on school-gardens, and con- sider whether your school should have one, or whether pupils should be encouraged to have their own small gardens at home. In any way get every pupil to grow some useful or ornamental plants that shall really be his own. By questions draw out from the oldest members of the class the month in which every vegetable mentioned in this chapter is usually planted. Similarly secure a statement of the months during which each is eaten. Write for similar bulletins to the Experiment Station in your own state ; use the seed catalogues also. Fig. 125. — A Coldframe of Four Sashes SECTION XXXIII. PLANNING THE FLOWER GARDEN By Miss F. E. Andrews Nature's adornment of shrubs and flowers is more beautiful than the most costly paintings. Yet flowers may be had at very slight expense. The care of a small I'hulofrmph bjr R. S. Markinkwlt Fig. 126. — Plant Flowers and Shrubs near tue House, LEAVING THE LaWN OPEN flower garden, all one's own, is a perpetual delight, espe- cially to a young person. In general, the best way to lay off a flower garden is not to lay it off at all. It should not be cut up into stiff beds. The space directly in front of the house should be left open (Fig. 126). Bermuda grass makes the best sum- mer covering for Southern lawns. By sowing white clover 192 PLANNING THE FLOWER GARDEN 193 seed on it in early fall, the lawn will gladden the eye with its carpet of green before winter has wholly passed. There may be a border of low flowering plants on each side of the walk, while against the walls of the house may be grouped taller plants and shrubs as a background for beds of smaller, bright-blooming flowers. The colors of flowers Fiiulograph by K. S. MackintOBh Fig. 127. — A Back Yard screened by a Hedge of Privet show better if many of the same kind are massed together. The place for shrubs. — Against the fence on either side, and in the corners by the steps, may be planted shrubs, while between the front and back yards, and wherever there is any unsightly object in view, there should be a screen of tall shrubs or vines. The Japan honeysuckle and the Cherokee rose are good evergreen vines for this purpose. The purple wistaria is a hardy climbing shrub that quickly covers unsightly objects or shades sunny porches. For ornamental hedges, privet and pomegranate are good 194 AGRICULTURE (Fig. 127). Some of the many beautiful native wild shrubs serve well as screens. What to plant in the garden. — In the first place, hardyt E]^HBw~ ^^ ■ k. ^-ni 4* «t . .). ^ '^ #^ r*.», m^^nm r Fig. laS. — Snowball self-reliant plants are needed. Choose bouncing clusters of phlox and sweet william, and ever-blooming roses, sturdy ranks of sunflowers, hollyhocks, and prince's feather, that PLANNING THE FLOWER GARDEN 195 do not surrender to heat or drought, and smiling beds of pinks and verbenas. In the next place, select plants so as to have a constant succession of flowers all the year round. Winter and early spring flowers. — White hyacinths, jonquils, sweet violets, and Japan quince bloom early in the year. Then, when the red maple begins to glow in the woods, come the periwinkles, the early narcissus, daffodils, spireas (bridal wreaths), and the blue hyacinths. With March, the early lilacs and the late spireas begin to open their eyes. April brings, along with dogwood, red- bud, and haw blossoms and wild azaleas in the woods, a troop of early roses, the wistaria, snowball (Fig. 128), white iris or flag, and some of the lilies. On through May and June the bright throng comes trooping by. Flowers for the hot dry season. — During the hot months of m.idsummer and early autum, nature generally calls a halt to this gay procession, and so the gardens must be pro- vided with plants that are hardy to sun and drought. For this purpose choice lies between ever blooming roses, holly- hocks, larkspurs and mallows, four-o'clocks, phlox, " snow- on-the-mountain," bear's grass, Spanish bayonet, " old maids " and " bachelor's buttons," " black-eyed Susans," and the whole great sunflower family. Fall and winter bloomers. — In our climate, many of the summer flowers linger into late fall and early winter. This is especially true of the roses. The chrys an'the mums, too, linger till long after frost ; the verbenas and scarlet sage and the canna last late into the year. The fall months are brightened by the yellow and brown of the 196 AGRICULTURE marigolds and by the varied colors of cosmos, conspicuous above its fringe-like foliage. Beautifying the school grounds. — The same principles, in the main, will apply to the school as to the home garden. As a general thing, more hardy plants should be chosen for the school grounds for the reason that dur- ing the part of the year when the school is not in session they will probably receive no attention whatever. Hence it is well to choose native shrubs and flowers for planting around the schoolhouse. Many wild plants grown in the woods are quite as beautiful as the most expensive pro- ductions of the florist. An ideal location for a schoolhouse is in a grove, for then there is no need for flowers, except, perhaps, in a special school garden beyond the shade of the trees. The school garden should be a plot of ground near the school, in which each pupil has his own little collection of flowers, vegetables, and crop plants. Exercise. — Write in your notebook the common names of all the wild or cultivated shrubs that you think would make the school grounds look better. Think about the best place to plant them. Do you know where they could be obtained without cost ? Note to the Teacher. — This section affords an opportunity to impress the advantages of improving the school grounds, as does also the section on trees. Could not some of the pupils, working together, make a map of the school grounds, showing location of buildings, fences, trees, shrubs, etc. ? Let other pupils copy this. Then let each, after a few days, hand in his or her map, indicating on it where a hedge or screen of vines should be located and where trees and shrubs ought to be planted. Tell them to keep these maps. After they have studied the sections on trees let them write on the maps the kinds of trees that they would choose for any spot needing trees. SECTION XXXIV. GROWING FLOWERS Most of the plants found in the flower garden may be classed either as (i) shrubs, (2)bulbs and tubers, or (3) herbs. The shrubs are all per- ennial and so are most of the plants growing from bulbs and tubers. Flowering herbs may be either annual, biennial, or perennial. As a rule perennial plants furnish the earliest flowers, for they have laid up in their roots, stems, or bulbs a supply of food intended to hasten the growth of the new flowers. Shrubs. — Most culti- vated shrubs can be in- creased by means of cuttings or by suckers from the old roots. Shrubs require less care than smaller plants and endure for many years. There are roses of very many colors, and they are among the most beautiful of cultivated flowers. Roses are grown from cuttings, which are started either out of 197 ■'3(1^: --■ " ■■* m "^^^■^^ iil '""'- Courtesy Miiin. Expt. Station Fig. 129. — Washington's Flower Garden at Mt. Vernon 198 AGRICULTURE doors or under glass, depending on the kind of rose, the climate, and the soil. On these points you will need the advice of those neighbors who grow roses. Where practi- cable to start your rose out of doors proceed as follows: during the winter take a portion of a slender ro.se branch less than one year old on which the wood has recently become firm. Cut this six to eight inches long and remove the leaves. Be sure that a smooth cut is made. If the cuttings are to be started in moist sand under glass, they may be much shorter and of younger wood. Part of the upper leaf may be left. Place the longer cuttings in a sloping position in a trench in the flower garden and cover them up to the top bud with earth. Where tha winters are cold a thin layer of leaves may be added. Roots may form in four to six weeks. When one year old or less, the plants may be transplanted to the place where they are to remain. Roses like good soil, and the ground around them ought each year to receive a coating of manure, which serves as fertilizer and a millch. On sour soils a little lime is helpful. There are a number of classes of roses, some blooming almost continuously and others only once or twice during the year. Bulbs, tubers, etc. — The onion and the lily are ex- amples of bulbs. A bulb consists of a number of thick- ened, tightly wrapped leaves. Bulbs that grow form new bulbs, and by planting these the plant is multiplied. Plants grown from bulbs need rich soil. Most of them afford very early flowers. In cold climates bulbs are dug, dried, and stored indoors during the winter. GROWING FLOWERS I99 The canna affords a wealth of blooms — red, pink, yellow, and other gay colors — during the heat of sum- mer. It is increased by planting portions of the roots. In the Gulf states no winter protection is needed except to cut off the tops as soon as frost occurs and to place these over the roots, covering all with a light coat of earth. Violets for winter and early spring, and hardy chrysan- themums for late fall flowering, are increased by dividing the roots of old clusters of plants. Flowers easily grown from seed. — Most of these are annual plants, living less than one year. Some are longer- lived, for example, the foxglove, the hollyhock, and the larkspur. The California poppy is a fine-leaved plant, with large, brilliant flowers. The seeds of this plant, and also of the common poppies, are sown as soon as danger of severe freezes is past. At the same time the seeds of pinks or carnations are sown. The sweet tvilliam is closely related to the pink. The flowers are showy and beautiful. The plant is rather hardy towards heat. The annual phloxes are among the best flowers for chil- dren to grow, because they afford such a mass of varied and bright colors so soon after the seeds are sown in early spring. They need good soil and abundance of water. Pansies are general favorites for early flowers. They combine two or more rich colors in the same flower. Among the most beautiful of all are the shades of purple. The pansy, and, indeed, most of these very early annuals, can be sown in boxes indoors (Fig. 130), and transplanted to 200 AGRICULTURE the flower garden as soon as freezing has ceased. Pansies, like sweet peas, are cool-weather bloomers ; both require moist soil and are unable to withstand much heat. Verbenas are the favorite flowers of many children and of many grown people as well. They grow either from seed or cuttings. There are few more beautiful sights in Courtesy Minn. £ipt Fig. 130. — One Method of planting Small Seed in Boxes the flower garden than a border thickly bedecked with the purple and crimson or other various colors of the verbena. Among the annuals most able to continue blooming dur- ing the heat of summer are the petunia and the nasturtium. There are both dwarf and climbing nasturtiums, all having large, bright flowers. The seeds of petunias are so small that, like many other flower seeds, they need either the shallowest possible covering, or none. A good way to plant such seeds is to sow them, and then with a board press them against the surface ; sprinkle over them the thinnest possible layer of very fine sifted forest soiL This holds moisture and docs not easily form a crust. GROWING FLOWERS 20I Among the plants that do not need to be sown until the weather becomes warm are the marigolds and cosmos. Their blooms are wanted in late summer and fall, after most flowers have ceased blooming. Scarlet sage is also one of the most brilliant of the autumn flowering plants, its tall stems being crowded with bright red flowers. Hol- lyhocks are tall plants grown from seed, but not showing their large, gaudy flowers until the second year. Window gardens. — Many persons who have not room for an outdoor flower garden find pleasure in a little window garden. The flowers may be grown in pots or boxes, inside a sunny window or on a shelf outside (Fig. 131). Most of the smaller outdoor flowering plants may be thus grown from seeds, bulbs, roots, and cuttings, and in ad- dition, many less hardy plants, such as begonias, crab cactus, and geraniums. To start geraniums or other soft- wood cuttings, place the lower portions of the cuttings in clean sand kept constantly wet, and in a sunny window. If necessary, a pane of glass can be placed over them to retain the heat, and thus make a tiny greenhouse. Exercise. — Ask some grower of flowers whether the present is a suitable time to start cuttings of roses and other flowers. If so, make some cuttings and set them. Ask at home or at some neighbor's if there is any flower from which you can get a start of bulbs, roots, or cuttings. Before using them make sure they are free from disease or insect injury. Write in your notebook a list of five of your favorite flowers. Note TO the Teacher. — Catalogues are sent free by most seedsmen. The illustrations in them and their descriptions of varieties will be of greatest service to you in enlisting the pupil's interest in flowers. An especially helpful publication is Farmers' Bulletin No. 195, United States Department of Agriculture on Annual Flowering Plants. If not already obtained, write to the United States Department of Agriculture for bul- 202 AGRICULTURE letins on school gardens, and consider whether your school can longer afford to do without one. See also note to Section XXX II and Appen* dix. In city schools or elsewhere, boxes of flowers in the windows serve a useful purpose. Let the main aim be to make the pupils closer observers and more appreciative of flowers. Urge them to bring flowers to the class now and later to be used as object lessons. Familiarize the pupils with the foliage as well as with the blooms of the flowers that can be inspected. Is an excursion to some greenhouse or flower pit prac- ticable ? Fio. 131. — A WiNDow-Box Garden SECTION XXXV. FOREST TREES ' The true value of trees is scarcely realized until we con- sider the sufferings of people who live in countries that are almost without trees. Parts of India, Egypt, China, and Korea are in this treeless condition. In winter the people suffer intensely from cold and have to work very hard to supply themselves with even a little fuel. A day's hard work may be rewarded with only a basket of the roots of shrubs. Every bit of refuse in the streets and stables is collected and dried for fuel. Rapid destruction of the forest. — Our own country is in danger of becoming a country that will lack trees enough to furnish lumber for our homes and to supply our fac- tories. Those who have studied the matter state that in the United States each year three times as much wood is consumed as is supplied by one year's growth of all the trees in the country. Some even declare that unless this waste is promptly stopped, in twenty-five years there will be practically no forests east of the Mississippi River. This misfortune can be prevented by every one's quickly realizing the true value of a tree. There is no time to be lost, for it takes most kinds of trees 50 to 100 years to grow large enough to make the best lumber. The tree lives longer than any other form of vegetable 203 204 AGRICULTURE life. It is the patriarch among plants. The life of a young tree ought not to be taken except for good cause. The farmer who makes firewood out of saplings is de- stroying the property of his children. When trees mature or reach the point where their growth is very slow, they should be cut and used, so that they may yield a profit and make room for younger and more rapid-growing trees. Saplings or young trees should be removed only where the growth is too thick. Forest fires. — The long-leaf or yellow pine tree may be six years old before it becomes one foot high. A single fire, Courte*7 Forctt Scrvwc, U. 8. Utft- Afr- Fio. ijj. — Destructivk Effects of Fire in a Forest of Lono-leaf Pdib Started by some careless hunter or other thoughtless per- son " to burn off the grass," may kill a thousand of these and other valuable kinds of trees on every acre that it invades (Fig. 132). Besides this, fires make the soil of FOREST TREES 205 the forest poorer by destroying the vegetable matter and thus retard the growth of the surviving trees. The old method of boxing young pine trees in order to make turpentine (as in Fig. 133) causes them to catch fire more easily than they otherwise would. The new method of collecting sap for tur- pentine, using cups and metal gutters, is much better for the tree (Fig. 134). Uses of forests. — For- ests not only furnish lum- ber, material for paper, and scores of useful arti- cles, but they decrease floods. When rain falls on the soil of a forest that has never been burnt over, it sinks into the mellow soil and slowly drains away to the creeks, which carry off the water without overflowing. When the trees are cut, ^^- 133— The Old Method of boxing Pine Trees for Turpentine the surface loses its layer of leaves and becomes hard, so that when heavy rains occur, the water rushes rapidly down the slope, washes sand and soil into the creeks, and overflows the bottom lands. CuuilMjr >'uie«t aervicc, U. i>. l>cpt. Agr. Fic. 134. — The Ccp AND Gutter Systeu of boxing Pine Trees FOR Turpentine Aflrr Forest 8«rrlec, V. 8. I>«pl. Afr. Fio. 135. — A Cross-section of an Oak Log, showing Annual Rings Photo by DtiiKsa Fig. 136. — A Young Ix)ng-lfj^p Pine The seU of branches indicate the age of the top ao6 FOREST TREES 207 Telling the age of a tree. — The age of a tree may be discovered by examining the log or the stump left after it has been felled. On the smoothly cut end of the log there are a number of light-colored rings with layers of darker color between (Fig. 135). Generally one light- colored ring and one dark-colored layer were formed each year. The number of light rings tells in years the age of that part of the body of the tree. The age of each limb is told in the same way. There is another way to tell how long it has been since the pine and some other trees were only as high as their lowest limbs now are. This is done by counting the number of sets of lim.bs or sets of knots where limbs once grew. Every set of limbs, growing out of the trunk at about the same place, means one year ; for each set represents the buds or young branches which form on the twig near the place where the new and the old growth join (Fig. 136). Exercise. — Report to the teacher the age of the following by counting the annual rings: (i) a log, or stump, or piece of firewood, all from an old-field pine, (2) a similar piece from a long-leaf pine, (3) a branch of either old-field or long-leaf pine. Which has the thicker annual rings? Judging by this, which tree grows more rapidly? Select a pine tree 10 to 20 feet high and, without cutting it, count the sets of limbs and tell how long it has been since that tree was only as high as its lowest limb now is. Think about this subject for your next composition, " How Much Harm One Forest Fire Did." Is the heart- wood or the sapwood the best for lumber? SECTION XXXVI. FOREST TREES {Contintud) If a wire is stapled to a tree, it will not be pushed outwards as the tree grows larger, but will be buried under the new layer of wood (Fig. 137). It thus cuts into and injures the lumber. Fig. 138 shows a better way to attach a fence wire to a tree. Planting trees on the school grounds. — When the school ground needs shade and beauty, plant trees and pretty shrubs taken from the woods. Set aside one day as " Arbor Day " for the planting of these trees. In the Southern states a good time for this is in December, January, and February. Plan what kinds of trees and shrubs to plant and where to put every one in order to make the school grounds as beautiful as possible. They will live better if not planted on the playground, where the shaking will dry the roots. If planted there, they should be protected by strong stakes until the trees are several years old. The directions given in Section XXXVII for setting fruit trees will help in setting shade trees. Choose some of the following for planting on the school grounds : the water or willow-leaved oak as a round-topped shade tree, suited even to poor, dry .soils ; the sweet gum, for its rapid growth, graceful shape, its willingness to grow on almost any soil, and for its red and purple leaves in autumn ; the mulberry for its rapid gjrowth, good ao8 FOREST TREES 209 shade, and sweet fruits ; the elm for its rapid growth, great size, and graceful shape ; the hackberry for its ability to grow on stiff, wet soils ; the black gum for its thick FlG. 137. — The Wrong Method OF ATTACHING FENCE WiRE TO FiG. 138. — ThE PROPER METHOD A Tree of attaching Fence Wire 210 AGRICULTURE Fic. 139. — Find ik thb Above Ficcses the Following Leaves White oak, hickory, prran, red oak, black gum, sweet gum, chinqurpin, water oak, sycamore, maple, " yellow poplar " (tulip tree), dogwood, elm, pereim- mon, post oak. FOREST TREES 211 rounded top and the beautiful color of its leaves in autumn ; the red maple for its red flowers and seeds and its brightly colored leaves in the fall. These trees and many other Fig. 140. — A Long-leaf Pine Fig. 141. — Young Hickories 212 AGRICULTURE kinds may so change the school yard that it will become one of the most attractive spots in the neighborhood. Trees for posts and other farm uses. — In planting young trees on the farm for fence posts choose between X \ 1 ■ r •^ 1 J 1 ^ vJSm Jv § ^; ^"K c^.'