Elements of agriculture, southern and western

eee
pa birtrs tse

j ores ured
o- pbnedet . 7 on ; PRP Re TILA R TD:
fesonyursrirpred eerie e< eet! aS ete ee ee

er

Si}. tate tectnatatares

oe ene
erate ane

pesiee
septate

wt

i

es
oo

aay
SiGe:

algts)

ee
se.

eee
Shahur ues
nes

eee

4,
ratte esg et 5
tat ea

Lele seecetecesey

fore

eS
pire eg eae Sot ete ree
Pee

whites. -
thee

1
gyatae
fate

ata

Seana
epimers
rer sa sess

slaseamis cetele[t

ie
et:

rssh
erererer etre oso
racerer arya

ret
mt dar Mente

a.
eB
ISS
ear! £e8!
(overs

ts

erro sheen)

.
=

Crnre trey seerer Set Bd
asp ietiee tes eat

‘

feet pi es pase re eased
ferret arate ere
anise eset tes
eresces

Distant

ca

= 265 ae
te Se ey eer

Teeter
ec
Jjobetereserre toatl

Srcrumras
tc eeets

Pelerm ere,

i
>

sep erentnd= eo4-
“ -« et 8-4
Grrr
rerereres

2535

be
Sitiereie!

+

oor

ea eee ee
Papier eopar en were of SILT De
Cepret errr ea see

+ nett oe
tel ite irae

'*
ot

c
teesime
as
Pitot rarurt se
rie spreret aris ed

parwrerarer eres
rerireae eyes ene
ar

_

7

+
tet
lp latetece

ve

as
Teeny,

4

eter
3}

AN

EaTe
44 bLie sere e

press) ae

fer eretst rts

roripe ray

+
4 Hi

weak
oo

ae Tieteh aces.)
oa ereenrnsed
witckeeoeeeter ese
Perertret holo

pip t peel tememres:
ebareratererer ort ass

i
st

S355 2535

ool rarerhrencrinceurtea ee
area ter ererer res recite
Pert tari tres arse

a

rer er er or a
1

sit
ory

stat,

Pereeee te eed Sat eor
ter atat arses
tetas

ies
as peaeiteueer

apes te narecereras er? a3 * “ate teytatete $

eee ~ x + rarer or ++ PEI Bris tete rat et errr eieenrtey = Bead

tre: Perererimerey Setatet fete cens

3 as oi pieiteteee

or eer eree ee eet os
wre es
CScececot tests

peettraces

<j

Ven
Ue ;s

/ /

dl fs A\
=( 1800

ne i hae},

ae \\ SSS | BLT |
WAN y s

E>
Sane

gpm? gc

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT:

Lt* =

Soe eT ae

io

yo.

<

“wes

ae ee 22>

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK - BOSTON + CHICAGO
ATLANTA + SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., LimiTED

LONDON + BOMBAY +» CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lt.
TORONTO

ADATION TVOINVHOAJT UNV TIVUALINOIADY SVxXayL

2001d8YU0A

ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

SOUTHERN AND WESTERN

BY

W. C. WELBORN, B.S., M.S., 1 aa ee

VICE-DIRECTOR AND AGRICULTURIST OF
THE TEXAS EXPERIMENT STATION

New Work
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1908

All rights reserved

LIBRARY of CONGRESS |
Two Gopies Kecenvce

MAY 22 1908

Gopyrignc cutry

Jax. tu "wh
LASSA XX Nu.
(V7 O3

PY 6.

Covyrigut, 1908,

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1908.

MANUFACTURED BY
BROCK & RANKIN,
CHICAGO,

PREFACE AND SUGGESTIONS

Tue author feels no hesitation in taking the ground
that agriculture has an educational, or mind-training
value, fully equal to geography or history. The facts
presented in agriculture are quite like those of physical
geography in particular; the description of the develop-
ment of crops, live stock, and agricultural industries gener-
ally is the very best of history.. In addition, the study
of agriculture has a manifest advantage in training the
habits of observation, as it treats of things that are about
us—that may be seen, heard, and felt—and_ therefore
truly educates through the environment of the pupil.

If a geography class could be taken to Mount Vesuvius
and could see the great volumes of ashes, cinders, and
lava that are belched forth, covering hundreds of square
miles with rich soil, what a lesson it would be in world-
building and what an inspiration to the whole school and
the whole community! In agriculture we teach facts
that may be verified on the farm, in the garden, by the
roadside, and in the forest, and facts, too, of greater im-
portance by far to that community than the operations of
the far-away voleano. Beyond all this, agriculture will
impart a mass of useful information about the greatest
business in this country, which farmers cannot any more

Vi

fs
/

vl PREFACE AND SUGGESTIONS

afford to do without than doctors could afford not to know
that the blood circulates. This information, put into the
minds of pupils generally, will be imparted in a great
measure to the present generation of farmers, and will be
reflected in better methods and better results on the farms
of the country.

Agriculture can without any doubt be taught as easily
as any other subject, if the truth is told, if it is put into
simple language, and is arranged in fairly logical order.
This book has aimed to meet these conditions, and on ac-
count of the want of preparation on the part of many teach-
ers, has a faithful list of questions at the end of each
chapter. No one can answer the questions without under-
standing the subjects. It is believed the questions will
be a great help to teachers and pupils, and will enable any
teacher to teach the subject quite as easily as geography
or history can be taught. Indeed, it is believed that most
teachers in country districts actually know much about
agriculture, although they may never have read any book
treating it.

The author does not believe that most country teachers
will have time and means to provide a large amount of
illustrative material in the way of a farm, live stock,
garden, orchard, and laboratory. Teachers of history
and of geography are not expected to follow any such
method, and their only illustrative material consists of
pictures, or maps and globes, of things generally removed
a thousand miles of distance or a hundred years in time.
The principles of agriculture could be taught as well by
the same means. Whenever a teacher is fortunate enough

PREFACE AND SUGGESTIONS vil

to have a pupil who has seen the battlefield of Gettysburg,
it is never difficult to teach the history and geography of
that whole region to that pupil and to the whole class. In
teaching agriculture you teach something that all the pupils
and their parents know something about, and their interest
will be keen. An appeal to what the pupil has seen or can
see for himself will in a great measure compensate for any
lack of direct illustration. You are teaching something
about the pupil’s old friends and acquaintances, and you
are less dependent on experimental work on this account.

It is not believed that any considerable percentage of
‘the schools are in position to make agriculture more
of an outdoor than a class-room subject. Neither is it
advised in teaching this book to try to vary the order
of chapters taught to better fit the seasons for experi-
mental work. Agriculture is certainly a valuable class-
room study; it should be so used, and calling to mind
what the pupils have experienced and stimulating them
to find more will constitute the best experiments. Then
make all the saggested experiments and observations that
time and means will permit. Try to get still others made
by the patrons, who should always be consulted on account
of their invaluable practical experience. Remember, these
farmers know more than the author of your text-book
about many agricultural matters.

In preparing this book the author supposes that its
readers are acquainted to some extent with agricultural
matters from practice and observation. The smaller
details of information have been left to be got in some
other way, if not already known. Only the general truths

‘Ze

vill PREFACE AND SUGGESTIONS

and useful principles about the main features of agri-
culture have been attempted.

No attempt has been made to agree with other authors ;
in fact, in many very important matters, views directly
opposite to those of most agricultural writers have been
taken. Agriculture as a science is new. Much that we
beheved true ten years ago has been disproved. The dis-
credit attaching to so-called “book farming” no doubt
came about from the widespread publication of so much
matter that was untrue and hurtful to those attempting
its practice. The Agricultural Experiment Stations of
the country have given us the most reliable agricultural
literature we have in the record they have made of their
own research and of the practical work of farmers with
whom they have codperated. In differing with other
authors, most of whom wrote a number of years ago, this
work is in substantial agreement with the combined re-
sults of all the experiment stations, so far as_ these
results have been published. It is fully believed that in
this little volume enough of truth applicable to the sec-
tions intended to be served will be found, and enough
of error has been pointed out to make the book one of
general usefulness.

While written for the schools, this work should be no
less valuable for the farmer and general reader. The fact
that it gives useful information about agricultural affairs
in language easily understood, being otherwise suitably
arranged for school work, should make it only more
valuable to the farmer, who is a student no less than the
publie school pupil.

PREFACE AND SUGGESTIONS 1x

The author has received valuable help and advice from
Dr. H. H. Harrington, President of the Texas Agricul-
tural and Mechanical College, and Dr. C. P. Fountain,
Professor of English, who patiently criticised the entire
work. He is under obligation also to almost the entire
faculty of the above-named institution for kind assistance.

JANUARY 13, 1908.

CHAPTER

10

IT.

Ill.

IN.

Ae

VE.
VII.
Leone
IX.

X.

XI.
XII.
mT:
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
».6D.E
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
ALY.
XXYV.

f

CONTENTS

THE RESOURCES OF THE FARMER
THr BuILDING OF A PLANT
THE MAKING OF THE SOIL .

KINDS OF SOIL

RAINFALL AND Propucrions oF TEXAS

CHEMISTRY OF SOIL AND OF PLANTS

Tue Purysics OF THE So1L: STORAGE OF WATER

Bacterra or Germ Lire
THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS
GRAFTING AND BUDDING
SEED SELECTION . : ;
IMPROVING THE LAND.
ROTATION OF CROps . :
MANURES AND FERTILIZERS
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS
PLOWING

PREPARATION FOR PLANTING
IRRIGATION

Insect FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

CoTTon .

Corn .

WHEAT AND OATS ; : :
RIce

SuGAR CANE. P : . :
THE SWEET PoTATo . : :

xi

.

Xil
CHAPTER
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.

XXX.

»,@.9.G

XXXII.
XXXII.
XXXIV.

XXXY.
XXXVI.

XXXVIT.

DS, OOO Ub

XX XIX.

XL.

».GAE
APPENDIX
GLOSSARY

INDEX

CONTENTS

THe CowPeEA AND PEANUT . ; 3 :

‘TOBACCO

SorGHuuM, KaFir, AND MrLo-MAIzE

THE VELVET AND ‘Soy BrEAns, ALFALFA, HAIRY
VETCH : ; s ; : :

THE CLOVERS AND MINOR Crops

OTHER Hay AND PASTURE GRASSES

ORCHARD Crops

Truck Crops.

THE FEEDING or ANIMALS

THe MAKING OF A RATION

ANIMAL DISEASES . : é J : ; ‘
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY : / , 2 : Z

Raisinc Horses anp MULES
CATTLE
Hogs, SHEEP, Goats, PoULTRY, AND BEES

DAIRYING : é : s : : ; s

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College : . Frontispiece
FIG. PAGE
1. Sprouting Pea : ; : 5
2. Weathering of Rock, fon ming or , : , 9
3. Glacier in the Alps 3 : : : ; : cee 6
4. Where a Glacier Melts . ; ; , ; : Nees be
5. Trees assist in breaking Rock ; : : : : 3
6. Soil Divisions of Texas . : : ; Nai 8
7. Alkali Land . : ; 5 ‘ Paks pel
8. Former Inhabitants of the Pbiite : ; : : ; ee)
9. Present-day Scene on the Plains. ; : ; eee |
10. Soil Areas of the Cotton Belt ; ; . aoe
11. Rainfall Map of Texas . : : : : aaa
12. Showing Capillary Action of Soils : ; ; eae
15. Stirring Soil when Wet and when in Right Condition . he!
14. Different Bacteria greatly Magnified. : : : 2 AG
15. Tubercles on Roots of Legumes. . ; : : Se 2)

16. Fibrous Roots of Corn
17. Osmosis .

18. Flower of the ats
19. Lily of the Valley .
20. Steps in Budding ‘ : : : , ;
. Ring Budding for Oranges and Pecans . : : sbi Oe

J) Ox

(os

er Gr cue th
©

P|

22. Grafting . : SO ate : i h@o
23. The Proper Depth t to plant Fig eigen ‘ : so /O6
24. Old Pecan Tree growing Paper-shell Buds. : . ae
25. Testing Seed . : ; ; : : : : G9
26. Pure and Impure Alfalfa eta : : : ‘ ‘ holes
27. New Mexico Date Palm. : : - : ; ee

Xxili

SHNS

Cor
—
.

Co Ww

Sr ever Gt Or Gt Or Or <
SONIA aE ES

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Terraced Land

29, Corn Grown on Washed and on Terraced or

Terraced Land and Rows
Best Shape for an Open Ditch
Tile Draining .

Cowpeas and Sweet siren

. Hogs grazing Cowpeas

Fertilized and Untertilized Coaee
Sandy-land Plow

Black-land Plow

Steam Plow on the Plains
Sub-surface Packer.

. Trrigating between Rows

. Spraying Fruit Trees

2. Boll Weevil and Larva .

3. Different Life Sizes of Adult Boll W eev “ils

Punctured Square containing Young Weevils
Karly and Late Cotton in Boll Weevil District

i}. Good Type of Cotton Plant
. Poor Type of Cotton Plant
Rolling Fresh Cotton Bed to firm the Soil Poe Planting
9. Mississippi Cotton Field

Round Cotton Bales ‘

Long and Short Staple Cotton

American Bale of Cotton as it gets to Europe
Corn and Cowpeas .

. Wheat planted in Loose Soil and in Soil Eeaceen

Wheat Field on the Plains
Oats and Vetch
tice Field in Louisiana . :
Filipinoes plowing in Mud, preparing Land for Rice
Seeded Sugar Cane :
Way to use a Saccharimeter .

51. Cutting Sugar Cane in Louisiana .

PAGE

FIG.
62.
. Digging Sweet Potatoes .

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Hill of Sweet Potatoes

64. Spanish Peanuts

65. Saving Peanuts ‘

66. Tobacco growing under Cheese- cloth Suen :
67. Harvesting Sorghum

68. Field of Kafir Corn

69. Soy Bean

70. Stacking Alfalta ane

71. Red Clover

72. Crimson Clover

84.

. Florida Beggar Weed

Rape Field

. Jerusalem Artichoke
. Johnson Grass

Guinea Grass, Biloxi, Mississippi . ‘

Intensive Farming — Chinese in Hawaii grow pace ce
at Once

Trrigating an Orchard

Well-trimmed Texas Peach Tree

. San José Scale on Peach Trees : : ‘ é :
. Cocoanut Plantation as seen in Florida, Porto Rico, Hawaii,

and the Philippines
An Apple Branch . : :
Figs at the Texas Experiment Station .

. Smyrna Fig Trees, California : ; ; i
. Grape Fruit at Beeville, Texas, Branch Experiment Station
87.
. Harvesting Irish Potatoes
. Smal] Hotbed .

. Gathering Tomatoes

. Cabbage Field

Texas Orange Tree

Southwest Texas Steers being fattened on aes a Cot-
ton-seed Meal

jak
)

“I us

==)

DS NS Neh NS eee he
© bm to a to bo bo fo
t

oo)
—_

)
(5%)
=I

99
100.
TOL:
102.
105.
104.
105.
106.
hire
108.
109.
110.
111.

122.

115.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

. Coach Type . :

. Draft Type: Percheron

5. Zebu, or Sacred Bull of India

. Dual Purpose Cattle: Devon and Red Poll .

. Beef Cattle: Short Horn and Hereford z
. Showing Beef Cattle at the Texas Agricultural sa Me-

chanical College :
Breeds of Swine: Tamworth and Das oc Jersey .
Breeds of Swine: Poland China and Berkshire .
Razor Backs for Want of Feed
Movable Fence
Sheep and Goats
Flock of Angoras .
Sheep Ranching in the West
Plymouth Rock Hen
Brown Leghorn Hen
Bronze Gobbler
Round Silo ; ‘
Dairy Cows: Jersey a Hoan Dehorned
Cream Separator
Pure and Impure Milk .
Box Churn

ioe)

ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE
SOUTHERN AND WESTERN

CHART Rt
THE RESOURCES OF THE FARMER

UsuALLy the first object of the farmer is to grow plants.
These may be used or sold, or they may be fed to animals,
and the animals or animal products used or sold. For
exainple, cotton may be grown and sold, and the seed may
be fed to cows, and milk and butter produced for home
use and for sale.

Plants Necessary for Man and Animal Life. — The earth
and the air are rich in the things needed to produce bone
and muscle and blood. Yet animals would starve if they
tried to live on rock, or earth, which is only ground-up
rock. Man and his servants, the other animals, cannot
digest rock or earth. Neither can they use to build up
their bodies any of the gases of the air they breathe.

Plants, however, our other servants, send their little
threadlike roots all through the soil. These roots twine
themselves about the little rocks, or soil grains, and suck
from them the substances they need for growth. Their
green leaves, too, through little openings or breathing
pores, known as stomata, take in the gases of the air, and
find in these one of the most important things needed to

ie

B it

2 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

make them large and strong. This same element is also
‘needed for the growth of our bodies, and since we can get
none of it from the air, we must get our supply by eating
plants or substances obtained from plants. So, by eating
and digesting the plants, we can use the materials the
plant roots get from the soil.

Earth, Air, and Water.— All the animal kingdom, in-
cluding man, is made up of the elements of the earth, the
air, and the water. Water is the only one we can use
for growth without the help of plants, but we cannot live
on water. If it were possible that all the plant world
could go on a strike, animal life perhaps could not endure
on the earth more than a month.

Plants purify the Air.— Our faithful servants of the
plant kingdom not only stand between us and starvation,
but also purify the air that we breathe. When we breathe
the air, part of the oxygen gas we take in is used in the
lungs to purify our blood. In its place we exhale, or
breathe out, a gas called carbonic acid gas. The air of a
closed room which contains very much of this gas is unfit
for breathing.

Plants use Carbonic Acid Gas. — When green leaves
take in air, they use the carbon of the carbonic acid gas
which the air contains, and give out pure oxygen. If it
were not for this work of plants, the whole atmosphere
would become so filled with carbonic acid gas as to be
like a small, close room. Animal life would probably
soon cease for want of pure air. You may ask why we
do not die in winter when there are few green leaves.
Your geography teaches that the trees are green in winter

THE RESOURCES OF THE FARMER 3

throughout the Southern hemisphere, and are green in the
torrid zone all the time. Winds bring pure air to us in
winter, and carry away the air of our zone to be purified.

Animal Life of Use to Plants. — Animals in turn give
off from their lungs carbonic acid gas for plants. But
the burning of wood and coal and the rotting of leaves,
wood, and other vegetable matter also make this gas.
So the plants could lve without the animals, but prob-
ably they would not thrive quite so well. As animals,
including all worms, insects, etc., die, their bodies rot and
add richness to the land. Earthworms and many other —
lower forms of animal life make holes in the soil, let in
air, assist water to drain away, and by eating parts of
the soil and grinding it make it finer and richer.

Animal Manures. — The larger farm animals, such as
cows, horses, sheep, and hogs, eat grasses, weeds, corn,
and other foods. The horses and mules give us work ;
the cows, milk and butter and beef; and the hogs, pork
and lard. At the same time, if the farmyard manure is
saved and used on the land, the fertility of the soil will
be kept up and the crops will be large.

Value of Manure. — It is often true that the manure
produced by live stock is worth more than the cost of the
food eaten by them. ‘This is true in feeding cotton seed
when it sells for a low price. Then certain hay crops,
such as peas, peanuts, alfalfa, and others, get their most
costly fertilizing ingredient from the air. Even when
these crops are cut for hay, their roots enrich the land.
If the hay is fed to stock, very rich manure is produced.
With plenty of live stock and crops like these to feed

‘i

4 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

them, we would have very fertile land. These things
will be discussed at length later on.

QUESTIONS

What products do farmers grow? Giveexamples. Why could not
animals live without plants? Where do the materials that our bodies
are made of come from? From what different sources do plants get
the materials to grow with? What effect do plants have on the air
we breathe? Why do animals make the air better suited to nourish
plants? What is the name of the gas that plant leaves take in from
the air? How does the air become purified in winter? What effect
does animal life have on the fertility of the land? May animal
manures ever have more value than the cost of the foods the animals
eat? Why? Why do certain crops enrich the land rapidly ?

Observation. — Did you ever notice where old horse lots or cattle
pens have been put into cultivation how rich the land is, and how
long it remains rich ?

CHAPTER II
THE BUILDING OF A PLANT

In order to grow plants we need seed, soil, moisture,
air, warmth, and light. Some plants, such as weeds, and
even some useful plants, need no
sowing or cultivation.

The Seed. — A seed is generally
a little package of rich foodstuff
for young plants, containing a
germ, or young plant itself. The
germ and the food are usually dry
so as to keep well, and are covered
with a nearly waterproof coat to
preserve them till a suitable season
for growing comes.

The Seed and Root. — When the
weather becomes warm enough,
the seed is sown in moist soil, the
germ sprouts or swells and begins

to grow. The little plant uses the

Fic. 1.—SPROUTING PEA

food stored up in the mother seed
at first, till it can send out little roots through the soil to
gather food and water for itself.

The Root, Stem, and Leaf. — In the meantime the plant
has made a stem, and on top of this have grown some

/ 5

6 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

green leaves. ‘These leaves have little openings, and the
stems of the plant have little channels for the food and
water to pass up and down. As already learned, the
stomata of the leaves take in carbonic acid gas with the
air. By the aid of sunlight the green leaf takes the car-
bon, combines it with water, and makes sugar, starch,
wood, and other materials. The leaf gives off the oxygen
pure for us to breathe.

What Plants are made of. — About half the weight of
dry plants is carbon, most of which is gotten from the
air. So we see the leaves are quite as useful in feeding
plants as are the roots.

Air, Water, and Soil as Food for Plants. — Nine tenths
or more of the weight of dry plants is made up of ele-
ments which plants get from water and air together. One
tenth, or generally less, is made up of materials drawn
from the solid earth. Burn a plant, and the part it got
from the air and water will go off in smoke and other
gases. The part that came from the solid earth will
remain as ashes.

When plants, or parts of plants, rot the same thing
happens: the part that comes from the air goes back to
the air, and the part that comes from the earth goes back
to the earth.

Plants build Animals. — The ash of plants is the part

that makes the bones of animals, while the sugar, starch, —

and oils of plants produce the fat of the animal body, and
also supply heat to keep the body warm and force to pro-
duce motion and work. Most plants produce some sugar,
as sugar cane; some starch, as corn; and some oil, as cot-

THE BUILDING OF A PLANT T

ton seed. Other constituents in plants produce in ani-
mals muscle, fat, blood, hair, skin, ete. We will discuss
these things more at length later.

The Main Purposes of Plants. — ‘The main purpose of
every plant appears to be to produce seed, or in some
other way to make other plants of the same kind. Peo-
ple and animals sometimes consume the seed, roots, or
stems that would produce new plants, and sometimes parts
that would not reproduce. The new seeds are generally
the most valuable for food, as in the case of rice, wheat,
and corn.

QUESTIONS

What is a seed, and what does it contain? What provision is
made in every seed for the young plant to grow from it? Of what
use are leaves of plants? How do plants get their solid food from
the soil? Does a plant use all the water the roots take in from the
soil? Do plants get more of their food from the air or from the
earth? What common substances does the plant make out of the
carbon it gets from the air and the water it takes from the soil?
About what part of the dry weight of a plant is derived from the
soil? What part came from the air? Where did the other part
come from, and how much does that make of the whole? If you
burn a plant, where do these materials go? How nearly is rotting of
plants like burning them? What part of plants makes the bones of
animals? What do the sugar, starch, and oils of plants produce in
the body of the animal? Do all plants produce some sugar, starch,
and oil? What parts of plants do people and animals use ?

Experiment. — Weigh a bundle of dry grass; burn it and weigh
what is left. You can do this at school during recess.

CHAPTER III

THE MAKING OF THE SOIL

The Soil and how it is Formed. — Although plants get
fully half of their food from the air, we cannot change
the air to make it better fitted for growing them. Plants
get almost all the other half of their food from water,
and all their soil food by the help of water. We can
supply water sometimes, and can always so work the land
as to make the rain water in the soil last a long time
during drought.

The soil itself affords no more than ten per cent of the
weight of plants, and sometimes not over one or two per
cent. Yet we can often so work the land and fertilize
it as to double our crops.

Soil made of Rock. — The earth was once covered with
solid rock. Now it is generally covered with decom-
posed rock to a depth of a few feet to a hundred or more
feet. This powdered material is called sod. The top
layer of this for a few inches is generally darker in color
than the deeper layers, and is called top sozl, or sol,
while the layer under this for some distance is called
subsoil. The upper layer is generally dark in color be-
cause there is mixed with it rotting leaves, stem$, and
roots of plants. This material is often called humus.
Plows generally run about deep enough to turn over this
top soil, leaving the subsoil unbroken.

8

THE MAKING OF THE SOIL 9

How the Rock was ground up. — Geology, the science
which teaches the past history of the earth, tells us some
interesting stories about how the soil was made. ‘The
surface of the earth was at first covered with melted rock,
surrounded by air containing water vapor, as we find the

Fic. 2.— WEATHERING OF ROCK, FORMING SOIL

air to-day. As the vapor high in the air became cold, it
formed rain, which fell on the hot rock. Of course the
rain cooled the rock and cracked it. As the rain water
was heated, it rose in steam, and reaching the higher
air, grew cold, and was again condensed into rain.
Again it fell and cooled and cracked the rocks still more.
Finally the rocks became cool enough for the rain to form
little streams, and to wash and grind the little pieces of
broken rock, and separate the coarser from the finer pieces.
As the whole surface of the earth cooled, mountains and
valleys, hills and hollows, were formed. Many large
cracks, or seams, were also made in the earth’s crust.

hs

10 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Cold weather came; rain filled all the crevices and
eracks of the rocks, and froze. You know how ice will
break pitchers, vases, or bottles. When water freezes, it
expands with resistless force. Of course the rocky sur-
face was split by the ice. When the ice melted, the water
formed into swift streams, carried the broken rock along ;
deposited bowlders here, gravel yonder, sand at another
place, and fine soil at still another.

Streams are steadily doing the same things to-day.
Rocks are still being broken throughout the mountain
regions by rain and ice, variation of temperature, winds,
and other agencies.

Early Plant Life. — While soil was thus being made,
lower forms of plants, like léchens and mosses, came and
fastened themselves to the rocks. The roots of plants
seem to give out an acid that eats away, or dissolves,
the rock. These low forms of plants may be seen to-day
slowly eating away old gravestones and stone walls and
buildings. Plant roots will cut furrows in the surfaces of
Hower pots. When these first plants died, they added
some humus to the soil and made it better. This fitted
the soil for higher plants. Finally, animals of the lower
kinds appeared, and when they died their bodies became
a part of the soil.

Glaciers. — At one period in the earth’s history there
was intense cold everywhere. Much of the water vapor
of the whole air fell as snow or sleet. Whole valleys were
filled with moving ice, and formed what are known as
ylaciers. One of these, which extended over part of the
northern portion of the United States, is said to have

THE MAKING OF THE SOIL 11

been a thousand feet deep and a thousand miles wide. It
moved toward the south, tearing away rocks, and cutting
away parts of hills and mountains.

Fig. 3.— GLACIER IN THE ALPS

Most of the rocks thus collected sank to the bottom of
the ice mass, and scoured the solid rock of the earth until
they ground themselves into powder. Thus enough fine
rock dust was made to cover a good part of the continent
with soil. This deposit, left after the melting of the ice,
is known as drift soil.

Stream Action. — The work of moving and sorting the
materials by the streams has never ceased. Every creek
or river moves rock, gravel, sand, or fine sediment. When

a swift stream overflows its banks, the current of the water

vi

12 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

is checked, and its gravel and sand are allowed to settle.
When the water gets farther away from the channel and
begins to run more slowly, it allows fine mud to settle. In
this way stiff, muddy soils are made.

= SSSSSS=>
SSO

aa

Ae 3
WSS aw

SS

Wind-blown Soils. — Not only do ice and running water
move soils, but in dry countries the wind blows enough
dust and sand*to build up the land several feet deep.
Streams have been filled, railroad tracks covered, and
even cities have been buried by wind-blown soil. Just
north of the Canadian River in Hemphill County, Texas,
is a beautiful example of wind-formed soil. The south-
west wind has blown away the fine particles of soil and
left great mounds of coarse sand for many miles. Farther
north finer particles settled and formed a loam soil. Still

THE MAKING OF THE SOIL 15

farther north the finest soil settled and made a silt or clay
soil.

Sedentary Soils. — While much soil has been trans-
ported from where it was first made from rock, much of
the earth’s surface is covered by soil made from the rock

CRANE Ee CRS vier i,
= For Eas y a

Lge gl
SP \ ag Wis SG yy Ly,

*s y LG LZ iy
J Ga Aa /. XG

AN i)
INS

SS

S \
SS Ww
SOS

cue
grat

Fic. 5.— TREES ASSIST IN BREAKING ROCK

lying just under the surface. The soil of much of the
black prairie land of Texas and other Southern States
was formed in this way. The lime rock is only a few
feet under the surface. White, grayish, or blue lime rock
powdered up and mixed with humus, or rotting vegetable
matter, always turns black. These soils, lying where they
were formed, are sometimes called sedentary soils. Those
moved by ice and water and wind are called transported
soils.

We

14 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

QUESTIONS

Why is it impossible to change the air so as to make it feed
plants better? What can be done to the soil to make plants
erow better? Is it often profitable to furnish plants extra water?
Is it possible to work the land in a way to make the rainfall
last longer? What is soil? What is soil made of? What do you
call the upper part of the soil, and what the lower part? What
makes the soil darker in color than the subsoil? What do you call
rotting vegetable matter in the soil? How deep do plows generally
run? What is the name of the science that teaches us the past his-
tory of the earth? What was the first condition of the surface of the
earth? How did it become cooled? What effect did ice have in
breaking up the rock of the earth’s surface? Where is soil being
made at this time? What sort of plants first grew on the rocks,
and what effect did they have? Describe how glaciers help make
rock into soil. The soil made by glaciers is called by what name?
Explain how streams sort out different kinds of soil. Besides water
and ice, name any other means by which soil is moved and sorted
out. Was the soil of the black prairies of Texas, Mississippi, and
Alabama transported, or is it lying where it was formed?

Experiment. — Heat different kinds of rock; pour water on them
while hot. Note how many crack and break and how many can be
easily powdered up. Do this at recess or after school.

In winter notice how banks of ditches, streams, etc., crumble down
after a freeze. Make a little lime by burning chalk; mix it well ina
ball of mud made of stiff clay. Let it dry, keep it, and observe it
from day to day.

Stir a quart of clay loam soil violently in a bucket of water; let the
water rest a second or two and pour the water off into another bucket
aud let it settle for an hour. Dry the settlings in both buckets and
see what kind of soil you have in each.

CHAPTER IV
KINDS OF SOIL

Sand, Clay, and Loam.— We generally know a sandy
or clay soil when we see it. Sandy soils are made up of
coarse particles of rock, and clay soils of very fine mate-
rial, having scarcely any grain at all. Clay soils may be
of any color, and are generally sticky. when wet. They
are usually richer than sandy soils, but harder to work.

A mixture of sand and clay, especially when containing
a good quantity of humus, is what is called a loam. Be-
sides, we have clay loams and sandy loams. ‘The loam
soils nearly always drain well and are easy to work; they
are usually richer than sandy soils and stand drought
better.

Then we have limy soils, sometimes called calcareous
sols. ‘They are made of rotten lime rock. All the great
black prairie belts in Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama
are covered with calcareous soil. It is stiff and sticky
when wet, but crumbles into little shotlike particles when
dry. If you mix a little lime with a small ball of sticky
clay and put it out to dry, it will crumble to powder when
it dries. Limy soils are generally of great fertility. They
often contain ten times as much plant food as sandy soils.

Arid and Semiarid Soils. —In much of West Texas and
north to the Canadian line and west to the Rocky Moun-

15
‘A

16 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

tains there is so little rainfall that the soils are called arid
or semiarid. ‘That means that they are not watered, or
only half watered.

These soils are generally loose and sandy in nature, but
are very productive when watered. ‘There is no such
thing as a poor arid soil. Soils that have plenty of rain

clarendon

Fria. 6.— Sort Divisions or TEXAS

No. 1. Coast Prairie No. 4. East Cross Timbers
** 2. Sandy and Clay Land mainly ‘‘ 5. West Cross Timbers
of the Timber Belt * 6. Red Lands
‘* 3. Lime Land “ 7. Great Plains

are called humid. The reason that arid soils are so much
richer than humid soils is that the latter have had plant
food washed, or leached, out of them all through the past
ages. Chemical analysis shows that certain dry West

KINDS OF SOIL dE

Texas soils contain twenty times as much of some of
the important elements of plant food as the pine-woods
lands of East Texas contain. Wherever these dry
lands are well irrigated, they become sources of great
wealth.

Alkali Land. —Sometimes dry lands are so full of
salts hurtful to crops that they are called alkali lands.
Alkali lands never occur in humid climates, because the
rain washes out the harmful compounds along with some
of the useful elements of plant food.

Fic. 7.— ALKALI LAND

By heavily irrigating alkali land after tile draining it,
the excess of salts hurtful to crops is washed out of it, and
it becomes very productive. . Carbonate of soda in excess
causes what is known as black alkali. Still other harmful
compounds cause what is known as white alkali..

i

Cc

18 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Geological Formations. — Looking at the map, Figure 6,
we find that the state of Texas is divided into several
belts, according to the general types of soil in each belt.

Coast Prairies. — The coast prairies, occupying a strip
of level land from thirty to sixty miles wide, are generally
a clay or clay-loam soil, with a clay subsoil. Where the
larger rivers such as the Brazos, Colorado, and Nueces
enter the coastal plains, the soils are largely made up of
the rich deposits from the streams. These soils are often
very rich in lime, and richer also in the other elements of
plant food than the rest of the coast prairies. As the
coastal prairies reach farther west and get more and more
into the dry belt, the soil becomes naturally richer; that
is, it contains larger amounts of plant food. So is the soil
deposited by the Brazos, Colorado, and Nueces rivers
richer than that deposited by the Trinity and Sabine,
because the former three rivers rise and flow through
drier and naturally more fertile sections than the latter
two. The Trinity flows through rich black land, and its
deposits are richer than those of the Sabine.

Timber Belt. — North of the coast prairies lies an im-
mense timber belt. This includes the long-leaf and short-
leaf pine areas of East Texas and the other Southern
States, and a broad strip of post-oak land extending far
southwest toward the Rio Grande. These areas are roll-
ing lands, generally made up of sand and clay. Here, as
in almost all humid sections, the subsoil generally contains
a larger proportion of clay than the top soil.

In the eastern part of this belt, where pine timber is
abundant, the land is often very sandy and seldom

KINDS OF SOIL 19

stiffer than clay loam. These pine lands are naturally
poor in plant food; but they drain well, are warm, hold
moisture well, and respond remarkably to fertilizers. By
the help of fertilizers these thin Iands produce fine crops
of fruits, vegetables, tobacco, corn, and cotton.

The large area of post-oak land mentioned above also
seems to need commercial fertilizers in order to give the
best results.

There are many small patches of lime land cropping out
in the timber belts described, but the country has not been
mapped carefully enough for us to know their extent.
There is a considerable area of line prairies comprising
parts of Washington, Lee, and other counties, just west of
the Brazos River.

Calcareous Soils. —Occupying an immense area in the
central part of Texas are the cretaceous, or lime, lands
of the state. This belt was, even before it was cultivated,
generally without timber, and hence it is called prairie.
Lime lands are usually so rich in plant food that com-
mercial fertilizers cannot be profitably used on them. If
such lands become less productive, a crop or two of clover,
grass, peas, or some other crop that will add humus to it
and loosen it up, will make it generally productive
again.

It never injures strong lime land to plow it wet, be-
cause the lime causes it to crumble into powder, as has
already been explained.

Buckshot Land. — Much of the stiff land in the river
bottoms is of this character; when wet it is stiff and
sticky, but when dry it crumbles. This kind of land in

ve

20 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

the bottoms is often called “ buckshot” land, because the
erumbs it breaks into are somewhat like shot.

Grand Prairie. — ‘The western part of the lime prairies,
known as the Fort Worth Prairie, or Grand Prairie, has
not so deep or so black a soil as the eastern part, or Black
Prairie. ‘The lime rock of the Grand Prairie is sounder
and harder, and decays more slowly. Hence, the decayed
rock, or soil, is thinner, and often has less humus, and is

Fic. 8. — FORMER INHABITANTS OF THE PLAINS

not so dark in color. The Grand Prairie is more ele-
vated, more rolling, and consequently more subject to
wash. Much of its soil, formed through the ages past
from the weathering and crumbling of the rock, has been
washed off into the streams, and much of it into the sea.
Red Lands. — North and west of the great Black and
Grand Prairie belts, and between these lime prairies and
the Great Plains, lies a large area of soils generally red or
brown in color, so far as the writer has seen, and composed

KINDS OF SOIL PH

mostly of sands, clays, and loams. This region was also
mostly treeless. ‘This area also includes light, thin soils
with occasional sections rich in lime, such as the gypsum
deposits. This section scarcely contains such great stores
of plant food as the black prairies do, but it is generally
more fertile than the East ‘Texas or South Texas timbered
lands. Lying west and north, these lands are naturally

Fic. 9. — PRESENT-DAY SCENE ON THE PLAINS

more fertile than the lands farther east and south formed
of a similar kind of rock. ‘The influence of rainfall has
already been explained. It has been also well proved that
the lands farther north do not wear and lose their fertility
as the more southern soils do. As the soils of northern
climates are frozen more of the time, their plant food is
locked up so that it cannot waste away. It rains little
as far west as West Texas in winter, when crops are not

@

22 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

growing. In East Texas and the other Southern States it
rains much in winter, when crops are not growing, and
hence the land is leached and impoverished.

Chemical analysis has frequently shown that a clay
loam soil in Wisconsin, for instance, contains several times
as much lime, phosphoric acid, potash, and nitrogen in a
form to be used by crops, as a clay loam in Mississippi.
That is, the soluble plant food in the Mississippi soil is
dissolving and washing away throughout the warm, wet
winter, while in Wisconsin the soil is locked up in ice for
perhaps six months. The Mississippi land should grow
a restorative crop in winter to keep it from becoming
poor.

Red Fruit, Truck, and Tobacco Soils. — Much of the East
Texas timber belt has sandy loam soil varying from hght

gray to a bright red in color. ‘The red color denotes iron
compounds and good natural drainage. This area pro-
duces the fine wrapper and filler tobacco of Nacogdoches
and Palestine, the tomatoes, potatoes, and other truck
crops of Jacksonville, Troupe, Henderson, Athens, Tyler,
and other points. This same area is becoming one of the
great peach-growing sections of the South. .

The Great Plains. — Lying still farther west, northwest,
and southwest of the last area described are the Great
Plains. The Plains comprise a large area of level land,
ranging from about 4000 feet high in the northwest to
about 2500 feet in the southeast. The Plains of Texas
include most of the Panhandle and extend southwest to the
Pecos River. The soils of these plains are said by geolo-
gists to have been deposited in an ancient fresh-water

KINDS OF SOIL 23

lake. The soils vary from light sands to dense, stiff clays.
In color they vary from black to red. The Plains are so
bare of timber, except in sheltered canyons, that one
might ride all day and never find a riding switch. ‘This
treeless condition is probably due to annual fires that
swept over the country. The Plains extend north to
Canada and west to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

The soils are rich, and as the people have gradually
learned to cultivate them so as to conserve the twenty or
more inches of annual rainfall of the eastern part of the
Plains, farming has made splendid progress. Fine crops
of kafir, milo, sorghum, corn, wheat, oats, melons, etc.,
are readily grown. The land is still mostly used for
grazing, but it is being rapidly cut up into small tracts
for farms.

West of the Pecos River. — This section is generally
rather mountainous and rough, but it contains many fer-
tile valleys. With irrigation these are, of course, very
productive. So far there has been no large development
of farming in this region, except in the Pecos and Rio
Grande and other river valleys. In the more elevated
mountain valleys of this region apples and grapes thrive
wonderfully under irrigation. Some day this region will
rival any other part of the world in the production of
these and other fruits.

Cross Timbers. — It will be noticed from the map that the
timber area of Texas extends up Red River far west of Fort
Worth, and one narrow belt comes southward between
Dallas and Fort Worth to Waco, and the other extends
from considerably west of Fort Worth, and reaches nearly

24 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

to Austin. ‘These are called the East and West Cross
Timbers. ‘The land in these belts is sandy, and resembles,
in every essential particular, the large post-oak belt, in
South Texas, except that it is generally more sandy. Like
the latter, the land in the cross-timbers sections will no
doubt respond profitably to the use of commercial ferti-
lizers. These lands produce fine fruits, vegetables, and
potatoes, as well as general crops. The cross-timbers
lands were at one time considered almost worthless, but
they are now held in high esteem.

Soils of the Cotton States. — Figure 10 shows the different
soils of the whole cotton belt as mapped by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture. It will be seen that the pine flats
and pine hills appear in all states touching the sea. The
lands marked “oak” also appear in most of them. These
lands are often spoken of as oak, hickory, and short-leaf
pine lands, as all these growths generally appear except
in the western part of this area in Texas, where the
short-leaf pine disappears. Black prairies occur only
in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and a little corner in
Arkansas. There are also considerable areas of lime-
prairie in Oklahoma not shown on this map. The deep
Red Lands appear only in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and
Tennessee, and the Piedmont includes the more elevated
regions of Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Alluvial
lands are usually situated along the larger rivers, espe-
cially the Mississippi. The two classes of Pine lands,
the Oak, the Piedmont, and Sand Hills, are largely ferti-
lized with commercial fertilizers, especially in the older
states. These lands are not of high natural fertility, but

OF SOIL

KINDS

SUH NYO &
RB35N19 fee

“WO Wen 2s “HK

SHLVIS CaLINo

|
|
7
|
|
j

4HL Jo 31sivud
ae
LTAG NOLLOO oe
HL JO —ONvs. Be

SVANV IOS TVOIEAL

SONY?
aay

LNOWG3id

430009
® 3NId1¥

. | anivad
VO" @3u

aidived
sovig

Siva
ANId

fe

NI stan
3Nid-

” ; ce
: ee ere

WIANTI¥

SONY?
_ASTIVA.

26 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

are very susceptible to high improvement. These and
the Red Lands are largely of the same nature. In fact,
most of the agricultural land of the earth is made up of
sands, clays, and loams not very rich in lime. Where the
sands and clays are mixed, making loams, the soil drains
well, warms up early, works easily, holds moisture well,
pays for fertilizing, and, although not naturally rich,
makes profitable farming and gardening land the world
over.

Light and Heavy Soils.—Sandy land is often called
light land, although it may weigh, when dry, one hundred
pounds to a cubic foot, while clay land weighing, say,
seventy-five pounds to a cubic foot, is called heavy land.
Sandy land is called light because it is easy to work.
Clay land is sticky and tough, and is called heavy because
it is hard to work.

Light sandy lands are warm and. good for early truck
crops, watermelons, etc., while heavy clay lands are good
for grasses, wheat, rice, and other crops. Corn, cotton,
oats, sorghum, and many other crops do equally well on
various kinds of soil, if the soils be equally rich and in
suitable condition. |

QUESTIONS

What is the difference between sandy and clay soils? Which is
generally richer, sandy soil or clay soil? What do we call a mixture
of sand and clay? What do you understand by calcareous soils?
Where do you find these? What makes such soil crumble when it
dries? Are these soils generally fertile? Define arid, semiarid, and
humid soils. Why are arid and semiarid soils generally richer than
humid soils? What are alkali lands? What can be done to get rid

KINDS OF SOIL 27

of alkali? Draw a map of Texas and mark the different geological
divisions. Describe the coast prairies. Will the soils be richer along
the Brazos River where it flows through the coast prairies than the
other coast prairie land? Explain why. What varieties of lands
are there in the main timber belts of Texas? What character of
land is found in the pine timber belt of the Southern States? Under
what circumstances are pine lands good farming lands? What do
you understand by buckshot land? What is the difference between
the eastern part of the Texas lime lands and the western part? De-
scribe the red land areas of Texas. Why is land North and West
naturally richer than the land South and East? Describe the Great
Plains. What kind of soils are found on the Great Plains? What
kind of land is found in Cross-timbers areas of Texas? Why is
saudy land called hight land ?

CE AT EV
RAINFALL AND PRODUCTIONS OF TEXAS

KigurE 11 is a map of the State of Texas, showing
the amount of annual rainfall in the different belts. In
extreme East Texas fifty or more inches fall on the aver-
age during the year; in another broad belt, forty inches
or more; in another rather narrow strip west, thirty
inches ; then in a very broad belt extending west of the
101st Meridian, twenty or more inches; west of this ten
to twenty inches fall. These lines of rainfall curve east-
ward as we go north to the Canadian line. But northern
latitudes demand less rain than southern latitudes, be-
eause of shorter summers, cooler temperatures, and less
evaporation. Western Nebraska should make as good
crops on fifteen inches of rain as Texas can on twenty
inches.

Fortunately, in West Texas and the semiarid belt
generally, where rainfall is light, a large proportion of
the total falls in the spring and summer, when it is most
likely to be needed. In East Texas and farther east,
much of the rain falls in winter.

These rain belts go far toward determining the kinds
of crops that can be grown, and will be referred to
frequently.

Elevation and Production. — Texas varies in elevation
from sea level to about five thousand feet, not considering

28

RAINFALL AND PRODUCTIONS OF TEXAS 29

the mountain peaks. Elevation influences climate quite
as much as latitude does. A small portion of Texas about
the mouth of the Rio Grande is truly tropical. All
the coast country is subtropical. Here we find the

Fig. 11.— RAINFALL MAP or TEXAS

No. 1. 50 inches and over No. 4. 20 to 30 inches
2. 40 to 50 inches “ 5, 10 to 20 inches
‘ 3. 30 to 40 inches

sugar cane, rice, bananas, and oranges, while the western
part of the Panhandle has exactly such a climate as grows
sugar beets to perfection in Colorado and Michigan. It
is mainly the elevation of the Panhandle that gives it the
temperature suitable for the sugar beet.

é

30 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Between the extremes, Texas has fine climates for wheat,
oats, corn, cotton, and a great variety of other crops.

Wheat will thrive farther west than corn, because it
requires less rain. Still farther west sorghum, kafir
corn, milo-maize, etc., are grown, largely because the
land is so dry that Indian corn is not a certain crop.
Cotton flourishes in both wet and dry sections if there
is warmth enough. Far to the west, alfalfa, when irri-
gated, revels in the abundance of plant food and the fine
mellow, porous soil. Of course, the dry, rich soils of the
Pecos, the Rio Grande, the Arkansas, and many other
‘alleys, when irrigated, grow a great variety of crops to
perfection.

QUESTIONS

Draw a map of Texas and show the different rain belts. About
how much rain falls in each belt? How many different kinds of
climate are found in Texas? What effect does elevation above sea
level have on climate? What effect does climate have on corn pro-
duction? What crops do well where it is too dry for Indian corn?

ee ee eS Se

CHAPTER VI
CHEMISTRY OF SOIL AND OF PLANTS

The Elements of Matter. —We have several times referred
to elements. An element is the simplest form of matter.
Iron and gold are elements. Oxygen is an element.
Elements may be called the A B C of matter. Just as
twenty-six letters may be combined so as to form many
thousands of words, so less than one hundred elements
unite in various ways to form every substance in exist-
ence. Some of these elements are solids, one is a liquid,
and some are gases. Iron rust is not an element. It is
a substance formed by the union of iron and oxygen.
The chemist can separate the iron rust into its elements
and thus obtain pure oxygen and metallic iron again.
Water is a substance formed by the union of oxygen
and hydrogen in the proportion of two parts, by volume,
of hydrogen to one of oxygen. The water thus formed
may be separated into these gases again. Such a
union of two or more elements is called a chemical
compound.

Chemical and Physical Changes. — When water evapo-
rates, or when it forms steam, it is not then separated
into oxygen and hydrogen, but merely divided into fine
particles of water, and each particle floats in the air. This
is a physical change in the water. The formation of ice

31

32 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

is also a physical change. Filing iron into dust produces
only a physical change, just as breaking a piece of iron in
two. Powder some chalk into dust, and you effect only a
physical or mechanical change. Each particle of dust is
as pure chalk as that you had before. If you pour some
strong vinegar on the chalk, it will boil, get hot, and con-
sume the chalk, forming new compounds in no way like
chalk or vinegar. If we cut wood, a physical or mechani-
cal change is produced. If wood burns, a chemical change
is produced. When wood burns, another chemical ele-
ment, the oxygen of the air, comes in and unites with
the elements of the wood, and additional compounds are
formed, all of which are entirely different from the origi-
nal wood.

Chemical changes completely alter the substances. A

union of oxygen and hydrogen gases forms water, a
liquid. Two gases may form a solid when united, or
they may form a liquid, or another gas. ‘Two substances,
poisonous in themselves, may unite and form a harmless
compound; or two substances, harmless in themselves,
may form a deadly poison. Common salt is made of a
metal called sodium and a gas called chlorine; both of
these elements are poisonous before uniting.

Plants as Chemists. — Plants are skillful chemists. Out
of water and carbon plants manufacture sugar, oil, woody
fiber, etc. From carbon and water, with a little nitro-
gen, phosphorus, and sulphur from the soil, plants pro-
duce the most complicated compounds found in plant and
animal bodies.

Elements found in Plants. — When plants are analyzed

CHEMISTRY OF SOIL AND OF PLANTS oo

(that is, separated into their elements), about fifteen
elements are found in them, as follows : —

carbon sulphur potassium aluminum
hydrogen phosphorus sodium silicon
oxygen magnesium iron chlorine
nitrogen calcium manganese

The sodium, manganese, aluminum, silicon, and chlorine
are perhaps not necessary for plant growth, but plants
will not grow in the absence of any one of the other ten
elements. All plants use the same elements; but they
do not use them in the same proportions.

Where Elements of Plants come From. --- Of these ten
elements necessary for plants, the air supplies the carbon ;
the water the hydrogen and oxygen, and the soil all the
others. Some plants, however, can get nitrogen from the
air circulating in the soil.

Sunshine. — The sunshine adds nothing to build up the
plants. Like a fire in the furnace of a boiler, it furnishes
heat that causes the work to be done. The warmth of
the sun causes many chemical changes to take place in
the soil and in the plant. Without the warmth and light
of the sun nothing could grow, nothing could live. When
coal burns, it gives out heat. The energy that produces
the heat in the coal was supplhed to the trees perhaps
millions of years ago by the heat and light of the sun, and
these trees afterward formed the great coal beds. A great
waterfall like Niagara produces energy to run railroad
trains and factories, and to light cities, but the heat-
energy of the sun raised the water from the sea and put

D

yi
/

3- ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

in motion the wind that carried it to the watershed of the
river; so that, ‘after all, the work of the water was made
possible by the work of the sun, the great source of all
work.

Abundance of Most Elements. — (nly two or three of
the elements of plant food furnished by the soil are ever so
scarce as to prevent the normal growth of plants. Phos-
phorus and nitrogen are most often scarce. In much of
the sandy and loamy lands of the South neither of these
elements exists in sufficient quantities to raise good crops.
Hence fertilizers are used. Potassium also may be scarce
in very sandy or very poor lands. Lime may occasionally
be needed in fertilizers, but not often.

