teen t entity peenenete. erat Sys poveedy ly Sarre heli traceserwls:ptatreretyaresecespiver te vere it oes nae Be cs Neeee Seen eee erenears cpenree cee * Vaseees fee eee pees y Bepeetoeenproecnnas srerane Lab pee ohe> ereeiy hy Byer 4 of) ony NL abeRetewre 9 Be fectetee ws sepenr at | COPYRIGHT DEPOSE: A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE WITH PLANS FOR HOME PROJECTS BY ARETAS W. NOLAN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, AUTHOR OF “ONE HUNDRED LESSONS IN AGRICULTURE.” CHICAGO NEW YORK ROW, PETERSON AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1919 ROW, PETERSON AND COMPANY S = Sage nn - ae \ \ - ~ i / iSid A \, Vay OCcLA5L15S1 ASUS F ahe FAR FIG. 1.. A FARM SCENE SUGGESTING SUCCESS INTRODUCTION Practical farmers often wonder what the schools can teach “in the way of agriculture. Those of us who advocate agri- culture as a school subject have been trying to answer this’ question for both the farmer and the educator. Some phases of the question are quite clear to progressive farmers as well as to teachers. We do not propose to teach farmers how to ‘‘run their own business,’’ but we do propose to teach both young and old farmers facts and principles which they can profitably use in their business. It concerns us all, whatever our vocation and station in life may be, whether farming be done efficiently or not. It is no longer merely an individual matter as to whether Farmer X runs his own farm efficiently or not; it is a question also of public welfare. But the farmer in serving the larger interest also insures his private welfare. It is an educational-economical proposition, that only those who know and care should be entrusted with the natural resources upon the wise use and conservation of which rest the prosperity and permanency of our nation. Many genera- tions of farmers of the past have learned how to prosper and grow rich from the virgin resources of the land. They learned and practiced the art of farming for these purposes 5 6 INTRODUCTION and passed this knowledge down from father to son; but they knew little of the science of agriculture or of the sciences upon which agriculture is based. Young men and women can learn in schools how to improve and conserve the fertility of the soil; how to improve the economic plants so that they may be better adapted to their surroundings and have better yielding qualities; how to improve farm animals so that there may be greater produc- tion and better quality of products; how to combat insect pests and diseases; how to bring about a more productive, profitable, and permanent agriculture; and how to organize a more satisfying country life. These are the demands of modern agriculture. 3 The farmer should be lord of the three kingdoms over which he rules. The plants, the animals, and the minerals are his domain; his farm is made up of these three kingdoms. How unfortunate for all if he does not know the plants, animals and minerals with which he deals. What would we think of a physician who did not know the science of physiology or chemistry? What could the lawyer hope to do who did not know the laws of his state, or the principles underlying legal practice? The young farmers who are now studying scientific agri- culture know that they must be masters of the kingdoms with which they deal: they must know plants, animals and min- erals; how to produce, protect, and improve in the best and most economical way their plants and animals; and how to conserve and use most wisely the mineral resources of their farms. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I, AGRONOMY CHAPTER PAGE EAA ATS CO BRIIV ns cde ss PE OS Ral othe timc AE eae oi 2 9 EE nas Se ee che wlesifoie ae Oh ce eRe melee Ob aoe See 13 eG He CIC BELO Sa tenn cord soo lee Stam es Sah ee Spee new ew 21 Practical lixercises and. -Home: Projecis. ..... 0 <.% 6.0 ss* 22 NF ie ol cnc es each Vahalevadwiwl otiare. aioe iwvetd eysinl ace arialink, 08 po, ie 2 eeeceeas poke "his eos Number erains per pommds 5.8 oo. oe ee Number panicles to make a bushel........ Number panicles per acre to make 100 bush- ClSys ida siterreheis eels wis cos. Ven eee ee 6. Number panicles per square foot to make LOO bushels per -aere: ool Gles oe se eee ete eS aie 3. Examination of sample of oats for seed. (a) Count out 100 grains of oats for this exercise. (b) Examine the oats and fill out the following table: Yellowish, 753, tet cena ee Color sredaish oN ee ae ea: ; Rigihaey 3 ee es we Coe 2 ee ep Pod ea] Gg Rae ae eet Ones tina Cat arene PE. Suk! en: Unsound grain and foreign matter..... Sa ee Werehit or M00 sonra, ina e aes ene ae . +. Panes Number crains per pound... 3.2... 22. Number sown per square foot, 2 bushels DEI ACVGs ie cea a eo eee Number srains im 5 prams. ..3:) 5). 3 see Percent of wisi 2322 er ee nes 4. Treating oats for smut. This exercise may be made a demonstration at the school or some nearby farm home, or it may be earried on as a home project. Take a pound of formalin (formaldehyde, 40 per cent) and dissolve it in 50 gallons of water. Spread the grain out on a clean floor and wet it thoroughly with the solution, using about a gallon for each bushel of the grain. The work can be easily and thoroughly done if one person shovels the oats over while another applies the solution with a sprinkling ean. Then stack the grain up in a pile, cover it over with carpets or blankets to retain the fumes of the formalin, and OATS 31 allow it to remain two or three hours, or even over night. Spread the grain out to dry before seeding. It should not be returned to the same bags, unless they are treated with the solution. Describe in detail in your notebook the method used in this project. CHAPTER IV CLOVER The Queen of King Corn. Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins of the University of Illinois has written a little circular which he ealls ‘‘The Story of a King and Queen.’’ Corn is the king, and clover the queen. In this circular Dr. Hopkins says: **Young King Corn found an ideal home for himself on the dark prairie scil,.and for many years he lived as a very independent bachelor; but there finally came a time when the supply of food which he had found already prepared in the soil became partially exhausted, and in hunger he said to himself, ‘It is not good for man to be alone.’ He then sought a princess named ‘Clover,’ and thereafter always rejoiced that she consented to be his Queen. Where she prepared the soil, King Corn was again as well fed as ever. ‘‘Years passed, and they were happy and prosperous years; but finally both corn and clover were forced to remember the ancient saying, ‘And this too shall pass away.’ King Corn began to complain again that his bed was getting hard and the food furnished him was not sufficient. Queen Clover replied that she, too, was suffering from hunger, and that her home in the soil which had always been sweet and clean was becoming sour.’’ 32 CLOVER 33 Thus the story continues, telling the relations of clover to soil and crops. Red clover. This ‘‘Red Plumed Knight,’’ as it is fre- quently called by its admirers, is a native of Persia. Clover is more generally grown as a forage crop than any other legume; it is adapted to a wide variety of soils and climates; it is rich in nitrogen and furnishes a large amount of organic matter for ereenh manure; it is nutritious, palatable, and valuable as a feed- ing substance; and it occupies an important place in crop rotation. It is a perennial, and, like most other clovers, does best on deep, rich loam that is well drained. Soil preparation. When the soil is in the best possible tilth, the clover ‘‘catch’’ is surer. Lime in FIG. 5. THE CLOVER considerable quantities must be aah present in the soil, and other min- eral plant-foods, such as phosphorus and potassium, are nec- essary elements in the growth of clover. In order to establish a permanent and healthful soil for corn as well as for clover, about one-half ton per acre of pure steamed bone-meal, or a ton of fine-ground rock phosphate and two tons per acre of ground limestone, where needed, should be applied once every four or five years. Although clover has the power of pro- curing most of its nitrogen supply from the air, through the 34 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE bacteria on the roots, yet land rich in nitrogen grows the better clover crop. Liberal applications of barnyard manure as a top-dressing generally give good returns. Seeding. Clover seed may be sown broadeast in February, March or April on land seeded the previous fall to wheat or rye; or it may be seeded in the spring with oats or barley. From eight to twelve pounds of seed per acre is sown, if the seed is of good quality and the soil in good condition; other- wise the quantity should be increased. Sometimes red clover is sown in August or September, where the soil is in condi- tion to allow a good ‘‘eatch’’ before the winter. Clover in crop rotation. We can scarcely think of any good system of crop rotation without the use of clover or some other legume. For three-year rotations, such systems— as corn, oats, and clover, or corn, wheat, and clover, are used. Four-year rotations (in grain farming) include wheat, corn, oats, and clover; or corn, corn, oats, and clover (in live-stock farming). In the four-year-rotation for grain farm- ‘¢ ing a ‘‘eatch’’ crop of clover may be seeded on the wheat ground and plowed under the next spring for corn, and the regular clover crop in the fourth year may be mowed once or twice and left lying on the land, the seed crop afterwards being harvested with a buncher attached to the mower. ‘‘In grain farming, only grain or seed should be sold from the farm; all clover, straw, and stalks being returned to the land in order to maintain the supply of organic matter and nitrogen, which are just as important’ as limestone and phos- phorus; and in live-stock farming, all produce should be used for feed and bedding and all manure earefully saved and CLOVER 35 returned to the land, preferably within a day or two after it is produced, in order to prevent the waste of plant-food.”’ —TIllinois Experiment Station, Circular 145. Manural value of clover. A clover crop turned under furnishes fresh organic matter which decomposes rapidly, improving the physical condition of the soil, giving up avail- able nitrogen for the plant’s use, and liberating, mineral plant-foods of the soil, otherwise unavailable as plant-food. One ton of clover hay contains as much nitrogen as four tons of stable manure, and, in addition, five pounds of phos- phorus, thirty pounds of potassium, eight pounds of mag- nesium, and about thirty pounds of ealcium. There is about the same amount of nitrogen in the roots and stubble of clover as the clover obtained from the soil, so that removing the clover crop does not add any new supply of nitrogen to the soil. In systems of permanent soil fertility, clover must be used in the rotation, and either fed to live stock with the manure returned to the soil, or all of the crop but the seed turned under to supply the nitrogen and organic matter necessary for the maximum production of farm crops. As to whether one should turn under all the clover growth, either as manure or mulch, depends upon how much of the nitrogen it contains is needed to kalance the phosphorus in the soil. If the second crop of clover is sufficient to balance the phosphorus, the first clover crop may be removed and the seed taken from the second crop and the straw returned to the land. Where the soil needs both crops, the first crop may be clipped and left on the ground and a buncher used to cut the seed from the second crop. The whole growth with 36 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE the first clipped crop is then turned under as a green manure. Red clover as hay. Next to alfalfa, red clover is one of the most valuable forage crops for dairy feeding. In fact, red clover is a good feed for almost every farm animal. It furnishes a protein content to stock feed, giving a better bal- anced ration than timothy hay. Clover is also a good soiling erop, and should supply from eight to ten tons per acre for this purpose. Clover should be cut when free from moisture, raked into windrows, then allowed to cure in haycocks. The chief value of clover, like alfalfa, is contained in the leaves, and if the leaves dry in the swath and break off in handling much of the value is lost. If the crop gets wet while curing, the color, rich odor, and much of the palatability are lost. Red clover furnishes excellent pasture for stock of all kinds, but excessive pasturing results in the destruction of the plant. Clover seed. As was stated above, the seed is usually harvested from the second crop. The largest yields of seed are usually obtained when the first crop is cut early, because in this case the seed of the second crop will form earlier and possibly escape the second brood of clover seed midge, and other clover seed insects. It is a well known fact that bum- -blebees, as they feed upon the clover blossom, pollenate the flowers and thus make possible fertile clover seed. For this reason, more than any other oftentimes, the first crop of clover is not a profitable seed crop, since bumblebees are not so abundant in the early summer. ~ Clover should be cut for seed when the heads have turned CLOVER 37 brown and the seeds are in the dough stage. The average yield is about two bushels per acre, but by controlling the insects the yield should be nearly doubled. NOTEBOOK QUESTIONS 1. Why is Dr. Hopkin’s ‘‘The Story of a King and Queen”’ so well applied to corn and clover? 2. Describe the clover plants as to the nature of the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. 3. What and how much plant-food does a ton of clover hay require? 4. Describe a crop rotation system where clover enters as one crop. 5. Where is clover seed sown? How much seed is required per acre? What is the current price of the seed? How may we increase the production and yield of clover seed ? 6. When is clover hay usually cut? Describe the methods of harvesting and handling the hay. 7. Explain the value of clover as a green manure crop. 8. Try to show whether it is more profitable to turn under the clover crop or to cut it as hay in a system of per- manent soil fertility. PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND HomE PROJECTS 1. The clover plant. Dig up a clover plant, get as many roots as possible, wash them clean, and bring the whole plant to the laboratory for study. Observe and note the following points: (a) Number and length of stems from the common root. Are stems erect, spreading, or twining? (b) Are there any branches? 38 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE (c) Kind, number, and length of roots. Look for the nodules on the roots. These contain the bacteria which have the power of obtaining the free nitrogen from the soil air and storing it in the plant. (d) Kind, shape, and arrangement of the leaves. Sketch a leaf. (e) If the clover is in bloom, notice the location, form, and color of the blossom. ({) If in seed, note kind, number, and shape of seed pods. Note the number of seeds in a pod. Draw a seed pod and an enlarged single seed. (g) Draw the whole plant in your notebook, showing roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. 2. Examining and testing clover seed for purity and ger- mination. Clover seed frequently shows a weed content of from one to seven per cent, and a germination as low as forty per cent. It is, therefore, highly important that we have pure seed of high germination. (a) Count out 100 seeds from a sample given. Separate the seeds into three lots—good clover seed, weed seeds, and foreign matter. What percentage is good seed? How much would a farmer pay for a bushel of good seed at the rate per bushel of the seed examined ? (b} Place 100 seeds on moist blotting paper laid in a shallow place. Lay a moist filter paper over the seeds, invert a second plate over the first, and set away for twenty-four hours. Examine and record the percentage of viable seeds. (The Crop Improvement Committee, 64 Board of Trade, Chicago, has an excellent blotter for small seed testing.) 3. Examination of clover seed insects. There are three insects that must be guarded against in the raising of a good erop of clover seed: the seed midge, the seed chalcid, and the seed caterpillar. The female lays her eggs in the green CLOVER 39 flower heads the latter part of May. The newly hatched larvae feed upon the young clover seed. Pupils should gather specimens of the larvae of the clover seed midge for examination. If the study is made in the sum- mer, collect clover heads partly green and partly in bloom, and place in tight glass jars. The larvae present will emerge, and may be seen and counted. In autumn larvae of various sizes may be found in dead clover heads, before they go to the ground to winter. Collect and examine a number of clover heads for the seed insects. Clover cut about the middle of June results in the killing of the undeveloped larvae and the saving of the seed crop. A clover head half red and half green usually indicates that the seed midge is present. CHAPTER V ALFALFA The plant. Alfalfa is an ideal forage plant. It belongs to the legume family, to which cow-peas, soy beans, and red clover belong. It was grown in southwestern Asia many cen- © turies ago and came to California by way of South America at a very early date. Later it was successfully grown in Kansas, and since we have learned its requirements it is now being grown in every state of the Union. | Why should the farmer who has forty acres of land buy the forty adjacent acres, when he ean utilize the forty lying beneath and the forty lying above his present holdings by growing alfalfa? When we remember that the alfalfa root reaches down and draws much of its food from lower levels untouched, and that it utilizes large quantities of nitrogen occupying so fully the air above, than we ean see that this reference to the forty below and the forty above is not alto- gether a myth. Since millions of dollars’ worth of nitrogen is present over every acre of land, the farmer who grows alfalfa is literally a millionaire. His millions are in the air. Alfalfa is a perennial plant with purple flowers. The numerous stems which are produced arise from a crown; they erow from fifteen to twenty-four inches long, and are erect or spreading. The long taproot penetrates to a great depth, 40 ALFALFA 41 with many small secondary roots. There are three leaflets to each leaf, the third leaflet having a short stalk of its own, instead of growing from the same point, as in the case of red clover. The seed pods are in coils, brown when ripe, and contain several seeds. The seeds are somewhat kidney shaped and about the same size as red clover seeds. Values of alfalfa. There are three great values of alfalfa as a farm crop: First, it is one of the most profitable crops, commercially, that the farmer can grow. When he is able to cut from three to five tons of alfalfa hay per acre during one season, and sell this hay at from $15 to $20 per ton, he begins to realize the money value of alfalfa. It is not at all uncommon for a farmer to clear from $50 to $60 an acre on his alfalfa crop. Second, it is one of the most valuable live-stock feeds erown on the farm. Alfalfa is rich in protein, and thus helps to balance the ration in feeding corn, ensilage, or timothy hay. Alfalfa has been found to be the best general feed for dairy cows, beef cattle, sheep, and even for swine and poul- try, in the production of what is most desired in these animals. Third, it fits into systems of crop rotation planned to maintain permanent soil fertility. Alfalfa being a legume, serves, as does the clover, to draw free nitrogen from the air to enrich the soil. The long, deep root system of the alfalfa enables it to feed below common soil levels, bringing to the surface soil increasing portions of organic matter and plant- food to be incorporated in the soil upon its disintegration and decay. 49 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Growing alfalfa. The growing of alfalfa is no longer a mystery. An Illinois farmer writes, ‘‘During the unusually dry period of 1913 we harvested on our farm three full crops of about three and a half tons per acre and permitted a good fourth crop to remain on the land for winter protection. We thought that $66.50 per acre was sufficient for an unfavor- able farming year like 1913.”’ There are many good reasons why more farmers should erow alfalfa. There need be no fear of overproduction should it result in the feeding of more live stock—an operation prof- itable both as a business and as a soil builder. In brief, alfalfa improves the physical condition of the soil by adding organic matter and by loosening it, owing to its deep roots. It improves the chemical condition by adding nitrogen and, in its disintegration, by liberating other plant-foods. It fur- nishes a forage food of first rank for the live stock on the farm, and as long as it sells from $15 to $20 per ton it will tend to fill the purse of the farmer as well. Soil requirements. Soil upon which alfalfa is to be grown should be well drained and should contain a good supply of organic matter, lime and phosphorus. On well-drained corn soils, liberal applications of limestone, two to five tons per acre, will usually prove helpful and profitable. In order to give alfalfa a good start, some phosphorus can be applied with profit. Five hundred pounds per acre of fine ground steam bone-meal or acid phosphate is quickly available plant- food for this purpose. Any good well-drained soil with plenty of lime, active organic matter, and phosphorus will grow alfalfa, providing there is no hard pan or rock within three ALFALFA 7 ae or four feet of the surface to interfere with the development of the alfalfa root. Seeding alfalfa. Alfalfa may be seeded in April if the soil is free from grass and weed seeds. June and July seed- ing give good results, but under favorable conditions best stands may be secured from August and September seeding. Many favor spring sowing with one bushel of oats per acre as a nurse crop. In this case it is best to mow the oats for hay before they mature. With this plan it is sometimes possible to harvest a fair crop of alfalfa in August. Alfalfa should not be pastured the first year. Fifteen to eighteen pounds of seed per acre is sufficient. In order to give alfalfa the best possible conditions, the ground should be prepared with great care. It should be plowed in the fall or early spring, and then stirred at least once a week from early spring until seeding time. Diskixg, harrowing, and rolling the ground in order to keep it worked up before seeding not only prepares a good seed-bed, but helps to keep out grass and weeds and to conserve the moisture. The ground may be prepared thoroughly after winter wheat or oats have been harvested, and if there has been sufficient summer rainfall to supply moisture, alfalfa may be seeded and get a good start without the loss of a season’s crop. Inoculation. When alfalfa is sown for the first time in a field, inoculation is necessary to establish a permanent crop. The alfalfa plant will not get enough nitrogen from poor soil to insure successful growth without the aid of the bacteria which are able to utilize the free nitrogen of the air. These YE A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE bacteria must be supplied if they are not present. This is best done by scattering over the seed-bed just before or after seeding about half a wagonload per acre of natural, well infected soil, collected where tubercles containing the bacteria are found in abundance upon the roots of alfalfa or sweet clover plants. This infected soil should be immediately har- rowed in with the alfalfa seed. Care must be taken that the infected soil is not left exposed too long to bright sunlight, because sunlight destroys the bacteria. The glue method of inoculation is also practical. (See 4 below.) FIG. 6. HARVESTING ALFALFA Cutting alfalfa. Alfalfa should be cut the first season whenever it seems to stop vigorous growth. In no ease should any weeds be allowed to develop seeds, even if the alfalfa must be clipped and left to lie on the ground. The crop may be cut every five or six weeks. The rule commonly followed is to cut alfalfa when the new shoots from the crown are about one inch long. In the fall it should not be cut very late because of danger from winter killing. The practice of ALFALFA 45 - cultivating alfalfa after early season cuttings is recom- mended by some successful growers. The knives should not be set too slanting to endanger cutting off the crowns of the plants. Sometimes a spring tooth harrow is used. A corru- gated roller following the cultivating will help loosen the soil and make an effective soil mulch. Alfalfa hay is cured and harvested in about the same man- ner as red clover. It must not be allowed to lie in the swath to cure until the leaves, the most valuable part of the hay, are likely to be broken off and lost in the handling. The partly cured hay is put in small haycocks and cov- ered with haycaps for protection against the rain. These caps are made of canvas about forty inches square and held in place by balls of cement, each carrying a wire hook. It should remain in these haycocks until well cured; usually from two to four days are necessary. SuMMARY OF DIRECTIONS FOR GROWING ALFALFA 1. Select a deep, well drained, fertile soil, as free as pos- sible from weeds. 