^" 1 ^ g^ *^KA w" y / Se^ 55 ?: SJ^i -p4r^^i£: >'^ ^ "*" ^>^^J Sss^^^^]^ ..uJ:> > ^ ^ g ^^^33 l^g^ v .j»-- *->*r *9 ■< ^^^^^■■^9 ^*^^^^^^% '*V. ^L.^— ^_ \ \ IL. HHJi 1 fe Fig. 14a. — Showing Sprkauing P'orm of some Oaks when not csowded catalpa, black locust, osage orange, and mulberry. Posts made from these trees last for a long time. Cedar makes excellent posts and is very valuable for making pencils. It grows slowly and should not be set out on a farm where apples are grown. The wood of the walnut is very valu- able for furniture. To make shade quickly in the pastures, where beauty is not important, the cottonwood, chinaberry, and catalpa are suitable. FOREST TREES 213 The trees as friends. — To get all the pleasure possible out of life in the country, know and love the trees. Know 1^ 'M ^■^^VA^"*^ l\ WB i^s \\^ rr^^^ "%! \i>\"^ / 'i ^ ~\ ^ 1' X '^"'' ^^u^i^ B^ ^k 4Kj:, ^^^^^^^^^I^^HKEy^^rl s^ i9| Hj ; ^c^^^^^^l Fig. 143. — A Walnut Tree them by their leaves (Fig. 139), their branches, their bark, and their seeds. Notice which kinds are found on the dry 214 AGRICULTURE hills and which in the wet bottoms. Observe how they struggle up toward the light. Notice the difference in the forms of those that stand alone, flooded with sunshine (Fig. 142), and those starved for light in the deep shadow of the crowded forest. Even in winter the trees are interesting. The different trees may be recognized in the distance by the differences in their habits of branching. For ex- ample, notice the continuous central stem in the pine and hickory (Figs. 140 and 141), and observe that in the walnut (Fig. 143) and elm this is usually lost. Exercise. — Compare the leaves in Fig. 139 with the leaves found in the woods, and write in your notebook the name that corresponds to each letter. You will find it interesting and instructive to make a map of the trees growing on a small area of woodland, representing the position of each tree by a figure on the map ; then on the next page of your notebook write the name of the tree corresponding to each number. You may be surprised to find which pupil knows the greatest number of trees in such a contest. Note to the Teacher. — Strive to inculcate in the pupils the habit of carefully observing trees. Among the means to this end are the col- lecting and identifying of the leaves of trees, excursions to the woods, and recognition of trees by their bark. The mode of branching of different kinds and with different surroundings may be taught by requiring pupils to draw outlines of trees. A drawing exercise may take the place of a recitation. Let the pupils complete the maps of the school grounds begun as an exercise in Section XXXI 1 1 and write on it, on each spot where a tree is needed, the kind of tree that each pupil prefers. SECTION XXXVII. FRUITS It is possible to have a constant succession of fruit at very little expense by taking the best possible care of a few rows of strawberries, grapes, and a small orchard of 1 ^^KV IHkv ' Hflimti . ' -a' ■ 1 ^1^^^ \uk- '^ 1 Hfltfl ^ ■ ' ' t' '■ . . '■ 1 Fig. 144. — Picking Apples in Arkansas fruit trees. In the collection of fruits there could be strawberries, raspberries, grapes, scuppernong grapes, peaches, plums, apples, pears, Japanese persimmons, 215 2l6 AGRICULTURE pomegranates, and pecans. It costs but little to buy the trees and other plants needed. Make selections from the catalogues of reliable nurserymen, not too far away. For success in fruit growing there must be (i) wise selec- tion of suitable varieties, (2) careful planting, (3) regular I'h Fig. 145. — Young Peach Orchard with Cucuubeu., , and intelligent pruning, (4) cultivation and fertilization, and (5) spraying to destroy injurious insects and plant diseases. A small orchard for home use should contain a number of varieties, so that there may be early, medium, and late fruit. Cultivation and fertilization. — Before planting fruit trees the land must be deeply plowed and well harrowed. Peach trees are generally set about 16 feet apart each FRUITS 217 way and apple trees 25 to 40 feet. On rather poor land fruit trees ought to be fertilized when set and each year afterwards. For young trees a complete fertilizer is best. In later years a mixture of phosphate and some form of potash may be sufficient. Nitrogen should then be supplied by cow- peas or some other "catch crop" grown as a fertilizer be- tween the trees. Scatter the fertili- zer as far out as the limbs extend and work it in with a cultivator or harrow. For a few years a low-growing, culti- vated crop, for ex- ample, cotton or vegetables, may be grown between the rows of trees (Fig. 145). When, how- ever, the trees get larger, they need all the space; and the orchard should be kept well cultivated until July, when Iron cowpeas may be sown as a fertilizing crop to be plowed under the next spring. Strawberries. — The strawberry is the earliest fruit, some varieties ripening in April in the central part of the Photograph by R. S. Mackintosh Fig. 146. — A Field of Strawberries in South- ER^f Alabama ai8 AGRICULTURE Gulf states. Strawberry plants are increased by means of runners which take root near the end. These rooted Photofraph by R 8. Mackiototh Fio. 147. — Strawberries crated for Shipping young plants are set about two feet apart, in rows about three feet apart. They may be set in the Southern states any time between November and the last of February. Those set after Christmas make only a few berries the FRUITS 219 first year. Those set in the fall bear a few more berries, but there is only a fraction of a crop the first spring. The main crop is borne the second year. Some varieties of strawberries produce flowers contain- ing pistils, but no perfect stamens. Among these imperfect or pistillate varieties, every third or fourth row should be planted with perfect kinds to furnish pollen. Perfect varieties are marked in most catalogues with the letter "s," meaning that the variety bears stamens as well as pistils, or by the letter " d," meaning bi-sexual, or having two sexes. The names of the imperfect varieties are followed by the letter "/," which here stands for the word " pis- tillate." • For home use there should be both early and late varieties. The following are all among the staminate or perfect varieties : Excelsior (early), Lady Thompson and Klondike (rather early and hardy), Gandy (large and late). Strawberry plants need to be well fertilized with a com- plete fertilizer. The bed should be renewed every few years because young plants bear more fruit than old ones. To start ' a new bed set the young plants that form where the runners take root. When a fruit tree is old enough to transplant. — A nurseryman does not count the age of a tree from the time the seed is planted, but from the time of budding or grafting it. Peach trees are ready to transplant one year after the budding has been done. The apple tree is trans- planted when either one, two, or three years old. Setting a fruit tree. — The time to set a fruit tree is after the leaves fall and before the buds swell in the 220 AGRICULTURE spring to form new leaves. The period from November to February is the usual time for setting fruit trees in the Southern states. The holes should be so dug that the Fio. 148. Photofrmph by K -^ '■I Packino Peaches in Bollock County, Ala. roots will not need to be bent. All bruised or broken roots should be cut off with a smooth cut, which heals more quickly than a ragged break. FRUITS 221 The very long roots may also be cut back. In setting trees keep all roots straight. The earth taken from near the top of the hole is generally the richest, so this soil should be placed near the roots. The earth must be firmly packed around the roots so as to keep them thoroughly moist. If the soil were put in without packing, air-spaces would be left and the roots would become dry. The upper layer of soil, however, must be left loose as a mulch to re- tain the water in the lower layers. If a tree is loosened before it has formed a full set of roots, it is apt to die because the shaking causes air-spaces to be left around the roots instead of moist soil. The tree ought to be set in the ground at least as deep as it grew in the nursery row. Pruning at the time of transplanting. — When a young tree is dug up, a large proportion of its fine roots and root-hairs are broken or stripped off. When it is trans- planted, there will not be at first enough feeding roots to supply food and water to all the leaves. The top of the tree should, therefore, be cut back to balance the loss of roots. The cutting off of some of the limbs is called pruning. Most fruit trees at the time of transplanting have to be severely pruned in order (i) to keep the leaf surface balanced with the feeding roots, and (2) to cause the tree to grow in the desired shape. Shaping the young tree. — When young apple and peach trees are not pruned the central shoot grows more rapidly than the side branches. This forms a tall, slender tree, with few limbs, which bend and break when heavily loaded with fruit. Much of the fruit on unpruned trees is borne too high to be easily gathered. To prevent these troubles, 222 AGRICULTURE the young apple or peach tree is cut off at a height of 16 to 24 inches above the ground. The cutting of the central shoot makes the side branches grow more rapidly and nearer to the ground. The lower limbs should be close to the ground in order to shade the body or trunk. If the tree is very young and small when transplanted, all the side branches are also cut off close to the main stem (Fig. 149). The buds near the top of this stub or Fig. 149— CtosE whip will soon grow out and Pru.vinc , , , . , . . take the places of the side branches that were cut off. The number of limbs can be controlled by rubbing off all the buds ex- cept the number desired. In pruning a young tree, three, four, or five of these buds Fig. 150. — Stub Pruning y. N / ^^mh should be allowed to grow into limbs. The buds selected to grow should be evenly distributed around the stem. If the young tree is well grown when ::tP^ transplanted, its branches are cut off six to Fig. 151.— o.ve eight inches from the main stem (Fig. 150). Year after Later pruning. — The usual time to prune SETTING «- O r To be pruned as ^^^^^ trces is during the latter part of the shown by the winter. After the transplanted trees have been growing for about one year in the orchard, they usually need to be pruned again. All of the FRUITS 223 three to five side branches already selected for growth should be cut back until only about eight to twelve inches of their new growth is left (Fig. 151). At the end of each year the new peach twigs, if they have made much growth, will need to be cut back to about half their length. Every winter cut out from any kind of fruit tree all the branches that are partly broken, too close together, or growing across the center of the tree, and all twigs that are diseased. The later pruning of trees is chiefly (i) to regulate the shape, (2) to make the center of the tree open enough to admit the light, and (3) to thin the fruit. Wherever a branch is removed, the cut surface must be left smooth and as close to the parent branch as possible. No projection or stub must be left. A smooth, close wound is soon healed and covered over ; but a stub is not easily covered, and decay starts in such a wound (Fig. 152). When a large branch is cut off, the wound should be covered with thick white lead paint, to keep the germs of decay from getting into the tree. In pruning a fruit tree the bud left farthest out on the branch is the one that will grow most rapidly and become the leader. The limbs can be made to bend downward more than they naturally would by making the cut just beyond a bud which points downward. Likewise the growth can be Fig. 152. — Poor Pruning 224 AGRICULTURE made more upright by cutting so as to leave as the last re- maining bud one that points upward (Fig. 153). In the same way you can often fill in an un- occupied space on one side of a tree by selecting for leaders the buds that point towards that space. Fruits that most need pruning. — Peach trees, grapevines, raspberries, and cultivated blackberries need prun- ing every year. Apple trees need less after the first few years, and shade and nut trees require very little pruning. Fio. 153. — Pruning to DIKECT THE GROWTH Exercise. — Perhaps you can find a young peach tree growing wild and can practice pruning on this. Ask some one at ^ . , , , . home to show vou how to prune the trees and On right, pruned for upward . • ' , i , . . , , growth ; on left, pruned grapevines in the home orchard. Ask why for outward growth. ^^ev prune in a certain way ; also when they prune, and why. Note to the Teacher. — If there is near the school a carefully pruned orchard, it may be well worth an excursion to see it. and doubt- less its owner will give an exhibition of pruning. Farmers' Bulletin No. 181 of the United States Department of Agriculture, on pruning, will be useful to the teacher and to any pupils who desire to improve the orchard at home. SECTION XXXVIII. THE CAUSES OF DISEASES OF PLANTS^ Most plants have a green color and thrive in the light. Certain very small plants, called ftin'gl, however, have no green color. Among them are the tiny plants that cause rotting of fruit, spotting and dying of leaves, rust, and smut of grain. Since they have no green substance enabling them to use the carbon from the air, they cannot make their own living. Instead they draw their nourishment from the sap and substances already made by green plants. There- fore they rob the plants on which they grow and cause various diseases, which may affect the leaves, stems, or fruits of useful plants. Molds. — Among the fungi are certain molds. Fruit mold, or bread mold, is made up of a mass of fine white threads, some of the short branches of which bear tiny black heads. These contain the spores, dust-like bodies from which another crop of fungi grows. Spores are to fungi what seeds are to plants. The spores of mold and of most fungi are so small and light that they are blown everywhere by the wind. This explains why plant diseases are so "catching," or contagious. Some fungi cannot grow through the skin of fruits, but need to have their spores planted in cuts or bruises. Other kinds are able to force their way through the skin. Very often they push in through the " gateways " or 1 The five sections on plant diseases were written by Dr. B. M. Duggar of the faculty of Cornell University. Q 225 226 AGRICULTURE pores in the leaves of plants. Once inside the fruit or leaf, they grow and nourish themselves by absorb- FiG. 154. — Results of Spraying for Late Blight or Irish Potatoes The plants in the center were not sprayed; those on both sides were sprayed. ing the food material formed by the green plant. They steal the food which the plant had prepared for its own use. THE CAUSES OF DISEASES OF PLANTS 22/ Killing fungi with poisons. — Fortunately the spores of most kinds of plant diseases will not grow in contact with certain substances. Two of the best of these chemicals used to destroy fungus spores are bluestone (copper sul- fate) and formalin. The buds, the fruit, or the leaves are sprayed with a mixture containing bluestone. If this is done before the fungus plant has passed through the skin of the fruit, the crop is often saved. Seeds of oats from a smutty crop are dampened with formalin to kill the spores on the seed. The white mildew on the leaves of the rose is easily killed by sprinkhng on it a solution of one ounce of liver of sulfur to two gallons of water. Prevention of plant diseases easier than cure. — In most cases, however, it is useless to try to cure plant diseases by treatment after the fungi have entered the green plant, where no poisons can reach them. Spraying fruit trees is done to prevent, and not to cure, diseases. The poison generally used to ward off diseases of fruit trees, Irish potatoes, and others is Bordeaux mixture, which contains bluestone (see Appendix). Weak plants become diseased. — Plants that are thrifty and well nourished are less apt to catch certain plant diseases than those that are weak, starved, or unwisely fertilized. There are many diseases of plants that are not due to germs. These are generally due to poor drainage or other unfavorable conditions of soil or climate. Such diseases are not contagious. Fungous diseases spread rapidly because of the light spores, which are blown or carried great distances. Nearly all the peaches in an orchard may be ruined by rot 228 AGRICULTURE during a few weeks of damp weather, which makes most germs of plant diseases grow more rapidly. No matter how damp the weather, there will be no peach-rot unless the spores or seed bodies arc first sown. A few fungi are useful. Some kinds sour milk so that it can be churned into butter ; others, called yeasts, cause flour bread to rise ; while still other kinds are necessary in making vinegar. Exercise. — Secure some half-ripe sound peaches and place two or three of these under tumblers. At the same time find one which is de- cayed and shows upon the surface tufts of a gray mold. Now with a pocket knife touch the mold tufts of the diseased fruit and make cuts in the healthy peaches. Wrap the scratched peaches in a damp news- paper and put them under a can or cup in a warm place. Do they rot? Fio. I5S- — ScABLXSS Applis, the Result or Tuorouob Spraying SECTION XXXIX. SOME DISEASES OF FRUITS One day a brown spot may appear on a fruit, and the next the whole fruit may be browned and decayed. Mean- time there may appear on the surface numerous gray tufts of the mold-like fungus spores (Fig. 156). These light spores are carried by wind and insects to adja- cent healthy fruits or even to fruits of distant trees. Brown-rot. — The spores spread the disease, and during a week of sultry weather the peach crop may be ruined by this dis- ease, called brown-rot. With age a diseased fruit shrivels and becomes what is termed a " mummy." These mummies hang on ^^°' ^56- the tree and there the fungus remains until the next season, ready then to start a new outbreak of the disease. In con- trolling this malady, therefore, first remove and destroy or cover up by plowing all mummied fruits. Then spray the trees carefully with Bordeaux mixture before the buds open, to kill all germs. Finally, spray during the growing season. 229 After Ga. Agr. Expt. Station Brown-rot on a Peach 230 AGRICULTURE Peaches and other stone fruits are often injured by spray- ing 7v/un leaves are on the trees. Peach leaf-curl. — This disease can be recognized by the curling and arching of the leaves, which later turn dark and fall. The fruit shrivels and becomes almost worthless. The young shoots also may become diseased. This fungus establishes itself at the time the fruit buds are opening. It may be prevented by spraying the trees with Bordeaux mixture just before the buds open (Figs. 157, 158). Apple-scab. — Apple- scab is very common throughout the country during moist seasons. Examine the fruit care- fully during July and August, and the pres- ence of this disease will be shown by the scabby spots that do not resemble rot. There is an olive-colored growth around these. Scabby spots may also occur on the leaves. The apple-scab causes an enormous loss, making the apples misshaped and dwarfed and often reducing their selling price by half. When the scab begins, it may kill the bloom or Fig. 157. — A Peach Tree protected AGAINST Leaf-curl by Spraying SOME DISEASES OF FRUITS 231 it may cause the little apples to fall. In ordinary seasons this disease is well controlled by spraying at intervals of two weeks with Bordeaux mixture. Bitter-rot of the apple. — As the name implies, an apple attacked by this disease has a bitter taste. Bitter-rot is worst in moist, warm weatlier. It begins as a small spot and rapidly spreads from fruit to fruit. Later the affected area becomes flattened or sunken. A few days after the rot has begun, there are little circles of black dots beginning to appear at the center of the diseased spot. These little dots contain the spores which will spread the disease. This fungus also makes in- fig. 158.