VIRGINIA FARMER REALIZES FACi I THAT LIVE STOCK ENRICHES SOIL Larger Part of Crops Grown Are Fed to Good Dairy Cattle Cultivates Culti-vates Only Ninety Agres of Land, but It Is Fertile and Always Produces Good Yields Farm Work Stock Raised for Home Use and for Market. By G. H. AU'ORD. State Demonstration Agent, Maryland.) John R. Doyle of Dinwiddle county, coun-ty, Virginia, realizes the fact that livestock live-stock farming enriches the soil. He grows many crops to enrich the soil Instead of growing only crops that impoverish im-poverish it. He feeds the larger part of the crops grown to good dairy cat-tl. cat-tl. He knows that the success of any Byutem of farming cannot be judged V ., '. Boy in His Pumpkins and Corn. by the crops, or net earnings, for one year or for five years. By devoting the larger part of the farm to clovers, feeding the clovers to dairy cattle and spreading manure over the land he averages more than 20 bushels of wheat per acre, and has averaged, in good seasons, as high as 30 bushels. He averages more than 50 bushels of corn per acre, and has averaged as high as 75 bushels. This farm raises farm-work stock for home use and to sell. The colts are raised to prevent the spending of money for farm-work stock and to be sure of having enough horse power for the most economical production of crops. Can't Afford Geldings. Six head of work stock are kept on the farm and two mares bring colt3 each year. Mr. Doyle figures that he cannot afford to keep all geldings and, for this reason, keeps two brood mares actively engaged in light work and colt sown on a part of the corn land about September 15. This is cut and fed in the dough state the following spring. A bushel of wheat and ten pounds of hairy vetch make a very satisfactory mixture. This mixture usually follows peanuts and is cut in the dough stage for feed in the spring. Of course there is a silo on the farm. The 60-ton silo provides a cheap and convenient place to store all the corn grown on five or six acres. The silo takes care of all the corn crop early in the fall; insures succulent feed for winter and in long dry spells, when pastures fail; provides a balanced bal-anced succulent ration when fed with such protein feeds as cowpeas, peanut hay and cottonseed meal; and makes it possible to properly feed more dairy cattle on the Bmall farm. The 60-ton silo holds enough silage to feed the 15 milk cows for six months feeding about 30 pounds per day to each cow. The silage is fed with pea vines or peanut hay and some cottonseed cotton-seed meal. The grain ration consists of about six pounds per day of a mixture mix-ture of 300 pounds of cottonseed meal and 200 pounds of corn and cob meal. ' On an average, 15 cows are milked the year round. The main source of income in-come is the money obtained from the sale of cream, milk and butter. Twed-ty Twed-ty per cent cream is sold at Petersburg, Peters-burg, 25 miles away, for 75 cents per gallon the year round. A small quantity quan-tity of ice is used in the summer time to cool the cream when it is separated. Cream Is Sold. One five-gallon can of 20 per cent cream is sold from the 15 cows every day in the year. They have a check rate of 12 cents for a five-gallon can, but this makes it necessary for the buyer in Petersburg to meet the train to receive the can, whereas the express ex-press rate will deliver it, and in small quantities the express rate is cheaper in the long run. An -average of $15 worth of butter is sold every month, to regular customers. cus-tomers. The cream and butter sold per month brings in about $125. The income in-come from the sale of young cattle amounts to about $200 per year, and the profit from feeding hogs on skim milk is about $200 per year, making a total income of at least $150 per month from the cows. There is running water in the barn vy. vy ...... Excellent Type of Farm Brood Mar and Foal. production. The mares are intelligent ly handled, do all the light work that Is required, and, in addition, produce colts every year which rapidly develop Into marketable animals. The colts are usually kept until four years of age and the surplus sold for about $200 each. Mr. Doyle estimates the cost of raising a colt at about $25 per year. There are good meadows and pastures pas-tures on this farm. Every square foot of the meadows and pastures is well covered with nutritious grasses and clovers instead of broom sage, briars and weeds. The land is thoroughly prepared, pre-pared, manured and sown in sapling clover, orchard grnss. timothy and a small amount of alfalfa. The mixture usually consists of three pounds of alfalfa, al-falfa, five pounds of timothy, eight pounds of sapling clover and three pounds of orchard grass to the acre. The alfalfa seed is put in to gradually Inoculate the soli so he can sow alfalfa at any time, on any part of the farm, and be sure that the soil is inoculated. rron the above grass mixture three or four :ons of good hay is usually obtained. ob-tained. Mr. Doyle grows what he needs and foods what ho prows. Only a small amount of cottonseed meal is purchased pur-chased to feed his dairy cows. The av- j orage farmer in his section buys the j larger part of his feed. .Many thousands thou-sands of dollars are sent out of his county annually for foodstuffs. Rotation Practiced. A rotation of crops, including leguminous legu-minous crops, is practiced on his farm. The corn is usually followed hy wheat, the wheat by peas or peanuts. The corn is cut in September or October and German clover is sown on a ran j of tho corn land. This clover can be i sown on his farm as late as October j 10. One bushel of oats and 15 pounds j of blooming German clover are also i and it is washed out after each milking, milk-ing, leaving it as clean as the ordinary living room. Tho cows are brushed, the udders and the milker's hands washed before each milking and verj clean milk is produced. . Clean Milkhouse. There is a clean milkhouse near the dwelling. It is 12 by 15 feet inside, is four feet in the ground and five feet above the ground. It has concrete floor and walls. The floor is six inches and the walls eight inches thick. There are shelves at one end of the room for butter and other things. There is a window on each side having six 10 by 12 lights. It has an eight-foot extension exten-sion and steps are built to enter. The steps are concrete and are covered from the outside. The whole house is - - . . T . vO v - Y I - - - -v w- j In the Wheat Field. i rtrefully screened There is a cream i separator, a butter worker, a table and j a water spigot In the house. The total cosi of the milkhouse was about SC5G.