2. Before attempting to grow alfalfa it is well to grow a tilled crop a year or two previous to seeding the alfalfa. 3. Prepare the seed-bed thoroughly; an ideal onion tilth is best. | 4. Inoculate the land with from 100 to 300 pounds per acre of infected soil. If care is taken to prevent the alfalfa seed from gluing together, the glue method of inoculation may be used. Moisten the seed with a 10 per cent solution of glue (six ounces of furniture glue to one gallon of water) and immediately sift over them sufficient dry, pulverized, infected 4G A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE -soil to absorb all of the moisture, thus furnishing a coating of infected soil for every seed. 5. Apply at the outset, on worn soils especially, 400 pounds per acre of some good earrier of phosphorus, and if the land lacks organic matter apply manure liberally. 6. Apply from two to five tons of ground limestone per acre to the soil the previous fall or early in the spring before seeding. 7. Seed the ground with a nurse crop of oats or barley in April, or sow alone on ground that has been thoroughly pre- pared between the fifteenth of July and the fifteenth of August with fifteen to twenty pounds of seed, and cover lightly with a smoothing harrow or weeder. 8. Roll or firm the ground with a plank drag after planting. : 9. Avoid clipping or pasturing after the summer seeding. 10. Cultivating the ground after the cuttings of alfalfa destroys weeds, loosens the ground, and encourages the orowth. After five years the alfalfa field may be plowed up and included in a crop rotation, beginning with corn. NOTEBOOK ()UESTIONS 1. Why have there been so many failures in trying to grow alfalfa in this country? 2. Why is alfalfa a good forage crop? 3. Show statements explaining the probable costs and prof- its in growing an acre of alfalfa. ; 4. Name the requirements for growing alfalfa in the order of their importance. 5. Compare alfalfa and red clover as to habits of growth, culture requirements, feeding value, and place in crop rota- tion. ALFALFA 47 PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND HomE PROJECTS 1. Field study of alfalfa. Location visited............. _ 7 Es ee If possible, visit an alfalfa field, observe the following points, and write a description of each point from the field study: Number of plants per square foot. Average five. Height of plant. Average ten. Number branches per stem. Average five. Number shoots per crown. Average five. Diameter of taproot at crown base. General appearance of field as to thrift and color. Note the strong taproot with branches. Note number and position of lateral stem buds. Select as large a plant as possible, and carefully dig away the soil, removing the plant with the taproot and its branches. Sketch. 10. Note the nodules and their position. 11. Remove a few of the nodules and preserve them for further examination. 12. General description-of leafy portion. 2. Growing a plot of alfalfa. If this study is made at the proper season, one practical exercise on alfalfa should be made by growing at least one-tenth of an acre on the school grounds. Prepare the ground, and follow carefully all direc- tions given in the discussions above in making this demonstra- tion plot of alfalfa. 3. Examination of alfalfa seed for purity. (a) Examine the seeds, become familiar with their form and size. Sketch a few seeds. (b) Count out one hundred seeds from the sample in hand. Separate from this lot all weed seeds and estimate the per cent of purity. | ee ee aS 48 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE At the current price of alfalfa, what would a bushel of pure seed cost? How much would you have to buy of the quality you have just examined to get a bushel of pure seed? (ec) List the names of the weed seeds you find in the sample of alfalfa seed. CHAPTER VI MEADOWS AND PASTURES Our most important crop. The plants that grow in our meadows and pastures constitute our most valuable agricul- tural crop. The grasses and the legumes feed both our ani- mals and our economic plants, as we shall learn later in our study, and the meadows and the pastures contribute no small part to the beauty of the landscape in the open country. Forage crops. All such food for animals as grass, hay, pastures, etc., are known as forage crops. Jodder is the for- age dried and cured. Green fodder is forage cut and used before it ripens. Silage is chopped green forage stored in a silo. Stover is cornstalks from which the ears are removed. A soiling crop is one which is eut and fed green to animals. There are about fifty forage crops, classified as follows: 1. Perennials—Timothy, red-top, blue-grass, orchard grass, ete. 2. Legumes—Alfalfa, clovers, peas, beans, vetches, ete. 3. Annual forage planis—Oats, millet, Sudan grass, kaf- fir corn, corn, ete. Meadows are fields used for growing forage plants to be cut for hay. Pastures are fields used for grazing purposes. Permanent pastures are devoted to perennial grasses. | Hay. The hay crop of the United States is exceeded in 49 50 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE value by only one other crop; namely, corn. Almost all of our hay is made from such plants as timothy, clover, alfalfa, cow-peas, and millet. The pasture grasses are blue-grass, buf- falo grass, red-top, and clovers. Of the thousands of species of grasses only about twenty-six are cultivated, and only nine are considered as important farm crops. In the order of their importance the meadow grasses are: timothy, Kentucky blue- grass, Bermuda grass, orchard grass, red-top, Russian brome, meadow fescue, tall meadow oat grass, and meadow foxtail. The total yield of timothy in this country is greater than that of any other hay crop. The hay is palatable, easy to cure and keep, and is standard on all the world markets. For these reasons timothy continues to be the leading hay crop of the country. These facts, however, do not justify the encouragement of the production of timothy when we have better hay crops available both from the standpoint of ani- mal feeding and soil fertility. Combinations of grasses and perennial legumes are preferable to any single grass for hay making or for pastures. For pastures, those maturing at different periods are grown; for meadows, those maturing at the same time are necessary. Seeding for hay and pastures. In the hay-producing regions of the United States a mixture of timothy and red clover is the combination used. From four to six pounds of seed of each are usually sown to the acre in starting a meadow. The first year the hay is a mixture of the two. After the second year the stand is nearly pure timothy. The grass sced is usually sown in the fall either with or without a nurse erop. The clover is usually sown the following spring. Ken- MEADOWS AND PASTURES 51 tucky blue-grass is the most highly esteemed pasture grass. _in America. Blue-grass and white clover will soon take pos- session of most permanent pastures; therefore there is little need of sowing any other seed for pastures. Renewing meadows and pastures. When meadows and pastures become very weedy, plowing and re-seeding is the only effective way to renew them. A crop of corn and oats may be grown in the meantime on the land. Grass of old ineadows and pastures may be revived by liberal top-dressings of barnyard manure in August or September. Persistent cut- ting when weeds are in blossom is the only effective way of holding them in check and thus keeping the pastures clean. NovTEBOoK QUESTIONS 1. Name nine grasses and seven legumes used as forage crops. Define grass and legume. 2. Where are the great pasture regions of the world? 3. How does the hay crop compare in value with other farm crops? 4. How do grasses reproduce? 5. In what stage of development do the farmers of your community cut the timothy hay? 6. How would you start a good meadow? A good pas- ture? 7. Ought we to grow more or less timothy hay in the inter- ests of live-stock farming and permanent soil fertility? Why? PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND HOME PROJECTS 1. Identification studies of forage crops. Either in the field or in the laboratory, spend the period in examining 5g A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE the grasses and legumes usually grown in meadows and pas- tures. List the common names; state whether perennial, or . annual, grass or legume; method of propagation; uses for which grown; and other most wmportant characteristics. 2. Visit a meadow or a pasture and write a critical article about it, noting such points as— (1) Soil condition. (2) The plants grown. (3) The cleanliness of the field as to weeds, brush, ete. (4) Improvements needed. CHAPTER VII CORN “The rose may bloom for England, The lily for France unfold; Ireland may honor the shamrock, ' Seotland the thistle bold; But the shield of the great Republic, The glory of the West, Shall bear a stalk of tasseled corn, Of all our wealth the best. The arbutus and the golden-rod The heart of the North may cheer, And the mountain laurel for Maryland Its royal clusters may rear, And the jasmine and magnolia The crest of the South adorn, | But the wide Republic’s emblem Is the bounteous golden corn.” —Edna Procter. I. Corn, THE GREAT AMERICAN CEREAL Indian corn. No one knows the entire history of Indian corn, whose special name is given as maize. The name itself contains a bit of history. Columbus found a strange plant on the Island of Hayti, which the natives called ‘‘mahiz,’’ and from this we have the name maize. Botanists have called the plant Zea mays, the second or specific name being a modi- fication of the old Indian name. The early explorers of America found the new corn in 53 54 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE the temperate regions of both Americas. We are particularly interested in the history of corn after the discovery of Amer- lea because of its importance as a food crop to the early colonists. John Fiske, in his history of the discovery of America, declares that Indian corn was of ‘‘incalculable advantage to the English settlers of New England, who would have found it much harder to gain a secure foothold upon the soil if they had had to begin by preparing it for wheat and rye without the aid of the beautiful and _ beneficent American plant.’ Importance of the corn crop. It is not easy to appreciate the importance of corn in the agriculture of the United States. Most people are aware of the fact that corn is our principal grain crop. Many do not know how important it is in comparison with other grain crops. The following table, compiled from the estimates of the Bureau of Sta- tistics of the United States Department of Agriculture, will furnish a basis for some interesting and instructive com- parisons of the relative importance of a number of the crops for the year 1910: Acreage Production Value, Dec. 1 WHCAU as Grr t gers ete arenes 49,205,000 695,443,000 $ 621,443,000 QAI es, Noie.c Sens aan 35,288,000 1,126,765,000 384,716,000 SATICY one nearest ope oe 7,257,000 162,227,000 93,785,000 RVG NE oscar te 2,028,000 33,039,000 23,840,000 RAGE). 3h ncunartees See 722,800 24,510,000 16,624,000 Buckwheat ~ sc. : acne 826,000 17,239,000 11,321,000 IPOIRtOES 2250 soe. 3,591,000 338,811,000 187,985,000 OLAS sc eaes oer 98,917,800 2,398,039,000 $1,339,714,000 COU cae. wetee en caise 114,002,000 3,125,713,000 1,523,968,000 CORN 55 Thus it appears that in acreage, production, and value, on December 1 the corn crop of 1910 was greater than all of the other cereal grains, including also buckwheat and potatoes. II. Types or Corn Dent and flint. In speaking of the several types and varieties of corn, most of us use the terms rather loosely. Shoesmith in his ‘‘Study of Corn”’ describes six types: the dent, the flint, soft corn, pod corn, sweet corn, and popcorn. The types with which farmers of the corn belt have most to deal are the dent and the flint corn. There are many varie- ties of both dent and flint types. The difference in appear- ance of the several types of corn is due in part to differ- ences in structure, and in part to differences in composition. In the dent type the soft endosperm appears white and starchy at the center and near the crown of the kernel. As the grain ripens this soft endosperm shrinks more rapidly than the horny endosperm which is located chiefly at the edges of the kernel, and the result is the folded or wrinkled appearance of the tops of the grains of dent corn. In the flint corn the soft endosperm in the center of the grain is surrounded by the horny endosperm, so that the ripening grain shrinks almost uniformly, leaving a smooth, shining surface. Varieties. Some standard varieties in the corn belt are: Boone County White, Funk’s Yellow Dent, Leaming, Minne- sota No. 13, Reid’s Yellow Dent, Silver Mine, Silver King (Wisconsin No. 7), and Johnson County White. Descrip- tions of these and other varieties are fully given in Shoe- 56 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE smith’s ‘‘Study of Corn,’’ and Bowman and Crossley, ‘SCorn,.” FIG, 7. SEVEN SPECIES OF CORN Ill. Ltre History or tur Corn PLANT The life cycle. Every living thing has a life history—a. beginning, a growing, possibly a reproduction, and a death. So it is with the corn plant. We may begin at any place in a cycle, but in case of the corn we shall begin with the seed. The young corn plant is already well started in the seed. It has a stem and leaf-end embedded in a cotyledon containing food for the young plant, as soon as conditions are right for it to continue its growth. These conditions are right when the kernel of corn is planted in the soil. Here the moisture, heat, and air cause the young plant in the cotyledon to begin to grow. This growth consists in putting out roots into the soil, pushing up a roll of leaves into the* — CORN 57 light and air, and using up the food in the kernel. When the roots are established in the soil and the leaves are unfolded in the air, then the plant begins to feed upon the mineral food elements in solution in the soil and the carbon dioxide gas of the air, and to combine these food elements into com- pounds to be assimilated into the growing roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and grain during the summer. At the tip of the corn- stalk the tassel eontaining millions of pollen spores develops, and on the side of the stalk the ear develops, each kernel of which sends out a long silk to the end of the husks, where they appear in a beautiful yellow mass. The pollen must fall upon the silk, one spore upon each silk, where it grows a long tube reaching down the silk to the corn kernel at the eob. The kernel is then fertilized, the young corn plant begins to grow in the kernel, and continues to grow until the corn is matured. The old corn plant then dies, and all that is left alive is the germs or new corn plants embedded in each kernel of the ripened ear of corn, ready to germinate and continue the life history another year as described above. IV. THe Corn PLANT Corn—A grass. All of the cereal grains except buckwheat belong to the family of grasses. Corn is a very wonderful orass. On the tenth of May, or even two weeks later, the corn plant is snugly folded within the kernel. A week or two after being planted, the young shoot pushes its tip out of the ground and begins to be a real plant—a growing thing with 58 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE roots in the ground and green leaves spreading out in the air. In another hundred days, or even less, the corn may be in the shock. What has happened meanwhile? Corn roots. First, the developing corn plant had to ex- tend its root system deep and wide in the ground. It has been shown that in thirty days after planting the roots of ecrn plants in adjacent rows meet and interlace. They fill the whole surface of the cornfield with a network of roots, and in many eases these roots extend several feet downward. While the roots are reaching everywhere in the surface soil, the stalks are reaching upward and spreading out their broad blades to the sun and air. Leaves and blossoms. The corn plant does more than grow tall and strong; it throws out brace roots enabling it to resist the winds. It produces broad leaves in such a way that the wind may bend them and toss them with little dan- ger of breaking them; for the leaves are many, broad, and long, in order to give the corn plant enough feeding surface exposed to the sun and air. The corn plant has a wonderful contrivance for producing its fruit, as explained in a former paragraph. Silk and tassel are the flowers of the corn plant. Every future grain on the ear is at the lower end of a long thread of silk, but the grain can not develop until a particle of pollen from some tassel falls upon its tip and grows down the silk to fertilize the seed. During its short growing season the corn plant may grow to a height of from ten to fifteen feet, and produce an ear or more of corn. A good ear of corn may contain a thousand or more kernels. CORN 59 V. PuACE or Corn IN Crop Rotation Reasons for rotation. At the basis of all successful farm- ing is an intelligent practice of crop rotation. Early in our study of corn, therefore, it is well to learn its place in sys- tems of crop rotation. A few of the more particular reasons for the rotation of erops are as follows: 1. Different crops make different demands upon the soil. The grain crops are able to use a large part of the available phosphorus and potassium of the soil, but less of its nitro- gen; therefore it is well to follow the grains with crops which use nitrogen more extensively and do not draw much upon the supply of phosphorus and potassium in the soil. 2. Root systems differ. The small grains are shallow- rooted, and so utilize the fertility from the surface portion of the soil. Other crops, such as clover and alfalfa, send their roots deep into the soil, and so secure plant-food that is out of reach of such crops as wheat and oats. Besides, clover, alfalfa, and other leguminous crops when plowed under leave the soil richer in nitrogen than they find it. This adds greatly to the productiveness of the soil for erops of a different character. 3. The culture of one crop prepares for a succeeding crop of a particular kind. It is common in the wheat sections to follow corn with wheat because summer cultivation of corn makes it possible to sow the wheat without plowing. Besides, the well tilled corn ground enables the wheat to get a good start in the fall, and to make use of a considerable part of 60 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE the plant-food made available by weathering during the fall, winter, and spring. 4. Distribution of labor. The farmer who has a well planned system of rotation is able to make better and more continuous use of his own time and of the labor of his men and teams. Corn in systems of rotation. Rotation of crops will not in any sense add to the fertility of the soil, unless in the rota- tion a legume crop be returned to the soil, and then nitrogen only is added. In connection with the following rotations, discussion will be made later as to the place of mineral plant- foods in keeping up soil fertility. For a system of rotation in live-stock farming, the follow- lowing scheme is advised: (1) Wheat, (2) corn, (3) oats, (4) clover, and (5) one- fifth the land in alfalfa to be turned into the rotation after five years, and another one-fifth seeded to alfalfa. Sell all erains, seed, and alfalfa hay, and return the rest to the soil, using limestone and rock phosphate, as will be explained later. For a system of rotation in live-stock farming, the follow- ing is recommended : (1) Corn, (2) corn, (3) oats, (4) clover, and (5) alfalfa as before. Feed all the crops and return the manure to the soil, using limestone and rock phosphate. VI. Ferrmizing Corn GROUND Corn not a poor land crop. It needs to be repeated again and again that corn ean not be profitably raised on poor CORN 61 land. It costs as much to plow and otherwise prepare poor land for a crop of corn as it does to prepare good land; the subsequent cultivation is just as expensive, and every step in the progress of raising a poor crop from poor land is prac- tically as costly as every similar step in producing a good erop from good land. Year after year some men raise corn on land so poor that with the best cultivation only a small crop can be raised, and this always without profit. Why not bring the land up te the condition which will make it per- manently profitable? Soil upon which corn is to be grown often responds with increased yields through crop rotation, the growing of clover, even though it be removed, and the use of complete commer- cial fertilizers; but these methods do not provide for per- manent soil fertility, nor do they always return a profit on = the investment. Permanent soil fertility. There is a difference between adding complete commercial fertilizer even though increased erop yields result, and the maintenance of permanent soil fertility at a lesser annual yield. It is to be correctly inferred from the above that the use of complete commercial fertilizers does not maintain permanent soil fertility, and no one can deny that we should keep a permanent if not an increasing soil fertility. 7 How can this be done is the practical question to raise. How can we feed the corn and keep the soil fertile? To begin at the beginning, let us take a typical Middle West acre. The first requirement is that the soil should be well drained. The next is that it shall have plenty of active 62 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE organic matter. If clover or other legumes will not grow well to furnish this organic matter, perhaps the soil is sour and needs from two to five tons of ground limestone to the acre. The next important requisite is the nitrogen content. FIG. 8§ POT EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS This is best supplied by the clovers which also furnish the organic matter. To get the addition of nitrogen the clover must be plowed under. The next requisite in most soils is the maintenance of an adequate phosphorus supply. This is most economically supplied by the use of from one to three tons of fine-ground rock phosphate to the acre. This must always be applied, however, where manure or other organic matter is incorporated in the soil; for the decaying of the or- ganic matter is necessary to render the phosphorus in the rock phosphate available for plant-food. This decaying CORN 63 organic matter also renders available the potassium which in normal soils is usually in sufficient abundance to supply standard yields. This method of supplying plant-food to the soil in connection with good systems of crop rotation not only increases the annual yields of each crop in the rotation, but leaves the soil permanently richer in plant-food after the single applications, as stated above, and after four or five crops of the rotation have been produced. Plan of soil treatment, the corn series. The following is the general plan of soil treatment for ten plots in each of a series of five at the University of Illinois. The figures show the yields of corn in one season: Corn yield Plot No. Soil treatment bushels IN RIBE ee Niro Pe, a setias eg i's els Se aX wlewiid odie aie 60 2 Legume (catch crops and crop residues)........ 60 NI RIT oe Bg iat ve. 354 ania sidse,e o 6 LAr a: Maa OB 75 NE AIAN TUE So ccre tries eas oo oy wa Siero cal oe a he See ae Re 65 PINGS TIPE AS © MAMIRGS 370 cPetia, <0 des Sa aw chacb Sd ple lp aeaadh a aa 80 Seereceume, Lime, PHOSPNOFUS. 02.2.6. ec. esc eas dees 87 Pan Pes Mime” DUGSPNOLUS 65 o.cc cs. sc eeww ees cece 90 8 Legume, lime, phosphorus, potassium........... 90 9 Manure, lime, phosphorus, potassium........... 93 *10 Legume (manure, lime, phosphorus, potassium, MOAI ee aero ac Scare eo te wl ese Hace FOO EN Se 96 VII. PLOowING FoR CorRN Time of plowing. The time of plowing for corn will usually be determined by the convenience of the farmer. It is a pretty well established fact that the differences in yield *Five times the amounts used in (9) were applied. 