— Peacu trkk not si-rayed juries, called cankers, injured by leaf-curl. on the branches of the apple tree. It is estimated that bitter-rot of apples has repeatedly caused damage to the extent of ten million dollars a year. It may be controlled by the use of Bordeaux mixture. Fire-blight of the pear and apple tree. — The common blight of pear and apple trees, which kills and blackens the leaves and sometimes kills the pear tree, is caused by germs, called bacteria. This disease also .kills the bios- 233 AGRICULTURE soms. The germ is usually carried by bees from a diseased tree to a healthy flower of pear or apple. The fungus grows into the flower and on into the twigs. The diseased twigs die. Pear-blight, unlike most diseases, does least harm to trees that are growing slowly and thus form- ing tough, short twigs. Hence, when a grown pear tree is attacked, cultivation may be stopped, and no fertilizer rich in nitrogen should then be used. Spraying is not a cure, but cutting in winter and through- out the growing season all the diseased twigs helps to con- trol the disease. Cut the twigs about one foot below the diseased portion. After making each cut kill any germs that may have lodged on the blade of the pruning shears or knife. Do this by dipping the blade into a solution of formalin or of carbolic acid or by wiping it on a cloth dampened in a poisonous solution. Thus you will avoid spreading the disease. Exercise. — Find, examine, and show to your classmates specimens of jjeach '* mummies," rotting peaches or plums, diseased apples, curled peach leaves, or spotted leaves of any fruit tree. Do the appearances suggest that you are looking at the diseases here described? Note to the Teacher. — Most State Experiment Stations will identify diseased leaves or other specimens addressed to their bota- nists and will furnish bulletins on plant diseases or tell you where to get the bulletins that you may desire. SECTION XL. DISEASES OF OATS AND WHEAT In a field of ripening oats we can generally find some blackened smutty heads. The black dust which flies when these are touched consists of spores, whose only business is to cause more smut in next year's crop. They lodge on healthy oat grains in the field or while the crop is being thrashed. Healthy grains on which smut spores lodge do not become unhealthy, but when planted they carry the smut spores close to the sprouting plants. Oat-smut. — The only time when the smut fungus of oats can enter into the oat plant is just at the time of sprouting. If the smut spores can be destroyed on the seed to be planted, not a single head of smut will appear in the field, and the yield of oats will be increased six to twenty-five per cent. These germs on the seed can be killed either with scalding water or with formalin. Do this by. soaking the seed for ten minutes in hot water that a thermometer shows to be between 132 and 135 degrees. Or smut may be entirely prevented by thoroughly wetting the seed oats in water to which one ounce of formalin has been added for every three gallons of water. After treat- ing seeds with formalin keep them moist and covered with cloth for about two hours, so that gases from the formalin 233 . 234 AGRICULTURE may better kill the smut spores. This treatment costs only a cent or two for each bushel of seed. Oat-smut is shown in Fig. 159. Concealed smut of wheat. — The wheat smut which is most injurious is not readily observed. Here, too, the spores of the fungus replace the kernel, but the seed-coats, or kernel coverings, conceal the disease. On crushing one of the diseased " kernels " the spores will be found and the unpleasant odor that arises will not be for- gotten. Concealed smut may be prevented by dipping or soaking the seeds in a solution of bluestone. Other diseases. — Among other diseases of wheat and oats are several forms of rust, also due to fungi. You may be able to find speci- mens of rust and to compare them with the smuts. No treatment has been found to prevent the rusts of grain. Some varieties are more injured by rust than others. Those that ripen early oftenest escape severe injury. If you should find a wheat or oat plant that is free from rust while all others around it are diseased, your Fic. IS9. discovery may give rise to a genuine rust-proof SmuttvOats ^^^j^^y Exercise. — When wheat or oats have formed heads, count the number of smutted heads on a square foot or square yard of surface. Estimate how much the yield will probably be reduced by smut. Are the other stems ever stunted on a plant having one diseased head ? Look for rusted leaves or stems of wheat or oats. DISEASES OF OATS AND WHEAT 235 Note to the Teacher. — If you can get the promise of some farmer to sow half an acre of smutty oat seed and an acre alongside with seeds that have been treated for smut, your State Experiment Station may possibly be able to send you the necessary formalin. Or you can ask certain pupils simply with the aid of a borrowed thermometer to scald the seed for this test. If you have a sciiool garden, plant in it treated and untreated oat seed. Let different pupils plant the two kinds of seed, so that disease germs may not be carried from the untreated to the treated seed. SECTION XLI. DISEASES OF IRISH AND SWEET POTATOES The scab of Irish potatoes. — Irish potatoes often have a surface covered with rough scabs. This is a fungous dis- ease. If a scabby potato is planted, both fungus and po- tato are sown and the harvest will consist of both. More- over, the fungus spores are apt to be present in a soil which has recently produced scabby potatoes, ready to injure the next crop of potatoes. Fortunately this disease is easily prevented. A sound crop comes from smooth, healthy potatoes in a soil where scabby potatoes have never grown. For safety treat seed potatoes by soaking them two hours in a formalin solution containing one ounce of formalin to two gallons of water. The early blight. — This is a common disease of the leaves of the Irish potato. Round brown spots appear upon the leaves, or irregular spots show on the margins. This dis- ease is readily prevented by spraying the foliage with Hordeaux mixture. Paris green may be added to the mix- ture so as to poison the potato beetle at the same time. The soft-rot of sweet potatoes. — Sweet potatoes in stor- age are sometimes injured by the same little black mold often found growing on bread or on preserves. When the potatoes are stored where it is too moist and warm, this fungus grows upon them and produces what is known as 236 DISEASES OF IRISH AND SWEET POTATOES 237 the soft-rot, which has an unpleasant odor. This fungus takes advantage of the so-called sweating period, which occurs a short time after the sweet potatoes are dug. It then finds an easy entrance through the injuries on the sur- face or through the broken end of the root. From a single diseased or bruised spot it may spread with alarming rapidity. This disease is readily prevented by proper dry- ing of the potatoes for a few days after they are dug, be- fore placing them in the lower temperature at which they are to be stored. Infected potatoes should be destroyed. The black-rot of sweet potatoes. — This disease is really a soil rot. The fungus doubtless enters through the young rootlets of the growing plant. It finally becomes estabUshed in the potatoes themselves, producing circular black patches. The disease may even extend its injuries after the potatoes are stored. Black-rot is the most de- structive fungous enemy of the sweet potato, but fortunately it has not been found in all localities. In order to control it, the potatoes should not be grown on any field where sweet potatoes grew for one or two years before. More- over, the seed or slip bed should be carefully watched, for this disease may make its appearance there, producing upon the shoots dark-colored spots known as "black shank." Set out no slips from a badly diseased seed-bed. Exercise. — Find Irish and sweet potatoes. Search them for any unhealthy appearance. If any disease is found, does it seem to be one of those described above? SECTION XLII. DISEASES OF COTTON Cotton wilt. — Cotton wilt, often called black rot, causes the plant to drop its leaves or wilt and then dry up. Most i'liotDgrnph by U.S. I)rp<. of Aj[rieultur« Fio. i6o. — Os Left, a \ akikty of Cotton Resistant to Wilt; ON Right, Ordinary Cotton Many of the plants killed or stunted by wilt. plants die when bearing a full load of blooms and bolls. The disease occurs chiefly in the southern half of the cotton belt, and as far west as Louisiana. It is very common on certain 238 DISEASES OF COTTON 239 of the islands on the South Atlantic coast where Sea Island cotton is produced. The first year that wilt occurs on a field it attacks only a single plant or a small spot here and there. The next year the spots where the plants die are larger. In a very few years the fungus may become so very widespread as to make it impossible to maintain a stand of cotton on any part of the field (Fig. 160). In the stem of a cotton plant that has been attacked by wilt, the woody portion is darkened or streaked with very fine black lines. These black lines are the water-carrying vessels that have become stopped up by the growth of the fungus. Their stoppage causes the plant to wilt for lack of water. A dark layer occurs just under the bark (Fig. 161). The germs of the disease enter the plant through the roots. Cotton wilt is gener- ally considered worse on land where the tiny worms that produce knots on the roots are present. The germs probably enter more readily through the wounds made by these root-knot worms on the roots of the plant. In some of the affected areas in the field there may be a few stalks which do On/ight, healthy •' plant;onleft, not contract the disease. If so, they are blackened by cotton resistant and their seeds may transmit this ^'^*- natural resistance. Mark them and very carefully pre- serve their seeds for planting purposes. Different varie- ties of cotton show marked differences in their ability to Fig. 161. — Diagonal Section through Cotton Stalks 340 AGRICULTURE withstand the attacks of this fungus. The Dixie (Fig. 162), some strains of the Jackson variety, and some varieties of Sea Island cotton have been made quite re- sistant to cotton wilt by years of selection. Rotation of crops is generally the way to decrease the damage from wilt. However, the germs of wilt live in the soil for several years. Hence, in a rota- tion for land where this disease occurs, cotton must not be grown oftener than once in three or four years. Neither should the ordi- nary varieties of cowpeas be grown in such a rotation, for the root-knot worms, if present, increase rapidly on the cow- pea roots. This increases the number of wounds on the cotton roots the next year, and hence probably the number of wilt fungi entering the cotton plant. But in a rotation of crops on such a field, the variety of cowpeas called Iron, and also the velvet bean, may well be grown, because the root-knot worms do not rapidly in- crease on the roots of these plants. Cotton root rot. — The farmers of Texas and Oklahoma are not troubled with cotton wilt. Instead, their cotton Fig. 163. Dixie, a Wilt-kesistant Variety of Cotton DISEASES OF COTTON 241 often suffers from another disease, which, in appearance, is very similar to the wilt. This is the well-known root rot, or " dying " of cotton. The symptoms of this disease also are sudden wilting followed by the death and brown- ing of the whole stalk. Plants die from this disease about the time that the first bolls begin to open. It seems to be most common in the black- waxy, and other stiff soils. The method of its attack is very different from that of the cotton wilt. Over the whole root system, and par- ticularly covering the larger roots, are found brownish yellow threads, or a fuzzy growth of the fungus. The threads of the fungus penetrate the bark and even extend into the wood of the roots; the younger roots are promptly killed (Fig. 163). Wilting is due to the failure of the roots to furnish the usual supply of water. The fungus has been found on practically all varieties of cotton, but methods have been discovered for lessen- ing the loss. It grows best and injures cotton most Photo by A. B. Shear Fig. 163. — Roots of a Cotton Plant attacked by root rot 242 AGRICULTURE where the soil contains little air, that is, where the soil packs down heavily, or where the land has been poorly prepared for the growth of cotton. Therefore, better cir- culation of air in the soil is needed. This can be attained by deep plowing, thorough cultivation, and the addition of stable manure or vegetable matter. Rotation of crops is necessary. Such a rotation should not include alfalfa, sweet potatoes, or other plants on which this fungus can live. On land where cotton root rot occurs, corn, the small grains, sorghum, the true grasses, and many other similar crops may be grown. Cotton boll rot. — The boll rot is a very common disease in moist seasons. It is most severe in moist bottom lands where the large plants shade the ground and the bolls. The careful observer will notice first upon the boll small water-soaked spots, and as these spots increase in size they become gray at the center and finally pink, with a purple border. The pink or gray coating is evidence of the abundant production of fungus spores. These spores are blown about, or spread by insects, thus planting the disease wherever they fall upon cotton bolls surrounded by sufficient moisture and warmth to make the spores develop. The boll rots and the contents are ruined. Varieties differ somewhat in the extent to which they take the disease. Wide spaces between rows may de- crease boll rot by letting in more sunlight. Black rust. — This is the disease that so generally causes the cotton plant gradually to drop its leaves. The leaves turn pale or yellow, and then blacken and die. Black rust is not started by germs. After a plant DISEASES OF COTTON 243 has been made weak and unhealthy by unfavorable soil or other surroundings, the rust fungus enters the leaves and completes their destruction. Rust is largely a disease of poor land, and can be prevented on some soils by adding vegetable matter or potash. Exercise. — Ask your parents which of these diseases occur near your home. On what kinds of soil is each one worst ? If diseased plants are found, exa.mine them in the field where they grow. Do not take them to school for fear of spreading the disease. SECTION XLIII. GERMS IN THE SOIL The farmer could not grow profitable crops without the help of several kinds of germs that live in the soil. Some of these live in the tubercles on the roots of leguminous plants and change the nitrogen of the air into fertilizer nitrogen. These might be called the nitrogen-trapping germs because they catch or trap the nitrogen gas. Nitrate-forming germs. — Other kinds of bacteria that work faithfully for the farmer may be called the nitrate- forming germs. These finally change certain compounds in vegetable matter in the soil into nitrates^ the only form in which most plants can use nitrogen. The heaviest growth of cowpeas or clover might be plowed under as fer- tilizer, and the plants growing on that field the next season could not use a pound of its nitrogen if there were no nitrate-forming germs. These germs are too small to see, so small indeed that many millions have been found in a thimbleful of soil. The farmer should care for these tiny useful plants that are helping him to grow larger crops. Helping our friends in the soil. — Men who have spent their lives in studying these tiny plants under powerful microscopes have found that what the nitrate-forming germs need in order to increase rapidly and to help the soil and the crop are the following : — GERMS IN THE SOIL 245 (i) An abundance of vegetable matter for the germs to feed on and to change into fertilizer. (2) A soil that is always moist, but well drained. (3) A soil kept so loose and well drained that air can circulate in it. (4) An abundance of Ume to keep the soil from becom- ing sour. (5) A warm temperature. Germ enemies in the soil. — The soil is not dead. It swarms with living creatures. Some are friends, some foes. If the farmer helps the friendly germs, they rapidly in- crease and almost drive out some of the harmful germs. But if he allows his land to remain long very wet or very compact or very deficient in vegetable matter, his enemies in the soil will increase to enormous numbers and his friends will be banished. Nitrate destroyers. — For example, there are germs that are harmful because they change the valuable nitrates into useless nitrogen gas. Thus they undo the good work that the nitrate-forming germs have done. These harmful kinds, or nitrate destroyers, do not thrive in a soil where there is plenty of air. The farmer must fight these by the means that help the friendly germs, by drainage, plowing, cultivation, and by the addition of vegetable matter. SECTION XLIV. WHAT AN INSECT IS» Many persons regard insects only as troublesome pests, always to be considered as enemies. To the farmer, how- ever, a large majority of the insects are really not enemies. Many of them are his friends, although others are serious enemies of health and crops. All of them are interesting, and some of them very beautiful. A few general facts about aiding our insect friends and destroying our insect enemies will be of value. What an insect is. — Thrde great divisions are made to include all natural things, that is, the animal^ the vegetable^ and the mineral kingdoms. All insects belong to the animal kingdom. They are, therefore, animals, of which class they form much the largest group. In fact, there are more kinds of insects than of all other animals and of all plants put together. It is the abundance of insects and their close relationship to our health and welfare that make it so important for us to study them. Insects are never very large and rarely exceed a few inches in length or breadth. Many of them are so small that a magnifying glass or lens is needed to see them clearly. Most insects have wings when they are in the full-grown or adult stage, but some never have these in any >The MCtions on insects [XLIV to U inclusive] were written by Dr. W. E. Hinds, Profewor of Entomology in Alabama Polytechnic Institute. 