Most of the value of commercial fertilizers or barnyard
manure is due to the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
which they contain. A wagon load of barnyard manure
may contain no more than thirty pounds of these valuable
elements, but even this amount gives it high value.

Fertilizing Elements found Combined. — These elements
are always united with other elements in soils and fer-
tilizers. About four-fifths of the air is pure nitrogen, but
in the gaseous form it is of no use to most plants. But
combined with oxygen and sodium, it forms sodium
nitrate, a solid substance soluble in water. In this com-
pound it is a splendid fertilizer.

Phosphorus burns in air, and hence cannot be used in
the pure state. Combined with oxygen, calcium, and
water to form calcium phosphate, an important constitu-
ent of bones, it is easily handled and is an _ excellent
fertilizer. Bones, which contain about twenty-five per

CHEMISTRY OF SOIL AND OF PLANTS oe

cent phosphoric acid in this form, are fine fertilizers.
Potassium will burn in water or air, and is consequently
not found pure in nature. Combined with oxygen and
sulphur into potassium sulphate, or with chlorine into
potassium chloride, it is easily handled as a fertilizer.
Wood ashes are rich in potash (one of the substances
that make soap when mixed with grease), and mainly
for this reason ashes may be good fertilizers; they also
contain some phosphoric acid and lime. Fertilizers will
be discussed in a later chapter.

QUESTIONS

What is a chemical element? Give an example of an element.
About how many elements are there? What substances do the differ-
ent elements make up? What is water made of? What are the
elements of iron rust? Are iron rust and water elements or com-
pounds? Can water be separated into its elements? If water is
frozen into ice, is that a chemical or physical change? If you powder
chalk, is that a chemical or physical change? If you pour vinegar
on powdered chalk, what sort of a change takes place? If wood burns,
what sort of a change is produced? Which makes the most complete
change in substances, chemical or physical changes? What do plants
use for making sugar, starch, and oil? Can chemists produce sugar
from these substances? Can plants produce still other substances
that chemists cannot make? How many elements are found in
plants when they are analyzed? Name some of the more impor-
tant ones. Do all plants need the same elements for growth? Do all
plants use the same elements in the same proportion? What effect
does the sun have on the growth of plants? Where did the heat of
burning coal first come from? Explain what the sun had to do with
making a waterfall. How many elements sometimes get scarce in
the land so that crops cannot grow well? What do we do to supply
these scarce elements? Name the two elements that are most often
scarce. What other two occasionally are not present in sufficient

We

36 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

quantity? Why do we not find phosphorus pure? What fertilizer
ingredient is found in bones?

Experiment. — Heat chalk and see if you can make lime. Stir a
good quantity of this lime in water and let it stand awhile. Pour
the clear liquid off and blow your breath through it, using a tube or
hollow straw. Note the milky appearance of the liquid. See if
you can settle some of this chalk and collect it.

Put some zine in a little bottle of strong hydrochloric, or muriatic,
acid, which you can get at the drug store. See if gas given off at the
mouth of the bottle will burn. If there is enough of it and the neck of
the bottle is small enough, it will burn. Being hydrogen gas, it will
form water when it burns by uniting with the oxygen of the air.” Be
careful in this experiment, as a small explosion may occur.

Heat a little ammonia; hold a rod wet with hydrochloric acid in
the gases rising and note result.

ee

en wikt ol aul Mel ON avium ie BE
THE PHYSICS OF THE SOIL: STORAGE OF WATER

Soil a Storehouse for Plant Food. — ‘I'he soil made up,
as we have seen, of ground-up rock mixed with humus,
or decaying vegetable and animal matter, is a storehouse
of plant food. Even moderately good land will have in
a foot of depth enough nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and pot-
ash to supply crops for two or three hundred years or
more, but the roots of most plants feed to a depth of four
or five feet. Since plants can use only soluble matter,
and since plant food becomes soluble very slowly, lands
having a large quantity of plant food may sometimes
become unproductive and need fertilizing.

Soil a Storehouse for Water. — ‘The soil stores rain-water
and gradually gives it up to the plants. Sometimes soils
are known to hold water enough to nourish plants during
a six months’ drought. Ordinarily crops begin to suffer
when they go without rain for three weeks or a month.
Crops need an immense amount of water. A mature
corn stalk of large size may be said to have used during
its lifetime about two barrels of water. The production
of one pound of dry hay, or other dry plant body, requires
the use of about 400 pounds of water. Most of this water
is evaporated from the leaves.

Water-holding Power of Soils. — Clay soil may often
hold forty per cent or fifty per cent of its own dry weight

O7

te
ff

38 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

of water and not be wet enough to allow any water to
drip from it. We call this water soil-moisture. If a
cubie foot of dry clay soil weighs 75 pounds, it will hold
30 to 37.5 pounds of water, and will weigh 105 to 112.5
pounds when thoroughly moist. A sandy soil will barely
hold twenty per cent of its weight of water. A cubic
foot of dry, sandy soil weighing 100 pounds will hold
20 pounds of water, and will, therefore, weigh 120
pounds when thoroughly wet. Dry humus will some-
times hold twice its weight of water. Hence, if soil
has plenty of humus in it, it will hold more water and
stand drought better. Such is the case with new
lands, or old land after peas or other restorative crops
have been grown on it; or land that has been in pasture
a few years.

A clay soil may hold in a depth of four feet ten inches
more water than does sandy soil. ‘Ten inches of water
would be equal to ten big rains. It would be supposed
that clay soils would always stand drought well, and sandy
soils would always suffer worst from drought. This is
not always so. Sandy soils generally suffer more than
clay soils, but sometimes the clay soils suffer more.
Sandy land will come nearer giving up all the water
in it than clay land will. Crops can use the water from
the sand until the supply gets as low as five per cent.
In clay, plants can hardly live after the supply of water
gets below twelve or fifteen per cent.

Clay is often so wet in early spring that roots cannot
go deep, and when a drought comes, the crops burn up.
Clay land is quite sticky when wet, and if plowed wet

THE: PHYSICS OF THE SOIL 39

and dried suddenly by the sun, will be cloddy and very
hard to get into good condition. When very dry, it
shrinks and cracks, thus breaking plant roots and caus-
ing the plants to suffer severely from drought.

A loamy soil with a good percentage of humus will
generally stand drought better than clay or sand. Loams
also drain nearly as well as sand and can be worked almost
as easily. A good loam
contains nearly all the

advantages and but few

of the disadvantages of

sandy and clay soils. NUE 3
Kinds of Water in the WE BB aN.
Soil. —In a moist soil a Nga = =

thin’ film, or sheet, of SSS
Fig. 12.— SHOWING CAPILLARY

water surrounds each
ACTION OF SOILS

grain, but there are small

spaces between the grains. That is, the soil is porous
and will admit air. The water held as moisture is called
capillary water. It moves about in the soil by capillary
action. Ina dry time water rises in this way from below
to supply plants. A lamp wick raises oil by the same
means. If you will insert some little glass tubes in a
vessel of water, you will see the water rise in the tubes.
The smaller the tubes, the higher the water will rise.
This is capillary action. Capillary water, or moisture,
is the kind of water most beneficial to crops. As smaller
elass tubes will cause water to rise higher than larger
ones, so a soil with small grains, hike clay or clay loam,
having smaller spaces between the grains, will cause

i

40 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

water to rise higher in time of drought than coarse sandy
soil will. But since the sandy soil has large grains and
large tubes, or pores, between the grains, capillary water
will move faster in sandy soil than in clay soil. We have
all noticed that rain water sinks into sandy soil faster
than it does into a clay soil.

Ground Water. — If we dig deep down into the soil, say
thirty or forty feet, we find standing water, as in wells.
This is called ground water, or the water table. Some-
times we find ground water within a foot of the surface.
When the pore spaces of the soil are thus filled with
water, air cannot enter, and roots of most plants cannot
grow. Hence the necessity of draining the land. Ground
water may remain near the surface for a short time with-
out doing much harm. In most soils, crops would never
suffer from drought if ground water remained about four
feet from the surface. Enough of the ground water
would be drawn up by capillary action to moisten the
soil and supply the crops. But when the ground water
is thirty or forty feet deep, it probably does not greatly
benefit the crops.

Hygroscopic Water. — Dust, apparently dry, contains
some water, as may be proved by heating a weighed
quantity of it to the boiling temperature of water, and
then weighing it again and noting the difference in
weight. This is called hygroscopic water. UWygroscopic
water is of little or no value to crops, as it can hardly
be used by most plants. Hay, corn, flour, cotton-seed
meal, and most other dry substances contain about ten per
cent of moisture that may be driven off by heat, but they

THE PHYSICS OF THE SOIL 41

will regain the same amount of moisture from the air
when they get cold.

Importance of Water.-— For each pound of soil food
used by crops. from 4000 to 10,000 pounds of water are
needed, most of it being evaporated from the plant
leaves. Some of this water is evaporated from the sur-
face of the ground, and a little is used to help build up
the plant. It can be seen from this how very important
it is to supply plenty of water either by irrigation or by
so working the land as to make it hold and furnish the
crops the greatest amount of rain water. Water is not
only an important food for crops, but it is the life blood
of plants, as it carries all food into and through the
plants.

Green or Succulent Plants.
table, is largely composed of water. Green grass, corn,

Every green plant, or vege-

sorghum, etc., contain seventy-five to eighty-five per cent
of water. Melons, strawberries, cucumbers, and many
other fruits and vegetables contain ninety per cent or
more of water; Irish potatoes, eighty per cent, and sweet
potatoes, seventy per cent. Hay, even when dry enough
to stack or house, contains thirty to thirty-five per cent
of water. You have noticed corn and sorghum wilt and
droop on a hot afternoon; this is because the water is
evaporating from the leaves faster than the roots can take
it in from the soil. At night evaporation is not so fast,
and the roots catch up with their work.

Wet Soils too Cold. —In speaking of water for crops, we
mean water in the form of capillary moisture. A soil full .
of standing water will neither water nor feed most crops

2

42 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

to the best advantage, because it is too cold. All soils in
our climate are too cold in early spring, and crops cannot
grow until the ground is warmed by the heat of the sun.
Even seeds will not sprout or germinate until the ground

has been somewhat warmed. It requires five times as much

Fic. 15.—STIRRING SOIL WHEN WET AND WHEN IN RIGHT CONDITION

heat to warm a pound of water one degree as it does to
warm a pound of moist, sandy soil one degree. Therefore,
if a soil is full of water, it takes a long time for the sun
to warm it up. Hence, land in sections where winter
‘ainfall is heavy should. be handled in a way to get rid of
water before the spring.

Evaporation produces Cold. — Again you have noticed
that wet clothes in windy weather make you very cold.
The water evaporates, or dries off, and takes up the heat

THE PHYSICS OF THE SOIL 43

from your body. ‘That makes you cold. So a soil full of
water has been found to lose from its surface by evapora-
tion several times as much water as a soil that contains
only the proper amount of moisture. Therefore the wet
soil will be much colder than a moist soil.

A very wet soil has sometimes been observed to evapo-
rate an inch depth of water a week more than a moist soil.
The heat required to evaporate this amount of water from
an acre of land would melt 600 tons of ice. The cold
produced by evaporating this quantity of water would
convert over 500 tons of well-water into ice. Hence it
is that a thermometer stuck into a very wet soil often
shows a temperature 10 degrees lower than it does when
put into a well-drained soil of the same kind. It need
not be wondered at, then, that corn and cotton will fre-
quently remain small and yellow on undrained soil. Corn
and cotton will not grow at 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but
they grow well at 60 degrees. A plant may stand with
its roots bathed in water and be able to use but little of
it. In fact, the large amount of water in the soil, and
the evaporation from it, may make the plant so cold that
its sap will not flow. To prevent evaporation of moisture
insummer and make crops stand drought, land is cultivated.
The compact condition of the soil is broken so moisture
cannot be drawn up to the surface. Cultivating three
inches deep saves the moisture better than a less depth.

Least Amount of Water for Good Crops. —It has been
found that about the least amount of water required to
make crops is four inches in depth for each ton of dry
material in the crop. On the Great Plains, where about

/

44 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

12 or 15 inches of rain can generally be counted on dur-
ing the growing season, the land may be so worked that
it will make three or four tons of hay to the acre; and if
the rainfall were conserved in the best manner, probably
50 or 60 bushels of corn could be made to the acre. To
furnish water to plants we want a moist soil but not a
wet one.

Drainage is such an unportant question that it will be
discussed in a separate chapter, as will also the subject of
cultivation as a means of saving moisture.

Dark-colored Soils Warm. — Of soils of the same com-
position and equally well drained, those that are dark in
color will get warm earlier in the spring. You have
noticed that black clothes are much warmer in the sun-
shine than light-colored clothes. The dark-colored cloth-
ing allows the sun’s heat to penetrate and reach the body,
while white clothing reflects the heat. So dark soils
absorb the sun’s heat more readily than do light-colored
soils.

QUESTIONS

Where is the great storehouse of plant food? Suppose all the nitro-
gen, phosphoric acid, and potash in the land could be used by crops,
would the land make very many crops? Why do lands become ex-
hausted ? How is water for plants kept over from one rain to another?
How long do plants sometimes do without rain? How long can most
field crops do without rain and not suffer? How much water will a
big corn stalk use during its lifetime? To produce a pound of dry
hay, how much water must the plants use? Which will hold the most
water, clay land or sandy land? Why will plenty of humus in the
land make it hold water better? Which will give up its water to plants
most completely, clay land or sandy land? Why will clay land not
always stand drought better than sandy land? Explain what is meant

Poh PAYS(Cs: OF -THE SOIL 45

by capillary water in the soil. What do you understand by the ground
water of the soil? How near the surface does the ground water
have to come to be harmful? How is ground water got rid of ?
Explain hygroscopic water. How could you compare the water
plants use to the blood in our bodies? What is a succulent plant ?
How much of watermelons and strawberries is water? How much
more heat will it take to warm a pound of water than a pound of soil ?
What other reason is there for wet soil to be cold? To evaporate an
inch of water from an acre would use up how much heat? How much
higher temperature can often be found in drained than in undrained
soil? About how many inches of rain are required to make a ton of
dry crop on an acre? Why are dark-colored soils warmer than light-
colored soils ?

Experiment. — Grow a stalk of corn or other vigorous plant in a
box of soil at the schoolhouse or at home. Cover the top of the soil
with a piece of blanket or some material to see that water cannot
evaporate from the surface. Weigh box and contents from day to
day, and note losses in weight, which will represent evaporation froim
the corn leaves. Fill lamp chimneys as shown in Fig. 12 with different
kinds of dry soil. Tie cloth over each and immerse ends;in pan of
water and watch rise of capillary water in each.

Grow corn or other plants in cans with no drainage holes, and in
cans with holes in the bottom. Water both liberally and note results.

Weigh potatoes, green grass, fruits, ete. Slice and dry them.
Note losses and calculate percentage of water originally contained.

Weigh different kinds of well-dried soil after being put into pots.
Wet them and let excess of water drip as long as it will. Then weigh
again and note percentage and amount of water each kind holds.

Keep one box of soil excessively wet for some days and another
box about right for growing plants. Keep them in the sun. Insert
a thermometer three inches deep in each soil at midday and at
8 o’elock in the morning and note differences. Allow a crust to form
on two boxes or pots of soil. Spread an inch layer of coarse dry sand
on one. Weigh each from day to day and see which one loses
moisture most rapidly.

All of the above are suitable school exercises.

CHAPTER VIII
BACTERIA, OR GERM LIFE

Work of Bacteria. — As is well known, little forms of
life, plant and animal, too small to be seen except with a
powerful microscope, play an important part in nature’s
processes. ‘The souring of milk is caused by millions of
little living beings. The
decay of fruit and the
spoiling of meat are also
caused by minute forms
of plant life. Some kinds
of bacterial life bring
disease, and doubtless
other kinds assist us to
get well. It is entirely

likely that we have more
Fig. 14.— DIFFERENT BACTERIA friends than enemies
ete are among these little beings,
and without them we could not live long. Only a year
or two ago the French people took a vote on whom they
regarded the greatest man that ever lived. A man named
Pasteur was voted first, and Napoleon stood seventh. Pas-
teur’s fame comes from his study of microscopic life. He
learned to prevent and cure by inoculation human and
animal plagues. He learned to prevent charbon and
rinderpest of cattle and to cure hydrophobia of man.
46

BACTERIA, OR GERM LIFE +7

Influence on Industries. — Putting up fruit and sirup
in cans is nerely heating and killing the germ life in
the material to be canned, and then sealing it up so the
air cannot enter and bring inore germs into it. Meats,
milk, vegetables, fruits, and most of the products lkely
to spoil may be preserved in this way. In making bread,
wine, vinegar, alcohol, cheese, butter, and in many other
industrial processes of the household, the farm, and the
factory, we are directly dependent on our little servants,
the bacteria.

Effects on Soils and Manures. — It has long been known
that the bacteria play an important part in making soils
productive, and in bringing about changes in animal ma-
nures. ‘The organic matter, the remains of plant and
animal bodies, in the soil, rots because it is attacked and
eaten by myriads of microscopic beings. As this organic
matter decays, it furnishes plant food to the erowing crop.
Many other chemical changes that take place in the land
are helped or hindered in the same way. Barnyard
manure is full of germ life. It has often been noticed
that manure loses half its value in six months’ time.
Certain bacteria attack it, and convert its nitrogen into
nitric acid, which washes away in the rain water, or into
carbonate of ammonia, which escapes into the air. The
odor coming from stables is often caused by escaping car-
bonate of ammonia. '

The best way to prevent germ life from destroying
so much of the value of manure is to keep the manure
well packed. An experiment in stall-feeding steers, at
the Pennsylvania Experiment Station many years ago,

i

48 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

showed that when the manure remained in the stable many

months and became thoroughly packed, only about five or

six per cent of the plant food was lost. When manure
can be put out on the land and plowed
under, the soil will catch and hold
much plant food that would other-
wise be lost.

Bacteria on Legumes. — As far back
as the time of the Romans and the
Greeks, it was known that clover,
beans, and some other crops made
the land they grew on better, but it
was not known how these plants
made the improvement. It was sus-
pected, and even asserted, about half

_ a century ago, that these plants took
in nitrogen of the air through the
leaves. This was proved to be un-
true. Yet these lecumes, cor ped
plants, were always rich in nitrogen
and left the soil rich in it. Some
said they sent deep roots into the

subsoil and dissolved nitrogenous

| compounds and other plant food,
Fic. 15.—Tupercirs “0d brought them up near the surface.
on Roots or LecumMEsS Finally it was proved that plants
do get nitrogen from the air, but not through their leaves.
They get it through their roots, and by the help, in a
remarkable way, of bacteria that live on the roots. If
you will dig up a cowpea or a peanut plant, you will find

BACTERIA, OR GERM LIFE 49

any number of little warts, or tubercles, on the roots.
These knots are the homes of bacteria that help the host
plant to get nitrogen. Corn, oats, cotton, potatoes, and
most crops cannot develop these bacteria on their roots,
and hence cannot use the free nitrogen in the air.

A crop of cowpeas, peanuts, or velvet beans grown on
a single acre has often been found to contain 200 pounds
of nitrogen in its fruit, leaves, stems, and roots. A ton
of cotton-seed meal does not contain so much nitrogen.
Of course, when such a crop is plowed under and rots,
the land is greatly enriched.’ Even when the crop is not
plowed under, but saved for hay, the roots, stems, and
fallen leaves will enrich the land. _

The same kind of bacteria will grow only on closely
related kinds of plants. So it is often found that when a
legume is planted for the first time in a neighborhood,
it is well to sprinkle the land with soil that has already
successfully grown this kind of plant or a kind closely
related to it. This supplies the new land with germs
which inoculate the plant and enable it to produce a
better crop.

The effects of restorative crops on the land will be
more fully discussed in a chapter on rotation of crops.

Plant Diseases. — These little bacteria and fungi (singu-
lar fungus) cause most plant diseases. Cotton rust, grain
rust, pear blight, peach curl, tomato blight, and many
other diseases are caused by fungi of different kinds.
Some of these are very difficult to treat. Many fungous
diseases are checked in a great measure by spraying with
Bordeaux mixture. Some strains of crops are resistant

"a

E

50 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

to these diseases. The red oat is much more resistant
to rust than other kinds. A strain of sea-island cotton
resistant to cotton wilt is said to have been found. In
the tropics a small wild tomato grows with perfect free-
dom from disease, where the finer cultivated kinds usually
fail on account of blight. Root rot of cotton is a serious
matter in much of Texas and in other sections. The crop
dies in patches. Alfalfa, peanuts, peas, different fruit
trees, and many weeds are subject to it. The fungus
causing it does not live on the roots of sorghum, corn,
wheat, oats, etc. Therefore, rotation with these crops is
about the only partial remedy known. Melon wilt and
cotton wilt are two other fungous diseases that cause great
loss in some sections.

Rotation of crops and burning of diseased plants are
measures adopted to prevent the spread of all fungous dis-
eases. The treatments for many plant diseases are given
in the Appendix.

QUESTIONS

What do you understand by bacteria? What causes the souring of
milk? Is germ life harmful or beneficial to us? What is necessary
in order to preserve fruit? Is germ life of much importance in the
arts and industries? Is it of any importance in soils and manures?
By what means are peas and other crops enabled to enrich the land?
How much nitrogen will a big crop of peas or peanuts add to an acre
of land? Will all kinds of bacteria grow on all kinds of leguminous
crops? What causes grain rust? Are there any grains resistant to
rust? What causes potatoes to rot? Why should cut or bruised
potatoes not be mixed with sound ones? What about root rot of
cotton? What other plants does it attack? What plants are not
attacked by this fungus? How can one partly get rid of root rot?
What other fungous diseases of cotton are mentioned? What disease
of melons ?

BACTERIA, OR GERM LIFE ol

Experiment. — Dig up peas, peanuts, and other pod-bearing plants,
bring them to the schoolhouse, and examine little tubercles on roots.
Perhaps the County Superintendent could acquire a large microscope
and let the schools have it by turns. In this case examine germs in
milk, water, etc. It will be most interesting. Cut sweet potatoes at
home, and inoculate with germs of rotting potatoes and note effects.

CHAPTER IX
THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS

Plant Families. — botany, the science which deseribes
plants, divides all plants into great tribes, having certain
degrees of relationship or resemblance. Corn, sorghum,
sugar cane, oats, wheat, rice, grasses, etc., are put Into: Hi
large tribe, because they all have leaves somewhat alike,
and grow somewhat in the same way. ‘This large tribe is
again divided into grains and grasses. Some of the mem-
bers of this large family are very closely related, as oats,
wheat, barley, and rye. Sorghum and Johnson grass are
about first cousins, while milo-maize and kafir corn are
something like double first cousins, or probably as close
kin as brothers.

Another large family of plants bears seed in pods.
Most of these plants support on their roots bacteria that
enable them to feed on nitrogen from the air, as you have
already learned. ‘This family includes all the clovers,
alfalfa, beans, peas, peanuts, beggar weed, and various
other plants. The cowpea is more closely related to the
bean than to the garden or English pea. This family
of plants is often called The Legumes.

Cotton and okra belong to another big family, and are
rather closely related. Of the fruit trees, peaches and
plums are likewise closely akin: also apples and pears.

52

THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS 03

Fruit trees closely enough related may be grafted on to
each other.

Genus, Species, and Varieties. — While a number of
plants somewhat alike are said to belong to a family, or
tribe, these tribes are divided into groups still more closely
related. Each of these smaller groups is called a genus.
The different kinds of clover belong to the genus
Trifolium, or three-leaved plants. Each genus is divided
into still smaller groups whose members are still more
closely related to each other. Each of these groups is
called a species. Sorghum and Johnson grass are different
species of the same genus. ‘Then we have varieties of the
same plant. Short-limbed cotton and long-limbed cotton
are different varieties. Different varieties of a plant
may be said to be as closely related to each other as
brothers and sisters. (See Appendix for further descrip-
tion of the plant families. )

Length of Life. — Plants that grow on from year to
year, like fruit or forest trees, are called perennial plants.
So are plants that keep coming up from the same roots,
like Johnson grass and Bermuda grass. Plants like cotton
and corn, that die, root and branch, each year, and have
to come up from seed again, are called annuals. It is
true, cotton is a perennial in the tropics, and lives and
grows for many years, getting as large as plum trees.
Certain other plants grow two years and make seed the
second year and die. These are dbiennzals. Turnips,
beets, and melilotus, or sweet clover, are biennials.

Storage of Plant Food. — Biennial plants generally store
up the first year a supply of rich food in their roots, so

A

ot ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

they grow very rapidly the second year. Perennials store
up in their twigs and buds food that causes very rapid
growth of young leaves the next spring. So all plants
store food in their seed for the use of the young plants
until the latter can take root. Irish potatoes may grow
a foot high from the food in the seed potato. It has been
proved that if large pieces of Irish potatoes are planted,
much better yields are secured than when the seed pota-
toes are cut into small pieces. ‘That is, the young plants,
being better fed, get a better start and grow more vigor-
ously if big pieces of seed are planted.

Sugar cane, of course, has a large store of sugar and
other food in the stalk planted. The young plant can
grow a long time just by feeding on this seed stalk. So
in the East Indies, where people want time to gather an-
other crop from the land, and yet want the sugar cane
early, they start the cane in beds and then transplant the
mother stalks bearing the young cane when the other
crop has been removed and the land prepared. ‘To
lengthen the short growing season in the Gulf States,

cane might be sprouted under glass or cloth and trans- |

planted in the same way. Even a mustard seed and a
tobacco seed contain some food to start the young plant
off.

Plants, if they had intelligence and speech, would tell
us they do not store food for us, but for their own off-
spring. The sap in the sugar maple, sugar cane, and
sugar beet, that we take to make sugar, is stored there to
support new plants and new growth; so of the starch and
other substances in rice, corn, wheat, and barley seed.

THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS ay)

The rich protein compounds in beans, peanuts, and cotton
seed are primarily to support young plants. In one sense we
are robbers of the plant kingdom, and must be in order to live.

Roots, Stems, and Leaves. — Plants have roots to hold
them upright in the soil and to gather moisture and food
from the soil. The stems serve to hold the leaves up to
sun and air. The stems, as you have seen, also contain |
little channels through which plant food and water are |
carried from the roots upward to the leaves. Then the
finished chemical compounds made by the leaves pass
back into every part of the plant. The leaves, as we
have seen, give off water, and take in carbonic acid gas.

Plants as Chemists. —
By means of the chloro-
phyl, or green coloring
matter, and sunlight, the
leaf is able to make starch
out of carbon and water.
No human chemist can do
this. Then the plant

readily turns its starch
into sugar. Chemists can
perform this feat, but they
cannot turn sugar back
into starch. The plant
candothis. To the starch
or sugar the plant makes,
it adds a hlttle sulphur,

phosphorus, and nitrogen,
which come up in the soil Fic. 16.— Frsrous Roots oF Corn

ob ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

water, and a compound called protein is made. Chemists
cannot make this, and without it in our food we could not
live. Protein will be discussed later under the subject of
Feeding Animals.

Kinds of Roots. — Plants are often spoken of as having
either fibrous or tap roots. Corn and oats and wheat
have fibrous roots. Cotton has a tap root, and of course
has many small fibrous roots branching out from this main
tap root. The smaller roots. of plants are the feeding
roots, and even the smallest roots that can be seen with
the unaided eye are covered with small hairs that take
in moisture and food from the soil.

Length of Roots. — Plant roots grow to a much greater
length than one would suppose. Most plants have roots
longer than the height of the plant. We often see cotton
or corn injured at a distance of forty yards or more from a
large green tree. The tree is not shading the crop for
any great distance, as some people think. The little
roots of the tree are stealing food and moisture from
the crop. This injury is greatest in time of drought. It
has been estimated that if all the roots of a hill of corn
were placed in a straight line, they would reach a mile.
Plant roots often go many feet deep, but the majority
of the feeding roots of farm and garden crops will
nearly always be found in the upper six inches of the
soil.

Osmosis of Plants. —If a bladder containing strong
salt water be suspended in a vessel of pure water, the
pure water will pass through the bladder rather rapidly,
and some of the salt water will pass out into the vessel.

THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS oT

The most rapid movement will be into the bladder toward
the strong solution. The mixing of lquids through a
membrane like this is called the principle of osmosis.
This is the way in which plant roots take in food and
water from the soil. Water containing dissolved salts is
inside the plant, and water contain-
ing salts is also about the roots in
the soil. As the leaves of the plant
evaporate water, the liquid inside
becomes stronger than that outside.
Hence the weaker liquid outside be-
gins to flow through the cell walls
of the roots into the plant and the ©
liquid inside passes out less rapidly.
As water continues to evaporate from
the leaves, the stronger solution will
be in the leaves and the weaker one
in the roots where the soil water is
entering. Hence the weaker solu-
tions move upward from cell to cell.
This, at least, partially accounts for
the movement of sap in plants.

Beans when soaked swell up until

they burst. This is due to the prin- 45,, Pioneers
ciple of osmosis. ‘The weaker liquid OsmosIs

flows through the skin of the bean. A shriveled piece of
Irish potato will take in water when soaked and become
plump. But if soaked in strong salt water, the potato
will become still more shriveled, because the juices of the
potato flow outward to the strong solution.

ie

58 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

To show the pressure of the flow of sap, cut a small
grapevine and fit a rubber tube over it and put a glass
tube in the other end of the
rubber tube. The pressure
will raise water in the glass
tube many feet high.

Fertilization of Plants. —
Plants, in order to make seed,

have flowers. A perfect flower
FEUMAg Se OS Ga ie eel eet CaS Ratan: producing a little
yellow powder called pollen,
and a pistil containing the little seed. In order to become
fertile and make good seed, some of the pollen must
reach the little seed. See Figure 19 for the names of the
different parts of the
flower. One part of the
corn flower is represented
by the shoot and _ silks,
the other part by the
tassel. As is well known,
no grain is made unless
the pollen of the tassel
falls on the silk of the
corn. . The ears of corn

fill much better in a large Fic. 19.— Lity oF THE VALLEY, SHOW-

field than where: there are 4 18 3 SUAMaNs 222 oe
IN THE CENTER

only a few stalks. In the

latter case, the pollen is blown off and does not reach the

silks. Corn of different varieties will sometimes mix

even when the fields are some distance apart; this is

ee =e eee

THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS

due to the fact that the pollen is blown from one field
to the other. In order to be sure of effecting the most
rapid improvement by selecting seed corn, the shoots of
the desirable kind should be covered with paper bags
before the silks appear, and then the silks should be
dusted artificially with the pollen from the same stalk,
or an equally desirable one.

Still other plants have flowers containing pistils on one
plant and the flowers containing the stamens on another.
Often two varieties of strawberries must be planted close
together on this account. Date palms had been growing
on the Texas coast for a long time and had borne no fruit.
It was supposed they would not bear in this climate.
Finally, some one brought flowers from palms growing in
Mexico and fertilized those on the Texas trees, and as fine
dates as could be desired were produced.

Work of Insects. — Insects aid in carrying pollen and
fertilizing flowers. When cucumbers are grown in hot-
houses in winter, it has been found that fertilization can-
not be done so well by hand, and bees have been introduced
into the hothouses for the purpose. ‘The bee or other
insect gets pollen on its body and carries it to the next
flower visited. The showy colors and the sweet perfume
of flowers, it is said, are nature’s ways of attracting insect
visitors to the flowers. In the Philippine Islands and
Borneo, wherever a few flowers are cultivated, sticks are
stuck up with eggshells put on top of them, often giving
the appearance of numerous flowers. The people say that
the eggshells make the flowers grow better. Whether
this is a useless notion, or whether the eggshells may

&

60 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

help attract the few insects that visit flowers there, the
writer has often wondered.

Crossing and Hybridizing. — Plants of different varie-
ties may be crossed by fertilizing the flowers of one vari-
ety with the pollen of another. Plants of different species
may often be crossed, and the resulting plant is called a
hybrid. Crossing and hybridizing sometimes produce
superior plants, but the chances are that the new plants
will be no better than the originals. As a rule the prac-
tical farmer and gardener had best leave crossing and
hybridizing on a large scale to the professional plant
breeders. To every hybrid or cross that is superior to
the parent plants, there are hundreds that are inferior.

>

QUESTIONS

What is the name of the science that describes plants? How are
plants classified? Name a near relative of sorghum. Name a dis-
tant relative of corn. Name a relative of the cowpea and one of
cotton. Can plants not related to each other be grafted together ?
Are the plants in a species or in a genus more closely related? What
is an annual plant? What is a perennial and what is a_ biennial
plant? What provision is made by all plants in the fall for rapid
growth next spring? What is the reason that big pieces of Irish
potatoes will yield more when planted than small pieces will?
What does the sugar-cane plant feed on when young? In what
way do we rob plants? Of what use are roots to plants? Of
what use are stems and leaves? Can chemists make sugar out
of starch, and can they make starch out of sugar? Can plants
do these things? What other compound in plants is necessary for
animal life? Can human chemists make this compound? What
two kinds of roots do plants have? Give examples of plants
that have both kinds of roots. How long are the roots of a
large tree? Ixplain the injury a tree will do to a crop in time of

THE BOTANY OF OUR CROPS 61

drought. How deep do plant roots feed? Explain the principle of
Osmosis, or the mixing of liquids through a membrane. Explain
how the principle of Osmosis enables plants to get food from the soil.
What will happen if a shriveled Irish potato is soaked in salt water ?
What is a flower? What are the principal parts of a flower? Where
are the different parts of the Indian corn flower situated? What
would happen if all the tassels of corn were cut off? If you wish to
be sure that an ear of corn would not mix with other corn, what
would you do? Why do people sometimes have to plant two kinds of
strawberries near each other? Why would the date palm not bear
fruit in Texas, and what was done to make it fruitful? Of what use
are insects to plants? Of what use are the pretty colors of flowers?
What do we mean by “crossing” plants ?

Experiment. — Plant on the farm at home one row of corn from
nubbins and a row from fine ears, and see if there is a great differ-
ence in yield. Report next session for the benefit of the school.

Plant at the proper season at home a few single eyes of Irish
potatoes, cutting each eye off with a very small, thin piece of potato.
Then plant pieces as big as walmuts, with all eyes cut out but one on
each piece. Note how much better plants the latter will make. Make
report next session.

Watch a few stalks of corn growing in garden, and if you wish
take out all the tassels when they first appear. Note that few grains
or none at all will be. made.

CHAP x

GRAFTING AND BUDDING

MAny plants do not produce offspring ike themselves
when their seed are planted. This is true of peaches,
apples, plums, pecans, and other fruit-bearing trees. You
may plant a seed from ever so fine a peach, and you are
nearly certain to get a tree bearing inferior fruit. If you
plant the finest paper-shell pecan, the chances are you
will get a small, hard nut. But if a bud or graft be
taken from a good kind of tree and made to live and grow
on a stock of any kind, it will always bear fruit like the
tree from which it was taken.

Budding. — Figure 20 shows the common method of
budding. Budding must be done in summer when the
bark slips readily. Peaches, plums, and cherries are
generally budded rather than grafted. Young seedling
trees are grown in large numbers, and buds of desir-
able kinds put under the bark of the seedling plant
near the ground. In the Southern States peaches are
often budded in June and September. When the June
bud is found to live, the top of the stock is broken
above the bud and allowed to remain attached until
the bud begins to grow vigorously; the broken top is
then entirely cut off, and the new bud makes the tree.
The tops of the stocks budded in September are not cut

62

GRAFTING AND BUDDING 63

away until the following spring. The Japanese per-
simmon may be budded into seedlings of the common
persimmon grown in the same way as peach seedlings.
Figure 21 shows the ring method of budding pecans
and oranges commonly practiced in the South. Buds of
the finest kinds of pecans may be inserted in pecan seed-
lings or hickories. If the hickory or pecan trees on which
the grafting is to be done are old, the limbs and tops

Fic. 20.— STEPS IN BUDDING

a. Cuts in Stock d. Bud Inserted
b. Bark Slipped Away -e. Bark Wrapped
c. Bud f. Bud making New Tree

should be cut off in the winter so that a new growth will
be put forth. Several buds are inserted in the new wood
the following summer, and then fine kinds of pecans will
be produced in two or three years (see Fig. 24).
Satsuma orange buds are grafted into a hardy, worth-
less orange, called the trifoliata, grown from seed. As
the sap ceases to flow vigorously in this trifoliata stock
in the fall, the trees become so nearly dormant that they
are not much affected by cold. Hence we have a hardy

We
/

f

64 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

and valuable orange for South Texas, Louisiana, and

other Southern States, where the orange industry is one

(ib ager,

Fic. 21.— Rinc BUDDING FOR ORANGES AND
PECANS

of great promise and
is already assuming
commercial —propor-
tions.

Grafting. — Apples
and pears are. more
often grafted than
budded. Seeds are
planted and many
young plants pro-
duced. . Uhese storm
the stock on which
cuttings, or scions of
eood varieties, are
grafted. Figure ~ 22
shows different
methods of grafting.
Grafting is generally
done in winter and
very early spring.
The main caution to
be observed is to see
that the inner bark

of the stock and scion exactly join for at least a part of
the way around, so that the sap can flow back and forth.
Different species of plants may be grafted or budded

on each other, as apples, pears, and quinces. This is also

true of cherries, peaches, and plums, and with pecans and

GRAFTING AND BUDDING 65

hickories. Better results are often secured when
the stock and the scion are of the same species.

=
——————— == = ———
SSS; = ae : ———— ss

a. Scion; b. Stock

Many people think peaches and
apples can be grafted or budded on
each other. That is not true.
+ Plants must be rather closely related
) to be grafted and budded together.
} In almost every neighborhood
there are men who are skilled in budding and
grafting. It is suggested that each pupil
seek an opportunity to witness the art of
budding and grafting, and by a little prac-
tice, learn to do it.

Cuttings and Layering.—It is often not
F Fe i . ‘ :
1 a Gaee necessary to bud or graft in order to propa-

DertH TO gate and multiply plants. Many plant cut-

PLANT Fie ~ : i I
Curtme tings simply stuck down in favorable sol

us

F

66 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

will live and grow. Figs are fairly easily multiplied
in this way by planting cuttings in winter or early spring.
The limbs of other
plants may be
brought down to the
ground and covered,
and when they take
root, they may be
set out as any other

plant. This is called
layering. Grapes are
often propagated in
this way.

In the tropics most
plants grow from
cuttings set in the
early part of the
wet season. There
one may often see a
ball of mud tied toa
limb which has been
eut half in two, or

had the bark cut.

Fic. 24.— OnLp PECAN TREE GROWING PAPER-
SHELL Bups

This is done to en-
courage rooting at
that point. This method is about the same as ordinary —
layering.

Runners. — Many plants are multiplied by root stocks
or runners. The blackberries and raspberries put up
numerous plants from the roots. They are propagated

GRAFTING AND BUDDING 67

by planting pieces of roots. Strawberries send out run-
ners that root and make new plants. Bermuda grass,
in this climate, is propagated from the trailing stems that
root at each joint. It may also be produced from seed
got from the tropics. Johnson grass, one of our most
dreaded pests, grows from seed and from large, fleshy,
jointed underground stems, usually called roots.

QUESTIONS

Suppose you plant the seed of fine peaches, will they always pro-
duce trees having fine fruit? What is necessary, then, in order to re-
produce fine peach trees? What other fruits will not come true from
seed? What two methods do we have of multiplying such fruits?
Describe budding. Describe different methods of grafting. How
are oranges propagated in the Gulf States? Do we graft or bud
apples and pears? At what time of year is budding done? What
time of year is grafting done? How are figs propagated? How are
erapes propagated? How do we propagate strawberries, blackberries,
and raspberries ?

Experiment. — Practice grafting and budding and see what success
you have.

CHAPTER XI
SEED SELECTION

PEOPLE appear to believe in selecting the best seed for
planting and the best animals for breeding. Yet, as a
rule, but a half-hearted effort is made, especially in regard
to seed selection. It is true, a great deal of money has
been spent for seed which are supposed to represent
years of careful selection, and which are claimed to have
a producing power two or three times as great as the
seed usually planted. These purchases have generally
been disappointing; the seed in many cases have proved
to be not so good as some of those planted for years in
the purchasers’ neighborhood.

Do Seed run Out ?— It is not true, certainly with most
crops, that seed “run out,” and that new seed from a
distance must be brought in. In fact, it has been
generally found that seed of a certain variety of crop
erown in any locality will be better for that locality
than those brought in from a distance. Seed grown in a
locality for a number of years go through a process of
adaptation and natural selection, better suiting the crop
to its conditions. Of course the farmer can hasten this
adaptation by intelligent artificial selection of planting
seed. In this way corn has been developed to grow
farther north, wheat to suit certain sections and give

68

SEED SELECTION Ov)

better yields; cotton is being developed to make fair
crops ahead of the boll weevil, etc. Other crops have
been adapted to resist disease. In a measure, also,
varieties of crops have been produced to suit different
types of soil, to vary in their fertilizer requirements,
resistance to excessive wet or dry weather, etc.

Plants resemble Parents. — In a general sense, a plant
is like its parents. It is not true, however, that seed from
a nearly perfect ear of corn will, of necessity, produce only
stalks having perfect ears. A
fine ear of corn may have been
fertilized (pollenized) by one
bearing a little nubbin. The
nubbin may have been pollenized
by the stalk having the fine ear.
In that case the nubbin would

make as good seed as the fine

Fig. 25. — TESTING SEED

ear, if the grains are as sound
and individually as large. Even if the fine ear is crossed
with another stalk having a fine ear, and the nubbin with
a stalk having a nubbin, it is not at all likely that the
seed will be so widely different in productive power
when planted as the parent plants were. Each grain
has in it not only the strain of its immediate parents,
but of a hundred generations of parents. One or two
generations of nubbins, or even almost barren stalks
as ancestors of one parent, caused by poor soil, poor
culture, or drought, will not be likely seriously to reduce
the yield when planted, if good conditions are again
provided.

i

TO ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

The Farmer his Own Seedsman. — As far as possible
every farmer should select his seed in his own neighbor-
hood or on his own farm.. He should select seed with
a view of obtaining a size and type of plant that suits the
soil and seasons of his locality. It is highly probable that
all the desirable qualities cannot be combined in any one
type of cotton, for example. We should like earliness,
hardiness, prolificness, high per cent of lint, large bolls,
and long staple. It is probable that some of these quali-
ties are antagonistic to each other, and consequently all
of them can never be fully attained in one variety. But
large bolls, earliness, and at least fair prolificness, can be
obtained in short staple cotton. This has been proved
many times.

Sound, Heavy Seed. — The farmer should see to it that
only sound, heavy seed are saved. The Department of
Agriculture at Washington has devised a little machine
to separate light cotton seed from heavy, plump seed.
The latter, in a planting test, gave a much better yield
than unseparated seed. Good stands of all crops are
necessary in order to make good yields. Seed corn in
the corn-growing states is often unsound, and the poor
stand resulting cuts off the yield several bushels per
acre. Of course good, sound, heavy seed of all kinds
should be insisted on when buying. As all seed lose
their vitality with age, new seed should be demanded.
Seed bought should be subjected to a germination test.
That is, one hundred average seed should be kept under a
moist cloth, or in moist sand, at a temperature suitable to

germination, to see how many are good.

SEED SELECTION ie

Weed Seeds. —In buying alfalfa, clover, wheat, oats,
and many other seeds, one should be on his guard against
introducing the seed of noxious weeds. In examining
many samples of alfalfa seed brought into Texas, the
Experiment Station has found large percentages of dod-
der, Russian thistle, dock, and other exceedingly bad

Fic. 26.— PURE AND IMPURE ALFALFA SEED, MAGNIFIED

weeds. Oats and wheat are very likely to carry Johnson-
grass seed, when grown in sections where that grass
exists. It would be advisable to have a microscopic
examination made of all seed that are likely to have
mixed with them the seeds of harmful weeds. No doubt
the experiment stations and agricultural colleges of all
the states will do this work free of charge.

Watching for Sports. — The farmer, by careful watching
for just the type of plant wanted, and selecting, keeping
pure, and planting, can accomplish much more than by

/

(2 - KLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

artificially stimulating big yields and depending on these
seed to make big yields. A new type of plant is called
a sport. Sports do not.always breed true, but they often
do, and thus produce new varieties. An extraordinary
crop secured by high fertilizing, good seasons, etc., will
not be likely to afford better seed than a crop which has
made a poor yield on account of unfavorable conditions.
The large yields of many of the high-priced seed which
are sold are due rather to high fertilizing than to special
merit in the seed.

Dr. de Vries and Dr. Nillson, quite noted European
plant breeders, pronounced the plan of the German plant
breeders a failure. The German plan is to select a large
amount of seed from the whole of a good crop and plant
these together. Dr. de Vries and Dr. Nillson watch for a
single plant differing from the others and of a desired
kind, called a sport, then isolate it and multiply from it.
In this way they claim to have accomplished certain and
excellent results.

All the evidence points to the fact that if there is any
variety which is best for a given locality, it will not be
the best for all localities growing this crop. With a long
season of growth and plenty of rain, a late-maturing kind
of corn will outyield an early kind. But for a northern
latitude, or the dry western climate, we should hardly
recommend the large-stalked, late kinds of corn. It is
also evident that the same kind of cotton does not do
equally well over any large extent of country.

Limits to Improvement.—It seems reasonable that
crops that have been highly improved already cannot be

SEED SELECTION

eS)

improved so rapidly in future as in the past. That is, a
limit can be reached somewhere beyond which improve-
ment cannot go on. It is said the sugar beet has had its
sugar content doubled since Napoleon began its improve-
ment as a means of raising revenue for his wars. Whether
this is true, or part of the improvement actually came
from better handling and later ripening of the beets and
better methods in the factories, it is immaterial. It
is true, however, that the sugar content of the beets
grown in Germany, the greatest sugar-making country
on earth, has not increased on an average so much as
one per cent on the weight of the beets in nearly forty
years.

Java, next to Hawaii the most intensive cane-sugar
country in the world, was forced to give up its sweetest
sane and grow a vigorous, hardy kind, able to resist
certain cane diseases. The same country once grew an
immense quantity of as fine coffee as was ever known.
Disease came and entirely destroyed the industry, which
is now being built up again, with an inferior but hardy
kind of tree, able to resist the disease.

Less hardiness and less resistance to disease seem gener-
ally to follow improvement in other directions. Whether
this evident tendency can be guarded against and disease
resistance combined with improvenient in yield and quality
of product, are questions as yet unknown. Such a com-
bination has not been attained in improved live stock, and
certainly has not in most cases with improved piants.
Hopkins, of Iinois, has bred corn to contain some 45 per
cent more protein than average corn. In doing so, he

ae

74 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

appears to have reduced the size of ears, and presumably
the yield of corn, about 25 per cent.

Potatoes and Cane. — Planting small sweet potatoes and
Irish potatoes is a general practice in some sections, and
has been for generations, but potatoes show no marked
tendency to become smaller. It is true that planting
small Irish potatoes, where they are cut to two eyes, will
result in smaller yields than larger potatoes cut to two
eyes. You have seen why this is so. When the same
sized pieces are cut from small potatoes as are cut from
large potatoes, there will be more eyes in the pieces
cut from the smaller potatoes, and with some varieties
several of these eyes come up, resulting in too many
plants, and consequently a larger proportion of small
potatoes.

Above the Louisiana sugar belt proper the practice
of sirup makers has been for years to save for planting
the small, worthless stalks of cane. In the tropics the
practice has been for ages to plant the immature, worth-
less tops. In neither case has any deterioration in the
cane occurred. In the tropics much experimental work
has been done to find the effects of planting poor
stalks and tops, but no change one way or the other has
been found.

In the case of sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, and cane,
we plant parts of the old plants just as in budding and
grafting. In each of them real seed may be grown, and
are grown and planted. When sugar cane grows a year
or more in the tropics, it makes a head of fine feathery
seed. These are planted and a little, weak stalk of cane

SEED SELECTION (is)

is produced. This stalk is planted and cane is produced
in the usual way, but there is never any telling what kind
of cane it will be. It is never likely to resemble the par-
ent, and is entirely likely to be different from any other
variety of cane ever produced. You are more likely to get

Fic. 27. — New Mexico DATE PALM

from the seed of red cane either white, green, striped, or
even black cane, than red cane. Only one in thousands
of the kinds produced in this way has been found to have
better qualities than well-known kinds. Irish potatoes
and sweet potatoes are said to show these same variations
when grown from real seed.

Other Seed-producing Plants. — With plants that cross

i,

76 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

pollenize, variation is much more likely to oceur. Luther
Burbank plants a vast number of seeds of each kind, and
watches for sports. By growing this sport and fixing
the type by preventing cross fertilizing, he obtains the
new variety.

Rapidity of Improvement. — Plants are not so rapidly
and certainly improved by usual methods of selection and
breeding as some people believe. Of the one hundred
or more so-called varieties of cotton tested at several
Southern experiment stations, no one kind has often
made the best return two years in succession at the same
station. No one kind that yielded best for early planting
has often yielded best for late planting. No one kind
has often made best returns the same year at any two
stations. Frequently the variety that yields most on
one kind of land yields least on another kind. If we
take averages, the kinds known to be old have yielded
nearly as well as those which are claimed to have been
improved in receut years.

QUESTIONS

W hat are comparative merits of home grown seed and seed brought
from a distance? What about seed “running out”? What have
experiment stations found out about the best variety of cotton? How
about seed from a crop that was poor on account of drought? Can
seed be improved by merely fertilizing the crops? Tell about the
_ experience in planting sugar cane and potatoes. What is a “sport”?
How are new varieties produced? Can all desirable qualities be
combined in one variety of plant? What sort of corn should be
selected for a dry country ? How are seed tested? What undesirable
plants are likely to be introduced in seed? To what extent do you
think we can go on improving our crops ?

'
:
7

SEED SELECTION ia

Experiment. — Use a magnifying glass and examine seed of alfalia,
turnip, and other small seed for weed seed, rotten seed, ete. Make
germination tests at proper season with different seed. You may
have heard the old saying that wheat turns to cheat. Suppose you
get some cheat seed and some pure wheat seed and plant each sepa-
rately in boxes. See if each does not make its own kind. You can
do these things at school.

CHAPTER Xi
IMPROVING THE LAND

THE rapidity with which lands wash and wear has al-
ready been mentioned. The humus of Southern soils has
been found to decrease much faster than in northern lands.
The same open winters and heavy rainfall that cause the
waste of humus and soluble plant food also cause the soil
of much of the rolling Southern lands to wash off into the
valleys and creeks, leaving red gullies and poor subsoil.

