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Show WISCONSIN TEACHER IS FARMING 40-ACRE PLOT WITH MUCH SUCCESS To Succeed Farmer Must Enjoy His Work So That It Becomes Pleasure Instead of Task StDdy Each Field and Know Its Weaknesses and Possibilities Secure Good Returns From Alfalfa Try to Make Each Cow Comfortable. (By G. H. ALFORD, State Demonstration Agent, Maryland.) In 'Walwortli county, Wisconsin, a man who taught school tor 23 years, is farming a 40-acre farm with wonderful won-derful success. F. F. Showers is this money-making teacher-farmer. He has a herd of cows that made him a net profit of $72 a head in a year. Read his suggestions and story: "If you are thinking of Joining the union so you will have but an eight or ten-hour working day, do not think of trying to operate a small rarm. To succeed suc-ceed in farming you must bo enjoy your work that it becomes a pleasure Instead of a trsk. "In fact, success in farming depends upon the man who runs the farm. For If he thinks enough of his problem he will succeed no matter what lines of farming he may pursue. Love and en-Joy en-Joy your work. Study each of your fields to know its weaknesses and its possibilities. Harvest your crops so that you will receive the largest return re-turn from them. Give your herd a chance. Produce, care for, and raise only the best. Study Each Field. "I study each field so that I know what crop it will produce to best advantage. ad-vantage. A farmer can do this on the small fields. The farmer on the small farm must utilize all the corners of the farm. The returns from some fields on a small farm will be equal to the wastes upon many large farms. and 25 pounds of barley to the acre. Because of the thorough preparation of the seed bed the barley yielded 40 bushels to the acre. "Upon this field last year eight tons of alfalfa hay were cut from every acre. My profit was $98.40 an acre, after deducting the interest on the land at $200 an acre, the taxes, the cost of plowing, disking, planting, fertilizing, and liming, besides the expense of cutting, cut-ting, tedding, raking, cocking, capping, shaking out, and hauling the hay. "In curing alfalfa to get the largest larg-est return I cut the hay as soon as the dew is off in the morning and start tedding so that I can cock and cap the hay in the afternoon. About three o'clock the alfalfa is raked into windrows, wind-rows, carefully cocked (not tumbled) and then capped. I leave the hay in the cocks from eight to ten days, de pending on the weather. (If necessary neces-sary to leave the hay in cook for several sev-eral days the cocks should be moved about so as not to kill or weaken tha plants under them.) Then the cocks are opened up, but not scattered out, and the hay placed in layers so that the leaves do not become brittle and rattle off. An hour or two later I begin be-gin putting the hay in the mow. It is surprising how the alfalfa retains its color until it is thrown out of the mow in the following summer. Business Principles. "I try to run my farm as the best business men run their businesses. Grace Waterloo, Prize Cow on Showers' Farm. "If my soil is acid, I use lime. If my field is wet or poorly drained, I tile it. A farmer can fertilize the field, plow it, prepare the seed bed as it should be prepared and get the soil In the best condition for plant food and the maintenance of the moisture. "The farmer on a small farm must raise crops which are best adapted for his soil and from which the best returns in milk, pork, beef, or whatever what-ever you have to market, can be secured. se-cured. Often the surplus roughage or hay can be sold and feeds bought which will produce more milk or meat than this hay or roughage would have done. "I found that I could grow alfalfa on my farm and get good returns. I made a study of the plant, found that it needed a well-drained soil, and that it required a well-prepared seedbed. I knew that I had a well-drained soil and that It was necessary for me to supply the seed bed. The farmers who drove past, stared at me when I harrowed har-rowed and harrowed the field I war preparing for alfalfa. I went over the ground eleven times until it was as mellow as a well-worked garden. Inoculated Alfalfa FielJ. "Sweet clover was growing three or four feet high along the roadside, so I Most business men would not feed their cows hay just because it happened hap-pened to be on hand if he could sell that hay and buy other feed which would produce more milk. Last year I sold $300 worth of alfalfa and purchased pur-chased feed valued at $296.95. I did this so I could have a balanced ration, and I know my cows like a change in feed. "I try to make each cow as comfortable comfort-able as possible. I give her soft bedding, bed-ding, curry her, and speak to her kindly. kind-ly. I find that these increase the divt dend from my milk pails. "I make a difference in the amount of feed I give to a cow weighing 1,000 pounds and one weighing 1,200 pounds. Reason shows me that although the larger cow may not produce the largest larg-est amount of butterfat, more feed is required for her maintenance. This food, of course, will vary from the kind of food fed for butterfat. I think that the secret of success or failure in the dairy business lies in the worib of the individual cow. "I know it is possible and profitable profit-able to have one head of stock on each acre. My silo and alfalfa fields have helped me to unlock the secret of money-making on the small farm." A few acres well tilled often yield I is -c -A v - J I j.f . ' , : Feeding Time Among Poultry Flock. inoculated my alfalfa field with the soil in which the clover had been growing. grow-ing. The stand did not satisfy me, so that when I planted my second field I fertilized the field before plowing It In the fall, iisking and harrowing in the spring. "My first field yielded five tons to the acre, but it did not satisfy me. I bought a lime sower and ground limestone, lime-stone, and inoculated the soil from the old field at the rate of 500 pounds of soil to- 2,000 pounds of ground limestone. lime-stone. I sowed 20 pounds of alfalfa vastly more pleasure and profit than do larger but less carefully managed farms. A silo is one of the most essential things on the farm. You may think you can't afford a silo, but you can't afford to be without one. A silo should be a part of the permanent improvements improve-ments on every farm. There is no doubt as to its advantages. It is absolutely ab-solutely essential for the economical feeding of live stock, and especially for the profitable production of milk and beef. |