246 WHAT AN INSECT IS 247 Stage of their existence. When wings are present, there may be either one or two pairs. Nearly all insects have legs ; six is the usual number. These two characteristics, the presence of wings and of six legs, are sufficient to identify an insect. There are insects, however, that lack wings and legs. Spiders and mites not insects. — The only creatures likely to be mistaken for insects are the spiders and mites. These never have wings and always have eight legs. By simply counting legs, then, spiders may be separated from the wingless insects. The principal parts of an insect. — The body is divided into three parts: the liead, the thorax, and the abdo'men (Fig. 164). The head bears the eyes, the antcn'ncB, or feelers, and the mouth parts. To the tho'rax, or chest, of the insect are attached the wings and the legs, but both wings and legs are en- tirely wanting in some insects. The eyes and antennae. — The eye is made up of a large number of simple eyes, so closely crowded together that .1 r u «. • 11 J J. J Fig. 164. — The Parts they form what is called a compound ^^ ^^ Insect eye. As a whole it is shaped somewhat like half a raspberry, dewberry, or blackberry. The shape of each part of the eye is something like that of a cell in honeycomb. The antennae bear the sense organs, which correspond to our touch, smell, and probably hearing also. One reason why the name " feelers " is often applied to these organs is 248 AGRICULTURE because the insects really seem to use them in that way. Insects do not have a nose or ears as we have, but some of them have the sense of smell very wonderfully developed, and doubtless they hear many sounds that never reach our ears. There are many interesting differences in the form of the antenna in different insects. Wings and legs. — The wings serve to carry their owners over long distances. They are very important aids in en- abling insects to find their food. A bee could not get enough to eat if it had no wings to carry it from flower to flower. The legs are arranged so as to balance the body in walking. Having si.x legs, the insect always has three on the ground while it is moving the other three forward. Exercise. — Catch a fly and see whether you find all of the parts of the body which have been mentioned. How many pairs of wings has it ? If you can get a magnifying glass examine the eye, antennx, mouth, and feet. Describe what you see. Note to the Teacher. — The United States Department of Agri- culture and most of the experiment stations have issued bulletins on injurious insects. The text and illustrations in these will be useful to you in teaching the sections on insects. SECTION XLV. HOW INSECTS GROW One difference between the structure of insects and four-legged animals is that the insects have their skele- ton or bones, as we may call them, on the outside of their bodies. This is what makes an insect hard. For this reason, insects cannot grow slowly and steadily, as animals do that have their skeletons inside and covered with the soft and easily stretched muscles and skin. When insects grow they do so by sudden jumps, as it were. When they have grown so that they fill their out- side skins very tightly, a new skeleton is formed inside of the old; the old skeleton bursts and is shed by the insect. While the new skeleton is yet soft it allows a con- siderable growth of the insect. This process is repeated several times in the life of every insect before it becomes fully grown. Having the skeleton on the outside is a great protection to the insect. With some insects these changes of skeleton are ac- companied only by a change in the size from the newly hatched form to the adult ; but with others there are great changes in structure and appearance during the last two changes of skin. We must know something of these changes in order to recognize the different stages in the life of the same insect. Immature and adult forms of insects. — Among the in- sects that change but little with their development are 249 250 AGRICULTURE the grasshoppers and the true bugs. Those who study insects use the name "bug" only for a certain large group of insects, just as one would speak of the "flies," "bees," and "grasshoppers." Grasshoppers and bugs have the same general form of body when young, but acquire wings as they become adult. Most of the other common insects undergo very remarkable changes. It is important to know this, since it may be very difficult to destroy an insect in one stage, but very easy to do so in another. Among those that make great changes in form are all of the caterpillars, which become butterflies or moths when full grown ; the maggots, which become flies ; the grubs, which become beetles. You will find it exceedingly interesting to watch a cater- pillar change its skin or the butterfly emerge from ils chrysalis or pupal case. Fio. 165. — Four Stages of Insect (Tent Catekpillab). Egos sepakateo AND UACNinED Lanra; cocoons; moth. Stages in an insect's life. — In the life of most insects there are four well-defined stages. The first is the egg, the second is the lan^a, the third is the pupa, and the fourth k HOW INSECTS GROW 251 stage is the adult (Figs. 165, 171). With a few insects there is no visible egg stage, as the young are born alive. This is the case with the plant-Hce. The larval stage is the growing stage in every insect's life. If it is not well fed, the adult insect coming from it will be smaller in size than usual. The pupa, qx pupal stage, occurs only among insects in which the larva is very different from the adult. It is purely a trans- formation stage, and is one of the most wonderful facts in the life of any animal. Transformation from cater- pillar to butterfly. — When the butterfly caterpillar has become fully grown, it ceases to feed and seeks some pro- tected spot in which to trans- form. For a time it seems to shrink or shrivel as though about to die. The most won- derful thing, perhaps, is that through all the vital changes that take place within its body during this period it does not die. After a few days, the caterpillar sheds its larval skin and becomes the pretty, shining chrysalis, or pupal case, of the butterfly. This is generally attached to some twig or stem. The surface is marked with delicate lines which really indicate the outlines of the Courtesy IT. S. Bur. Entomology Fig. 166. — Breeding Cage Cage used to confine insects when study- ing their habits. 252 AGRICULTURE sheaths within which the wings, legs, and antennae are developing. The body of the caterpillar is made over into an entirely new set of structures especially fitted for the different life the adult will lead. A wonderful change takes place in both the structure and the habits during the two stages of these insects' lives. A new butterfly is formed out of the body of the old caterpillar without de- stroying its life. This is just what happens with most insects. With moths the changes are very similar, only they are hidden from view by the cocoon^ or silken case, that the caterpillar spins around itself for protection dur- ing this critical time of life. The change with wasps and bees and beetles is just as great as with butterflies and moths. Exercise. — Bring some jxjtato beetles to the school and confine them in a cage such as shown in Fig. i66, with some of the potato vines. Watch the adult beetles lay their eggs and the young hatch and grow. Have some earth in the bottom of the cage for the lar\'se to enter when they are ready to transform. After a few days dig out some of the pupje and see how differently they are formed from the mature insects that were put in. SECTION XLVI. HOW INSECTS FEED How insects feed. — Insect mouth-parts are fitted for either biting or for sucking food. Insects have a number of parts to their jaws, and these are so arranged that they work sidewise against each other. The biting insects consume the entire substance of the leaves, flowers, fruit, or wood on which they feed. This is the reason that it is possible to kill such insects by applying some poison to the plants on which they are feeding. Some biting insects, however, feed in protected places where it is impossible to reach their food with a poison application. This is the case with the wood-boring in- sects as a rule and with the cotton-boll weevil. Many of the leaf-feeding insects, even, feed in the buds or some other protected position that makes it hard to control them. It is, therefore, necessary to know both the structure of the mouth and something of the general feeding habits of each insect before it can be destroyed. Different uses of biting mouth-parts. — Among the bit- ing insects the jaws are arranged in two principal positions, either pointing downward toward the surface upon which the insect rests, or forward, straight ahead of the insect. These positions indicate a different use. When the jaws point downward it means, as a rule, that the insect feeds 253 254 AGRICULTURE upon the surface or substance upon which it rests. This is the case with the grasshoppers, caterpillars, and most other leaf-feeding insects. Where the jaws point forward, it indicates that they are used for catching prey or for boring into wood. Those insects which catch others are as a rule useful and should not be destroyed. The tiget beetles and the ladybirds are two important groups of such useful insects. Sucking insects. — In the second large group are in- cluded all insects that take their food ty sucking. The mosquitoes, flies, butterflies, moths, and bugs are insects of this class. The food of sucking insects is generally either plant sap or animal blood. The butterflies and moths, however, use neither of these ^oods, but live on the nectar, or sweet liquid, which is formed in flowers. Some adult insects never feed at all. The larvae from which they are developed have stored up so much strength and a surplus of food materials in their body tissues that the adult simply lives upon that reserve. In such cases the adult may have entirely lost the use of its mouth and the parts may not be developed. Such insects are usually short-lived while in the adult stage. Among the mosquitoes only the females suck blood. It is possible for them to live on some other food as well as upon blood. Perhaps the most interesting form of sucking mouth is that of the butterflies and moths. All caterpillars have biting mouths. The tongue of the butterfly is often longer than its body. It would be very much in the way if it were not possible for its owner to coil it up like a watch- spring and carry it closely packed away under its head. HOW INSECTS FEED 255 There is a narrow channel extending through the entire length of this tongue through which the butterfly sucks the liquids that serve it as food. With most sucking insects the mouth-parts are strong enough to enable them to pierce the tissues of plants, animals, or other insects, so that their food is obtained entirely from beneath the surface. This is the reason that it is impossible to kill sucking- insects by applying poisons to the plants on which they are feeding. Different treatments for biting and for sucking insects. — These types of mouth-parts must be well understood in deciding just what treatment should be given for any insect pest. With the biting leaf -eating insects, any poison spread on the surface of the leaves will be taken into the insect's stomach with its food and cause its death. Paris green is the principal poison that is used in this way. It is generally mixed with water and the poisoned solution sprayed all over the trees or plants on which leaf-eating insects are feeding. Other poisons may be used in the same way. Such a treatment will have no effect upon the sap-sucking insects that take nothing from the surface of the leaves. It has never been found possible to in- troduce any poison into the sap of a plant so as to destroy the sucking insects upon it. The principal thing that can be done to destroy such insects is to apply something which will not injure the plant, but which, coming into contact with the insect's body, will cause its death. There are two kinds of such treatment that can be used. The first kind includes many substances which cause death by covering with soap or with oil the openings through which 356 AGRICULTURE the insect breathes, which keep out the air and really suffocate it. These are called contact insecticides. Kero- sene emulsion is one of the most common of such sub- stances. (See Appendix.) The second class includes those gases that are either poisonous in themselves or cause the death of the insect by replacing the air and thus causing suffocation. Exercise. — Watch caterpillars feeding on foliage, and mosquitoes and flies sucking blood or sweets, and describe what you see them do. FiC. 167. — LEAT-EAnNG CATERPILLARS AT WORK SECTION XLVII. INSECT ENEMIES OF THE FARMER While the injurious kinds number but a very small fraction of the great group of insects, they are exceed- ingly important both to our wealth and health. Perhaps more than a tenth of all the crops raised each year in our entire country is eaten or destroyed by insects. This damage amounts to a direct cost of about ten dollars for every man, woman, and child in the United States. The Hessian fly. — Perhaps the most injurious species of all is the Hessian fly, a minute insect which lives on the stems of wheat and other grains. In some places wheat cannot be grown because of the presence of this insect and the injury it causes. The only remedy con- sists in burning over the stubble after the crop has been harvested and in delaying the planting of the fall wheat until after frosts have occurred. The chinch-bug. — This is another very important insect that attacks grains. It is especially injurious to wheat and corn. It is a true bug and hardly more than a fifth of an inch long. Chinch-bugs often occur in such numbers as to cause the death of the plants because of the enormous amount of sap they withdraw. After the crops of small- grain are harvested, these bugs move on foot in countless numbers to the corn-fields. The fields can be protected 258 AGRICULTURE by running a deep furrow across the path of the bugs and destroying them as they fall into it. The fields should be cleaned by burning all rubbish which can shelter the adult bugs through the winter. With many such pests, it is ad- visable to change the crop on a field each year, so that the pests may not so readily find an abundance of their food. Fig. 168. — Apple Worm or Coduno-Moth The moth or miller lays the egg, from which hatches the larva or worm. The apple worm or codling -moth. — A widespread pest of apples is the worm (Fig. 168) that works into the core and makes the fruit "wormy." This is the larva of a pretty moth that lays its eggs on the leaves of the apple soon after tJu blossoming time. The young larvae feed on the leaves before they enter the fruit, into which they bore their way. This is the reason why it is possible to kill nearly all of the young worms by applying a poisonous INSECT ENEMIES OF THE FARMER 259 spray, which usually contains Paris green, at about the time that the petals drop from the blossoms, A second spraying in from ten days to three weeks after the first is an almost complete remedy for this pest. The expense is very slight in comparison with the value of the crop saved. The peach borer. — One of the most important peach insects is the peach borer, which works, not upon the fruit, but in the trees. If constant care be not taken, these borers may destroy a valuable orchard in a few years. The adult is a beautiful little moth, resembling some of the wasps in its appearance. The eggs are laid by the parent moths during the summer upon the bark near the surface of the ground. After hatching, the larva begins to bore into the bark, working downward a little below the surface. It lives thereafter in the sap-carrying layers just under the bark. Its presence is marked by an abundant formation of gum. The usual and best remedy is to dig around the base of each tree early in the fall or winter, and if any signs of gum are found, to dig out and destroy the larvae or worms. This must be done carefully so as not to miss any of the worms or injure the trees more by digging than the worms would do if left alone. The San Jose scale. — This is one of the most important enemies of all fruit trees that shed their leaves. It is called the San Jos6 (H5'sa) scale because it was first found in the United States near a place in California by that name. The scale insects are true bugs and suck the sap from the trees. The adult female scales are hardly as large as pin heads, but they may occur so abundantly as to cover the bark completely, and to cause the death of large trees in a 26o AGRICULTURE few years (Fig. 169). The best treatment is to spray the trees thoroughly just before the leaves start in the spring with a solution made by boiling lime and sul- fur together. This is known as the /itne- sulfur wash. (See Appendix.) The potato beetle. — This insect occurs so commonly that it is probably well known to all of you. The adult beetle is marked with ten light and dark stripes. The young are thick-bodied, soft, red grubs. They eat the vines of the Irish potato and the mature beetles do likewise. The beetle lives over winter and lays its eggs upon the potato plants early in the season. The eggs hatch ^ ___ into small reddish grubs and in a few weeks r wH ^^ vines may be eaten bare. The remedy V • • ^^"^ ^^'^ P^^' *^ Paris green, sprayed or dusted on the leaves. Lime should generally be used with Paris green to prevent its injuring the leaves. The plum curculio. — This is another beetle that does great damage to the plum and peach crops. The adult is one of the snout beetles, or weevils. After the fruit has set, Fio 160 —San ^^ mother weevil lays her eggs in it and Jos^ Scales, then eats a crescent-shaped cut half around ENLARGED ^^^y^ ^^^ j^^ ordcr that the growth of the fruit may not crush the egg before it hatches. This al- ways marks the location of the egg. The larva eats its way into the fruit and around the stone. When fully »«< INSECT ENEMIES OF THE FARMER 261 grown, it leaves the fruit and goes into the ground to transform. The adult weevil comes out early in the spring and feeds for a time on the buds before the fruit is set. During this period it may be destroyed by spraying the opening buds with poison. If sprayed just after bios-, soming, many weevils will be killed before they injure the fruit. Another method of destroying the weevils depends upon their habit of dropping to the ground for protection if anything dis- turbs the tree. A cloth-covered frame is placed under the tree, which is then jarred vigor- ously, causing most of the wee- vils to drop into the cloth, from which they may easily be collected and destroyed (Fig. 170). The cotton-boll worm (Fig. 171). — These worms pre- fer corn ears to cotton bolls. That is, if corn that has not become hard or mature is near, the boll worm moths will place nearly all of their eggs on the corn. By plant- ing a few rows of corn at intervals of two weeks it is *»^ 1 -A^'A. W^ M M 1^^^ m0 ■ im I^F M ^^^>- ■ Photograph by K. S. Mackintcsh Fig. 170. — Jarring Peach Trees to catch curculios on the screen below 263 AGRICULTURE possible to have the corn silking and in condition to attract the moths when they are most abundant in July and August The cotton is left almost uninjured. This prac- tice is in addition to that of plowing the ground early in the winter to break up the cells in which the pupae are passing the winter. The cotton worm. — A number of years ago this was the most serious enemy of cotton, but more recently it has been less injurious. The caterpillars be- come abundant rather late in the season and may strip all of the foliage from the plants. They may quite easily be reduced in numbers by dusting the cotton plants with Paris green mixed with flour. Strange as it may seem, this worm has recently come to be considered as beneficial to those sections of the cotton belt where the boll weevil occurs. It deprives the boll weevil of food by practically killing the cotton plant. Cuurtoijr C. 8. Bur. Kntomolocj Fig. t7i. — Fou|Staces or the Cotton- boll Worm, all enlarged INSECT ENEMIES OF THE FARMER 263 Exercise. — Ask the owner's permission to examine the roots of peach trees for borers. In your notebooic write a description of what you find. If specimens of the other insects mentioned in this section can be found, place them in bottles and present them to the teacher for examination by the class. Note to the Teacher. — Bulletins on each of these separate in- sects have been issued by the United States Department of Agriculture and by many of the experiment stations. You may render a great service in preventing the destruction of fruit trees by obtaining one or more of these bulletins and, with its help, collecting twigs that seem to be attacked by scale insects. Specimens forwarded to the entomologist at your state experiment station will generally be identified without charge and detailed information will be furnished for the treatment of the insect found. SECTION XLVIII. THE MEXICAN COTTON- BOLL WEEVIL In the Southern states where cotton is grown, the most important insect for you to know about is the Mexican cot- ton-boll wecinl. This insect (Fig. i 72) feeds only upon cot- ton, but its injury to this is very serious. It came into the United States from Mexico about 1892, and has since spread throughout most of the cotton-growing portions of Texas and Louisiana, and over the southern parts of Oklahoma and Ar- kansas. During the fall of 1907 it crossed Fig. j the Mississippi River into a few of the southwestern coun- ties of Mississippi. It is very certain to continue its spread throughout the other cotton-growing states. The injury Tut. CoiTON-BOLL Wr.r.Vi., (i) adult; (3) egg, much enlarged; (3) larva; (4) pupa; (5) adult, bark view; (6) side view, all enlarged. a64 THE MEXICAN COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL 265 that it is doing now can scarcely be estimated at less than twenty-five million dollars a year. The egg. — The adult weevils that have lived through Courtesy U. S. Bur, Kotoniology Fig. i73.