Poor Land Unprofitable. — The question of improving
the soil is the great question of the farm. If one-fourth of
a bale of cotton to the acre pays all expenses of its pro-
duction, including land rent, labor of man and team, seed,
gathering, ginning, marketing, etc., then a half bale to the
acre will pay over twelve dollars an acre net profit when
lint sells at ten cents a pound and seed at $20 a ton.
While a quarter of a bale makes no net profit, a half bale
to the acre makes a net profit as large as $120, drawing
ten per cent interest. If fifteen bushels of corn to the
acre pays all expenses, then thirty bushels at fifty cents a
bushel will pay a net profit of about $7.50. Poor, worn
land producing small crops is very poor property; but
good land producing large crops pays better than almost
any other kind of investment.

Land Easy to Improve. — The building up of the soil is
the surest and quickest way to make large and profitable

78

IMPROVING THE LAND (es)

crops. It is not difficult or expensive to improve land
which produces a quarter bale so that it will make a half
bale or even a bale of cotton to the acre. Much of the
thin land of the South which now yields only fifteen
bushels of corn or less to the acre could be easily made to
yield thirty bushels or more. It is a general fact that the
thin, poor lands are the easiest lands to improve.

Amount of Plant Food. — If even the poorest land is
analyzed and calculations made of the amount of phos-
phoric acid, nitrogen, and potash contained in a depth
of three or four feet, enough plant food is found to sup-
port several hundred, or perhaps a thousand, big crops.
But such land ceases to produce well because crops and
the leaching and washing of the rains have taken away
most of the soluble, or available, plant food. Perhaps
almost all the humus has been exhausted and the land is
no longer dark in color, porous, and fresh, as it was when’
it was new. With most of the humus gone, germ life
has little to feed upon, and germs no doubt play an im-
portant part in dissolving plant food and making it fit for
plant use.

Nature enriches Land. — If this poor land is left uncul-
tivated, grass and weeds and briers and bushes soon take
possession of it. These hardy plants thread the soil and
subsoil with their roots, which can extract food out of the
poorest land. If protected from fire these plants make a
shade and a soft covering for the land. When they die
they decay and form humus. The roots decay and leave
channels for air and water to pass through the soil. The
shade and humus encourage germ life, which thrives and

ae

SO ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

multiplies. Rotting vegetable matter also feeds and shel-
ters innumerable earthworms and other low forms of ani-
mal life that burrow and eat and grind and pulverize the
soil. Byafew years of such treatment, nature makes this
land just as fresh and productive as it ever was.

With a crop of peas, velvet beans, or peanuts, or a coat
of barnyard manure now and then, land should retain
its freshness and productiveness. By such management
it will remain fresh and open and porous; the air ean
enter: it will hold moisture better; germ life will thrive,
and all these things help to dissolve plant food in the
soil for the use of crops.

Physical and Chemical Improvement. — Improvement in
iand may be effected by adding chemical plant food in the
form of concentrated fertilizer, or by making some physi-
cal change in the soil. Plowing or draining would be
a physical improvement. Adding sand to a tight, heavy
soil, if it could be done profitably, would often help it, and
yet the sand may have no plant food, Coarse manure
contains plant food, but one of its chief uses is to open
up the land or otherwise put it in better physical con-
dition. It adds vegetable matter, or humus, to the soil,
inakes it drain better, and lets the air enter. It also
makes a coarse, sandy soil less porous, and causes it to
hold water better. A good supply of humus is the corner-
stone of soil improvement, particularly for the worn up-
lands of: the humid part of the South.

Terracing. — ‘To prevent rolling lands from washing, a
very successful plan followed in the South Central and
Southeastern States is to lay off with a cheap leveling in-

IMPROVING THE LAND SL

strument lines around the hillside on a dead level. A

sharp bed is thrown up on these lines with a turn plow

ies
iia

ean Ps 7 Si te

ae 28. — TERRACED LAND

and weeds and grassare allowed to grow on them. These

lines are generally run
so that one will be
three perpendicular feet
higher than the one
next to it down the
hill. Of course, the
lines will be closer to-
gether on steep land
than on gently rolling
land, and they will be
closer together at some
points than at other
points. Rows are gen.
erally laid off parallel
to each of two terraces,
beginning, say, above
one and laying off until

G

Fig. 29. —CORN GROWN ON WASHED AND
oN TERRACED LAND

82 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

halfway to the next terrace up the hill at the point where
the two terraces are nearest together. Then begin
below this next terrace and make rows till this halfway
point is reached. Last of all the short rows are filled
in. This scheme enables each row as nearly as possible

ak to take care of its own
we.
Uo opens Brea. ver Ww:

oo Wedneccuiaeiee ee water, while whatever water

breaks over the rows soon

comes to a terrace line
ing cea ) covered with weeds and
ee grass. Here the speed of
Fic. 30. — TERRACED LAND AND Rows :
the water is checked, and
whatever sediment it carried is deposited. Ina few years
the old terrace lines are richer than the other land. ‘These
are plowed up and the terraces made along new level lines.
Figures 28 and 30 will make clear the description of this
plan for preventing washing.
Drainage. — There is a great deal of land in all humid
sections that is unproductive because of poor drainage.

Fia. 31. — BEST SHAPE FOR AN OPEN DITCH

We have seen that too much water makes the land cold,
shuts out air, prevents the growth of microscopic life, etc.
Straightening channels of small creeks, clearing out ob-
structions, and making a few simple, open ditches will often
make much excellent creek bottom land very productive.
Any open ditch or channel for water to flow in should

IMPROVING THE LAND 83

be made widely V-shaped (Fig. 31). Such a channel will
always clean itself out much better than a wide-bottomed
ditch, and will not be liable to cave and fill up. Often by
merely starting such a channel with a plow and replowing
after heavy rains, one can make excellent drainage chan-
nels at trifling expense.

Draining Marsh and Creek Lands. — Near the seacoast
there are immense bodies of marsh land too flat to be
drained insucha way. ‘This land needs to be surrounded
with low levees with channels cut through them, and to
have the water pumped out over the levees. A trifling
amount of pumping will permanently drain such lands
and make them highly valuable. The drainage canals
might be made the very best and cheapest means of trans-
portation. Holland has hundreds of square miles re-
claimed even from the sea at a cost of perhaps over one
hundred dollars an acre. Even rivers are pumped out
over the great levees, or dikes. This land is below sea
level and is cut here and there with drainage canals. The
people are said to go to market in boats in summer and
on skates in winter.

There are also large bodies of fine creek bottom land
that could be drained by dredging out straight channels
for some miles. As this is usually too large an under-
taking for one men, the land to be reclaimed should be
organized into a drainage district and taxed or bonded to
get money to make the improvement.

Tile Draining. — A great deal of land in the Northern
and Central States is drained with tile, or burned clay
pipes. These pipes are laid end to end in ditches dug

fe

84

at suitable distances, and covered over.
excellent and permanent system of drainage.

ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

This makes an
Tile drains

do not draw water from the land any better than open

ae

Mibu) yoy ll
wi Hey

vit wilt

Aas |
AWE ae
NNN ae
\ \\) Za ly Ss
’ NY
Vara \\\\ Nig Ra)
Teka Oe zx W \\. — AR ae
sis ae. EA tZ W a
a aie
e ; ‘ Z BR Ma We
; \ " ‘ i I (

\
‘

Fic. 32. — TiLE DRAINING

ditches of equal depth; but they
are never in the way of teams or
machinery, they cause no loss of
land, and they never fill up
when well laid. When tiles are
once laid, the expense is over,
but open ditches have to be
worked on every year.

In the Gulf States there has
been almost no tile drainage,
because land has been cheap and
tiling has been costly. Perhaps
the cost of tiling an acre would
buy two acres that do not need
tile.
long, and we can generally wait
for the excess of water to dry

Moreover, the seasons are

off, and yet have time to make

acrop. Figure 32 will show the

method of draining with tiling.
As our lands increase in value

and we come to want to use our whole season in maturing

two or more crops, tiling will likely come into favor.

In some places, brush, poles, rocks, etc., have been put

into ditches and covered over so as to make cheap under-

drains.

IMPROVING THE LAND 85

QUESTIONS

Why do Southern lands wear out more rapidly than Northern
lands? Why do Eastern lands exhaust faster than Western lands?
Why is good land of such great importance to the farmer? What
lands are generally most easily improved? Suppose exhausted land
grows up in weeds, grass, and briers, will it become productive again ?
Should land thus growing up be burned off, or should the growth be
allowed to rot? What can we do to improve poor land faster than
turning it out? Besides growing crops on land to improve it, what
can we add to it? Give an example of physical improvement and
chemical improvement of land. Describe the plan used in the South-
ern States to prevent hilly or rolling land from washing into gullies.
What can be done to make creek bottoms productive? What shape
should an open ditch have to be most serviceable? What can be done
to make large areas of flat marsh land productive? What country has
reclaimed from the sea a great amount of land? How do people go
to market in that country? Describe tile drainage. Why have the
Southern people not used much tiling ?

Observation. — Observe how much more productive old fencerows
and old building sites are than land regularly cultivated. Observe
how much better crops are grown this year on land that grew peas
last year. Note how much better the crop often is near a ditch
where drainage is good than farther away where the land is not so
well drained.

CHAP TER se Slit
ROTATION OF CROPS

English Rotation. — In England, clover, turnips, beans,
and wheat follow each other in regular order, and consti-
tute a five-year rotation. The lands of Great Britain were
once so poor that only about three bushels of wheat were
raised for each bushel planted. While invading France, the
people learned the value of such crops as clover, turnips,
and beans. By rotation of crops, bone fertilizers, and
stock feeding, they have built up the land till it makes
over twice as much wheat to the acre as the land in the
United States.

A Southern Rotation. —If an East Texas farmer plants
on a field cotton one year, corn and peas the next year,
and oats followed by peas the third year, he not only has
an excellent three-year rotation, but grows five crops in
the three years —two of them restorative crops. Where
cotton can be matured and gathered early, it might be a
good plan to have the oats follow the cotton. Corn and
peas leave the land very dry, and oats come up much bet-
ter if sown on land that has been well worked in cotton.
It might be well to sow oats after one of the pickings and
cover them with a cultivator run between the rows.

Different crops do not require different elements of
plant food. They all require the same elements, but they

86

ROTATION OF CROPS 87

use them in different proportions. ‘Therefore, one kind
of crop may temporarily exhaust the soil of one element,
and cease to grow well, while another crop can still do
well. But the greatest benefit of this, or any other rota-
tion, arises from the restorative crops grown, and the

Fic. 33. —COWPEAS AND SWEET SORGHUM

great amounts of nitrogen the bacteria enable them to
get from the air.

Cotton Every Year.— The constant planting of land to
cotton rapidly exhausts the humus of the soil, because if
cotton is cultivated close and clean, there is little in the way
of grass, weeds, and trash left to rot on the land. For the
same reason cotton land washes badly. A corn and pea
crop, followed by an oat and pea crop, will build up the

83 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

land rapidly; for these crops leave stalks, stubble, and
vines, which, when plowed under, rot and make humus,
and supply plant food.

A good system of rotation also affords an opportunity
to use commercial fertilizers most profitably, if the land
is of a kind that responds to fertilizing.

. Fertilizing Restorative Crops.— Commercial fertilizers

have their best effects where there is plenty of humus.
A pea crop does not need nitrogen in its fertilizer, as it
gets nitrogen from the air. It will seldom need potash.
So it can be fertilized cheaply with acid phosphate, which
supplies only phosphoric acid. The yield of pea vines
will often be doubled by this cheap fertilizing, and conse-

ROTATION OF CROPS 89

quently the nitrogen the peas get from the air will be
doubled, and the good effects on the land will be greatly
increased. Since land once well enriched with pea vines
needs only acid phosphate for corn and cotton, all the
fertilizing can be cheaply done.

The teacher and the pupil are referred to bulletins of
the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia Experiment Sta-
tions, which give the results of many years of work with
this three-year rotation in connection with commercial
fertilizers. In each state very poor land was soon built
up so that it produced a bale of cotton to the acre, and
other crops in the same proportion.

Dividing the Farm. —'T’o follow such a rotation, a farm
should be divided into three parts, having one third in
each crop each year. This plan would better distribute the
labor of men and teams over the season. It would afford
so much corn, peavine hay, oats, etc., to feed on, that
more stock could be kept and more manure saved, — both
ot which would be helpful in further building up the land.

It would make no particular difference if cotton now and
then should be grown two years in succession on a field,
or if oats should be left out once in a while. Other crops
might be substituted for some of those mentioned. One
need not follow absolutely any particular plan of rotation.
Some lands are not equally well suited to all these crops,
but grow one particularly well. Such lands may well be
used for one crop and fertilized, if need be, to keep up
their fertility. Then certain land for orchards, gardens,
and for other special purposes could be set aside, and the
rest of the land could be used for crops in rotation.

VA

90 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Other Rotations. — Rotations may be changed to suit
the crops, and to some extent the markets. In the lime
lands, alfalfa should be a particularly valuable crop.
Once planted, it would be profitable as long as a good
stand holds out, maybe five or six years. The land could
be used for alfalfa so long, and then planted in cotton and
corn five or six years. In some sections wheat may be
substituted for oats in the rotation.

Rice land would be greatly benefited if, in off years,
when the planter is waiting to get rid of red rice, the
land could be drained and grown in cowpeas or other
restorative crops. The sugar planter generally rotates
his cane land with corn and peas. In West Texas, small
grain should be followed with cowpeas the same season,
provided cotton, corn, kafir, milo, or sorghum is to grow
on the land next season. The land should catch enough
rain and snow, especially if plowed and harrowed in early
winter, to bring up the spring crops. But if fall-sown
grain is to follow small grain, then the land should be
plowed and kept disked to make it moist enough to bring
up seed in fall.

QUESTIONS

What is a rotation of crops? What crops do the people grow in
rotation in England? Has the rotation been very beneficial in that
country? What is a good rotation of common crops for the South-
ern States? Why is this a good rotation? What effect does it have
on land to grow cotton constantly on it? Can fertilizers be used
' profitably in rotation? Why would you not fertilize peas or peanuts
with fertilizers containing nitrogen? With what would you fertilize
peas? What Experiment Stations have succeeded well with a three-
year rotation? Would following this rotation require one to put

ROTATION OF CROPS On

all of his farm in one crop each year? What crop may be used to
advantage on the lime lands of Texas? What crop might take the
place of oats in rotation? Why do rice farmers have to stop grow-
ing rice for a year or more now and then? What could be done
with the rice land to advantage when it is lying out?

Experiment. — Get your father to rotate his crops on a small piece
of land as an experiment, if he does not do so regularly.

CHA ine OLY.
MANURES AND FERTILIZERS

Value of Bones. — About seventy-five years ago a. Ger-
man chemist named Liebig analyzed plants and found out
what they contained. By experimenting, it was learned
what ingredients the plants are unable to get in sufficient
quantity from poor land, and attempts were begun to com-
pound suitable mixtures of fertilizer ingredients. Liebig
was perhaps the first chemist to teach that bones, being
rich in phosphoric acid and fairly rich in nitrogen, are
good fertilizers. He afterwards wrote, bitterly complain-
ing that, after he had taught the Englishmen the value of
bone as a fertilizer, they had robbed the battlefields of
Waterloo, Leipsic, and the Crimea of a hundred thousand
tons of bones to enrich their fields.

Guano and Composts. — Peruvian guano, a bird manure
of certain rainless South American islands, was the first
concentrated commercial fertilizer used in this country.
It was used in the older cotton states from just after the
war between the states until about 1880, when the supply
was mostly exhausted. About 1870, David Dixon, of
Georgia, made composts, or mixtures of guano, manure,
leafmold, salt, and other things, and let them lie for
some time in large moist heaps, and then applied in the
cotton row before planting. He raised enormous crops

92

MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 93

of cotton, and accumulated a great fortune. It is prob-
able the salt and some other things were useless. But
a compost of commercial fertilizer ingredients with barn-
yard and stable manures or cotton seed never fails to
give good results. It has been found, however, that
putting the manure or cotton seed in the furrow, sprin-
kling the commercial fertilizer on it, and then bedding on
the mixture, does quite as well as first composting in a
heap.

Phosphate Rock. — Rock, rich in lime phosphate, a com-
pound of phosphoric acid and lime, is mined in Florida,
Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and in many other parts
of the world. This rock is ground up by powerful mills.
into a fine powder called floats. As the phosphoric acid
is not easily soluble in this form, the powder is mixed
with sulphuric acid. This sulphuric acid combines with.
part of the lime, leaving the phosphoric acid in a condi-
tion to dissolve in water and to be used by crops. The
floats, thus treated with sulphuric acid and dried, are called
acid phosphate or superphosphate. This acid phosphate is.
the largest ingredient in most commercial fertilizers. It.
contains usually fourteen to sixteen per cent of pure phos-
phoric acid. The next prominent ingredient in commer-
cial fertilizers is cotton-seed meal, which contains about.
seven per cent of nitrogen, three per cent phosphoric acid,
and one and a half per cent potash. A little kainit, or
other potash salt, found in Germany, is usually put into:
the mixtures. When containing nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, and potash, a fertilizer mixture is called a complete:
fertilizer. Nitrate of soda, which is mined in Chile and.

“s

94 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

contains about sixteen per cent of nitrogen, may be used
in place of part or all of the cotton-seed meal. The
nitrogen in nitrate of soda is more quickly available than
that in cotton-seed meal. For early, quick-maturing
crops, nitrate of soda should take the place of some of
the cotton-seed meal. Dried blood or other slaughter-
house refuse and dried fish are also often used. The
nitrogen in these is about as quickly available as that in
cotton-seed meal. The dried fish is rich in nitrogen and
phosphoric acid.

Where Potash is Needed. —It has been learned from
experiments that
the soils of Mis-
sissippi, Louisiana,
and Texas do not
generally need
potash. Sono pot-
ash salt should be
used in the mix-
tures for these
states. In Georgia,
the Carolinas, and
Alabama, a little
potash is generally
found beneficial.

Fertilizer Mix-

Fic. 35. — FERTILIZED AND UNFERTILIZED tures. qua it
COTTON

parts of cotton-
seed meal and acid phosphate mixed will make an excellent
cotton fertilizer for old and worn lands. Such a fertilizer

MANURES AND FERTILIZERS oS)

will contain about three and a half per cent of nitrogen and
nine per cent of phosphoric acid, and about three fourths
per cent of potash. For land not so badly worn or land
that has been in pasture, or been lying out one or more
years, 1300 pounds of acid phosphate and 700 pounds of
cotton-seed meal, making a ton, would probably be better
than the other meal-acid-phosphate mixture. For land
needing potash about two hundred pounds of kainit
should enter into each ton of mixture. ‘Trade conditions
now seem to warrant us in valuing nitrogen in fertilizers
at seventeen cents a pound, and phosphoric acid and
potash at six cents a pound each.

Balancing Manures. — Barnyard and stable manures are
not well enough balanced without some additional phos-
phoric acid to give the most valuable results on most of
the thin lands of the cotton states. If every load of
manure had a hundred pounds of acid phosphate added
to it, the results would be better, and it would go much
farther. Manure, as a rule, is much richer in nitrogen
and potash than in phosphoric acid. Experience has
shown that for most sections a fertilizer should be richer
in phosphoric acid than in anything else.

Rich Food makes Rich Manure.— The quality of fresh
animal manures largely depends upon the kind of food
the animals eat. No food eaten by animals loses much of
its fertilizing value by passing through the animals. The
manure made from feeding cotton-seed meal will never
contain less than seventy-five per cent as much fertilizing
value as the meal had, and it may contain as much as
ninety per cent. Manure made from feeding cotton seed

‘a

96 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

will be richer than that from feeding corn, because cotton
seed is richer than corn. 3

The liquid manure from well-fed cattle will contain
half or more of the total fertilizing value of the feed.
From cattle eating mostly coarse food, the liquid will not
contain so much of the fertilizing value.

In order to save the liquid manure properly in stables,
bedding for the cattle should be provided so as to absorb
and hold it.

As has been said before, if animals are allowed to tramp
the manure down in the stables, its value will be preserved
better than in any other way, unless it be apphed to the
land and mixed with the soil from day to day.

Value of Manure. — A dairy cow, well fed, will produce
ten cents’ worth of manure a day, if the plant food is
rated at the same price that has to be paid for it in com-
mercial fertilizers. A horse well fed on oats and grass
hay will produce nine or ten cents’ worth a day, but of
course not all of it will be dropped in the stable. If the
horse is fed on peavine, peanut, or alfalfa hay, the manure
will be worth more. Your past lessons have taught you
why this is so. Immense losses occur every year on ac-
count of the poor way in which farm manures are handled.
In fact, on most farms no attempt is made to save and use
them.

A ton of cotton seed has about the same plant food that:
a thousand pounds of cotton-seed meal has. The meal
rots quicker, and is perhaps better for quick-growing
crops. As the seed supplies more humus to the land, it
will give results the second and third years after using.

MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 97

QUESTIONS

Who was the first man that analyzed plants? What complaint
did he make against the English people? What was the first con-
centrated fertilizer used in the United States? Tell about David
Dixon’s first experience in using this concentrated fertilizer. Where
is the phosphoric acid of fertilizer obtained? How is phosphate rock
treated? What is the name of the product made from phosphate
rock? What is generally mixed with it? What may take the place
of cotton-seed meal in fertilizer mixtures? What is meant by com-
plete fertilizer? What advantage has nitrate of soda over cotton-
seed meal as a fertilizer? What other materials are rich in nitrogen?
What states appear to need no potash added to their soil? What
states appear to need some potash in their fertilizer mixtures? Name
a suitable mixture of acid phosphate and cotton-seed meal for cotton
to be grown on worn land. What may be added to barnyard manure
to make it more valuable? What fertilizer ingredient should nearly
all fertilizer mixtures be richest in? Is very much fertilizing matter
lost from feed stuff by being eaten by animals? Which will produce
richer manure when fed to animals, corn or cotton seed? Which will
produce richer manure when fed, peavine or Johnson-grass hay?
How much cotton seed will equal a, ton of cotton-seed meal in ferti-
lizing value? Which will have the most lasting effect when used as a
fertilizer, cotton seed or cotton-seed meal? Which will give the
quickest results ?

Experiment. — Manage to get a few rows of cotton and corn on the
farm at home fertilized with cotton-seed meal, a few rows with acid
phosphate, and a few rows with kainit, using all fertilizers at almost
the rate of one hundred and fifty pounds per acre. Watch growth of
crops carefully and if possible weigh and measure yields. Then use
a mixture of meal and phosphate, a mixture of meal and kainit, and
a mixture of phosphate and kainit in the same way, and also note
results. See if the author is correct about the kinds of fertilizers
needed.

Try fertilizing peas or peanuts with cotton-seed meal, with phos-
phate, and with kainit in the same way. Report results to school
next year.

H

CHAPTER XV
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS

Large Use of Fertilizers. —The use of commercial fer-
tilizers has grown enormously in a few years. Georgia
used in 1907 perhaps $15,000,000 worth and used them
profitably. Texas used perhaps less than 20,000 tons, yet
Texas probably has more land suited for using such fer-
tilizers profitably than Georgia has. Arkansas and Okla-
homa also have much of such land. Practically all of the
timber belts, most of the coast prairies, and much of
the sandy and loamy lands in the red-land sections in
Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas would prob-
ably readily respond to commercial fertilizers. The lime
lands and the dry lands of the West are generally too rich
for ordinary amounts of commercial fertilizers to be used
on them with profit.

Valuing Fertilizers. — A mixture of 1200 pounds of
cotton seed and 800 pounds of acid phosphate to the ton
makes a good fertilizer.

This mixture contains about 36 pounds nitrogen, worth
$6.12, about 126 pounds phosphoric acid, worth $7.56,
and about 20 pounds potash, worth $1.20. Total value,
$14.88 per ton.

Of the meal and acid phosphate mixture first named
on page 94, 2000 pounds contain: —

98

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 99

70 pounds nitrogen @ .17 $11.90
180 pounds phosphoric acid (@ .06 — 10.80
15 pounds potash @ .06 gue 90

_ Total value per ton, $23.60

For Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas 1200 pounds
phosphate, 700 pounds cotton seed meal, and 100 of
muriate or sulphate of potash are often recommended ;
also 1000 pounds phosphate, 700 pounds meal, and 300
pounds kainit. Kainit contains 12% of potash, and
muriate and sulphate about 50% of potash.

Nitrate of Soda. — The nitrogen in nitrate of soda acts
more quickly than that in cotton-seed meal. All plants
need fertilizers when young. ‘So a mixture probably
better than the last one named would be 1400 pounds
acid phosphate, 400 pounds cotton-seed meal, and 200
pounds nitrate of soda to the ton. Or, for badly worn
land, 1200 pounds acid phosphate, 600 cotton-seed meal,
and 200 nitrate of soda. Where whole seed are used
instead of meal, 1000 pounds seed, 850 pounds acid phos-
phate, and 150 pounds nitrate of soda are recommended.
For quick-growing crops like early truck crops a still
larger proportion of nitrate is recommended.

Richness of Mixtures.— The different fertilizer mix-
tures which contain cotton-seed meal and cotton-seed
meal and nitrate of soda are all richer than the aver-
age fertilizer which is sold for cotton. One hundred and
fifty pounds to the acre are about equal to 200 pounds
of ordinary cotton fertilizer. These mixtures are about
as rich as most of the so-called vegetable fertilizers,

WE

100 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

except that the latter usually have a large amount of
potash.

Do Fruits need Large Proportions of Potash? — It has
been generally supposed that fruits and vegetables need
larger proportions of potash than ordinary field crops do ;
but from what would seem conclusive results in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Texas, potash is not profitable to use for
any crop on any soil yet tried in these states. There
seems to be no proof anywhere that fruits and vegetables
need a larger proportion of potash than corn or cotton.
The kind of land more than the kind of crop seems
generally to determine the kind of fertilizer. For well-
known reasons this statement does not apply to legumi-
nous crops and their nitrogen supply. Tobacco needs a
larger proportion of potash than most crops, as its ash
contains a very large amount of this ingredient.

Proportions of Plant Food in Mixtures. — The Southern
manufacturers and users of fertilizers, in mixing their
materials so as to contain two per cent of nitrogen, eight
per cent of available phosphoric acid, and one and a half
to two per cent of potash (or in about those proportions),
seem to be much nearer the best practice than Northern
manufacturers and mixers follow. Books have been writ-
ten giving what are supposed to be the fertilizer needs of
almost all crops, and the only basis for supposing the
crops to need plant food in the proportions recommended
seems to have been the analysis of the crops themselves.
Analysis shows that nearly all crops contain more potash
than phosphoric acid. That is no indication that ferti-
lizers for such crops should contain more potash than

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 101

phosphoric acid. Almost all lands are richer in potash,
generally three to four times as rich. From the _ best-
known chemical means of determining available plant
food, there are many times as much available potash in
average soil as there is phosphoric acid.

Many of the largest fertilizer companies in the country
are putting more potash than phosphoric acid in their
fertilizers. Such practice is, without doubt, causing the
loss of millions of dollars annually.

Experiment Necessary. — Only actual field trials with
erops- will afford proof of what they need on different
soils. The experiment stations of the country have made
the most reliable literature of agriculture we have, and
their results clearly show that, with rare exceptions, crops
need much more phosphoric acid than potash in fertilizers,
and in much of the country the latter is not needed at
all. In nearly all cases, the kind of land instead of the
kind of crop should decide which one of these elements
is most needed. A slightly worn, muck land in Illinois
and the neighboring states needs only potash to make it
productive again. Very poor sandy land in Florida
needs potash, but still more phosphoric acid and nitrogen.
Some land in Mississippi and the states west of the Missis-
sippi River probably need potash— particularly deep sandy
land. Farmers should make some tests for themselves.

Stimulating Effects of Fertilizers. — Many people ask if
commercial fertilizers do not have a stimulating effect,
and if they do not wear out the land.

It is true that 100 pounds of fertilizer will often increase
the cotton crop 500 pounds of seed cotton to the acre.

102 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

This cotton, together with the seed, contains more plant
food than the fertilizer contained, notwithstanding some
of the latter is always washed away. The explanation is
that the fertilizer causes a strong growth of root that en-
ables the crop to get more plant food out of the soil than
it would get otherwise. To that extent fertilizer wears
the land. But if we can get the plant food in the form
of valuable cotton, we shall be more than repaid for the
wearing of the land.

Effects Permanent. — By using reasonable amounts of
fertilizers with coarse manures and cotton seed, or with
suitable rotation of crops, lands are steadily and perma-
nently enriched. We have abundant evidence that where
large quantities, say from 800 to 2000 pounds to the acre,
are used for vegetables, such as cabbage or Irish potatoes,
and these crops are followed the same season by cotton or
sweet potatoes, the land grows better from year to year.

Where Fertilizers Pay. — Fertilizers seem to pay best
on land which is sandy enough to drain perfectly, and
which, at the same time, has a good percentage of clay
in the subsoil. Such are the long-leaf and short-leaf pine,
oak, and hickory lands of the Southern States. Also
much of the coast prairies and practically all of the post-
oak timber lands of Texas and Louisiana are of this char-
acter. For staple crops, fertilizers seem to pay best on
land naturally rather poor in plant food, making at best
less than half a bale of cotton to the acre. The author
has frequently seen moderate applications fail to show
any good effects on land fertile enough to yield two
thirds of a bale of cotton.

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 103

For vegetables, large applications of fertilizer on land
of almost any character will generally pay. Fertilizers
have generally been unprofitable on lime land. These
lands have such large stores of plant food that they only
need to have their physical condition improved. Rota-
tion of crops, coarse manures, pasturing, etc., will make
available enough of their own food to restore their former
productiveness. The Alabama Experiment Station, how-
ever, did find that large applications of commercial fer-
tilizers, containing an abundance of nitrate of soda, paid
well on well-drained, worn lime land. Nitrate of soda
used in side furrows during cultivation also gave good
results in frequent trials at that station.

Method of applying Fertilizers. — Barnyard manure is
generally spread broadcast on the land, while commercial
fertilizers are usually applied in the drill before planting.
For cotton, the fertilizer is generally sprinkled in a furrow
and bedded on.

Experiments have well demonstrated that all manures
and fertilizers give better results if they are strewn in
the drill, or under the drill, where the crops are to be
grown. It used to be thought that it was best to put
fertilizers very deep in the ground. The Louisiana Ex-
periment Station and others have proved that probably
it is better to use them about the depth of the seed ora
little deeper. The Georgia Experiment Station got better
results by bedding on fertilizers than by putting them in
the furrow with the seed. It has been believed that some
of the fertilizers should be used at or before planting, and
some in side furrows during the cultivation of the crop.

if

104 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Where moderate amounts of fertilizers are used for
cotton, all experiments indicate that it is a little more
profitable to use the full amount just before or at plant-
ing time. It has often paid to use part of corn fertilizer
at the second cultivation. Nitrate of soda applied during
the cultivation of cotton has proved to be profitable in a
number of experiments. |

Amount of Fertilizers to Use. —It has been proved by
all experiment stations that small applications of concen-
trated fertilizers, say 100 to 200 pounds to the acre for
cotton, pay a larger percentage of profit on the cost of
fertilizer than larger applications; but larger applica-
tions, 300 to 400 pounds, or even 600 pounds, often pay
a bigger profit to the acre. It is always unprofitable to
use too large an amount.

It appears to be well established that land badly worn,
and having little humus, will give good profits on only
small applications of fertilizers. ‘The land seems not to
hold water enough to support a large crop. It follows that
land in good condition from rotation of crops, pasturing,
being allowed to grow up in weeds, or plowing under
coarse manure, will supply water for a big crop, such as a
large amount of fertilizer ought to produce.

Every farmer should, by careful observation, find out
just how much fertilizer it will be profitable to put on his
land. From three to ten times as much fertilizer is often
used on Irish potatoes, cabbage, onions, and other vege-
table crops, as on cotton or corn.

Fertilizers almost always pay better on cotton than on
corn.

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 105

QUESTIONS

Give an example to show how large the trade in commercial
fertilizers has become. Should fertilizers be used more largely
in Texas than at present? What lands in Texas would probably
give profitable results with commercial fertilizers? What amounts
of cotton seed and acid phosphate mixed would make a ton of good
fertilizer? What are nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash valued
at in fertilizers? Would you use a larger proportion of cotton-
seed meal on badly worn land than on better land? Why would
some nitrate of soda be of advantage in every fertilizer mixture?
What are the vegetable fertilizers, generally sold, rich in? What was
the belief about commercial fertilizers wearing out land? What mis-
takes are made by some Northern manufacturers in mixing fertilizers ?
Do commercial fertilizers wear out the land? Do large amounts of
fertilizers improve the land rapidly? Do small applications of com-
mercial fertilizer pay better on rich land or poor land? What kind
of crops, if any, need the highest percentage of potash in their fer-
tilizers? Tell about fertilizing lime land. What is usually the
best treatment to make lime land productive? Are fertilizers and
manures most effective when spread broadcast over the land or
when used in the row? How deep has it been found necessary to put
fertilizers in the ground? Has it been found profitable to use part
of the fertilizer before planting and part while working the crop?
Which pays the better, a small application of fertilizer or a large
application? Why can large applications not be used profitably if
the land is very badly worn? How much more fertilizer is generally
used to the acre for cabbage and onions than for cotton and corn?

CHAPTER XVI
PLOWING

Subsoiling. — Plowing is the primary operation of the
farm or the garden. Yet people hold very different opin-
ions as to how it should be done. All the older agricul-
tural literature advised that the deeper plowing could be
done the better on all classes of land and for all kinds
of crops. This same opinion seems to be held by many
agricultural writers even now. Subsoiling, particularly
following a turn plow with a bull-tongue, running deep
in the same furrow, so as to loosen the subsoil twelve
to eighteen inches deep, is frequently recommended.

The Georgia -Experiment Station tried subsoiling on
perhaps hundreds of plots of land for some ten years or
more, but the crops were never any better than those that
received ordinary plowing. The Mississippi Stations,
two of them, thoroughly tested subsoiling on different
lands, for different crops, and at different seasons of the
year. The crops were never increased over those made
on lands plowed in the usual way.

The Kansas Experiment Station tried subsoiling for
many years, but the yield of the crops was never in-
creased. The experiment stations of. many other states,

includin Texas have been similar] disa 0; ,0Inted in sub-
g 3
106

PLOWING 107

soiling. It is expensive to subsoil land, and if it does no
good, it should not be recommended. ‘The truth seems to
be that there is very little land where subsoiling pays.
Many farmers have reported good results from subsoiling,
while others have reported no results, and still others,
injury from it.

Depth to Plow. — There is a difference of opinion among
people who do not subsoil land as to how deep it should
be broken in its preparation. Doubtless different soils
and different crops should influence the depth of prepara-
tion, if their requirements could be definitely known.
The Alabama Experiment Station for a number of years
subsoiled some land and broke other pieces to depths
varying from three and one half to six and one half
inches. The subsoiling did not pay for either cotton or
corn, and the different depths for breaking did not seem
to give any marked difference in crops. One depth
yielded most one year, and another depth yielded most
another year. The different depths of breaking averaged
about the same yield for both corn and cotton. The
Indiana and Oklahoma stations tried eight-inch plowing
against four-inch for many years, and generally did not
get increase enough in yield to pay for the extra work of
breaking deep. Every farmer should make some tests
for his own land.

The Texas Experiment Station planted sorghum on one
piece of land subsoiled fifteen inches deep, on another
plowed five inches deep, and on still another plowed three
inches deep. That broken five inches deep yielded much
more than either of the others. The subsoiled piece made

108 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

a little more than the piece broken three inches deep. So
it would seem that breaking the land or bedding it an
ordinary depth is best, and we know it is cheapest.

Deep Plowing for Cane. — In Australia and Hawaii, deep
breaking and planting have proved best for sugar cane,
but it is probable that the deep planting serves to keep
the tall tropical cane from falling down, and that it yields
more on this account. Many experiments at several ex-
periment stations in Australia failed to give any good
results for especially deep breaking for other crops.

H. W. Campbell, who has won something of national
fame on account of the results achieved in farming
semiarid land, claims that it is far more important to
compact the soil plowed and make it thoroughly fine
than to plow it deep. He recommends plowing from
three to seven inches deep, according to the conditions, com-
pacting again, and then working up a fine mulch of sur-
face soil about three inches deep. In a conversation with
the author, Mr. Campbell said that it would be well-nigh
impossible to compact land plowed twelve inches deep
so as to get it again in good condition for drawing up
moisture from the subsoil.

Purposes of Plowing. — Plowing serves to bury trash
and manure, to make a seed bed, to conserve moisture,
to kill weeds and grass, to allow air and water to enter
the soil better and promote chemical changes, to allow
roots of crops to grow better, etc.

All farmers’ boys and girls know a plow and its difter-
ent parts. If not, they should ask their fathers and
neighbors about these things.

PLOWING 109

Black-land and Sandy-land Plows. — A plow is a sort
of twisting wedge. ‘The more twisting the wedge the
more it turns the soil and the more it pulverizes it, but
the harder it is to pull, and the poorer it will scour in
black or stiff soil. The straighter and more tapering
the moldboard, or wedge, the easier it will be to pull,
the less it will turn and break and crumble the soil, the

Fic. 37. — BLACK-LAND PLOW

brighter it will keep, and the better it will work in stiff
and black land. Figure 87 shows a good type of a black-
land plow, also suitable for any stiff clay soil. Figure 36
is a good picture of an ordinary, or sandy-land plow.
Sandy-land plows are apt to choke and cake on black
land. The black land may be broken up cloddy, but as

110 ELEMENTS OF. AGRICULTURE

explained before, the lime it contains soon causes the
clods to melt down into little shotlike particles. This is
also true of much of the bottom land.

Killing Bermuda Grass. — It is often advisable to use a
black-land plow in sandy sections. To kill Bermuda
grass where it has been pastured, the sod should be
broken in the fall or winter about three inches deep
with a small black-land plow, going at such speed and
held in such a manner that the furrow slices will be
turned on edge. This causes the grass to freeze and die.
On pastured land, the underground stems of this grass
have to come near the surface for air, and hence shallow
plowing at the right season causes them to freeze. The
land on which the Bermuda grass has been killed in
this way is always rich and productive when brought
back into cultivation.

Killing Johnson Grass. — Johnson grass may be pastured
two years and killed by careful working of the land in
cotton a year or two. ‘The big fleshy runners, which go
down so deep in cultivated land, come close to the surface
when pastured, and get small and weak. If, after being
pastured, the land is broken in the fall and then thor-
oughly plowed again in the spring and worked well and
late in cotton, the grass can be entirely killed. After
the turf has been killed and rotted, the land becomes
very productive.

QUESTIONS
What was the old idea with regard to plowing? What is sub-

soiling? What have the Experiment Stations found out about sub-
soiling? Is it definitely known how deep land should be plowed?

PLOWING It

What about plowing deep for sugar cane? What is the Campbell
system of soil culture? Name some of the different purposes for
which plowing is done. How may a plow be compared to a wedge?
What sort of plow should be used in black land? Which will pul-
verize and crumble the soil most, a black-land plow or a sandy-land
plow? What would happen to a sandy-land plow if used in sticky
black land? How would you kill Bermuda grass? Could you kill
Johnson grass in the same way? In what condition is the land after
killing Bermuda grass? Explain why this is so. After killing
Johnson grass, what condition will the land be in? What effect will
the rotting of any grass, weeds, or other vegetable substance have on
the land?

CHAPTER 22V It
PREPARATION FOR PLANTING

Bedding or Flat-breaking. — As to whether land should
be broken flat or thrown into beds is a question which
depends on the character of the land, the kind of crop,
the season of the year, and the amount of moisture in the
soil. On sandy soil in the West it would be undoubtedly
a fine plan to plant corn in the bottom of a lister, or
“buster,” furrow, either with a planter attachment or
with a drill to follow after the lister. In case you don’t
know what a lister is, get some good farmer to show you
one and explain it to you. By planting the corn in the
bottom of the furrow on hard ground, it will be sure to
get enough moisture to come up. Your father will tell
you that cotton, wheat, or clover planted in well-settled,
firm ground, will come up much better than in freshly
made, loose ground. Hard, firm land can draw up
moisture from below. A fresh, loose bed, with seed
planted far above the firm ground, is something like a
lamp wick cut in two between the flame and the oil.
The seed cannot get enough moisture to come up. When
the young corn is in the bottom of a furrow with ridges
of loose dirt in the middle, the dirt can be gradually
worked to the corn, and little weeds and grass can be
covered at each working. The corn, when deep rooted,

112

PREPARATION FOR PLANTING 113

is better able to endure drought and to stand up in the
storms. Cotton in some cases might also be worked in
the same way, but when young, it is a more tender
plant than corn, and it is more likely to need starting
on a small bed or on level ground, even in dry sections.

In Eastern or Southern States, land must be very
sandy, or the planting must be late, to justify planting in
lister furrows. Generally, on clay or bottom land, early
corn and cotton are both planted on beds for the sake of
getting sufficient drainage to secure good stands. Corn
is sometimes planted on beds eight feet wide, two rows
being planted on each bed. This gives drainage on one
side of each row of corn.

Bedding with Lister. — One of the best and cheapest
ways to bed for cotton is to use a lister. The old rows
should be broken out in the fall, winter, or early spring.
This will make beds in the old middles. Then if, some
time before planting, these beds are burst with the lister,
the beds for planting will be where they were the pre-
vious year. This preparation is much cheaper than bed-
ding and re-bedding with a turn plow, and so far as we
know, is quite as good. If fertilizer is used, it should
be sprinkled in the middles just ahead of the lister when
the land is being re-bedded, so that the beds will be over
the fertilizer, or else the fertilizer should be put in the
furrow at planting time. In the drier districts the earlier
and deeper application of fertilizer is best.

Fall or Spring Breaking. — There has been much experi-
menting done to determine whether fall or spring break-
ing of land is best. In a majority of cases in the humid

I

114 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

sections of the South, land broken in the spring has pro-
duced as good crops as that broken in the fall. Even
where pea vines have been grown, plowing the dead vines
under the next spring has done quite as well as plowing
them under green in the fall. Some believe that crops

Fic. 38.--STEAM PLOW ON THE PLAINS

turned under when very green form acids that are hurtful
to future crops.

It has been said that tillage is manure; that is, tillage
enables the earth, air, and moisture to form soluble plant
food. ‘This is true, and hence we should till or plow little
in a warm, wet country, unless we have crops growing or
soon to be started that will take up and use this plant
food, and prevent its being leached and washed away.

Where moisture is scarce, as in the western part of
Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, fall plowing would un-

/
N

PREPARATION FOR PLANTING Th

doubtedly pay. One of the things to be feared so far
west, where it rains little in winter and early spring, is
that there will not be moisture enough to bring up early
crops. Plowed land in arid or humid climates, summer
or winter, always contains more moisture than unplowed
land. One of the disadvantages of clay or bottom land in
humid climates is that, if plowed in the fall, it holds so
much moisture that it cannot be planted early in the
spring. Usually land that has not been plowed in the fall
can be bedded and planted in the spring before a team
can stand on the fall plowed land without bogging. The
trouble is still greater if the land is subsoiled in the fall.
Much land is of such a nature that if plowed in fall,
it compacts again and requires just as much preparation
the following spring. Lime lands, heavy bottoms, grass
sods, and lands hay-
ing large amounts of

weeds and trash, are
most likely to be ben- MA
efited by fall or early elie Tc a [A

winter plowing. Fall

ein

plowing is often ad-

visable to destroy in-
sects, such as boll

Fic. 39.— SUB-SURFACE PACKER

worms, cut worms,
etc., and to kill cotton stalks, so as to deprive the boll
weevil of food.

Plowing Land when Wet. — Ordinary types of land
such as clays and loams are very likely to be injured
when plowed too wet, especially in late spring. It does

‘A

116 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

not hurt light sandy lands, lime lands, and the buckshot
lands of the bottoms to plow them wet, because the clods
that are formed crumble easily. It probably would not
hurt any land to plow it wet, if it were not that in dry
weather the clods become very hard. The rice land of
China and Japan is all plowed in the water, but owing
to the fact that the land is kept wet by irrigation, it con-
tinues to make good crops, as it has done for ages.

Plowing for Fall Seeding. — Any kind of land in which
small seeds, like alfalfa, turnips, rape, etc., are to be sown
in the fall, should be broken early in summer, if possible,
and kept clean of weeds by harrowing and disking till
planting time. Such land will be much more moist than
the land that grew a crop of grass or weeds until late in
the season. All kinds of plants, as we have seen, draw
heavily on the water of the soil. When two crops of
Irish potatoes are to be grown on the same land in one
year, the land should be well plowed and kept clean,
from the time of digging the early crop until planting
time of the second crop. In no other way, without irri-
gation, can land be kept moist enough in most seasons to
bring up and grow a fall crop of potatoes.

Working Crops. — Cultivation of growing crops is given
to kill weeds, to form a dirt mulch, to prevent too rapid
evaporation of moisture, and to stir up the soil to admit
air and cause rapid formation of soluble plant food in the
soil. It is often advised that cultivation should always
be shallow —from one to two inches. Hundreds of ex-
periments have been made cultivating all depths to five
and six inches. Results have been very conflicting.

PREPARATION FOR PLANTING By

Three inches deep has perhaps averaged better yields than
deeper or shallower cultivation. This is about the depth
run by single sweeps so largely used for cotton in the
South. A safe rule would seem to be to cultivate the
most convenient depth for destroying weeds and grass.

Cultivation may be given too often as well as too
seldom. For staple crops,'cultivation each twelve to
fifteen days gives about as good results as more frequent
working. Where drought is feared, it may pay to work
oftener to break a crust formed by hard rains.

QUESTIONS

Would you plow land in ridges or beds, or plow it level? How
may corn be planted to advantage in dry sections? What is the
difficulty sometimes experienced in planting cotton on fresh, loose
beds? Why is it better to plant on land that has had time to settle
and pack by rain? If corn is planted in the bottom of a lister furrow,
can it be worked cheaper ? Why do we plant on beds atall? Explain
how a lister is used in bedding land for cotton. Explain how fertilizer
is applied. Which has proved better, breaking land in the fall or in the
spring? Hasit been found best to plow pea vines under when green, or
to wait until they are dead? In what part of the country would you
always plow land in the fall? Which will always have the more water
in it, plowed land or unplowed land? In the humid sections do you
have too much or too little water in the early spring? Which can
you plant earlier in spring in humid sections, fall-plowed or spring-
plowed land? What classes of land will do best for fall plowing?
Is it ever advisable to plow in the fall to kill insects? What kinds of
land may be plowed wet and not be injured? Why will it injure
clay land to plow it wet? How do the Chinese and Japanese manage
to plow land wet without injuring it? If you wanted to get a stand
of alfalfa in the fall, how would you treat the land? How would
you treat land to grow a fall crop of Irish potatoes ?

Experiments. — Get your father to plow a few rows twelve inches
deep, and a few rows about three or four inches deep, and plant both

i:

118 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

alike. See if there is any value in subsoiling. If you can’t get this
done, spade a small piece of ground twelve inches deep and another
three or four inches; plant and observe results. Let the whole school
know result next year.

Plant at school or at home a few seeds in two boxes of soil. Have
soil rather dry, and plant seeds in quite loose soil in one, and in the
other pack the dirt well after planting and then loosen soil above
seed. See what difference in the germination of the seed. This can
be done at school.

In the time of drought take off the top soil on well-cultivated land
on the farm and get a little box of subsoil, closing it up tight. Take
some subsoil from a hard-packed weed patch near by and close it up
in a can or box. Weigh each one and then see how much water you
can dry out of each one.

Observe whether fall plowing enables your father to plant earlier
or later in spring, and whether it helps or hinders early growth of
plants. :

Wet some clay in boxes and stir one while wet, and then let it dry
in the sun and note effect. Stir the other when it is moderately dry
and note difference. This is a suitable school exercise.

CHAPTER XVIII
IRRIGATION

Watering Rice. — The importance of irrigation cannot
be overestimated. It is absolutely essential to make rice-
erowing profitable, and to make other kinds of farming
possible in many sections. The fact that when arid lands
are irrigated, they at once become highly productive and
lasting in their qualities, has already been referred to. In
the rice-growing districts, large pumping machinery is
used, sometimes raising a hundred thousand gallons of
water a minute. This water is raised a few feet from
the large rivers, creeks, and bayous, and emptied into
broad, shallow canals, some of them a hundred feet wide.
The water flows along these canals a little higher than the
surface of the flat rice lands that are to be watered.
Smaller canals take water out of the big ones, and still
smaller ones take it out of these and distribute it to the
fields. By the time the big canal flows a few miles, and
has had half its water taken out by laterals, or small
canals, the water has become too low to flow out, and
another pumping station is put in to raise the water a
few more feet into a canal made with higher banks.

Storing Water. —In the mountain states, millions of dol-
lars have been spent to build large concrete dams, some-
times a hundred feet high and a mile long, across canyons
or stream beds. ‘These dams sometimes make lakes many

119
4

120 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

miles long and two or three miles wide, and the lakes hold
water enough to irrigate one hundred thousand or more
acres of land. The United States Government is putting
in a large number of these big storage reservoirs in the
West. By wise laws, the money derived from the sale of
public lands in the districts to be irrigated, is used for
building more dams, catching more water, and reclaiming
more rich, semidesert land. It is confidently believed that
eventually all the flood waters now flowing down the Mis-
sourl, Arkansas, and other rivers, will be stored and held
for summer irrigation. When this is done, there will be no
more danger of the great levees of the Mississippi River
breaking and flooding the rich delta country through
which the river flows. These are vast undertakings, but
our country is great and rich,-and our people are enter-
prising and daring in developing its natural wealth.
Small Reservoirs. — There are thousands of small streams
and canyons that may be dammed by individuals or small
companies, where water enough may be stored to irrigate
from a few acres to several thousand acres. It may be
said that small reservoirs may be made at less expense
to the acreage reclaimed than in the case of larger ones.
Irrigation in Humid Sections. — The possibilities for irri-
gating profitably in the humid sections have been par-
ticularly neglected. Nearly every crop in every section
suffers more or less from drought at some time. Much
rain falls in Mississippi, yet the author has seen the
‘profits on strawberries increased by irrigation as much
as a hundred dollars to the acre. A Louisiana truck
raiser, by irrigating during a drought, made two hundred

IRRIGATION 121

and fifty crates of cabbage to the acre, while the best yield
made by any neighbor was one hundred and fifty crates.
The Wisconsin Experiment Station, situated in a humid
climate, pumped water from a depth of twenty-six feet
for irrigation, and burned coal costing five dollars a ton
to do the work. The increased yields averaged about
forty per cent on the different crops irrigated over those
that were not irrigated. The net extra profits made to
the acre one year, by means of irrigation, after paying
for pumping and distributing the water, were as follows:—

TAO ica sek Pe in Coe OOO)
COENG sae eer een ee nS
TOtaAd GES 5h pets ere ee ose

Water Reservoirs. — Water can be found in abundance
in many humid sections, and may be got cheaply on the
land itself. Small streams often flow through the land,
and these may be dammed up and made to flow over
it by gravity, or the water may be raised by pumping.
In the clay or lime districts where lasting streams are
not plentiful, storage reservoirs can be easily made by
damming stream beds, or hollows. In nearly all the large
valleys of streams, and on low-lying lands near the sea-
coasts, overflowing artesian water may be had. Through-
out much of the sandy and loamy areas of the country,
large shallow wells afford water at depths of from ten
to sixty feet, and the supplies may often be sufficient for
irrigation.

