OCR Text |
Show PRACTICAL FARMER CUM, WITHOUT BANK ACCOUNT, 00 ROOD FARMING Mississippi Farmer Changing Stumpy, Run-Down Cotton Plantation Into Profitable Dairy and Diversified Farm New System Put Into Operation and Modern Implements Have Replaced Old Ones Soil Is Sandy Loam. (By G. H. ALFORD, State Demonstration Agent, Maryland.) W. K. Wood, Brookhaven, Miss., is changing a stumpy, rundown gullied, gul-lied, cotton farm into a profitable dairy and diversified farm. He is attempting attempt-ing to show how an average farmer can, without a bank account or the use of the credit system, do good farm ing. An entirely new system of farming farm-ing has been put into operation; modern mod-ern implements have taken place of the old ones; stumps have been removed re-moved from all but eight acres of the land; better drainage has been established; estab-lished; improved seed has been introduced; intro-duced; the land has been broken deeper; deep-er; better methods of cultivation have been practiced; plenty of feed for man and beast is now grown; fairly good pastures have been established; a dipping dip-ping vat built; a silo built; a cream separator purchased and so on. ' The farm consists of about 160 acres of hill and bottom land. The Boil is i the North for breeding purposes. It often decreases the weight and always al-ways lessens the rate of putting flesh on beet cattle and decreases the amount of milk produced by dairy cattle cat-tle as the result of the irritation and loss of blood occasioned by great numbers num-bers of ticks. It decreases the price that southern cattle bring on the market mar-ket on account of the quarantine line This territory needs more and better live stock and a larger and better dairy industry and these objects will be greatly promoted by the destruction of the tick. The concrete dipping vat filled with arsenical solution has proven to be the most effective method of destroying the cattle tick. Mr. Wood built a dipping dip-ping vat by the plans and specifications specifica-tions and under the direction of Doctor Chambers, inspector of the United States bureau of animal husbandry. Lincoln county furnished the necessary neces-sary money to purchase all material tested each month for burterfai liy ehe "Eabcock test." He keeps only sows that show profitable records at the pail. These cows are kept in clean quarters, furnished pure well water to drink and every precaution is taken to prevent contamination of the milk. The cows graze in a bermuda and lespedeza pasture and are fed on les-pedeza les-pedeza hay, silage and cottonseed, molasses mo-lasses and cornmeal during the winter months. The velvet beans, soy beans, corn stalks and grass furnish good grazing in the fields during the winter months. He sold $12.65 worth of dairy products in June, 1911. He sold J12S.76 in October, 1915. Mr. L. A. Higgins, dairyman for the United States dairy division, deserves much credit for the success of this dairy. He planned the work and visits the dairy every fifteen days and gives full instructions which are carried out to the letter. He and the many other dairymen employed by the United States dairy division are doing a great work in the South. Disposition of Milk, He sells nearly all of the milk to the female college, soda founts, and private pri-vate families. However, he purchased a separator to separate the surplus milk. He does not make butter as he can easily dispose of the cream obtained ob-tained from the milk that he does not place on the market. The separator gets all the cream of the milk, the cream obtained is sweet and of the highest purity and brings the top price on the market. The warm, sweet milk skimmed by the use of the separator is at once fed to calves, pigs and poultry. Practically all of the fat has been taken out, but the milk still contains con-tains proteids; that is, the material for the formation of lean flesh, blood, tendons, nerves, brain and horn. Barnyard manure is rich in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, and may be regarded as just so much vegetable matter. When left exposed in thin layers lay-ers or small piles in the barn lot, the rains leach out a large per cent of the soluble plant food. He allows the horse manure to remain in the stables, using plenty of straw for litter. It is kept dry and keeps with practically no loss. He built a common large manure ma-nure pen for the cow manure. The rain water is not sufficient to leach through but is usually sufficient to keep the pile moist. Farm Poorly Drained. A considerable area of the farm was poorly drained. Fortunately a small creek crosses the farm and affords an outlet for the water from the whole farm. Although the fall in the bottoms is very gradual, the water runs off slowly after heavy rains. Tiling and other forms of under drainage were too expensive to be considered for the entire farm, so flat bottom ditches have been dug to thoroughly drain the land. Only ten acres have been tiled. The great problem before Mr. Wood is to restore the fertility of his worn-out worn-out cotton farm and to make the necessary neces-sary money to support a tamily and equip the farm while he is accomplishing accomplish-ing this much desired result. Grass is tha foundation of successful dairy farming, and dairy farming is probably the most