64. A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE on land plowed in the fall and similar land plowed early in the spring are very slight. Sticky clay land should not be plowed when it is so wet as to slip off the mouldboard in a shiny condition. Land that is likely to wash because of steepness or other conditions should be plowed late in the winter rather than early, especially if it is protected by a cover-crop. Purpose of plowing. One purpose of plowing is to enable the land to store water and retain it. Fall plowing pro- vides for the storage of water in the soil; spring plowing provides for its retention. But to this qualification there needs to be added the statement that spring plowing is likely to hasten the evaporation of soil moisture unless the plow is almost immediately followed by the harrow. Water escapes very rapidly from the surface of a newly plowed field. Following the plow with the harrow while the surface soil is still fresh reduces the exposed surface and so retards evaporation.. It also retards the rise of the water from the subsoil, thus retaining it where the plant roots will need it during the growing season. Plowing also increases the feed- ing area of the corn roots and helps to make plant-food available. Depth of plowing. The depth of plowing for corn will be determined largely by the depth of previous plowings. It is not wise. to turn a large amount of raw subsoil up to the surface. Usually it is well to bring a small amount of new soil under the direct influence of sun and rain, thus prepar- ing it to be useful to subsequent crops. It is to be remem-- bered that it is the mellowed soil that contributes most to CORN 65 the growth of plants. Other influences have much to do with determining the proper depth of plowing for corn. If the ground is plowed in the fall, it may be safe to plow an inch or more deeper than it would be wise to plow the same ground in the spring. ‘The frosts and freezes of winter will do much to mellow and ‘‘tame’’ the soil that has never been exposed to the more active weathering influences. If much organic matter is to be plowed under, it should be done in the fall in order to give it time to decay before the spring erop is planted. Preparation of seed-bed. Broadly speaking, everything done to the soil is a part of the work of preparing the bed for the seed to be sown or planted. Plowing and fertilizing the ground are steps in the preparation of the seed-bed, but we must be concerned here with the immediate preparation of the soil to receive the seed. The use of the harrow after the land has been plowed for corn is the simplest method of preparing for planting. On land plowed in the fall or early winter, it is advisable to go over the ground once or twice with the disk or cutaway harrow before using the smooth- ing harrow; and in many eases the roller or wooden drag may follow the other implements with profit. A modern im- plement known as the ‘‘eculti-packer’’ seems to make ideal seed-bed preparation, since it both packs and mulches the soil. Finally, after the corn has been planted, further prepa- ration of the soil for the growing corn may be made by going over it once or twice with the smoothing harrow. A seed- bed in perfect condition to give the corn plants the best kind of a start is almost equivalent to a guarantee of a good crop. 66 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE VIII. Testinc SEED CorN Will the corn grow? The farmer plants corn in the belief that it will grow. Why should not every kernel sprout and produce a good stalk to bear a good ear? Perhaps it would if every condition were made right. The kernel itself is the first condition; it ought to be in perfect growing con- dition. The corn judge or the man selecting seed from the erib can not make a germinating test; he*must be guided by appearances. What are some of the evidences that corn will probably grow? If the ear is firm in the hands, the kernels tight in their places, and no evidence of decay seen at the butt, it may be supposed that the corn is matured and well developed. The kernels should be hard and dry and without dullness of color; they should be of a fairly large and regular size, with large and healthy germs, and there should be no sign of mold. The tips of vigorous kernels are never thin and shrunken. They should be free from eracks and blisters, and tip caps should completely cover the tips of the shelled kernels. The corn should be dry, firm, and bright colored. A damp moldy cob indicates weakness in the germ, and it may: mean that the germs are already dead. The germination test. The final proof that the corn will grow is the germination test. The man who risks a large share of his year’s labor in his cornfield ought to be per- fectly sure that his seed is good; the actual sprouting of a few grains from every ear will make him perfectly sure. The test-box. Make a, box of any convenient: size. A CORN | 67 board ten or twelve inches wide and two feet long will make the bottom of a very serviceable tester. Make a tray or shallow box by using two-inch-wide boards for the sides and ends. Fill this tray with sand, leveling it with a yardstick, a lath, or any straight-edged piece of wood or metal. Lay it off in squares by driving a row of carpet tacks into each side and each end of the tray, placing these tacks an inch and a half or two inches apart, and lacing strong twine back and forth across the box from end to end and from side to side. The twine will thus serve as a fence around each of the squares, which will be an inch and a half to two inches across, depending on the distance between the tacks, and will provide space to test five kernels. This is the tester complete, except for a means of making and keeping a record of each ear to be tested. Begin at the right-hand corner of the box and number the long way of the tester from 1 to the number representing the number of squares in the long row. If the squares are two inches in size and the tester is four feet long, the last number will be 24. Then begin at the corner numbered 1, and number the short way of the tester with the letters of the alphabet. If the box is a foot wide and the squares two inches in size, there will be six squares in a short row, and they will be numbered from A to F. The row of squares numbered 1 will cross the row marked A at the corner of the tester. This corner is marked A and 1; in brief, it is Al. The square in the opposite corner is F24. Any other square is definitely located by letter and number. Thus provision is made for testing 144 ears of corn. If the squares are made FIG. 9. AN IDEAL EAR IN AGRICULTURE one inch across, there will be 576 in a tester a foot wide and four feet long, inside measure. Made according to these direc- tions, the tester provides a simple means of keeping a record of every ear tested. Cut a piece of card- board into squares half an inch across. Fasten one of these to the butt of each ear of corn by using a common pin. The pin will hold the bit of cardboard, providing a place for the number to correspond with the square in which grains from each ear are to be planted. With the tester in a place where the sand can be properly moistened with water, and where it can be kept moist and also warm enough to allow the corn to germinate at a summer temperature, begin the work by taking an ear to be tested in square Al; mark the tag pinned on the butt of the ear (the pin thrust deep into the pith) Al; then, with a pocket knife care- fully lift five kernels from differ- ent rows in different parts of the ear. CORN 69 Placing the kernels. The kernels are now ready for plant- ing, which may be done by pressing them germ side up into the sand of the square set apart for them. Mark the next ear in the same way, A2, and plant five grains in square A2; following this method until five grains have been planted from the last ear in (it may be) square F11, or any other square. Now you are prepared to wait for the corn to come up. The marked ears are laid aside where they can not be disturbed by mice, rats, or meddlesome persons; the tester, with every grain of corn pressed just below the surface of the sand, is sprinkled with water, and then covered with moistened muslin or other cloth to keep the test-box from drying so fast. Results of test. If any ear of corn shows less than perfect germination in every kernel taken, that ear should be dis- earded. It is not safe to plant seed from an ear that shows any weak or dead kernels. Perhaps the simplest and most important lesson to get from this study is that no one should plant corn that is not known by actual and careful test to be in perfect germinating condition. If seed corn has to be bought, it should be bought in the ear so that the purchaser may know what his corn is and may test it for himself. IX. PLANTING THE CoRN Time to plant. Early planting is generally advised, but corn is a warm weather plant. It will not germinate until the soil has become warmer than is necessary for the growth of peas, oats, and certain other hardy plants. 70 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Distance in planting. The distance between rows is usually a matter of custom, growing out of local experience. Forty-four inches is a common distance. If the corn is planted with a check-row planter, it may be planted forty- four inches each way. When corn is drilled, the distance between rows is sometimes three feet and six inches. When planted in hills, and the seed is good, three kernels to the hill will produce the desired number of stalks. Depth of planting. The depth of planting should depend on the season, the kind of soil, and its condition. If the corn is planted early while the soil is comparatively cold, shallow planting is to be recommended. When the soil has become warm and mellow, deeper planting may be safely done: It should be remembered that corn kernels will not sprout unless they get sufficient moisture, and at the surface of a dry soil there may not be enough moisture to. cause. prompt germination. X. CULTIVATING CORN Purposes of tillage. Tillage breaks up the soil, making possible the free movement of air and moisture. It mellows and pulverizes the soil, thus promoting the processes that increase the availability of the plant-food materials; it pro- motes the warming of the earth, and destroys weeds. First cultivation important. This first cultivation of the corn may be done with a two-horse, double-shovel cultivator. If such an implement is used it should be supplied with fenders to keep the young plants from being covered or CORN val broken by the earth thrown against them by the rapidly mov- ing shovels. The importance of this first cultivation can hardly be over- emphasized. It should not be done when the ground is too wet; it should not be put off until the weeds begin to smother the corn plants. Many a corn crop has been reduced in yield from a fourth to a half by neglecting to use the right imple- ment in the right way at the right time. Every man ought to be so familiar with his own soil and its condition that he ean judge the right time to cultivate by looking at it, by walking over it, and by feeling of it with his fingers. If the ground is too wet, there is danger that serious harm will be done by the cultivator; if it is al- lowed to get too dry, there will be great loss of moisture due to evaporation and the growth of weeds. Shallow cultivation. Much damage is done to corn every year by too deep cultivation. By the time corn is a foot high, it will not be possible to give it deep cultivation with- out breaking off many of the roots. This will give the corn a serious set-back. With the plowing well done in fall or winter or early spring; with thorough preparation of the seed-bed by the use of disk or cutaway, and smocthing harrow and roller or plank drag; with one deep cultivation well and carefully done; after this it is easy to do the work that will ordinarily assure a good crop of corn on fairly rich land. The subse- quent cultivation should be shallow. In fact, some corn growers advocate merely scraping the surface of the ground to destroy weeds and provide a soil mulch. 7 fe: A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE The soil mulch. By the use of the right kind of imple- ments and a knowledge of the principles of tillage, the farmer keeps the soil in proper condition and prevents the growth of weeds. If a hard crust is formed on the surface of the soil by the dashing rains of summer, the soil water rapidly comes to the surface and is evaporated by the sun and wind. The farmer wants to have this water escape from the soil through the corn plants, giving up on the way the plant-food it has absorbed out of the soil. He therefore breaks up the erust of earth and saves the moisture for the corn erop. The moisture from the deeper soil gathers below the mulch about the roots of the corn where it can be utilized. If weeds are allowed to grow, they will be sure to get their share of this moisture, thus robbing the corn. XI. MatTurInG oF Corn Corn should mature. To be reasonably satisfactory for general use corn must also get ripe. We want the corn to use the entire growing and ripening season; but we do not want it to be of a kind that needs two weeks more of grow- ing weather than our climate can furnish. We want corn that will mature. Large ears and maturity. The common disposition of farmers to select large ears has had a tendency to produce a strain of corn requiring a long season—a season longer than can be depended upon year after year. So it often happens that, with a late spring or an early fall, or both, a large share of the corn does not get ripe. When cut before CORN 73 ‘it matures, it is so full of water that it can not dry out before freezing weather. The result is that the frost kills or weakens the germs of the unripe corn, making it unfit for seed. Another effect of the imperfect ripening is seen in the many cribs of moldy corn. Whenever there is a large proportion of soft corn, there is great danger that there will be heating and subsequent molding in the crib. Where to get seed. The fact needs frequent emphasis that it is not wise to bring seed corn from a distance. The corn plant has a tendency to adapt itself to the length of the season; but this adaptation does not come about in a single season. The best practice is to plant home-grown seed from soil similar to the soil in which it is to be planted. If good seed can not be had from near home, the grower will do well to send for seed grown where the season is shorter rather than longer than his own. XII. SeLEctTING SEED CoRN IN THE FIELD Value of good seed. The importance of selecting good seed corn and taking good care of it cannot be over-estimated. Experiments have shown that well-bred and carefully se- lected seed corn, of a type suited to the soil and climate where it is to be used, will produce from 10 to 50 per cent more eorn per acre. Rich soil and good culture are important fac- tors in producing a large crop of corn, but good seed will add considerably to the yield. Field selection. To get the best seed corn it should be selected in the field after it has matured, and while the char- 74 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE acter of the parent stalk can be seen. It is a well known law of life that ‘‘Like begets like,’’ and, in the case of corn, each kernel selected for seed will tend to produce a stalk and ear like the one from which it came. Now there are certain desirable characteristics of the stalk of corn which can not be seen except by careful field selection. There should be a large leaf growth. The stalk should be strong and vigorous, medium size, strong at the base with good brace roots and tapering gradually to the tassel. It should stand up well and bear its ear at a convenient height for husking. The shank of the ear should be of medium length, allowing the ear to turn down slightly. A short shank holds the ear too erect. Ears on long shanks or too high on the stalk are more likely to pull down the stalk in a wind storm, besides being inconvenient to husk. The ears selected should be well developed, with straight rows of uniform sized kernels. Ears should be selected and husked before the early frost injures them for seed. Expert plant breeders have selected seed corn for various characteristics and developed new and different strains from the same seed. This shows that it is possible to select seed and thus improve the strain from the old stock. XIII. JupGING AND Scoring Corn Corn judging. The object of corn judging is to determine the corn of highest quality, either for feeding or market, which is, consequently, most profitable to grow. The study of the desirable characteristics of seed corn has led to the CORN 75 formation of a standard scale of points or ‘‘corn score-card.”’ By the use of the score-card, the judge or student can keep in mind the relative merits of the points in a sample of corn, and compare the ears he is judging with the ideal standard. FIG. 10. WINNER IN MANY CONTESTS In selecting corn for seed or for exhibition, probably the best method is to place the ears from a bushel of selected corn upon a table with the butts of the ears toward you. Select the most nearly perfect ear you can find, one which 16 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE comes the nearest to the ideal type. Then select other ones resembling the first one—ten in all. The score-card. The score-card is a device to help the judge or student to make intelligent comparisons of sample ears with the ideal type. The characteristics of the ear are listed and the perfect grade for each is given. The student must judge how nearly the sample being scored compares to the perfect grade under each point. In judging corn, ten ears usually constitute an exhibit sample. It is desirable that samples be laid out side by side on a table where a good light may be had. For practical work in corn-scoring the teacher should - provide score-cards used and recommended by the agricul- tural college of the state in which the work is being done. It is not advisable to give more attention and study to scoring corn than to its production. It is yield we want rather than fancy ears, and this characteristic is often inherent in ears of indifferent appearance. XIV. Storing SEED CorRN Essentials of careful storing. The proper storing of seed corn after selection is perhaps of equal importance to the matter of selection. The ears should be taken when mature on the stalk and hung or laid in dry, well ventilated places, and kept perfectly dry and cool until planting time the next season. It must be remembered that the seed is a living thing and is injured by freezing. CORN 77 Value of careful storage. The Ohio Extension Bulletin reports as follows: ‘‘Samples of seed corn were taken from over 100 different farms in all parts of the state, and germina- tion tests made of the corn to determine its vitality, careful record being kept, as far as possible, of the method of storing and caring for seed corn.’’ The following table will give the results as shown by this preliminary work: Rangeof Average germi- germi- Number nation— nation— Vigor tested percent percent. of plants Taken from ordinary crib... 40 55-100 85 Poor Stored in good dry place with plenty of air currents, but no artificial heat, as on shelves, in cribs, above wagon sheds, hung by wires, strings, etc......... 62 72-100 90.3 Good Stored in attics, empty rooms in houses, furnace rooms, etc. Some artificial heat furnished but not always a free circulation of air..... 11 85-100 93.3 Good It was also shown in these Ohio experiments that seed corn from varieties that are well adapted is less difficult to eare for than that from large, late-maturing strains. ‘*A bushel of seed corn will plant seven acres which at fifty bushels per acre should yield 350 bushels. It will be seen, according to the figures shown earlier in this discussion, one bushel of the corn which had been well cared for would produce 5 per cent more stalks than the seed not properly 78 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE stored. Not taking into consideration the difference in the vigor of the plants, this would meke a difference of seventeen and one-half bushels in favor of the bushel of seed that had been carefully handled.’’ Methods of storing seed corn. There are many methods of storing seed corn, but in all cases the place of storing must be dry and well ventilated. It should never be put in boxes, ee atin ae C. : 2 e : (i z + SE ek ot< FIG..11. SEED CORN RACK barrels, or sacks. The attic, or an empty room upstairs in the house, if it is not too warm and close, is a good place for stor- ing while the corn is still moist. The barn and crib are suit- able places for storing if there is time enough for the ears to become. thoroughly dry before freezing weather. If thor- oughly dry and surrounded by dry atmosphere, seed corn will stand very cold weather. No matter where stored, it should be either hung up or CORN 19 placed on racks made of narrow strips with spaces between them, and in all cases kept out of reach of rats, mice, and chickens. XV. Some Insects InsuRIous TO CoRN The corn root-louse. Corn attacked by this insect becomes dwarfed, the leaves turn red and yellow, and there is general lack of vigor. The root-louse is a small insect, bluish-green in color, oval in form, with two short slender tubes projecting from the back part of the abdomen. The root-lice are nearly ¢) > ° fe) fe] 52 Po FIG. 12. CORN ROOT-LOUSE always accompanied by ants, and the farmer who sees the ants about the roots of his corn is likely to lay the blame of his sickly crop to them rather than to the root-lice, the real pests. The ants, however, are indirectly responsible for the root-louse injury, as they care for the eggs of the louse during the winter, and bring the young lice to the roots of the young smart-weeds early in the spring. 80 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE About the first of May the second generation of lice ap- pears, and the little brown ants transfer them to the roots of the young corn plants. During the summer the lice con- tinue breeding with great rapidity, all the while sucking the juice from the young roots of the growing corn. About the middle of September the last brood of females begin to lay eggs for the winter. These females are usually carried by the ants to their nests, where the eggs are laid. Rotation of crops, proper fertilization of the soil, deep fall plowing, or early spring plowing, followed by repeated FIG. 13. THE CHINCH BUG deep disking to destroy the ants’ nests, are some of the suc- cessful methods of combating the corn root-louse. The chinch bug. The great arch enemy of the corn crop is the chinch bug. This insect is about one-tenth of an inch long, and does its work of injury by sucking the juice from the stalks of the growing corn, completely destroying whole fields. The insect goes into winter quarters as an adult bug, and there remains until the warm weather of the next April or May. It is hidden away at the roots of various grasses, and in accumulations of weeds, leaves, and other rubbish. CORN 81 Many bugs may be destroyed by burning such rubbish and grass. The bugs that live through the winter come out in the spring and spread over the country on the wing, settling in fields of wheat, early oats, or other grasses, and in these lay their eggs for the first generation of the year. The young hatching from these eggs injure the crop in which they find themselves. Later, at wheat harvest time, being only partly grown, they move out of infested wheat fields on foot into other fields of grain, especially of corn, where, if the season favors them, a second generation will be bred to the enor- mous injury of the infested crops. The successful combating of chinch bugs is a community affair. Every farmer who has chinch bugs on his place should elean up and burn up all trash which would harbor the bug during the winter. In the summer the farmers of the com- munity should all co-operate in throwing crude oil lines about their wheat fields to catch the bugs as they migrate from the wheat to the corn. The corn ear-worm. The corn ear-worm injures the ears of corn and is a serious pest, especially to sugar corn. In the South this same insect is known as the cotton boll-worm, from its habit of boring into the boll of the cotton. In our latitude the first broods of the moths appear in May and deposit their eggs on corn or other food plants. The second or third broods lay their eggs in the silks or tassels of the corn. The young worms hatch in three or four days, and begin feeding upon the silks of the corn. In a few days they get into the tips of the young ears. Each worm may feed upon several ears, and, when full grown, the 82 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE worms leave the ear and go into the ground, where they make little cells and in these transform to pupae. In about two weeks the next brood of moths appear. There are two or three broods in a year. The pest is very difficult to combat. Since the pupae of the last brood hibernate in the ground during the winter, many of them may be killed by deep, late fall plowing. The time of planting should be taken into consideration; since the moths prefer to lay their eggs on the silk, the corn which is in silk when the moths emerge from the ground will be most seriously injured. Early planted corn is less liable to injury from this source. XVI. Corn Propucts The stalk. Many new uses have lately arisen for corn, in addition to the well known and standard purposes this cereal has long served. Corn pith has lately been utilized as a packing for battleships. The production of cellulose, high explosives, varnishes, ete., are recent uses of pith, and in the manufacture the outer shell and leaves of the stalk are left as by-products. These are finely ground up and put on the market as the ‘‘New Corn Product,’’ which is used as a stock food. The erude stalk has such well known uses as stock food in fodder, ensilage, ete. A cheap grade of paper ean be made from the pulp of the corn stalk. Denatured aleco- hol and various food extracts are being made from corn stalks, The corn kernel. Besides the common uses of the kernel CORN 83 as food for man and beast, there are about thirty products made from it: six kinds of mixing glucose, used by refiners of table syrups, brewers, leather manufacturers, jelly mak- ers, fruit preservers, and apothecaries; four kinds of crystal glucose, used by confectioners; two kinds of grape sugar, used by brewers and tanners; pearl starch, used by paper and eotton-mills ; powdered starch, used by baking-powder manu- facturers; florine, used by flour mixers; dextrine, used by fine fabric, paper box, mucilage and glue manufacturers; FIG. 14. ANALYSIS OF THE COMPOSITION OF CORN corn-oil, used by table oil mixers, lubricating oil mixers, manufacturers of fibre, shade cloth, paint, and similar indus- tries where vegetable oils are employed; corn-oil cakes, used for cattle feeding purposes; rubber substitute, used in the place of crude rubber; corn germs, from which oil and cake .are made; British gum, a starch which makes a very adhesive medium; distilled spirits, used in the manufacture of smoke- > 84. A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE less powder; aleohol for commercial purposes; corn down, the brown outer coating next the cob, used in the manufacture of mattresses. The cob. Even the cob, besides the emergency use as corks, is utilized in the manufacture of pipes, and as a fuel in the great corn belt. The ashes of cobs are easily con- vertible into a commercial potash. NOTEBOOK QUESTIONS 1. Why is corn sometimes called Indian corn or maize? 