Crops needing Irrigation. — Among the crops that with
irrigation may be made very profitable in the Southern

fi

122 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

States are sweet potatoes, sugar cane, and fall Irish pota-
toes. Sweet potatoes and cane do their best growing
in September and October, when there is nearly always
a deficient moisture supply. In fact, the states east of
Texas are drier in these two months than the country

Fic. 40. — IRRIGATING BETWEEN Rows

along the one hundredth meridian. With irrigation there
is little doubt that a hundred bushels can be added to the
yield of each acre of potatoes and one hundred gallons of
sirup for each acre of cane. Cane and potatoes both grow
in wide rows and on ridges; water can be easily appled
to each crop, by causing it to run along the middles be-
tween the rows. Whenever there is enough rain, the fall
crop of Irish potatoes, planted about August in the Gulf
States, makes quite as large and profitable a yield as the

IRRIGATION 123

spring crop. On account of drought in April or May the
early Irish potatoes scarcely produce a full crop one year
in ten. There is no crop more easily injured by deficient
moisture supply.

Mistakes in Irrigation. — A great mistake almost certain
to be made by a beginner in irrigation is, that he tries to
make a little stream of water, say ten to fifty gallons a
minute, irrigate a large piece of ground. ‘To make such
a stream water even a quarter of an acre, troughs, hose-
pipes, etc., must be used, and that would make the labor
of distributing the water cost too much to be profitable
with ordinary crops. If one undertakes to run such a
small stream along rows or furrows, it will lose itself
perhaps in the first twenty feet. In order to run water
along ditches and distribute it to the rows and over the
land at a reasonable labor cost, at least two hundred
gallons a minute should be at command. Such a stream
may be let out of the ditch into several rows at a time,
and the water will perhaps follow the rows a distance of
a hundred yards. With this amount of water, one man
can probably irrigate from one to two acres a day. With
five hundred gallons’ flow a minute, four or five acres a
day can be watered. Another mistake where water is
abundant is to use too much. Moderate applications of
water followed by cultivation as soon as the land will
work well will be found most profitable.

Storage Ponds. — Those who have small artesian wells
or small pumping plants, should construct reservoirs a
little above the level of the land to be watered, and should
accumulate water and let it out in large volume when

124 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

it is to be apphed. A flow of fifty gallons a minute will
accumulate about seventy-five thousand gallons of water
in twenty-four hours. This will afford a little over one
and two thirds inches of water for an acre of land, a
sufficient watering if it is applied in rows or furrows.
In an arid country, when the land is very dry, as much
as four inches may often be put on the land at one
irrigation. |

Distributing Water. — In distributing water over a field,
the ditches must, of course, be kept on the highest ground.
The rows, or furrows, to carry the water must be run at a
suitable angle to the ditches, so as to have fall enough to
run the water at a reasonable rate of speed, and at the
same time not to wash the land. A little experience will
enable one to give the rows the best fall on his partic-
ular kind of land. Head ditches should sometimes be
one hundred yards apart and sometimes two hundred.
Experience and common sense will be the best guides as
to this.

In the arid country farmers sometimes flood the land
somewhat as the rice farmers do, keeping water on the
land just long enough to wet it thoroughly.

QUESTIONS

Tell about rice irrigation. What is the nation doing in the way of
irrigation? What about farming in arid countries under irrigation ?
What profits from irrigation are possible in humid countries? What
crops would probably respond profitably to irrigation? What
amounts of water are necessary? What suggestions are made about
catching and storing water? What mistake is a beginner apt to
make at first in irrigation ?

CHAPTER XIX
INSECT FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

Losses Caused. —In 1907 the cotton boll weevil no doubt
destroyed, in ‘Texas alone, a million bales of cotton, worth
not less than sixty millions of dollars. When we consider
the great number of harmful insects, we must conclude
that the losses occasioned by them for the whole country
are enormous.

Not all insects are harmful. We have seen how many
of them, by carrying pollen and fertilizing flowers, make
plants fruitful. Then we have the bee and many other
useful kinds of insects. <A little insect brought from
the Old World made possible the Smyrna fig industry
in California.

Insects destroy Other Insects. — Sometimes we can get
rid of bad insects only by finding other insects that will
destroy them. The great sugar industry of the Hawaiian
Islands was threatened some three years ago by a little
creature, called a sugar-cane leaf-hopper, that was intro-
duced by means of seed cane brought from Australia.
The government of the island territory hired a staff of
entomologists and sent part of them to Queensland to
find and send over the natural enemies of the hopper,
while the others were kept at home to breed these im-
ported insects and place them in the fields. In this way
the cane industry was saved. When we cannot cope

125

126 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

with an enemy of this kind, we try to find some brave
little ally that will fight for us. We can keep up, in
some cases at least, a sort of balance of power among our
insect enemies.

Real insects have six legs and have their bodies in three
divisions — the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Grass-
hoppers, bees, wasps, ants, etc., are typical insects.

Fig. 41.—SprayiInGc Fruit TREES

Classes of Insects. — Insects may be divided into two
large classes. One class, such as the grasshopper, the leaf
worm, and the potato bug, for instance, bite and eat their
food. These can be killed by sprinkling the plant with
a very weak solution of Paris green, say a heaping tea-
spoonful to a bucket of water. In eating the leaves, the
insect will get enough of the poison to cause its death.

The other class of insects are those that have tubes for
inserting into the tissues of the plant and sucking the
juices. Poisons will not kill these because they get none
of them. ‘The only way to destroy the sucking insects is

INSECT FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 127

to use some kind of spray that will burn their bodies.
A worm, called the cotton boll worm, tomato worm, or
corn worm, according to the kind of plant on which it is
found, eats leaves at times and can be killed with poison,
but after it has eaten into the ear, the boll, or the fruit,
it cannot be easily reached by poisons.

Cabbage growers often use Paris green to kill the cab-
bage worm, but do not let their customers know it.
Such applications are so small, and the poison is so nearly
washed off by rain, that no person has ever been known
to be hurt by eating cabbage treated in this way.

Killing Grain Weevils. —Corn and pea weevils that in-
fest our grains after they have been gathered can be easily
killed by placing the grain in barrels, boxes, tight bins, or
tight rooms, and placing on top or near the top of the
grain a cup or tin can containing a little bisulphide of
carbon, sometimes called “high life.” This hquid evapo-
rates and forms a gas heavier than air, and this gas sinks
down through the grain and kills the insects. A. tea-
spoontul to each two or three bushels of grain will accom-
plish the desired result. The gas soon passes off, and
does not hurt the seed for planting or for other use.
Weevils will get back in the grain later, and a new appli-
cation will be needed.

Insects carry Disease. — One kind of Southern cattle
tick carries the germs of the deadly Texas fever from
Southern cattle to Northern cattle. This will be discussed
later. The dreaded surra, which kills the horses of India,
China, Java, and the Philippines, is carried by biting flies.

It is now very well known that malaria, yellow fever,

128 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

and dengue fever are carried from one person to another
by different species of mosquitoes. In biting a person
having malaria, the mosquito gets the germs of the dis-
ease, carries them away, and injects them into the next
person bitten. Since the discovery of this great truth,
people, by protecting themselves against mosquitoes, have
good health even in the great river bottoms of the South.
Typhoid fever is carried sometimes by the house fly. An
insect called the tsetse fly of Africa carries the dreadful
sleeping sickness of that country. It is quite likely that
insects play a more important part in the carrying of the
germs of human diseases than we yet know.

The Boll Weevil. — This insect pest came into South-
west Texas many years ago from Mexico, and has spread

Fic. 42.— Bott WEEVIL (MAGNIFIED) AND LARVA (GREATLY MAGNIFIED)

eastward and northward till it has reached parts of Okla-
homa, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

About first frost the grown weevils appear to go into
winter quarters in timber, grass, weeds, and in any rub-
bish that may be convenient. The fact that weevils are
always numerous in fields near forests shows that the
woods afford them suitable places for hibernating, or liv-
ing through the winter. .

INSECT FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 129

The weevils begin to come out and hunt for food in

Fic. 43.— DIFFERENT LIFE SIZES oF ADULT WEEVILS

April, and often continue to come out until late in June.
The cotton plant furnishes their only food. Those that
emerge early feed on the leaves and buds of the young
plant until
squares begin
to form. After
this they live
by puncturing
the squares with
their long bills
and sucking the
juice. The fe-

males also punc-

ture the squares Fic. 44. — PuNCTURED SQUARE CONTAINING
4 YouNG WEEVILS
in order to de-

posit their eggs. The egg soon hatches and produces a
little grub (Fig. 44), which eats the inside of the little
square and causes it to fall to the ground. In about
eighteen or twenty days from the time the ege@ is laid
in the square, the new weevil is old enough to begin
laying eggs. This gives a new generation of weevils at
least every twenty days. As each female weevil lays

K

130 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

over a hundred eggs during her life, one pair of weevils
will produce a vast number in one season.

Starving the Weevils. — It has been proved by Professor
F. W. Malley of the Texas Experiment Station, and Dr.
W.D. Hunter and others of the Department of Agricul-
ture at Washington, that if cotton stalks are destroyed
early in the fall, the weevils will have to endure a longer
fasting period, and fewer of them will live till spring. It
may be said that if all the cotton stalks were destroyed,
so as to deprive the weevils of their food in October,
probably only one per cent would live till cotton came
up the following spring. If deprived of food in Novem-
ber, perhaps three per cent would live through the winter,
but if deprived of food in December, five or six per cent
would live till spring. The cotton should, therefore, be
picked as soon as possible, and all the stalks should be
cut and burned. Perhaps an easier plan for many would
be to turn cattle into the fields. Cattle will soon strip the
stalks of all squares, bolls, and leaves, leaving the weevil
nothing to feed on. This plan not only furnishes excel-
lent grazing for cattle, but it preserves the fertility of the
land much better than the burning of the stalks does.
Unfortunately few people will burn their cotton stalks or
allow their cattle to graze on them. As weevils are
known to go as far as twelve miles from where they
grew to maturity, the practice of burning or grazing the
cotton stalks would have to be somewhat general in order
to accomplish results that would be at all satisfactory.

Selecting early kinds of cotton, planting early, fertiliz-
ing liberally on poor lands, and working the crop well are

INSECT FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 151

the means that are chiefly relied on for raising cotton in
spite of the weevil. By means of these methods, a suth-
cient number of bolls matures to make a fairly good crop
before the weevils get numerous enough late in July and
early in August to destroy all the squares and young bolls.
Sometimes a full crop is made in spite of the weevil and
other pests. As the average cotton stalk ordinarily makes
six times as many squares as mature into bolls, most of »
the squares may be destroyed and still a sufficient number
may be left to make as many bolls as the stalk can bring
to maturity.

Fall Plowing.—Some people recommend deep, fall
plowing as a means of planting early, and of getting the
young cotton to grow rapidly. This is certainly the cor-
rect practice for the dry West Texas country, where the
weevil first appeared, but clay and bottom lands farther
east have too much water in early spring to permit very
early planting and the most rapid growth of the young
cotton. If plowed deep in the fall, this difficulty is only
increased. If practicable, such lands should be handled
in a way to make them get rid of water as rapidly as
possible until about planting time. At that time there
will be an abundance, if not an excess, and if the land
is worked from then on so as to conserve moisture, every
requirement of good agricultural practice will be met.

Destroying the Weevils. — Some people believe in dusting
cotton with Paris green at the time the weevils are eat-
ing the young leaves before the squares appear. Most
observers, while agreeing that some weevils are killed, do
not agree that this is a pr..“table practice. In the early

ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Fic. 45.— EARLY AND LATE CoTTON IN BOLL WEEVIL DISTRICT

INSECT FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 135

part of the season, when a few squares fall on account of
being punctured by weevils, it is generally agreed that
it is profitable to pick these squares up and burn them,
since each one contains a young weevil. One weevil de-
stroyed the first of June probably prevents tens of thou-
sands of offspring later in the season. This practice is
profitable to each farmer who adopts it, whether his
neighbor follows his example or not, because weevils
generally stay in the fields where they are hatched until
late in the season, when food becomes scarce.

Enemies of the Weevils. — Some farmers are raising tur-
keys and guinea fowls in large numbers not only for the
profit to be derived from the fowls, but for their service
in destroying weevils. These birds are said to lessen
appreciably the damage done by weevils. Very many
species of birds eat weevils, and as a general rule birds
should be protected. A little native black ant destroys a
great many weevils while they are in the larval stage in
the square. These ants are said to be multiplying in the
weevil districts, and to be greatly lessening the damage
done by weevils in some places. Weevils are also, to some
extent, subject to fungous diseases.

This pest is spreading rapidly into the wet districts,
but is not moving northwest in Texas, where the air is
dry and the heat is intense. Hot, dry weather dries out
the squares and kills the young. The indications are that
this pest will be more destructive as it moves east, on
account of abundance of moisture, the shade of the rank-
erowing cotton, and the late maturing of the crop.
Unless the extra moisture also favors bird, insect, and

154 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

fungous enemies of the weevil, it will be more destructive
east of the Mississippi River than it ever was in West
Texas.

One especial enemy of insects and friend of man is the
toad. He eats an unusual number of cut worms and
other pests. It would undoubtedly pay to have pools,
or tanks, of water about the farm and garden to encour-
age toads to multiply. There is little doubt but they
would catch a good many boll weevils.

See Appendix for descriptions and means of destroying
most insect pests.

QUESTIONS

What is the estimate of the damage done by the boll weevil in
1907? Are all insects harmful? Name some beneficial insects and
tell what great service insects render to plants. How can we estab-
lish a balance of power among insect enemies? Give an example of
such use of insects. Define a real insect. What two classes of in-
sects are there? How are the two classes killed? How are cabbage
worms killed sometimes? How are corn and pea weevils killed?
What cattle diseases are carried by insects? What human diseases
are known to be carried by insects and what insects carry the germs
in each disease? Show on a map what sections the cotton boll
weevil now infests. What food must the weevil.have? What goes
with them through winter? What do they eat when they first come
out in spring? How long does it take for a generation of weevils
fully to mature? How many eggs does each female lay and how
long will it take one pair to produce a million offspring? Of what
advantage is it to cut and burn or graze the cotton field in October
as compared with doing the same in December? What methods are
chiefly relied on to make a crop where there are weevils? How about
fall plowing to help early planting and rapid growth of plants?
What kind of cotton should be selected? What disadvantage will
the cotton raisers in the more rainy districts have in fighting the
weevil ?

CHAPTER XX
COTTON

History and Statistics. — ‘The great crop of the South-
ern States is cotton, and it is one of the great crops of the
world. The United States raises something like four-
fifths of the world’s commercial supply of this staple.
The East Indies produce something over 2,000,000 bales.
of cotton, but it is inferior. Egypt raises a good quan-
tity of fine quality, and China raises a considerable
amount, but its quality is inferior. The Chinese often
sow their cotton broadcast, and crawl through the patches
and pick out the weeds. Russia raises a few hundred
thousand bales in the southern part of her Asiatic pos-
sessions. Small patches of cotton may be seen in Japan
also, but it seldom grows over a foot in height.

In all tropical countries small quantities of cotton are
grown from perennial plants that often grow wild and
become almost as large as fruit trees. The tropics were
the original home of the cotton plant, but the temperate
zones grow it much better.

Our forefathers in America commenced to grow cotton
perhaps two hundred and fifty years ago, but it is not
definitely known whether the first seed planted came from
Europe and Asia, or from Mexico and South America.
It is supposed that seed came from all these countries.

155

a

136 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

In round numbers, the United States is now planting
39,000,000 acres in cotton and producing 13,000,000 bales
weighing 500 pounds each. The crop is worth in all about

Fic. 46.— Goop Tyrr or CoTTon PLANT

$ 700,000,000, not including the seed, which are worth
over *100,000,000.

Where Cotton Grows. — Cotton is grown as far north as
537 degrees on our lowlands and 34 degrees on the lands
of West Texas having an elevation of three thousand
feet. It was at one time believed that cotton needed a

COTTON 137

moist atmosphere, but its successful growth in West
Texas proves that it is adapted to a very dry climate
also. It is grown in the entire cotton belt on every

Fig. 47.-- Poor TYPE OF COTTON PLANT

kind of land that is.even partially well drained and cul-
tivated. There is no other crop that will stand the same
abuse in the way of poor preparation, poor culture, poor
drainage, weeds, grass, and other unfavorable conditions,
and make as good returns. After neglect that would
ruin corn or other crops, cotton has often done better

138 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

than when carefully cultivated. Since the coming of the
boll weevil, good rapid cultivation has become necessary.

How Planted. — Cotton is generally planted on a ridge,
but in the dry areas, and in the sandy lands in the eastern
sections, it is sometimes planted on a level. The farmers
in each community know when it is safe to plant, and

Fic. 48.— RoLtLtinc FrEsH CoTToN BED TO FIRM THE SOIL
FOR PLANTING

whether it is necessary to plant on a ridge. The
pupils should learn the details of the cultivation and
handling of cotton from their fathers and neighbors.
farly planting generally yields better than late planting,
but this is not always so. Early planting is very impor-
tant where there are boll weevils. Late plantings on any
rich bottom land are very hkely to grow too much stalk
and leaf to make a good yield.

Preparation of Land. — In order to be certain of getting
a stand of cotton, the land should be prepared some time

COTTON 139

before planting, so that it may settle and become com-
pact. A compact, firm condition enables enough water
to be drawn up from the subsoil to sprout the seed even
in dry weather. A good plan is to list cotton land in the
fall, winter, or early spring, with two furrows of a turn
plow. Then, just before planting, the middles should be

Fic. 49. — Mississtpp1 COTTON FIELD

broken out. This gives a firm soil to plant in, and a
fresh, clean bed for the young plants. Planting time
usually marks the beginning of dry weather, when the
planter should begin to work to save moisture. The
loose, fresh bed will help to save moisture. If prepared
just before planting, without previous listing, the land
should be rolled, dragged, or harrowed, so as to make it
firm. Often when the weather is dry, cotton seed lie in
the ground from April to June on account of being

140 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

planted on a loose, fresh bed. Did you ever notice in
a very dry season that the cotton or wheat came up well
near a turn row where the teams had packed the ground,
when it did not come up over the rest of the field ?

Depth of Preparation. — As cotton has a long period of
growth, it does not need to have the land so thoroughly
prepared as some crops do. It is often planted on rough,
cloddy land, and if the land is put into good condition
during the first working, it will make a good crop. It
does not need deep preparation of soil. Some of the best
cotton raisers in the country sprinkle the fertilizer in the
old cotton or corn middle, and make the bed over an
unbroken center. Other successful planters make beds
with a buster, as explained heretofore. These methods
are cheap; they allow the work to be pushed along, and
make about as good seed beds as the more expensive
methods. It is often the case, as explained before, that
clay or bottom land in the rainy belt, when deeply pre-
pared in the fall, winter, or early spring, holds so much
water that it cannot be planted early, and when it is
planted, remains so cold that the crop does not grow
rapidly. Cotton also adapts itself well to different modes
of cultivation. Where coco, or nutgrass, is bad in Mis-
sissippi and Louisiana, the farmers fight this grass by
throwing dirt in the rows with turn plows and covering
the grass. When laid by the cotton is often on a ridge
two feet high, but it makes just as good a crop apparently
as if cultivated on a level.

Different Methods for Different Sections. — It is a great
advantage, in many cases, to list the land in the fall or

COTTON 141

winter, with two furrows, as has been explained, and let
it remain firm and compact until just before planting
time. This will allow the excess of moisture to evaporate,
and make the land warm enough for the crop to come up
and grow fast. This advice applies especially to land in
the eastern part of the cotton belt, where there is almost
always too much moisture in the early spring. To secure
the best results in the dry parts of the belt, it is im-
perative that the land be prepared in the fall or early
winter, and be kept harrowed and in good tilth right up to
planting time in the spring. In fact, where the rainfall is
only about twenty inches a year, the land on which crops
are planted in rows should never be allowed to get out of
tilth. Cultivators or broad sweeps should be run at in-
tervals until corn-gathering or cotton-picking time, and
then the same implement should follow the gatherers or
pickers in order to save moisture for the next crop.

In the more rainy sections this same thing should be
done if crops of any kind are to be planted on the land in
fall or early winter, for in the rainy sections of the cotton
belt the conditions for fall seeding are about as unfavor-
able as they are in the semiarid sections. If, however,
the land in the humid sections is not to be planted
again till the following spring, it needs no such treat-
ment, for it almost always gets too much water before
spring.

Professor R. L. Bennet, Cotton Expert of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, after studying cotton at the Texas
Agricultural College for four years, came to definite con-
clusions as to the method of securing an early, prolific

142 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

cotton which will make a good crop before the weevils
get numerous enough in summer to do serious damage.

He found that certain types of big boll cotton are easy
to pick, and make bolls just as early as small boll cotton.
Although the big bolls
do not dry and open so
quickly as the small bolls,
yet they become large
enough to be secure from
the attack of the weevils
just as early in the season
as the small bolls do.
These types have an ad-
ditional advantage in that
when the cotton opens, it
is not so badly blown out
by storms.

By selecting certain
types of stalks from fields
of good kinds of cotton
grown in each neighbor-

hood, and growing the

Fic. 50. — RounpD CoTToNn BALES

seed from the single
stalks separately, the farmer can get kinds of cotton far
superior to that produced from most seed that are offered
for sale at high prices. Usually the seed from a single
stalk will yield very true to the parent plant. Efforts
to improve the seed gradually by high fertilizing every
year have not proved satisfactory. If the right type is
selected and this type breeds true, the improvement is

COTTON 143

made all at once. The seed from one stalk can be multi-
plied fast enough to plant a good-sized field the third year.

Cotton plants have nodes or joints. Short-jointed stalks
that grow fast and fruit rapidly should be selected.
Mr. Bennett makes the following suggestions : —

Ist. The stalks selected should have fruit limbs begin-
ning not higher than the fifth or sixth joint above the
lowest, or seed-leaf joint.

2d. The wood limbs, or primary limbs (large branches
which themselves put out fruit limbs) should be low, and
preferably not over four in number.

3d. Joints on primary and on fruit limbs should be
short — from one to three inches in length.

4th. Fruit limbs should grow at the successive joints
of the main stem and the wood limbs.

oth. All the fruit limbs should continue to grow and
fruit until the plant is matured.

6th. The widest leaves should not be over six inches
across. Wide leaves keep out the sun, and the weevil
thrives in the shade. Figure 46 shows the type of cotton .
to select. Figure 47 shows the type not to select. After
Mr. Bennett gets the right type of seed, he plants early,
fertilizes highly, and works the crop rapidly to make it
grow and fruit as fast as possible. He believes in pick-
ing up the fallen squares in the early part of the season,
and in pasturing the fields early in the fall or destroying
the stalks, or doing both, as a means of making the
weevils less numerous the following year.

Cost of Cultivation. — Cotton is much easier to cultivate
in the western part of the belt than in the eastern. In

144 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

the western part, one hoeing or chopping, costing about
fifty cents an acre, is required. In the eastern part, from
two to three hoeings are required, costing perhaps on an
average of $2.50 an acre. The cultivators should be run
as often in the west to save moisture as they are in the
east to kill grass and weeds.
Cultivation is always easier
and cheaper anywhere if
the crop can be worked
often and kept from getting
foul with weeds.

Thickness of Planting. —
All the experiment stations
in the South agree that the
yield and earliness of a crop
of cotton are increased if
the plants are rather thick

in the rows—from twelve
to twenty-four inches apart
when the rows are from
three to four feet wide, the

widest spaces in each case

Fic. 51. — Lone aAnp SHORT STAPLE
COTTON

being on the richest lands.
Length of Staple. — Short-
staple cottons, having a lint about one inch long or less,
make up the great bulk of the crop. In some eases,
however, on rich bottom lands and highly manured
uplands, cotton having a staple one and a half inches
long or more is raised. ‘These long-staple cottons bring
perhaps fifty per cent more than the short-staple cottons.

COTTON 145

The black-seeded sea-island cotton, grown near the coast
and on some islands of South Carolina and Georgia, is
the finest cotton grown in the world. It is worth three
times as much as short-staple cotton. Short-staple cottons,
however, generally yield more and turn out a larger pro-
portion of lint to the seed than
the long-staple kinds.

Ginning and Baling. — Cotton
has. nearly always been poorly
handled. It is often carried to
the gin when moist. The gin runs
too fast and cuts the lint badly
even when the cotton is dry.
Kach bale carries to Europe or to
the domestic mill thirty pounds of
bagging and ties that are thrown

away, and yet it is poorly wrapped. era
It is cut and torn in taking numer- Fy. on Led ae oe
gus iaree samples from the bales. ©" COTTON 4s Ir certs
TO EUROPE
It lies out in the rain and suffers
damage. It goes to the compress for repacking, and
finally goes to the ship for export so poorly packed
that it has to be screw-pressed into the ship at heavy
expense. For all these expenses and losses the farmer
actually pays in the smaller price he gets for his cotton
at home. If all these losses, or nearly all of them, could
be avoided, cotton would perhaps bring the farmer a cent
a pound more than it does under the present conditions.
Kind of Bale. —If the cotton could be packed densely in
a round bale that would save so much sampling and require

L

146 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

but a few yards of cheap burlap covering, the saving to
the farmer would amount to a great deal. Heretofore
this method of baling has been objected to, because the
owners of the presses would not sell them, and appeared
to be seeking to create a monopoly of baling cotton. As
soon as patents expire and ginners can buy these presses,
it would seem to offer a means of effecting great saving
to the cotton farmers.

Judging Cotton.— All farmers and farmer boys and
girls should learn how to judge cotton. They should get
some samples of known classes and practice judging.
While cotton is in the seed, a fairly correct judgment of
its quality can be formed. Pull the seed apart and
straighten out the lint, as in Figure 47, and compare the
lengths. You will find the longer staples will make much
larger tufts. Then if the cotton is quite free from trash,
dirt, and stain, and is ginned carefully, you will know
that it should bring a large premium over ordinary kinds.
If a farmer sells a steer, he knows whether it is fat; if he
sells butter, he knows whether it is of good quality; yet
he allows the cotton buyer to be the sole judge of the
quality of his cotton.

The Seed. — Cotton seed, until a few years ago, were for
the most part wasted. Mississippi has an old law on her
statute books prohibiting ginners from throwing seed into
creeks. Seed are now known to be very valuable as a
fertilizer and as a feeding stuff. They yield oil that is
refined and made into compound lard, butter, and salad
oils; the cake and meal are used for fertilizers and cattle
feed ; the hulls have proved to be a good rough feed for

COTTON 147

cattle; and the short lint, called linters, got by running
the seed through the gin before they are hulled, has
various uses. A ton of seed yields about 40 gallons of oil,
800 pounds of meal, 800 pounds of hulls, and 40 pounds
of linters. By studying market prices of these products,
remembering that the oil mill should have four or five
dollars a ton of seed for expenses and profits, one can
always form a correct estimate as to what is a fair price
for seed.

Large numbers of cattle dre fattened on cotton-seed
hulls and meal mixed, but the most of the meal is ex-
ported to Europe. ‘The oil and linters are also largely
exported.

Feeding Seed and Meal. — People having cattle to feed
should not sell seed for less than two-thirds the price of
cotton-seed meal. The worth of seed for feed is fully
two-thirds that of meal, ton for ton, but somewhat more
care may be necessary in order to get the best results from
feeding seed whole.

QUESTIONS

Through what degrees of latitude does cotton flourish in the United
States? At what elevation above sea level is it being grown? Is the
old idea that cotton needed a moist atmosphere correct? Is cotton a
very hardy crop? Are early or late plantings of cotton most likely to
yield good crops? Would you recommend early or late planting where
the boll weevil is prevalent? What is likely to happen if cotton is
planted late on rich bottom land? Explain how land may be listed
in the fall or winter for cotton, so that the beds may be finished just
before planting time. Give the advantages of this plan. If cotton
must be planted on fresh beds, what advantage would it be to roll the
beds or drag something heavy over them? Why is it that cotton will
sometimes come up near a turn row when it does not over the rest of

[
if

148 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

the field? Does cotton require as thorough preparation of land as
some other crops? Does it need the soil deeply prepared? Will it
make a good crop if the bed is made over an unbroken center? In
the humid sections, would you plow land to make it hold more water
in winter, or would you handle it in a way to make it get rid of some
of the water? In the wet districts, about what time in the spring
would you commence to work your land to make it hold its water?
Why would you harrow wheat and oats in the semiarid sections while
they are growing? Why would it pay to run cultivators. through
your cotton, kafir corn, and other crops in dry sections until the crops
are gathered? Why is not cotton with big bolls as early-opening as small-
boll cotton? Why is big-boll cotton to be preferred to small-boll cotton ?
Describe the kinds of cotton that have proved earliest and that proved
to make the best crops where boll weevils are bad. Where is cultiva-
tion of cotton cheapest, in the dry or wet section? Will cotton make
more growing close together or far apart in the rows? Will cotton
make earlier if grown close in the drill? Will it make a larger
yield? What is the finest cotton known? Tell some of the ways in
which cotton is badly handled. _ If handled in a better way, would it
bring the farmer a better price? Why should all farmers know how
to class their cotton? How can you tell something of the value of
your cotton before it is ginned? What are some of the uses of cotton-
seed oil? What products do the oil mills get from a ton of cotton
seed? Can you tell from these products about what the farmer
ought to get for his seed? What are the relative values of cotton
seed and cotton-seed meal for feeding cattle ?

Experiment. — Get a cotton buyer to give you samples of middling
cotton, low middling, good middling, and middling fair, with the
differences in value of them. Practice sampling and judging for
yourself. Do this at school.

CHAPTER XXI
CORN

Indian Corn, so called because it was first found among
the American Indians, is the greatest single crop grown
in any one country on earth. The annual value of the
crop grown in the United States is about one and
a quarter billion dollars. Texas stands about fifth or
sixth among the states in corn production. Something
like a hundred different commercial products are manu-
factured from the corn plant, such as oil, rubber substi-
tutes, starch, sirup, alcohol, packing for battleships (the
pith of the stalk is used for this purpose), Missouri cob
pipes, and many other things.

Origin. — This giant grass had its origin in tropical
America, but like many other plants of like origin,
it makes its best growth toward the northern limit of
the area of its production. It grows all the way from
Canada to Cape Horn, and has spread to the warm
parts of Europe and the Far East, including Australia
and Australasia.

Kinds of Corn. — We have dent, flint, sweet, and pop
corns. The dent corn is of especial interest in most of
the corn belt as a field crop. Flint corn matures quickly,
and is grown in the extreme northern part of the belt.

It does not usually make large yields. Dent corn is
149

150 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

shriveled at the large end of the grain. Of the yellow
and white corns of the dent variety, the white kinds have
usually yielded better in all the southern half of the corn
belt, and they are somewhat better for making bread.

Soil and Fertilizers.— Corn is grown on all kinds of
land, but it does not flourish with as poor soil, drainage,
culture, etc., as cotton does. Corn does its very best on
rich, well-drained bottom lands, that have plenty of humus.
On thin uplands corn needs not only better fertilizing than
cotton, but also a somewhat larger proportion of nitrogen
in the fertilizer. Therefore all fertilizer mixtures for
corn should have a little less acid phosphate and a little
more cotton-seed meal, nitrate of soda, or cotton seed than
those which are intended for cotton.

Preparation of Land. — It has commonly been supposed
that corn land needs deeper preparation than cotton land,
but evidence from Southern experiment stations does not
indicate this. The land needs thorough, but not neces-
sarily deep, preparation — perhaps five inches deep. Corn
can be planted earlier than cotton — perhaps two or three
weeks.

Selecting Seed. — The same general principles for se-
lecting seed as have been recommended for cotton apply
to corn; but as corn is very likely to cross, the desirable
shoots had better be covered and pollinated artificially.
For sections having plenty of rain a larger stalk and
later-maturing type would make a better yield. Farther
west, where moisture is less abundant, a smaller stalk
and quicker maturity would be better. It matters lhttle
whether corn for seed tends to bear one ear or more

CORN TH

than one. Corn yields best when planted so thick as to
average about one ear to each stalk. Testing out the best
selections from individual stalks in one’s own neighbor-
hood, or on one’s own farm, is better than ordering from
some distant 3

state seed corn
which is said
to have a fine
pedigree and
high yielding
record. Farm-
ers should
order at most
only small
quantities of
seed from a dis-
tance, and care-
fully test them
out for adapt-

ability to their
own localities
and conditions.
Corn generally

adapts itself to

Fic. 53.—CorN AND PEAS

a locality, and
yields better than the same kind brought from a distance.

Yields and Expenses. — In much of the South the aver-
age corn yield is low — being from ten to twelve bushels
to the acre. In some of the Northern States the average
yield runs up to nearly forty bushels. In both North and

12 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

South from seventy-five to eighty bushels to the acre are
not uncommon. Suppose you find out how much work is
done on each acre of corn on your father’s farm, including
preparation of land, planting, plowing, hoeing, gathering
the crop, ete. ; then by counting a day’s work of a man at
a dollar and the work of a horse or mule at fifty cents, and
estimating the value of land rent, seed, and fertilizer, find
out what is the expense of raising an acre of corn. Then
estimate the yield and give it the value corn has in the
neighborhood, and see how much is made or lost. You
might do the same with cotton and other crops.

Saving Fodder. — It used to be a very common practice
in the South to strip the leaves from the corn when it got
nearly dry, and to cure these for fodder. This makes a
fine feed, but a man can strip so little of it in a day that
people are abandoning this plan of providing rough feed.
The Texas Experiment Station many years ago tested the
plan of saving the fodder by cutting off the tops of the
corn. In proportion to the amount of feed saved, this
plan proved much cheaper than stripping the blades from
the stalks. The plan generally followed in the main part
of the corn belt is to cut down the whole stalks and put
them up in shocks until they are cared, and then to shuck,
or husk out, the ears of corn. What is left is called stover,
and is fed to cattle through the winter. This stover is
often torn up into fine pieces in a shredding machine, and
the product is called shredded corn stover. Shredding is
expensive, and the feed is not greatly improved by the
process, for the shredded stover is very hard to keep. In
the South, corn stover is more subject to injury than in

CORN | 153

the North, because the stalks of the corn are larger and
hold more moisture. This process is not growing in
popularity in the South. Even in the corn states perhaps
not one farmer in a hundred shreds his stalks. It is prob-
ably better to break the corn from the stalk in the old
way, and then allow the stock to graze on the fields. One
Northwestern experiment station has found this the more
profitable plan.

Another chapter will tell how to keep weevils from in-
juring corn.

QUESTIONS

Where was Indian corn first found? How does this crop compare
in importance with other crops of the world? Name some of the
products manufactured from corn. Where did corn originate, 4nd
where does it grow best? What different kinds of corn have we?
What is the best kind of corn in the South? Does corn grow well on
all sorts of land? Does soil for corn need very deep preparation ?
Are different varieties of corn likely to cross? What could be done
to prevent crossing? For sections having plenty of rain, would you
select late corn or early corn? Would it be safe to order a large
quantity of seed corn from a great distance? How large a yield of
corn can be got under good conditions? How could you estimate the
profits or losses on an acre of corn? Is pulling fodder a profitable
practice? What is corn stover? What is shredded stover? Is it
profitable to save and shred corn stover in the South ?

Experiment.— If you live in a section where corn is grown for
market, get samples of market grades of corn from a buyer and learn
to judge these grades and value them. This is a suitable school ex-
ercise.

CHAPTER 2X01
WHEAT AND OATS

Wheat is one of the oldest grain crops. It is particu-
larly adapted to northern latitudes and elevated regions.
It is a cold-weather plant, though it may grow well in
sections where the weather gets very warm about the
time it is ripening. Wheat thrives where the weather is too
cool or the rain-
fall is too little
for corn. It also
does well over
most of the corn
belt of the United
States.

It is hardly
advisable to
plant wheat in
South Texas or

AQ
Fic. 54.— WHEAT PLANTED IN LOOSE SOIL AND : \ eo
ren hott states
IN So1L COMPACTED

in any part of

east of Texas
unless it be on the highest lands of Alabama. It is liable
to rust, and the crops will usually not pay.
Wheat has a decided preference for clay soils. It does
not do well in a deep, loose seed bed. Preparatory plow-
154

WHEAT AND OATS 155

ing may be shallow, and the soil should be firm and com-
pact. You perhaps remember the story of the English
peasant farmer whose wheat had been run over, and
trampled upon by the hounds of a nobleman who was
hunting on the peasant’s farm. The peasant demanded
and received a certain sum of money as damages, but

afterwards returned the money, because he found the

Fic. 55.— WHEAT FIELD ON THE PLAINS

wheat most trampled by the hounds was the best. Pas-
turing wheat moderately in fall and early winter is gen-
erally found beneficial, if done when the land is not too
wet. Pasturing is also good for oats, barley, and rye.
Fertilizers. — Wheat grown on the same grade of land
as corn needs a larger proportion of nitrogen in its fertili-
zers than does corn, because it grows in spring and ripens
in early summer before nitrogen compounds have begun to
form rapidly. But since wheat is mostly grown far

a

156 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE |

enough north and west to insure soil having a larger
supply of nitrogen than the thin Southern corn lands
have, a moderate proportion of nitrogen is likely to be
sufficient.

Wheat and Cotton. — Where cotton and wheat grow in
the same section, a crop of wheat may very suitably follow
a crop of cotton. If the cotton is well worked right up
to picking time, wheat may be sown after one of the pick-
ings and covered with a walking cultivator. The cotton
stalks may be cut and dragged off after the picking is
finished. This dragging will serve as a harrowing and
will help the wheat crop. Often the cotton can all be
picked in time to sow wheat. In this case a good chopping
up with a disk harrow will put the land in fine shape
for the wheat drill. Where wheat is to follow corn,
kafir, milo, or sorghum, the same treatment of land is
recommended; at suitable intervals the land should be
worked with cultivators between the rows right up to
wheat-seeding time. This should be done as a means of
saving moisture.

Wheat after Small Grain. —If wheat is to follow small-
grain crops, the stubble of the latter should be disked and
plowed and re-disked from time to time till seeding time
again, in order to save moisture for the new crop in the
fall. In the dry sections of the West this would be safer
than to risk a pea crop between the two grain crops,
because a large pea crop pumps out an immense quantity
of water. If the pea crop is tried, it should be planted in
rows and kept well cultivated till it is cut. The land
should then be well disked and seeded. If the pea hay is

WHEAT AND OATS ‘ LOT

particularly desirable, it might pay to grow it, even if it
caused a failure in the wheat crop.

In the southern part of its territory wheat is nearly
always seeded in the fall. Farther west, where the win-
ters and springs are dry, wheat fields should be harrowed
from time to time until as late as April, or as long as it
can be done without hurting the plants. This treatment
saves moisture, and the moisture helps to prepare food in
the soil for the crop. H.W. Campbell, in his dry-farming
operations, drills his wheat in twenty-inch rows and cul-
tivates between the rows with a cultivator that works
several rows at a time.

The Green Bug. — Proper working of the land to save
plenty of moisture for starting the wheat off vigorously,
and then pasturing in the fall, seems to be the best treatment
against the green bug that is sometimes so destructive.
This insect starts on the sickly yellow plants on poor spots.
of land which have not been properly prepared. The cattle
and sheep while grazing eat up the bugs, and when the
young leaves grow out, dark and green, they are not so well
suited to the bugs’ taste as yellow, unthrifty older leaves.

A Barrel of Flour. —It requires about 258 pounds of
wheat, or 4.3 bushels, to make a barrel of flour. This.
amount of wheat should yield, according to Dr. H. W.
Wiley, Chemist of the United States Department of Agri-.
culture, the following products : —

Patent Flour . : J 149.37 Tbe

Bakers’ Flour . oc 29arSalipg:
Low-grade Flour. gor Bi eaOr lips.

Total Flour. , . 196.00 lbs. or one barrel.

158 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Wheat Bran . . ,- 145.06 Tbs:
Shorts, “4. 4 ; : 9.80 lbs.
Screenings . : ,' 4.99 lbs.
Waste or loss . . é 2. oo™L bs:
Fotal : ; 258 lbs. or 4.3 bushels

By studying the market values of flour and the by-
products, bran, shorts, etc., farmers can tell pretty well
what price to demand of the millers for wheat, or what
amount of wheat to offer in exchange for flour, feed, etc.

Oats can be grown profitably farther south than wheat,
provided Texas red, rust-proof varieties, or other kinds
not so subject to rust, are chosen. ‘The oat is a profit-
able crop clear to the seacoast in all the Gulf States.
Under a system of fertilizing and rotation it is a good
crop on the small farms throughout the large area of
sandy-loam lands of the Gulf and South Atlantic States.
On the lime and clay lands not artificially drained, the soil
is often too wet in winter and early spring for oats to do
well. In the South oats do much better when sown in
the fall, although fair crops are got from sowings made
in February.

Method of Planting. — To make sure that the fall sow-
ings will not be killed by frosts, the seed are often drilled
on freshly plowed land, the drill running northeast and
southwest and sinking well down in the plowed ground
and leaving little ridges between the drill rows. These
ridges serve as wind-breaks, and prevent the little plants
from being killed in the winter.

Fertilizers. — Oats need decidedly more nitrogen in their
fertilizer than cotton or corn needs, on account of maturing

WHEAT AND OATS 159

before the weather gets warm enough to form nitrates in
the soil rapidly. Two or three hundred pounds of. the
mixture recommended for old lands, drilled with the seed,
and a top dressing of a hundred pounds of nitrate of
soda, harrowed in during March or April, can be counted
on to make a good crop.

Rotation. — Peas should almost always be grown on the
land after the oats are harvested, not only on account of
their value for hay, but because of their excellent effects
on the land. In one experiment on thin, sandy land at
the Alabama Experiment Station, previous crops of cow-
peas and velvet beans — part of each having been cut off
for hay and part turned under, vine and all— made
increases of the oat yield of about twenty-five bushels to
the acre over similar pieces of land, one of which had
grown sorghum and the other crab grass and hog weeds.
Oats, when not followed by a crop of peas, are very
exhaustive to the land; but when followed by peas, the
land is greatly improved.

Oats and Vetch. — Hairy vetch seed are often mixed
with oats, and the two thrive together and make a dense
growth. The vetch is a legume, and improves the land.
Sometimes the vetch climbs up on the oat stalks and in
stormy weather pulls them down, causing considerable
loss. Irom the seed which it sheds on the ground the
vetch comes up volunteer in the fall. It makes a good
winter and early spring pasture, and a fine hay plant when
erown alone or with oats.

Winter Growth. — A crop of oats, or oats mixed with
vetch, followed by peas, makes a fine preparation of the

160 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

land for cotton or any other crop the next spring.
Besides, the oat and vetch seed which are lost at harvest
time come up in the fall and clothe the land in green
during the winter. This is of great advantage in sections
where the winter rains are heavy. The green crop takes
up the soluble
plant food and
prevents it from
being washed
away. It also
helps to evapo-
rate some of the
excess of water.
Then when the
land is plowed
in spring, the
plant food is
Lay ea, given to~ the
as PK EY SATIN «= regular crop as
WAIVING Ae pve fn Se

Wy ete an a INONY AN Sen the green stuff
Z rots. Where
fall oats or fall

Late aes
AgNO PL
ia ae ae

Fic. 56.— Oats AND VETCH

oats and vetch are grown in rotation with corn and cotton,
each field has a green cover crop two years out of three,
and this is of itself of great value.

The same general facts that have been given about
wheat and oats will apply to barley and rye. No attempt
has been made to give details about any of these crops.
Don’t fail to learn more from your fathers and friends
about these crops, and about the tools, implements, and

WHEAT AND OATS 161

machines that. are used for working and _ handling
them.

QUESTIONS

What kind of country and climate suits wheat? Will corn do well in
all wheat countries? Which will grow farther south, wheat or corn?
Would you plant wheat in South Texas or Mississippi? How should
wheat land be plowed? Does it hurt wheat to graze it in the fall?
Does wheat need as much nitrogen as corn? Do wheat and cotton do
well in the same section? How could you sow wheat in cotton fields ?
In dry sections, how late would you work your crops? Why would
you harrow growing wheat in dry regions? If you intended to follow
small grain with wheat, in dry regions, would you plant a pea crop
after the small-grain crop? What time of the year is wheat sown
in the South? What treatment is suggested for the green bug?
How much wheat does it take to make a barrel of flour? What
other things are got besides the flour? Which will grow profitably
farther south, oats or wheat? How are oats planted to keep them
from winterkilling? Which needs the more nitrogen in the fertilizer,
oats or corn? Why is this so? What should be done with the oat
land after the oats are cut? Give an example of an increased yield
of oats on account of leguminous crops. What crop is often grown
with oats? Is the oat crop alone exhaustive to the land? Is
the oat crop, followed by peas, exhaustive to the land? Of what
advantage is a green crop to land in winter? In humid sections,
what effect will the green crop have on the moisture? Would a
winter crop be of advantage in dry sections?

Experiment. — Study market grades of wheat in the way suggested
for corn and cotton. Try growing some wheat or oats in drills on the
farm at home and cultivating between the rows. See if you can
make a much larger crop and at the same time not plant over half as
much seed. Try nitrate of soda, one hundred pounds per acre, as a
top dressing in March or April on a small piece of oats or wheat.

M

CHAPTER XXIII
RICE

Use and Varieties. — Rice is used as an article of food
by a great many of the earth’s inhabitants. An enormous
amount of rice is grown and eaten by the hordes of people
in China, India, Japan, and Australasia. Rice is of many
colors, including black, red, and white. There are very
many varieties adapted to different conditions, from the
salty marsh lands near the sea, up to the mountain sum-
mits many thousand feet high. Some kinds assume a
dwarf habit, and come to maturity when two months old
in the dry, hot season. Other kinds are planted at the
beginning of the flood season in the great river bottoms of
the Far East, and grow and grow as the flood rises, till
they reach a height of twenty feet, and then mature
floating on the water, so that the harvesting has to be
done in boats.

Oriental Methods.— The people of Oriental countries
almost always plant their rice thick in seed beds. When
it is six weeks or two months old, they set it out in the
land where it is to grow, planting about 75,000 plants to
the acre. The land is first plowed and raked when muddy,
and all the grass is killed. The rice plants are set in this
mud, and rain water or irrigation water is made to cover
the land and keep down weeds and -grass. In China,

162

RICE 163

Japan, and India, transplanting is necessary in order to
give the people time to raise a crop of barley or vegeta-
bles, which they must grow in winter and spring, and yet
have their rice early enough. In the Philippines, Java,
and Borneo, this plan is of advantage, because there are so

Fig. 57.— RicE FIELD IN LOUISIANA

many coarse grasses, like Johnson grass or worse kinds,
that would grow faster than the young rice and choke it
out. Bycleaning the land and setting plants when a foot
high and putting on water, the fields can be kept clean,
and good crops can be made.

In the Philippines, men, women, and children — perhaps
a hundred or more — meet at a field that is to be set in rice.
They have a string band, and as the band plays, they set
rice in the mud, keeping time to the music, as if dancing.

Southern Methods. — Louisiana and Texas are growing
the bulk of the rice crop of the United States now; South
Carolina, Georgia, and Arkansas grow a comparatively

ig

164 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

small amount. The level, stiff clay prairies of Texas,
Louisiana, and Arkansas are ideal for rice. They are level
enough for large areas to be surrounded by a small dike,
or levee, so as to hold the water over the land at an even
depth. Water plays an important part in the cultivation
of rice. Enough water is turned on the field to drown the

Fic. 58. — FILIPINOES PLOWING IN MuD PREPARING
LAND FOR RICE

weeds and grasses, but not enough to cover completely
the rice at any place in the field. The numerous streams
and bayous in such a flat country afford an abundant sup-
ply of water for the rice. Then pumping from a deep
well in which the water comes up to or near the surface
will supply a good-sized plantation. Hundreds of these
wells are in use.

As this land holds water like a jug, no excessive amounts

RICE 165

have to be supplied. When water is drawn off into the
drains about the time the crop is ripening, the land
readily dries and gets hard, so that harvesting machinery
can work on it as easily as on a wheat field.

Rice does not need rich land in order to produce a good
crop, but bigger yields are made on good land.

Preparing and Planting. — The land is plowed and har-
rowed when moderately moist, as for other crops. The
seed are put in with a drill, as wheat and oats are planted.
Water is not turned on till the rice is six inches high.
Then lines are run with a leveling instrument, so as to
inclose the most land possible that does not vary in level
more than six inches, and these level lines are followed
by road graders or other implements to make the levees
or dikes, which are seldom more than eight inches high.
The land is plowed to a depth of about three inches only.
This depth of plowing makes just as good a crop as deeper
plowing, and it leaves the land harder for the harvesting
machinery to run over. Sometimes it is necessary to go
over the rice fields and pull out large weeds. In South
Carolina and Georgia rice is often planted in wide drills
and cultivated somewhat like corn.

Red Rice.— A prolific, early kind of rice, having red
grains or red streaks on the grains, has become a sort of
weed in the rice fields. The seed ripen early, and some
fall on the land and come up with the next crop. In this
way the variety multiplies so rapidly that the market value
of the whole crop is lessened, for in our markets there is
no sale for rice with red grains. In the Orient, however,
red rice is esteemed just as highly as white; and the black,

166 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

elutinous rice is thought to be the best of all. To get rid
of the red rice seed, the fields are usually allowed to lie idle
a year or two, and then fresh, clean seed are again planted.

Yields and Profits. — Rice in Louisiana and ‘Texas aver-
ages about 1500 to 1600 pounds of rough, or uncleaned,
rice to the acre. This is about 35 bushels, or a little over
twice the average wheat yield in the United States. Some
plantations frequently produce twice this amount. The
Hawaiian Islands average 8000 pounds of rough rice to
the acre in two crops grown in one season, or something
over 175 bushels to the acre in one year.
~ As rough rice sells in the United States for about the
same price as wheat, it would seem to be a much more
profitable crop. It costs more, however, to grow rice.
Water must be pumped or paid for, if furnished by a
canal company, dikes must be made and kept up, and the
water must be distributed regularly to the fields. Then
some weeding is required. Otherwise the methods of
culture and harvesting of the two crops are much the
same. Rice allows a longer period of time for harvesting
than wheat, so that one man can save much more. By
planting kinds of rice which ripen early and kinds which
ripen late, the farmer may prolong his harvest season for
nearly three months.

Fertilization. — Rice is not extensively fertilized in this
country, but in the old world it is fertilized in the same
way as other crops. Some very favorable results have
been reached by fertilizing in this country. Certainly pea
crops would give good results if planted during the years
the land is idle for the purpose of ridding it of red rice.

RICE 167

Most planters, however, use their entire energies and re-
sources in growing a big rice crop on other land, leaving
themselves no time or means to grow and save a pea crop.