^Larva of Boll Weevil in a Square of Cotton the winter are ready to attack cotton as soon as the first squares are formed in the spring. The eggs are very 266 AGRICULTURE small, and are laid in a hole which the female eats in the square or boll. After placing the egg at the bottom of the hole, the opening to it is sealed air-tight by the mother weevil so that the egg will not dry up and fail to hatch. Each female may lay more than a hundred and some even Ooortsqr U. S. Bar. Katonwtoci' Fig. 174. — Lakva or Boll Weevil vt the Boll more than two hundred eggs. Only a few days are re- quired for these to hatch. The larva. — Upon hatching, the little larva, or grub, finds itself surrounded by the tender parts of the bud or boll and then proceeds to feed and grow. When the larva THE MEXICAN COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL 267 has become about half grown, the injury to the square is usually so severe that the little leaf-like parts surrounding the bud spread outward and the square turns yellow. In about ten days from the time the egg is laid the square usually falls to the ground, where the larva continues to Courtesy fj, s. iJur. ±,mumoiuisy Fig. 175. — Square from which an Adult Boll Weevil has emerged feed within it until fully grown (Fig. 173). This requires only about ten to fifteen days. Dry, hot weather may kill the insects within the fallen squares, especially if the rows of cotton be far enough apart to let in the sunshine. The pupa. — Within the shelter of the walls of the fallen 268 AGRICULTURE bud or square, or within the boll (which is more likely to remain hanging upon the plant), the larva changes to a pupa. After only about three days more it becomes a full- grown weevil. The weevil then cuts a hole in the sur- rounding walls that is just the size of its body, and through this makes its escape to the outside world (Fig. 175). All of its life from the time the egg is laid until the mature weevil comes forth is passed in the interior of the square or boll. This fact makes it impossible to apply any poisons so as to destroy the insect in its early stages. The adult. — The mature weevil (Fig. 172) is a gray or reddish brown insect about a quarter of an inch long, not including the long snout. The mouth-parts are very small and are at the extreme tip of the long snout. This en- ables the weevil to bore deep into the squares and bolls. Squares, blooms, and bolls are destroyed by the attacks of the mature weevils, by the injury caused by the growing grub, and by the decay which starts in such wounds. The adults, or weevils, may live for a number of months. The development is so rapid that fully five generations may reach maturity in a season. Hence the insects are most abundant in the late summer and in the fall. The only check to the increase of weevils is the absence of squares, blooms, and bolls. When the weevils are very numerous, they destroy the squares so completely that no blooms are formed. Spread. — The weevils may be spread in a number of ways, especially by seed carried from the gins on the border of the region where the weevil is present. To prevent THE MEXICAN COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL 269 this, strict rules have been made against the shipment of cotton seed or other materials that might carry the weevils. The boll weevil spreads chiefly by flying. This flight and rapid spread occur during the fall months. In this way, the weevil spreads into about fifty miles of new terri- tory each season. It is expected to spread over the entire cotton belt within a comparatively few years. How it passes the winter. — The weevils which reach maturity late in the fall are the ones that are most likely to live through the winter. Fortunately, only from one to ten weevils live through the winter out of every hundred that attempt to do so. The weevils that mature in the late fall find shelter in the old cotton bolls on the stalk, or under any rubbish in or around the fields. The few that survive the winter leave their places of shelter gradually during a period of from ten to fourteen weeks, as a rule between the last of March and the first of July. This gradual coming out from winter quarters makes it very difficult to do much to control the weevil early in the spring. Treatment for the weevil. — This has proved to be a very difficult insect to control. No poisons have proved of much value in fighting it. It has been found that the direct rays of the sun will destroy large numbers of the insects while in the immature stages in the fallen squares, when they are exposed to it. Some of our native ants, which occur all through the cotton-growing area, are very valuable helps, because they destroy large numbers of the pest in its immature stages. A number of other insects attack the immature insects in the squares and bolls and destroy them. More than forty species of birds are known 270 AGRICULTURE to destroy boll weevils. The most important of these are the swallows and orioles in summer and blackbirds and meadow larks in winter. The best way to fight the boll weevil is to make certain improvements in farm practice. The most important step is to hasten the cotton plant to early maturity, so that the bolls formed early in the summer may become well grown by the time the weevils become very numerous, — the middle of July or first of August. The boll weevil does not do much damage to well-grown bolls while there is an abundance of squares in which eggs have not already been laid. The maturity of cotton may be hastened — (i) By planting varieties or selections that mature early, or that form bolls early in the summer. (2) By early planting and frequent and thorough culti- vation. (3) By the liberal use of fertilizers. Generally acid phosphate hastens the maturing of cotton. The farmer who adopts the intensive system of cotton culture and who produces two thirds of a bale or more of cotton to the acre before the boll weevil reaches him will probably be able to grow cotton profitably after this insect comes. But the farmer, who before the coming of the boll weevil gets only a third of a bale or less from an acre, will scarcely be able to continue to grow cotton in the old way after the pest reaches him. The second step in fighting the boll weevil consists in destroying the green parts of the plants or in plowing un- der the cotton stalks as early as possible in the fall. This THE MEXICAN COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL 2/1 Is done in order to deprive the weevils of their only food- supply, to stop their increase, and to reduce the number of hiding places in which they may spend the winter. The best preparation for farmers to make for the coming of the boll weevil is (i) to become accustomed to growing a greater variety of crops and more live-stock, and (2) to practice intensive cultivation of cotton, that is, to cultivate fewer acres of cotton so thoroughly as to make them pro- duce as many bales as were grown on the larger area. The only safety lies in diversified farming and intensive cotton culture. Exercise. — Let those who live outside of the region already in- vaded by the boll weevil try to estimate by the aid of the maps in some geography, how many years will probably pass before the boll weevil will reach their county, if it moves forward about fifty miles each year, assuming that it starts eastward from the Mississippi River in 1908. Do you think that farmers living near you realize that the boll weevil is certainly coming? Are any of them making preparations for its com- ing by raising a variety of farm products, — live-stock, truck crops, fruit, etc., — and by raising cotton under the intensive system ? Ask your parents what additional crops or live-stock, or live-stock products, could be produced to advantage in your own neighborhood. SECTION XLIX. INSFXTS AND HEALTH During the past few years much has been learned about the part that insects play in the spread of various diseases. Flies carry disease. — It has been found that flies are frequently very important agents in the spreading of typhoid fever. They do this by carrying to human food on their feet or mouth-parts the germs that cause the dis- ease. These germs are brought from the infected matter which flies visit. This has been proved by allowing a fly which had been on diseased matter to walk across the surface of a specially prepared material in which the germs of the disease could live. In a few days it was found that the typhoid germs were multiplying at every spot the fly had touched. The danger of the spread of such a disease by flies can be decreased as follows: (i) the frequent use of lime where needed about the premises, so as to re- duce the number of flies and thus protect food ; (2) fre- quently cleaning stables and lots to keep flies from breeding there; and (3) thorough screening of houses. Mosquitoes and yellow fever. — It has been proved very positively that a certain kind of mosquito is the agent in carrying this disease from one person to another. It is probable that it is spread in no other way. This mos- quito is the common black-and-white-banded day mosquito of the Southern states. Before the connection of the mosquito with the spread of this disease became known, 273 INSECTS AND HEALTH 273 frightful outbreaks of the fever sometimes occurred in the South. In Havana, Cuba, it was always present. Even there the disease has been stamped out by destroying the mosquitoes (Fig. 178). As these mosquitoes breed very extensively in the cis- terns, rain barrels, or other water-holding vessels, the rem- edy evidently consists in removing every unnecessary water vessel and in screening those which must remain with wire screening or cheese cloth so tightly that the mosquitoes can- not get to the water to breed. Mosquitoes and malaria. — More important than either of the cases which have been mentioned is the relation of mosquitoes to the spreading of malaria. That they do this has been most positively proved, and it is certain that mala- ria is never spread in any other way. The females alone do all of this deadly work, as the males never suck blood. How malaria is spread. — Malaria is caused by a very minute animal that lives as a parasite in the red blood cells of man. When a mosquito sucks blood from a person who has the disease, the parasites are taken with the blood. In the body of the mosquito certain of them undergo a development which they never do in man. After about ten or twelve days in the mosquito these parasites pass through the stomach walls and gather in its throat. At any time after this occurs, when this mosquito bites a well person, she is likely to force some of the parasites into the person's body along with the saliva which she injects into the wound. In this way, after a few days or weeks, a new case of malaria develops. This is considered as one of the most important recent discoveries in medicine. 274 AGRICULTURE Knowing how the disease is spread, it becomes possible to prevent it entirely. The malarial regions are simply those where the malarial mosquitoes are abundant It has been positively proved that it is possible for people to live even in the worst of such regions and yet to keep entirely well by guarding against being bitten by the mos- quitoes. Their bites can be escaped, for the malarial mosquitoes are active only between sunset and sunrise. The thorough screening of the houses is the most certain means of preventing the spread of the disease. In addition the draining or filling of the standing water pools in which the mosquitoes breed should be done. Small fish live on mosquito wigglers and, hence, fish should be kept in ponds that cannot be drained or filled. How to know the malarial mos- quitoes.— Whether we desire to de- stroy or to avoid these mosquitoes, we should know how to tell them from harmless kinds and also be able to tell the larvae or wigglers, in their breeding places. All of the mosquitoes that are concerned in spreading this disease belong to a single group and are closely related. The adults are rather long-legged as compared with other kinds ; when at rest, they stand with their bodies pointing head first to the surface to which they are clinging (Fig. 176). Other mosquitoes Flo. 176 — Malakial Mos- quito below; CotfifOK MoSQtniO ABOVE INSECTS AND HEALTH 275 rest with the body parallel to the surface upon which they touch. Among the larvae, or wigglers, these positions are quite reversed, as the malarial kinds are usually found with their bodies just under the surface of the water and parallel to it, while the other kinds hang, head downward, nearly at right angles to the surface (Fig. 177). Green scum is usually present where malarial mosquitoes abound. The remedies. — These mos- quitoes do not fly far from the places where they breed. It is only necessary to thoroughly screen the houses, to avoid being bitten by the mosquitoes, and to Fig. 177— Wigglerof Mala- fill or drain the places where they ^^^^ Mosquito above breed to stop completely the spread of this disease. Care should be taken to empty the water at least once a week from drinking troughs, barrels, etc., where the mosquitoes might breed. Tin cans, or similar water holders, should be buried or placed so that they cannot hold water. Cis- terns and wells should be covered and everything possible done to prevent the multiplication of mosquitoes of any kind. The reward for such work will be a largely increased measure of comfort and health. Note to the Teacher. — Bulletins on mosquitoes have been pub- lished especially by the United States Department of Agriculture and the state experiment stations at the following post offices : Berkeley, Cal. ; Lexington, Ky. ; College Park, Md. ; Agricultural College Post Office, Miss., and New Brunswick, N. J. 276 AGRICULTURE Exercise. — Catch some of the mosquito wigglera which you may find in standing water and keep them in a glass partly filled with water, under a lantern globe covered with cheese cloth. Watch the habits of the larv* and pupae. If you can find any of the boat-shaped egg masses of the common house mosquito or the single eggs of the malarial mosquito, put them into a tumbler of water by themselves and watch them until they become full-grown mosquitoes. Fig. 178. — Mosquito that cakries the Yellow Fevek Geuc SECTION L. THE HONEYBEE The keeping of bees for the production of honey is an important industry in many sections of the country and is practiced to some extent nearly everywhere. The occur- rence of nectar in flowers and the visits of the bees and other insects to the flow- ers to secure it are well-known facts. Many wild bees store honey, but the few kinds kept and cared for by man have developed pic 179.— worker a wonderful ability to do this. Bees are ^^^ provided with powerful stings which they are likely to use if anything threatens their home and honey sup- plies. But bees are not dangerous to one who knows how to handle them Fig. 180. — Drone Bee properly. The members of a colony. — The workers number from 25,000 to 35,000 in a hive. These do all of the work of collecting and storing the honey and all of the housekeeping in the hive. Besides the workers there are a few male bees or drones, and usually only one queen (Figs. 179, 180, 181). If more than fig. 181. one queen is present, there will be warfare between the two until one is killed ; or if the colony is strong and the honey supply abundant, part of the 277 • Queen Bee 278 AGRICULTURE workers may leave the old hive with the new queen and found another colony. This is called swarming. The work of the queen. — The queen bee is very care- fully cared for by the workers, for upon her depends the very life of the colony. They feed her and do everything else possible for her comfort and safety. The reason for all of this an.xiety about the queen is that she alone lays all of the many thousands of eggs for the colony. Her strength is saved for that work. The bee nursery. — The worker bees build the honey- comb in which the honey is stored and in which the young bees are reared. Separate combs are used for these two purposes. While the honey is stored for food, the young bees are not fed upon it directly. They are not brought up in the cells with the honey. This is how it is possible to have the fine solid combs of pure honey. When a comb is prepared for the rearing of the young, the queen is taken to it by the workers. She places one egg in the bottom, or rather in the inner end, of each cell. With that her work is done. But during the summer time, she may have to lay several hundreds or even thou- sands of eggs every day. Whether the young bee is to become a worker, a drone, or a queen depends largely upon the kind of cell in which the egg is placed and also upon the kind of food that the young bee is fed. The workers are developed in the ordinary sized, horizontal cells. The drone cells are much larger, but also horizontal, and the eggs deposited in these are supposed to be in- fertile. The workers can produce a queen when they desire by forming a larger vertical cell, placing in it an THE HONEYBEE 279 ordinary worker egg, and then feeding the young larva upon a special kind of food which is called royal jelly. The bee larvae are little legless creatures and are fed and cared for entirely by the workers. Their food is a mixture of honey with pollen. After they become adult they do not leave the hive for some days, but serve as nurses for the larvae still in the cells. In about two weeks they also begin the collection of honey. How honey is made. — When collecting honey, a bee usually visits only one kind of flower on a trip. The sweet nectar is carried in a special stomach from which the bee is able to expel it again for storage in the honeycomb. Upon its legs and body the bee carries pollen from the flowers it has visited. Bees really gather nectar, not honey. After the nectar has been stored in the comb, the bees fan it with their wings and dry out much of the water, and in due time it ripens into real honey. There are so many things to be known in order to man- age bees successfully that it has become a special business to which many people give all of their time. Upon the amount of honey produced each year depends the value of a colony of bees. From well-managed hives of selected bees and during seasons favorable for the growth of the honey-producing plants as much as several hundred pounds of honey may be stored by a single hive. Length of life of bees. — The life of a colony of bees may be continued indefinitely, but the life of the individ- ual workers is short in the summer time when they are flying a great deal. They wear their wings out and thus really work themselves to death, in a few weeks. The drones 28o AGRICULTURE never live over winter and are usually killed by the workers during the fall. But the queen may live for several years. When a queen becomes old or exhausted, a new one takes her place and the life of the colony goes on steadily. Producing select hives of bees. — The best kinds of bees have been developed in Italy. Among these are the Ital- ian and the Carniolan bees. In some respects the latter are the best bees known. By placing a single fertile queen of one of these choice kinds in a hive of common bees, it will happen that in a few weeks or months all of the bees in the hive will be of her kind because she lays all of the eggs. This is the way colonies of choice bees are produced. Such queens are raised for sale by some bee- keepers and can be sent long distances by mail. Honey-producing plants. — For the best results with bees it is important that there be an abundance of good honey- producing plants in the vicinity of the hives. Among the best plants for this are some of the clovers, alfalfa, vetches, and many of the common fruit trees. Sweet clover, which grows wild and which is also cultivated on lime soils in the Southern states, is an excellent bee plant. Many of the wild flowers and weeds are sources of abundant honey- supply. Cotton, cowpeas, and buckwheat are good. The magnolia, palmetto, tulip or yellow poplar, and sourwood are valuable sources of supply. Before undertaking bee- keeping on a large scale the surrounding plant life should be carefully studied. Desirable honey-producing crops may be grown to help out the natural sources of supply. SECTION LI. IMPROVEMENT OF LIVE-STOCK The principal animals that add to farmers' profits are horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and swine. All of these ani- mals have been greatly changed by man in order that they may better serve his uses. The active, slender, long- legged wild hog has been changed into the round-bodied, short-legged Berkshire or Poland-China. The angular, long-horned wild cattle of earlier days have been trans- formed into immense masses of flesh. The changes that have occurred in domestic animals have been brought about chiefly by selection of the ones best suited to their owner's main purpose. Improvement in the kind and amount of food has also helped to make these changes. Improving common or scrub live-stock. — A breed is a large group of animals that resemble each other and whose offspring inherit the same qualities. A pure-bred animal is one both of whose parents belong to the same breed. Scrubs or natives are animals having no ancestors that belonged to any distinct breed. Grades are animals descended from both pure-bred and scrub ancestors. Fortunately for the farmer, the pure-bred parent has more influence than the scrub parent in determining the form, color, and useful qualities of the grade offspring. 