2. Ilow does corn rank in acreage, production, and value with other farm crops of the United States? 3. The corn crop for the last five years in the United States has been over 2,500,000,000 bushels a year. How much is that for each person in the United States? 4. How much corn was grown in the state last year? What was the average yield per acre? (See the Year Book of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. The school may obtain a copy through the congressman of the district. ) 5. What are the parts of a kernel of corn? 6. What are the conditions for the germination of seed ‘corn ? 7. Where does the corn plant bear its blossoms? 8. Back. I. Ribs. 12. Loin. top. IAs iRump, 15. Elips; 265 Laik 27, Phiehs £85 Udder: 19. Belly. 20. Milk Veins. according to form, condition, and quality, as mentioned in a previous paragraph. Have each pupil make a copy of the seore-card in his notebook, and when the cow is before the class let each pupil mark the points as he thinks proper. 6. Daily milk records. Pupils should make out a daily milk record sheet as follows, and keep a record of the cows at their homes for at least seven days. Morning} Evening; Total 178 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Pupils should bring these records to school and compare reports. 7. The Babcock test. If possible, the school should pro- eure a Babcock milk tester and test the milk of cows at the homes of the pupils. It is not necessary to give details for the use of the tester here, for directions accompany every machine. A good four-bottle Babcock tester may be obtained for ten or twelve dollars. 8. Report on the calves owned by pupils. Let the pupils each write a paper about the calves at the home farm, using the following outline: (a) Number and breed of calves. (b) Size and age. (ec) Ownership. (d) Method of feeding. (e) Shelter provided. (f) Suecesses and failures in raising. (g) Purpose for which kept. CHAPTER XII SWINE SWINE ON THE F'ARM Importance of hog raising. Since swine multiply rapidly and breed at an earlier age than other farm animals, they are considered one of the most profitable kinds of live stock which the farmer can produce. The prices of hogs vary so often and so much upon the ereat markets that the supply throughout the country is constantly shifting. The man who makes money out of hogs is the man who produces hogs each year and makes them a part of his permanent farm business. A few hogs might be kept profitably on many farms where they do not find a place today. The hog utilizes much of the by-products of the farm which might otherwise be wasted. In cattle feed lots, in dairy districts, in general farming operations, and, in fact, wher- ever man produces agricultural products, the hog may be used to convert the waste products into an economical meat supply. Experience should enable a farmer to determine just how many hogs he ean raise on his farm to advantage. Some pig history. The peccary of Central America is the American relative of the pig; at least it resembles the pig in habit and appearance. The wart-hog of Africa, the rhi- noceros, the hippopotamus, and the wild boar of Europe are 179 180 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE some wild relatives of the domestic hog. It seems that the hog and his relatives came originally from southeastern Asia, and that we are indebted to the Chinese for our swine. The FIG 26. A WELL BRED FAMILY European breeders improved their early Chinese hogs by crossing them with the large wild boars of western Europe. In this way the English Berkshire breed was formed. The English took the lead in developing the domestic hog as they did in improving cattle. The Indians had no hogs, but when the European settlers found that Indian corn made excellent feed for hogs, they had them sent over from England. Thus the hog and corn developed rapidly together. in America, and the fat type of swine was produced. Among the first to breed and develop swine in America were the Dutch farm- ers of Chester County, Pennsylvania; they developed the Chester Whites, the first breed of American hog. As the country became settled westward, the counties in southern SWINE 181 Ohio around Cincinnati became the great swine region of the United States. Here the Poland China hogs were devel- oped. Other domestic breeds of hogs were developed in Canada and throughout England. TYPES AND BREEDS OF SWINE Two types. There are two well-defined types of hogs, the fat or lard-type and the bacon-type. The lard-type is a product of the corn belt. In the great corn producing states we find the lard-type in its highest degree of perfection. Bacon hogs have not been produced to any great extent under Pic. 27.. LARD-TYPE OF A0OG systems of corn feeding, hence we find the bacon hog in greater numbers in countries where the food for the hog is more varied. Canada, Denmark, and Ireland are able to compete in their export trade with the bacon-types, because the ‘‘ Wiltshire Side’’ (the side, ham, and shoulder in one piece) commands a higher price than the meat of the lard hog in export trade. The lard-type of hog. The lard-type of hog has a com- 182 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE pact, thick, deep, smooth body. The ham, back, loin, and shoulders are the most valuable parts and are developed to a high degree. The production of lard and fat is the prin- cipal aim of this type. Quality is denoted by fine hair, smooth, clean, unwrinkled skin, rather fine bone, and an even distribution of flesh. The jowls should be broad, plump, FIG. 28. BACON-TYPE OF HOG and full, and the body not flabby in appearance. The hog should have short, upright pasterns. The snout should be fine, the face wide between the eyes, and the space between the ears wide and full. Width between the eyes and full- ness and width between the ears indicate a good feeder. The neck should be short and deep and should blend smoothly into the shoulder. The shoulder should be well developed, blending well into the body and covered evenly with flesh SWINE 183 over all parts. The back should be broad, slightly arched, of medium length, and thickly fleshed. The ribs should be well sprung, the sides deep and even between the shoulder and ham. The ham should be broad, deep, plump, and heavily fleshed well down toward the hocks. The rump should be as wide as the back. The legs should be short, straight, set well apart and squarely under the body. The above brief description is general for all breeds of the lard hog. The Poland China, Chester White, Berkshire, and Du- roc-Jersey are the popular breeds of this type of hog. The bacon-type. The weight of this type of hog for mar- ket demands varies from 160 to 200 pounds. The product sought in this type is the ‘‘ Wiltshire Side,’’ the upper half of a side from shoulder to ham. The form of the bacon-type is quite different from the form of the lard-type. The hog has longer legs, the body is not so thick or deep, the shoulders, neck, and jowls are lighter. The hog should be long from shoulder to ham, with sufficient depth and thickness to denote ‘good constitution. Quality, as in the lard-type, is indicated by a smooth coat of hair and ‘an unwrinkled skin. The fin- ished bacon hog handles firmer to the touch than a finished lard hog. The bones of this type are larger, but they should present a clean-cut appearance. The loin is the most valu- able cut in this hog, and should be as wide as the rest of the back, full, strong, and well packed with flesh. The ribs should spring out boldly from the backbone and turn sharply down- ward, giving a straight, flat side. The leading breeds of the bacon-type of swine are the Tamworth and the Large York- shire. Sometimes the Hampshire is so classed. 184 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Selecting the stock. The farmer who wishes to raise hogs should make the start with a few first-class animals. It is better to purchase one first-class brood sow than several mediocre ones for the same money. The same is true of the boar. He should be a pure-bred animal of the type selected. The following are some characteristics of a good breeding sow: the forehead should be broad and the eyes wide apart; the neck rather thin; the shoulders smooth and deep; the back wide and straight; the chest deep and broad; the ribs well sprung; and a long body showing capacity from end to end. She should stand on straight legs and well up on the toes. She should be selected from a prolific strain and be a creditable representative of the breed. A good boar should have a masculine head and well-crested neck, and the same indications of a good pork-producing body as described for a good sow. BREEDS OF SWINE Various tests in feeding swine have demonstrated that no one breed is superior to all others in ability to make cheap gains. A healthy, thrifty hog will make economical gains no matter what breed it represents. The various breeds have their peculiar excellencies, and it becomes a matter of per- sonal choice in determining what breed to raise. It is advis- able for best commercial interests, however, for a community to confine its swine production to the same one or two breeds. The Berkshire. The Berkshire is an attractive animal, rather above medium size and belongs to the lard-type. The SWINE 185 face is dished, the snout short, the jowl full and heavy, the neck short, and the ears erect. The body of the Berkshire is long and smooth, with a thickly meated, neat, trim ham. In this breed the bone is strong and clean, but the animal does not always stand well on its feet. The standard color is black with white markings on the face, on each foot, and on the tip of the tail. It attains good weight at an early age, fattens readily and is known for its excellent quality of meat. The breed came originally from Berkshire in Eng- land. The Poland China. The present day Poland China is a large hog, some of the boars weighing over one thousand pounds. The face is slightly dished, the jowls are full and heavy, and the ears are fine and droop at about one-third of their length. The shoulders and hind quarters are heavy and the sides are straight and deep. As a rule the legs are short and the bone fine. The color is black, with white on face, feet, and tip of tail—‘‘black, with six white points.’’ The Poland China is especially a lard-type of hog. It is a fine yielder from the packer’s standpoint. No breed excels the Poland China in ability to produce a finished fat carcass for the butcher at an early age. It has developed on corn feeding and is a great favorite in the corn belt. The breed originated in the Miami Valley of Ohio. The Duroc-Jersey. The Duroc-Jersey is a large hog of the lard-type. The snout is medium length, the face usually straight. Duroes have a characteristic arched back. Cherry red is the common color, but chestnut and yellowish red are 186 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE often seen. The Duroc is a good grazer as well as a good corn feeder. This breed is very prolific and crosses well with several other breeds. The red pigs get their name ‘“Jersey Reds’’ from New Jersey, where they gained consid- erable prominence, and ‘‘Duroe,”’ a breed, strange to say, named after a stallion, from Duroe, in Saratoga County, New York. The breeders of Jersey Reds and Duroes united under the name ‘‘Duroc-Jersey’’ and have developed this excellent breed in later years. The Chester White. The Chester White is a large white hog of the lard-type. The face is straight, the snout me- dium, the ears are heavy and droop at the tip. The con- formation of the Chester Whites is similar to that of the Poland China, but they have wider backs and lighter hams. The Ohio Improved Chester Whites (O. I. C.) is a strain resulting from an attempt to improve the Chester White through selection. The breed matures early and is an economical feeder. It is a good grazer and fairly hardy. Admirers of the Chester Whites claim the breed ranks among the first in being pro- lific. The breed originated in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Hampshire. The Hampshire is a medium-sized hog coming between the lard-type and bacon-type of hog. The face is straight, the ears incline forward but do not droop like those of the Poland China. The shoulders, ham, and jowls are lighter than those of fat hogs. There is less width of back and more length of side. The most fashionable color ‘“listed’’ consists of black extremities with a white belt from four to twelve inches wide encircling the body and including SWINE 187 the fore-legs. Although the Hampshire does not suit the demands of the ‘‘ Wiltshire Sides’’ for British export trade, the breed as a bacon-type is well suited to American demands for bacon. The Hampshire is a breed growing in popularity and has a reputation for good, fine-grained flesh with a high per cent of lean, dressing out with excellent net weight for packing. It is an active, hardy breed and is giving good satisfaction both as a feeder and breeder. The breed origi- nated in Hampshire, England. The Large Yorkshire. The Large Yorkshire is one of the largest breeds of swine. It is a typical bacon hog. The face is dished, the snout practically straight, the ears are large and erect, the shoulders and back of only medium width, the sides are long, and the ham carries very little fat. The bones are heavy, and the legs longer than those of the lard- type of hog. The color is white, with pinkish skin. There is a tendency to wide variation in many points in this breed. The Large Yorkshire is highly valued for bacon production. For quality of bacon it is rivalled only by the Tamworth. The breed is of English origin. The Tamworth. The Tamworth, like the Large York- shire, is a large-sized hog of the bacon-type. It has a long, straight snout, and the ears are large and fringed with fine hairs. In conformation the Tamworth is similar to the Large Yorkshire. The color is commonly a golden yellow, which erows darker with age. The bacon of the Tamworth is highly esteemed in export trade. This breed is of English origin and takes its name from Tamworth in Staffordshire. 188 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE FEED AND MANAGEMENT OF SWINE Pig diet. The pig can make more meat from the food he eats than any other animal, with the possible exception of the hen. Five and one-half pounds of corn should make a pound of pork. Although we usually think of the pig as a grain eating animal, he will eat a greater variety of food than any other domestic animal. By choice his diet would include grain, grass, nuts, roots, snakes, worms, etc. Hogs should have access to pasture, for grass is a healthful diet for them. Clover, alfalfa, peas, and rape are excellent sum- mer foods for the development of hogs, while in winter roots or silage, together with the grain ration, should be regularly fed. Every pig should have free access to charcoal or coal screenings, ashes, slacked lime, and salt. During hot weather the hog craves a pool of water to reduce his temperature, for he perspires but little. In win- ter warm shelter for hogs reduces the amount of feed neces- sary. Supplementing corn in feeding hogs. Corn is essentially a fat forming feed, and is, therefore, not a good bone and muscle producer. Exclusive corn feeding works great harm in the case of young growing pigs, and numerous experiments have been conducted in combining other feeds with corn in order to overcome its objectionable features. When prop- erly combined with a supplementary feed, relatively rich in protein and minerals, corn is the best hog feed obtainable. Pasture is an excellent supplement to corn, especially clover and alfalfa. Tankage and meat meals may be given in small SWINE 189 proportions when used in dry lot feeding or in full feeding on pasture. When hogs are on pasture, tankage supple- ments the corn most economically. Soy beans also afford a valuable supplement to corn. General care and management. Many farmers seem to think that hogs require but little care and attention. The filthy pens where hogs are often compelled to wallow and feed, the damp, dark, ill-ventilated boxes in which they are often FIG. 29. A GOOD HOG HOUSE confined, and the dirty slop which constitutes such a large part of their diet, show the vile neglect and inhuman treat- ment often given to this valuable farm animal. Good, whole- some pork is not produced under such circumstances. It is better to fatten the hogs in a ten-acre field than in a ten-foot lot. The hog is a voracious feeder, but he responds readily to wholesome food by giving returns according to treatment and care. | Hog houses. Good hog houses will have reasonable warmth, sunlight, cleanliness, dryness, ventilation, and con- venience. Hogs are sensitive to extremes of heat and cold “190. A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE and should have houses for shelter and shade. The house should be located on a dry site where the drainage is good. The beginner should not put up expensive buildings. The above mentioned important qualities of the hog house may be secured in many ways to suit the convenience and finan- cial condition of the grower. Much attention is being given to the construction of good hog houses, and details may be obtained from the state experiment stations, or from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Some points in the care of a brood sow. It is not advis- able to breed the sows before they are eight or ten months old, and in most cases it is best to wait three or four days after the pigs are weaned before breeding her again. The period of gestation in sows is 112-116 days. Most farmers will find that it is safer to have their sows farrow in March and September, producing two litters each year. A good pasture affords ideal conditions for the brood sow. Dur- ing the period of gestation the sow should be kept in good condition but not over-fat. An exclusive corn diet can not give best results, because it does not furnish enough bone and muscle forming constituents for unborn pigs. Equal parts of ground corn, ground oats, and wheat middlings is the ration recommended for the brood sow. There should be an abundant supply of fresh water at all times. The farrowing pen should be dry, well ventilated, and free from draughts. Equal parts of ground oats and wheat middlings, allowed to soak between feedings, is an excellent ration for nursing sows. If sweet skim-milk can be added, the ration SWINE 191 is almost ideal. A limited amount of bulky, succulent feed helps to keep the sow healthy. Care of little pigs. Little pigs should be allowed to get on the ground and in the sunshine as soon as the weather is moderate. After three weeks they should have other food in addition to the sow’s milk. Skim-milk or oatmeal gruel is an excellent diet for little pigs. Some succulent feed, such as green clover and roots, will soon be relished by the grow- ing pigs and should always be included in the diet. A small amount of soaked whole corn seattered over the floor of the pen is good food for the pigs and will cause them to exercise while hunting for it. Skim-milk and middlings make about the best feed for young pigs after weaning. At no time should the growing pig be given an exclusive diet of corn. The most profitable time to feed pigs is during the first ten months of their life. After ten months of proper feeding, pigs should weigh from 250 to 300 pounds. Pigs fattened for the market should never see their first birthday anni- versary. Hog cholera. This dreaded disease among hogs is due to a filterable virus and causes a loss of many millions of dol- lars annually. Hogs show symptoms of the disease in going off to le in cool places. Their hind parts seem stiff and they stagger as they walk; there is a watery secretion from the eyelids; alternate diarrhoea and constipation are common. Little can be done by way of treatment for this disease. Pre- ventive measures are the only effective means of combatting hog cholera. Quarantine, isolation, and disinfection are im- 192 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE portant measures in fighting the disease. Three methods of vaccination are used in preventing the choiera: (1) The injection of an anti-cholera serum, which makes the hogs immune only a few months or weeks. (2) Simultaneously with the serum is injected the defibri- nated blood or virus of a diseased hog, rendering the hog immune for life. (3) In the combination method, very seldom used, the hog is vaccinated with the serum alone and ten days later the simultaneous method is used. These plans of combatting the hog cholera must be carried out under the direction of a skilled veterinarian, and the state should supply the serum to the farmer at cost. Markets. The successful stock man is the one who is familiar with market requirements and tries to meet them. Every pig club member should know something of the mar- ket classes and grades of hogs. These differ somewhat according to local conditions, but in a general way the classification given below may be taken as a standard. Heavy hogs are no longer at a premium except when the price of lard is high. They contain a large amount of fat. Butcher hogs are commonly used for fresh meat trade. They are principally barrows. The term packing refers to animals which are inferior as butcher hogs and are cut up, cured, and packed in boxes and barrels. Mixed packing hogs are those marketed without grading. The meat of young pigs is unsuitable for curing and sup- plies part of the demand for cheap, fresh meat. SWINE 193 The bacon hogs quoted on the Chicago market are lard hogs that are not highly finished, have a high per cent of lean meat, and supply the demand for lean pork. MARKET CLASSES AND GRADES Class Weight Sub-Class Grade | Prime heavy. E 350- 500 ai blelubate oie (a) Suele.,6) 6.60) elle, ey uOe! se) aus ved) © Prime z Prime Meaty eee. 280-350 ine ; Prime Pigitcher....... 180-350 CC UMTE occas ou win vei 220-280'2 Good Common Inferior Good Common Inferior PEGC OC aakets ae = eee x 200-280, Good IVY, noises oremane 300-500|/- Common Inferior Good i Packing. . i... 200-500 Medinet oo. s oS 6sa 250-300, {Common Choice English ....160-2204 Light Fat Choice By ens uae 155-195|2 Good BACBE. onic cis: 125-220 = Bacon RiPRE MENG os ase. 125-150!2 Common Inferior } Good Light: mixed sy... 03... 