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Show EVERY DEPARTMENT OF FARM MUST BE WELL ORGANIZED FOR SUCCESS New Yorker Works Out Profitable Solution of Farm Problems in His Region-Started Enterprise Without Previous Experience to Aid Him Always Weighed Advice Carefully and Measured Meas-ured It on Basis of His Own Conditions. when the labor was not fully and profitably prof-itably employed. The distribution of labor was so poor that the men could not be given steady employment by the year, and some difficulty was experienced ex-perienced In getting satisfactory labor. So this farmer wanted to add to his income without cutting down the Income In-come from milk, and by this means to secure a better distribution of labor. Sugar beets were first tried, as a factory was then In operation at Bing-hamton. Bing-hamton. It was found that an average aver-age of from 10 to 20 tons of beets could be raised per acre, which brought $5 per ton. An average Income In-come of at least $75 per acre could thus be obtained, besides saving as many tops as there were beets sold. These were of considerable value as a succulent feed for the cows. Potatoes Were Next, The next crop tried was potatoes, and It proved to be so good a money- SllfeiSlib If Man's Greatest Benefactor the Cow, She Pays Debts and Saves Home. (By G. H. ALFORD, State Demonstration Agent, Maryland.) The purpose of thiB article is to emphasize em-phasize the following facts: It is not enough to raise good crops or to secure large animal production; these must be economically secured. This is only accomplished when capital and labor are so adjusted to existing conditions con-ditions that maximum yields are obtained ob-tained at the lowest cost. To farm successfully every department must be well organized and must be coordinated co-ordinated with the others. Labor must be fully employed, capital must be well utilized, both quantity and quality of products mUBt be secured, and the products must be well marketed. market-ed. All these things come as the result re-sult of close attention to and a detailed de-tailed knowlege of the business. The reasons and at the same time the justification for recounting the experiences ex-periences and the methods of any individual indi-vidual farmer, however successful he may be, lies in the fact that a definite illustration brings out the underlying principles most clearly and effectively. To most practical men the concrete appeals more strongly than the abstract. ab-stract. Especially is this true in the teaching of better farm management, because it is a comparatively new method of attacking farm problems which is not yet cleanly defined. It is because Mr. L. J. English of Bing-hamton, Bing-hamton, N. Y., has worked out a profitable prof-itable solution of farm problems in his region that his success is worthy of telling and of reading. Had No Experience. Mr. English purchased the farm in 1897. He had no previous farm experience experi-ence to aid him in starting the enterprise. enter-prise. His new possession consisted of 162 acres of land, "more or less," with good buildings and all the stock, rugged constitution, however, and had been brought up on hard work, so that he was not afraid of it. To the college and the agricultural press, and especially espe-cially to the personal help and interest inter-est of one college professor, he ascribes as-cribes all the success he has ever made. These forces stirred him to study his business and to use in every way possible the agencies at hand which would help him and which would aid him in obtaining a better knowledge of the principles of farming. farm-ing. He had observed that rapid, progress prog-ress was being made in every line of industry but agriculture, and he took a new interest in everything pertain ing to better farming. Yet he never made the mistake of taking advice wholesale. It was always weighed carefully and measured in the light of his own conditions. When Mr. English took stock of his resources he found that his income was practically confined to one source dairying. Some cows were making a good profit; others were causing a daily loss. The fertility of the soil was maintained by the use of mannifc alone, and this went to produce feed crops for the cattle. Very little hay was sold. There was no systematic plan of crop production or rotation or definite method of soil improvement. improve-ment. System Had Faults. Such a system had several faults, the correction of which was early recognized rec-ognized as essential to success. Unprofitable Un-profitable cows were destroying the profit of the better ones. The limitation limita-tion of the income to practically one source put upon that factor the entire burden of the farm expenses. Labor was poorly distributed and was of necessity ne-cessity frequently employed on unpro-1 unpro-1 ductive enterprises in order to hold it J Cows Make the Farm More Profitable. maker that it is now an annual crop. Irish Cobbler was the variety grown, and with good culture 300 to 350 bushels bush-els per acre were produced annually. As many as 5,000 bushels of potatoes are often grown on this farm in one season. The growing of these crops led to some direct sales in the city, and until the last year or two a small but profitable direct market-garden business was carried on. Potatoes and apples are still sold direct in the city. The large cash sales from these crops as compared with grain and hay, early taught Mr. English the lesson which so many farmers are now learning learn-ing to their advantage, namely, that it is cheaper to buy grain than to raise it when the land upon which grain is grown will yield much more often double the cash value of the grain in other crops. It is a simple economic econom-ic proposition to decide which is cheapest home-grown or purchased grain. Mr. English figured that he could raise enough sweet corn, potatoes, pota-toes, onions, or other similar crops to buy the grain which would have grown upon his land and still have a good margin left for profit. Mr. English is an ardent advocate of the use of clover, both as a forage plant and as a soil improver. It is the key to success in his system of farming. His average crop of clover Is about three tons per acre, and several