281 28a AGRICULTURE Hence, the best way to improve cattle or other live-atock cheaply is to purchase pure-bred sires, or males, and to use cheaper females. Starting with a pure-bred sire and scrub females the first generation are half-bloods. The second generation (or the offspring of these half-blood females and of a pure-bred sire) are three quarters pure ; the members of the fourth generation are seven eighths pure, or high grades. The process of improving inferior animals by the use of pure-bred sires is called grading up. It is the cheapest way for most farmers to improve their herds. The cheaper females intended as a foundation for the herd or flock ought to be selected from the best of their kind. The high grades may be just as good for butter or beef or other special use as are the pure-bred animals, but for purposes of increase they are less valuable. This is be- cause some of their offspring may resemble their scrub an- cestors. It is unwise, therefore, to use either a grade or a scrub sire. A cross-bred animal is one having one parent belonging to one breed and the other parent to another. When the parents are thus widely unlike, the character of the offspring is uncertain. Such violent crosses are generally unwise. Advantages of raising live-stock. — There are advan- tages in raising some live-stock even on farms devoted chiefly to cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, or grain. Some of the main reasons why live-stock ought to be raised on most farms are : — (i) Because they make profitable use of much g^ass and other coarse food that would otherwise be wasted. IMPROVEMENT OF LIVE-STOCK 283 (2) Because they enrich the farm directly, by convert- ing most of their food into fertilizing material. (3) Because they enrich the farm indirectly, by causing the farmer to grow more cowpeas, clover, and other soil- improving forage plants. Fig. 182. — A Type of Live-stock often raised in Europe, BUT LESS Popular in this Country The picture shows a goat harnessed to a smedl cart, for children's amusement. SECTION LII. HORSES The three principal classes of horses are (i) draft horses, (2) coach or carriage horses, and (3) light riding and driving horses. Fro. 183. — A Draft Ho- iEKON ' Draft horses. — There are many breeds of draft horses, most of them coming from France, Belgium, England, and ' All fif^rcs of hones and also Figs. 193, 194, 197, 199, and aoo are used by pcrmiaaion of Tkt BrtnUr's Gaxttte, Chicago. 284 HORSES 285 Scotland. Draft horses are immense animals, generally weighing from 1 500 to 2000 pounds. Their legs are rather short, very strong, and placed wide apart. Their bodies are rounded ; their backs are broad, showing great develop- ment of muscles. Their shoulders are rather upright in- stead of sloping. This upright position enables them to Fig. 184. — A Draft HuRbK; Clydesdale throw their weight and strength squarely against the collar. Their feet are large. In the Southern states where the mule is a favorite work animal on the farm, the draft horses are used much less on the farms than in the cities. 286 AGRICULTURE Percherons. — The Pcrch'e ron breed originated in France. It has become very popular in the United States. The colors that most frequently occur are black and all shades of gray. The Percheron horse is a very heavy, compactly built animal, with short legs free from long hairs (Fig. Fic. 185. — A Coach Horse 183). A good Percheron shows style in form and move- ment, and in the proudly arched neck. Clydesdales. — The Clydes'dale breed originated in Scot- land. The colors are bay, brown, chestnut, or black; often HORSES 287 there is white on the face and feet (Fig. 184). A fringe of long hair grows out behind the lower portion of each leg. Coach or carriage horses, — A coach horse is a large, stylish animal, lighter and more active than the draft horse, but larger than light riding and driving horses (Fig. 185). Fig. 186. — American Saddle Horse Light driving and riding horses. — These are formed for speed and hence have slender bodies, sloping shoulders, and long legs with sloping pasterns. Thoroughbred is the name of a breed of horses that are very speedy at the running gait. Thoroughbreds have been useful in giving 288 AGRICULTURE speed, endurance, and other qualities to driving and riding horses descended from them. Atnerican trotters owe their speed largely to their thoroughbred or running ancestors. They are largely used as buggy horses. The colors are various. The American saddle horse is prized for its easy riding gaits. The best saddle horses are expected to have five gaits; namely, (i) walk, (2) trot, (3) canter, (4) rack (an- other name for single foot), and (5) either the running walk Fig. 187. — Shetland Ponies or slow pace or fox trot. The saddle horse should be of medium size, graceful proportions, and should have stylish action and a good disposition (Fig. 186). Shetland ponies. — These very small ponies are useful for children to ride and drive. They are usually gentle and make delightful pets. The height is oftenest from 36 to 42 inches (Fig. 187). Some ponies have been only 30 inches high. Most Shetland ponies are compact or " blocky " in HORSES 289 form and stronger than their small size would suggest. Common colors are black, bay, and brown ; grays, chest- nuts, roans, and spotted ponies are not unusual. Mules. — Mules are preferred to horses on Southern farms. They pull more steadily, are less high-spirited, and are put to work at an earlier age. Southern farmers can easily and profitably raise their own mules. Care of horses and mules. — Some of the most important points in the care of horses and mules are these: — (i) An abundant but not excessive supply of food, con- taining an ample amount of nitrogen. (2) Clean, dry stables, so that the feet may not become diseased. (3) Frequent watering, best before meals. (4) Regular exercise. (5) Careful shoeing. Exercise. — Compare several horses with regard to the following points : slope of shoulders ; slope of pasterns (the part of the leg just above the foot) ; size or fineness of the bones in the lower part of the leg. Have you read " Black Beauty," a book that tells a very interesting tale about a horse? In reading it you will find not only pleasure, but also many useful hints about the proper management of horses. SECTION LIII. BEEF CATTLE The beef type. — The chief use of the beef breeds is to fur- nish meat. The form that is desirable in a beef animal is one that affords the largest proportion of valuable meat and the smallest proportion of inferior meat and waste. Hence, the neck and legs should be short and the body full, deep, and rounded. The shape of a beef animal's body is "blocky " Fig. 1 88. — Showing the Bref ForH Views from behind and from the side. and somewhat like that of a brick set on edge with the edges and corners rounded off (Fig. i88). The best cuts are those from the upper part of the body, especially in the region of the loins. The back and loins of a beef animal, therefore, should be broad and deeply covered with flesh. 290 BEEF CATTLE 291 The hind quarters must be fleshy. Cows of the ieef breeds usually give only enough milk for their calves. Most beef breeds that are popular in the United States originated in England and Scotland. A mature cow of the beef breeds often weighs 15CX) pounds or more, or nearly twice the weight of a scrub or Jersey cow. The males sometimes weigh more than 2500 pounds. Fig. 189. — A Hereford Even grade animals of the beef breeds are better than scrubs because they grow larger, mature earlier, and afford a larger proportion of valuable meat. All these advantages can be obtained by the purchase of a pure-bred sire. 292 AGRICULTURE BEEF CATTLE 293 The Hereford breed. — These cattle are sometimes called "White Faces" (Fig. 189). The face, breast, legs, under- portion, and part of the neck are white ; most of the body is red. The Hereford is a very valuable and popular breed and has been found especially satisfactory for the Western ranges. The Aberdeen- Angus breed. — Other popular names for this breed are Polled Angus and Black Polled. The color is black over the entire body. There are no horns ; even among the half-blood Angus grades very few animals have horns. In size, the Angus is slightly below the Hereford and Shorthorn. It has a very blocky, rounded body. The Galloway (Fig. 191) is another black, hornless breed. The Shorthorn breed. — The horns are short, and in the cow they are gracefully curved. The principal colors are (i) solid red, (2) red and white mixed, and (3) roan, that is, a mottling of red and white. The Shorthorns are widely distributed over the United States. They are most valu- able for beef, but in some families of Shorthorns the milk- producing quality has been maintained. The Red Polled breed. — These hornless red cattle stand between the beef breeds and the dairy breeds. Red Polled cattle are smaller and generally less " blocky " than the beef breeds mentioned above. Their bodies, however, are rounded and plump. The breed includes many excellent milkers, and also many animals of the beef type. Exercise. — At home or on the farms of neighbors select the most " blocky " cow you can find. Compare every part of her body with that of some more angular animal ; also compare her shape with those shown in the pictures of the beef breeds. If especially interested in beef 294 AGRICULTURE cattle, write to the Agricultural College of your state for score-card or publication showing how to judge beef cattle. Note to the Teacher. — Encourage pupils to describe specimens of any of these beef breeds that they have seen. If the class can inspect some animal of the beef type, whether pure-bred, grade, or native, re- quire them to locate the parts of the body where the greatest amounts of valuable meat are found. Compare the shape of this animal with the shapes shown in the pictures of beef cattle. I-IC. igi.- — A HlN(H ul C; \l I.OWAY StEEKS SECTION LIV. DAIRY CATTLE The dairy type of cattle. — The form of a good dairy cow should be almost the opposite to that of a good beef cow. She should have a thin back, wide, prominent, bony hips, and lean hind-quarters (Fig. 192). If there is much flesh on the back, loins, and hind-quarters of a dairy cow, Fig. 192. — Showing the Dairy Form Views from behind and from the side. she has made wrong use of her food, which should have been changed into milk or butter. The barrel, or rear portion of the body, must be large, so that in it she may store away much food while conv.ert- ing it into milk and butter. Viewed from the side, her body should be deeper at the hind flank than at the fore flank, giving a wedge-shaped appearance. Viewed from above, the dairy cow should also be wedge-shaped, having the narrow part at the withers on top of the shoulder blades and the wide part at the hips. 295 296 AGRICULTURE The udder should be large and should extend well for* ward. The loose skin forming its rear portion should extend as high as possible. The milk veins in front of the udder should be large and crooked, and the " milk well " where they enter the chest cavity should be large. Fig. 193. — A Jtitotv Cow The milk veins carry blood from the udder where it has helped make milk. If they are large, it shows that much blood flows past the udder for use in making milk. The Jersey breed. — This breed originated on the little island of Jersey between England and France (Fig. 193). The laws of that island do not permit any other breed to be introduced. The Jersey is now the most pop- ular dairy breed in the United States. This is because its milk is so rich. A Jersey cow often produces more than DAIRY CATTLE 297 4CX) pounds of butter in a year, and some of them have records of more than twice that amount. The Jersey cow has a small, angular, lean body, a fine and beautiful head with short crumpled horns, and usually a rich, yellowish skin. Common colors among Jerseys Fig. 194. — A Holstein Cow are silver-gray and fawn color. White markings are frequent. The legs and nose are often black. A Jersey or even a Jersey grade can generally be distinguished from most other cattle by the " mustache." This is a ring of light-colored hair around the muzzle or nose. The Guernsey breed. — This breed is very similar to the Jersey, but the form is somewhat larger and coarser, and light colors are less common. Guernsey milk is quite as rich as Jersey. These two breeds are entitled to be called the two principal butter breeds. The Guernsey 298 AGRICULTURE originated on the island of Guernsey, which is near the island of Jersey. The Holstein-Friesian breed. — These cattle (pronounced Hol'stlne Frez'ySn) originated on the rich land near the back side dewlap -^S 1 (:£^pif \^ fhigh Fig. 195. — Pasts of the Cow sea-coast in Holland (Fig. 194). They are large, angular, black-and-white cattle, and give larger amounts of milk than any other breed. Some cows have given more than 10 gallons of milk in one day. However, the milk is not rich. Exercise. — Select some good milch cow of the dairy type. Make a drawing of the outer line of her udder. Locate the parts of her body, using Fig. 195. Note to the Teacher. — Doubtless a good dairy cow can be in- spected by teacher and class. If so, instruct pupils in locating parts of body and in noting their correspondence with the " dairy shape," as suggested in text and illustrations. This exercise will liear frequent repetition. Then compare, in all points, any two cows placed together. SECTION LV. SHEEP Long before cotton was known, men and women wore garments made of wool. The sheep still furnishes a large part of our clothing. This animal is as useful for its flesh, called mutton, as for its wool. Sheep are more easily kept than almost any other ani- FiG. 196. — Dorset Sheep mal. They live chiefly on coarse feed that would other- wise be wasted and eat weeds which horses, cattle, and hogs will not touch. Thus they help to keep the farm clean and neat and improve the land on which they pasture. This explains the true proverb that "The hoof of the sheep 299 300 AGRICULTURE is golden." Every farm ought to have its flock of sheep. The wool generally pays the cost of keeping them. The lambs are clear profit, and usually a flock produces more lambs than there are ewes. A lamb will often sell when a few months old for as much or more than its mother. Unfortunately, sheep are subject to injury and death I'lG. 197. — SUROPSUIRE SuttP from worms in the stomach and intestines. Change of pasture at brief intervals is the best means of avoiding these troubles. There are three types of sheep, fine-wool, medium- wool, and long-wool. The long-wool breeds, which are used both for mutton and wool, have not been extensively raised in warm climates. SHEEP 301 Medium-wool breeds. — The medium-wool breeds include the Dorset, Shropshire, Southdown, and others. They afford good mutton and a fair amount of wool. The Dorset is a sheep of medium size. Both sexes have horns. Dorsets are prized for the early date at which their lambs come and for the frequent occurrence of twin lambs (Fig. 196). The Shropshire (Fig. 197) is of medium size or above. Fig. 198. — A Southdown It is a popular breed in all parts of the United States. The color of the face, ears, and legs is very dark brown or black. The Shropshire has no horns. The Southdown (Fig. 198) is a favorite mutton breed over almost the whole world. Its face, ears, and legs are of a brownish color, but of a lighter shade than those of the Shropshire. The Southdown is a little smaller than the Shropshire and affords somewhat less wool. 302 AGRICULTURE The fine-wool breeds. — These include several breeds of Merinos (Fig. 199). Merinos are most valuable for the Fio. 199. — A Mekino production of wool, but are not the best for mutton. The wool is much greater in amount and contains more grease than that of other breeds. Exercise. — Write in your notebook the month in which shearing is done, asking older persons if you do not know. If any member of the class has seen sheep sheared by machinery, he should be prepared to tell how it was done. If there is a flock of sheep near you, watch them while grazing and notice the weeds that they consume which other live-stock would not eat. SECTION LVI. SWINE It costs so little to make a start in improving the hogs on any farm that scrubs, or razorbacks, ought soon to disappear. Pure-bred hogs and grades mature at a much earlier age than scrubs and grow to a much larger size. Hogs are healthier and much more profitable when they live partly on pasturage. But even with the best pastures of grass or clover, it pays to feed them some grain. In the Southern states, hogs can be raised on very little corn by growing artichokes, chufas, vetches, clovers, and alfalfa for them to eat in cool weather. When the weather be- comes warm, there should be ready for them fields of sor- ghum, cowpeas, peanuts, and soy beans, besides pastures. It costs less to put a pound of flesh on a young hog than on one more than a year old. It is generally more profitable, therefore, to make a pig grow large enough to be made into pork when ten to twelve months old than to feed it longer. Hog cholera and swine plague destroy great numbers of hogs every year. They are due to germs that have been brought from other places where the diseases have oc- curred. They are carried by means of running water, by loose animals, by buzzards, and even by the shoes of men. These diseases can generally be prevented by not allowing the hogs to range outside of their pasture, and by keeping out of the hog pasture and lots everything that has been 303 304 AGRICULTURE on a farm where these troubles have recently occurred. It is safest for hogs not to drink water from a stream that originates beyond one's own property. Breeds of hogs. — There are many breeds of hogs. Among the most popular are the Berkshire, Poland-China, Duroc-Jersey, and Chester White. The Berkshire is a large or medium black hog with white I'lU. 2QO. -A rOLAND-CUl-NA markings on the face, feet, and legs. The face is short and sharply dished. The ears are held stiff or rig^d. The Poland-China is a large or medium black hog with slight white markings on the face and feet. The face is not sharply dished. The tips of the ears droop (Fig. 200). The Duroc-Jersey is a large reddish hog with shape of face and ears like the Poland-China. There are many pigs in a litter. SWINE 305 The Chester White is a large white hog with drooping ears. White hogs are regarded as less hardy in the South than those of other colors. Exercise. — Compare a pure-bred or good grade hog with a razor- back, noting especially differences in nose, neck, back, and hams. Note to the Teacher. — Write to the Agricultural College in your state for score-card for judging hogs. These sheets contain suffi- cient directions. It is instructive and interesting, after some practice in judging fairly good hogs, to have pupils engage in a judging contest. Fig. 201. — Shoats on Pasture Can you expect the same plumpness in young shoats living largely on pasturage as in older fattening hogs ? SECTION LVII. THE MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY The poultry products of the United States are esti- mated to be worth about five hundred million dollars each year. The hen has even a stronger claim than this on our care. In her eggs and in the flesh of her chickens she furnishes the most nutritious kind of human food. Fowls are still further useful on the farm because of the large numbers of injurious insects that they destroy. They also make profitable use of waste material, such as grass, sur- plus vegetables, bruised fruit, and spilled grain. Some kinds of fowls afford valuable feathers. Improving the flock. — By saving eggs from only the best layers for hatching there will be every year an increase in the number of eggs laid by the flock. Hens have been raised that produced more than two hundred eggs in a year (Fig. 202). This was done by selecting through several generations the best layers and the roosters hatched from eggs laid by the best hens. Those who cannot at once have pure-bred fowls should improve the flock by using only pure-bred cocks. Food for poultry. — Fowls lay best and grow best when allowed some exercise. The insects that they catch while ranging in orchard or pasture or field form a most nutritious diet. When fowls are not permitted to range, 306 d THE MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY 307 the food given them must be rich in nitrogen. Foods suitable for supplying nitrogen to poultry are the seeds of cowpeas and soy beans, leaves of clover and of all legumes, Fig. 202.