150-220 2 Common Inferior ; Choice oS ees RARE Woainiat ole wie os eis 'O sae bree &fiee Good Common SOREL oc wate a ons Roasting pigs Boars Walieiteneils oite 1. Feeders 11 DE ae Tees es Governments Pen holders Dead hogs 194 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Stags are males castrated too late in life to grade as bar- rows. Boars are used for sausage and supply cheap, fresh meat. The present demand is for hogs weighing from 200 to 250 pounds, and the hog raiser should aim to finish and market his hogs at about these weights. NOTEBOOK QUESTIONS 1. Why is hog raising such a popular form of live-stock production on the farm? 2. What were some of the most needed improvements brought about in swine over their wild relatives? 3. What are the chief differences between the bacon- and lard-types of hogs? 4. What are the characteristics of a good brood sow? Of a good boar? 5. Name the standard breeds of swine in this country. 6. What is your favorite breed, and why? 7. What are some of the feeds supplementary to corn in productive swine feeding? 8. Give some reasons why swine should be sheltered. What are the essentials of a good piggery ? 9. Name five points you consider essential in the care of the brood sow. 10. List some interesting hog habits. PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND Homer PROJECTS 1. Reports upon the wild relatives of the swine. Pupils should prepare written reports upon the following wild rela- tives of the hog: peceary, wart hog, rhinoceros, hippopota-. mus, wild boar, ete., consulting geographies, natural his- tories, and encyclopedias for information on these animals. SWINE 195 2. Report on swine at the home farm. Let the pupil report on the swine on the home farm by filling out the fol- lowing table: Types and) Number Characteristics” of evi Average| Estimated breeds of each weight value 3. Quotation of market prices. Pupils should report the market prices of hogs and various pork products as quoted in the daily papers they receive at home or at school. 4. Observation and study of breeds. If at all practical, the class in Agriculture should take a trip to the various farms in the community and observe the different breeds of swine. The pupils should be able to tell the difference be- tween the Berkshires, Poland China, Chester White, Duroc- Jersey, or any other breeds found in the community. The distinguishing characteristics of these breeds should be noted and thoroughly learned on a trip of this kind. 5. Comparative judging. Prepare a ring of swine, two, three, or four animals, and have the pupils place these accord- ing to rank, basing their judgment on form, condition, and quality of the swine in the ring. In doing this exercise it may be necessary for the instructor to go over the whole mat- ter of conformation, condition, and quality, as they should be found in good swine. 196 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 6. Exercises in judging. After the students have become somewhat familiar with the points in judging swine, infor- mation may be given as to the judging of individuals by the score-cards. Under the direction of the instructor use the score-card of your State Experiment Station. 7. Reports on home meat production. Let each pupil report on the methods of feeding and managing swine at home, using the following outline: (a) The house, pen, or range in which the pigs are fed for fattening. (b) The feed used, amount, kind, ete. (c) Criticism of the above methods, and suggestions for improvement. | 8. Houses. Students should bring pictures of hog houses, clipped from farm papers or other publications in which they may be found, and in class make a critical study of the illus- trations assembled. Ground floor plans should be drawn by each student for several types of house. CHAPTER XIII POULTRY Arguments for poultry raising as a school study. There is no phase of agriculture that interests and directly concerns so large a proportion of people in any community as poultry. We find poultry on practically every farm in the country and, to a large extent, in the towns and cities. Poultry raising requires very little capital, very little area, and one does not have to wait long for profits. A large num- FIG. 30. A GOOD TYPE OF HEN ber of chickens may be raised in the same period of time it takes to grow a crop of corn. The products, both meat and eggs, are always in demand and in season the year round. 197 198 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE The principles of feeding, breeding, and general care are the same for poultry as for other kinds of live stock, and may be studied with practical demonstrations in any school. The hen as an efficient machine of production. Poultry raising is one of the most profitable branches of animal hus- bandry. All our domestic animals are kept on the farm for the purpose of converting the products of the soil into animal products, and tests that have been carefully made by differ- ent experiment stations show that there is no class of domes- tic animals that converts the grains, forages, and waste prod- ucts of the farm and the insect pests of our crops so eco- nomically into animal foods as does the hen. Three and a half pounds of grain, fed from the time the chick is hatched up to the time it weighs from four to six pounds, is required for one pound of chicken. It takes five or six pounds of food to make a pound of pork, which is the next cheapest meat. The standard farm breeds and their special points of excellence. Our economic fowls may be divided into three general classes: (a) The type known as the egg class, or Mediterraneans, generally small, light birds, including Leghorns, Anconas, and Minorcas. These are of special interest to the poultry keeper because they produce a pure white egg. They have been developed for egg production. They are often spoken of as the egg fowls, but they are not really the greatest egg pro- ducers, as some fowls of other breeds produce just as many eges. The point that makes them especially popular is that eastern markets, such as New York City, Philadelphia, and also the Pacific coast, will pay more for a pure white egg POULTRY 199 than for a brown-shelled one. The only class of hens that will lay the pure white egg is the Mediterranean. (b) The meat type, known as the Asiatics. There are three breeds of particular importance: Brahmas, Cochins, and Langshans. The first two are not noted as great layers, though the Brahmas are fair layers. The Langshans are among the FIG, 31. THE DUAL-PURPOSE-TYPE very best layers, competing quite favorably with others in the egg contests. This type is called the meat breed, because the fowls are heavy and make the big roasters. They are very valuable in the eastern states, especially in Boston. ‘‘Green roasters’’ or ‘‘soft roasters’’ are very much in de- mand, bringing as much as 35 cents per pound live weight, and weighing from 6 to 9 or 10 pounds when dressed. 200 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE (c) The general purpose or American class, the type popu- lar among the people generally. This type combines two characteristics to a high degree—egg production and meat. The breeds especially notable are Plymouth Rocks, Wyan- dottes, Rhode Island Reds, and Orpingtons. The Plymouth Rocks are fowls that weigh from 6 to 10 pounds. They are a very hardy breed and lay good-sized eggs. The ability to produce a great many eggs is not a matter of breed, but of breeding or strain. The individual must be — selected and bred with reference to its particular character- istic, whether it be appearance, plumage, meat weight, egg- laying power, or what not. This principle holds good with all classes of fowls, even with the meat class. The Langshans in Australia, for instance, often lead the list in the egg-lay- ing contests there. The Mediterranean type is capable of being developed into great layers. The Plymouth Rocks were the first American breed to be developed. They were given their name solely for patriotic reasons. The Wyandottes. The second American breed to be devel- oped was the Wyandotte, an Indian name. They are about one pound smaller than the Plymouths; that is, they weigh from 514 to 8144 pounds and are very compact and round. The Wyandotte is called the bird of curves. For broilers of from 34 to 2 pounds, they develop rapidly. The birds of the meat class are not best to eat, usually, until they weigh about 3 or 4 pounds. The Wyandottes have a rose comb or double comb, which POULTRY 901 is a low, fleshy tissue quite different from the single comb that stands up more prominently. This low comb is less exposed to the cold. Some people in the colder sections of the country think it is better to have a breed with the rose eomb, but the preference is largely a matter of fancy. Rhode Island Reds were the latest breed to be developed in this country. They are believed to be the hardiest and most vigorous of any of our American breeds. They are the same size as the Wyandottes, and a pound smaller than the Plymouth Rocks. Raised under similar conditions, when mature, a Plymouth Rock that is true to her breed and type should weigh a pound more than a Wyandotte or a Rhode Island Red. The Rhode Island Reds are naturally great lay- ers. At several experiment stations it has been demonstrated that they are the great money makers, although some pens of Plymouth Rocks have contested them closely. The Rhode Island Reds lay a large and very perfectly shelled egg. Some say the Rhode Island Reds eggs can be picked out from a basket by touch, because of the marble smoothness of the shell. The Orpingtons are an English breed. They are classed with the Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, and Reds because, for the general purposes, they are midway between the light and the heavy in size. They are about half a pound larger than the Plymouth Rock, and are like the other English breed birds in having a white instead of a yellow skin. There is a feeling among a great many people that a yellow skin indi- eates a richness and juiciness of flesh. There are no table birds superior to the Orpingtons. The skin is very tender, 202 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE and they fatten well for a table bird. They are also excel- lent layers. . There are three varieties of Orpingtons; white, buff, and black. They are beautiful to look upon, having fluffy feath- ers somewhat looser than the American breeds. They have a single comb, but it is not large and thus not exposed to the cold. Improvements. Probably the most desirable improve- ment to be sought on the farm is strong, healthy birds with a maximum of egg production, especially during the winter months. There is no reason why as great an improvement in egg production should not and may not be secured by the poultry keeper as the dairy keeper has secured during the past few years in the production of milk. The dairyman found out that a large proportion of the herd did not pay for their feed. The same is true with poultry. Weak, un- healthy birds are always the centers of disease, because poultry is kept in larger numbers and the individuals are not so directly under the eye of the keeper. There is more danger of starting diseases in a flock than there is with other kinds of domestic animals. By weeding out the unhealthy birds one may be saved much loss and disappointment. The relative value of feeding and breeding in egg pro- duction. If we regard fowls, as we do our other domestic animals, as machines whose business it is to convert as profit- ably as possible the produce of the soil (the feeds) into high- class, desirable, animal products, then, first, it is to the inter- est of the poultry keeper to make sure that his machine ig | POULTRY 903 as perfect as he can get it; that is, that his poultry is well bred. So much for the machine. Then everybody knows that if he has ever so valuable an engine or machine of any sort, to make it the source of the greatest possible profit he must have materials to work up into the product. The more one can make the fowls eat, if the food is not fed wastefully, the greater should be the profit. If one can breed fowls to develop the characteristic of early laying and early maturity, which would mean in the fall and winter, they would be of the greatest profit. Two hens may lay equal numbers of eggs, but one may bring in three or four times as much profit as the other, because she lays at the time when eggs sell at the highest price. Some good feeding rations for laying hens. One of the best rations, and the simplest, is grain, wheat, and corn only, fed morning and night, spread in the litter, changing the proportion according to the season. In the fall and spring feed equal amounts of wheat and corn; in the summer, one part of corn to two parts of wheat; in the winter, two parts corn to one part wheat. Keep coarse ground oats in the feed hopper all the time. These are foods which are easily procured by the poultry keeper whether in town or on the farm. Mixed with these ground oats in dry mash (formerly they used wheat bran, wheat middlings, and ground corn) is about 15 per cent of meat scrap. This is the by-product of the packing houses; it is cheap meat and some cartilage, etc., ground up, cooked, and dried, so that all the germs are 204 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE killed. It can be stored and kept just like wheat bran. Formerly it was called beef scrap. One can not get profitable results from fowls without feed- ing some kind of animal food. The town poultry keeper has enough table scraps to answer the purpose, and in the sum- mer the fowls can get insects easily, which accounts for the fact that summer laying is much more common than winter laying. If hens produce winter eggs, they must be fed meat serap or some other animal food. If the farmer can profitably do so, he should use skim-milk or buttermilk. The fowls will drink this, and the meat scrap may be omitted. The meat scrap is the most expensive element of the ration, costing about 314 cents per pound. Feeding buttermilk to hens is one of the most profitable uses that can be made of that by-product. Poultry keepers should feed oyster shells. These help to — form the eggshells. Analysis shows that the composition of the oyster shell and the eggshell is almost identical. The oyster shell dissolves rapidly enough to provide the calcium carbonate. Grit must also be fed, though many people think that either one is enough. Grit is a granite or any material hard enough to grind the food. Coarse sand or gravel is used by many poultry raisers, but the round particles in the sand or gravel are not sharp enough to grind; the prepared chicken grit or ground granite is much more satisfactory. In addition, the chickens should have some kind of suc- culent feed. That may be apple parings, potato par- ings, cabbage, beets, ete. Sprouted oats are now be- POULTRY 205 coming one of the most popular feeds, because they can be grown easily in the winter in any basement where they will not freeze. A very good substitute is finely cut alfalfa or clover hay on which warm water is poured and allowed to steep over night. Much emphasis must be placed upon the water. We learn what should be fed fowls by the composition of the egg. The hen is not a wizard and can not make a product of materials which do not contain all the constituents of the product. Over 65 per cent of the egg is water. If she does not get her liquid either in water or milk (when we give buttermilk she gets both water and protein), the hen can not manufacture eggs. She must have a constant supply of liquid. Few people give the chickens enough to drink, particularly the laying hens. Hens will consume much more water when they are laying. This same indication may be seen in the oyster shells. They will not touch the shell until they are ready to begin laying. And since water or milk is one of the best earriers of disease germs, it is neces- sary to make sure that the drinking vessels are kept clean, and that the liquid put in them is clean and pure. In warm weather it should be kept in the shade. Essentials of a good poultry house. The order in which the essentials are mentioned does not mean that one is more important than the other; they are all necessary. 1. Freedom from dampness. 2. Freedom from draughts (no cross draughts). 3. Excellent ventilation. 206 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 4, Cheerful surroundings; plenty of light. 5. Room and convenience. Without all of these five conditions, one can not have a good poultry house. FIG. 32. A GOOD POULTRY HOUSE The necessity of housing chickens in cold weather. The best results in the production of winter eggs—which is really the profitable side of poultry keeping—are obtained by keep- ing the chickens housed from the time cold weather starts in the fall until spring comes. The fowls should not touch their feet on the ground out-of-doors during the winter months. For breeding flocks it is desirable to give a little more opportunity for exercise. If you are trying to breed, do not plan to get winter eggs at all. In this case egg produc- tion should not begin until you are ready to set the eggs. Most people, however, are interested in getting winter ees. School poultry. In the school work of hatching and rearing young chickens, either the incubator or the hen may POULTRY 207 be used, preferably both, wherever a school equipment will permit it. One should not attempt to use an incubator in connection with any school unless there is a basement in which it may be kept safely and under fairly good conditions. Descriptions and illustrations of ideal hen houses for keep- ing young chickens, the brood coops, ete., will be furnished by the state experiment stations. The children in the coun- — try school can easily make the coops and use them in egg- laying contests. In these contests each pupil sets a hen in one of these coops. A prize is given to the pupil who raises the largest number of chickens; another to the pupil who raises the greatest number of pounds of chicken; another to the owner of the chickens that score the highest, ete. Some sanitary measures in the prevention of diseases among poultry. Common poultry ailments can be divided into three classes: (a) Those that affect the respiratory organs. (b) Those that affect the digestive organs. (ec) The parasites. | The kind of poultry house described on a preceding page is the best preventative for the first class of diseases. The most serious disease among poultry is roup, which is a catar- rhal cold resulting from secretions of the head, from which the chicken can not free itself and which become putrid and poison the system. CHAPTER XIV THE BUSINESS OF FARMING The farmer a business man. Farming must be considered not only as a productive industry, but as a business and a mode of life. In the early days of farm life the tarmer raised about everything his family needed. The village store supplied his extra needs, and a few dollars a year sufficed to meet all expenses. With the improved methods of agriculture now coming thick and fast, the farmer needs more money. He must produce more, buy more, and sell more. All these changes demand that the successful farmer be a business man. He must organize the farm, as do busi- ness men of other large lines, into a successful business enterprise. The average land owner of the Middle West has as large an investment as the city business man. Suc- cessful business men are not easily made. There seems to be a certain native business sense born with some men,— yet a business training in the principles and methods of good business helps to make the farmer a better manager, as much so as such training contributes to success in other business careers. Common sense business ability combined 214 > ae THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 215 with experience, scientific knowledge of plant and animal production, manual and mechanical skill, and hard work are the requirements for a successful farmer. The farmer’s labor income. Labor incomes of farmers are not usually large, but they are measures of the farm’s efficiency. Studies have been made of farm incomes over various parts of the country, and in the best regions the farmer’s labor income rarely averages over $600. Besides this, the farmer makes interest on his capital, and has a house and farm products in addition. Some thoughts for the farm boy. Of course not every farm boy should choose farming as a vocation, but every boy should think twice before deciding to leave the farm. The farm boy has a good training for agriculture, and many a city youth envies this opportunity to choose an agricultural eareer. High salaries paid in cities are misleading, and, when the cost of living is taken into account, the salaries often dwindle to low figures. Farming is not easy work, but it assures a competence, a freedom from economic disturb- ances, a healthful life, and an opportunity to enjoy all that is best in the world. If one is to be a farmer of the twen- tieth century, he should prepare for the business. An agri- eultural education given in a good four-year high-school course or in a good agricultural college is desirable in pre- paring a young man for the business of farming as it will be carried on in the next decade. Some problems in farm management. It is not the pur- pose of this brief course to teach much about farm business. Merely to introduce the student to some of the problems 216 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE of farm management should give ideas of the importance and of the value of the business side of farming, and lead to a further study in more specialized courses. (a) The first large problem is the type of agriculture to earry on, for this will determine the capital, labor, equip- ment, and land investment. Shall the type be general farm- ing, live-stock farming, grain farming, fruit farming, truck farming, or the more specialized types such as hog raising, wheat farming, apple growing, poultry raising, ete.? Cli- mate, soil, topography, transportation, markets, capital, labor supply, and the personal desires of the farmer will all be factors in making a choice. (b) A second large problem is whether the farmer shall do intensive farming on fewer acres and permanently main- tain his soil fertility, or whether he shall do extensive farm- ing,—mining the soil’s fertility to get the largest crop pos- sible from as large an acreage as possible, with no considera- tion for the permanency of the soil’s fertility. This often becomes a real problem to the man trying to pay off a mortgage on a large farm in a few years. (ce) The rotation of crops to utilize the maximum of land yielding profitable crops each year, and still to maintain the fertility of the soil, is a practical problem constantly before the farmer. (d) The amount and kind of live stock to keep is a prob- lem in most farm business. Whether to sell the grain and hay or to feed it to live stock, how much feed it will take, whether to buy feeders, or to raise one’s own stock, are live questions in farm management. THE BUSINESS OF FARMING ZT (e) The balancing of rations, the maintenance of feeding standards, the keeping of records of animal achievement and production, the cost of feed stuffs, the housing and general eare of: animals, the improvement of breeds, are all problems of live-stock farming. (f{) The amount of capital to invest in farm buildings and machinery in order to have both convenience and comfort as well as profitable money returns is another question. (g) The employment of sufficient reliable labor when needed is a difficult farm problem. Whether to plan for spe- cial or steady Jabor, how best to utilize the labor, what to pay, ete., are labor problems constantly recurring on the farm. (h) The lay-out of the farm and the arrangement of lots, fields, and buildings is a problem of no small concern. Upon the proper lay-out depends much of the economy in labor, equipment, and time in operation, as well as the gen- eral beauty of the farm’s appearance. (i) The general question of keeping books connected with the buying and selling as well as with the records of crops and animals, is a problem too often neglected by the busy farmer, who should employ better business methods. Marketing. The marketing of farm products is as much a part of the business of farming as the production of the erops. It is not altogether an individual problem to find a successful market, but often a community or public ques- tion. If products are stored or held for higher prices, al- lowance must be made for cost of handling, insurance, shrink- age, ete. In most cases, wherever it is feasible, it pays to 218 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE hold products for the month when the market prices of the products are the highest. The United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., sends free on re- quest the Crop Reporter, and this publication is of great value in all marketing of farm products. The question of marketing is how to sell,—whether to sell direct to the con- sumer or to commission men and distributing agencies. Direct marketing of farm products is likely to develop only through cooperation and farm organization. When farmers and con- sumers are properly organized, direct buying and selling can be carried on and some of the unnecessary costs of handling eliminated. Express companies and the parcel-post system are doing effective leadership in some localities in bringing producers and consumers together in retail marketing. Grain elevator companies and large truck and fruit farmers have solved some of the problems of marketing by pooling their interests together and selling through their own paid agents. Products should never be sent to an unknown commission man. Whatever the system of marketing may be, certain principles should always be observed in making the selling of farm products a success. The goods should be honestly sraded, measured, and labeled. The products to be sold in small quantities should be put up in clean, neat, and attractive packages, and a reputation should be established for the sale of first-class plant or animal products. When these principles are followed, the market seeks out the farmer, and his suc- cess is more certain. Farm records and accounts. Every farmer keeps some simple account of his business, if it is nothing more than THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 219 keeping track of who owes him and whom he cwes. It becomes a simple matter of arithmetic to keep books, record- ing debits and eredits. Men in the more up-to-date business of farming are doing more than mere bookkeeping; they are keeping careful cost accounts and other records for the pur- pose of learning how to conduct the business more efficiently. Every farmer can make some estimate of costs and what things are paying him. There are many kinds of records that are desirable on farms, such as milk records of indi- vidual cows, feeding records, breeding records, crop yields. weather records, orchard records, drainage maps, perform- ance records of animals, ete. In all simple bookkeeping use the left hand page of the book for debits, and the right hand page for eredits. Enter on the left hand page cash | Enter on the right hand page paid by you to the account, cash paid to you by the ac- goods sold by you, work done count, goods delivered to you, by you, or any item for which or any items for which you you are not paid. must pay. The following are some examples of accounts and records advisable in farm business. 