practicable means of increasing increas-ing the fertility of the soil and at the i r Type of Horse Used on Wood Farm. C H 1 Velvet Beans in Corn. a sandy loam with yellow clay subsoil. sub-soil. The lower levels of the farm were very poorly drained and as a consequence the crops on these portions por-tions have suffered severely during the seasons of excessive rainfall. During the past five years the willows in all the low places have been cut and ditches opened and the hottca drained. Land Was Unproductive. For upward of 75 years the crops have been for the most part cotton, grown under the negro tenant system. sys-tem. As a result of this practice, the land was badly washed and reduced to a very unproductive state. It had a local reputation of being both poor and unprofitable. It sold for Jl.OOO in 1898. A, In good farming, Is clearing land of stumps and roots. We have reached a point where the use of labor-saving machinery on the farm is absolutely necessary if we are to supply the growing grow-ing demands of a rapidly increasing population and reap the highest rewards re-wards of prevailing prices. The neces-sity neces-sity for labor-saving machinery has become be-come more and more obvious with the 1 growing scarcity of labor and the con-i con-i sequent high cost of production. 1 The water supply for all stock comes from a deep well. The water is raised 1 by means of a pump and a four-horse-'power engine and is piped to the dwell-ilng dwell-ilng and to the troughs and hog pas- and he built the Tat and filled it with a mixture of 72 pounds of sal-soda, 24 pounds of white arsenic, three gallons gal-lons of pine tar and 1,500 gallons of water. His cattle and other farmers' cattle are dipped In this vat regularly. The value of a silo on a farm cannot can-not be overestimated. The dairy farmer farm-er who has been unable to see the value of the silo In connection with hi3 dairy farm is generally looked upon as an unprogressive farmer. Especially Es-pecially in the winter does the value of the silo become apparent as it is possible at all times to feed green fodder to the milk cows and thereby preserve both the quantity and quality of the milk product. With the use of the silo the farmer is enabled to save the shucks, the fodder, the corn stalks and the ears, and to keep up summer feeding throughout the winter without a break. Mr. Wood built a round stave silo, 60-ton capacity, on a concrete foundation founda-tion at a total cost of $116.35. It cost $2.05 per ton to grow the corn and put the silage in the silo. This silo wa3 built according to the plans and specifications and under the personal supervision of Mr. L. A. Higgins of the United States dairy division. Dairying Is Profitable. , There is no branch of farming that is more needed in the cotton belt than dairying. It is a most profitable industry indus-try in itself and is the means of rapid- I . f , ! i : 1 1 It; ' ' Alfalfa Field on Wood Farm. same time of furnishing the necessary cash to pay all expenses. In the farming farm-ing sections of our country which have enjoyed the greatest and most lasting prosperity, the grasses and clovers have always occupied an important place. He has 53 acres In a bermuda and lespedeza pasture. The larger part of the land now devoted to permanent per-manent pasture was first planted to winter oats. Small areas of the pasture pas-ture is now well sodded in bermuda and lespedeza or Japan clover. He will thoroughly sod every square foot of this pasture land in bermuda grass and lespedeza within the next year or two. The best pastures in the cotton belt are perhaps those which in sum mer consist of bermuda grass and lespedeza. les-pedeza. With the addition of burr clover, white clover, crimson clover, hairy vetch and red top, when the soil is sufficiently fertile, such pastures pas-tures can be grazed the year round. Mr. Wood is not only increasing the productiveness of his soil; he is also improving the yielding power of the oat, corn and other seed planted on this farm. He realizes the fact that like produces like and he has purchased pur-chased the very best seed from perfectly per-fectly reliable seed breeders and will use every known scientific method to further improve the yielding power of the seed. His part In obtaining the most prolific seed and in growing, selecting se-lecting and caring for such seed will not be appreciably greater than the work necessary to handle scrub seed. Value of Wood Ashes. Wood ashes are of much value in the garden and fruit plantation. The supply potash, v.hich sore piaii nee:, ture and feeding lots. Since Mr. Wood began to give his milk cows pure water, wa-ter, he has added a female college, several soda founts, and numerous families to his list of customers. More Live Stock Needed. This farm and the surrounding country coun-try was thoroughly infested with the cattle or Texas fever tick. This tick prevent the Importation of cattle from Iy increasing the productiveness of the soil and at the same time of promoting pro-moting a better type of agriculture. Mr. Wood started with ten scrub cows. He purchased a purebred Jersey bull, "International Boy," and is rapidly culling out the cows whose yielding ability is below par. He keeps daily records of every cow's actual performance perform-ance at the pail. Every cows milk is |