- ■A White Leghorn Hen that LAii> 216 Eggs in Ten Months meat scraps, skimmed milk, and fresh, ground bones. These should be fed mixed with the usual daily supply of corn, wheat, or oats. Poultry thrives best when furnished with a variety of food and when constantly supplied with green food. A field of rape, alfalfa, or clover should be grown especially for poultry. When fowls are confined, green food ought to furnish part of the daily ration. 308 AGRICULTURE Grit — Fowls prepare their food, not by chewing it like larger animals, but by grinding it against grit in the giz- zard. Hence, fowls must have an abundance of grit, which may be sand, gravel, cinders, pounded glass or oyster shells, or any finely divided hard substance. If they range, fowls can pick up enough of this. If confined, they should be supplied with some form of grit, as clean sand or crushed oyster shells. The oyster shells are especially useful to laying hens because, besides serving in the gizzard to grind the food, they furnish lime. Much lime is needed to form the shell of the egg. Destroying vermin. — The profits from poultry are much reduced by the discomfort caused by lice and mites. When fowls can scratch and roll in the dust, the dust often suffo- cates the lice. A box of fine dry road-dust, or sifted ashes, should be kept in the poultry-house so that the fowls can regularly take their dust baths and thus destroy many vermin. Chicken mites are not all thus killed. Many leave the fowls after tormenting them all night, and spend the daytime on the roosts and walls of the poultry-house. Hence, the house ought to be whitewashed frequently with a lime wash to which crude carbolic acid has been added. The orchard spray pump may be used and the walls and roosts sprayed either with this kind of whitewash or with kerosene emulsion. Directions for making this mixture, so useful for killing insects, are given in the Appendix. By having the nests movable, these can be brought out of the hen-house at frequent intervals and the straw burned, thus ridding them of vermin. Some poultrymen dip their THE MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY 309 fowls in a mixture made of fifty parts water to one part of chlo' ro naph tho' le um. Water. — Chickens need a constant supply of clean water. A good way to keep it clean is to buy a water fountain in which they cannot make the water unclean. A home-made drinking fountain can be made as follows : with a nail make a hole in a can about half an inch from the open end. Fill the can full of water and over it place a pan about two inches deep. Quickly invert both. The water will stand in the pan Fig. 203. — A Home- made Drinking as high as the hole m the can (Fig. 203). Fountain Poultry-houses, incubators, and brooders. a, o e in inner tin — ^ good poultry-house should be venti- lated, but not crossed by draughts of air. Sunshine should be let in to keep it dry and to destroy germs of certain diseases. The roosts should be movable and smooth, so as not to afford hiding places for vermin. Some careful poultry-breeders build a platform under the roost and a foot or two below. This keeps the floor clean and saves all the manure, which is much richer than that from the larger farm animals. Exercise. — Weigh a dozen eggs ; write the weight in your notebook. Are they all of the same size? Of the same color? Try to think why eggs that have become greasy do not hatch well. Note to the Teacher. — Encourage statements from pupils about familiar facts connected with the management of poultry, kinds of foods used, best location of nests for different fowls, etc. If any one can find an old can and pan, let him or her make a drinking fountain, and show in class how it operates. See whether any pupil would like to make one for use at home. Parents would appreciate one. SECTION LVIII. BREEDS AND VARIETIES OF CHICKENS It has been found easy to create new breeds of chickens by selection and by crossing. As a result, there are now more than one hundred varieties of chickens. These may be divided into four general classes, according to the use to which each is best suited. These classes are : — ( 1 ) The egg breeds. (2) The egg-and-meat breeds. (3) The meat breeds. (4) The fancy or ornamental breeds. The egg breeds. — The breeds of this class are so named because they lay more eggs than those of the other classes. The fowls are small and active. They are poor sitters. Among the leading egg breeds are the Leghorns, Minor- cas, Spanish, Red Caps, Andalusians, and the Hamburgs. They mature early, pullets beginning to lay before they are five months old. The eggs of this class are generally pure white. Most breeds of each class are again subdivided into vari- eties named according to color of plumage or shape of comb. In other respects, these varieties of each breed are alike. The Leghorns include eight varieties ; among them are the White, Brown, and Buff Leghorns. A Leghorn hen should lay between 150 and 200 eggs in a year (Fig. 310 BREEDS AND VARIETIES OF CHICKENS 311 Fig. 204. — Black Minorca Hen Fig. 205. —Barred Plymouth Rocks 312 AGRICULTURE 202). Minorcas (Fig. 204) include both black and white varieties. Their eggs are larger, but not so numerous as those of the Leghorn. £gg-and-meat breeds. — Hens of this class are of medium to large size. They are good layers, though not equal in this respect to the egg breeds. They are good sitters and mothers. Their eggs are usually of a brownish shade of white, and so are those of the meat breeds. Among the most popular breeds of this class are the Plymouth Rocks (Fig. 205), Wyandottes, Rhode Island ; 2.9 I5.I Oats 89.0 9.2 47.3 4.2 6.2 Wheat 89.5 10.2 69.2 i7 7.2 Wheat bran . . . 88.1 12.2 39-2 2.7 3-7 Wheat shorts . . . 88.2 12.2 50.0 3-8 4-7 Cotton seed . . . 89.7 12.5 30.0 '7-3 5-5 Cotton-seed meal 91.8 37-2 16.9 12.2 1.3 Rice, rough .... 87.6 4.8 72.2 0.3 164 Rice polish .... 90.0 9.0 56.4 6.5 7^ Rice bran .... 90-3 5-3 45.1 7-3 »3-5 Kafir corn .... 84.8 7.8 57« 2.1 8.1 Peanut meal . . . 893 42.9 22.8 6.9 0.9 Cowpeas (seed) . . 85.2 18.3 54.2 I.I 3« Soy beans (seed) 89.2 29.6 22.3 144 1.8 Cowpea hay . . . 893 10.8 384 >-5 3-9 Soy-bean hay . . . 88.7 10.8 38.7 «-5 3-9 Red-clover hay . . 84.7 6.8 35-8 1-7 5.8 Alfalfa hay .... 91.6 II.O 396 1.2 3.8 Crimson-clover hay . 90.4 10.5 349 1.2 3.6 Grass hay (mixed) . 87.1 5-9 40.9 .1-2 7.3 Oat hay 91. 1 4-3 46.4 «-5 6.3 Timothy hay . . . 86.8 2.8 43-4 1.4 16.6 Com stover . . . 59-5 1.7 324 0.7 19-3 Kafir THE CATTLE TICK 33 1 learn how it lives. A large tick on a cow drops to the ground when too full of blood to suck more, and there lays as many as 3000 eggs. In warm weather these eggs soon hatch into tiny ticks, each about the size of a chicken mite. They crawl up on tall grass or bushes, waiting for a cow to rub them off. Neither old nor young ticks can live on anything but blood. Hence, if no animal comes along, the young ticks starve. But they do not starve quickly. Without food they may live as long as three months in summer and much longer in cool weather. Destroying ticks on cattle. — Ticks are killed by grease, kerosene, crude petroleum, and other poisons. These sub- stances are applied to cattle either by hand, by spraying, or by dipping the cattle. Starving the ticks in fields, pastures, and woodlands. — When the owner has cleared his cattle of ticks, he can get entirely and permanently rid of ticks on his whole farm. He can starve the ticks in his fields, pastures, or woodlands by keeping cattle, horses, and sheep out of them for a time. The time to starve all the ticks is the period from May i to about September 10. In cool weather the ticks must be starved for a longer period, from September until April. Land is generally free from ticks where no cattle have been during the months of hot weather. Thus most cul- tivated fields are free from ticks. By having two pastures, one used only during the hot season, and the other during the other part of the year, both can be kept free from the ticks. The cultivated fields, after the crops are harvested, may be used as the cool-weather pastures. Of course, it is necessary, in changing the cattle from one pasture to 332 AGRICULTURE another, to rid them of ticks. No cattle bearing ticks should be brought in from other farms without first clean- ing them. mtntir»m f norySffrLe , \3 MtnC7 OvO. *Mm**t.S SHOULO ^iroif ./ifnr f TO Mo^ Orfrf*CeM>fT.4fHMT. /nerf c^rrir/v n/rs 6>0s Mtsri/mr a£co—es corrow SUMMER CROPS /rrrf Cj^mc /jv TMfS rmc rrrOK* ■se^r fo ro ■sr^TtMmfn .ro. MUV /V THIS f^TLO y^j \.J ftrr:p IM rms nap nrotr ocnMm loro rurorrrumfumr Mwrv Oiurlnjr Bur. An. Ind.. U. 8. Dept. of Arricutture Fio. aia. — The Cattle Tick, enlakced. Male on left; Young Feuale ON right; also one Plan of cleaning Cattle and Land by Rotation or Pastokes SECTION LXIV. FARM IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY Machinery now does much of the work on the farm once performed by human hands. Especially in grain growing the work has been lightened and the cost of production greatly decreased. Machinery for the grain-grower. — The seeds and fer- tilizers are sown with a grain drill. The self-binder cuts and binds as much in a day as many men with cradles could have done fifty years ago. While the grain cradle is still used on farms where only a few acres of grain are grown, or where the fields are too rolling for the use of labor- saving machinery, yet the cost of producing grain by this system is greatly increased. On some of the extensive grain fields of the West even a self-binder is displaced, and its work is done by still more powerful and effective machinery. The grain header, drawn by steam or many horses, cuts the heads from many acres in a day, and as it moves along threshes and sacks the cut grain. Haymaking machinery. — In hay growing also inven- tion has made the labor much less burdensome than it was in earlier years. There are horse-rakes for collecting the hay into windrows, tedders for lifting and more rapidly drying it, and sweep rakes (Fig. 213), drawn or pushed by 333 334 ' AGRICULTURE horses, for collecting hay from the windrows and carrying it short distances to the barn or stack. These sweep rakes save the work of loading a wagon. Where the distance is greater, so that hauling on wagons becomes necessary, Fig. 213. — Mai :;■.::. :•. . 11 \-. Sweep rake and stacker. there are hay loaders which save pitching the hay.- These are hitched behind the wagon, and as the wagon and loader arc drawn along, the hay is elevated from the windrow to the wagon. At the bam or stack one or two horses, hitched to a hay carrier, may lift the hay from the wagon to its place in the barn. Where sweep rakes arc used to bring the hay to the stack, these deliver their burdens to a hay stacker (Fig. 213). Then the stacker, by means of horse power, raises the load to its position on the stack. Thus no lifting by human force need be done until the hay is on the stack. Machinery for com, sugar cane, and rice. — The corn FARM IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY 335 grower, too, has profited by the mechanic's art. He uses com harvesters to cut and to tie his corn, shredders to sepa- rate the ears from the stalks, to remove the shucks, and to tear the forage into bits suitable for most convenient use Fig. 214. — -Corn Harvester, with Bundle-Carrier Attachment as food or bedding. Even a bundle-carrying corn har- vester, or shocking machine (Fig. 214), and a machine for pulling the ears, have been invented. The rice-grower uses the grain-drill, the self-binder, and other machinery like that used in grain-farming. The sugar-planter is testing cane loaders, and cane harvesters are engaging the inventor's attention. Labor-saving implements on cotton farms. — The cotton 336 AGRICULTURE farmer has made less general use of labor-saving machin> cry than the grain and hay-grower. It is possible to grow cotton profitably with a few very inexpensive implements, a!nd hence a beginning may be made in cotton culture by one who has very little capital. But here, too, it pays to utilize labor-saving machinery and the implements which make possible the most thorough preparation and cultiva- Fio. ai5. — Showing the Wrong Way to store Cotton in Winter tion. Most cotton farms on which several horses or mules are worked need a disk plow, large " turning plows," a spike-tooth harrow (and often others), a weeder, and the best cultivators. Riding on one of these labor-saving implements, one intelligent man often does well the work that two or more men would do while walking behind smaller implements. The invention of the cotton gin was the greatest factor in building up the cotton industry of the South. Likewise a great cheapening of the cost of producing cotton will FARM IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY 337 result when a cheap, simple, and durable cotton-picker shall be on the market. Recent successful public tests of at least two very different cotton-pickers point to the day of cotton-picking by machinery. Farm buildings. — Not only are implements needed in farming, but also convenient farm buildings for sheltering implements, live-stock, and crops. A building too often absent from a cotton farm is a shed under which to store bales of cotton. If cotton is left exposed in winter, as in Fig. 215, there is a considerable loss in the quality and price of the lint. Exercise. — Write in your notebook a list of tlie kinds of plows you have seen. How many kinds of harrows have you seen? Ask your parents to tell you some of the farm implements that they consider most useful. Write this list in your notebook and also what each is used for. What farm or household work needs some new inventions to make it hghter? Note to the Teacher. — Pictures of farm implements shown during the recitation will interest the class. By writing a postal to some hardware companies or to manufacturers of farm implements, you will often find them willing to send free catalogues containing pictures of farm machinery. Addresses of manufacturers can be obtained frpm the advertising columns of almost any agricultural paper, an old copy of which some pupil can probably bring you from home. SECTION LXV. EARTH ROADS Good roads make country life more attractive. They also make possible in the country good schools, churches, and social gatherings. They soon pay for their cost in the labor of men and teams saved by hauling with a few loads over good roads the same weight that requires many loads over bad roads. Good roads pay, too, because they save wear and tear on teams and vehicles. Improving a road increases the value of the land near it. Location of roads. — A road is no better than its worst part. The load hauled is as large as the team can pull up the steepest hill or most boggy part of the road. Hence, the first work in improving a road ought to be to improve the worst places. It pays to change the location of a road to avoid the worst hills. Roads ought not to go straight up steep hills, but should curve arriund their sides. The best roads are made of a thick layer of broken stone or gravel. Stone roads cost several thousand dollars for each mile, and an engineer is needed to plan or build them. At slight expense earth roads can be much improved by proper grading, rounding, and draining. Avoid a steep rise or grade. — A road ought to be as nearly level as possible. The grade or slope of an earth road ought not to be more than six feet rise in each hun- dred feet of length, though steeper grades are sometimes necessary. The load that one horse can pull on a level 33> EARTH ROADS 339 requires four horses to pull up a grade with a rise of ten feet in each hundred feet. Keep the center highest. — The center of a road should be arched so as to be at least five to eight inches above the sides. Whenever ruts or depressions remain long un- filled, mud-holes or washes occur. Made from a iO'to/2 '^. Fig. 2 1 6. — A Split-log Road Drag A cheap road drag. — Ruts should be filled as soon as formed. This can be done by running a split-log drag along one side of the road and back on the other side. The drag shown (Fig. 216) is made from a split log and costs very little. A little work in filling ruts as soon as they form is worth much more than the same amount of work after the ruts have caused washes in the road. The best way to keep earth roads good is not by having many men to work them once or twice a year, but by having a few men, with team and split-log drag, ready to fill the ruts as soon as they form. This use of the drag arches the center, fills ruts and low places, and hastens drying. There should be a ditch on each side to carry off the water and to keep the road-bed dry. 340 AGRICULTURE Sand-clay roads. — Deep sand-beds make the roads bad in many parts of the South. Some counties have changed these sand-beds into good firm roads by hauling clay and thoroughly mixing it with the upper six inches of sand. The clay and sand are mixed while wet by means of plows and harrows, or by the wheels of vehicles. Then the road is kept constantly rounded, so that water does not stand on it Exercise. — Are sandy roads best when dry or wet ? Are clay roads best when dry or wet ? Watch the teams struggle up some steep hill and then consider whether the road could easily be changed to avoid that hill or to climb it more gradually. Inartny of V. 9. Dcpt. of Aglte«ltai« Fio. 8x7. — Junction of Two Grav'el Roads in Tennbsssb Showing the size of bads aotnctiincs hauled over the best roads. APPENDIX I. FERTILIZER EQUIVALENTS The nitrogen in is about the same as in I pound nitrate of soda = 7.