1. A personal account with a hired man. Harry Farrington Commenced work April 1, 1915—at $50 a month eee ee CAR oo ss ace ss 3 $10.00, May 1 One month’s work, sd 0 2 1 ne 40.00 IPPREUE, okt te ier tea ge $50.00 So PSE EL re 8.50| Junel One month’s work, ee 2 oo rrr 20.00: EIS Sel ane seer ack 50.00 | 220 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE An annual inventory should be taken of the farm each year. Early'in the spring is usually the best time to do this. Such an inventory should list and give amounts and values of every detail of value about the farm. If the values are kept in columns so that the same page may be used for sev- eral years without having to rewrite the items, the taking of the annual inventory becomes a simple matter. The keep- ing of receipts and expenses is of considerable help in the farm business. It is a good practice for boys and girls to keep lists of receipts and expenses and thus form habits of thrift and economy. Moreover, because farmers do not keep accounts of expenses and receipts from their various enter- prises they simply go on guessing as to what is most profit- able from year to year. 2. An account with a potato crop. (Taken from War- ren’s Farm Management.) Potatoes—1911—14 acres—(Lefthznd page) May 20+ Manure 30° T: at $8500. oc) tac ee ie Cee $ 45.00 “ 23 €6-oz. Corrosive. Sublimate. 2. 2.3.70... 42s eee .60 June 1 4 oz. =A Aa) SRL ADS eee Baleares hea eteiea ies oe ea .30 oe 2-16 bs Paris “Greed... (36 ..peseee Peer ees, - 1.32 July 13 Seed Potatees—i160 bu.-at 45¢: .2.22...7.2..5 225 72.00 33 “V5 ih,’ Arsenate of lead...) ae oe eee 6.75 a) ns ..0 os a CHAPTER XVIII FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM THE ORCHARD The home orchard. Every man who owns a home in the country owes it to his family to have an orchard. Fruit is a popular and healthful food, and every farm should provide it, both for the summer table and the winter cellar. ‘‘The farm without its fruit orchard is like pancakes with- out maple syrup—possible, but not enjoyable.’’ The farm orchard should supply the family and friends with the cheap- est and most enjoyable fruit the year through, as well as with many dainty dishes the housewife knows so well how to prepare. a The farm orchard, besides providing wholesome food for the family, adds to the landscape beauty of the home grounds. The blossoming of the orchard in springtime, the rich green foliage of the summer, the ripened fruit of autumn, and the snow-covered branches of winter give to the old farmstead a perennial beauty which every country-bred boy and girl will learn to appreciate. In addition to furnishing these delights, the home orchard, unless the markets be over-stocked, may be a source of profit as well. It is not the purpose of these lessons, however, to advise 259 260 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE or teach commercial fruit growing. We are justified in eall- ing attention to the farm home orchard and in teaching every boy and girl in the schools how to select, set out, and care for an orchard, in order that every farm home may have its fruit supply. Unless the farm has a fruit orchard and a good garden, the country people are not likely to be well fed. The boys and girls growing up on a farm without its orchards and gardens are likely to grow discontented with the dull monotony of the food, work, and scenery of the old home and leave, to their own and to the farm’s detriment. General topics concerning the farm orchard. In order to have a successful home orchard the farmer must know how to care for it. He should know how to select the best site for his orchard, the trees best suited to his locality, how to set them out properly, how to prune, trim, and graft, and how to protect them from diseases and insect enemies. The fruit orchard will not ‘‘live by faith alone.’’ Watchful, in- telligent care and considerable work are required to maintain a farm orchard in first-class condition. While this is true, there are few things that bring better returns or give greater satisfaction for the labor bestowed. SELECTING THE TREES Varieties. The commercial orchardists seldom plant more than four or five varieties best adapted to their location and markets, but the farmer requires many varieties to supply the demands for fruit throughout the year. Early summer, late summer, early fall and winter, late winter and early FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 261 spring fruit, are all necessary for his table. There are hun- dreds of varieties from which to choose, but those varieties adapted to soil and climatic conditions should be selected. The trees grown successfuly in the community will indicate to the buyer what varieties are suitable. The personal tastes of the owner and his family will also guide in the selection of varieties, A few of the standard varieties of fruit for the family orchards of the Middle West may be mentioned as follows: APPLES. Summer Varieties——Red Astrachan, Yellow Transparent, Early Harvest, Duchess of Oldenburg, Red June. Fall Varieties.—Wealthy, Maiden’s Blush, Fameuse, Grimes, Jona- than. Winter Varieties —Rome Beauty, Wine Sap, Salome, York Imper- ial, Willow, Stayman, etc. PEACHES. Elberta, Champion, Crawfords Early, Crawfords Late, Heath Cling, Carman. CHERRIES. Early Richmond, Montmorency, Dyehouse, English Mor- ello, Tartarian. Pears. Kieffer, Flemish Beauty, Bartlett, Howell, Lincoln. Piums. Burbank, Damson, Desota, Wild Goose, Abundance, Sur- prise. GRAPES. Moore’s Diamond, Niagara (white), Concord, Worden (black), Woodruff, Brighton (red). Selecting the young trees. Muclf valuable advice is given upon buying at the nursery grounds, from nearby nurseries, and from carefully inspected stpck, but the practical thing for the farmer to do is to order such varieties as he may decide upon from a thoroughly reliable and reputable nursery- man, and the chances are that he will get better stock than he would if he selected the trees himself. The good nursery- 262 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE man will know that the young trees should not be dug until the leaves have nearly all fallen, for this means that the buds are well ripened and that the wood is hard and mature. Age of trees. Whether it is better to buy straight whips one-year-old or more expensive two-year-old apple trees on which the main branches are already started, is an unsettled question. Professor Alderman, Horticulturist of the College of Agriculture of West Virginia, writes on the subject as_ follows: ‘‘The advantages in favor of the smaller trees are: first, cheapness ; second, small root systems which will require only a small hole at planting time; third, the head may be formed at any height to suit the grower’s fancy; fourth, the root systems receive less injury in digging than do those of larger trees. ‘‘The advantages of the two-year-olds are: first, trees with well-formed heads may be selected, thereby insuring uniform and symmetrical orchard trees; second, they will probably reach bearing size a year sooner than a one-year-old tree; third, it is easier to detect crown gall or hairy root upon them than upon yearlings. ‘Between the first-class trees of both ages the two-year-old are the more desirable. It is, however, sometimes difficult to get good two-year-old trees because the nursery block has been sorted over the previous year and the best trees sold as yearlings. Between a first-class yearling and‘a second grade two-year-old, the younger tree would undoubtedly be the better. Never buy three or four-year-old trees, because these are the culls of previous years which were so weak and small FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 263 that they had to be grown the extra season or two in order to bring them to a marketable size.”’ PLANTING THE TREES The orchard site. Before planting the fruit trees, it is evident that an orchard site must be determined upon. The foremost orchard fruit to be considered is, of course, the ‘apple, which, in common with such other fruit as the farmer is likely to produce, requires a deep, well drained soil. Neither apples nor stone fruit will thrive in damp soil. Therefore a site should be selected for the orchard that is rich in plant-food, with good natural drainage, and as con- veniently located with reference to the dwelling as possible. A gently sloping side hill is preferab!e, and, if it is a little stony, so much the better. It may not be tilled so easily, but the fruit will grow better. On hillside orchard sites there is good air drainage; that is, the cooler air settles to the bot- tom of the hill and the warmer air rises toward the top. This often prevents frost on the higher slopes. Laying out the orchard. The ordinary apple tree when | full grown requires 35 to 40 feet between rows. The trees may be set in squares or in triangles. From 25 to 40 trees may be planted to the acre, depending upon the distance apart and the method of laying out. Planting the trees. Fruit trees may be planted either in October or April. There has been much discussion as to the proper way to prune and set the young tree. Some hold that all the tops and roots should be maintained and that the tree should be set in the same direction it formerly occupied with 264 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE reference to the points of the compass. Others say that all the branches should be cut off clean and most of the stalk also, as well as all of the roots. Common sense would suggest a middle ground. The head of the young two-year-old tree should be cut back so that three or four side limbs are left and these pruned to three or four buds. A central limb should be left upon which to form a new set of scaffolding limbs for the next season. ‘These side branches become the scaffolds upon which the future top is formed. The roots should be pruned to six or eight inches, and all broken or injured parts removed. If the orchard site has been put in good tilth and furrows opened up with the plow, little hand digging will be neces- sary. If the soil, especially the subsoil, is hard and compact, it will be necessary to loosen it up by digging a hole somewhat larger than is necessary to hold the roots of the tree. If the ground for the orchard has not or can not be plowed, ho!es from three to four feet in diameter and from one to two feet deep should be dug where the young trees are to be set. The holes should then be filled with good soil, and the young trees planted slightly deeper than they were growing in the nursery row. One of the main principles to observe especially in planting the tree is to have the earth well firmed about all the roots, leaving no air spaces. The ground about the trees should be mulched with soil and well rotted manure for winter protection, and the trunks of the little trees covered with common window screening or some other shield to pro- tect them from mice and rabbits. No grass should be allowed to grow about the young fruit trees. FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 265 CARE OF THE YOUNG TREES Pruning the young trees. In the paragraph on planting trees in the preceding lesson, the proper method of pruning the young apple tree was suggested. This pruning should be done in the spring before the leaves start their growth, whether the young trees were set in the fall or spring. The purpose of the first pruning is to restore the balance between root and top, to establish the growth near the trunk of the tree or stronger supporting scaffolds, and to form the proper height of the head. Formerly it was the practice to start the first limbs of the tree four or five feet from the ground. Today good orchardists of the East and Middle West head their trees from one to two feet from the ground. The ad- vantages of low heading are as follows: (1) Being close to the-ground the trees do not suffer as much from the action of the wind. (2) The low branches help to prevent sun-seald by shading the trunk. (3) The branches shade the eround about the tree and retard the escape of moisture. (4) Prun- ing, spraying, thinning, picking, ete., are carried on more easily. (5) There is less loss of fruit from windfalls. Subsequent pruning in building the tree. The next sea- son after setting and pruning a two-year-old tree, two or more branches will have grown from each scaffold branch left. Growth starting toward the center of the tree should be pinched off, and two or three of the year’s branches should be cut back from one-third to one-half and left to form the supports for next season’s growth. The central leader and its branches should be pruned as was suggested for the two- 266 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE year-old tree first set out. Continue this system of building scaffold upon scaffold of limbs around a central leader until three or four sets of limbs are formed, then the subsequent pruning should consist in removing superfluous branches, those which tend to grow crosswise, and in heading back branches which are making too great a growth. Much of the necessary training of a tree can be done during the early summer by pinching off the growths which later would neces- sitate heavier pruning. A moderate pruning each season is better than no pruning for two or three years followed by a heavy one which disturbs the equilibrium and starts a growth of water sprouts. | | , Winter protection of young trees. Sudden and extreme changes in temperature occurring during the winter often cause an injury to the bark of young trees known as sun- seald. The wind often blows the trees about to such an extent that a hole is formed in the ground about the base of the tree, in which water may stand and freeze with dis- astrous results in some eases. Mice, rabbits, and woodchucks cause annual and serious depredations to thousands of young fruit trees over the country. In order to prevent losses from such causes as are men- tioned above, the young trees for several years after planting should be pratected by mounding and wrapping in the fall. Details of this work can not be given here, but good judg- ment and constant vigilance will guide the orchardist in his efforts to save young trees. Cultivating the young orchard. The following systems FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 267 of orchard cultivation are used by fruit growers: sod culture, sod mulch, the mulch system, partial cultivation, and clean cultivation with cover crops. Sod culture is least desirable of all for young orchards, for trees do not make proper growth and are much more likely to suffer from rodent and borer injuries. Sod mulch consists in cutting the grass and leaving it under the trees. It is a little better than the first unless a good growth of grass is provided. The mulch system con- sists in piling about the trees any organic matter, such as manure, straw, weeds, ete., which will rot down. If a con- siderable amount is used, and it is not piled close up to the trunk, this system-is very good. In partial cultivation the trees are set in plowed strips and the balance of the space left in sod. Clean cultivation with cover crops is without doubt the best one for the orchardist to follow. By this sys- tem the young orchard is plowed or harrowed, and a soil mulch maintained by harrowing at intervals of ten days or two weeks until the cover crop is sown. Cultivation should usually cease about the middle of July, and a cover crop of cow-peas, soy beans, clovers, or even rye may be sown. Young trees make their wood growth during the period of cultivation, and the cover crop coming on later hastens the maturity of the wood and mulches the ground as a winter protection. When this is plowed under the next spring, the physical condition of the soil is improved and elements of fertility added and made available for the young fruit trees. It should be understood that the main purposes in cultivation are to keep the soil loose, to conserve moisture near the sur- face, and to facilitate fertilization. 268 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE RENOVATION OF OLD ORCHARDS Pruning old trees. It is interesting and proper to buy and set out young fruit trees and to care for them properly, but it is well to look to the old apple trees and peach trees on the farm. These old trees perhaps have done good service to our fathers and mothers, and are now being shamefully FIG. 35. A WELL TRIMMED APPLE TREE neglected, though they still try to renew their life with each coming season. Let us turn to these old trees with the same skill and labor which we are willing to bestow upon young trees, and they will repay us by abundant yields before our young trees have blossomed. The first step in the rejuvenation of an old orchard is to cut down the tops of the old trees from one-third to one- half. The guiding principle in this rather severe operation FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 269 is to cut always just above a live limb, leaving no stub to die, and to paint over the cut surface with white lead, creosote, or any paint solution, to prevent decay. The dead and dying branches should be removed and all such branches should be cut close to the main stem from which they arise. All branches running crosswise or toward the center of the tree should be removed. The rough bark should be scraped off the trunks, and the old fashioned practice of white-washing or soap-suds-washing the trunk is not a bad one. FIG. 36. SPRAYING LARGE TREES After such a severe pruning as recommended above, the new life of the tree will manifest itself in a vigorous growth of water sprouts in various places over the tree. Most of these water sprouts should be cut away the next season, except a few which should be left and pruned back to form 270 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE new branches. This method is especially successful with old peach trees. Spraying the orchard. Perhaps the next step in the re- juvenation of the old orchard is to spray. Before the leaf and fruit buds open in the spring, the trees should be sprayed with a commercial lime-sulphur solution, diluted one gallon to nine or ten of water. This spray is effective against San Jose scale, apple scab, and several other fungous diseases living over the winter on the limbs and twigs of the trees. As soon as the apple blossoms fall, the next spraying should be given. This consists of a fungicide and insecticide com- bined, commercial lime-sulphur, one and one-half gallons di- luted to 50 gallons with water, to which is added two pounds of lead arsenate in solution. This spray is used to combat fruit scab, blotch, leaf rusts and other diseases, as well as the eodliing moth and other chewing insects such as the canker worm, tent caterpillar, curculios, ete. The lead arsenate is the insecticide, and the lime-sulphur the fungicide. If this spraying is done thoroughly, it may not be necessary to spray again that season in order to secure a good crop of fruit. It is often advisable, however, to repeat the second spraying in three or four weeks, and again about the last of July to combat the second brood of codling moth. An ordinary fifty- gallon barrel spray pump for the farm home orchard will do the work well. Cultivating and fertilizing the orchard. If the soil in the old orchard is poor and has not been cultivated for many years, a top-dressing of stable manure and lime worked into the soil will help to renew it. Many old orchards have been ——_ a2 ee SS lL eee ee FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM ya Gi successfully rejuvenated by dynamiting the ground about the old trees. If it is not practical to do this, the next best method is to use the mulch system: cut all grass, hay, weeds, ete., and pile with strawy manure under the limbs of the trees. This will help to retain the moisture and, by its decay, fertilize the soil. Top-working the old orchard. Often the old apple trees are not of a very good variety, or there are not enough varieties to serve the best home uses. It is then possible to graft upon the tops of these old trees scions from the desired FIG. 37. A. WAXING THE STUB varieties. The stock upon which the graft is to be made may be from one-half to an inch and a half in diameter. This stock should be cut clean and squarely across and a cleft made down the stub to hold the scions. Scions from one- year-old branches on bearing trees of the desired variety 272, A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE should be cut for graft. Two scions, each containing three buds, should be placed with the cambium layers in contact in the cleft of the stock, and the whole exposed cut surface then covered with grafting wax. FIG. 37. B. TIPPING THE GRAFT WITH WAX ‘If both grafts grow, one may be removed to allow room for the other. TYPeEs oF F'RuUIT Tree fruits. The common farm orchard tree fruits belong to two classes: the pomaceous fruits, including the apple, pear, quince, etc., and the drupaceous or stone fruits, includ- ing the peach, plum, cherry, ete. The pome fruits contain several seeds encased in parchment-like cells in a central core. The drupe fruits contain a single seed in a single stony pit, all within the edible pulp of the fruit. The leafy parts of the flower of the pome types are borne upon the fruit. In the drupe types they are borne on the flower stem below the fruit. Horticulturists note other differences between these FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 273 two types, but these are sufficient for our purposes in school. The apple. The apple is the most important American fruit. It may be obtained fresh and ripe throughout. the whole year. The apple tree is one of the longest lived and FIG. 37. C. THE OPERATION WAS SUCCESSFUL largest of our fruit trees. It will begin bearing about the fifth year of its age, and if properly cared for will bear for nearly a century. It is grown in almost every part of the United States. Great improvement has been made in develop- ing new and excellent varieties of apples since the day when all apples were small, worthless sour crabs. The peach. The peach is one of our most delicious fruits. 