Time of Planting. — Rice may be planted from April
to June. Any rice field that can be well drained in winter
may be sown in the fall to hairy vetch or bur clover.
These crops will mature'a good yield of green manure
by the last of April. If the land is well chopped up with
disks at this time, the rice may be drilled any time in May
or June, without other preparation. Some acid phosphate
may be used to advantage when the restorative crop is
sowed in the fall. Rice yields could no doubt be much
increased in this way ; and but for the red rice, big crops
could be grown every year.

Bur clover will mature seed by the 30th of April in
the Louisiana and Texas rice belt, and these seed might
stand the flooding and still come up volunteer in the fall,
as they do on dry land.

Manufactured Products.— A sack or barrel of rough
rice weighing 162 pounds contains approximately the fol-
lowing products: —

Clean rice . ; 100.00 lbs.
Hulls (generally burned for power) . 32.10 lbs.
Rice bran . : : 20.20 lbs.
Rice polish ; : ; : : 6.30 lbs.
Loss . . , : 3.40 lbs.

otal’: : : : 162.00 lbs.

Some 60 pounds of the 100 pounds of the clean rice
should be best head rice, 30 pounds No. 2 (somewhat

168 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

broken), and 10 pounds badly broken, called brewers’
rice.

With the help of these figures and the market value of
rice, bran, and polish, farmers can draw a fair conclusion
as to the market value of a sack of rice. Of course, the
better the quality of the rough rice, the more cleaned and
head rice there will be, and hence the higher the value it
will have. |

QUESTIONS

Is rice a very important crop in the world? Where is it grown
largely? What different kinds of rice are grown? How do Oriental
people plant rice? Why do they plant it this way? What states
grow most of the rice in the United States? What advantages do
these states have in rice-growing? What is water mostly needed
for in growing rice? Why do rice growers not plow land deep?
How do the rice planters keep the water covering the ground?
What is red rice? What do the planters do to get rid of red rice?
Ilow much rice is made on an acre in Texas and Louisiana? How
about the profits of rice as compared with wheat? How late may
rice be sown? What plant could be grown on the land to enrich
it in winter? Tell what products can be got from a sack of rice.

Experiment.—See if you can arrange to grow on the farm at
home a little piece of rice, planting by the Japanese method. Try
some bur clover on a piece of rice land and see how much increase
the rice makes next year.

CHAPTER XXIV

SUGAR CANE

Sugar cane is grown in all of the Gulf and South At-
lantic States for sirup-making, and in parts of Louisiana

and Texas for sugar-making.
sugar are made annually in
these two states. This is one
of the oldest industries in the
United States, having arisen to
commercial importance over a
hundred years ago, when people
were picking the seed out of
cotton with their fingers.

Cane in Tropics. —Sugar cane
is a tropical crop, and still does
best in the tropics. As it takes
twelve months to produce seed
and ripen, cane never gets fully
ripe in any country that has
frost. In two or three tropical
countries, where conditions are
very good, sugar cane grows for

About 300,000 tons of

Fic. 59.— SEEDED SuGAR CANE

seventeen or eighteen months before ripening. In most

parts of the tropics it ripens and seeds in the dry season
when just a year old. Peoplein the tropics do not usually

169

170 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

plant the seed. They plant a few joints of the tops of
the cane. When cane is really ripe, the eyes of the top
joints germinate and grow much better than the eyes on
the older parts of the stalk.

Saving Seed. — As the top joints of our cane are not
mature enough to grow well, we plant the whole stalk.
It is much better to dig up the stalks that are to be used
for seed, as the roots contain many of the best eyes, or
buds. ‘The seed cane is cut or dug about the first frost
and piled in long piles and covered with dirt. It keeps
better if banked when well wet by rain. It is planted
in deep furrows in early spring, sometimes in the fall, a
continuous line of cane being put down so that the top
of one stalk joins the root of another. In the sugar belt,
where cane is cut at the ground, sometimes as many as
three continuous lines of cane are put in the furrow.

Fertilizer for cane should contain a larger proportion
of nitrogen than fertilizer for cotton. Cane grows large,
and needs rich soil. In the Hawaiian Islands, where the
largest yields in the world are made, as much as two tons
to the acre of high-grade fertilizer are used, and the land
is given over 100 inches of water, pumped sometimes to a
perpendicular height of 600 feet.

In the United States. cane needs a well-drained soil,
because poorly drained land is too cold for it. In the
tropics it may stand with its roots under water for weeks
without being seriously harmed. It needs plenty of rain
or irrigation.

Cultivation and Yields. — Cane is not difficult to culti-
vate. It has existed for ages almost as a wild plant in the

SUGAR CANE LTh

tropics, where, by doing battle for mastery of the soil with
other giants of the land, it grew strong and hardy. After
it gets a good start, it is kept clean mostly with turn plows
and disks, that heap dirt up to the stalks, and cover the
weeds and grass. This is kept up until the cane has
grown tall enough and thick enough, by suckering, to
shade the ground and keep down other growth. In the
United States, cane when mature yields from 15 to 40 tons
to the acre; in the tropics, the yields are usually much
larger. In Java, the average yield is 40 tons, and in the
dry parts of Hawaii, under irrigation, the average is 60
tons, and on some plantations the yield reaches as high
as 120 tons. .

Rattoon Crops. — Cane will come up every year from the
stubble of the year before, but as the crops get smaller
‘and smaller, it does not often pay to grow more than one
or two of these “rattoon” crops. Cane should be cut
low, and then the stubble should be cut off with sharp
hoes under the surface of the ground. Otherwise, germs
will get into the roots and injure the buds that make the
stubble, or rattoon crop.

In the United States cane never gets very sweet until
frost scorches the leaves and checks the growth. At this
season the sirup makers and the sugar makers begin to
‘ harvest the crop and manufacture sugar and sirup.

Best Land for Sirup. — The light sandy loam lands pro-
duce decidedly the best-flavored and the best-colored table
sirup. The pine lands of the Southern States, when ferti-
lized, produce from 300 to 600 gallons of sirup to the acre.
This sirup is of such excellent quality that it readily sells

172 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

for 50 cents a gallon. These highly profitable results are
reached in spite of the fact that the small horse-power
mills which are usually employed for crushing do not often
get over two-thirds of the juice that the regular sugar-
plantation mills would get from the same cane.

Making Sirup.— The apparatus for boiling the juice to
sirup consists of a kettle or evaporating pan set on a
rock or brick furnace. It has been
decided by the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture that no chemical
whatever is needed to make first-class

sirup from sugar-cane juices. Careful

straining of the juice and skimming

while it is cooking, and then boiling

to a uniform density, is all that is

necessary.
Every sirup maker should have a

saccharimeter, a little floating instru-
ment that will measure the weight

of the sirup. The sirup should be
Fig. 60.—Way to use boiled down to about 75 degrees, Brix
cn Ci aes saccharimeter. That is, it should still
contain about twenty-five per cent of water. If it is sealed
while hot in well-sealded jugs, bottles, or cans, it will keep
fresh for years. If the sirup is made rather thin, so that
the sugar will all, or nearly all, be held in solution, the
quality will be much better. If the sirup is to be kept
in barrels, it must be boiled thicker; when this is done,
much of its sugar crystallizes and settles in the bottom of
the barrels. Sirup not sealed in sterilized vessels will

SUGAR CANE 1738

ferment when hot weather comes. If barreled sirup is
kept in cold storage, it will not grow the germs that cause
fermentation, and will keep well.

Making Sugar.— For making sugar, the juices of the
cane used to be boiled
to a thick sirup over
a direct fire, and the
sugar allowed to
crystallize out. The
molasses was then
sold as open-kettle
or sugar-house mo-
lasses. This plan is
occasionally followed

yet. But the great-
est forward step in
modern scientific
sugar-making was
the discovery that,
if cane juices can be
boiled at a low tem-

\

gy ae “A, nN
HIG Ne Bez Tre =
A — we are BZ 77; i? WV

2 a o —7
—= ————— —

perature, more sugar
can be made. That Fic. 61.—CutTtTiInG SuGAR CANE, LOUISIANA
is, if the juices are

cooked over a fire, the high temperature used will invert a
large amount of the sugar, or put it in such a condition
that it will not crystallize. When the juices, or thin sirups,
are put in a large, air-tight vessel and the air pumped out,
the sirups will boil at a very low temperature, and less
sugar will be inverted. The use of the vacuum-pan gives

174 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

large quantities of sugar and little molasses. The old
method gave less sugar and more molasses.

Products from a Ton of Cane.— A ton of Louisiana or
Texas cane, worked in a good factory and refinery, will
make about 140 pounds of sugar and some two or three
gallons of low-grade molasses, called “ black strap,” which
is used for feeding stock. Some centrifugal molasses of
better grade will also be obtained. A ton of tropical cane
will make from 200 to 250 pounds of sugar and probably
three gallons of low-grade molasses.

Impure Juices. — If cane is very green, it contains much
invert sugar, or non-crystallizable sugar, called glucose. -A
pound of glucose keeps more than another pound of real
sugar, called sucrose, from crystallizing. If the cane juice
has other impurities in it, these keep still more sucrose
from forming crystals. Hence a cane juice showing no
more than 10 degrees, Brix, would hardly be worth work-
ing for sugar, because low density always means high
impurity of juice.

Grinding Season. — When frost comes, tremendous
efforts are put forth by the sugar planters to grind all
the cane before it begins to spoil. The mills usually run
only 75 days. The machinery is so massive and costly
that the investment is very large in proportion to work
done.

In the tropics, mills run 150 days during the year. In
this country the short grinding season and the green con-
dition of the cane make the manufacturing of the cane
expensive. Good mills in the tropics have worked at a
total manufacturing cost of about 60 cents a ton of cane

SUGAR CANE LS

handled, or about a quarter of a cent a pound for the
sugar made. But in our sugar belt the cane is greener,
the juices contain less sugar and need more boiling, the
bagasse, or ground cane stalks, do not furnish sufficient
fuel, so that the manufacturing cost of each pound of sugar
is perhaps three times as great as it is in the best mills
in the tropics. The large mills in Louisiana and Texas
buy cane from the small farmers, paying about $3.50 a
ton for it loaded on the cars. With a thirty-ton yield, it
should be a profitable crop to grow.

QUESTIONS

Where is sugar cane grown in the United States, and for what
purposes is it grown? Where is it grown for sugar making? Does
‘sugar cane mature in the United States? What part of the cane do
people of the tropics plant? How is the sugar cane kept over winter
in the United States? How is it planted? What sort of fertilizer
does it need? What country grows the most sugar cane and rice per
acre? Is sugar cane very hard to cultivate? How much cane does
land make in the United States? Where are the yields largest?
When does cane get sweet in the United States? How is sirup made
from the cane? What kind of land makes the finest quality of sirup ?
What sort of instrument would enable you to boil your sirup just
right? How can sirups be kept fresh? How was sugar formerly
made in Louisiana? What is the principle of the vacuum pan, and
why does it make more sugar? Why is the manufacture of sugar in
the United States more costly than in the tropics ?

Experiment.— If your father does not put up sirup in cans or
sealed jugs, suppose you get a few clean bottles and new stoppers.
Run hot sirup into these and stop up thoroughly while hot and keep
till next summer, when barreled sirup is of bad quality. Show
samples to your teacher and schoolmates.

CHAPTER XXV
THE SWEET POTATO

The Sweet Potato has always been an important crop
in the South. Thin, loamy soils produce fine crops of the
very best quality. The long-leaf pine soils are ideal for
this crop. When grown on heavy lime, clay, or bottom
land, the sweet potato has a poor flavor, and does not keep
well.

Varieties. — If, indeed, the farmers of every community
have not provided themselves with suitable varieties of
other common crops, they certainly have done so with sweet
potatoes. Perhaps the bunch, or vineless, yam has not
been distributed so widely as its merits would justify.
Experiments indicate that this kind makes better yields
during seasons of drought than most of the other kinds.
Then its bunch habit of growth permits better and late
cultivation, and this of itself makes it stand drought
better.

Preparation and Fertilizing. — The sweet potato needs a
good high ridge, or bed, to grow in. The soil should
be plowed deep enough to prevent the potatoes from
making above ground so as to be exposed to frost, fowls,
animals, etc.; and at the same time shallow enough to
prevent them from forming so deep in the ground that
they will be cut by the plow in digging.

176

THE SWEET POTATO Ett

Sweet potatoes do not need rich soil, and they are as
easy to fertilize as cotton. Some two or three hundred
pounds of good cotton fertilizer to the acre will be ample
for this crop. Any thin
land that will make a quar-
ter of a bale of cotton to
the acre will make fine
sweet potatoes without the
help of fertilizers, if it is —
first allowed to grow weeds
a year or two.

Planting.— Some farm-

Fic. 62.— HILL oF SWEET POTATOES

ers plant the small, stringy
potatoes, which they cut into little pieces and plant as they
do Irish potatoes. A more general practice is to bed out
the potatoes in early spring, laying them close together in a
bed made rich with manure. ‘They will sprout and make
slips in April and May. These slips are pulled from the
bed and transplanted in the field where they are to grow.
More slips come up from the bed, and these are likewise
transplanted. As soon as the slips in the field grow vines
a foot long, these are cut and transplanted. The crop is
thus multiplied from the bed and from the vines in the
field, and sometimes plantings are continued into August
in the Gulf and South Atlantic States. Potato slips or
vines should be planted only in clean beds. Otherwise,
the crop will become foul with weeds and grass, and this
will greatly diminish the yield.

Labor in Planting. — The time required to set out the
vines and slips is the greatest obstacle in the way of large

N

178 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

plantings. The plants should be set two feet apart in
four-foot rows. As the great bulk of the crop is planted
from vine cuttings, much time can be saved by opening
the row, or bed, with a small plow to receive the vines.
Lay the butt ends of the vines across the furrow and
step on them to press them down, letting the tops
extend out over the edge of the furrow all on one side.
Then cover by running a small plow on the opposite side
of the furrow from the tops of the vines and throwing
dirt into the furrow, but not far enough to cover the
tops. By this plan, very rapid and satisfactory work can
be done. Three or four hands and one horse can put out
three acres a day.

Harvesting and Keeping. — Cultivation should continue
as late in the season as the growth of the vines will per-
mit. Though the vines make fine grazing for cattle,
tramping is hkely to bruise the potatoes so as to cause
fungous diseases that make the potatoes hard to keep.
The crop should be dug before a severe frost. If hard
frost catches the crop in the ground, the ends of many
potatoes will be injured, fungous diseases will enter, and
the whole crop will be hable to rot.

If the vines are cut by a sharp rolling colter, or some
similar tool run in each middle, they will not be difficult
to handle. Whatever plow or digger is used, it should
not be run deep enough to cut the potatoes or bruise
them. Barring off with a turn plow and splitting the
beds open with a big lister is a good plan. No other
arrangement which the author has yet seen is better to
keep the crop than the small cone-shaped “hill,” or

THE SWEET POTATO 179

“bank,” so made that the potatoes can be kept dry by
layers of bark, straw, or corn stalks, and covered with
dirt to keep out the cold.

UT 2 I
a

II

ills is ell te f ei il

HN eRe ‘iy il ie pad Th
J

Vy
|

my ced

“YSYf ZZ "Br. Re

Fic. 63.— DIGGING SWEET POTATOES

Yield and Profits. — The sweet potato is now being
largely shipped and sold at very profitable prices, bring-
ing from 50 cents to $1 a bushel at the shipping station.
As 200 to 300 bushels are very common yields, it is easy
to see that the crop is profitable.

Canned Potatoes. — Of late years, canning factories are
buying large quantities at good prices, and putting them
up as they put up tomatoes, corn, and other vegetables.
No product keeps better in cans, and no canned goods
are meeting a better demand. There is much more
food value in a can of potatoes than in a can of tomatoes
or corn of the same size, and the cost of canning them is
comparatively small. Some farmers are buying small

180 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

canning outfits costing from fifty dollars down as low as
ten dollars, and putting up their surplus fruits and vege-
tables of all kinds.

As Stock Food. — As a stock food, the sweet potato is
highly esteemed. About three and one-third bushels are
equal to a bushel of corn in feeding value. If it were
not for the extra trouble and expense of growing and
handling a heavy, watery crop of this kind, and the un-
certainty of keeping them sound, sweet potatoes might
largely displace corn as a farm feed. At present they
are often grown for hog feed, and the hogs are allowed
to do the harvesting. As the hogs eat both vine and
tubers, a reasonable acreage of potatoes can be grown
very profitably for this purpose. A peanut crop near
‘enough for the hogs to graze on will increase the good
results, because the two foods together balance each other.
If the two crops are separated by a fence, the hogs can
easily be made to graze partly on each every day by
simply shifting them from one field to the other.

QUESTIONS

How would you grow sweet potatoes? What arrangement is
suggested for saving labor in planting out vines? Why not let
cattle run over the potato field? How can potatoes be kept best?
What is said of canned sweet potatoes? What is a fair yield for an
acre of sweet potatoes? What amount of sweet potatoes would be
equal to a bushel of corn for feeding ?

CHAPTER XXVI
THE COWPEA AND PEANUT

The Cowpea. — This is one of the most valuable crops
grown in any country. The farmers of the South, failing
properly to estimate its importance, do not grow it as
extensively as they should.

Varieties. —The value of this pea as hay, as a fertili-
zer, and as a crop in a rotation, has already been men-
tioned. There are numerous varieties, some ripening in
seventy days from planting and others requiring the
whole season. The cowpea was originally a tropical
plant, and in the tropics varieties may now be seen that
run over the tops of large trees, and have pods two feet
long. In this country these kinds would be caught by
frost before they matured seed.

Curing the Vines. — Pea vines are usually considered
difficult to save for hay. If they are not cut until they
get old enough for a few pods to ripen, the curing is not
so difficult as it is generally supposed to be. One or two,
and sometimes four, tons of hay, equal to clover and
nearly equal to alfalfa in value, may be saved from an
acre of pea vines.

Saving Seed. — The seed of the cowpea is now being
saved in some of the states by mowing the vines when the
peas are ripe, and running them through a threshing

181

182 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

machine. This crop yields from eight to twenty-five
bushels of seed to the acre. Where the seed can be saved
cheaply, they are very profitabie, as they sell for from one
dollar to three dollars a bushel.

In the southern part of the Gulf States, two crops of
some varieties can be raised in one year on the same land.
One kind, a white, black-eyed variety, now being gener-
ally sold by grocers, is fast displacing the navy bean in
the markets. This kind retails at about six cents a pound
in the grocery stores. You might grow a crop and make
some money from it.

Peas for Hogs. — This crop has for a long time been
esteemed as a hog food. Certain experiments in Arkan-
sas, Mississippi, and Alabama indicate that an acre of
good peas gathered by hogs will produce from 300 to 400
pounds of gain in live weight.

Cultivation. — Peas are often sown broadcast and plowed
under, but they do better if drilled in rows wide enough
to permit cultivation. On thin land 150 pounds acid
phosphate will make them yield a large crop. . They need
no nitrogenous fertilizer, as they can get nitrogen from
the air. In some sections a little potash salt with the acid
phosphate will be profitable.

Peanuts: Their Uses.— This crop has been grown rather
largely in some of the states for a long time, but the
United States has never grown more than enough to
supply the demand for nuts for parching. Peanuts have
been somewhat largely grown for hog feed, the hogs
generally being allowed to gather the crop. Different
experiments have usually shown that an acre of good

THE COWPEA AND PEANUT 183

nuts. will produce about 500 pounds of growth in young
hogs. Peanuts are also cured, vine, nut, and all, for hay
for horses, cattle, and sheep. <A good yield of this hay,
when well cured, is two tons to the acre.

é ON x
14 Pp hy

OG

Fic. 64.— SPANISH PEANUTS

Varieties. — The variety generally grown for hay is a
small, quick-maturing kind, called the Spanish peanut.
When the vines are pulled up, practically all the nuts
adhere to the vines. The nuts of this variety are shelled
by machinery, and used in candies and confections, and for
parching and selling as salted peanuts. Somewhat larger
kinds, one of them being called the Virginia nut, are

184 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

grown more largely for the parching trade, and have
been bringing a very high price for’ some years.

Climate and Soil. — All the uplands of the South and
Southwest are well suited to this crop. The light-colored,
sandy lands make the smoothest and cleanest nut for the
market, but clay and lime lands make larger yields. In
the sections infested with the boll weevil there is great
interest in this crop as a market crop.

Peanut Oil.— If more nuts are produced than the
parching trade will take, the cotton-seed oil mills, with the
addition of a lit-
tle extra machin-
ery, could crush
them for oil and
cake. <A bushel
of nuts will pro-
duce from one to
one and a _ half

: ae gallons of oil and
Fic. 65.— SAvinc PEANUTS ten to fifteen

pounds of cake

fully as rich as cotton-seed cake. Peanut oil is a high-
priced oil, and the cake is worth more than cotton-seed
cake, because it is suitable for feeding horses and hogs.
At prices lately prevailing for peanut oil, the mills could
afford to pay from sixty to seventy-five cents for a bushel
of nuts and still make a very fair profit. At such prices a
good profit could be made by the grower, as fifty bushels
can easily be made on an acre, and the crop can be
threshed cheaply by machinery. An acre of peanuts will

THE COWPEA AND PEANUT 185

yield about a ton of good hay or straw, in addition to
the nuts.

Cultivation. — Peanuts, like peas, need only acid phos-
phate or phosphate and a little potash salt as a fertilizer.
Occasionally lime may be needed on very sandy land to
make the larger kinds fill their pods well.

Peanuts are often grown in corn, or after oats, just as
peas are, and sometimes take the place of peas in the
rotation of crops. ‘They are more expensive to grow than
peas, as they need more hoeing. Good, well-selected,
clean peanuts are selling in Southern cities for eight cents
a pound. Suppose you grow an acre, making fifty bushels,
how much money could you make ?

QUESTIONS

What are the many uses of the cowpea? What suggestion is
made for saving the hay? What sort of machinery is being used to
save the seed? Where can two crops of cowpeas be grown on the
same land in the,same season? What article of food is being dis-
placed by the cowpea? How much pork will an acre of cowpeas
produce? What fertilizer would you use for peas? What are the
uses of the peanut? How are they handled as stock food? What
kind are generally grown for stock food? How are peanuts shelled ?
What kind is grown largely for parching? What sort of land makes
the best market nut? What kind of land will make largest yields?
How could oil mills handle peanuts? How much oil and cake would
a bushel make? What value ought this to give the peanut for crush-
ing in the mills? How much vines or hay will an acre make?

CHAPTER XXVII
TOBACCO

Tobacco is one of the big crops of the United States.
A very large amount of tobacco is sold for domestic use
and for export; also cigar tobaccos of such qualities as
are not grown in this country in sufficient quantity are
imported in large quantities.

Tobacco was being grown and used by the Indians of
both North and South America when Europeans dis-
covered the Western World.

When Magellan discovered the Philippine Islands in
1521, his ships first anchored in the Bay of Cebu, where
the king of the Philippines lived. The king sent his most
trusted minister out to see what manner of visitors had
come. ‘The minister in his little boat circled around the
ships nearly all night, and observed closely all that took
place. Before day he went back to shore and reported to
the king that the new-comers were great, white giants
with hooked noses and red eyes, who ate stones, drank
fire, and blew smoke out of their nostrils. On receiving
this report, the king killed a large number of carabao
(water buffalo) and pigs, prepared a great feast, invited
the Spaniards ashore, and gave them the country.

As Magellan’s expedition had tarried some weeks in
Brazil, where the sailors could have learned to smoke, they

186

TOBACCO 187

probably were smoking, and this gave rise to the wonder-
ful story about their drinking fire and blowing smoke out
of their nostrils.

Influence of Soil. — Very few plants are so much in-
fluenced by the kind of land they grow on as is tobacco.
If the seed of Havana cigar tobacco, which is grown on .
sandy land, is planted on the stiff clay and limy land that
grows the heavy chewing tobacco well, it will make a to-
bacco more like chewing tobacco than cigar tobacco. The
slightest change in soil materially changes the grade of
tobacco.

The great bulk of the chewing tobaccos are grown in
Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and
North Carolina.

The states. of

Pennsylvania,

Connecticut,
Ohio, Wiscon-
sin, and New
York grow
large quantities
of cigar tobacco.

Shade-grown
Tobacco. —

Some Very fine Fic. 66. —ToBacco GROWING UNDER CHEESE-CLOTH
cigar tobacco is pee ge

being grown under partial shade in Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, and Texas. These tobaccos are grown on well-
drained loamy or sandy types of land. ‘The field is en-
tirely covered with a thin cheese cloth supported on suit-

2m Kes te} ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

able framework. Sometimes the frames are partially
covered with narrow slats that shut out part of the sun-
light. This partial shade makes the leaf thin and of most
desirable quality. The covering protects the crop from
being whipped by winds, and to some extent from insects.
Often the expense of covering the land and producing the
crop amounts to several hundred dollars an acre. This
investment is, however, profitable, as it sometimes assures
the production of a crop of 1,500 pounds of tobacco, worth
from twenty-five cents to one dollar a pound.

Sumatra Tobacco. — Good Sumatra wrapper leaves for
cigars cost the manufacturer, after paying duty, about
#3.00 a pound. But the leaves are so fine and thin that
a pound will wrap from 500 to 1000 cigars. The planters
of Sumatra use Chinese labor under a system of peonage
that assures extreme care in handling the tobacco at every
stage, and hence they make the finest leaf in the world.
Ordinary American-grown wrappers require six to eight
pounds to wrap a thousand cigars.

The shade-growing method enables Southern growers
to make leaf approaching the Sumatra leaf in value.
Havana tobacco is also coming to be largely grown on the
light lands of the South. It makes a filler tobacco nearly
as good as the Cuban product. Grown under partial
shade, the Havana tobacco turns out a good proportion of
desirable wrapper leaves.

Fertilizing. — Tobacco needs liberal fertilizing, and is
generally supposed to need a good percentage of potash
in its fertilizer. It contains an unusually large percentage
of potash, as well as nitrogen, but the analysis of a crop is

TOBACCO 189

not always a safe guide as to its fertilizer needs. This
potash should never be in the form of potassium chloride,
or the tobacco will not burn well. Potassium sulphate is
the form in which the potash should be applied. ‘Tobacco
grown within five or ten miles of the sea contains too
much chlorine to burn well.

Tobacco growing and handling must be specially studied
in order to be well understood. Students should send
for bulletins of the Department of Agriculture and of the
Experiment Stations of the states that grow large quanti-
ties of tobacco.

QUESTIONS

Where was tobacco originally found? What story is told of Ma-
gellan’s discovery of the Philippines? What kind of land grows heavy
chewing tobacco? What kind of land grows the cigar tobacco?
What states grow most of the chewing tobacco? Tell where shade-
grown tobacco is made. (rive an idea of the expense and returns on
shade-grown tobacco. Where and under what conditions is the
best cigar tobacco in the world grown? What precautions must be
taken in fertilizing tobacco?

CHAPTER XXVIII
SORGHUM, KAFIR, AND MILO-MAIZE

Origin, Uses, and Adaptability. — These three, together
with chicken-corn, broom-corn, doura-corn, etc., have been
erown for ages in the East Indies and in Africa. The sor-
ghums have been cultivated largely in the United States
only during the last twenty years. At first the sweet
sorghum was grown mostly for sirup-making, but is now
more largely used for hay. The non-saccharine kinds are
very largely cultivated for grain in. the semiarid parts of
the West, where Indian corn is uncertain. Although tropi-
cal plants, these sorghums have made themselves perfectly
at home in the northern part of the United States, and
will flourish where the climate is too cool for Indian corn.
Their great feature is their ability to stand drought. They
appear to become almost dormant in a dry time and to wait
for weeks, and even months, for rain; and, after being
watered, they grow remarkably, and make good crops.
These plants can also stand wet conditions better than
most plants; they will grow on poorer land and with
poorer culture than most crops, and will stand considerable
alkah. -They are great, hardy, vigorous, giant grasses
that thrive under most all conditions. The tremendous
growth in the cultivation of these sorghums in late years
has been one of the marvelous things about American
agriculture.

190

SORGHUM, KAFIR, AND MILO-MAIZE aL:

For Hay.— The sweet sorghum is largely sown broad-
east or drilled like wheat, at the rate of about a bushel of
seed per acre, to make hay. It generally produces two
crops of hay in the season, if planted early. In the Gulf
States it is often planted about April. In the states
farther north, May and June plantings will be safer. This
plant makes large crops of coarse but nutritious hay. For

Fic. 67. — HARVESTING SORGHUM

early plantings it is necessary to sow it thick so the stalks
will be small. Otherwise the stalks will be too coarse and
woody to be eaten well when they get dry. Where sor-
ghum can be matured just before frost, large stalks may be
cut and stacked, and it will keep well all winter with the
juice in the stalks, and is greatly relished by stock. In the
dry belt sorghum ought to be planted in drills wide enough
to be worked a little, if possible, in order to save moisture.

Gs be ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Planting and Culture. — ‘The non-saccharine sorghums
are usually planted in drills. A favorite plan in the dry
country is to run a lister with a planter attachment so as
to drill the seed in the bottom of the lister furrow. ‘This
plan assures a stand, and the gradual working of dirt to
the crop makes it stand drought well. On the plains these
crops are often put in by sowing seed in every third or
fourth furrow made by a turn plow while breaking the
raw sod. ‘The next furrow covers the seed with two or
three inches of turf, and not another stroke of work is done
until time to gather the crop. The hard, unbroken soil
at the bottom of the shallow plow furrow appears to be
suitable feeding ground for the roots of these hardy plants,
and the coating of unrotted grass sod appears to let in the
rain water and to serve as a mulch to keep the water from
evaporating. Excellent crops are made in this way. As
land becomes older and weeds begin to appear, regular
cultivation becomes necessary.

Kafir and Milo Maize. — ‘These crops always make more
grain per acre than Indian corn, and when seasons are
unfavorable may make twice or three times as much.
They are often cut near the ground with corn harvesters
and shocked in the field. From the shocks the grain and
the stover are fed; sometimes the cattle are turned in
to help themselves and sometimes it is hauled to them.
When the grain is fed whole to cattle or horses, a great
deal of it is undigested ; but if fed in winter there need be
nothing lost. The undigested corn keeps perfectly in the
dry, cold winters of the plains until found and eaten by
hogs and fowls. The planting of these crops is done late

SORGHUM, KAFIR, AND MILO-MAIZE 193

enough so they will ripen just before frost. Then if any
grain is knocked down, it keeps. If labor is scarce, horses
and cattle are turned on the field to do the harvesting.
What they trample down keeps perfectly for the hogs.
Grinding. — ‘These crops are made about as digestible as

\

=

S

TEN

SS .

Sa
Sak

£
2

Fic. 68. — FreLp oF KaFrir CorRN

Indian corn by grinding. In fact, all experiments indicate
that ground kafir or milo is about nine-tenths as valuable,
pound for pound, as corn meal for feeding animals. Some
people, therefore, thresh and grind these crops. To save
the expense of handling too much stover, some have little
attachments fastened on to a wagon bed for cutting the

O

194 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

beads and loading them on the wagons. In this shape the
grain is easy to handle and thresh and grind.

Diseases. — In the humid sections of the South, where
only the sweet sorghum is grown to any extent, the seeds
have been blighting of late years, so that the people cannot
save their own seed. These are bought, usually from
western Kansas and Oklahoma.

Grazing. — Occasionally sorghums are planted thick for
grazing, and, if not grazed too closely, stand this treat-
ment well. It is used more for grazing hogs than for the
other stock. Hogs are turned on it when the crop is knee
high, and continue to graze it until it ripens, when they
chew it and eat the seed.

Poisons in Sorghum.— Green sorghum has often killed
cattle. This seems to be caused by the poison called
“prussic acid” that is occasionally found in green sor-
gehum, especially at the end of a long drought. The East
Indian farmers knew of this poisonous property of sor-
ghum ages ago, and learned to cut and partially dry the
feed before giving it to their oxen and buffalo. By
partial drying, the poison disappears in large measure.

Sorghum Alcohol.— Sweet sorghum is seriously con-
sidered for making alcohol for cooking, heating, hghting,
and power on the Plains, where fuel is scarce and expen-
sive. An acre of good sorghum would easily produce two
hundred gallons of pure alcohol, and the expense of manu-
facture is not great. Where other fuel is so costly, alcohol
may easily be worth thirty to fifty cents a gallon for many
uses. Broom Corn is now being largely grown in West

Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Being a sorghum, it

SORGHUM, KAFIR, AND MILO-MAIZE 195

stands drought well, and cures beautifully in the dry
climate of the West. No sheds are needed to cure the
brush into the best quality of product. A fair yield is
700 pounds an acre, worth three or four cents a pound.

QUESTIONS

What two classes of sorghum are there? Give the origin of these
crops. Where are they largely grown? For what four purposes are
they grown? Under what extremes of climate and soil can sorghums
thrive? In what ways are these crops planted? How are they
gathered? Why is there little loss of these grain crops on the Plains?
How do the people harvest and handle the grain? What of the com-
parative yield of Indian corn and kafir? What of the comparative
feeding values of Indian corn and kafir? Tell something of broom
corn.

CHAPIOR: X20
THE VELVET AND SOY BEANS, ALFALFA, HAIRY VETCH

Velvet Bean. — This is a large tropical bean that makes
vines as large as a plow line, and often fifty feet long,
bearing seed in pods covered with a fuzz resembling
velvet.

This bean needs the whole season to grow in, and even
then does not mature seed farther north than Florida and
South Texas. It needs a little cultivation till it begins
to cover the ground, after which it makes a dense mass of
tangled vines and leaves, some three or four feet deep.
No other crop grows better on poor sandy land, makes
such a dense shade, or accumulates so much nitrogen from
the air. As before stated, an acre will contain two hun-
dred pounds of nitrogen, worth at commercial fertilizer
prices, thirty-six dollars.

The vines are seldom cut for hay, but are pastured by
cattle. The enrichment of the land is usually the main
object. In Florida, large crops of the seed are gathered
and ground into meal, which makes a rich food for stock.

The few seed necessary to plant an acre are not expen-
sive, even where they must be purchased every year.

The Soy Bean. — This is a Japanese bunch bean. It is
extensively cuitivated in Japan and China for the oil that
is pressed from it. In some parts of this country it is

196

VELVET AND SOY BEANS, ALFALFA, VETCH 7

ground into meal and mixed with corn meal for hogs and
other live stock. <A little soy-bean meal added to the
feed of live stock never fails to give an increase or gain in
weight. ‘This is:
due to the large
amount of protein
and oil in the
bean. The soy-
bean vines, or

Straw, do not
make as good

al.
fi fe ZY,

feed as cowpea
or peanut vines.
The crop has not
become very pop-
ular south and

east of Kansas AN ny

and Oklahoma. yi i ia
Alfalfa: Culti- “AX

vation. — No crop Gow"

has eeered Fic. 69.— Soy BEAN

more attention,

and no crop has been tried oftener and has failed more
frequently, than alfalfa. As it needs very rich land, it
does remarkably well under irrigation, on the arid and the
semiarid land in the West. In the East it is probable
that the only lands rich enough for it are the lime prairies
and. the buckshot bottoms. There are some indications
that it is a plant which requires large amounts of hme

inthe soil. When young, it is extremely tender, and easily

198 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

killed by grass and weeds. The crab grass of the sandy
lands of the South will soon choke it out.

Alfalfa does best when seeded in the fall. In the Gulf
States, if the land is kept clean of weeds and grass in the
spring and summer, and plowed and harrowed until
planting time in September or October, the best success
may be expected. It is a mistake to recommend the

Fic. 70.— STACKING ALFALFA Hay

planting of alfalfa on ordinary sandy, loamy, or clay land
outside of the arid and semiarid sections.

In some of the arid sections alfalfa is known to have
lived and grown thirty or more years from one planting.
In dry, porous soils its roots have been known to grow
forty feet deep. In the humid sections thirty pounds of
seed per acre are recommended ; in arid sections half this,
as all crops stool and sucker more on rich arid lands.
Seed should be planted as carefully as turnips are planted.

Uses; Curing and Saving Hay. — Where it does thrive it is
a crop of great value, giving each year four or five cuttings
of the finest hay known. It also greatly improves the
fertility of the land. In the humid sections considerable

VELVET AND SOY BEANS, ALFALFA, VETCH 199

trouble is experienced in saving alfalfa hay. The heaviest
crops are in the spring, when conditions are not good for
curing hay. One plan practiced with success is to throw
it into cocks, or tall piles, of two or three hundred pounds
each when it is partially cured and cover each pile with
a cheap cap of cloth or paper and let the hay remain
ten days or two weeks, when it is put in barn or stack.
No certain rules that will fit everybody’s case can be given
for saving hay. All hay in humid climates should be
stacked a month before baling.

Hairy Vetch; Habits and Uses.— In order that this
crop, which has already been mentioned, may not be con-
fused with other vetches, its scientific name, Vicia villosa, is
given. The seed should be sown in the fall at the rate
of from a half-bushel to a bushel to the acre, about as oats
are sown. It makes only a small growth in winter, but
in early spring it grows with remarkable rapidity. By
May, in the Gulf States, it is ready to cut for hay. It
dies in June, shedding its crop of seed on the ground ;
these seed come up in the fall again, and thus the vetch
becomes a wild plant, but it is never hard to get rid of. If
it is cut for hay before it makes seed, or if it is grazed
closely by stock, it disappears. Plowing it under as a
green manure before it seeds also kills it.

Close grazing in winter and early spring does not hurt
it. If stock are taken off it before it gets ready to make
seed, it recovers with remarkable rapidity.

‘The best way to start the vetch is to mix about fifteen
pounds of seed to two bushels of oats and sow to each acre.
After the first sowing the vetch will come up each fall.

200 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Sorghum may be grown between the crops of vetch.
The vetch is a more vigorous grower than the bur clover,
and enriches the land faster. It flourishes on all classes
of fairly well-drained land.

QUESTIONS

Tell something about the velvet bean. What is it particularly
valuable for? Where is the bean made into meal? Where does the
soy bean come from? What is its special value in producing a mixed
feed? What ingredients of feed stuff is the soy bean rich in? Where
in the United States has alfalfa proved a certain crop? Where has it
proved uncertain? Does it need rich land? What lands in the South-
ern States have grown it well? Can it stand weeds very well when
young? At what season should it be seeded? How should the land
be treated during the summer before seeding? Is alfalfa likely to
succeed on ordinary sandy and loamy lands? Does it improve the land,
and if so, why? Is it very ditficult to save for hay? What sort of
plant is the hairy vetch? When does it make its growth? Will it
sow its own seed and come every year after once being seeded? Is
it very hard to get rid of ? What crop is it easily started with? What
crop may be grown on the land after the vetch dies in the spring?

CHAPTER XXX
THE CLOVERS AND MINOR CROPS

Red Clover.— This plant thrives in the northern and
eastern parts of the United States, and does well as far
south as Tennessee and as far west as Kansas and Okla-
homa. ‘The crop is not a
reliable one for the Gulf
States, and is not grown
largely in the West, where
alfalfa thrives best.

This plant requires fertile
soil and careful preparation
of land. Much of the soil of
our Southern States is said
not to be good enough to
erow it.

Red clover is a biennial ;
that is, one planting makes
crops for two years and dies.

It makes big crops of hay

Fic. 71. — RED CLOVER

and a large growth of root
and stubble. As it secures nitrogen from the air, its
roots and stubble greatly enrich the land and make it
open and porous. Corn grown on clover sod always
makes a large yield.

201

202 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

In some parts of the North red clover is used in the fol-
lowing rotation: two years clover, one or two years corn,
one year wheat or oats, and perhaps one year of Irish
potatoes. The fall is much the best time to start red
clover in the southern part of its territory. Fifteen
pounds of seed to an acre sown on land well enough
prepared for turnips should bring success, if the land is
of suitable kind.

Bur clover is an annual; that is, it comes up in the
fall, grows all winter and early spring, and dies, root
and top, after making seed that are shed off on the
ground. Cattle do not appear to relish this plant as
they do some others, but they have been known to winter
on it and be in good condition in the spring. — It is sel-
dom or never cut for hay. Bur clover grows on almost
any kind of soil. The author has seen it grow well on
strong lime lands and on the poorer sands of the long-
leaf pine region. Wherever in the South there is rain
enough to bring it up in the fall it will grow to advantage.

Bermuda sod is an ideal place for bur clover, because
the clover dies about the time the Bermuda is ready to
erow in the spring. The Bermuda turf prevents the
cattle from bogging when they are grazing the clover in
the winter or spring.

Bur clover may be grown in rotation with sorghum or
other crops which bear late planting. The sorghum may
be planted in May after the clover is dead. The clover
seed shed in the spring will come up in the sorghum
stubble when the fall rains come, and enrich the land for
the next year’s crop of sorghum.

é

THE CLOVERS AND MINOR CROPS 203

Crimson Clover. — This is an annual clover that is
often planted in the fall in Maryland, Virginia, and other
states. It is frequently sown in corn during the last
working in August, and used as a winter cover crop to
protect the land and en-
remit.) It is highly
recommended for sowing
in orchards, as it com-
pletes its growth and
dies in early spring be-
fore the orchard begins
to need moisture. Crim-
son clover is sometimes
saved for hay, but is more
often used for grazing.

It has not generally
succeeded in the central
and western Gulf States,
where the bur clover
appears to be a much

hardier and more desir-
able plant.

Mammoth Clover. —

hie. 12,— CRIMSON CLOVER

This giant red clover is
a much larger, coarser plant than ordinary red clover.
The stems are so coarse that it does not make so good a
quality of hay as the smaller kind. It is grown largely
for green forage and for enriching the land.

Melilotus or Sweet Clover.— This plant is regarded as
a weed in the North. In the South it grows only on

204 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

rotten lime-rock land, or other land rich in lime. It will
grow on bare lime-rock, if it can send its roots into a
crack of the rock. As it makes an enormous growth, and
gets nitrogen from the air, it helps to restore fertility to
poor land. It is a biennial, and makes the largest growth
in its second year.

While it is not relished by stock, as some plants are,
it is very nutritious. It is used both for grazing and
for hay. When
once started on
poor, washed
lime land, the
plant keeps grow-
ing as a weed
until killed out
by grazing or
by cultivation.
Seed may be

thrown on land
without prepa-
ration at the rate of fifteen pounds per acre. Better
results are secured if land is plowed or disked.

Mexican Clover. — This plant, which is not a true clover
at all, flourishes in the sandy, cultivated lands of South
Georgia, Florida, and the southern part of the other Gulf
States. It is an annual that comes up in the cornfields
after the corn is laid by, and in oatfields after the oats are
cut. It makes excellent hay, which is generally cut and
saved late in the fall.

Florida Beggar Weed.—This plant also flourishes in

THE CLOVERS AND MINOR CROPS 205

sandy lands, coming up volunteer late in the season on culti-
vated fields. It is found mostly in Florida, South Georgia,
and Alabama. It is a true legume, and hence enriches
the land it grows on. It makes good hay and grazing.

Fic. 74.— RAPE FIELD

Rape. — Belonging to the same family as the collard,
cabbage, and turnip, rape is a fine forage plant for hogs,
and especially for sheep. It makes its best growth when
sown in the fall on rich and well-prepared land. When it
is large enough for good grazing, hogs and sheep are
turned on it and allowed to eat it down somewhat closely.

206 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

It sprouts out again and continues to grow. It has often

been found to afford food equal in value to peanuts and

cowpeas, although in order to fatten hogs it needs supple-

Fig. 75. — JERUSALEM
ARTICHOKE

menting with grain feed. It is
sown in the same way as turnips.

Chufas, or Grass Nuts. — This is
a crop often grown for hogs on the
thin, sandy lands of the South. It
is greatly relished by hogs, and
they root up the crop of sweet,
juicy nuts. The chufa is not quite
so valuable for pork-making as pea-
nuts, and it is exhaustive to the
land. ‘The crop keeps well in the
ground all winter, however, and
this affords good feed for hogs after
the Spanish peanut has rotted.

The chufa, being very sweet and
agreeable to the taste, is Gultivated
and sold in Spain for human food.
It is planted very much as peanuts
are.

Jerusalem artichokes are planted
and cultivated somewhat like the
Irish potato. They make large crops
of fleshy, starchy tubers, fully as

nutritious as Irish potatoes. They are grown to afford

grazing for hogs, but are not relished well enough to

make a fattening food like sweet potatoes. They keep

well in the ground all winter. The artichoke and chufas

THE CLOVER AND MINOR CROPS 207

are good late winter pasture crops. They may be grazed
by hogs after peanuts and sweet potatoes are gone.

QUESTIONS

Where is red clover largely grown? Does it need good soil? Is
red clover an annual, a biennial, or a perennial? Does the red clover
improve the land? Tell something of the bur clover. When is it
planted? When does it grow and die? Is it suitable to all kinds of
land? How does it do growing on Bermuda sod? What other crops
ean be grown on the land after the bur clover dies in the spring?
Will it come up volunteer in the fall when once seeded? What is
the habit and growth of the crimson clover? Has it proved as
successful as the bur clover? What sort of land does melilotus, or
sweet clover, grow on? Is ita good crop for some land? Where
is the Mexican clover grown? Where is the Florida beggar weed
grown, and of what use is it? Describe the rape, and tell what
it is grown for. Of what use are chufas, or grass nuts? On what
kind of land do they grow especially well? What is the Jerusalem
artichoke ?

CHAPTER XXXI
OTHER HAY AND PASTURE GRASSES

The Bermuda grass is one of the best pasture grasses, if
not the best, for the Gulf and South Atlantic States and
for parts of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. In the
higher and colder parts of the Plains, it cannot compete
with the native buffalo grass. Although a great drought-.
resisting grass, it probably does not equal the buffalo and
mesquite grasses in this respect. Where Bermuda grass
thrives, it is the very backbone of the entire pasture sys-
tem. It will pasture more stock to the acre without being
injured, stand more drought, and afford more months of
grazing in the year than any other one grass or plant.

Value for Pasture and Hay. — People of the Mississippi
Delta in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana have fre-
quently reported that their Bermuda pastures afford
grazing for five head of cattle or horses to the acre from
April to Christmas. Good land makes large crops of Ber-
muda grass hay, which is easily saved and fully equal in
value to timothy hay. The yield is often from two to
four tons an acre. As Bermuda grass does not mature
good seed in the United States, there is no danger of its
spreading like Johnson grass, when used for hay.

Bermuda grass used to be dreaded as Johnson grass is
now ; but people have learned to work with it, and to kill
it when it has served their purposes. Besides the plan

208

OTHER HAY AND PASTURE GRASSES 209

already given, it may be destroyed by heavy crops of peas,
velvet beans, or sweet potatoes, that shade the land well
all summer.

On the clay, lime, and bottom lands white clover should
always be grown on Bermuda pasture. The clover grows
when the grass is dormant, and lengthens the season of
good grazing about two months. This gain of two
months’ grazing in early spring means much to the
Southern farmer. It means he can have his cattle almost
fat before heat, flies, and ticks appear, and that he will be
saved two months’ expensive feeding. The white clover,
once established, will last forever. This gives a natural
rotation of crops; the clover, growing in winter and
spring, enriches the land for the grass which grows in
summer and fall. ‘Toward the northern limit of the Ber-
muda area the blue grass begins to thrive, and may often
grow on the Bermuda sod.

On the sandier and poorer lands bur clover will thrive
better than white clover, and should always have a place
on Bermuda pasture.

Carpet Grass. — In the sandier districts, particularly in
the southern part of the Gulf States and the pine belt of
the South Atlantic States, carpet grass disputes very suc-
cessfully the possession of the soil with Bermuda. It oc-
cupies the little bottoms, hollows, and firmer uplands,
wherever grazing is done. When the land is cultivated
or allowed to grow up in weeds, the carpet grass dis-
appears. As soon as cultivation ceases and stock begins
to graze and tramp down the tall weeds and brush, it
comes again from seed that are scattered over the coun-

Ve

210 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

try. Carpet grass stands the heaviest grazing and tramp-
ing, and affords a longer period of grazing than Bermuda.

Japan Clover, or Lespedeza. — Beginning with East Texas
and extending all over the rainy sections of the South,
this little legume flourishes on the roadsides and in almost
all pastures. On good land it sometimes grows high
enough to make fine hay. It often grows with carpet
grass and sometimes with Bermuda. It is a summer-
growing annual that is late in getting large enough for
erazing in spring, and is killed by the first frost in fall.
It makes fine summer grazing, and comes up and thrives
without sowing.

Johnson Grass.— ‘This grass generally comes without
being wanted. It is not often used for pasture, except as
a means of killing it. It does not stand close grazing,
and is easily killed out in two or three years by this treat-
ment. However, a few people who want to graze it and
preserve it, divide the pasture, grazing part at a time.
In this way it lasts indefinitely and affords fine grazing.

Johnson Grass Hay. — This grass is generally used for
hay, yielding each year three or four cuttings of hay that
is rather better than timothy. The hay is very likely to
carry some ripe seed, and the grass is often spread in this
way. For this reason many people will not buy the hay
or allow it to be brought into the community. This gives
it a lower price than its feeding value would justify.

Killing Johnson Grass. — After Johnson grass has
been closely mowed for hay two or three years, it be-
comes so weakened that it can be easily killed. It gives
most trouble when it appears in patches on cultivated

OTHER HAY AND PASTURE GRASSES 211

land. The bunches should be torn up with plows and
the hoe hands should cut them considerably below the
surface of the ground. By frequent careful working
until late in the sum-
mer, the grass can be
killed even without
grazing or mowing.
Farmers in Missis-
sippl and Alabama
are killing it in this
way every year. If
any plant can be kept
cut off under the
ground often enough
to prevent any top
growth, the roots will
die,

Another way of

getting rid of this

Fic. 76.— JOHNSON GRASS

grass is to grow no

crop on the land and plow it several times in the summer.
This treatment is expensive, but it puts the land in the
best possible condition for a fall crop. Again, Johnson
grass land may be reclaimed by sowing fall oats or wheat
and plowing soon after harvest in June, and then keeping
it clean of the grass by frequent plowings, say once every
three weeks, till October. Sharp, heavy disk harrows, set
to run at the greatest angle, will probably cut off the
grass at each operation after the first plowing. In sum-
mer Johnson grass roots (rather, underground stems) rot

212 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

rapidly. Unless there is a green growth of leaf to gather
food and produce more roots, the grass must die. This
is true of any plant.

Chemicals. — All chemical treatments for this, or any

other deep-rooted pest, are entirely too expensive. It is

Fic. 77.— GuINEA GRASS, BILoxt, MISSISSIPPI

probable that a thousand dollars’ worth of the cheapest
chemical obtainable would not kill the grass on an acre.
If it did, it would kill the land for two or three years.

The people who have had this grass longest in the
United States have learned to utilize it and to kill it, and
its presence in those sections does not reduce the value of
the lands on which it is found.