\ pounds cotton-seed meal. I pound cotton-seed meal = i\ pounds cotton seed. I pound sulfate of ammonia = \\ pounds nitrate of soda. I pound sulfate of ammonia = 3 pounds cotton-seed meal. I pound (h.g.) dried blood =15 pounds cotton-seed meal. TJie potash in is about the same as in I pound muriate of potash = 4 pounds kainit. I pound sulfate of potash = 4 pounds kainit. Substitutions may be made in the following formulas, or in any others, on the basis of the figures above. II. SOME FERTILIZER FORMULAS As pointed out in the text, the only positive means of finding the best fertilizer for a certain crop on a given soil is by making a field test of fertilizers. Until such a test is made, the following formulas may be used as suggestive and general, rather than as suiting every soil. Many other formulas having the same composition can be calculated as directed in Section XVIII. Acid phosphate is assumed below to contain 14 per cent of available phosphoric acid. 1. For cotton on poor clay and land, where cotton-rust does not occur : — Acid phosphate, 150 to 300 pounds per acre. Cotton-seed meal, 1 50 to 300 pounds per acre. 2. For cotton on fair or good clay land, where cotton-rust does not occur : — Acid phosphate, 200 to 300 pounds per acre. Cotton-seed meal, 100 to 150 pounds per acre. U AGRICULTURE 3. For cotton on poor, unimproved, sandy soil, where cotton-rust occurs: — Acid phosphate, 1 50 to 300 pounds per acre. Cotton-seed meal, 150 to 300 pounds per acre. Kainit, 75 to too pounds per acre. 4. For cotton on sandy soil somewhat improved by previous crops of cowpeas, or other legumes, but on which cotton-rust occurs : — Acid phosphate, 150 to 300 pounds per acre. Cotton-seed meal, up to 150 pounds per acre. Kainit, 75 to 100 pounds per acre, or 5. Acid phosphate, 150 to 300 pounds per acre. Nitrate of soda, 50 pounds per acre. Kainit, 75 to 100 pounds per acre. 6. For com on clay and loam soils : — Acid phosphate, 100 to 200 pounds per acre. Cotton-seed meal, 100 to 200 pounds per acre. 7. For corn on very poor, sandy soils : — Acid phosphate, 1 50 to 200 |X)unds per acre. Cotton-s&ed meal, 1 50 to 200 pounds per acre. Kainit, 75 pounds per acre. 8. For oats and wheat on poor soils : — Acid phosphate (when seed are sown), 200 pounds per acre. Nitrate of soda (after the leaves are three inches long), 100 pounds per acre. 9. For cowpeas, soy beans, velvet beans, alfalfa, vetch, or clovers : — Acid phosphate, 200 to 400 pounds per acre. (If the soil is very sandy and poor, add 100 to 200 pounds kainit, or 25 to 50 pounds muriate of potash.) 10. For tobacco or vegetables : — Acid phosphate, 200 to 300 pounds per acre. Cotton-seed meal, 200 to 300 pounds per acre. Nitrate of soda, 50 to 75 pounds per acre. High-grade sulfate of potash, 50 to 75 pounds per acre. 1 1 . For vegetables : — Acid phosphate, 300 to 600 pounds per acre. Cotton-seed meal, 1 50 to 300 pounds per acre. Nitrate of soda, 75 to 225 pounds p>er acre. Muriate of potash, 50 to 1 50 pounds per acre. APPENDIX iii III. TO DESTROY INSECTS I. BrsuLFiD OF Carbon For weevils and other insects in corn, cowpeas, or other grain or seed stored in tight cribs or bins. About one teaspoonful of liquid to each one or two cubic feet of space ; pour the liquid into an open shallow can placed on top of the grain ; cover the grain with cloth. The liquid evaporates and the heavy fumes settle downward. The fumes are very inflammable ; hence, keep all lights and all smokers away until the odor has disappeared. 2. Paris Green For biting insects, including the potato beetle, and other insects eating the leaves of field crops, vegetables, or fruits. Dust on as a dry poivder Spray with Paris green, i pound. Paris green, \ pound. Slacked lime or flour, lo to 40 pounds. Lime, \ pound. Water, about 50 gallons. 3. Kerosene Emulsion For soft-bodied, sucking insects, as scale, plant-lice, etc. Hard soap (in fine shavings), \ pound. Kerosene, 2 gallons. Water (soft or rain water), i gallon. Dissolve the shavings of soap in the water while it boils. Remove the water from the fire ; add the kerosene, and churn the mixture by pumping it through a spraying pump until a creamy liquid, without free oil, is formed. This mixture contains 66 per cent of kerosene. Dilute it with from 6 to 10 gallons of water for scale insects, and with 10 to 20 gallons for softer insects. 4. Lime-sulfur Wash For scale insects, applied while there are no leaves on the trees. 15 pounds flowers of sulfur. 20 pounds of unslaked lime. 50 gallons of water. (15 pounds of salt is sometimes added.) Mix the sulfur with a very small amount of water. Slack the lime in 5 to 10 gallons of hot water ; add the sulfur; dilute to 25 gallons ; boil hr AGRICULTURE for 45 minutes. Then dilute with hot water to 50 gallons and appi]; It while hot. IV. TO PREVENT OR DECREASE DISEASES OF PLANTS I. Bordeaux Mixture Bluestone (copper sulfate), 5 pounds. Best unslacked lime, about 5 pounds. Water, 50 gallons. Slack the lime with enough water to make a creamy wash. Add the lime and the bluestone to separate lots of water. Dilute each as much as convenient before pouring the two liquids together. Strain through a coarse cloth before using. Consult your exp>eriment station regarding further details about mixing and testing Bordeaux mixture, etc. When applied to the foliage of peaches, plums, or cherries, double the amount of water mentioned above. Apply Bordeaux mixture in a fine spray. It is used to prevent or decrease molds and most fungi attacking fruit trees and vegetables. Paris green can be added just before using the mixture, \ pound of Paris green to 50 gallons, thus destroying both fungi and leaf-eating insects at the same time. 2. Formalin To prevent oat smut, concealed smut of wheat, scab and other diseases of Irish potatoes. For wheat or oats, pour one ounce of formalin into three gallons of water. Dip or thoroughly moisten the seed-grain, and leave it moist and covered for two hours. Then dry the grain, and sow it before it comes in contact with more smut germs. To prevent scab, soak the seed-potatoes for two hours in a solution of I ounce of formalin in 2 gallons of water. V. TO MEASURE GRAIN APPROXIMATELY Multiply the average depth by the average width, and the product by the average length of the pile, crib, or bin. To get the number of bushels of shelled grain, divide this figure (number of cubic feet) by ij; to find the number of "bushels" of shucked ear com, divide by 2} ; to find the numbei of " bushels " of unshucked ear corn, divide by 4 APPENDIX VI. DIMENSIONS OF ONE ACRE 4840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet. To find the length or width of an acre when the other dimension is given, divide 43,560 square feet by the length or width in feet, or divide 4840 square yards by the length or width in yards. VII. STATE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS Alabama : — College Station, Auburn. Canebrake Station, Uniontown. Tuskegee Station, Tuskegee. Arizona, Tucson. Arkansas, Fayetteville. California, Berkeley. Colorado, Fort Collins. Connecticut : — State Station, New Haven. Storrs Station, Storrs. Delaware, Newark. Florida, Gainesville. Georgia, Experirnent. Idaho, Moscow. Illinois, Urbana. Indiana, Lafayette. Iowa, Antes. Kansas, Manhattan. Kentucky, Lexington. Louisiana : — State Station, Baton Rouge. Sugar Station, Audubon Park, NO. North Louisiana houn. Maine, Orono. Maryland, College Park. Massachusetts, Amherst. Michigan, East Lansing. Minnesota, St. Anthony Park. Mississippi, Agricultural College. Missouri : — College Station, Columbia. Fruit Station, Mountain Grove. Montana, Bozeman. Nebraska, Lincoln. Nevada, Reno. New Hampshire, Durham. New Jersey, New Brunswick. New Mexico, Agricultural College. New York : — State Station, Geneva. Cornell Station, Ithaca. North Carolina : — College Station, West Raleigh. State Station, Raleigh. North Dakota, Agricultural College. Ohio, Wooster. Oklahoma, Stillwater. Oregon, Corvallis. Pennsylvania, State College. Rhode Island, Kingston. South Carolina, Clemson College. South Dakota, Brookings. Tennessee, Knoxville. Station, Cal- Texas, College Station. Utah, Logan. Vermont, Burlington. Virginia, Blacksburg. Washington, Pullman. West Virginia, Morgantown. Wisconsin, Madison. Wyoming, Laramie. vi AGRICULTURE VIII. SCHOOL GARDENS Below are given simple plans for planting inexpensively the individ- ual plot or bed assigned to each pupil. A length of 12 feet and a width of 5 feet are convenient dimensions to accommodate 6 rows across each bed. Select and modify as convenient that one of the suggested plans that most nearly corres|X)nds to the time when the planting can be done most conveniently. The plan for planting in the fall, and the one for planting in April or May, can be conducted on the same bed. It is better to have two or more plans or sets of seed, so as to give each pupil some choice, and so as to increase the variety of plants under observation. In addition to small, individual beds, there should be rows or plots of the common field-crops of the locality, which require more room than can well be spared for them in the individual beds. These rows or plots should be considered the projjerty of the whole school* and observed, cultivated, and protected by all. Write to United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., for Farmers' Bulletin No. 218, on "School Gardens." As subjects for compositions, drawing lessons, etc., make frequent use of the school garden. APPENDIX Rows of VU Cotton Corn Cowpeas, etc. 4-ft. Walk Plant in Fall Oats Wheat or Rye Hairy Vetch Strawberries Crimson Clover or Vetch Kale -5 ft. 3 ft. Walk Feb.' — Mar. Turnips Petunias Onions and Potatoes Strawberries Radishes or Beets Oats ■5 ft. — 3 ft. Walk Apr. — May Beans Okra Zinnias [Strawberries] Sweet Potatoes Running Peanuts ■-5 ft.--- INDEX A list giving definitions of words is not needed in this book. As few unusual words as possible have been employed, and these have been explained or defined when first used. The index will enable the pupil to turn to the definition of tech- nical words. Aberdeen-Angus breed, 293. Acid phosphate, 100. Acid soils, 112, 113. Adult insect, 251. Agriculture, definition of, 4; reasons for studying, 4. Air, 24, 34, 54. Air-spaces in soil, 68. Alfalfa, 63, 114; comp)C)sition of, 322; culture, 176; dodder on, 177; in- oculation, 172. American saddle horse, 288. American trotter, 288. Ammonia, 98. Andalusian fowls, 310. Andrews, Miss F. E., 192. Antennae of insects, 247. Anther, 13. Apples, 9, 17, 39, 215; diseases of, 230. Apple worm, 258. Ash, 314. Asparagus, 189. Available plant food, 56. Babcock milk-tester, 323. "Bachelor's buttons," 195. Bark, 42. Barley, 23, 137, 138. Bean family, 10. Beans, 24, 187. "Bear's grass," 195. Beef cattle, 290. Bees, 15, 277. Beets, 114, 187, 189. Berkshire hogs, 304. Bermuda grass, 82, 180, 183, 193. Biennials, 38. Bitterweed, 182. Blackberry, ro. Blue grass, 178. Bluestone, 227, iv. Boll weevil, 262, 264. Bordeaux mixture, 227, iv. Bracts, 9. Brahmas, 313. Breed, definition of, 281. Breeding corn, 46. Bridal wreath, 195. Budding, 39, 41, 43, 44. Buds, propagation by, 38. Bugs, true, 250. Bulbs, 197, 198. Bur clover, 77, 180. Butter flavor, 327. Butterfly, 251, 254. Butter making, 326, Cabbages, 114, 188. Calculation of fertihzer formulas, loa. California poppy, 199. Canna, 199. Capillary moisture, 65. Carbon dioxid, 35. Carbon in air, 33. Castor bean, 20. Catalpa tree, 212. Caterpillars, 250, 251. Cattle, beef, 290; dairy, 295; tick, 330; tick fever of, 330. INDEX Cedar tree, tit. Ceil, 39. Chrtnkal fertilizers, 103. Chester White hof{s, 305. Chickens, breeds and varieties, 310. ChinalR'rry trees, au. Chinch-bug, 357. Churning, 328. Chr}-salis, 350. Chrysanthctnunu, 195, 199. Cion, 41. Clasps on leaves of grains, 137. Clay, size of grains, 59. Climate, effect on carliness, 49. Clover, crimson, lao, 175, 322; red, 38, 63, 114, 1 20, 170, 177, 3aa; white, 19a. Clovers, 10, 87, 90. Clydesdale horses, a86. Coach horses, 387. Cochin, 313. Cocoons, asa. Codling-moth, 358. Coldframe, 187. Commercial fertilizers, 98. Composition of fertilizers, 106. Compost, 95, 115. Copper sulphate, iv. Com, ta, ai, 38, 46, ir9, lai, 133, las; composition of, 3aa; crossing, 133, I as; culture of, ia6; fertilizers for, 137; germination test, 134; har- vesting machinery, 335 ; judging 1 29 ; races of, 133; score-card, 131; selec- tion of, 46; show, 13s; silage, 33a; stover, 333. Corolla, 8. Cosmos, 196. Cotton, 33, 61, 113, 119, 131, 144, ai7; black rust of, 343; bloom, 9; boll rot, 343; boll weevil, 364; boll ■ worm, 361; breeding, 149; cultiva- tion of, 151; diseases of, 338; hasten- ing maturity of, 370; fertilizer for, 153; leaf worm, 363; long -staple, 146; machinery for, 336; pickers, 337; plant-food removed in, 84; root rot of, 340; Sea Island, 146; short -staple, 147; varieties of, 147; wilt, 338. Cotton seed, 106; composition of, 333; treatment of, 1 53 ; hulls, 333 ; cotton- secil meal, 98, 106, 333. Cottonwood trees, 313. Cow, parts of, 398. Cowpeas, 10, 23, 90, 113, 118, lai, 17a, 174. 217, 3aa. Crab grass, 183, 11, 183; composition of, 333. Cream, ripening, 336. Cream separator, 336. Crops, suiting fertilizer to, 109. Crosby's exercises, 6, 31, 45, 69. Crossing plants, 50. Cross-pollination, 15, 53. Cultivation of soils, 70. Curculio, 360. Cuttings, 40, 198. Daffodils, 195. Dairy cattle, 395. Diseases of plants, 118; causes of, 335. Ditches, 79, 80, 81. Docks, 183. Dogwood, X. Dorset sheep, 301. Draft horses, 384. Drainage, 74, 84. Duggar, Dr. B. M., 335. Duroc-Jersey hogs, 304. Earth roads, 338. Elements, chemical, 33. Elm, 309, a 10. Evaporator, for syrup making, 160. Families of plants, 10. Farm implements, 333. Fat, 316. Fattening animals, 315. Fewling animals, principles of, 315. Feeding stuffs, composition of, 333. Fertilizer, agricultural value of, 109; amount of, 108; commercial value of, 103; experiments with, no; fillers in, 106; for fruit trees, si 6; formulas, to calculate, loa; for strawberries, 319; for sugar rane, 158; for sweet potatoes, 163; home mixing of, 105; commercial, 97; INDEX XI not mixing well, iii; problems, 107; requirements, of soils, no. Fertilizing by feeding, 93. Figs, propagation of, 40. Fire, 83. Flag, 195. Floats, 100. Florida phosphate, 100. Flower garden, planning the, 192. Flower, parts of, 7. Food, stored in seed, 21, 24; uses made of, 316. Forests, 86, 203; fires, 204; trees, 203. Formalin, 233, iv. Four o' clocks, 195. Foxtail, 182. Fruit growing, essentials for, 216. Fruits, orchard, 39, 215. Fruit trees, fertilizers for, 216; prun- ing, 221. Fungi, 225. Germ enemies in the soil, 245 Germs in milk, 326. Germs, nitrogen-fixing, 89. Germination of seeds, 23, 24, 26. Grade, definition of, 281. Grafting, 41, 42; wax, 45. Grain header, 333. Grapes, 18, 40, 215, 224. Grasses for hay and pasture, 176. Grass family, 11. Grass hay, 322. Grit for poultry, 308. Grubs, 250. Guard cells, 35. Guernsey breed, 297. Gum, 208, 210. Hackberry, 209. Hamburgs, 310. Hay carrier, 334. Hay loaders, 334. Hay-making machinery, 334. Hay stacker, 334. Hemp, 20. Hereford breed, 293. Hessian fly, 257. Hilly land, 63. Hinds, Dr. W. E., 246. Hog cholera, 303. Hogs, 303; judging, 305. Hollyhocks, '201. Holstein-Friesian breed, 298. Honeybee, 277. Honey-producing plants, 280. Horses, 284. Host plant, 90. Hotbed, 187. Humus, 56, 86. Hyacinths, 195. Hydrometer, Baum6, 160 Improvement of plants, 46, 48. Inoculation of legumes, 169, 171. Insects, 118, 246. Insects and health, 372; beneficial, 254; biting, 253; changes in, 250; definition of, 246; feeding habits of, 253; growth in, 249; parts of, 247; stages of, 249; sucking, 254. Iris, 195. Irish potatoes, 187. Iodine test for starch, 37, Japan clover, 178, 180. Japan quince, 195. Jersey breed, 296. Johnson grass, 63, 178, 182, 184. Kafir, 181; composition of, 322; stover. 322. Kainit, loi, 106. Ladybirds, 254. Langshan, 313. Larkspurs, 195. Larva, 250. Leaching, 82. Leaves, 31, 35. Leghorn breed, 310. Legumes, 87, 91. 92. 169. Lettuce, 189. Level, drainage, 77, 81. Level lands, 63. Lichens, 55. Light for plants, 36. Lilies, 195. Lime, 32, 113, 345. xu INDEX Lime toilt, crops for, 63. Linseed meal, composition of, 33a. Live-stock, advantages of, aSi; im- provement of, a8i. Loam, 59. Locust tree, to, aia. Louisiana Experiment Station, 156, 157, 159, 161. Machinery, farm, 333. Making butter, 336. Malaria and mosquitoes, 373. Mallow family, 145. Manure, effect of food on, 93. Marigolds, 196. Merino sheep, 303. Milk vessels, cleaning, 334. Milk, composition of, 333; impurities in, 324; keeping pure, 333; produc- tion of, 333; souring of, 338; testing, 333. Millet, 178. Mills for sugar cane, 160. Minorca breed, 313. Mites, 347. Moisture, 33, 345. Molds, 335. Mosquitoes, 354; and yellow fever, 373; destroying, 375; malarial, 374. Mosses, 55. Moth, 353. Mulberry, 308. Mulch, 69. Mules, 389. Muriate of potash, loi, 106. Mustard flower, 7. Narcissus, 195. Nasturtium, 300. Nitrate-dcstroj-ing germs, 345. Nitrate of soda, 99, 106. Nitrogen, 33, 98, 117, 168; fixation of, 90; how used by legumes, 90. Nitrogen -trapping germs, 344. Nodules, 88, 89. Nut grass, i8a. Oak, ao, ao8, aio. Oat hay, compositioa of, ja*. Oat straw, composition of, 333. Oats, II, 33, 38, 119, lai, 136; ctilture of, 139; compositioa of, jaa; smut of. a33- Oklahoma Experiment Station, 181. Okra, 187. Onions, 114, 190. Orangeburg soils, 61. Orchard, 19, 315. Orchard grass, 178. Orpington breed, 313. Osage orange tree, aia. Ovule, 8. Ovule case, 7. Oxygen, 34, 57- Pansies, 199, aoo. Pastures, 179, 331. Pea, 10, 35, 188. Peach, 8, 39, 315, 333, 334. Peach borer, 359. Peaches, diseases of, 339. Peach tree, 316, 331, 333, 334. Peanut meal, composition of, 333. Peanuts, 33, 114, 165. Pear blight, 331. Pears, 17, 315. Pecans, 30, 316. Percheron horses, 386. Perennials, 38. Perfume, uses of, 7. Periwinkles, 193- Persimmons, Japanese, 315. PeUls, 8. Petunias, 300. Phlox, 199. Phosphate, 33, 57, 100. Phosphate, add, 100, 106. Phosphoric acid, 100. Phosphorus, 33, 100. Pistil, 7, 9, 13, 19. Plank drag, 71. Plants, food for, 3a. Plowing, depth of, 73; time of, 70. Plums, 10, 315. Poisons for fungi, 337. Poland-China hogs, 304. Pollen, 7, 13, 18. Pollination, 13, 16. Pomegranates, 3 16. INDEX xiu Popcorn, 15. Poplars, propagation of, 41. Poppy, 199. Potash, 33, 57, loi. Potato, 47, 187. Potato beetle, 260. Potato, diseases of, 236. Poultry, food for, 307 ; management of, 306. Preparation of soil, 70. Principles of feeding animals, 314. Prince's feather, 194. Propagation by division, 38. Propagation by seed, 38. Protein, 315. Pruning fruit trees, 221. Pumpkins, 187, 322. Pupa of insects, 250. Ragweed, 182. Raspberries, 224. Rations, calculating, 318; standard, 321. Red Polled breed, 293 . Red-top grass, 178. Rhode Island Red breed, 313. Rice, 322, 335; polish and bran, com- position of, 322. Road drag, 339. Roads, earth, 338; sand-clay, 340. Rolling land, 63. Root-hairs, 30, 31, 68. Roots, 22, 34. Rose, 10, 41, 195, 198, 227. Rotation, 116, 240. Rusts of grain, 234. Rye, 23, 138. Salsify, 187. San Jose scale, 259. Sap, 29, 34. Scarlet sage, 195, 201. School garden, 191, 196, 202. School grounds, 196, 208. Score-card for corn, 131. Seed, home-grown best, 49; selection of, 46. Seeds, 21, 25, 46. Self-binder, 333. Self-pollination, 15, 52. Sepals, 8. Sheep, 299. Shetland ponies, 288. Shorthorn cattle, 293 Shropshire sheep, 301. Shrubs, wild, 196. Silt loam, 59. Small grains, dififerences, 136, 137; resemblances, 136. Snowball, 194, 195. "Snow on the Mountain," 195. Soil, cultivation of, 70; granulation of, 58; how formed, 54; how impov- erished, 82; preparation of, 70; suiting fertilizer to, 109. Soils, 54, 56, 59, 61, 62, 65, 70, 244; acid, 112; properties of, 58; rules for fertilizing, 109; testing for acidity, 113. Soil survey, 64. Southdown sheep, 301 . Sorghum, 114, 169, 180. Soy beans, 180, 322. Spiders, 247. Spiraea, 195. Spores of fungi, 225. Spring, 227, 229. Squash, 19, 25. Stamens, 8, 19. Starch, 21, 315. Starter in souring milk, 327. Stems of plants, 23. Stigmas, 7. Stock, 41. Strawberries, 10, 17, 217, 219. Subsoil plowing, 72. Sugar, 315. Sugar cane, 39, 84, 1 54 ; fertilizers for, 158; culture, 158; rotation for, lao, 158; varieties, 155. Sulfur, liver of, 227. Sunflowers, 194. Sweep rake, 334. Sweet clover, 182. Sweet gum, 208, 210. Sweet pea, 10. Sweet potatoes, 62, 187; diseases of, 236; storing, 164. Sweet William, 194, 199. XIV INDEX Swine. 303. Syrup making, 160. Tcrradng, 74. 75. 78. Thistle, 18a. Tick fever, 330. Ticks, on cattle, 330. Timothy hay, ^aa. Tobacco, 14, 61 . Tomatoes, 16, 187, 190. Trees, forest, 86, ^03; telling age of, 307; leaves of, a 10. Tubercles, 88, 89, 168. Turnips, 187. Turpentine, boxing for, 305, ao6. Unavailable plant food, 56. Underdrains, 79. Vegetable garden, 185. Vegetable matter, 55, 56, 83, 117, 345. Velvet beans, 184. Verbenas, 195, aoo. Vetches, 77, 176. Violets, 195, 199. Walnut tree, aia, 813. Washes in fields, 63, 74, 76. Water, current, 30; forming soil, 54; how lifted, ag; how used, a8; kinds of, 65 ; lost by leaves, a8 ; movement in soil, 66. Watermelons, 113, 166; wilt of, 167. Weeder, ia6. Weeds, 116, 18a. Weevil, Mexican cotton-boll, 364. Wheat, la, 33, 114, 118, lai, 138; cul> ture of, 139; diseases of, 333. Wheat bran, composition of, 333. 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