274. A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE The peach tree begins to bear when three or four years of age, and will bear for many years if properly cared for. The peach is not so hardy as the apple and succeeds well only in certain localities. Wherever the winter is not too cold for the trees, however, every farmer should grow peach trees enough to provide fruit for the family. The fruit of the peach is grown upon the shoots that grew the season before, while that of the apple is grown on spurs two or more years old. CoMMON ORCHARD PESTS Insect pests. Orchard trees need constant protection against harmful insects and fungous diseases. Special knowl- edge of each insect and of each kind of fruit is needed to combat successfully these pests. The best protection against orchard pests is given by spraying the trees with water con- taining some substance that destroys the pest without injur- ing the trees. The subject of spraying was discussed briefly in a former paragraph. Insects injure fruit trees in three ways: by eating the foliage, by sucking the juice from the tree, and by boring into the fruit or body of the tree. The loss of our fruit each year, due to insects and diseases, runs far into millions of dollars. | Codling moth. The great arch enemy of the apple is the eodling moth. The caterpillar form of this moth lives in the apple and is commonly known as the apple worm. The moth lays its eggs on the foliage in the spring a week or two after the blossoms fall, and the eggs hatch into the apple worms, which usually enter the fruit at the blossom end. The cod- Vee 592" to FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 275 ling moth has two generations in a season, and when the worm or larva of the second generation leaves the apple, it hides for the winter in a silken cocoon, usually under the seale of the bark of the apple tree. The moth emerges from this cocoon the next spring soon after the blossoms drop. If you should look behind the loose bark of the apple tree now, you would probably find the silken cocoons of the apple worm. Woodpeckers and nuthatches find these cocoons and destroy them in great numbers. These birds should never be killed, as they are doing a good work in destroying the worms that would otherwise spoil many apples. Curculio. Apples, plums, and cherries are often injured by an insect called the curculio. This insect punctures the skin of the fruit and lays its eggs in it. The eggs hatch into grubs that live until they are full grown. . This causes the fruit to be ‘‘wormy’’ and to drop before ripening. San Jose scale. The common enemy of all fruit trees is the San Jose scale. About all the structure the insect has is a long beak and a big stomach. It is entirely covered with a waxy scale, giving the branch upon which great numbers collect an ashy color. The scale insects suck the sap from the living bark and cause the tree to die. There are four or five broods in a season, and the young scales live dormant through the winter. The oyster-shell scale is common on the apple and peach tree, but, having only one generation in a season, the injury done by it is not so serious. Yellows. The peach is subject to a disease called ‘‘yel- lows.’’ This disease has entirely destroyed whole orchards of trees. No remedy is known for it but to dig out and burn 276 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE the affected trees. The flesh of peaches having this disease is usually marked by red lines or splashes beneath reddish spots on the surface of the fruit. Fruits showing these char- acteristics usually ripen prematurely. A second symptom, or the first in trees not bearing fruit, is the short tip growth of narrow, stiff, yellowish leaves nearly at right angles to the stem. In the final stage of the disease there is a small slender growth of all new wood, and a profusion of branchy erowths in the center of the tree. Fungous diseases. Evidences of fungous diseases may be seen in every orchard. There is the brown rot of the peach, and the bitter rot of the apple; the apple scab and blotch, dark brown or black splotches on the fruit; rusts, yellowish spots on the leaves; blight of the foliage of the apple and pear, in which the foliage appears burned; the black knot of the plum, hard, woody black knots on the twigs; the mildew of the grape, a powdery mould on the leaves; and the eankers of the branches, dead, sunken spots on the bark and sap- wood of the trunk or branches. The practical way to com- bat these diseases in the fall of the year is to cut away and destroy all diseased parts and mummied fruit, for through them the spores will spread to infect the next season’s fruit. Bordeaux Mixture and lime-sulphur are the sprays for such diseases. PACKING AND STORING FRUIT In the business of fruit growing the orchardist is con- cerned with the picking, packing, storing, and marketing of the fruit, but the boys and girls who study these lessons will FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM PAT Oe be interested only in the operations of picking and storing the fruits on the farm. Picking fruit. It is too often the practice on the farm to pick the apples from the ground after they have been knocked or shaken from the tree. No wonder the fruit gath- ered and stored by such methods fails to keep for any length of time. Where the fruit is bruised or the skin broken, the spores of the rot are sure to enter and cause the fruit to decay. All fruit to be stored or marketed should be hand- picked and carefully handled to prevent bruises and the consequent early decay. In the ease of apples, it is gener- ally best to pick them just as they have reached their full size and when they have attained their full color. The best time to pick a pear is just as soon as it reaches its full size and before it has begun to color. The pear may be taken in one hand and turned up, and if the stem snaps off from the spur the fruit is ripe enough to pick. A peach is ripe enough to pick when it is full grown and has reached its characteristic eolor. In the case of cherries and plums, the fruit should be picked just before it has reached the best edible condition. How to pick the tree fruits. In picking the tree fruits it is best to use a basket fastened to the body of the picker in some way so that he may have the free use of both hands. The basket may be hung upon the ladder or the limbs by a ~vire hook, if the fruit does not have to be dropped too far to reach it. If the baskets are lined on the inside with thick eloth or burlap, they will be better for the purpose and save many bruises to the fruit. In picking apples it is nearly always essential to have long and light ladders with peaked 278 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE tops, which can be run up into the tops of the trees and rest against the branches. In orchards where trees are prop- erly pruned a step-ladder is often all that will be required. Handling the fruit. After fruit is picked it is very im- portant that it should be kept cool and away from direct sun. Apples ripen very rapidly in the pile if they are exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The best results are obtained when apples are taken directly from the trees to a cool room and then kept in storage, where the ripening proc- ess is checked. When tree fruits are to be sold on the mar- kets, they are usually sorted into three classes: first grade, second grade, and culls. First-grade apples are carefully placed in bushel boxes or in barrels, according to some system of packing, such as is here shown in the illustration, and sold on the markets of the world. In this lesson, however, we are concerned only with the storing of fruit in the home eellar, and not with commercial packing and storing. Home storage of fruit. The home storage is generally a cellar, a half-cellar, or a building entirely above ground. An ordinary house cellar, if it has good ventilation and is not too dry, or too wet, or too warm, answers very well for the storage of fruit. It is best, however, both for the purpose of storage and for health, that the fruit cellar should be separate from the dwelling house. The requisites of a good storage cellar are: protection from frost, uniform temperature at about 40 degrees, facili- ties for ventilation, and air moist enough to prevent evapora- tion. In cellars which are too dry the fruit should be left in closed packages, but if the air is moist and the temperature FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 279 low, the fruit may be packed in shallow racks or trays. It is well to go through the fruit package several times and sort out the over-ripe or decayed specimens, or they will rot and spread contamination to the rest of the package. The fruit stored in the home cellar will keep much longer and in better condition if each apple is wrapped in paper of some kind. NOTEBOOK QUESTIONS 1. Give three reasons why a farmer should have an orchard and take good care of it. 2. List three good varieties each of apples ripening in early summer, early autumn, and for winter storage. 3. What conditions in young nursery stock should be in- spected carefully before the trees are planted? 4. What are factors determining the location of the or- chard ? 5. How should the ground be prepared for the trees? 6. What conditions should receive special care in planting young trees? 7. Name three purposes in pruning young trees. 8. Why should a young orchard be cultivated? 9. How may an old orchard be revived and made profit- able ? 10. What are the sprays used and when applied for San Jose scale, codling moth, fruit scab, and rot? PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND HomME PROJECTS Report on the home orchard. Let each pupil make a re- port on the home orchard according to the following out- line, and tabulate his observations. 280 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Name No. Age Amount General of Fruit | Condition Yielded | of Trees of Variety of Trees | of Trees Examining nursery stock. In time before this exercise the teacher should send to some nursery for a dozen or more yearling and two-year-old apple trees. These may possibly be obtained free for school purposes, or at a special price. Pupils should make note of at least six little trees as follows: Length | Age Root Condition Thriftiness System of Graft or Bud er ff Save the trees to plant for later studies. FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 281 Laying out a young orchard. Procure two lengths of com- mon fencing wire, each 35 feet long. Fasten rings three or four inches in diameter at the ends of each wire. Go to the school yard or adjacent field and lay out a small orchard plot,-as follows: Let two boys, one at each end of a wire, lay off a base line, six or seven lengths of the wire, driving stakes at each 35-foot point. Now let one boy hold one end of the wire over the first stake, a second boy hold one end of the second wire over the second stake, and a third boy hold the other ends of both wires, and where the ends of the wires meet a stake should be driven to locate the first tree in the second row to be planted. The boys should move down the base line, locating the trees in this triangular system in the second row, which becomes the base line for the third row, and so on until the orchard is laid out thus: O O O O O O Planting the trees. Jf the nursery stock has been pro- vided, as suggested in the last lesson, the young trees should be planted by the class in one part of the school yard not used for a playground. Observe all the principles discussed above in planting these trees. If the school grounds are not large enough for this purpose, arrangements may be made to have the pupils assist in planting some trees on a nearby farm. Pruning young trees. With specimens of young apple trees two or three years of age, either in the field or in the laboratory, practice pruning according to the principles dis- cussed in the foregoing paragraphs. Protecting young trees. Go with the class to a young orchard and let members of the class wrap the young tree- 282 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE trunks to protect them from winter injuries. Use cornstalks, building paper, wood veneering, window screening, or any eonvenient wrapping material. Pruning an old apple tree. Go with the class to an old orchard where the trees have been neglected and have grown tall and unshapely. Let one or two boys with pruning saws geo into the top of the tree and cut the limbs according to the teacher’s directions. Follow the principles discussed in preceding paragraphs, and prune one tree as a demonstra- tion. | Spraying demonstration. If the school does not have a spray pump, perhaps.it could be arranged in the community for a demonstration to be given for the benefit of the class at some home orchard. Mix and apply the spray in the presence of the class as described on page 270. Exercises in grafting. The pupils studying this lesson should either go to some tree and practice top-grafting, as suggested in the paragraph on grafting, or bring twigs of apple trees into the schoolroom and make the grafts. See various texts for full explanation of the cleft graft and of making grafting wax. Observational studies of fruits. Let each pupil have an apple and note the following points. Write out the descrip- 1. The blossom end and the stem end. 2. The depression at the blossom end is called the basin. 3. Color and markings. 4. Shape and size. 5. Nature of blemishes, if any. 6. Cut through the center of the apple across the core. How many seed cells are there? How are they arranged? How many seeds in each cell? Observe the parchment-like walls of the cell. 7. Make a drawing of a cross section of the apple. FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 283 8. Make a drawing of a vertical section of the apple. A good method of sketching the outline of the apple sec- tions is to mark with an indelible pencil on the edge of the cut surface of the apple, and then press the cut surface down on the paper. The outline of the apple will be clearly defined. Let each pupil examine a peach and compare its structure with that of the apple, noting the above points. Crack the stone of a peach and observe the kernel within. If practical, make similar studies of the plum, cherry, pear, and quince. Judging apples. If you have ever visited a county or state fair, you will remember seeing the display of plates of fine apples, bearing the blue or red ribbons to indicate first and second prizes. In a plate of first-class show apples all the fruit should be uniform in size, shape, color, and absolutely free from any kind of blemish. Unless fruit has been thinned, sprayed, properly picked and handled, it is not likely that first-class apples can be exhibited. _ Each pupil should bring a plate of four or five apples as nearly first-class as he can get. Arrange the plates of apples on a table before the class, and let each pupil score and mark all the plates of apples. Use the following score-card: OR ge Ten ee | Gs cts a kh ASS Points Noted Perfect | Pupil’s | Teacher’s Score Score Score Uniformity of exhibit........ - aan 20 OSS 6 ee ce Bree rn elie 15 MI scott ie Se ate aria nic iw wine ae ie sree 15 net ica io See RE Ua ee a a 15 Quality ee a ok iP a ia ey UD. wile dow, ea 15 Wreeaom from blemishes............. 20 284 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Orchard studies of insects and fungous diseases. If prac- tical let the teacher and the class go to an orchard and look for insects and fungous diseases. Look under the bark and in the crevices for codling moth larvae, and on young branches for San Jose scale. Examine fallen fruit for curculio stings and apple worms. Look for apple scab, apple rust, brown rot, black rot, and other diseases. Make note of all observa- tions and report in class for the next recitation. FIG. 38. PACKING FOR THE MARKET Reports of orchards of the community. Let each pupil select an apple orchard in the community and make a report based upon his study of the following points: (a) Size of the orchard. (b) Location, site, and topography. (ec) Number and varieties of trees. FRUIT GROWING ON THE FARM 285 (d) Planting plan. (e) Soil, and soil management. (f) Drainage. (g) Intereropping. (h) Fertilizers used. (i) Pruning done. (j) Orchard pests common. (k) Spraying done. (1) Estimated amount of fruit. (m) Disposition of the fruit. Decay in apples. Select three ripe apples of the same variety and of equal degree of ripeness and bring them before the class. Strike against the side of one so as to bruise the surface without breaking the skin. Bruise the second apple so that the skin is broken. Leave the third apple uninjured. Place the three apples away somewhere in the room where they will not be disturbed, and observe the results from day to day. Which apple decays first? Of what use is the skin of the apple? Note—It should be understood that lists of trees and shrubs to be planted in special localities not having the average conditions described for the central Middle West, should be secured from the experiment station of the state wherein the school is located. CHAPTER XIX THE HOME GARDEN VEGETABLE GARDENING Factors in locating the home garden. There are several important factors in locating the home garden. Convenience to the house is one of them. A southern or southeastern slope will give the best results with early vegetables. It should not be too steep, however, for the crops may then suffer from the drought and the heat of summer, and the land will be likely to wash. It is desirable to have lower ground below the garden in order to allow for air and water drainage. If the ground is not well drained naturally, it should, of course, be tile-drained. In a level country it would be well to pro- vide some protection in the way of trees or buildings on the northern side. These, however, should not be too close to the garden. The kind of soil is important. With most vege- tables sandy loam will give the best results. One should not despair, however, if he does not have the ideal soil, for most of the common vegetables adapt themselves to a wide range of soils. Where the slope of the site or the type of soil varies appreciably, one should plant the crops accordingly. For instance, sweet potatoes should be planted on the higher and drier places, and they do best in clay loam; watermelons like 286 THE HOME GARDEN 287 a sand ridge; cucumbers and celery prefer the low, damp ground. The mechanical preparation of the garden soil. The ideal garden soil preparation is to manure and plow the land in the fall. This practice will aid in rotting the manure and any other organic matter that might be turned under. It also helps to destroy injurious insects, diseases, and weeds, and to improve the physical texture of the soil. If the land is naturally loose, it need not be plowed again in the spring, especially for the early short-season crops. In such ease, disking or deep cultivation will be sufficient. If the earth is tight, or even in the ease of loose textured soil which has become much packed during the winter, it is bet- ter to plow again in the spring. The seed-bed. The best way to prepare a seed-bed is as follows: first, disk and harrow; then plow, disk, and har- row in order, until the ground is thoroughly pulverized and properly compacted. A drag should be used if necessary to convert the surface to a finely pulverized condition. In this connection the compacting of the soil should be empha- sized. Many people fail to work the soil sufficiently because they fear it will become packed. This is a mistake, as most plants need a somewhat compact soil in order to be able to gain a foothold. The above method will insure a fine pul- verization of the soil to the full depth of the plowing, and a sufficiently compact soil as well. Some vegetables can not be planted until May or June. In the ease of land to be devoted to such erops, a shallow mulch should be maintained. until planting time. This will 288 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE save the moisture and make the preparation of the soil much easier, a fact to be considered. Fertilizing the garden. For the vegetable garden manure is the best general fertilizer. It should be applied in the fall and turned under. If, however, it is applied in the spring, it should be well-rotted manure. Rotted manure is some- times used for top-dressing purposes for the growing crops. Lime should be used every few years, as the large amount of decaying organic matter in vegetable lands is constantly caus- ing the formation of acids in the soil. Crop refuse, unless affected with some serious disease or insect, should always be turned under in preference to removing or burning it. The garden is a good place to burn all trash that accumu- lates about the yard or farm. The ashes add both potassium and lime. Any organic matter that will rot easily and quickly should be plowed under, and leaves, branches, ete. should be burned. If manure is scarce, one can grow cow-peas, Soy beans, or rye to help keep up the supply of organic matter. Commercial fertilizers can often be used effectively in the garden. For nitrogen, sodium nitrate is usually the best form. It should be applied as a top dressing to the growing plants, using 80 to 100 pounds per acre, and applying at intervals of ten days to two weeks. The nitrate should be scattered about the plants, taking care that none gets on the leaves. It should be cultivated into the soil. It may also be spread broadeast before or during a rain. The number of applications will depend upon the length of the growing sea- son for the crop treated. In case of crops which. bear fruit, THE HOME GARDEN 289 it is not well to continue the applications of sodium nitrate too long, as it may stimulate vine growth at the expense of fruit production. Dried blood may also be used as a source of nitrogen. Nitrogen in dried blood is not so subject to loss by drainage waters as that in sodium nitrate. When this is employed, it may be applied in relatively large amounts at the beginning of the season. Steamed bone-meal is a good form of phosphorus for the vegetable garden, although the phosphorus may be supplied much more cheaply by using raw rock phosphate, providing it is applied two or three years in advance. The use of acid phosphate is more justifiable in vegetable growing where quick results are desired than in general farming, though it carries with it some acid. If lime is applied every two or three years, it will correct any acidity that may accumulate in the soil. Sulphate of potassium is a good form of potassium. This element, while abundant in most soils, will frequently cause added yields, especially in the case of root crops. Wood ashes are always good to use, and all the wood ashes which accumulate on the farm should be carefully stored away under cover so that no leaching will occur. Wood ashes will not give better results anywhere than in the vegetable gar- den. Coal ashes have no value as a fertilizer, though they can often be used effectively in helping to loosen a tight soil. Laying out the home garden. Upon the laying out of the garden will depend largely the ease of tending and the most profitable use of the land. The vegetables should be planted in long rows rather than in patches. If not enough y4910) A YHAH IN AGHICULLILURE of one vegetable is used to plant a whole row, two or three kinds may be grown in a single row. The planting should be started on one side of the garden and should proceed across it with the season. It is hard to work up the soil if patches are left between beds of growing vegetables. The coarser crops that are cultivated with horse tools should be grouped together as nearly as possible. The finer crops that are tended with wheel hoes should also be placed together. The tall growing and the low growing crops should be grouped with their kind, so far as conditions will permit. The vine crops should be planted together. Crops that are planted at the same time and which require about the same length of season to mature should be placed together. This will allow for the best use of the land for a second crop. The matter of succession should not be overlooked. Usually the suc- cession crops can be planted where other vegetables have been erown earlier in the season. The properly planned garden will not only be easy to tend, but will facilitate the produc- tion of crops throughout the growing season. Selecting varieties and getting good seed. The selection of the proper varieties is one of the most important features in vegetable gardening, because, no matter how well other factors may be attended to, they may come to naught if the wrong varieties are selected. It is always best to place the main dependence upon the standard and proved varieties. ‘‘Novelties’’? should be used for trial only until they have proved themselves, no matter how enticing they may appear in the seed catalogs. One should pay particular attention = oor rrcereorrrreeer eee THE HOME GARDEN 291 to selecting varieties that are adapted to the season in which they are grown; for instance, one would not want to use the same variety of sweet corn for the early crop that he would use for the main season crop. Seeds should be purchased from a reliable seedsman, one who expects to stay in the business and who has a reputation to maintain. Early season and late season plants. There is perhaps no feature in vegetable gardening regarding which more mis- takes are made than the time of planting