Guinea and Para Grass. — Guinea and Para grass, both
large tropical grasses growing as high as a man’s head,
and densely thick on the ground, are becoming well

OTHER HAY AND PASTURE GRASSES 213

known and appreciated in the Gulf States. Neither of
these grasses propagates in the same way as Johnson
grass, and neither is likely to become a pest. The
Guinea grass spreads from seed, and the plants sucker
enormously ; several hundred plants come from one stalk.
The Para grows from large trailing stems in the same
way that Bermuda does, but much faster. Its stems will
often grow thirty feet in a season, and make a new plant
at each joint. Both of these grasses remain remarkably
succulent and tender for grasses of such size.

They are very useful for hay and for sotling, and cut-
ting and feeding green to stock. They are also fine for
grazing. The Guinea grass is the main grazing grass of
Cuba, and the Para of South America. Both of these
plants will become of great value in the southern part
of the cotton belt.

Crab Grass.—Crab grass is found everywhere on culti-
vated land in the sandy, loamy, and clay sections of the
South, east of the semiarid belt. It does not flourish on
lime lands or on buckshot bottoms. It is often cut for
hay, particularly when it grows with peavines. It gets
into cultivated lands the second year after they are cleared.
When cultivated land is converted into pasture, crab grass
makes good grazing for one year, when it gives way to
other growths.

Expense of Cultivating. — Crab grass adds more to the
expense of cultivating the crop than any other pest,
except coco (nut grass) and Johnson grass. It seems
to exhaust the land and hurt the crop much worse than
Bermuda, coco, or even Johnson grass. Crab grass will

214 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

always kill alfalfa, but on suitable land the latter grows
well with Johnson grass. Crops often grow well in the
midst of coco and Bermuda, but never with crab grass.
Any considerable growth of it will turn any crop yellow
and make it weak and sickly.

Late, clean cultivation of land in cotton, so as to prevent
crab grass from making seed, will, in a measure, eradicate
it and make cultivation easy the next year. But it soon
appears on the land again.

Coco, or Nut Grass. — We have already told how crops
are made in spite of this pest. It is never saved for hay,
and amounts to little for pasture. It is widespread in
parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and other states, and is the
hardest of all pests to kill. As hogs root after the nuts
on the deep roots, small patches may be killed by pasturing
it heavily with hogs. Dense shade with pea vines, velvet
beans, etc., weaken it.

Given extra working, as good cotton is grown where
this grass grows as where the land is clear of it.

QUESTIONS

Describe Bermuda grass. Will it carry much stock on an acre?
Is it ever used for hay? Was it ever considered a pest on the farm ?
Can it be easily killed? What clover should be grown on Bermuda
pasture, on clay, and loamy land? What clover would be better on
sandy land? Where does carpet grass thrive? Where does Japan
clover grow? What are itsuses? How does Johnson grass generally
get into the farms? Is it a good hay grass and is the quality of the
hay good? What objection do people have to the hay? How can
Johnson grass be killed? Tell something of Guinea grass and Para
grass. Are they likely to become valuable in the United States?
Would you consider crab grass a pest? What is nut grass? Is it
easily killed ?

CHAPTER XXXII
ORCHARD CROPS

Intensive and Extensive Farming. — Orchards and truck
farms require more capital, more skill, higher fertilizing,

a “a, Us

ii *< AL. i

HN ede atte Ad, Pre
% +BioK

I eae
i nuttin

Fic. 78. — INTENSIVE FARMING

(Chinese in Hawaii grow bananas and taro on ridges, ducks and fish in
canals between ridges.)

and more intensive culture than other lines of agriculture.

Sometimes as much as $1000 is spent in producing a crop

ona single acre, and maybe $2000 is expected in returns
215

216 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

on the crop. One such crop is celery. ~ Cabbage and
onions may require an expenditure of $75 to $100 an
acre, and may bring returns of $150 to $300 an acre.
Among the crops grown on the extensive system may
be mentioned wheat, whose average money returns to
the acre in the United States are about $10, but the aver-
age expenditures in making and marketing may be only
*8 or $9. The same business ability and effort neces-

Be aie Ae

We BERN Rant tg een ence oa
RE intel earstare Sapna Woe a eth

Fic. 79. —IRRIGATING AN ORCHARD

sary to handle 500 acres of wheat would probably not be
sufficient for two, acres of celery or 10 acres of cabbage or
onions. An extreme case of extensive farming is pastur-
ing beef cattle on a range where one man can look after
thousands of heads of cattle on tens of thousands of
acres, each acre bringing small returns — sometimes not
-more than 10 cents.

Early Truck and Fruit. — Growing fruits and early vege-
tables in the South for shipment to Northern markets has
grown into a very large business. Solid train loads of

ORCHARD CROPS oA alg

early truck crops are often made up at a single shipping
point. The cars are iced and the train is run on a special
schedule to get the perishable freight to the market in good

condition. When there is a large amount of such produce
to move, the railroads handle it better and get it to the
market more quickly than they do small amounts. At

Fic. 80. — WELL-TRIMMED TEXAS PEACH TREE

the same time buyers are attracted to the places of large
production, and better prices are offered. As truck
farmers have become more and more experienced in
making, packing, and shipping produce, fewer losses
occur, and the business is becoming more certain of fair
profits.

Peaches. — Among the tree fruits grown on a com-
mercial scale in the South, the peach stands at the head
of the list. Peaches are not a certain crop; they fail

218 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

to produce fruit perhaps half of the seasons because the
fruit buds are killed by cold. The orchards are not
expensive to bring into bearing, however, and when
a good crop is made, it is generally very profitable.
Peaches do not require rich lands.
The largest and best orchards in the
South are found on well-drained sandy
loams that require commercial fertili-
»zer to produce good cotton crops.
The land intended for peaches should
be well plowed and harrowed. Good

budded trees should be planted, pref-

erably in checks eighteen by eighteen

ares geet Tee) feet or even wider apart. The young
plant should be trimmed for setting.

Expenses of Orchard. — Good one-year-old budded trees
can often be bought in large numbers for five cents each.
So a sufficient number of trees for an acre — 108 — would
only cost $5.40; and preparing the Jand, fertilizing, and
setting the trees should not cost over %10 more.

Growing Crops in Orchard. — For the first two or three
years the young orchard may grow cotton or Irish potatoes
between the rows of trees. Any crop that is well fer-
tilized and cultivated will not hurt the trees. The culti-
vation of the crop also cultivates the trees. Heavy crops
of peas grown in the orchard may draw too heavily on
the moisture supply in late summer. Peas also breed
certain root diseases that in some cases are very destruc-
tive to the peach. The bur clover, or crimson clover,
makes a fine winter cover-crop for the orchard. ‘These

ORCHARD CROPS 219

crops gather nitrogen and prevent leaching in the winter,
and die in the spring before the moisture supply begins to
run low.

Cultivation in Dry Sections. — Good clean cultivation at
all seasons is best for orchards in dry sections of country.

Fig. 82. — Cocoanut PLANTATION, AS SEEN IN FLORIDA, PoRTO RIco,
HAWAII, AND THE PHILIPPINES

It is impossible to grow any two crops together without
their dividing moisture with each other.

Pruning. — Trees should be so pruned as to force the
branches to grow out within from twelve to twenty inches
of the ground, and these branches should be pruned each
year so as to prevent the tree from growing too tall
and to give it a symmetrical shape. Observation and ex-
perience will be the best guides in learning how to prune
trees.

220 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Thinning Fruit. — Thinning the fruit on the tree is very
important. If a large number of peaches remains on a
tree, they will be small and inferior. If some are cut off
when small, leaving one every six or eight inches on the
limbs, perhaps as many total pounds or bushels of fruit
will be made, and the quality will be much better. Pro-

Fic. 838. — AN APPLE BRANCH

ducing seed is the most exhausting part of any plant’s
work. If a great many small peaches are matured, the
strain on the vital energies of the tree will be greater than
if fewer large peaches are allowed to come to maturity.

Apples. — Apples are not commercially important in the
Gulf and South Atlantic States, except in the highlands

of parts of Georgia and the Carolinas, and perhaps on a

ORCHARD CROPS 221

little elevated land in Alabama. The elevated sections of
Northern Arkansas grow immense quantities of fine apples.
Texas people grow a few fine winter-keeping apples on
the lands having an elevation of 2000 feet and above
in the western part of the state. The apples grown on
the lowlands of the South mature in summer, when the
weather is too warm for them to keep. In the higher,
more northerly, and cooler sections apples ripen in the

Fic. 84. — Figs at THE TEXAS EXPERIMENT STATION

fall, when the weather is cool enough for them to keep
over winter. Where apples do well, they are more cer-
tain to yield well than peaches, and the trees live longer.
Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mis-
souri, and Kansas all have great possibilities in the way
of apple growing.

Figs. — In the United States the fig is one of the best and
surest fruits that are grown, for latitudes south of thirty-
one and one-half and for a considerable distance north

222 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

of this on the Atlantic coast. They do fairly well as far
north as 33 degrees. The fig never fails to produce fruit
in abundance if it has any wood growth at all. Some-
times in higher latitudes the trees are killed to the ground
by a severe frost, but they sprout up from the roots in
the spring and make a small crop on the new wood.

Fic. 85. -SMyRNA Fic TREES, CALIFORNIA

The next year they yield abundantly. Along the Gulf
Coast, from West Texas to Florida, they are. seldom
killed by the cold, and the crops are large and very
profitable. Some trees along the coast are known to
be eighty years old. No fruit tree is easier to start, the
fig being propagated either by layering or simple cuttings.
See Figure 23 for proper depth to plant fig cuttings.

ORCHARD CROPS 223

The fig needs rich soil, or soil made rich by fertilizing.
Often in sections where figs are liable to be killed by a
hard freeze, some protection like a house, a fence, or other
trees will save their lives. ‘To protect oranges in South
Texas or Louisiana, dirt is often piled up around the
trunks of the trees.. If the cold kills the wood above the
bank of dirt, the buds protected sprout out vigorously
and make a profitable tree again. Figs might be treated
in the same way, and thus more live wood be saved.

About three hundred fig trees are planted to the acre.
These commence bearing by the second year, and by the
third or fourth year often yield a dollar’s worth of fruit
to atree. The fruit is so desirable for preserves that it
brings a very high price as compared with most fruits.
In South Texas contracts are being made by preserving
establishments to take the output of orchards being planted,
at three to five cents a pound for the fresh figs. |

Pecans. — All fine varieties of pecans now propagated
by grafting came originally from sports found in the for-
ests, and many more are surely yet to be discovered in
the same way.

The best statistics available place the yield of pecans in
Texas at 700 carloads, worth about $1,500,000.

The importance of planting only budded trees of good
kinds has been referred to. It is recommended that
from 25 to 50 trees be planted to the acre. The land
should be worked in some crop requiring clean cultivation,
like cotton. Pecans come into profitable bearing in from
7 to 10 years, and the crops increase as the trees grow
older. An orchard of a fine variety of pecan is very

224 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

profitable, and it will probably last 100 years or
more. :

Citrus Fruits. — It is freely maintained that Southwest
Texas has soil and climate suitable for growing oranges,
lemons, and grape-fruit in quantities to rival the produc-
tions of Califor-
nia and Florida.
Fine large trees,
loaded with
magnificent
fruit, are to be
found at various
places in South
Texas and Lou-
isiana. Many of
these trees are so
old as to prove
that the climate
is not too cold
for them. Many

large orchards
Fic. 86. — GRAPE FRUIT GROWN AT BEEVILLE, are being set in

TEXAS, BRANCH EXPERIMENT STATION
mae oranges and

(Ten pounds on one short limb.) :
other citrus
fruits, and there is little doubt but that this will become
one of the big industries of the Southwest as it is now
in the Southeast in Florida.

Satsuma Oranges. — The variety of oranges especially
planted in our coast country is the Satsuma, a heavy

bearer of medium-sized, delicious fruit without seed. It

ORCHARD CROPS 225

is dwarfed by being budded upon a small, hardy tree, or
shrub of the orange family, called Citrus trifoliata. This
trifolata can withstand the winter as far north as New
York ; but its fruit is worthless, and the plant, when not
used as orange stock, makes an excellent hedge plant.

Fig. 87. — TExAas ORANGE TREE

Remember this book can discuss but a few important
fruits. Procure a good book on horticulture suited to
your section, and get your station bulletins and Depart-
ment publications.

QUESTIONS

Explain the main difference between.extensive and intensive farm-
ing. Give an example of very intensive culture. Of extensive cul-
ture. Which is more intensive, cotton or corn? Why? Which is
more intensive, sweet potatoes or sugar cane? What of the growth

Q

.4

226 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

of fruit and truck raising in the South? What advantage does the
truck farmer who lives in a community of truck farmers have over
one being in the business alone? What fruit is more largely grown
than any other in the South? How would you start a peach orchard?
How expensive is it to start an acre of peaches? How often do
peaches make good crops? Are they profitable? What can be done
with an orchard when trees are young? Why are peas objected to
for growing in orchards? Why would bur clover or vetch be better?
Why should you not grow anything in an orchard in a semiarid
country 2? How should trees be pruned? What reason is there for
thinning fruit on the trees? Why are apples not commercially im-
portant in the Gulf States? What are the conditions necessary to
erow winter-keeping apples? What Southern States possess these ad-
vantages? Why is apple-growing a good business where conditions
are favorable? Tell what you know of the fig. How profitable may
fig-raising become? What advantages have figs over all other or-
chard crops? What suggestion is made to save figs from winter-kill-
ing to some extent ?

Where in the United States are most of the oranges, lemons, and
citrus fruits grown? Where are the citrus fruits beginning to be
planted? Tell about the Satsuma orange and how it is propagated.
What part of the Southwest is destined to become a great citrus-
growing country? ‘Tell something of pecan growing.

Suggestion. — Practice budding pecans, oranges, ete. Cut off
hickory limbs and tops in winter. Send for careful directions for
budding pecans in these next summer. It would be a great ac-
complishment if you could make nearly worthless hickories bear
fine paper-shell pecans.

Plant out a good number of fig enttings. Start a small orchard,
preferably on the south side of buildings, fences, or other trees.
Manure trees highly, protect thein from cold if necessary by tempo-
rary wind-breaks, and you will soon see what a profitable crop it is.

CHAPTER XXXIII
TRUCK CROPS

Irish Potatoes.— Irish potatoes are largely grown for
Northern markets. They need a good rich, warm soil, as
well as rapid working and artificial water supply where it

Fic. $8. — HARVESTING IRISH POTATOES

is feasible to provide it. On a good sandy loam soil,
potatoes should make their largest yields of good smooth
tubers. Seed should be cut in rather large pieces, as has

227

228 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

already been explained, so as to plant about twelve bushels
of seed to an acre.

Fertilizers. — About 800 pounds of fertilizer, containing
200 pounds cotton-seed meal, 500 acid phosphate, and 100
pounds nitrate of soda will generally assure a good crop.
This fertilizer should be put out and the land to be
planted bedded on it, or it should be sprinkled in the fur-
row with the seed potatoes. Very few soils are dry and
warm enough in the humid part of the South to justify
_ planting on a level.

Enemies. — The Colorado potato beetle is sure to attack
the crop. Weak solutions of Paris green will easily kill
this pest. When blight attacks the leaves, spraying with
Bordeaux mixture is desirable. To prevent scabby po- _
tatoes from being produced, the seed is often soaked in
a solution of formalin, one part of formalin to 300 to 400
of water, to kill any scab spores, or seeds of fungi, that
may be on the seed.

Yield and Profit.— A fairly good yield of potatoes is
100 to 150 bushels to the acre. When they bring 75 cents
to *1 a bushel at the shipping station, good profits are
usually made. Sometimes the markets are too low to ship
at a profit. In that case, if the potatoes could be put in
cold storage and kept a month or more, a good demand
could be had at home. By midsummer all Southern pota-
toes are out of the market, and Northern potatoes are
being shipped South.

Second Crop. — Grood crops of sweet Soi ntneeae corn, cot-
ton, ete., can be grown on the Irish potato land after the
potatoes are dug, say in June. In growing a fall crop of

TRUCK CROPS 2IO

potatoes, saving moisture enough and preserving the seed
are the greatest difficulties. The small potatoes of the
first crop are spread out in a good shade and_ partially
covered with straw or leaves. They are allowed to lie till
sprouts appear, and aré generally planted whole. Cutting
will make them come up quicker, but they are liable to rot
when cut. The fall-grown crop makes good seed the fol-
lowing spring.

Hotbeds. — A hotbed is made by mixing stable manure,
cotton seed, etc., and surrounding this with a suitable

Fic. 89.—Smartit Horpep

frame and covering with glass as shown in Figure 89.
The rotting manure produces heat, and the sun’s rays
enter through the glass, which at the same time pre-
vents the escape of heat from the bed. Some hotbeds
have flues underneath and are heated by fires. By
either plan, plenty of warmth can be controlled to grow
any plant.

Tomatoes. — Tomatoes, egeplant, peppers, etc., are
started in January in the Gulf States. The tomato plants
are taken out, of the hotbed about February and _ trans-

230 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

planted into a cold-frame. A cold-frame has no heating
manure, and it is covered with cloth. The object is to
harden the plant as much as possible and at the same
time protect it and keep it growing. When all danger
of frost is over, the plants are taken from the cold-frame

Fic. 90. — GATHERING TOMATOKS

and transplanted to a field in checks about three by four
feet. The plants are kept tied up to stakes, as shown in
Figure 90. All the suckers are kept pinched off the
plants, and when they have grown about three feet high,
and have set a good crop of fruit, they are topped. ‘The
object is to force them to produce a good crop of fruit
early. If one wishes tomatoes for home use or for can-

TRUCK CROPS 231

hing, it would be better to let the plants grow longer
and branch out and continue to bear..

Enemies. — ‘The cotton boll worm is hard on the tomato,
but generally a good early crop can be gathered before
the worm gets very abundant. Tomato blight is a much-
dreaded disease. The crop should be planted on a fresh
piece of ground each year.

Yield. — ‘Tomatoes often produce 500 bushels to the
acre, and the crop is usually profitable. It does not re-

Fig. 91.— CABBAGE FIELD

quire such high fertilizing as cabbage and_ potatoes.
Three or four hundred pounds of fertilizer to the acre is
ample on ordinary sandy loam soil.

The largest tomato-growing places in the South are
Jacksonville, Texas, and Crystal Springs, Mississippi.

Cabbage. — Early cabbage are sometimes started like
tomatoes in hotbeds and cold-frames. ‘They are set out
in the field earlier than tomatoes, being set in three-foot
rows, at the rate of 8000 plants to the acre. Farther

Poo ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

south they are often planted in open ground in September
or October and transplanted from November to February
in the fields where they are to grow. Cabbages need rich
land or plenty of fertilizer or both combined. <A ton of
fertilizer is often used to the acre. They need good culti-
vation. In the different sections of the Gulf States,
cutting and shipping take place from March until June.
A fairly good crop is 100 crates, weighing about 120
pounds each, but often twice this amount is produced.
One dollar a hundred pounds at shipping station is a
profitable price. The crop often brings much more.
When prices are too low for profit, cabbage can be kept
in cold storage as recommended for Irish potatoes.

Every ice factory should have acold room to store crops
like this. A large and profitable business could easily be
built up in most localities in storing perishable vegetables
of this kind.

Onions. — Onion growing is a large and lucrative busi-
ness, especially in Southwest Texas. Yields are fre-
quently as high as 500 to 800 bushels to the acre on rich,
well-fertilized and irrigated lands. Probably 300 bushels
is nearer the average. The onion seed are planted on
beds in September and October in little rows about three
inches apart. From December to February they are trans-
planted to the fields. The plants are placed in rows about
15 to 18 inches apart, and set as close as four inches in
the rows. It has been estimated to cost $30 an acre to
set onions in this way. |

The crop is generally ready to harvest in May, and
is shipped in sacks to the Northern markets. The onion

y

TRUCK CROPS 255

crop seldom nets the grower less than 75 cents a bushel
and frequently over a dollar.

There are many other profitable market crops, but they
cannot be discussed in this book without making it too
long. Peas, beans, cauliflower, lettuce, radish, peppers,
asparagus, celery, melons, and numerous other crops are
grown for the Northern market profitably. Throughout
the Plains country particularly, as fine cantaloupes and
watermelons as ever grew can be raised in greatest abun-
dance. Melons have been considered for sugar production
on the Plains, but the sugar beet also thrives there. Your
experiment station will refer you to good books and bulle-
tins that will give you the details of the culture and
handling of all of them.

QUESTIONS

What sort of land is best for raising Irish potatoes? Do they
need much fertilizer? What fertilizer mixture is suggested? Why
are potatoes not often planted on a level in the South? What
insect and what disease attack potatoes? What are the remedies for
these troubles? How can scabby potatoes be prevented? Tell what
the yield and value of potatoes should be. What suggestion is made
when the Northern markets are low? What crops can be made on
the Irish potato land after the potatoes are gathered? How are fall
[rish potatoes grown? How are tomatoes planted? Describe a hot-
bed. What is a cold-frame? How are tomatoes worked, staked, and
trimmed? Do they need heavy fertilizing? What insect troubles the
tomato? What fungous disease does the tomato suffer from? What
is a fair yield of tomatoes? Where are the largest shipping points
in the Southern States for tomatoes? How are cabbages started in
different sections? When are they cut and shipped? Do they need
heavy fertilizing? What is a good yield of cabbage and what isa
profitable price? What can be done with cabbage if Northern markets
vet low? Tell something of onion growing. What is a good yield?
What prices are received? Do they need high fertilizing ?

CHAPTER] AX KXLY.
THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS

Animals made of Plants. — You learned in the first part
of this book that animals must be composed of the same
chemical elements as plants, because they are built up by
eating plants. If all the blood, lean meat, brain, tendons,
membranes, skin, hair, hoofs, and horns of animals could
be separated from the rest of the body and dried, they
would contain sixteen per cent of nitrogen. The cheese,
or curd of milk, when dry, also contains sixteen per cent
of nitrogen. No animal can live unless the substances
in its food furnish nitrogen. Fortunately, most natural
foods contain this element in small or large amounts.
The substances in food that contain nitrogen we call
protein, and, like the nitrogenous parts of the aninal
body, protein contains sixteen per cent of nitrogen.

Protein Feeds. — The white of an egg is pure protein.
Peas, beans, peavine hay, alfalfa hay, etc., are rich in pro-
tein, because, as you remember, these plants feed on
the nitrogen of the air, and they make this nitrogen into
the compound called protein. Cotton seed and cotton-
seed meal are very rich in protein. No animal can give
a good supply of milk without plenty of protein in its
food.

Fat-making Feeds. — Animals must also have material
to make fat in their bodies, and to make the butter fat of

254

THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 235

milk. Fat, or oil, in food, such as cotton-seed oil, can do
this, because all fats are made of three things — carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen —whether they are vegetable fats
or animal fats. Protein can build fat, because it con-
tains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen along with its nitro-
gen, but it is too expensive to feed so much of it. The
sugar, starch, gums, and woody parts of plants are also
made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and can build fat
in the body. Corn is about two-thirds starch, and you
know how it puts fat on hogs.

Heat and Force-making Feeds. — But most of the food
eaten by animals is used to keep their bodies warm and to
produce force and work. It is burned up to keep the
machine hot and to keep it running. Sugar, starch,
gums, fiber, or woody matter in the foods are used for
this purpose. ‘These substances taken together are called
carbo-hydrates. ats in food can also be burned to keep
up heat and produce energy or work. You have heard of
the Esquimaux drinking fish oil to keep warm. Protein
can also be burned to make heat and force, but it is usu-
ally too expensive to be fed for this purpose. So we
see protein can do its own special work, and can also take
the place of fats and carbo-hydrates if necessary.

Ash and Water. — The ash of plants contains the mate-
rials for making bones. But as almost all feeds contain
plenty of ash, we need not further consider it. All feeds
also contain some water, but this is not necessary, since
animals can get plenty of water from the creek. So can
animals get plenty of water in feeds sometimes. In
the Hawaiian Islands thousands of cattle never drink any

230 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

water. They graze on high mountain land where there is
much rain, but the rain sinks so fast in the voleaniec soil
that none accumulates on the surface. The grass is quite
ereen and affords plenty of water.

Digestibility. — Of course, feed stuff, in order to nourish
animals, must be digested. Only from one-half to two-
thirds of hay is generally digested, and from three-fourths
to seven-eighths of grains and meals. An animal of a
given size needs a certain amount of digestible protein,
carbo-hydrates, and fats to accomplish a particular result.
These are called nutrients.

Amounts of Digestible Nutrients Needed.— A milk cow,
a fattening steer, or a hard-worked horse may be said to
need each day about two pounds of digestible protein,
about twelve or thirteen pounds of digestible carbo-
hydrates, and about a half pound of digestible fats. More
protein, say up to three pounds a day, certainly would do
no harm, if not too expensive. Of course, large animals
or those giving large quantities of milk, need more, while
small animals, or those giving less milk, require less.
Animals not expected to work, gain in weight, or give
milk can get along on one-fourth this amount of protein,
and much less of the other nutrients.

Proportions of Coarse Feed. Jattle will generally
utilize food most economically, if given about two-thirds,

by dry weight, of coarse, bulky foods, such as hay and
fodder, and one-third concentrated feed, or concentrates,
such as cotton seed, corn meal, cotton-seed meal, bran, ete.
Cattle on full feed will need about twenty-five to thirty
pounds of dry feed a day. Horses, when heavily worked,

THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS Jt

should have at least half their food by dry weight of con-
centrates, and the other half of roughage, or roughness,
and should have about twenty to twenty-five pounds of
dry feed a day. All animals will eat larger proportions
of concentrated feed, if allowed to have it. Sheep, in
fattening, seem to do best on about half concentrated

Fic. 92.— SouTrHWEST TEXAS STEERS BEING FATTENED ON CACTUS
AND COTTON-SEED MEAL

and the other half rough feed. Hogs, when fattening
rapidly, eat still more concentrated feed than sheep and
horses. Young animals need more protein than older
ones, because they must build up lean meat and tissue.
They also eat more in proportion to live weight than
older animals.

Calculating Nutrients. — Chemists analyze all the food
stuffs and find out how much protein, carbo-hydrates, and

238 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

fats each contains. Actual trials have been made of all
of them to see how digestible they are when eaten by
different animals. Ifa certain feed, for instance, has 14
per cent of protein, and 75 per cent of this is digestible,
then we have .75 of .14, equals .105 (14 per cent multi-
plied by 75 per cent, decimally, gives 10.5 per cent of
digestible protein in the feed). If you want to feed your
milk cow 5 pounds of this feed a day, then you will give
her 5 times .105, or .525, pound of digestible protein. This
will be about + of what protein she needs, but if she has
a good pasture to run in, she may there get the rest of
what she needs. But if the pasture is not good, suppose
you give her 4 pounds of cotton-seed meal. It will con-
tain about 40 per cent protein, and about 85 per cent of
this will be digestible. Eighty-five per cent of 40 per
cent will be 34 per cent. Then 4 pounds times 34 per
cent (.54 pound) will make 1.36 pounds. This added
to what the other feed contained would be nearly 2
pounds. The pasture would have to be very poor, if this
much feed did not give the cow more than enough digest-
ible protein. Poor pastures, dry stalk fields, rough
woods, ranges, etc., may easily supply the carbo-hydrates
necessary.

Nitrogen-free Extract and Crude Fiber. —In analyzing
feeds for carbo-hydrates, the chemist divides these into
two groups, because one group is usually more digestible
than the other. The sugar, starch, gums, etc., he puts
into one group, which he calls nitrogen free extract. The
fibrous, woody part of the feed he puts into another group,
which he calls erude fiber. A feed like hay or cotton-

THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 239

seed hulls or straw contains much crude fiber and is
always bulky, and is not very digestible. A feed con-
taining much starch, like corn and sweet potatoes, or
sugar, like sugar beets, is very digestible, and hence more
valuable in proportion to dry weight than hay, hulls, and
straw. Nearly all feeds that have not gone through some
manufacturing process contain nitrogen-free extract and
crude fiber, as well as protein, fat, and ash.

Calculations. — If a grass hay contains 40 per cent
nitrogen-free extract, and 65 per cent of this is digestible,
then the hay contains 26 per cent digestible nitrogen-free
extract. If the same batch of hay contains 25 per cent
crude fiber, and 40 per cent of this is digestible, then it
will contain 10 per cent digestible crude fiber. After
crude fiber and nitrogen-free extract are both digested,
they are counted as having equal value. Therefore, we
ald the two digestible amounts together, 26 per cent
nitrogen-free extract and 10 per cent crude fiber, and
call them carbo-hydrates, and we have 36 per cent digestible
carbo-hydrates in this hay. If you fed a cow 20 pounds
of such hay a day, you would give her 20 times .86 pound
of digestible carbo-hydrates, or 7.20 pounds in this feed
alone. If you have never had money enough to take any
interest in percentage and decimals, you have now found
that knowledge of this kind is needed in order to calcu-
late rations for farm animals.

If certain seed has 19 per cent of fat (oil), and 75 per
cent of this oil is digestible, then this seed contains 14.25
per cent digestible fats. If you feed 5 pounds a day to a
cow, you give her in the seed alone about .71 of a pound

240 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

of digestible fat. If you have reviewed your decimals
and percentage, you now have all the mathematics you
need to calculate suitable rations for live stock from the
following tables, which contain the digestible nutrients
in 100 pounds of each of our different common feed stuffs.
In the table the calculations for digestible nutrients are
made for us. By means of the last column in the table
you can always calculate the fertilizing value of the food
fed animals, and can closely estimate the value of manure
made. Wheat bran, cotton-seed meal, and other rich
feeds produce enough manure to go far toward paying for
the feeds.

TABLE, No. 1

Dry MatrerR, DIGESTIBLE. NUTRIENTS, AND FERTILIZING
VALUE IN 100 POUNDS OF FEED STUFFS

FRRTILIZING

: :
aa ee ae | M oe | Pay | a ake ar 00 eater
| eee S| FEED
| |
GREEN ForaGE— | | Cents
Pasture grass.) *20,0 >\2 2:50 | 10.20 0.50 10
Cornsfodder’ a4) “2075-15. slats eh. 08 0.37 Bt
Bermuda grass .| 33.0 | 2.60 | 14.80 0.30 10
Johnson grass .| 340 | 2.40 | 16.50 | 0.50 10
Japan clover . .| 80.0 | 2.70 | 14.40 | 0.60 13
Crab erase 2 2.60 383.05 4st 90" S|. 1400 0.60 9
Sorghum . . .| 20.6 | 0.60 | 1220 | 0.40 BL
Aivalian baw 28.2 3.90 12°70 0.3, nk OO 16
Cowpea . 2s 20.7) 16 ABO 2) 8-70 2080 aie
Soy bean - . | 249 a0 22.00) 4a tx00 16
Oat fodder <:i5* <. |<. 87.Birlo2h 21095 a)" 22.06 1.04 13
Rye fodder... .-| 984°) 2 Obs 4d ae 10
Barley fodder. . |--oieps | a0 hs 10 eee 12

THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 241

Dry Marrer, DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS, AND FERTILIZING
VALuE IN 100 Pounps or FEED Strurrs — Continued

M Dry CARBO- ee
or ane Gr REED Marrer | PROTEXY | yyprares nas ~ 100 Les. or
FEED
GREEN FoRAGE —

( Cont.) j Cents
Wheat fodder .| 36.0 2.80 18.00 | 0.90 te
Orchard grass .| 27.0 1.91 15.91 0.58 11
Red-top grass. .| 934.7 2.06 21.24 0.58 11
Kentucky blue

BESssacule -, oa 3.01 19.85 0.85
Reasmte —:-.. . | 25.0 2.40 P02 70:20 Ad
Redrelover:.— . 29.2 3.07 14.82 | 0.69 14
Burclover. . .{ 25.0 2.60 P00) = -0:50)4.| 12
Crimson clover . 19st 2.40 9.10 0.50 | ig:

SILAGE FROM — |
Borehm 20.9 0.60 14:90 | 0.20
emis . || 20.9 0.56 11.79 0.65 9

Hay FROM -—
Bermuda grass . | 86.0 6.90 39.00 0.80 30
Jchnson grass . | 89.7 6.00 4940 1-220 30
Militia ees. | OLG 10.58 37.93 1.38 66
Cowmpeas .. .°-..| 89.8 10.80 38.60 1.10 60
Hairy vetch . .| 83.3 14.60 30.60 2.30 70
Red clover. . .{| 90.3 6.58 35.35 1.66 58
PeAN 200205. 92.4 6.70 42.10 3.40 60
Burclover ..*.; 83.3 8.80 36.50 0.50 48
Crimson clover .| 91.4 10.49 38.13 1.29 60
Crabrerass 2: 3.0. 41)-.86.0 4.30 36.40 1.50 25
Red-top grass. .| 91.1 4.82 46.83 0.95 30
Hungarian grass 92.3 4.50 51.67 1.54 33

242 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Dry Marrter, DicrestrsLtE NUTRIENTS, AND FERTILIZING
VALUE IN 100 Pounps or FEED Srurrs — Continued

anos FERIILIZING
Name oF FEEp Sued PROTEIN ee waa 100 Les. a
FEED
Hay From (Cont.) — Cents
Orchard grass . .| 90.1 4.78 41.99 | 1.40 30
Timothy grass . .| 86.8 2.89 43.72 | 1.43 25
Kentucky blue grass | 78.8 4.76 37.33 | 1.95 26
Japan-clover:: °°.) 2. 41)-80.0 7.80 41.40 | 1.80 50
Shredded corn stover| 80.0 2.30 43.20 0.90 20
Corn blades (fodder) 80.0 4.00 40.80 | 0.60 35
Cornwhucks. 2.) es. 80.0 1.30 49.90 0.30 20
Cotton-seed hulls. | 88.9 0.3 33.10 ZO 20
Wheat straw. . .| 904 | 0.40 | 36.30 | 0.40 14
Oasisinaw -) oe. al 0B. 1202 -|- = 38.60 0.80 oy
Rye straw ~ . . .| 92.9 | 0.60 40.60 | 0.40 | 16
Barley straw. . .- 85.8 | 0.70 41.20 0.60 29
Roots AnD TUBERS — |
Sweet Potato. . . 28.9 |. 1.00 2250 — ee
IrighePotate' eso 2 De th OO 16.30 0.10 tte
Reeve hte pect 15.0 see 8.84 — ——
ANTS? hese ge 9.5. | 0.81 6.46 | 0.11 ——
Rutabagass @ 9:2 44 0.88 774~| 0.1L |
Artichoke (Jerusa-
deri) 4.0/en see 20.0 2.00 16.80 | 0.20 —
GRAINS AND OTHER
SEEDS —
Cotton seed.) = i= 89.7 iad) 30.0 17.5 75
Cotton-seed meal. OT. Srtlicat 2 16.9 12.2 150
Cotton-seed hulls .| 88.9 | 0.5 Becl5 failed 25
Corn, field 304. a. ceo aa areo 86.70) "aa 33
Corn and cob meal . 84.9 | 4.4 60.0 2.9 ene
|

|

THE FEEDING OF

ANIMALS

245

Dry Matter, DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS, AND FERTILIZING
VALUE IN 100 PouNDs oF FEED Sturrs — Continued

a ee =

CARBO-

Name OF FEED Pane | PROTEIN | pypRATES
GRAINS AND OTHER

SEEDS (Cont.) —
Wheat 89.5 | 10.2 69.2
Wheat bran cto Gil Neel G2 39.2
Wheat shorts . le Fe a eal 50.0
Wheat middlings S79. +) 12:8 53.0
Rice . 87.6 4.8 (22
Rice bran 90.5 5.3 45.1
Rice polish 90.0 9.0 50.4
Oats . 89.0 9.2 47.3
Rye : 88.4 | 9.9 67.6
Parieyaee te. | 2 BOA P87 65.6
Malt sprouts (dry). | 89.8 | 18.6 B71
Brewers’ grains (wet), 24.5 3. 9.5
Brewers’ grains (dry); 91.1 | 14.7 36.6
Linseed meal

(old process) 90.8 | 28.8 32.8
Linseed meal

(new process) . 89.9 | 28.2 40.1
Cowpea, seed . Se ol LEB 54.2

~

FERTILIZING
Fat VALUE IN

| 100 Les. or

FEED

Cents

cy 38
rua ree
5.8
3.4 65
0.5 19
7.5 56
6.5 45
OCI AY
Sage eee
he
teak ear yD
1.4 19
4.5 7
ot ahs dD
Cee 2) kee
ft 68

CHAPTER XXKV
THE MAKING OF A RATION

Making up Rations. — Suppose you wish a day’s feed for
a horse of good size that is doing heavy work, and you have
oats, peavine hay, and Bermuda hay. Ten pounds of
grain and 7 pounds each of the two hays would give 24
pounds of dry, or nearly dry, feed, and not far from half
of it will be grain. Let us make the calculation and find
out if this food will afford the right amounts of nutrients.
You see from Table No. 1 what amounts of digestible
protein, carbo-hydrates, and fats 100 pounds of oats con-
tain. Youare to use 10 pounds of oats. Hence 10 pounds
will contain 10 per cent of all that 100 pounds contain.
Make a little table like Table No. 2 below. Find 10 per
cent of the protein in the 100 pounds of oats, and put
down in the column headed *“ Protein.” Do the same for
the carbo-hydrates and fats. You are to feed 7 per cent
of 100 pounds of each of the hays. Perform the same
operations for these. Then add each column.

By this method you get the total of each nutrient.
This is perhaps near enough the right amounts of nutrients
for all practical purposes. If, instead of ten pounds of
oats, six pounds of oats and four pounds of corn were
given, we should have almost exactly the standard
amounts of nutrients first named for a heavily worked

244

THE MAKING OF A RATION 245

horse, a milk cow, and a fattening steer. You should not
forget that a small horse, especially if doing light work,
will not need so much feed.

Fats Strong Feeds. — You have learned that fat performs
the same work in the animal body that is done by carbo-
hydrates. But the fat is stronger. <A pound of digested
fat will produce as much fat in the body and make as
much heat and energy as two and a quarter pounds of
digested carbo-hydrates.

TABLE No. 2

PROTEIN CARBO-ILYDRATES Fat
Ten pounds of oats contain 92 4.73 42
Seven pounds cowpea hay
contain 756 Part O77
Seven pounds Bermuda hay |
contain | 483 | ries | 056
Total 2.159 | 10.16 b= 5b3

Nutritive Ratio. — We hear a good deal of the nutritive
ratio of feeds. That means the proportion of digestible
protein in a feed stuff or in a ration to the digestible
carbo-hydrates and fats combined. Multiply the total fat,
.993 pounds, in the ration above, as shown in Table No. 2,
by 2.25; add the product to the total carbo-hydrates,
10.16, and this gives the carbo-hydrates and fats com-
bined. Then we have 2.159 pounds protein to 11.404
pounds of carbo-hydrates and fats. Divide both amounts
by the amount of protein, and we have 1 to 5.2, ap-
proximately.

246 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Balanced Ration. — A balanced ration is one in which
the proportion of protein to carbo-hydrates and fats is
about right for best results. One to five and two-tenths
is generally considered well balanced. ‘Take the single
feed, corn, in Table No. 1. It has 66.7 pounds digestible
carbo-hydrates in 100 pounds; also 4.5 pounds fat, which,
multiplied by 2.25, gives 9.675. Add this to 67.7, and

we have 77.375. Divide by the protein, 7.9, and we have
-aratio of 1 to 9.8. This is too wide for most purposes.
That means that corn would not give best results as the
entire feed of an animal.

Make the same sort of calculation for cotton-seed meal,
and it will show about 1 to 1.2, which is very narrow.
Cotton-seed meal would never do as the entire feed for
cattle. If cattle run on dry pastures or stalk fields and
gather coarse food enough to make the necessary rough-
age and furnish needed carbo-hydrates somewhat to bal-
ance the cotton-seed meal, then it may be fed alone with
good results by properly limiting the quantity. If cotton-
seed meal and corn meal are fed together, they balance
each other, but all concentrated feeds must be limited in
the quantity fed. A mixture of these two feeds and some
hay or cotton-seed hulls for bulky feed may be fed with
good results.

Hogs and Sheep eat much Concentrated Food. — Hogs
eat from two to three times as much digestible food in
proportion to live weight as cattle. The food for hogs
must be more concentrated, but the proportion, or balance,
should be about the same. Sheep eat more digestible
food in proportion to live weight than cattle, and their

THE MAKING OF A RATION 247

food should have a larger proportion of concentrates.
The balance, or proportions, should be about the same as
for other animals.

Suitable Rations. — As suitable daily rations for a milk
cow the following are suggested to be divided and given
in two feeds : —

8 lbs. (or qts.) cotton seed.

4 lbs.
5 Ls.
20 Ibs.

2 Ibs.
5 lbs.
3 lbs.
16 lbs.

NG: 3:

10 lbs.
iS tbe:
2 lbs.

prairie hay.
cotton-seed hulls.
(3 pts.) rice bran.

(4 pts.) cotton-seed meal.
(i pts.) riee bran.
cotton-seed hulls, or sorghum hay.

cotton-seed meal.

cotton seed.

wheat bran.

Johnson grass, sorghum, crab-grass, or

Bermuda hay.

Cows giving large amounts of milk should have more,
especially of concentrated feeds, and cows giving small
The student
can make up many rations, and make necessary calcula-

amounts less, than the above rations call for.

tions to see if they will be suitable.

Variety of Food. — A general truth in animal feeding
appears to be that two or more foods fed in combination
with each other, or both fed during the same day, are

more digestible than either fed alone. It seems generally

248 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

to pay to add extra feeds to a mixture for variety, even
when not necessary to balance the ration.

Additions to Fattening Rations.—It has been found in
all experiments in fattening steers on cotton-seed hulls
and meal that a little corn meal or rice polish or cheap
molasses added to the ration makes the steers fatten
faster and finish better. In fattening cattle on corn or
kafir corn with stover or hay for roughage, it has been
found that a little cotton-seed meal or cotton seed may
be very profitably added to the ration. These additions
always make the gains more rapid and raise the value of
the steers when sold.

Feeding Cactus. — The prickly pear of Southwest Texas,
which contains about nine-tenths water, and whose dry
matter has a ratio of probably one to fifteen, has been
profitably used to fatten beef cattle by adding cotton-seed
meal. Dairy cattle also give good results from eating the
prickly pear combined with cotton-seed meal and wheat
bran. These concentrates balance the pear feed, and the
latter makes up the roughage.

Mixed Feeds. — Grinding and mixing feeds is a very
large business. About a half million tons of such feeds
are sold in Texas annually. Such feeds are usually worth
the money paid for them. Most states now have laws re-
quiring inspection and analysis of all ground and mixed
feeds offered for sale. ‘These laws protect the buyers
against dishonest mixtures, and protect the honest manu-
facturers and mixers of feeds against unfair competition.
The laws requiring inspection of feeds and fertilizers are
of great value to the people.

THE MAKING OF A RATION 249

Condition Powders. — The so-called condition powders
and foods, claimed to have high value on account of some
medicine contained, and sold at high prices, have been
found to have no more value than so much corn meal,
wheat bran, and oil meal. It has been established that
healthy animals or poultry need no medicine, and that
they will be harmed rather than helped by it. It has
been found that cooking feeds has generally been harmful
rather than beneficial. Soaking, and especially souring,
feeds has been also unprofitable.

QUESTIONS

What do you understand by nutritive ratio? Go to the blackboard
and select any feed-stuff in Table 1 and calculate its nutritive ratio.
What is a wide ratio and what is a narrow ratio? What is a bal-
anced ration ? Can you pick out kinds and amounts of feeds in Table
1 that will constitute a balanced ration for a certain animal? How
would Table 1 enable you to estimate the value of animal manures?
Of what advantage is it to give a number of feeds to animals?
What feeds make profitable additions to cotton-seed meal and hulls
for feeding cattle? What feeds are profitable to add to corn or kafir
corn and hay or stover in fattening cattle? What curious product is
fed in Southwest Texas? What does this feed need to balance it?
Tell about the mixed feeds so largely sold. What laws are needed to
control this business? Are condition powders and medicated foods
of any value? Is cooking feeds usually profitable ?

Experiment. — Suppose you try feeding a milk cow for a few days
in winter on corn meal and grass hay or hulls. This will be quite a
narrow ratio. Then try cotton-seed meal and the same hay and note
the difference in milk yield.

Calculate the fertilizing value of each ration proposed on page 247.

CHAPTER XXXVI
ANIMAL DISEASES

Prevention of Sickness. — Every farmer should know
something of veterinary science, or how to prevent his
animals from getting disease, and how to cure disease, but
remembering “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.” Careful feeding and watering a horse, and not
driving him too fast after a full feed, will usually keep him
sound and well. If he is made sick by overfeeding, fol-
lowed by overwork, perhaps no amount of medicine will
cure him. If fed when thirsty, he is likely to drink too
much water after eating and make himself sick.

Contagious Diseases. — Often the carcasses of horses
that have died of diseases like glanders and charbon serve
to spread these diseases. Vultures and dogs carry the
germs from the dead animals to where they infect healthy
ones. The bodies of animals dying of contagious diseases
should be burned. Thousands of dollars’ worth of fine, fat
cattle often die of a disease called black-legy because the
owners neglect to get a vaccine virus and inoculate the
cattle. If horses and cattle are properly inoculated, they
become immune for about a year to charbon, a deadly
disease often ravaging the large river delta sections of the
Gulf States. Many years ago cattle brought from the
North, or from the elevated West, to the lowlands of

the South, almost always died of what people call acel-
250

°

ANIMAL DISEASES 251

mation fever. The cattle that had never had ticks got
ticks on them and took the disease we now know as Teras
fever, or tick fever, and died. The Southern cattle driven
North or West left a deadly trail that killed all Northern
cattle crossing it. It is now known that the Southern
cattle dropped ticks from their bodies, and these ticks got
on the native cattle, and gave them the deadly fever.

It has been found that even in South Texas, Louisiana,
or Georgia, cattle raised by being tied out on cultivated
land never have any ticks, and if ticks get on them, they
die as readily as Northern cattle. It has also been found
that young calves may get the ticks on them without
being harmed, and they become immune. ‘That is, they
are free from taking the disease, just as you are free from
the danger of measles after having had it once.

Inoculating against Tick Fever.— It has been more
recently found that if Northern cattle are inoculated
when brought South, they have only a mild case of
Texas fever, and usually recover. The inoculation con-
sists of simply injecting into their veins a little of
the blood of native cattle that have had ticks. Many
thousands of Northern cattle brought into South Texas
for breeding have been immunized in this way during the
last ten years. The Veterinary Department of the Texas
Agricultural and Mechanical College has taken a leading
part in the interesting scientific investigations that have
been so helpful in controlling the Texas fever.

Quarantine Line. — The Department of Agriculture
at Washington indicates the northern limit of the cattle
tick by a crooked line running across the country from

252 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

the Atlantic coast in North Carolina to the Mexican
border of West Texas. This line turns south as it be-
gins to approach the elevated plains in Texas. The last
Congress made an appropriation to be used in destroying
the tick. Active efforts are in progress in almost all the
Southern States to kill out the tick in the more northerly
sections of the infested district. The tick’s only means
of living is the blood which it sucks from cattle. There-
fore, if all cattle are removed from a pasture for two
or three months in summer, all the ticks in that pasture
will die of starvation. So, by merely dividing the pastures
and changing the cattle from one to the other, the tick
can be killed out.

The people have stock laws in all sections adjacent to
the quarantine line, so that no cattle are allowed to run
at large. Whenever the Department at Washington finds
that a county is rid of ticks, the quarantine line is moved
that much farther south. In this way the free zone is
from time to time being enlarged.

Advantage of living above Quarantine Line. — To be
above the quarantine line is a matter of great advantage
to the cattle raiser. He can ship breeding stock to or
from any part of the North. But his greatest advantage
is that he can ship cattle to any part of the North or West
for grazing and feeding. The best grazing is found and
most of the feeding is done north of the quarantine line.
This makes a demand for cattle that enables the farmer
above the line to get good prices. The man south of the
line cannot ship his cattle north of it, except for immediate
slaughter. This, of course, compels him to sell at a lower

ANIMAL DISEASES 253

price. Therefore all counties and districts joining the
line should codperate in an effort to kill out the tick and
move the quarantine line south of them.

Hog Cholera. — Hog cholera is often carried by a creek
or stream from an infected farm to another farm below.
Hogs dying of disease should be burned to prevent dogs
and vultures from carrying the germs of the disease to
other lots or other farms. If an outbreak cannot be
prevented by quarantine and sanitary precautions, the
best thing for the farmer to do is to divide up his herd
into several lots, putting them on high ground, if possible,
and carefully removing all sick animals. Medical treat-
ment is of little avail in case of hog cholera. Inoculation
as a preventive or cure has not yet been successful.

People used to have very many absurd ideas about
animal diseases and their treatment. It used to be very
common to see cows and oxen with a number of little
holes bored in their horns. This was done to cure a
supposed disease called hollow-horn. There is really
no such disease, and the cattle got well in spite of the
boring. Another supposed disease was hollow-tail, and
many cattle had their tails split open and salt and
pepper and other remedies put in under the skin. This,
too, was worse than useless. Then cows were supposed to
lose their “cud,” and salt dish-rags were crammed down
their throats as a substitute for the “cud.” Horses had
“hooks” cut out of their eyes, had their mouths burned
for lampers, and received other kinds of brutal treatment
for real or imaginary diseases.

These notions about animal diseases are only a little

254 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

less foolish than those held by the old negro woman who
rubbed fresh milk on a cow’s back to get the devil out
of her. See Appendix for treatment of animal diseases.

QUESTIONS

What precautions should be taken to prevent sickness of horses ?
What should be done to prevent spread of contagious or infectious
animal diseases? What diseases can be prevented by inoculation?
What causes acclimation fever? What is Texas fever and how is
it spread? What causes death of Northern cattle grazing on land
that Southern cattle pass over? What can be done to save Northern
cattle when brought South? What is the quarantine line? Is this
line moved from time to time ? Is it more profitable to have cattle
north of this line or south of this line? Give reasons. How is hog
cholera spread ? What are some of the foolish notions people have
about animal diseases ?

CHAPTER XXXVII
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Growing Live Stock and Live-stock Products. — Prob-
ably very much more than half of the products of the
farms of the country is converted into animal products
before final consumption. People cannot eat grass
and hay and cotton seed as such, but when these prod-
ucts are converted into juicy beefsteak, tender mut-
ton-chop, or golden butter, who could wish anything
better? All the produce of pasture and meadow lands,
virtually all the corn and oats produced, the by-products
of wheat, barley, rice, sugar-cane, sugar-beet, cotton-seed,
etc., pass into animal products before they are used by
human beings. Even some animal products, like dried
blood, tankage, meat-scraps, bones, skim-milk, etc., are
fed to poultry, hogs, or other animals, and re-converted
into animal products.