sev-eral times he has cut five tons per acre in two cuttings. Not only doe3 it yield practically as well as alfalfa under his conditions, but it is regarded regard-ed as equally valuable as a feed for cattle. For such he Insists that the clover must be cut earlier than is the custom. He aims to cut it before much bloom appears. Despite the lower low-er analysis of clover in digestible protein, his practical experience shows that It Is as good a milk producer as alfalfa. In addition to the grain ration mentioned, men-tioned, the cows on the farm receive a good feed of silage and all the clover hay they can consume. Noteworthy Farming. This facility of adapting his farming farm-ing to the conditions of the season and the markets is one of the things which makes the farming of Mr. English Eng-lish so noteworthy. In this rotation as now practiced, commercial fertilizer Is used on potatoes pota-toes only. From 500 to 600 pounds of a fertilizer containing 4 per cent of nitrogen, ni-trogen, 6 per cent of phosphoric acid, and 10 per cent potash Is almost always al-ways used, being applied with a potato pota-to planter. Tests have shown that fertilizers with corn were unprofitable under the conditions of this farm, but that manure gave very satisfactory results. Of all the land to be seeded to clover, 400 to 600 pounds of hy-drated hy-drated lime (this form is used because it is easiest to apply, though its first cost is higher than other forms) is applied ap-plied once in three years. In all these applications no fixed rule is invariably followed, but the needs of the crops and the season are always considered. A definite system followed as closely as good judgment will permit is the very best kind of farming. The results of 15 years' work along these lines has been the development of one of the most successful systems of farm management In the whole region. re-gion. Every cow In the dairy is now a profitable one. All the "hoarders" have been dropped. Without materially material-ly increasing the expenses of the farm, the income has been practically doubled by supplemented receipts from the dairy and by cash crops for the city markets, especially potatoes. While the income from the dairy has j been increased, the expenses have been reduced by growing a larger part of the rations on the farm. Succulent j feeds and feeds high in protein have I made this possible, especially corn for I silage and clever hay. machinery and other equipment then on the farm. The stock consisted of three horses, 60 cows, 12 head of cattle cat-tle and a few chickens. The ordinary equipment was left on the place, together to-gether with some hay, grain and roughage. About 90 acres of the farm lie lit the broad, level valley, the remainder being on a slope too steep for cultivation, and on the top of a hill nearly 600 feet above the valley. About 30 acres of quite level and easily tillable land are on the hilltop, but it is difllcult of access. For this entire property $16,000 was paid $8,-000 $8,-000 in cash and $S,000 as a mortgage. The land and buildings were valued at $12,000 and the stock and other movable mov-able equipment at $4,000. The former owner had been In possession pos-session of the farm for 67 years. It had been profitable 30 or 40 years before, and had been recognized as a farm of considerable fertility. In the years immediately preceding its purchase by Mr. English, it had not paid expenses, to say nothing of the interest on the investment, and the for the dairy work, and this was unsatisfactory both to employer and men. No definite system of crop production pro-duction was in use to provide the right proportion of each crop with the proper distribution of labor. The maintenance of fertility was expensive. All these things it was determined to remedy. The first step to be taken was the improvement of the dairy. The performance per-formance of each cow was studied and the unprofitable ones disposed of. The next important step was to increase in-crease the sources of income by growing grow-ing such other crops as the labor necessary nec-essary for the dairy could handle without with-out extra expense, or, in other words, to diversify the farming. The third, but by no means the least important step, was to be the development of a rotation that would improve the soil, furnish the maximum feed for the stock and provide a cash crop. These were taken up and carried out as rapidly as possible. A herd of 50 fairly good cows was purchased with the farm, and at the start dairy products were about the only source of income. Gradually this has been changed, and at present, even though the dairy Is an important part of the farm, attention is given to several lines. A purebred sire was included in the farm purchase. It has been the policy at all times to keep a purebred sire of good quality in the herj. The heifer calves from the best producing cows were grown and tested test-ed out for dairy production, the best being kept and the others discarded. In this way the quality and the producing pro-ducing power of the cows have been constantly increased. The herd today is uniform and able to produce results. Several cows have produced 60 pounds or more of milk a day and have maintained main-tained this record for continuous periods peri-ods of from four to six months. Limiting Factors. Mr. English found that with this method the cows were the limiting factors in the profit. No matter how large the crop or what it was worth in the market, its value was measured entirely by what the cow could mako out of it. If the price of the milk was low, so was the price of the crop. If the cow was a poor one, the price of the crop was still lower. Moreover, there was much time on this farm Youngsters Like These Soon Grow Into In-to Profitable Cows. neighborhood generally prophesied that the former owner wouid get the farm back on the mortgage in a few years. It was even said that there yras a deliberate purpose in selling to Dne who had so little farm experience. Had Little Capital. As can readily be imagined, Mr. English found himself in a rather difficult dif-ficult position when he took possession posses-sion of the farm. He waj practically without farming experience and had very little working capital. He had a |