the various crops. Most people do not realize that the thirty or forty common vegetables which anyone can name in a few minutes were brought here from all parts of the earth, and that we can succeed in growing them here by furnishing them somewhat similar conditions to those under which they originated and developed. Naturally, coming from many widely different climates, each crop has its special temperature and moisture requirements. We recognize this tendency by growing them during a time of the year best suited to their needs, and by planting them in moist or dry locations according to their preferences. Happily, the thirty or forty different vege- tables divide themselves into groups according to the tem- perature and moisture requirements, so that, instead of it being a problem of remembering thirty or forty different cultural methods, we may reduce the number to a very few by dividing the vegetables into groups. All vegetables may be divided into two general groups, cool-season and warm-season groups. The cool-season crops 292 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE are those which originated in temperate climates, and the warm-season erops are those which originated in the tropical and subtropical regions. Planting table. The following table takes into account the seasonal requirements of the various crops, and also indi- eates the varieties that should be planted at different times. There are other varieties which could, no doubt, be well added to this list, but those named can be depended upon in gen- eral to give satisfaction. By selecting the varieties named and planting them as nearly as possible at the times men- tioned, taking into consideration the latitude of the place in which they are grown, the various vegetables can be had at all times of the year when it is possible to grow them. PLANTING DATES AND VARIETIES RECOMMENDED FOR FARMERS’ VEGETABLE GARDENS IN ILLINOIS By C. E. Durst, Associate in Olericulture, University of Illinois Note—The times for planting named are especially adapted for central Illinois; in southern Illinois plant early crops from one to two weeks earlier in each case, and in northern Illinois about one week later. Planting Sete Varieties Suggested for Dates Illinois Planting Asparagus Palmetto. (Plant one year old roots in early spring.) _ Perennial |Rhubarb Victoria or Linnaeus. (Divide old roots Crops | and plant in early spring.) Winter Onions |Egyptian. (Replant the sets each year about September 1.) Ee — THE HOME GARDEN 293 SS :7:3000—0E=—O00—@®”—OwWw0T00@PooOoa0OOo D(X»: wWU:|:i ieee Planting Dates April1 ————- April 10 May 1 May 15 Crop Potatoes Peas Onion Sets Onion Seed Beets Turnips Carrots Parsnips Parsley Radishes Spinach Leaf Lettuce Head Lettuce Peas Cabbage Cauliflower '|Cabbage String Beans Sweet Corn Tomatoes Lima Beans Cucumber Summer Squash Winter Squash Watermelons Muskmelons Sweet Corn Radishes Varieties Suggested for Illinois Planting Early Ohio. Alaska (climbing), American Wonder (dwarf). Yellow Bottom. Southport Yellow Globe, Southport White Globe. Crosby’s Egyptian. Early Purple Top Milan. Chantenay or Half Long. Hollow Crown or Improved Guernsey. Double Curled. Karly Scarlet Turnip, White Strausburg. Victoria or Long Standing. Black Seeded Simpson. White Strausburg. May King. (Start plants in hotbed March 1.) American Wonder or Gradus (climbing). Early Jersey Wakefield or Copenhagen Market. (Start plants in hotbed March 1.) Burpee’s Dry Weather. (Start plants in hotbed March 1.) Early Summer. (Start plants in hotbed about March 15.) Davis White Wax, Stringless Green Pod. Golden Bantam, White Cob Cory, White Evergreen or Country Gentleman. Chalk’s Jewel, Stone, Bonnie Best. © (Start plants March 1 in hotbeds.) Henderson’s Bush, Lima. White Spine or Henderson’s Perfected. Fordhook, Giant Crookneck. Hubbard. Halbert Honey or Kleckley Sweet. Notted Gem, Hoodo, Osage, Rocky Ford. White Evergreen or Country Gentleman. Seed sowing. Fall Spinach 994 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Dates Crop Varieties Suggested for Planting Illinois Planting Eggplants New York Improved Purple. (Start plants in hotbed March 15.) Junel Pepper Chinese Giant, Red Cluster. String Beans Stringless Green Pod, Saddleback Wax. Sweet Potato Yellow Jersey. Sweet Corn White Evergreen or Country Gentleman. June 15 Late Potato Rural New Yorker. Late Cabbage Flat Dutch, Danish Ball Head. Cucumbers (For pickles.) White Spine. Celery Golden Self Blanching Giant Pascal. July 1 (Start plants in frames about April 1.) Beans Stringless Green Pod, Saddleback Wax. Sweet Corn White Evergreen or Country Gentleman. July 25 Turnips Red Top Strap Leaf. Beans Stringless Green Pod, Saddleback Wax. August 15 Winter Radish {Chinese White, Long Black Spanish. Dwarf Siberian. The importance of planting good seed can hardly be overestimated. Upon the selection of the seed often depends the success or failure of the crop. The most impor- tant factors determining the quality of the seed are life and adherence to name and type. Good seed is expected to be reasonably free from weed seeds and dirt, but the grower should be sure his seed is clean before planting it. The best practice is to plant fresh seeds, preferably not more than one year old. Seeds should be stored in tight bags in cool, dry places. Successful seed sowing requires a thoroughly prepared seed-bed. The more thorough the preparation of the seed-bed, the less work is required to keep the ground in THE HOME GARDEN 295 condition during the growing season. In the home garden the seeds are usually planted by hand by dropping them in the hills or furrows previously prepared. After planting, the soil should be firmed by pressing it down with the back of the hoe. For the best and quickest results, seed should be planted in freshly prepared ground. Advisability of the hotbed. Hotbeds are practically indis- pensable in the making of a good vegetable garden. Their greatest use is in starting plants for outdoor crops. By their help one can have earlier crops in the case of some vegetables, and, what is more important, he can grow some erops which could not otherwise be grown, as long season crops like eggplants and sweet potatoes, ete. They can also be used for growing such crops as lettuce or radishes to full maturity out of their season. Principles of successful transplanting. Transplanting, while it must always be looked upon as more or less injurious to the plants, is a necessity in vegetable gardening. It is used principally for inducing earliness; it also enables us to grow such crops, for instance, as eggplants which other- wise require too long a season. After getting a good start in a hotbed or frame, plants may later be removed to freshly worked soil, without having to battle with bad weather and adverse soil conditions when they can least endure them. The time of planting the seeds will depend altogether upon the crop grown. The operations will be facilitated if the seeds are sown in shallow flats, which may be carried about as desired. When the plants have begun to show their first pair of true leaves, they should be shifted; that is, taken up 296 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE from the seed flat and planted in other flats or in pots where they are given greater freedom. In the case of eggplants and head lettuce, which do not transplant easily, it is better to handle the plants in pots than in flats, for they transplant to the open more readily and their root system is injured less. Cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, and toma- toes can be very well handled in flats, or they may be trans- planted to the open bed. Onions are sometimes started in the hotbed in order to secure a larger bulb, but they are seldom transplanted. Beets are often started in greenhouses or hotbeds by market gardeners to secure an earlier crop. A short time previous to planting in the field, the plants should be transferred to a cold frame so that they may ‘‘harden off.’’ A cold frame is like a hotbed with the excep- tion that,it has no bottom heat. ‘‘ Hardening off’’ means accustoming the plants to the open weather conditions and to the relatively dry open field conditions, so that they will not suffer from the transfer to the open. The cold frame is cov- ered for the first few nights and is left open on all except cool days. Gradually the plants are exposed to colder and colder weather, until finally the covers are left off altogether for a few days or a week previous to transplanting to the field. The plants should receive sufficient water to keep them from dying, but gradually the amount of water applied should be reduced while they are in the cold frame, so that finally they will get along with the normal rain supply. It is always desirable to let the soil become rather dry for several days before transplanting. This, coupled with the exposure of the plants to cold nights, will harden the tissues S wae Le ele i THE HOME GARDEN 297 and fit them for transfer to the open soil. A few hours before the actual transplanting, the soil should be heavily watered. The plants, being ‘‘thirsty,’’ will take up enough water to fill their tissues, in which condition they will be able to allow more transpiration. The plants should not be removed from the frames until the soil has become mellow. Puddling the soil by working it while wet should always be avoided. As large a part of the root system should be removed with the plant as possible, and it is well to take as much soil with the roots as will cling to them. In transplanting plants to the field one should firm the soil about the roots thoroughly. If a plant is properly trans- planted, watering in the field is scarcely ever necessary, but in the home garden one will insure a stand if he takes no chances and waters the plants. When water is applied, it is always best to pour it into a basin made about the plant, allow- ing it to disappear, and then covering the wet surface with mellow, loose soil. The principal factor in causing the death of plants is an excessive transpiration from the leaves. The removal of a part of the top of the plant will reduce the transpiration and often save the plants during a dry period. Not all plants ean be ‘‘sheared,’’ but onions, beets, celery, and, to a certain extent, cabbage will allow this method. The best implement for transplanting, everything considered, is a pair of human hands. Other serviceable tools are the garden trowel, the dibber, and the spade. In commercial gardening, a trans- planting machine which sets the plants as fast as a team of horses draws the machine is often used. 298 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Thinning vegetables. Plants must have sufficient room if they are to develop properly. All excessive plants are noth- ing less than weeds. With many vegetable crops the plant- ing is done in such a way as to give the plants room. Cab- bage, tomatoes, sweet corn, and beans are examples. With most of the small seeded crops, however, the seeding is usually liberally done on account of the weak embryo and the sus- eeptibility of the young plants to the weather and soil con- ditions. Market gardeners even go so far as to test the seeds in advance and plant accordingly, so as to insure a good stand and yet prevent overcrowding. In this way little thinning is necessary. The vegetables commonly planted in drills in the field and which require thinning are beets, parsnips, parsley, salsify, and onions. Melons and cucumbers are often planted thickly in the hill and thinned when the plants have become well started. The thinning of plants which are started indoors and transplanted to the open field is accomplished by shift- ing the plants to other flats or pots, as already explained, and planting them in the field one in a place. The thinning of all crops should be done as early as the size of the plants will permit. In ease of onions, since some size will be reached before the plants wl pull out without breaking off, the thinning may be delayed. Thinning of the crops insures specimens of larger and more uniform size, and a much ereater percentage of the product is marketable or usable. Cultivation. The control of weeds and the provision of a soil mulch is the most important work in the cultivation of the garden. Some people even doubt if cultivation has much od ah ~ pee os ae oO > aS a aerate ily THE HOME GARDEN 299 value if there are no weeds. After each rain, as soon as the ground will permit, a shallow soil mulch should be made and the crust broken up. Garden tools. Every gardener should have a wheel hoe. It will make gardening a pleasure instead of a drudgery. There are two kinds: The single wheel used between the rows, the best use of which is insured when the rows of vege- tables are planted exactly parallel; and the double wheel hoe, which, like the two-horse cultivator, straddles the row and cultivates both sides at once. This is the better imple- ment to use while the crops are small. Several attachments are provided for both types. The hoe blades can be so set that they will scrape very close to the row, killing weeds and providing a shallow soil mulch. Another attachment which comes with the machine is a set of cultivator teeth for use when the plants are larger. In the home garden 1t is probably not advisable to have a seed drill. This tool, while indispens- able in planting an area of any considerable size to fine seed, is not so well adapted for the home garden. There is nothing better than the human hand for distributing the seeds as they should be, and there is nothing which adapts itself more easily to difference in thickness of seeding and difference in size of seeds. True Most SErR1Ious GARDEN PEsts Green cabbage worm. This worm is the greatest obstacle to cabbage growing. It can be controlled early in the sea- son with arsenical poisons, which may be used without dan- 300 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE ger to human beings. Some persons even say that it can be used after the plants have begun to head. While this view seems reasonable, it is perhaps best to be on the safe side and not use poisons after the heads begin to form. Later pyrethrum and white hellebore may be used. Striped cucumber beetle. This pest may be controlled by applying Bordeaux mixture and arsenate of lead to the young plants. It should be applied as soon as the plants appear above eround, and plants should be kept covered on both the upper and lower sides of the leaves with this material until the vines have be- sun to run. For cucumbers or mel- ons the standard Bordeaux mix- ture is too strong, and a mixture containing half the usual amount of copper sulphate should be used. A mixture of 4 pounds lime, 2 pounds copper sulphate, and 2 pounds lead arsenate in 50 gallons of water will not injure the plants and will effectively control the insect. FIG. 39: USING THE HAND SPRAY Lice. Melon lice often destroy a melon, or cucumber crop in a few days. This insect may be effectively controlled by spraying with a 40 per cent solution of nicotine sulphate, reduced to one part in one thousand parts of water. This will effectively control the lice, and will THE HOME GARDEN 301 not injure the foliage. The lice live mainly on the under sur- faces of the leaves. As they do not chew, but rather get their food by sticking their beak into the tissue of the plant and drawing out the sap, it is necessary to cover their body with the material named in order to kill them. Arsenical poisons are of no help in controlling this insect. The method of apply- ing the spray is as important as the material itself. For the best results use a Vermoral nozzle with bent shank, fastened on the end of a spraying rod. If the nozzle is worked about and between the foliage thoroughly and a fairly high pressure is maintained, the material will be thrown out in a fine spray and practically every insect on the plants will be reached. Colorado potato beetle. Paris green, or lead arsenate, mixed with a little slaked lime, are the insecticides to use for this pest. Flea beetles often cause serious damage to tomatoes, egg- plants, and potatoes. This is a small black beetle which jumps from plant to plant when disturbed. It may be effect- ively controlled by keeping plants covered with Bordeaux mixture and arsenate of lead. Cutworms. These often work serious damage in the spring of the year while the ground is still cold. It is always well to avoid planting vegetables on sod ground if possible. Some- times manure, which has laid on a pile during the previous summer, has provided an ideal place for the eutworm moths to lay their eggs, and such manure often adds multitudes of eutworm eggs to the soil. If the number of plants is not too great, the cutworms can be best controlled by uncovering 302 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE the earth about the plants which have been attacked and hunting out the cutworms. Bran mixed with molasses and a small amount of Paris green placed in small pits on the higher spots of the land will often be effective as a poison bait. Diseases. The leaf spots and fruit rots so common in vegetables are caused by fungous and bacterial diseases, Some of these can not be controlled, but most of them yield readily to systematic applications of Bordeaux mixture. Preparing products for market. To sell garden products profitably one must know how to make them attractive to the purchaser. Products should be clean, of proper size, shape, and degree of ripeness. Those that are marketed in bunches, baskets or other containers should be uniform in these respects. Usually there are two grades of products; fancy selected, and number one, besides culls. It should be borne in mind that number one is the lower grade. The fancy selected grade will be of proper size, color, degree of ripeness and free from blemishes. A bunch or a basket will be uniform in these respects. Size should be characteristic of the va- riety. A beet the size of one’s head would not be graded as faney selected. Color and shape are other characteristics which should be considered in connection with the different varieties of products. The degree of ripeness at which the products are to be packed for market will depend upon the Note—Small fruits should be included in the garden: strawber- ries, blackberries, red and black raspberries, gooseberries, currants, grapes, etc., but in a course of study including so many phases of agriculture these topics can not be taken up. THE HOME GARDEN 303 distance to market. Some products which are to be shipped some distance will be picked green. In grading products it may be well to use a typical speci- men as a sample and compare others with it. The following description* of the grades of tomatoes may serve to make this point of grading clear. Fancy selected tomatoes are sound, smooth, regular in shape, free from cracks, and of such size that twelve specimens will fill one basket of a flat or a four basket crate. Number one grade is composed of sound specimens, slightly inferior to the fancy selected gerade in size and smoothness, or with slight eracks about the stem which may have healed over so that there is no danger of leaking. Culls are badly cracked, rough, over- ripe or under-sized specimens. Tomatoes which are smaller than twenty to the basket would be regarded as culls. Products which are to be bunched may be first graded and then washed after bunching. This makes handling easier. All root crops, early in the season, are bunched. Radishes (except the winter type) are bunched at all sea- sons. In this class are green onions, asparagus, rhubarb, kohl-rabi, parsley, leeks, celery and sometimes leaf lettuce. String, raffia and tape are used in tying. Rubber bands are often used for asparagus. The size of the bunch will depend upon the product. Bunches of radishes may contain five or six or ten or twelve depending upon size. As a novelty, white and scarlet rad- ishes may be arranged in the same bunch. Asparagus *Lloyd—Productive Vegetable Gardening. 304 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE bunches should be about eight inches in length and of such circumference that the hand will go about two-thirds of the way around. Bunches of onions will appear to better advantage if the tops are trimmed off. The tops of all small beets and car- rots (in size about forty to the quart) should be left on. Later in the season larger specimens may be marketed in bulk with the tops removed. The importance of uniformity in the appearance of such products may be demonstrated by comparing two bunches, one of which contains specimens uniform in all respects and the other, products of all sizes, colors, shapes, and de- grees of ripeness. NOTEBOOK QUESTIONS 1. What are important factors in locating the home vege- table garden ? 2. What is ideal garden soil? 3. Name the steps in the preparation of a good garden seed-bed. 4. What are the best and most practical fertilizers for the garden soil? 5. State some principles to guide one in jayne out the garden for seeding. 6. What shall ee the varieties and the time for planting? 7. Name the standard early season and late season. vege- tables. 8. What are the purposes and advantages of the hotbed? 9. What vegetables are successfully transplanted ? THE HOME GARDEN 305 10. What should be accomplished in garden cultivation ? 11. What are some modern garden tools? 12. List the most serious garden insect pests and dis- eases, and explain how to combat two of them. 13. Why should everyone have a garden? PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND Homes PROJECTS The garden plans. Let each pupil carefully draw to a seale the plan of the vegetable garden as it is laid out at his home. After this study let each pupil draw a garden plan as he would carry it out in a home garden of his own. If it is feasible to have a school garden, let. each member of the class draw a plan of such a proposed garden. Laying out and planting the school garden. If condi- tions at the school are favorable to the employment of labor all through the garden season, and if sufficient land is near the school to justify such an undertaking, it may be advisable to earry on a school garden. For a high-school garden the plan of making a demonstration home garden for an average- sized family seems the best one. The garden should be planted and eared for as a class enterprise. Small fruits and orna- mental planting may make the whole scheme a valuable, prac- tical piece of work in connection with the school study of vegetable gardening. The garden should be carried on as nearly in accordance with directions and correct principles which are given in this chapter as is possible. For individual work in vegetable gardening the home project garden is to be recommended as most desirable. Cold frames and hotbeds. Since the work with cold frames and hotbeds would come during the school season, it is advisable by all means to undertake this practical exercise at school. 306 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE Cold frames are devices for growing plants early or harden- ing them off for the field by making use of the heat of the sun through glass without any foundation heating. They regulate heat and moisture and protect plants from heavy wind and dashing rain. The standard size of the cold frame sash is three by six feet, and the length of the cold frame will depend upon the number of sashes to be used. Make the frame six feet wide, eight inches high in front and twelve inches high at the back, of either one-inch or two- inch lumber. ork THE HOME GARDEN 309 3. What is the canning possibility? 4, Is there a market demand for this vegetable? (a) How should it be prepared for market? (b) What price should it bring? 5. What seeds can be selected for next year’s crop? 6. How is the fresh vegetable stored for winter use? . CHAPTER XX THE COUNTRY BEAUTIFUL The country’s fine art. One source of genuine happiness in human life is to be able to create or appreciate some work of art. We have usually thought that music, painting, litera- ture, architecture, etc., were the only fine arts, and that these at their best were not within reach of country people. Not only are these fine arts becoming available to country people, but the revived art of landscape gardening, coming with the development of agriculture, makes possible the use and appre- ciation of one of the finest of fine arts by the people of the open country. . Beautifying home and school grounds. There are a few rules agreed upon by landscape artists which will guide begin- ners to use good taste in planting home and school grounds. These may be called the A, B, C’s of landscape gardening. A. An open greensward in front of the house. B. Borders and backgrounds massed with trees and shrubs. C. Curved lines in walks, arrangement of trees, shrub masses, flower groups, and the planting of foundations. Under A we must avoid cluttering up the green lawn with flower beds, sheared shrubs, ard other artificial affairs.