Animal Machines.—In one sense, raising live stock
may be considered as a manufacturing process by which
bulky, nearly worthless farm products may be converted
into valuable concentrated or refined products. A ton of
gold-bearing ore having $5 worth of gold in it could not
be easily handled or shipped; but put the ore through the
great crushers and smelters and get the $5 in gold out,
and it will not cost one per cent of its value to send it
to St. Petersburg or Tokyo. We might have a ton of hay

255

256 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

on a farm ten miles from a railroad, and it would not
bring enough to justify baling and hauling, but we run it
through our condensing machine, the steer, and it turns
us out 100 pounds of beef and a good lot of manure to
enrich the land. The by-product, the manure, is of course
too heavy and too low in value to market, but the main
product is valuable enough to ship to Chicago or London.
Our condensing machine carries it to the railroad and
loads it on the cars. |

Another good thing about these living machines is that
they-are self-oiling and gather so much of their own raw
material. They gather grass and weeds and brush that
we could not afford to cut and save, and make them into
gvoods of high value.

Improved Machine.— But we have another highly im-
proved condensing machine that deserves to be patented.
By consuming a ton of hay, or its equivalent, in suitable
mixtures with other food, this machine will turn out for
us fifty pounds of fine butter, worth seven or eight times
as much a pound as the beef. We can afford to ship this
product anywhere by express, but for fancy prices we need
not ship it farther than our Southern cities.

Other Machines. — ‘The sheep and angora goat convert
food into wool and mohair, valuable products that will keep
indefinitely.

The most rapid-working four-legged machine we have
is the hog. It will make probably as much meat out of
ten pounds of feed as the steer will make out of thirty
pounds, but the hog cannot use as coarse raw material as
is used by the other animals mentioned. We would not

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 257

like to eat grasshoppers, bugs, worms, and snails, as poor
Chinese and Japanese children do. But we have a small,
cheap farm-machine that does not have to be run even by
hand, which converts all of these things into little pack-
ages of rich, palatable human food, sealed up into little
air-tight cases, or cans. Can you name this machine ?
Machines for Work.— Somewhat as we feed coal and
wood into a traction engine and get work, we feed hay
and oats and corn into our horses and mules and get work.
As the best corn, oat, and hay lands have increased in
value to $75 and $150 per acre, and as horses and feed
stuffs have risen in value, as a necessary consequence of
high land values, people are casting about to see if they
eannot plow with traction engines more cheaply than with
horses. But the horse has risen in value in spite of trolley-
cars, automobiles, and bicycles, and we shall continue to
find use or sale for all good horses and mules we can raise.

QUESTIONS

Is much of the produce of the land converted into animal products ?
What substances unfit for human food may be converted into excel-
lent human food by feeding to animals? Are any animal products
converted into other animal products? What comparison is made of
a steer to a machine? What does the cow use as raw materials and
what products does she turn out? What do sheep and angora goats
consume and what products are given? What machine works most
rapidly in proportion to size? What machine turns out canned food?
What product does the horse return? Do high land values make
high-priced feed stuff? Can people plow economically with steam-
power?

Experiment. — Use score cards in Appendix and practice judging
horses and cattle.

Ss

CHAPTER XXXVIIT
RAISING HORSES AND MULES

Horses on the Plains. —Horses thrive remarkably well
on the Plains and in the dry elevated sections of the great
West. They seem to winter on the ranges even better
than cattle, and horses raised in that section certainly have
muscle, bone, and endurance equal to any horse Arabia or
the Barbary States ever bred. But the land on these
plains is rapidly getting too high-priced for exclusive graz-
ing purposes. The five to ten acres of land necessary for
keeping a grown animal a year does not yield a net in-
come of more than fifty cents an acre, or about enough
to pay a reasonable interest when the land is worth five
dollars an acre. But since these lands for a good distance
west of the 100th meridian of longitude have passed the
five-dollar valuation mark, ranches are being rapidly cut
up and sold for farms. So the horse of the future and the
cow of the future must be raised more and more under
farm conditions and less and less under range conditions.

On the Farms. — ‘To raise horses with the most profit
on the farm, plenty of good home-grown feeds and good
rich pastures must be provided, and the mares must be
made to earn their hving by doing farm work. Mares,
in order properly to nourish their young, should have rich
milk-producing foods, like clover, alfalfa, peanut, or pea-

258

RAISING HORSES AND MULES 209

vine hay, oats, and wheat bran. A colt pushed along with
proper nourishment will not only make a larger horse, but
will reach a marketable size a year sooner.

Pure-bred Horses.—It is not desirable that most men
should undertake to raise pure-bred horses. While pure-

Fig. 93.— CoacH TYPE

bred horses, or mixed-blooded horses of special types for
special purposes, will find buyers at extra good prices, the
majority of farmers are not ready for special-purpose
horses. Most farmers are not so specialized in their busi-
ness as to want a heavy draft horse for hauling, a carriage

269 ELEMENTS ‘OF AGRICULTURE

horse, and a fancy saddle horse. They must, for the most
part, use horses of general-purpose qualities, or mules,
which are hard to surpass as general-purpose animals.

Fic. 94.— DrarrTr TyPpE: PERCHERON

Under present conditions raising good horses and mules
ought to be very profitable. We raise a thousand-pound
steer, fatten him, and sell him for five cents a pound, if

RAISING HORSES AND MULES 261

he is an especially good one. A good mule of the same
weight would easily bring fifteen cents a pound ; and if
the mother earns her feed on the farm, the cost of raising
the mule could hardly exceed the cost of raising the steer
by more than two or three cents a pound. We have seen
that horses eat no more each day than cattle, that their
food is not very much more expensive, and we know
horses and mules grow about as fast as cattle.

Classes and Breeds. — The classes of horses are the draft
breeds composed of heavy, large-boned, slow-moving types,
weighing from 1500 to 2200 pounds; the coach, or car-
riage, types of stylish-looking horses, weighing from 1200 to
1400 pounds, that hold their heads high, pick up their feet
well, and combine strength with good speed and style ;
the lght types, including the English race-horse, the
American trotter, the near relative of the racer, and the
American saddle horse, rather closely related to the last
two. Then there are the ponies, such as broncoes, or
mustangs, Indian ponies, ete., and the Shetlands.

There are many breeds of draft horses, including the
Percheron, Clydesdale, Belgian Draft, French Draft,
English Shire, and others. The coach breeds are the
Cleveland Bay, French Coach, German Coach, and others.
There is much interest in the United States just now in
developing new breeds of horses in America that will
meet the needs of the country better than existing breeds,
nearly all of European development. The Department of
Agriculture at Washington is undertaking this work.
Interest is reviving also in the Morgan horse, certainly
one of the best general-purpose horses ever known.

262 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

See the Appendix for diseases of the horse and the reme-
dies for these diseases.

QUESTIONS

Where do horses thrive under range conditions? What is the
reason horses and cattle must be raised still more largely on the
farms? What sort of feeds must mares have properly to nourish
their-colts? Can farm mares work and raise good colts? Do most
people need pure-bred horses of some type? What kind of horse
suits most men, a special-purpose or a general-purpose horse? What
comparison is made of the costs and selling prices of steers and mules ?
What types of horses are named? What breeds belonging to each
type? What efforts are being made to develop new breeds ?

CHAPTER XXXIX
CATTLE

CATTLE are now kept for two main purposes, for pro-
ducing beef and for producing dairy products. The time
has been that cattle, hke the buffalo of the plains, were
slaughtered for their hides and tallow. In early times,
cattle were kept for work, and this is still to some extent

true.

4 SH Ne
ore

Fic. 95.— ZEBU, OR SACRED BULL OF INDIA

Sacred Cattle. — A different species of cattle is found in
India, Java, Borneo, and the South Sea Islands. Some of
these are said to be taller than our largest horses, and
some, the little trotting bulls of Ceylon, to be not over
three feet high. A vast number of cattle is raised in the
Chinese Empire, and, so far as the author has seen them,

263

264 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

they appear to be a cross between the Zebu cattle and the
European cattle. Some East Indian cattle have been
brought to Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. They are
very hardy, free from disease, are bitten but little by
ticks, and they make fine work cattle and good beef.
Classes and Breeds of Cattle. — Our European races of
cattle have been bred into more or less distinct types for
different uses, and these types into different breeds, each
with its own special characteristics. We have beef cattle,
general-purpose, or dual-purpose, cattle, and dairy cattle.
The principal breeds of beef cattle are the Shorthorns,
Heretords, Aberdeen Angus, and Galloways. The dual-
purpose cattle are natives, Devons, Red Polls, and some
strains of Shorthorns, or Durhams as they are sometimes
called. Dairy cattle include. Jerseys, Guernseys, Hol-
steins, and Ayrshires. ‘The Jerseys and Guernseys give

rich milk, while the Holsteins and Ayrshires give larger
quantities of poorer milk.

Dual-purpose Caitle.— A large number of American
farmers do not wish cattle that are highly specialized or
useful mainly for one purpose. They wish what some
term dual-purpose cattle; that is, cattle that are fairly
‘good for dairying and fairly good for beef. It is probably
not true, as some have contended, that such cattle are
necessarily less profitable than special-purpose cattle.
Neither is it true that pure-bred cattle are necessarily
more profitable for all people than native cattle or grades.
It is sellom that any good quality is secured and fixed in
a race of live stock without the loss of some other desir-

able quality.

CATTLE 265

Value of Breeding in Beef Animals. — First. The beef
breeds of cattle grow larger than native cattle, particularly
the native cattle found in the South.

Second. Beef-bred cattle always dress. out a higher
percentage of beef for a given live weight than native or

i

i
Hi
\

iN)
on

a \
i] Tf i

\S

[; \\ \

—Zii fff

S
SS ~ <
S
SS =
oe es Se ee
S SS =

Fic. 96. — DuAL PURPOSE CATTLE
Devon Bull above Red Polled Cow below

dairy-bred cattle equally fat, —in a large number of experi-
ments as much as two to ten per cent.

Third. The dressed carcass of a beef-bred steer con-
tains less tallow, which is a low-priced product, than the
carcass of a dairy-bred steer.

266 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Fourth. Ina number of tests made by the experiment
stations, the loin steak and rib roast of the beef-bred
steers have been judged to have a higher value than the
same cuts from steers from dairy or scrub cattle. In other
tests no difference in value of these cuts was made.

Fifth. It is generally held by butchers and packers
that beef-bred cattle produce meat with the fat and lean
better mixed than is the case with other cattle. There is,
therefore, probably a difference in value in favor of the
carcass of the beef-bred steer, which has not always been
taken into account by experimenters.

Sixth. The highest grades of all products come nearer
bringing full values than common grades. All slaughter
tests made by the stations indicate that meat packers
make more profit out of dairy-bred and common cattle
than they do out of the better grades. The uniform
colors and better appearance of the latter doubtless help
them to bring fuller values.

Fine Stock not Rustlers. — ‘The short-horn and Holstein
cattle have been fed and bred to produce large frames
and great weights. Yet they are the poorest rustlers of
our breeds of cattle. Many farmers, not knowing this
peculiarity, have expected their short-horn cattle to rustle
like native cattle, and have been disappointed to see their
fancy cattle die or become the poorest cattle in the neigh-
borhood.

The average farmer of the South, who is generally not
a stockman, often buys broad-backed, pure-bred hogs, and
turns them into the wood-lot to “root, hog, or die.” If
the hogs survive, they soon degenerate into thin, ugly

CATTLE 207

Re

Fig. 97. — BEEF CATrLE

Grade Shorthorn Steer above
Grade Hereford Steer below

268 KLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

razor-backs. HKvery farmer should be impressed with the
fact that fine stock requires extra care, and that feed
counts for far more than breed.

Pure Animals gain no More for Feed eaten than Scrubs.
— There is at present a very prevalent but erroneous im-
pression that a bushel of corn will produce more growth
when fed to a pure-bred beef animal than when fed to a
dairy-bred animal or native. Surely, if breeding has im-
proved the appetite and digestion of beef animals, the
same sort of breeding must have been pursued with dairy
animals, because milk cows eat and digest large amounts
of food.

It has been demonstrated again and again that an ani-
mal of no one breed or type eats any more, digests any
better, or gains any faster than an animal of any other
breed or type, when both are of the same size and condi-
tion at the time the test is made. It has also been proved
that animals of no fixed breed or type — natives — eat as
much, digest as well, and gain as fast as animals of fixed
types or breeds, if all are of the same age, size, and condi-
tion when the feeding test is made. ‘To verify these as-
sertions, readers are referred to Henry's “Feed and
Feeding,” page 374; Iowa Bulletins, 20 and 81; Kansas
Bulletin, 111; Minnesota, No. 78; Wisconsin, No. 104;
and Mississippi, No. 76, all of which bear on the subject.

Early Maturity. —It is commonly claimed that pure-
bred, meat-producing animals mature earlier than the
other animals. If maturing earler means to get grown
quicker, it is an erroneous claim. The truth seems to be

that a Jersey calf, being smaller when born than a short-

CATTLE 269

horn calf, does not eat quite so muchor grow quite so
fast as a shorthorn. If, then, both calves are fed all they
can eat, the Jersey would probably grow larger than is
usual with that breed, but, being all the time a little
smaller than the shorthorn, eats a little less, gains a little
more slowly, and reaches maturity at about the same
time.

If early maturity is understood to mean a tendency to
get fat at an early age, it is certain a beef-bred steer will
not fatten at an earlier age than a Jersey, if both are fed
equally well. If early maturity is understood to mean
that the flesh of the beef-bred steer will be of better
quality, or riper, at an early age, than the flesh of the
dairy-bred or native steers, it is generally believed that
this is true.

Cattle in Texas. — The state of Texas has more cattle
than any other state in the Union, something over eight
million head, or about one to every twenty acres. In cer-
tain rich districts of Holland, Denmark, and Belgium one
cow to the acre may be found, but food must be imported
to help feed these cattle.

Cattle enrich Land. —If Texas depended on feeding
eattle to enrich the land, as some countries do, the one
cow to twenty acres would hardly manure the gardens
and truck patches. It is said that the present dairy dis-
tricts of Wisconsin were formerly grown in wheat until
the land became so exhausted that the people, being no
longer able to make a living by raising wheat, turned
their attention to dairying. They are again unable to
raise wheat profitably. but it is because the soil has be-

270 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

come so excessively rich as to cause the straw to grow
too tall, so that it falls down, or “ lodges.”’

Cattle and Rotation. —In many sections where cattle
and other lve stock are regularly kept on farms, pastur-
ing has been generally introduced as a part of the rotation.
But in the South the lands are so often irregular in
quality that those which are not suited for cultivation
are usually selected for pasture. By keeping cattle in

Fig. 98. — SHOWING BEEF CATTLE AT TEXAS AGRICULTURAL AND
MECHANICAL COLLEGE

barns only a very small part of the year, and allowing
them to run in pastures not belonging to the farm proper,
Southern farmers get far less value from the manure than
the Northern farmer, who stables and feeds his cattle for
six months in winter, and pastures them on a part of the
farm land in summer.

Poor Stock due to Poor Land.— The poorest cattle in
the United States, perhaps, are those raised on the pine
meadows of Florida. West of this, along the pine flats

CATTLE 271

of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and along the coast
prairies of Louisiana and East Texas, the cattle are still
small and inferior, and grow slowly. And the hogs in
these sections, when left to get their living from the woods
and forests, are thin, ugly little razor-backs. This gen-
eral inferiority of the live stock is not entirely, or mainly,
due to poor breeding, as most people say. The grasses
that grow on poor land in wet, warm countries are coarse
and innutritious. The scanty, poor food for hogs is so
scattered and difficult to find, and requires so much
traveling and rooting, that no other type of hog would
find enough to live on.

As we go west along the coast prairies and reach the
rich river deposits, we find much better cattle. Still
farther west, we reach drier, richer land and_ better
eattle. North and northwest, we have still better cattle,
regardless of breeding, although the cattle are generally
better bred.

When the small cattle of the coast marshes of Louisi-
ana and Texas are given a year or two of grazing on the
nutritious grasses of the Panhandle, they approach the
well-bred Hereford grades in flesh, shape, and quality.

Rich Land, Rich Food. —It has been suggested that
the Texas fever tick produces in the blood of Southern
cattle a slow, constant poison that keeps them from grow-
ing and gaining fast like Northern cattle. While this is
probable, the difference is due more to difference in the
richness of land, and consequently in the nutritive
qualities of the feed. It is well known that grass grown
on land rich in nitrogen will be generally richer in protein

272 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

than grass grown on poor land; also that grass grown on
land rich in hme is much richer in bone-making material
than that grown on poor, sandy land. It is well known.
that the richer any grass is the more digestible it is.
Cattle living on coarse marsh grass must eat a large bulk
of it to get even scanty nourishment, and they grow big-
bellied and appear to have small quarters. With two
years of grazing rich Northern and Western grasses, these
cattle become round-bodied, respectable-looking animals.

Again, when cattle far south are well fed on cotton-
seed meal and hulls, corn-meal, rice-bran and polish, black-
strap molasses, and other rich food, they gain weight
rapidly and become in shape and quality not greatly in-
ferior to Northern cattle, equally well fattened.

Dairy Cows. — Very few direct tests for milk and butter
have been made of herds of dairy-bred cattle as compared
with scrub cattle. Individual cows of all breeds vary
so much in the amount of milk and butter they give that
it would be exceedingly difficult to secure very definite
results as to the relative producing capacity of the dif-
ferent breeds. ‘The tests of the dairy-breeds against each
other have been very unsatisfactory. These tests have
not proved one breed more valuable than another.

The truth is, one breed is best for one man in one
location, and another breed is best for another man in
another location, and so on, and the differences are prob-
ably not great in any case. Still other men would do
best with a general-purpose, or dual-purpose, cow, whether
of a distinct breed or not.

One station in testing the best types of cows, as shown

CATTLE 273

on page 288, against beefy types of cows, found, in ex-.
treme cases, that the butter made from the latter costs
fifty per cent more in food eaten than the butter made
from the former. It must be borne in mind that some
natives, dual-purpose cows, Shorthorns, and even Here-
fords, will be better dairy cows than some Jerseys and
Holsteins, but as a rule better dairy cows will be found in
the dairy breeds.

There will be found good cows and poor cows in all
breeds. Average cows of all breeds are perhaps hardly
profitable as dairy animals ; yet by rigid selections profit-
able cows can be obtained from all breeds. Pure-bred
animals do not make up one per cent of all animals in the
South. ‘Therefore, in selecting a dairy herd, one has so
many native and grade animals to choose from, that he
may easily gather from among these an excellent herd.
Grading up native and grade herds by the use of pure
bulls of dairy breeds is the plan followed by most success-
ful dairymen.

See Appendix for diseases of cattle and their treatment.

QUESTIONS

What purposes are cattle kept for? Do all farmers want special-
purpose cattle? What are dual-purpose cattle? Do all farmers need
pure-breed cattle? What disadvantage do the larger breeds of cattle
have? What mistakes are made with fine hogs sometimes? What
sort of treatment must improved stock have? What sort of animal
will gain most for a given amount of food eaten? What are the real
advantages of beef-bred cattle? Are these advantages as large as
many believe? Which does the buyer make more profit on, the beef-
bred or the scrub steer? What other reason is given for better prices
paid for beef-bred steers? Does there appear to be any truth in the

it

O74 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

common claim that pure animals mature earlier than grade animals
when both are fed alike? What comparison is made of a Jersey and a
Short-horn calf? Do beef-steers fatten at an earlier age than other
steers, if fed alike? What have tests of dairy cows proved? Is there
any best breed? Which is more important, feeding or breeding?
What state has most cattle? Why do cattle not serve to enrich land
as much in the South as in the North? Where are small, sorry cattle
found in the United States? Is this inferiority owing to poor breed-
ing? Where are better cattle found? What makes the poor cattle
on the marshes and pine meadows? What change takes place when
these small cattle are grazed on rich land farther north? Why is the
range hog a razor-back? Are grasses richer and more digestible if
grown on rich land? Can we make good cattle out of sorry Southern
cattle by feeding them well? What are some good feeds for this

purpose ?

CHAPTER: XL
HOGS, SHEEP, GOATS, POULTRY, AND BEES

Different Types of Hogs. — There are several types of
hogs. ‘The Poland-China is generally spoken of as a
lard and side-meat hog. But the proportion of jard
and fat meat to other parts in these hogs does not differ
widely from that in other hogs if they are fed and
handled in the same way. The kind and amounts of
food eaten change the products more than differences
of breed. The Tamworth, which is prized as a bacon
hog, is supposed to produce strips of bacon with lean
and fat nicely mixed. This tendency, however, is seri-
ously interfered with when the Tamworth is highly
fed on fattening food. But when pastured and fed
skimmed milk, shorts, bran, etc., it produces the nice lean
bacon desired, and so does the Berkshire or Yorkshire.
Here, again, the feed has more influence than breed. The
finest hog-meat product of the world is the Smithfield ham,
cured in Virginia from razor-back hogs that run half wild
most of their lives in the woods. When they get nearly
two years old, their owners let them run on peanut and
sweet potato patches, and then feed them awhile on corn
before killing them. A hog so raised and handled will
have a larger proportion of lean meat, and the meat will
be better flavored than that of rapidly grown and fattened
hogs.

bo
=~]
Cr

276 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Feeding Test. — Bulletin 104 of the Wisconsin Experi-
ment Station gives a most interesting account of feeding
a large number of pigs from birth to maturity. Some of
these pigs were pure Texas razor-backs, some Poland-

Tamworth

Duroc Jersey

Fic. 99. — BREEDS OF SWINE

Chinas, and some Berkshires; and others were crosses
between razor-backs and the pure breeds. The genuine
razor-backs did not make as good gains as the pure-bred
hogs, but they dressed out nearly as well, and actually
made each hundred pounds of gain on a little less food
than the others. This and numerous other experiments

HOGS, SHEEP, GOATS, POULTRY, AND BEES = 277

prove that feed amounts to more than “breeding” in
making a meat animal. |

It is true with hogs, as with all live stock, that when
the animals are small and young, a given amount of gain

Berkshire

Fic. 100.— BREEDS OF SWINE

in weight can be made with much less food. For instance,
with suckling pigs, one and a half pounds of dry digest-
ible food in milk or other food material will produce a
pound of growth. In growing from thirty to one hundred
pounds in weight, about two and a half pounds of digest-
ible food will be needed for each pound gained. In
growing from one hundred to two hundred weight, about

278 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

four pounds of digestible food to each pound gained will
be needed; and in growing from two hundred to three
hundred weight, probably five or six pounds will be re-
quired. So it can readily be sesn that hogs should not
be grown very large, if we wish to make most profit.

Fic. 101. — RAzZOR-BACKS FOR WANT OF FEED

Pasture for Hogs. — Pasture is very necessary in order
to raise hogs cheaply. Many people keep hogs in a dry
lot and fatten them on corn. Corn has not enough pro-
tein, or muscle-making material, to cause young hogs to
grow economically or rapidly.

Pork raised on high-priced corn, fed in a dry lot, cer-
tainly costs over ten cents a pound. One or two pounds
of corn will usually make, when fed to young hogs run-
ning on good green pasture like vetch, clover, alfalfa, or

rape, a pound of growth.

HOGS, SHEEP, GOATS, POULTRY, AND BEES 279

With oats, vetch, bur clover, rape, and other crops for
winter grazing; and with sorghum, peas, and green corn

Fic. 102. — MovABLE FENCE

for summer; and peas, peanuts, sweet
potatoes, chufas, corn, kafir, etec., to
fatten off the hogs in winter, pork can
be raised very cheaply in the South 4
pape eet. With a variety of crops ~ "°° “OT
like the ones mentioned, and small amounts of corn, these
sections could raise bacon hogs enough to supply the
world. Fed in this way, almost any kind or breed would

make good bacon hogs.

To handle hogs in this way would require a good deal
of fence. A suitable amount of movable fencing built in
panels, as shown in Figure 102, would go far to meet this
difficulty.

Sheep and Goats: where grown. — Most of the sheep
and goats of the country are now raised on the dry lands
of the West, and on lands that are too dry and rough
for cattle to thrive well. The sheep of the West are
almost entirely of the Spanish Merino type, or fine-
wooled sheep, but they also bring about as high prices
for mutton as the mutton breeds. On the farms of the

280 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

country many sheep are raised, mostly of larger types,
known as mutton breeds. ‘Their wool is generally coarse,
and some of it is so long that it can be combed out
straight like hair. There is no doubt that they grow
heavier fleeces in the North and on the elevated, cold

CU ae
NE] :

Was BUCA oo ava nA
CHANGES Nols NER

Fic. 103. SHEEP AND GOATS
a. Merino; 6. Horned Dorset; c. Southdown; d@. Angoras

lands of the Rocky Mountain States than they do on
the lowlands of the South. Sheep, like all other animals,
erow heavier coats in cold countries. In the pine woods
of the Gulf States, a good yield of wool is three pounds
a head for range sheep. North and West, eight pounds

HOGS, SHEEP, GOATS, POULTRY, AND BEES 281

are more often got, and individual sheep have frequently
produced fifty pounds in a season.

Food and Manure.— Sheep eat almost any kind of
weeds or grasses, and are useful on the farm for clean-
ing pastures of weeds. They eat a larger proportion
of concentrated feed than cattle, and produce richer
manure. There is an old saying that “the sheep’s

Fic. 104.— Frock or ANGORAS

foot is golden,” which probably means that the sheep
makes money for its owner by enriching the land. It
was once thought in England that cattle and sheep en-
riched land by blowing their breath on it when eating
grass. The people no doubt saw greater improvement
in pasture land than the manure seemed to account
for. Who knows but that the manure contains colonies
of bacteria of highest value to land, which the cattle
and sheep, in tramping over the pastures, spread from

282 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

place to place? Would not that be almost as curious
and interesting as enriching the land with the breath?

Profits in Sheep.— Sheep make about as much growth
for a given amount of food eaten as do cattle, and for
some years have sold rather higher than good cattle and
much higher than average cattle. They give their wool
product extra, which is an item of considerable importance.
Sheep, then, are much more profitable than beef cattle, if
they can be grown without too much trouble in fencing,
protecting from dogs, wolves, ete.

Fic. 105. — SHEEP RANCHING IN THE WEST

Angora Goats.
taken in Angora goats, not only in the semiarid regions,

A great deal of interest is now being

but in the rainy sections east, where they are prized for
cleaning up briers, bushes, and rubbish, and making the
land easy to clear. The mohair trade of West Texas,
New Mexico, Kansas, and other states is becoming im-
portant, and prices received are profitable, but so far no
product has been got equal to the mohair of Turkey
and Persia. Whether this is due to the fact that the

HOGS, SHEEP, GOATS, POULTRY, AND BEES 283

goats in this country
are not pure, or to
some deficiency in the
climate, we do. not
know. _ The Angora
makes good mutton,
and the skins sell for
a good price.

Poultry. — Poultry-
raising is perhaps
about as large in total
returns in the United

States as wheat grow- Fig. 106. — PLymoutH Rock

ing, but it is carried on generally in a small way by nearly
everybody, everywhere. The Chinaman makes as much
food on a given area
of land covered with
water in the form of
fish ponds as he can
make on the _ best
garden. A certain
range for poultry
will perhaps furnish
bugs, worms, insects,
seeds, etc., enough
to produce meat and
eggs to a high value
as compared with the

crops that might be
Fic. 107. — BROwN LEGHORN grown on that range.

284 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Chickens are kept on a comparatively small area near the
house. Turkeys and guinea fowls go long distances in
search of their food. They may be made of very great
value in destroying boll weevils. They are both very
profitable fowls
to grow, the
guinea fowl be-
ing the best egg-
producer on the
farm. Geese are
not only valu-
able - for Sethem
feathers and for
their meat. bit
may be made of

ereat assistance

~) . to cotton farm-
a pees ers. In the dis-
ee Stic ‘ tricts where hoe-

Fic. 108. — Bronze GOBBLER ing is expensive
on account of crab grass, it is not too much to say that a
goose to each acre of cotton will save half the expense
of hoeing.

Three types of fowls are shown in figures above.

Bees, like fowls, convert something that would be lost
without them into money. Sometimes an acre of land,
devoted to certain crops, will afford several dollars’ worth
of honey. Certain large areas of country, partly forest,
have been estimated to furnish over a dollar’s worth of
honey to every acre.

HOGS, SHEEP, GOATS, POULTRY, AND BEES 285

Nothing is more pleasant, instructive, and profitable to
boys and girls than a few colonies of bees. They often
make $5.00 a colony a year. If you procure a little book
or bulletin on bees, you will learn to handle them easily
and can make money on them.

QUESTIONS

What is usually understood as the lard and side-meat hog? Why
is the Tamworth called a bacon hog? Does feeding or breeding most
influence the proportions of fat and lean meat? Are other breeds
good bacon hogs? Could the Tamworth be fed into a lard hog?
Will the native hogs make good bacon hogs? Tas any experiment
indicated that native hogs are good feeders? Why should hogs not
be grown large? Give different amounts of dry feed needed to make
a pound of gain on different-sized hogs. Can hogs be raised profitably
on corn alone? What must be chiefly provided to grow hogs? What
are some different pasture crops for hogs suitable for different seasons ?
Where are most of the sheep of the country raised? What sort of
sheep are raised on the ranges? Do merino sheep sell well for mutton?
What kinds of sheep are grown more on the farms? Where will
sheep produce most wool, and why? What sort of food do sheep eat ?
De they enrich the land? What did people once think caused stock
to enrich land? How about food eaten, growth made, and prices
received for ‘sheep as compared with beef cattle? What extra
product do sheep give? Where are angora goats found mostly ?
What special use is made of them in the East? Is the mohair as
fine as that of Turkey? Tell the advantages of raising poultry. Tell
something of bees.

Experiment.— Suppose you put a razor-back shoat in one pen at
home and a pure-bred shoat of about the same size in another. Feed
them all they will eat and see if one eats more than the other.
Weigh them when you first put them up, and weigh them at the end
of a month or two of good feeding. See if their increase in size and.
weight is the same.

CHAPTER XLI
DAIRYING

Different Products. — Successful dairying, combining as
it does farming and manufacturing, requires a high degree
of skill and plenty of industry. Producing milk to be
sold as such, cream for city trade, making butter, cheese,
and condensed milk, all afford means of marketing milk.
Milk is now being shipped by train loads as far as a hun-
dred miles to large cities. Cream is shipped in car loads
from Chicago to New Orleans. Butter and cheese, of
course, can be shipped almost any distance, while con-
densed, canned milk is largely exported to South America
and Oriental countries.

Silage, or ensilage (green corn cut in short lengths and
kept green in a big air-tight room, or silo), is coming to be
a standard dairy feed for winter.

Milking machines are now coming into use and promise
great saving in labor. So far the machines have not been
able to milk quite so thoroughly as the hand milker, but
this will doubtless soon be accomplished.

Elements of Success. — Good cows, good, rich pastures,
and plenty of feed of suitable kind and variety, and
good dairymen, are the conditions most necessary for
success. Pure-bred cows are by no means necessary. Most
of the good, profitable herds of dairy cows in this country

286

DAIRYING 287

are grades; that is, crosses between native cattle and
pure-bred cattle of dairy breeds.. Some grade cattle have
been crossed with pure-breds for so many generations
that. they are

practically pure.
Very much of
the dairy pro-
duct cot the
country is made
from well-se-
lected and well-
cared-for native

ENS
SSM
ASSAYS
SA

COWS.

The records

a
———————
‘

A
=
=<

of such herdsare
often excellent

WZ PIZZA

as compared
with grade and
pure herds. In j

: : Fic. 109. — RounD SILO
this business
good feeding and proper handling of the cows count for
more than breeding.

Dairying South and West. — People in the Southern
States and the far Western States have not engaged
extensively in dairying. The Southern people have been
busy with cotton, tobacco, cane, and rice; and it is said
the ranchman of the plains will not milk a cow because
he cannot do it on horseback.

Milk for Home Use. — When only two or three cows are
kept simply to get milk and butter for home use, perhaps

288 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

the plan of taking part of the milk and letting the calf
have the rest is not bad. Milking in a small way is apt

RPT

a

AN
i,

y
d fifa
Fyay/ J.

"

HM ie Nha,
Wy } i aaa
Oy) al ay
ND Why
CE i

— a

Fic. 110.— Cows or Datry BREEDS

Jersey, above; Holstein Dehorned, below
” bs ’

DAIRYING 289

to be irregularly and more or less carelessly done. ‘The
calf does good, thorough milking, and that keeps the cow
giving milk longer than if she were not properly milked.
If the cow runs in the woods or in a large pasture, she
will come home regularly to see her ealf.

Commercial Dairying. — People who produce dairy prod-
ucts in a commercial way cannot afford the time necessary
to rope off calves and to wait for them to “bring the milk
down.” Neither can the dairyman afford to give the calf
the richest milk, the “ strippings,” which is three times as
rich as the first milk drawn. A commercial dairyman
must wean his calves when they are a day or two old,
and teach them to drink skimmed milk from a bucket.
He must also teach them to eat corn meal worth one cent
a pound instead of butter fat worth thirty cents a pound.
He must drive up his cows regularly, feed them well, and
milk them thoroughly. Many people in the South think
their native cows would not give milk without suckling
calves. If the calves are taken away young, nearly all
the cows will give their milk, just as Jerseys do.

Crude Methods.— People making butter for their own
use only often have very crude ways of handling milk
and making butter. The milk is set in pans, and the
cream continues to rise till the milk clabbers. In sum-
mer it clabbers perhaps before two-thirds of the cream
rises. In fall, winter, and spring it can stand longer,
and somewhat better results are obtained. If an attempt
is made to churn all the milk, the necessary work is
great; the temperature of milk will have to be so high
that the butter will be beaten into a sort of soup, and

U

290 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

it will be white and so mixed with buttermilk that it
will not keep long. There is much of the butter
fat left in the buttermilk under these circumstances.
When cream is churned at a high temperature in sum-
mer, or when heated too much in winter, the same sort
of butter is made, and the losses are also great. With
| people who like fresh butter
made in this way, and make
all they need, this plan is not
bad, especially if they use the
skimmed milk and buttermilk
for cooking and for drinking.

Making Good Butter. — Good
butter such as will keep well
ean be made with any kind of
churn, if only the cream is
kept at 60-to 70 degrees,
Fahrenheit, during the opera-
tion; that is, at about the tem-

perature of fresh well water in
the Gulf States. Churning
must cease as soon as the butter appears in little par-

Fig. 111. — CREAM SEPARATOR

ticles the-size of sorghum seed. These should be strained
out, or separated from the milk in some way, and washed
and worked enough to get rid of the excess of water and
to mix the salt evenly through the product. Of course, in
making butter in anything like a large way, a box or barrel
churn becomes necessary, instead of the old dasher churn.

Cream Separator.— The farmer who has four or five
good cows and expects to sell butter will find that a hand-

DAIRYING 291

power cream separator is essential to the best profits. The
separator gets practically all the cream from fresh, sweet
milk. This cream can be kept at a suitable temperature
much easier than can milk when set for cream, and it will
generally produce better butter.

A dairyman can well afford to buy ice in summer when
he handles only the cream. ‘The fresh skimmed milk is
much better than clabber to feed to calves. If a good
cow produces $60.00 worth of butter a year when the
milk is run through a separator, she would not likely
make over $45.00 worth when the milk is set in the old
way. Then the saving in labor, in value of skimmed milk,
etc., may easily make a saving in profit for each cow of
$20 a year. The saving on two or three cows, then,
may easily pay for a small separator. The same rules
already given for churning apply to churning on a large
scale. Dairymen who make butter for sale easily learn
suitable ways of packing and presenting it to the trade
in attractive form.

Breed, not Feed, makes Rich Milk. —It is not true, as
many people believe, that rich feed given a cow will
produce richer milk than poor food does. Rich feed and
plenty of it will produce more milk, but it will be no
richer than that given by the same cow when she is
eating the poorest feed. Different types or breeds of
cattle give milk differing in richness, and different indi-
viduals of the same breed give milk differing in quality.
Generally Jerseys and Guernseys give milk rich enough
to make half a pound of butter from each gallon. Short-
horns, Holsteins, and Ayrshires give milk requiring about

292 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

three gallons or more tothe pound of butter. Cows give
poorest milk soon after bringing calves, a time when they
are giving most milk. As their calves grow older, they
give less, but richer milk. Milk rich in butter fat is
generally rich in casein, or cheesy matter, but not always
so. Milk will make twice as much cheese as it will butter.
Milk has about the same amount of casein as it has fat,
and good cheese contains the casein and the fat. Cheese-
making is more difficult in the South than butter-making.

Fig. 112.— PuRE AND IMPURE MILK

A. Fat globules BL. Fat globules mixed with germs

Milk also has about as much sugar as it has fat, but the
sugar is not found in either butter or cheese. It re=
mains in the whey, or watery part of the milk. New
milk is about eighty-five to eighty-eight per cent water.
Bacteria in Milk. — Milk sours and clabbers because
bacteria get into it, and turn the milk sugar into an acid,
called lactte acid. Vinegar is acetic acid. Try pouring
some vinegar in sweet milk. If sweet milk is heated to
about 160 degrees, most of the bacteria will be killed, and
the milk will remain sweet longer. This much heat will

DAIRYING 293

not affect the taste of the milk. However, more bacteria
soon get into it, multiply, and cause it to sour later.
All vessels that milk is kept in should be scalded, and
allowed to sun on the inside. Heat and sunlight kill
germs. Dirty, poorly scalded milk vessels cause milk to
sour quickly, because the
germs are not killed, and
a big crop of them starts
to multiplying in the milk
at once.

Creameries or Factories.
—In some communities

men put up butter, cheese,

Fig. 113. — Box CHURN

or condensing ~ factories,
and buy milk. In other communities farmers unite in
putting up creameries. All of them take their milk to
the creamery, and after it is manufactured and the ex-
penses are paid, each one gets his share of the profits.
Most communities in the South have thus far not. pro-
duced milk enough for large creameries. With a hand
separator and some other simple apparatus, any farmer can
make good butter and be independent of creameries.

Visit a Good Dairy.— Suppose you visit some neighbor
who is in the dairy business and get him to tell you and
show you more about the business. Then if you will feed
the cows better, and learn to make good butter and more
of it than formerly, you can sell some and make a nice
little sum of money. And if you will feed the skimmed
milk not needed for other purposes to your pigs, with
other foods, they will make money for you.

294 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Write your Experiment Station for bulletins on dairy-
ing. It would require several books the size of this one
to tell you all the useful things known about the subject.

QUESTIONS

What two lines of business are combined in dairying? What are
the elements of success in dairying? What are the different products
made from milk? Are pure cattle necessary for success? What are
grade cattle? Are native cattle used successfully? In what sections
are the people backward about this line of business? How are cows
and calves managed where only two or three cows are milked?
What changes must be made where more cows are kept? How must
dairy calves be raised? How do most people handle milk and make
butter for their own use? Would butter made in this way keep and
sell well? Give the advantages of a cream separator. What extra
profits can be made on each cow by means of a separator? Does rich
feed make rich milk? What influences richness of milk? What
breeds of cattle produce richest milk? Will a cow give richer milk
when her calf is young or when it is old? How much butter will a
gallon of milk make? How much cheese will a gallon of milk make?
What causes milk to sour? What effect has vinegar on sweet milk ?
What sort of factories do people have for handling large amounts of
milk? Are creameries necessary for good results?

Experiment. — Put some fresh milk in poorly cleaned pans, some
more in thoroughly cleaned pans, and heat some more milk to 160
degrees Fahrenheit, and observe how long each lot will keep before
clabbering. Get a dairy thermometer and practice making some
good butter at home.

APPENDIX

IMPORTANT ECONOMIC FAMILIES OF PLANTS

By H. Ness, or Texas A. & M. COLLEGE

THE whole vegetable kingdom is divided into numerous
groups and sub-groups, and these are so related that they can
be arranged in a continuous series from the lowest to the
highest. Indeed, the relationship, as revealed by their struc-
ture, is so close that in a great number of cases the neighboring
groups pass imperceptibly into each other, their limiting char-
acters being, so to speak, blended.

The first and main division of the vegetable kingdom is di-
vided into sub-kingdoms. The lower one, or the spore-bearers,
reproduce themselves by spores, small one-celled particles,
having no embryo, as, for example, the ferns, mosses, and
numerous much lower plants. The second and higher are the
seed-bearers, which reproduce themselves by a seed that con-
tains an embryo, or an infant plant, with enough food inclosed
with it to nourish it until it is strong enough to procure its
own nourishment.

The seed-bearers are again divided into two groups: Ist, the
naked seeded, or those which bear their seed inclosed between
scales which spread apart to drop the seeds when they are
ripe, as in the pines; 2d, those which have their seed in-
closed ina pod (cotton, peas, etc.), or fleshy coat (tomatoes,
grapes), or two coats, an outer fleshy, and an inner stony
(peach, plum, etc.), or a close-fitting, fibrous coat (corn, wheat,
oats, and other grasses). This second group is again divided

295

296 APPENDIX

into two groups according to the nature of the embryo: namely,
those with the embryo having one leaf, or seed-leaf, as onion,
grasses, grains, banana, etc.; and those having two seed-leaves,
as all the trees, cabbage, tomato, and most garden vegetables.

The following scheme shows the relationship of these prin-
cipal groups of plants, beginning with the lowest: —

I. Spore-bearers. One-celled living particle having no embryo.

é {l. Naked seeded, seed inclosed between scales.
II. Seed-bearers. 4. me ; f
(2. Vessel seeded, seed inclosed in a vessel.

One-leaved seeded, with wood and bast in united
strings, surrounded by pith, parallel-veined
a leaves, and numerous roots of equal size from
the lower joints of the stem; as in the stems

of corn, sorghum, and numerous grasses.

Two-leaved seeded, with true bark surrounding
the wood, and with the pith in the center, net-
ted-veined leaves, and true taproot bearing
lateral roots. Examples, cotton, oak trees, etc.

From the two last groups, a, called the Monocotyledons, and
b, called the Dicotyledons, come practically all the plants that
furnish us with grains, vegetables, and fruits for our living,
and fibers for our clothing. These groups are again subdivided
into orders and families. We will now proceed to name a few of
the most useful families and the most useful plants under each,
beginning with the Monocotyledons, or the one-leaved seeded.

The Grass Family. — To this belong, as the name indicates,
all the true grasses, which also include Indian corn, wheat,
rye, oats, barley, and rice, as well as sorghum and sugar cane.
This is by far the most important of all families of plants,
since it furnishes not only all breadstuffs for our own sus-
tenance, but also grazing and fodder for our domestic ani-
mals. From this family the Japanese and Chinese obtain the
bamboo, which grows in their countries to be 80 to 100 feet

APPENDIX 297

high, and furnishes timber for most of their houses. Indian
corn is thought to be a native of Mexico, Central, and South
America, where its nearest relatives now grow wild, but the
Indian corn, in the highly developed form in which we to-day
possess it, has never been found wild by white man. Since
the discovery of America, its cultivation has spread among all
people living in the warmer parts of the temperate and tropical
zones, even among the savages in the interior of Africa.

Palm Family.— This family belongs to the tropics and warm,
very often dry, countries of the temperate zones, as North
Africa and Arabia, whence we get the date fruit, which we
have now commenced to cultivate in the southwestern portion
of Texas, near the Gulf and the Mexican borders. From this
family we also obtain the cocoanut, which grows throughout
the Pacific islands, including the Philippines.

Lily Family.— From this family we get our onions and gar-
lies, which are natives of the Mediterranean countries, and
have been cultivated from the earliest antiquity.

The Asparagus Family gives us asparagus, a perennial with
numerous horizontal root stocks, which, when on highly fertil-
ized soil, send up early in the spring numerous fast-growing,
fleshy shoots that are cut when about six inches high, and much
prized as a vegetable diet. The plant, being a native of sea-
coasts, requires in addition to other fertilizers a bountiful
supply of salt.

Banana Family. — The bananais a native of the moist regions
of the tropics, but can also be grown in sheltered positions on
the Gulf coast. It includes the abaca, or Manila hemp plant,
which furnishes the best rope fiber in the world.

DICOTYLEDONS

Walnut Family.—The pecan, hickory, and English walnut
come from this family. The English walnut is a native of
Middle and Southern Europe, is successfully cultivated in

298 APPENDIX

California, and will grow well in Texas. It is a nut of the
greatest commercial importance. The pecan is native of a
large part of the United States, but produces the finest nuts
in Texas, west of the meridian of Austin. Many cultivated
varieties with thin-shelled, very large fruit are now coming
into cultivation. |

Mulberry Family.— This family gives us a great number of
useful trees. From our cultivated fig we have the well-known
fruit, which is a hollow head bearing its numerous small flowers
in the cavity. Other wild tropical figs give us rubber from
the juice of their trunks. |

Goosefoot Family gives us the spinach which is grown in our
gardens for greens and salad, the common beet, the sugar
beet from which much of our sugar is made, and the huge
mangel wurzel, raised for cattle food.

Mustard Family. — To this family belong the greater number
of our most important vegetables, such as mustard, radish,
turnip, cress, and cabbage. As all of them are natives of
cool, damp climates, they are grown by us as early spring or
late fall crops. The cabbage is a native of the coast of France
and other neighboring coasts, where it is yet found in a wild
state, having the appearance of our kale. The original wild
plant is called Brassica oleracea by the botanists, and has by
“sporting” in cultivation given rise to the following forms
which come true from seed: the common cabbage in all its
forms, in which the stem and the leaves have been converted
into an immense bud; the cauliflower, in which the stem has
been converted into a cockscomb-like body, called the “flower”;
the Brussels sprout, that produces several heads the size of a
man’s fist as buds in the axils of the leaves along the stem;
ruta baga, in which the root has become turnip-like; the kohl-
rabi, in which the short stem has become fleshy and is. the
edible part; and finally, the kale and collard. |

Mallow Family.— From this we get the cotton and the
okra.

APPENDIX

Lo

v9

Orange Family gives us the oranges and the lemons. Hardy
varieties of these fruits are now being cultivated in our coast
country on a commercial scale, and still hardier ones are
being developed by crossing the tender orange with the hardy
trifoliata lemon. ‘The resulting hybrid is called the Citrange,
which produces a valuable fruit, and can be grown three to
four hundred miles north of the present orange belt.

Grape Family gives us all the grapes, which run into nu-
merous forms both wild and in cultivation. The future grape
region of Texas is the arid region west of the Pecos, where
these plants will be much freer from diseases than in the
moister regions.

Rose Family.— This family used to include most of the
orchard and garden fruits. It is now divided into: Pome
Family, including the apple, pear, and quince; Itose Family,
including blackberry, dewberry, raspberry, and strawberry ;
Prune Family, including peach, plum, cherry, and almond.

Pea Family includes the peas, beans, and numerous forage
plants having the pea-like flower, such as clovers and alfalfa.

Cucumber Family includes cucumber and the melons, all con-
stituting valuable commercial crops in our State.

Parsley Family. — From this we obtain several vegetables
more useful because of their flavor than the amount of nourish-
ment that they furnish. The principal ones are carrot, pars-
nip, parsley, caraway, and celery. The last is imported in
large quantities from the North, but can be raised with ease
in our own State on rich, well-cultivated land. As young
plants are slow in coming up and are at first delicate, they
have to be started in seed beds. To insure good flavor and
crispness, the stems of the leaves are covered by filling up en
dirt around them as they grow.

Nightshade Family. — This family gives us the Jrish potato,
the eggplant, tomato, the sweet pepper, Cayenne pepper, and
tobacco: all American plants and unknown before the discovery
by Columbus. The Irish potato is the most widely used vege-

ey

500 APPENDIX

table in the world. ‘This and the tomato form the most im-
portant exportation of garden-truck crops from our State.

Morning Glory Family gives us the sweet potato, which is
a native of India, and was cultivated in very ancient tires.

Olive Family gives us the olive, famous for the oil, which is
pressed from the plum-like fruit. The olive is native of the
Mediterranean countries, but is now being cultivated in South-
western Texas, Arizona, and California.

TREATMENT OF PLANT DISEASES
By H. Ngss

Remedies against plant diseases are among the things that
belong to our own generation; perhaps because it is within
recent times that such immense plantings have been made
as to furnish abode for the parasites that produce the diseases
on the higher plants.

After trials with numerous materials for the purpose of dis-
covering something that would act as poison to the parasitic
fungi but be harmless to the host plant, there was at last
found in the salts of copper, especially bluestone or copper
sulphate, a substance that would kill all the fungi with which
it came in contact without injury to the host. The method of
applying this was first started in France, in the district of Bor-
deaux, as a remedy against downy mildew on grapes. But
since most of the fungi live inside in the tissues of their hosts,
very few diseases can be cured. The action of the bluestone
is, therefore, rather that of a preventive than a cure. As a
preventive it is used in the well-known mixture called Bor-
deaux mixture, consisting of four pounds of lime mixed with
six pounds of bluestone, or copper sulphate, and dissolved in
forty-five gallons of water.

This mixture is applied to the plant with a spray pump,
throwing the liquid into a steam-like spray and covering the

APPENDIX SOL

entire plant, so that the spores of the fungi find no uncovered
spot for lodging and germinating. It is claimed that the cop-
per salt, instead of injuring the plant, actually stimulates its
growth. Spraying must be done as often as the rain washes
the coating off the plants.

To Bordeaux mixture may be added small quantities of Lon-
don purple or Paris green. These substances contain arsenic,
whieh will kill any insect that may eat the leaves or bark
of the plant. Only small amounts of these materials can be
added, as they are also poisonous to the plant itself and easily
cause scorching of the leaves. Lime is used with bluestone
to make the mixture stick to the plant.

Another formula, not so much used, but recommended be-
cause it sticks well to the plant, consists of a compound of cop-
per and vinegar, called copper acetate, two to four ounces of
this being dissolved in twenty-five gallons of water and applied
as above.

Numerous other salts of copper are used in these spray solu-
tions; as, for example, copper carbonate, of which three ounces
are used in connection with one pound of ammonium carbonate
in forty to forty-five gallons of water. ‘To all of these formulas
very small quantities of arsenious salts may be added to kill
any insects that may chance to feed on the plants. But in all
cases it is the copper salt that kills the fungi or prevents their
spores from getting a foothold.

All these spray solutions containing copper salts are used
for all contagious diseases affecting the parts of plants above
the ground, because they are all due to fungi, which propagate
themselves by similar spores carried by air or insects and lodge
and germinate on the surface of the host plant before making
their entrance into its tissues.

302 APPENDIX

OR

FIGHTING INSECT ENEMIES — INSECT POISONS
iy 7e:

INSECTICIDES
E. SANBORN, TEXAS EXPERIMENT STATION
e

Below are given formule for making seventeen of the most
effective insect poisons known at this time : —

I. ARSENATE OF LEAD
Acetate of lead ; ; 11 oz.
Arsenate of soda 4 oz,
Water 50 gals.
II. Paris GREEN LiqguiIp SPRAY
Paris green : 1 Tb.
Lime (fresh ioelacieal, 2 to 3 Ibs.
Water 200 to 250 gals.
III. Paris Green Dry

Mix with 25 parts air slacked lime; used pure to kill insects
crossing weed patches or feeding on other plants of no value

IV. Lime SuLPHUR. WASH
Lime (fresh unslacked) 20 lbs.
Sulphur 16) Thss
Water . 50 gals
V. KEROSENE EMULSION
1
Hard soap . : 4 gal.
Water 1 gal.
Kerosene
a. ForaiG& daltitniny alate. with 3
hb, ;
C.

2 gals.
cals. water

g
For a 15% solution, dilute with 104 gals. water
For a 20 % solution, dilute with 7 gals. water

APPENDIX 303

VI. WuHate O1L Soap

1 lb. to 2 gals. water.

VII. For A WINTER SPRAY FOR EVERGREENS

Resin, pulverized —.. : eisacUs lia.
Caustic soda, granulated, 98 % : . 41 Ibs.
Fish oil. ; : ; 3 pts.
Water for final bulk . , . 150 gals.

VIII. For a SuMMER SPRAY

1 qt. flowers of sulphur dissolved by boiling with 10 lbs.
potash soap in 15 gals. of water. To use, dilute with 35
gals. of water.

IX. BorpEAux MIXTURE

If this spray is being used where biting insects are injurious,
its purpose may be doubled by adding the arsenical as given : —

Copper sulphate ; ; 5 lbs.
Lime (fresh unslacked) . : a me 9 lbs.
Water ; : ; ! : . , 00 gals;
Acetate of lead . : Fisoz:
Arsenate of soda ; : : 4 02.

X. Carson BISULPHIDE

2 to 4 lbs. to 1000 cu. ft. of space. Set in vessels and allow
to evaporate. Gas will sink through grain and smother weevils.

XI. BEFORE INSECTS APPEAR IN THE SPRING

Trees should be bandaged from a few inches below surface
of soil to two feet above with newspapers or other convenient
material. Remove and burn bandages after hibernation of
insects.

304 APPENDIX

XII. Inject kerosene into the tunnels.

XIII. Kill larve in tunnel with a wire or in some cases cut
the larvee out.

XIV. a. After harvest destroy its food plants and allow no
hibernating places to exist except as traps for burning.

b. Control by infecting with parasites or contagious diseases.

c. Destroy infested fruit.

d. Cultivate the soil two or three inches in depth.

XV: SuLtpuuns Asc’ Dry SPRAX

Apply with a dust sprayer or shake it through a canvas bag.

XVI. Porsonep Bair

Paris green or white arsenic —. : : ; : 4 oz.
bran : ; : ; , ' : se
Molasses or thick sugar-water . : : : 1 pint

Water, enough to make a soft dough.

XVII. Spray premises or dip animal in two per cent solu-
tion of zenolium.

LIST OF HARMFUL INSECTS AND REMEDIES

Following is a list of the worst insect pests, and the best
means now known of fighting them. The insecticides are
referred to by numbers from I up to XVII, given above.

Angular winged katydid (Microcentrum retinervis, Burm.).
Ta WOE cars:

Angumois grain moth (Sitotroga cerealella, L.). X.

Ants (different species). X (pour in their nests).

Apple curculio (Anthonomus gradrigibbus, Say). I or IL.

Apple tree aphis (different green species). V, , immediately
before leaves fall.

Army worms (Spring) = Leucania unipuncta, Haw. ; (Fall) =
Laphygma frugiperda, A. & S. III.

APPENDIX 305

Bag worm (Thyridopteryx spp.?). Hand pick bags.

Boll worm ( Heliothis obsoleta, Fab.). Fall and winter plowing.

Bean and pea weevils. X.

‘Bed bug (Klinophilos lectularia, L.). Spray with gasoline.

3lister beetles (different species). III, or spray colonies

with gasoline.

Blister beetles of plum (Pemphopowea Texana, Lec.). Destroy
mechanically.

Cabbage aphis (Aphis brassicw, L.). V, a or b, VI.

Cabbage maggot (Pegomyia brassica, Bouché). Apply to-
bacco dust as a preventive.

Cabbage worm (Pontia rape, L.). I, I, or I. ,

Chicken lice and mites. Spray premises with zenolium and
apply kerosene to roosts; provide dust baths for fowls.

Chinch bug (Blissus leucopterus, Say). XIV, a or b.

Citrus white fly (Aleyrodes citri, Riley & Howard). VII or
VEEL,

Codling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella, L.). UH.

Colorado potato beetle (Lepinotarsa decem-lineata, Say.). I
or IIT.

Corn ear-worm (feliothus obsoleta, Fab.). Fall or winter
plowing.

Cut worms (many species). XVI.

False chinch bug (Vysius angustatus, Uhl.). V, @ or 6.

Flat headed apple tree borer (Chrysobothris femorata, Fab.).
> Shee

Fleas (different species). Remove all dust and rubbish;
clean floors and sprinkle with kerosene: keep out dogs and cats :
scatter pyrethrum powder under carpets and in kennels.

Glover’s scale (Lepidosaphes gloverii, Pack.). VII or VIII.

Grain beetles (different species). X.

Grasshoppers (different species). I, II, or ILI.

Green bug (Toxoptera graminum, Rond.). See page 155.

Harlequin cabbage bug (Murgantia histrionica, Hahn). VI
or V, 0.

306 APPENDIX

Hemispherical scale (Lecaniuim hemisphericum, Targ.). VII
or VIII.

Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor, Say.). XV, a, and late
sowing of wheat.

May beetles (Lachnosterna, several species). I, also pasture
infested grass land with hogs.

Melon aphis (Aphis gossypii, Glov.). XV and V, a.

Mexican cotton boll weevil (A. grandis, Boh.). See page
132.

Mosquitoes (different species). Destroy larve by pouring
kerosene on water where eggs or larve are. Cover cisterns,
empty troughs, cans, and useless vessels of all kinds. Watch
for stagnant pools of water and drain them. Put fish in per-
manent pools and tanks.

Oyster shell bark louse of the apple (Lepidosaphes pomorum,
Bouche). LY:

Peach scale (Aulacaspis pentugona, Targ.). TLV.

Peach tree borers (Sanninoidea exitiosa, Say, and Synanthedon
pictipes, Say). XII, XIV.

Plum cureuho (Conotrachelus nenuphar, Hbst.). Jar trees
in early morning, collect and destroy beetles. |

Purple scale (Lepidosaphes citricola, Pack.). VII, VII,
winter spray on deciduous trees, LV.

Red spiders or mites (different species). XVI, XVII.

Round headed apple tree borer (Saperda candida, Fab.).
>. GUE. 2 hE ed. Ul |

San José scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus, Comst.). IV.

Seurfy scale (Chisonaspis furfura, F.). IV.

Soft scale (Lecanium hesperidum, L.).

Southern plum aphis (Aphis setariw, Thos.). V, b, imme-
diately before leaves fall or before buds open and after eggs
hatch. ;

Striped cucumber beetle (Diabrotica vittata, Fab.).

Sweet potato weevil (Cylas formicarus, Fab.). X.

Tent caterpillar, The American (Malacosoma Americana,

APPENDIX 307

Fab.). When tents first appear cut off branches to which they
are attached and burn.

Tomato worm (Phlegethontius sexta, L.). Hand pick and
destroy.

Twig girdler (Oncideres sp.?). Burn amputated twigs.

Woolly aphis (Schizoneura lanigera, Hausi.). V, 0.

Foornotr. Following are the names, with their abbreviations, as
used after the technical names of insects herein treated: A. & S., Abbott
& Smith; Boh., Boheman; Bouché, Bouché; Burm., Burmeister ;
Comst., Comstock; F., Fitch; Fab., Fabricius; Glov., Glover; Harr.,
Harris; Hausm., Hausmann; Hahn, Hahn; Haw., Haworth; Hbst.,
Herbst ; Howard, Howard ; Lec., Leconte; L., Linneeus; Pack., Packard ;
Riley, Riley; Rond., Rondani; Say, Say; Targ., Targoni; Thos.,
Thomas; Uhl., Uhler; Walsh, Walsh.

308 APPENDIX

JUDGING STOCK— TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE

Drarr Hors—E—ScALE or Potnts — For GELDING * wae
| Scorp
1. AGE |
General pearance
2. HEIGHT : : : , 3 ;
3. WeientT, over 1500 ere . . . score according to age 4
4. Form, broad, massive, low set, proportioned : : q
5. Quaxiry, bone clean, yet indicating sufficient substance ;
tendons distinct, skin and hair fine. : : ; 4
6. TEMPERAMENT, energetic, good disposition. , ; |
Head and Neck:
7. Heap, lean, medium size ’ : ; 1
8. Muzzxx, fine; nostrils large ; lips thin, even . 1
9. Eyes, full, bright, clear, large 1
10. ForenerapD, broad, full ; 1
11. Ears, medium size, well carried. : ! : 1
12. Necx, muscled; crest high ; throatlatch fine ; windpipe
large 1
Forequarters :
13. SHoutpeErs, sloping, smooth, snug, extending into back 2
14. Arm, short, thrown forward . : : : ? f 1
15. Forearm, heavily muscled, long, wide . : ; 2
16. Knees, wide, clean cut, straight, deep, stroniatee sup-
ported . ‘ ‘ : : ; 2
17. Cannons, short, lean, ee ; sinews oe: set hack, ; 2
18. Feriocks, wide, straight, strong .° . x d ; 1
19. Pasterns, sloping, lengthy, strong . ; : : : a
20. Fret, large, even size, straight; horn dense, dark
color ; sole concave ; bars strong ; frog large, elastic ;
heel wide, high, one-half length of toe : 8
21. Leas, viewed in front, a perpendicular line front fe
point of the shoulder should fall upon the center of the
knee, cannon, pastern, and foot. From the side, a per-
pendicular line dropping from the center of the elbow
joint should fall upon the center of the knee and pas-
tern joints and back of hoof ‘ 2 : : : 4
TorTaL : : ‘ : ; : ‘ 4 5 ‘ 47

APPENDIX 309

JUDGING STOCK — Continued

Drarr Horsrt — ScaLr oF Porsts— For GELDING a
Score

3ROUGHT FORWARD . ‘ : ; ; ; : ‘ 47
Body :
22. Cuest, deep, wide, low, large girth 2
23. Raps, long, close, sprung 2
24. Back, straight, short, broad 2
25. Lorn, wide, short, thick, straight 2
26. UnperRvIne, flank low fs 1
Hindquarters :
27. Hips, smooth, wide 2
28. Croup, long, wide, muscular . 2
29. Tai, attached high, well carried . ‘ : : il
30. THicus, muscular . 5 2
31. QuarTeERs, deep, heavily ae 2
32. Gaskins or Lower TuiGus, wide, Raseled 2
33. Hocks, clean cut, wide, straight : 8
34. Cannons, short, wide ; sinews large, set back 2
35. Fetriocks, wide, straight, strong . ; i
36. Pasterns, sloping, strong, lengthy : ; ; 2
37. Fret, large, even size, straight; horn dense, dark color ;

sole concave; bars strong; frog large, elastic; heel

wide, high, one-half length of toe : 6
38. LEGs, weal from behind, a perpendicular ihe fi om the

poing of the buttock should fall upon the center of the

hock, cannon, pastern, and foot. From the side, a

perpendicular line from the hip joint should fall upon

the center of the foot and divide the gaskin in the

middle ; and a perpendicular line from the point of the

buttock should run parallel with the line of the cannon SA
Action :
39. Wark, smooth, quick, long, balanced. : : ; 6
40. Trot, rapid, straight, regular . : : : ; ; 4

TOTAL ? Q : : é ; : P : : 100

310 APPENDIX

JUDGING STOCK — Continued

Licntr Horses — Scar or Points — For GELDING

PERFECE

SCORE
1. AGE
General Appearance :
2. WEIGHT . ; ; : : : ; : :
3. HEIGHT : ; ‘ ‘s ; :
4. Form, symmetrical, smooth, stylish : ; : : 4
5. Quanxitry, bone clean, fine, yet indicating sufficient sub-
stance ; tendons defined ; hair and skin fine 4
6. TEMPERAMENT, active, good disposition . 4
Head and Neck :
7. Heap, lean, straight : ; i
8. Muzz.e, fine ; nostrils large ; lips thin, even 1
9, Eyes, full, bright, clear, large 1
10. Forrenean, broad, full . : rears ; : : 1
11. Ears, medium size, pointed, well carried, and not far
apart . . : : . : ‘ : : : 1
12. Neck, muscled ; crest high; throatlatch fine ; windpipe
large 1
Forequarters :
13. SHoutpers, long, smooth with muscle, oblique, extending
into back and muscled at withers 3
14. Arm, short, thrown forward i.
15. Forearm, muscled, long, wide : : 2
16. Kwness, clean, wide, straight, deep, strongly suppanicd 2
17. Cannons, short, wide ; sinews large, set back 2
18. FrrLocks, wide, straight ‘ ; : 1
19. PastrEeRNs, strong; angle with ground, 45 degrees 3
20. Frrer medium, even size, straight; horn dense; frog
large, elastic ; bars strong ; sole concave ; heel wide, high 6
21. Lees, viewed in front, a perpendicular line from the
point of the shoulder should fall upon the center of the
knee, cannon, pastern, and foot. From the side, a per-
pendicular line dropping from the center of the elbow
joint should fall upon the center of the knee and pas-
tern joints and back of hoof : : : ; 4
Toran : ; . : ‘ : : 5 42

APPENDIX

JUDGING STOCK — Continued

311

Ligur Horst — ScALe or Potnts — For GELDING

PERFECT

| ScorE
Broucur FORWARD 42
Body :
22. ‘Cuest, deep, low, large girth 2
25. Russ, long, sprung, close BK 2 2
24. Back, straight, short, broad, haseted 2
25. Lorn, wide, short, thick . ‘ ; : : 2
26. UnpbeErRLINE, long, flank let down . d 1
Hindquarters :
27. Hips, smooth, wide, level 2
28. Croup, long, wide, muscular . . 2
29. TAIL, attached high, well carried 1
30. Txuicus, long, muscular, spread, open angled . 2
31. Quarters, heavily muscled, deep 2
32. Gaskins oR Lower Tuicus, long, wide, muscular . 2
33. Hocks, clearly defined, wide, straight 5
34. Cannons, short, wide; sinews large, set back 2
55. Frtiocks, wide, straight 1
36. Pastrrns, strong, sloping : ; : 2
37. Farr, medium, even size, eee horn dense; frog
large ; a bars strong; sole concave ; heel wide,
high. 2 ; p : : 4
38. Lees, viewed from Fenda: a Aeenendiéular tine from the
point of the buttock should fall upon the center of the
hock, cannon, pastern, and foot. From the side, a
perpendicular line from the hip joint should fall upon
the center of the foot and divide the gaskin in the
middle ; and a perpendicular line from the point of
the buttock should run parallel with the line of the
cannon ‘ ; t é : : 4
Action :
39. Wa tk, elastic, quick, balanced : 3 5
40. Tror, rapid, straight, regular, high : ; ha co
Tora. A . ; ; ; , ; 100

312 — APPENDIX

JUDGING STOCK — Continued

BeEF STEER — SCALE OF POINTS pas
General Appearance:
1. WeiGut, score according to age : 5 : 5 : 10
2. Form, straight top line and underline; deep, broad, low
set, stylish : ; f : : ; ? : 10
. Quarry, hair fine; skin miablee dense, clean bone ; body
covering to be uniform, of a mellow touch, yet suffi-
ciently firm to indicate a large proportion of muscle : 10
4. Conpition, development of flesh and fat; fat indicated by
spinal covering, rib covering, fullness of flank, purse and
tongue root’. : : , : : ; : 10
Head and Neck:
5. Muzzxir, broad ; mouth large ; jaw wide ; nostrils large ul
6. Eyes, large, clear, placid . : : ; f 1
7. Facer, short, quiet expression . y : 1
8. Bosaein: broad, full : : , : 3 : . 1
9, Ears, medium size, fine texture . : A : - 1
10. Horns, fine texture, oval, medium size é : js 1
11. Neck, thick, short, throat clean ; ; ; ; i
Forequarters :
12. SuouLpeER Vern, full . ; ; ; 2
15. SHOULDER, Sores with flesh, compaet on top, smooth 2
14. Brisker, aavateees: breast wide : 1
15. Drewtap, skin not too loose, and drooping : : 1
16. Lures, straight, short ; arm full; shank fine, smooth. : 2
Body :
17. Cnest, full, deep, wide ; girth large ; crops full 4
18. Riss, long, arched, thickly fleshed ; 8
19. Back, broad, straight, smooth, even . : . : 10
20. Lorn, thick, broad . : ‘ 8
21. Frank, full, even with underline 2
Hindquarters :
22. Hips, smoothly covered, distance apart in proportion with
other parts A ; ; E : ; : 2
TOTATE : ‘ : : ; : : : 89

APPENDIX ole

JUDGING STOCK — Continued

BEEF STEER — SCALE OF POINTS PEEFHCT
Score
BrouGutr Forwarp : : : , ; F ; a tice Oe
Hindquarters — Cont. :
23. Rump, long, wide, even, tail head smooth, not patchy 2
24. Pin Bones, not prominent, far apart . 1
25. Tuiens, full, deep, wide 2
26. Twist, deep, plump . ; 2
27. Purse, full, indicating fleshiness : 2
28. Leas, straight, short ; shank fine, smooth . =
LOC Ve San : . ‘ : : : : j : . 100
is y; - vib PERFECT
ScALE OF Pornts — For Datry Cow J
SCORE
General Appearance :
1. Weicur : ; : : : 6
2. Form, inclined to os we Span alaed : : ‘
a fb bevy. hair fine, soft; skin, mellow, loose, medium 6
thickness, secretion resloue: bone, clean, fine
4. Connpirion, lean, though vigorous appearance when in milk 6
Head and Neck:
5. Muzzvr, clean cut; mouth large ; nostrils large if
6. Eyes, large, bright, full, mild x
7. Facer, lean, long, quiet expression —. : : : é 1
8. ForrenEAp, broad 1
9. Ears, medium size, yellow abide, fine texture 1
10. Horns, fine, texture waxy . ‘ : : : : | es
11. Neck, fine, medium length ; throat clean, light dewlap 1
Forequarters :
12. Wirners, lean, thin . : : : ; : : ; 1
15. SHourpers, light, oblique . : ; é 2
14. Leas, straight, short ; shank fine ; ; : ; ‘ 2
Wovaie: : ; : ‘ : : ; : é , P 30

314 APPENDIX

JUDGING STOCK — Continued

h > aepeeeesnn
ScaLe or Pornts— For Datry Cow i te
SCORE
Brovuentr Forwarp , : 3 ; ; : Re
Body : |
15. Cuesr, deep, low; girth large with full fore flank. =. eee ne
16. BARREL, ribs rok long, wide apart, large stomach : 10
17. Back, lean, dratahie open jointed —. ; ) : , 2
18. Loin, broad : : ; : : é : : 2
19. Nave ., large : : : : : : . ‘ ; 2
Hindquarters : |
20. Hups, far apart, level . é : : ; : : 2
21. Rump, long, wide 2

22. Pin Bones or Tuertrs, high, sid apart 1
23. Tai, long, slim, fine hair in switch . : ; ; : 1
24. Tnicus, thin, long : ; : 4
25. Escurcnron, spreading over éitiehs. extendinte high antl

wide; large thigh ovals . ; ; : 2
26. Upper, long, attached high and full behinds extemuiae

far in front and full, flexible ; quarters even and free

from fleshiness ‘ , 3 : : : : : 20
27. Trats, large, evenly placed : : : : 5
28. Mammary VEIns, large, long, tortuous, Bachan: with

double extension ; large and numerous milk wells . b 5
29. Leas, straight, short ; shank fine : : : : ota 2

STOCK DISEASES AND REMEDIES

By Dr. BR. P.-Marstectar, Texas A. & M.. COLLEGE

THE HORSE

Chronic Indigestion. — The three most common causes of
chronic indigestion are improper food and water, bad teeth,
and the presence of worms in the intestines.

Food and Water. — Animals when given faulty food or water
do not “do well,” have an unthrifty hair coat, sweat easily,
and cannot stand hard work. In such eases it is well to
change the feed supply.

Bad Teeth. — Horses have bad teeth. Many of the common
defects of teeth can be detected by the ordinary observer, if
he will take the trouble to open the animal’s mouth and inves-
tigate. Common defects are irregular teeth, decayed teeth,
teeth with sharp edges. Very often a few dollars spent in
having the teeth attended to will prolong the animal’s iife and
usefulness.

Worms. — Young horses often have worms in the intestines
that sap their vitality. The symptoms are the same as those
of poor food and water. A very safe and efficient remedy for
this trouble is a drench made of two ounces of turpentine and
one pint of linseed oil.

Acute Indigestion: Colic. —If any of the causes of chronic
indigestion are severe and continued, they lead to colic, the
symptoms of which are those of chronic indigestion augmented.
Horses with colic show pain by being restless, getting up and
down, looking around at side and pawing and stamping. An
ounce of chloral hydrate in one pint of water often gives relief
without causing any of the deleterious effects of many other
remedies.

315

316 APPENDIX

Bad Eyes. — The most common disease of the eyes of horses
is “moon blindness.” ‘The first attack is mistaken very often
for a slight injury. But the animal has from time to time, at
more or less regular periods, subsequent attacks, each being
more severe and leaving more permanent effects. This is an
incurable trouble and results in blindness.

Beards of grains and chaff get in the eyes of animals and
will cause serious injuries if not removed. <A fairly satisfac-
tory examination can be made by turning the lids outward
one at a time. This will in many cases bring to view the
foreign body.

Feet. — The old saying, “no foot, no horse,” is as true as
ever. Bad feet are often due to neglect of the hoofs when
the animal was young. If the owner would take the trouble
to trim the hoofs this could be avoided. If this is not done
they grow out of shape, forcing the animal to throw too much
of his weight on some one joint, tendon, or ligament, with the
result that it becomes inflamed and is permanently injured.

Nail Prick. — Lameness due to this common trouble is often
not discovered at all by the layman. The most prominent
symptoms besides lameness are swelling of the leg, extending
from below upwards, loss of appetite, and fever. <A careful
examination of the foot will bring to view the foreign body
that is causing the trouble. Jn any case of lameness, it is well
to examine the foot thoroughly. :

Treatment. — Remove cause of trouble, enlarge opening and
fill with carbolic acid or hydrogen peroxide. Keep animal in
clean, dry place until it goes sound.

Lung Fever. — Lung feveris characterized by hurried respira-
tion, high temperature (105°-107° F.), nasal discharge of
rusty color, “stary ” eyes, and loss of appetite. The death rate
in this disease is high. Death results in about six or seven
days.

Treatment. —'There are no specific remedies, and treatment
should not be undertaken by laymen.

APPENDIX 317

Tetanus (Lockjaw). — This is a disease from which all
domestic animals may suffer, and most commonly seen in the
horse. It is due to a germ which cannot live in the presence
of oxygen. It gains entrance to the animal body through
punctured wounds or through those in which dirt is ground
into the flesh. The symptoms are a protrusion of the haw
from the inner angle of the eye over the ball; straddling gait,
marked muscular rigidity; the tail is carried out, ears are
pricked, and nostrils are distended. All of these symptoms
become more marked if the animal is irritated in any way.

Treatment. — Keep animal quiet and give soft feed. As a
preventive in suspicious wounds, Tetanus antitoxin should
be given. This has only a preventive and not a curative
power.

Blind Staggers. — Many theories are prevalent in regard to
the cause of the epizootic form of this disease. One of the
most popular is that it is due to some mold or fungus. Ex-
periments carried out at the Texas Experiment Station tend to
disprove this idea. To the careful observer, from all data
available at present, it seems to be due to labor diet while
resting, for when work stock are used regularly in the spring
it disappears.

Symptoms. — The animal will not lead, and refuses to come
out of stable. When eating it will stop suddenly with some
food protruding from the mouth, remain this way for some time
and then start to eat again. Many do not walk straight, and
stand with their feet crossed. Some are so badly affected that
they do not show any regard for obstacles, and will walk,
or try to walk, through fences, stall partitions, ete. A large
per cent of animals that have this disease die; some make a
partial recovery, and are termed “ dumiies.”

Prevention. — Reduce feed when animal is not working.
Give plenty of roughage and exercise.

Glanders. — This is an insidious disease quite hard to diag-
nose in chronic cases without the use of mallein, a diagnostic

318 APPENDIX

agent. Acute cases have blood-stained nasal discharge, star-
shaped scars in nose, enlargement of glands in the hollow
between the jaw bones, and an unthrifty condition. In the
cutaneous form, or farcy, chronic ulcers are formed on the skin.

Treatment. —Incurable. It is unlawful to keep animals
affected in this way.

Wounds. — In none of the ailments of animals is cleanliness
so essential as in wound treatments. If the best results are to
be obtained, wounds must be kept clean and unirritated. If
these conditions are provided, most wounds will heal in a
reasonable time, but it 1s often impossible to prevent the
entrance of dirt or pus. To remove these first wash with a
two per cent solution of baking soda, then a two to five per
eent of earbolie acid, kresol, or chloro-naphtholeum, and then
sift over the wounds a powder consisting of one part camphor,
one part alum, and four parts boracie acid.

CATTLE

Diseases of the digestive organs of cattle are very common,
due to the fact that these organs are taxed to their limit in
both milk and beef production. The organs often are only
overworked and will soon return to their normal conditions if
given a rest fora few days. Some of the most common forms
of indigestion are : —

Bloat, or hoven, due to a distension of the paunch with gas,
which is caused by fermentation of food.

Treatment. — Ordinarily, baking powder given in doses of four
spoonfuls will often relieve the condition. In some ¢cases it 1s
necessary to puncture the hollow of the flank on the left side,
but this had best be done only by those who have had
experience.

Scours. — In the South, dairymen have considerable trouble
with calf scours. This is caused by feeding milk which has
been acted upon by certain bacteria, which are very common

APPENDIX 519

and active in a warm c:imate. By putting formalin in the
milk (one part formalin to 5000 parts milk) this trouble can
be overcome with no serious injury to the stock. Older cattle
sometimes have diarrhea, but this can generally be overcome
by regulating the diet.

Constipation. — When cattle run on dry pastures for some
time they often become constipated, and if they are not relieved,
inflammation and even death will be the result. This can be
relieved by giving one pound of epsom salts and one ounce of
ginger in one quart of rain water.

Texas Fever.— The symptoms of this disease are a yellow
color of white of eye, red urine, rapid emaciation, and the
presence of many ticks.

As cattle that are very poor cannot withstand this disease,
it is well, if practicable, to feed them. Reduce ticks by dip-
ping and rotation of pasture.

Black Leg. — Symptoms. Lameness in one leg, more often
hind leg, accompanied by swelling which will crackle when
the hand is rubbed over it, high temperature, rapid respiration,
muscular tremors in later stage.

This is an incurable disease when once developed. It can
be prevented by vaccination.

Anthrax (Charbon).— While this disease has been reported
more often in cattle and sheep, all domestic animals and even
man may contract it.

The sudden appearance, the short duration of the disease,
the number of animals affected, cause one to detect the disease
early in the outbreak. Death is so sudden that in many cases
the clinical symptoms are not very pronounced. However, if
the disease runs for several days, swellings appear on the
various parts of the body, neck, brisket, and abdomen. These
swellings are painful, hot, and hard. If incised, they appear
to consist of a gelatin-like material.

Treatment. —Incurable; outbreaks are, however, said to be
controlled by vaccination.

320 APPENDIX

Actinomycosis (Lumpy Jaw). — This disease is characterized
generally by enlargement in the region of the lower jaw.
Swelling at first is hard and painful and gradually increases
in size. Later it breaks in several different places, discharg-
ing pus with yellow grain-like particles. The disease often
attacks the bone itself, loosening the teeth and making it
impossible for the animal to eat.

Seventy per cent of the cases can be cured if treatment is
begun early.

Treatment. — Give two drachms of potassium 1odide daily for
ten days; discontinue and repeat in ten days. If necessary,
treat a third time. Human beings may contract this disease
by eating meat of infected animals.

Milk Fever. — This disease is associated with calving, and is
characterized by unconsciousness, manifesting itself first by
unsteady gait and crooked neck. Then the animal falls down
and may le stretched out or with head curled around to one
side. Pulse and respiration are normal.

This disease is very successfully treated by inflating the
udder with carbolized air or oxygen. Unless the person that
treats the animal has some knowledge of antisepsis he will
infect the udder and the cow will develop garget.

Garget. —The most common disease of the udder is garget,
which is an infection of one or more quarters of the udder. It
is caused by the entrance of germs. Pus forms and the milk
becomes stringy.

This is a very unsatisfactory disease to treat; even when
relieved, it shows a tendency to return. The quarters
affected may be irrigated with a solution consisting of one
part permanganate of potash to four or five hundred parts
water.

Swelling or Inflammation of Udder. — When the cow is fresh,
swelling can be controlled by, giving her a pound of salts
(epsom) followed by one drachm of fluid extract of belladona
morning and evening until reheved.

APPENDIX |

Bathe the cow’s udder with a liniment consisting of four
parts lead water and one part laudanum.,

DOGS

Rabies (Madness). — Perhaps there is no disease of domestic
animals that is so much dreaded and feared by people as
rabies, or “mad dog.” This is largely due to ignorance and
the fact that there are many misleading and ungrounded ideas
in regard to it, especially the length of time it takes the disease
to develop. All data and experiments show that the period of
incubation varies from ten to sixty days. Some of the most
prominent symptoms are change of voice, change of disposition,
abnormal appetite (in post mortem, sticks, old leather, dirt, ete.
are often found in the stomach), rapid emaciation, paralysis, and
death. In the furious form the animal shows tendency to bite,
while in the dumb form, which is the most common, the animal
soon becomes paralyzed and shows no tendency to bite.

The conservative thing to do is to quarantine suspicious cases
securely. This will give opportunity to observe the animal.
If it has rabies it usually dies in the course of ten days. If
the animal does not die within this time, it is probably not af-
fected with rabies, and the knowledge of this fact will always
give persons that may have been bitten a great content of mind.
As one man remarked who had had some practical experience
with rabies, “I would not take one thousand dollars for a dog
that had bitten me. I would keep him and see for myself
if he developed the disease.”’

Persons that have been bitten by a rabid animal should take
Pasteur treatment immediately.

GLOSSARY

A

Abdomen. The belly of an animal or hindmost part of an insect.

Acid. A sour chemical compound.

Acid phosphate. A fertilizing material made by mixing sulphuric
acid with ground bone or ground phosphate rock.

Alkali land. Land having salts hurtful to crops.

Aluminum. A white metal in clay, often separated and used in the
arts.

Ammonia. A compound of nitrogen and hydrogen.

Ammonium Carbonate. A compound of ammonia and carbonic acid
gas.

Analyze. To separate into elements and find the composition of.

Annual Plant. A plant that dies root and top the first year of its life.

Antagonistic. Opposed.

Anthrax. An animal disease, also called charbon.

Available. Capable of being used.

B

Biennial Plant. A plant living two years and making seed the second
year.

Bisulphide of Carbon. A compound of carbon and sulphur called
‘“ high-life,’’ used to kill weevils in grain.

Blight. A withering and drying up of plant leaves.

Bluestone. A compound of copper and sulphuric acid.

Bordeaux Mixture. A mixture of bluestone, lime, and water for
spraying.

Botany. A science describing plants.

C

Calcareous. Composed largely of calcium, or lime.

Calcium. The metal which, united with oxygen, makes lime.

Cannon. The bone of the lower leg of the horse.

Capillary. Composed of little tubes or pores.

Carabao. Filipino name for the water buffalo.

Carbon. The main constituent of coal, charcoal, diamonds, and
wood.

Carcass. The dead body of an animal.

Casein. The part of the solids of milk containing nitrogen, and the
main part of cheese.

Caterpillar. A young insect.

323

324 GLOSSARY

Chemical Change. A very complete change caused by elements
uniting or separating from each other.

Chlorine. A gas not found pure in nature, but which when united
with the metal sodium forms salt.

Citrus Fruits. Acid fruits like oranges, lemons, and grape fruits.

Commercial Fertilizer. A fertilizer bought and sold and shipped.

Complete Fertilizer. A fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, and potash.

Compound. A substance made up of two or more elements.

Concentrated. Strong or condensed.

Concentrates. Rich feeds like meal, oil cakes, or grains.

Contagious. Liable to spread.

Copper Acetate. A compound of copper and vinegar.

Cretaceous. Consisting of chalk, or lime rock.

Crossing. Mixing two varieties of plants or two breeds of animals.

Croup. Top of a horse’s hips.

Crystallize. To form crystals, or grains, like sugar.

D

Dicotyledons. Plants having two seed leaves.
Disseminated. Scattered ab put.

Dodder. A parasite, growing on alfalfa and other plants.
Dormant. Sleeping.

Dual-purpose. For two purposes.

E

Element. The simplest form of matter, as iron or gold.

Ensilage. Green feed kept in a silo, or air-tight room or pit.

Escutcheon. The back part of udder and thighs of milk cows, where
the hair turns up instead of down.

Evaporate. ‘To pass off in the air.

Expand. To grow larger.

F

Ferment. To sour, or change on account of ferments, or bacteria.
Fertility. Being fertile or fruitful.

Fertilizing Elements. Phosphoric acid, nitrogen, and potash.
Floats. Ground phosphate rock. :

Formalin. A substance used to kill spores or fungi.

Formula. A prescription or direction for making mixtures.
Fungi. Little plants that can be seen only with a microscope.
Fungicide. Something to kill fungi.

Fungous Diseases. Diseases caused by fungi.

G

Geology. The science which describes the rocks of the earth and the
changes they have gone through.

Germinate. To sprout.

Germs. Small living beings that can be seen only with a microscope.

GLOSSARY 320

Glacier. A moving body of ice.
Glucose. A kind of sugar that will not form grains, or crystals.
Gypsum. lLand-plaster, a compound of lime and sulphuric acid.

H

Hibernate. To live over winter.

Hock. Part of the hind leg of a horse.

Host. Plant another plant or insect feeds on.

Humid. Having natural supply of water.

Humus. The partly rotted leaves, roots, and stems of plants existing
in the soil.

Hybridizing. The mixing or crossing of plants or animals of different
species.

Hydrogen. The lightest gas known, and one of the elements of
water.

Hygroscopic. A term used to describe the water existing in substances
supposed to be dry.

I

Infected. A plant or animal is infected when germs or spores of dis-
ease enter it.

Inoculation. The act of inoculating or vaccinating with germs.

Insect. An animal having six legs and having its body divided into
three parts.

Insecticide. Insect poisons.

Inverted. Changed, as from crystal sugar to sticky, gummy sugar.

Irrigation. Artificially supplying water to land.

Iselate. To separate from others.

K
Kerosene Emulsion. A spraying mixture of soap, water, and kerosene
oil.
L

Lactic Acid. Acid formed from milk sugar.

Larva. The grub of insects.

Layering. Making limbs of plants take root, and then transplanting.

Legumes. Plants bearing pods.

Lespedeza. Japan clover.

Lichens. Low moss-like plants growing on rocks or wood.

Lister. A plow having a double moldboard and throwing dirt both
ways.

Loam. A mixture of sand and clay.

M

Magnesium. A chemical element existing in all soils in combination
with other elements.

Magnify. To make large in appearance by means of a micro-
scope.

326 GLOSSARY

Mammary Veins. Milk veins of a cow just forward from the udder.

Manganese. A metal somewhat like iron — an element.

Mechanical Change. Any change in a substance not as complete
as a chemical change.

Membranes. Thin walls or divisions.

Microscope. An instrument for making things look large.

Monocotyledons. Plants having one seed leaf.

Mulch. A cover of leaves, straw, or fine earth for the land.

Muriate of Potash. A compound of potash and chlorine containing
50 per cent of potash, and used as a fertilizer.

N

Nitrate of Soda. A readily soluble compound containing nitrogen.

Nitrogen. A chemical element composing about four-fifths of the
air.

Nodule. See Tubercle.

Nutrients. The parts of feed stuff that may nourish the animal.

O

Organic Matter. Any material that was formed from living beings,
such as plants and animals.
Osmosis. The mixing of liquids of different strengths through mem-
branes, or cell walls.
Oxygen. The gas composing about one-fifth of the air and necessary
for breathing.
P

Parasite. A plant or animal living on another plant or animal.

Pasterns. Part of a horse’s fore leg between the hoof and the joint
above.

Perennial Plant. A plant living more than two years.

Phosphorus. The metal which forms phosphoric acid when combined
with oxygen.

Physical Change. See Mechanical Change.

Pistil. The part of the flower making the secd.

Pollen. The dust on the stamens of a flower that fertilizes the
seed.

Pollenized. Fertilized with pollen.

Porous. Having pores; being open.

Potassium. The metal which, combined with oxygen, makes
potash.

Prolificness. Bearing abundantly.

Propagate. To multiply by planting, transplanting, etc.

Protein. The constituent of food containing nitrogen.

Pruning. Cutting trees back, or trimming.

Pulverize. To crumble and make fine.

Q

Quarantine. To keep within certain limits.

=I

GLOSSARY 32

R

*

Rabies. Madness, as in dogs.

Reservoir. A storage pond for water.

Rotation. A certain round, or order, for instance of crops.

Roughage. Coarse feed such as hay, straw, or cotton-seed hulls; also
called ‘‘ roughness.”

S

Sanitary. Cleanly; conducive to health.

Scion. The part of a plant inserted in a stock in grafting.

Sedentary. Remaining in place.

Shredding. Tearing into fine particles.

Silicon. The metal largely composing sand.

Silo. A pit or building for preserving green feed. _

Sodium. The metal forming soda when combined with oxygen.

Soiling. Growing green crops and cutting and feeding to animals.

Soluble. Dissolving in water.

Special-purpose. [For one purpose.

Species. A group of plants or animals rather closely related.

Spores. Seeds of fungi.

Sport. A plant or animal quite different from its ancestors.

Spraying. Sprinkling or forcing liquids in a fine spray over plants.

Stamens. The parts of flowers furnishing pollen to fertilize the
pistils.

Sterilize. To kill germs, generally by heat.

Stock. Plant into which another plant is grafted or budded.

Stomata. Pores or holes in plant leaves that take in air and give off
water.

Stover. Dried corn stalks after the grain has been removed.

Subsoil. Part of soil under the top soil.

Succulent. Green; containing much water.

Sucrose. Grain or crystal sugar.

Sulphate of Potash. A compound of potash and sulphuric acid con-
taining 50 per cent of potash.

Superphosphate. Acid phosphate.

E

Terracing. Leveling land in a way to prevent washing.

Tetanus. A disease called lockjaw.

Thermometer. Instrument for measuring temperature.

Thorax. That part between the head and abdomen.

Tillage. Working the land.

Transplanting. Taking up and setting out plants again.
Transported. Moved from original place.

Trifolium. Having three little leaves on one stem.

Tubercle. A wart or knot or nodule on roots of leguminous plants.

U
Udder. The milk organs to which the teats are attached.

328 GLOSSARY

V

Veterinary Science. The science teaching the prevention and cure
of diseases of animals.

Vitality. Strength to germinate and grow.

Vulture. A buzzard, or carrion crow.

WwW

‘Water Table. The level of standing water in the soil.
Withers. The high point above the shoulders of a horse.

Zz
Zebu. The sacred cattle of India.

INDEX

Acclimation fever, 250, 251.

Acid phosphate, 88, 89, 93, 94, 95,
97, 98.
Actinomycosis,

eattle, 320.
Alabama Experiment Station,
Depth of plowing, 107.
Experience with fertilizers, 103.
Restorative crops for oats, 159.
Alfalfa, 197, 198.
Alkali land, 17.
Angora goats, 279, 280, 282, 283.
Animal diseases, 250-254 ; Appendix.
Animal husbandry, 255-257.
Animal manures, 3, 95.
Annual plants, 53.
Anthrax or charbon of stock, 319.
Arkansas fruit land, 221.
Arkansas rice land, 163, 164.
Arsenate of lead, 302.
Artichoke, Jerusalem, 206.
Ash, 235.
Asparagus, Appendix, 295.

or lumpy jaw of

Bacteria, 46-51.
Effects on soils and manures, 47.
On legumes, 48.
Bad teeth of horse, 315.
Bagasse, 175.
Balanced ration, 246.
Banana family, 297.
Barley, 155.
Barnyard manure, 95.
Beans, velvet, soy, 196, 197.
Bees, 284, 285.
Beets, 298.
Beggar weed, 204, 205.

_Bennett, Professor R. L., experiments
in raising early cotton, 141,
142, 143.

Bermuda grass, 208, 209.
Biennial plants, 53.

Birds, 133.

Blackberry, 66, 299.
Blackleg, 250, 319.
Black prairie, 20, 21.
Blight, 49.

Blind staggers of horse, 317.
Boll weevil, 128-134.
Bordeaux mixture, 303.
Borer, Peach, 306.
Budding, 62, 63.

Bur clover, 202.
Burbank, Luther, 76.
Butter making, 289-293.

Cabbage, 229, 230, 231, 299.

Cactus, feeding, 248.

Campbell, H. W., 108, 157.

Capillary attraction, 39.

Carbo-hydrates, 235.

Carbonic acid gas, 2, 6.

Carpet grass, 209.

Cattle, 263-273.

Celery, 216, 233, 299.

Chemistry of soil and products, 31-35.

Cherries, 62.

Chickens, 283, 284.

Chinch bug, 305.

Chinese, plowing land wet, 116.
Methods of growing rice, 162.

Chloro-naphtholium, 318.

Chufa, or grass nut, 206.

Churn, 290.

Citrus Fruits, 224, 225.

Clay and clay-loam soils, 15.

Clover, red, mammoth, crimson, 201-

204.

Coast prairies, 18.

Coco, or nut-grass, 240.

Cold-frames, 230, 231.

Commercial fertilizers, 98-105.

Complete fertilizer, 93.

Composts and guanos, 92.

329

330 INDEX

4
Compounding rations, 244-249. | Elements, 30-35.
Concentrates, 236. Elevation and productions, 28, 29.
Constipation of cattle, 319. Evaporation from earth, 42, 43.
Copper acetate, 301. From leaves, 41.
Corn, 149-153. Produces cold, 42, 43.
Corn stover, 152, 153. Extensive farming, 215, 216.
Shredded, 152.
Cotton, where grown, 135. Families, economic, of plants, 295-
Baling, wrapping,and handling, 145. 300.
Earliness and yield, 143. Fats, 234, 235.
Judging, 146. Feeding animals, 234-249.
Planting and cultivating, 138-141. | Feet of horses, 316.
Size of crop, 135. Fertilizer, stimulating effects, 101,
Thickness of planting, 144. 102.
Types to plant for, 143. Fertilizer mixtures, 99, 100.
Cotton seed, yield of products, 146— Manures and, 92-97.
147. Fertilizers, commercial, 98-105.
For feeding, 146. Fibrous roots, 56.
For fertilizing, 95. Figs, 221, 222, 223, 298.
Cowpeas and peanuts, 181-185. Flies, 127, 128.
Crab grass, 213, 214. Florida beggar weed, 204, 205.
Cream separator, 290, 291. Florida cattle, 270, 271. ,
Crop rotation, 86-90. Flowers, 58, 59, 60.
Cross timbers, east and west, 23. Formalin, 228, 319.
Crossing and hybridizing, 59, 60. Fowls, poultry, 283, 284.
Crude fiber, 238, 239. Fruits, 215-225.
Cucumber family, 299. Fungicides, 300, 301.

Cultivating to save moisture, 43, 116. | Fungous diseases, 49, 50.
Suttings, 65, 66.

Gardening, Truck, 227-2533.
Dairy-bred steers for beef, 265, | Geese, 284.

268. Georgia Experiment Station,
Dairying, 286-294. Experience with rotation, 89.
Diseases of animals, 250-254, 315- Rotation subsoiling, 106.

321. Germs, Bacteria or, 46—50.

Of plants, 49, 50, 300, 301. Effects on industries, 47.
Ditch, proper shape, 82, 83. Effects on soils and manures, 47.
Dixon, David, 92. Girdler, Twig, 307.

Dog, 321. Glacier, 10, 11.
Doura corn, 190. Glanders of horses, 317, 318.
Drainage, 82, 83, 84 Goosefoot family, 298.
Draining marsh and creek land, | Grade stock, 286, 287.

83. Grafting, 64, 65.
Dry farming, 108. Grape, 299.

Dry matter, digestible nutrients, and | Grape fruit, 224.
fertilizing matter in 100 Ib.| Grass family, 296, 297.

feed stuffs, 240-243. Grasses and other forage crops, 208-
214.
Earthworms, 80. Great plains, 22, 23.

Eggplant, 299. Guanos and composts, 92.

INDEX

Guinea and Para grasses, 212, 215.

Hairy vetch, 199.
Hams, Smithfield, 275.
Hawaii, yields of cane, 170.

Henry’s feeds and feeding, 268.

Hog cholera, 253.
Hog raising, 275-279.

Horses and mules, raising, 258-262.

Host, 300.

Hotbed, 229.

Hunter, Dr. W. D., 129.
Hybrid, 60.

Improving the land, 78, 84.

Insect friends and enemies,
134.

Insecticides, 302-304.

125-

Insects, harmful, and remedies, 304-—

307.
Indigestion, of horses, 315.

Of cattle, 318, 319.
Intensive farming, 215, 216.
Iowa Experiment Station, 268.
Irish potatoes, 227-229, 299.
Irrigation, 119-124.

Amount of water for
1238.

Arid sections, 120.

For rice, 119.

In humid sections, 120,
122.

Japan clover, 210.
Japanese rice culture, 162.
Japanese persimmon, 63.
Jerusalem artichoke, 206.
Johnson grass, 210, 211, 212.
Judging, Cotton, 146.
Beef cattle, 312, 313.
Dairy cows, 313, 314.
Draft horses, 308, 309.
Light horses, 310, 311.
Live stock, 308-314.

Kafir corn, 190-195.

Kainit, 93.

Kansas Experiment Station,
Experiment with cattle, 268.
Subsoiling, 106.

success,

121,

Kerosene emulsion, 302.
Kinds of soil, 15-26.

Larva, Boll weevil, 128.

Layering, 65, 66.

Legumes, bacteria on, 48.

Lily family, 297.

Lime, 33.

Lime soil, 19, 20, 21.

Lime sulphur wash, 302.

Liquid manure, 96.

Loam soil, 15.

Louisiana Experiment Station,
Depth for fertilizer, 103.
Rotation, 89.

Lung fever of horses, 316.

Mallein, 317.

Malley, Professor F. W., 129.
Mallow family, 298.

Mammoth clover, 203.
Manures and fertilizers, 92—96.

Materials of commercial fertilizer.

93.
Melilotus, 203, 204.
Melon wilt, 50.
Mexican clover, 204.
Milk fever of cows, 320.
Milo-maize, 190-195.

Minnesota Bulletins on beef cattle,

268.

Mississippi Experiment Station,

Beef cattle, 268.

Subsoiling, 106-108.
Mixing fertilizer, 98-101.
Moisture, soil, 37-41.
Mosquitoes, 128.
Muck land, need of potash, 101.
Mulberry, 298.
Mulch, 108.
Mustard family, 298.

Nail prick of horse, 316.
Nightshade family, 299.

Nitrate of soda, 99.

Nitrogen, 33.

Nitrogen-free extract, 238, 239.
Nitrogen-gathering crops, 48, 49.
Nodules, or tubercles, 48, 49.
Nutrients, 236.

332 INDEX

Oats, 158. Rape, 204.

And vetch, 159. Ration, 244-249.
Olive family, 300. Balanced, 246.
Onion, 232, 233. Razor-backs, 275.
Orange family, 299. Red lands, 20, 21.
Orchard crops, 215-225. Restorative crops, 88, 89
Osmosis, 56, 57. Rice, 162-168.

Oriental methods, 162, 163.

Palm family, 297. Products in sack of, 167, 168.
Para and Guinea grass, 212, 213. Rock, how made into soil, 8, 9, 10.
Paris green, 302. Root tubercles, 48, 49.
Parsley, 299. Roots, 55, 56.
Pasture grasses, 208-214. Rotation of crops, 86-91.
Pea family, 299. Round bales of cotton, 142, 145.
Peach, 217-220. Rye, 155.
Peanuts, Cowpeas and, 181-185.
Pears, 64. Saccharimeter 172.
Peas, 181-185. San José seale, 218, 306.
Pecans, 223, 224. Satsuma orange, 63.

Budding, 63. Scab, potato, 228.
Peppers, 299. Scion, 65.
Perennial plants, 53. Secours of calves, 318.
Phosphoric acid, 34, 35. Seed selection, 68-77.
Physies of soil, 37—44. Semiarid soils, Arid and, 15, 16.
Pistil, 58. Sheep and goats, 279, 280.
Plant diseases, 49, 50. Sirup making, 171-173.
Plant food, proportions from air, | Soil, 8.

earth, and water, 1—4, 6. How formed, 8, 9, 10, 11.

Plowing, Deep, 106-108. Light and heavy, 26.

Flat or in beds, 112. Sorghums, 190-195.

In the fall, 113, 114. Sport, 71, 72.

To save moisture, 114, 115. Spraying, 300, 301.
Plows, sandy land, black land, 109. | Stamens, 58.
Plum, 62. Stimulating effect of fertilizers, 101,
Poisoned bait, 304. 102.
Pollen, 58. Stock, 63.
Pollination, 58, 59, 60. Strawberries, 59, 299.
Poor land, unprofitable, 78. Subsoil, 8.
Potash, 35. Subsoiling, 106, 107.
Potassium sulphate, 99. Sugar cane, 169-175.
Potato, Irish, 227-229, 299. Making sirup and sugar, 171-175.

Sweet, 176-180, 228. Sulphur spray, 304.
Poultry, 283, 284. Sunshine, its work, 33, 34.
Prickly pear, feeding, 248. Sweet potato, 176-180, 228.
Proportions of plant food, 100, 101.
Protein, 234. Terracing, 80-82.
Pruning, 219. Texas Experiment Station, 71, 129.
Pulling fodder, 152, 153. Texas fever, 250, 251.

Tick, cattle, 127, 128.
Quarantine line, 251, 252. Tile draining, 83, 84.

INDEX

Tillage, 113-117.

Toad, 134.

Tobacco, 186-189.
Shade-grown, 187, 188.

Tomato, 229-231.

Turkeys, 284.

Udder of cows, Disease of, 320, 321.

Vetch, 159.
Vetch, hairy, see Hairy vetch.
Vitality of seed, 70, 71.

Walnut family, 297, 298.
Water, forming soil, 11, 12.

333

Water, evaporated from soil, 42, 43.

Of soils, 37-42.

Required by crops, 37.
Weeds, 71.

Weevil, Cotton boll, 128-134.

Grain, 127.

Whale-oil soap, 303.
Wheat, 154-161.

In a barrel of flour, 157, 158.
Wind-blown soils, 12.
Wisconsin Experiment Station,

Experiment with hogs, 276.
Worms of horses, 315.

Wounds of horse, 318.

Zebu, or sacred cattle, 263, 264.

ei,

0002586635963