Show EVERY department OF FARM MUST dr BE WELL WELI ORGANIZED ORGANIZE 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 it on basis of his own conditions by G H AIFORD AI FORD mile agent ll aryland the purpose of this article la Is to emphasize the following facts it is not enough to baiso 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 that maximum yields fields are obtained at the lowest cost to farm successfully every department must be well organized and must be coordinated with tho the others labor must be fully employed capital must be well cutill d both quantity and quality of 0 products must be secured and the products must bo be well marketed all these things come as the result sult of 0 close Itt dUent lon to and a detailed know knowledg leg ot of the business the reasons acason rc ason and at the same time the ilie tor for recounting the experiences perien perit rices ces anil ani the methods ot of vidual farmer however successful he may be lira iles in the fact act that a definite illustration 1 brings out the underlying PItH yost most clearly and effectively to mor mol practical men the concrete appeals bore strongly than the ab especially Is this true in the teaching ot of better farm management it Is a comparatively new method of attacking farm problems which la Is not yet clearly dell defined ned it Is because mr L J english Engli sli of 0 bing jammin jam aam tin tn N Y has worked out apron liable solution of 0 farm problems in his regon creglon that hla hl success to worthy of tel telling aing and 0 of reading had no ao experience mr english purchased the farm in 1897 he had no previous farm ex experience ri to aid him in starting the enter prise pries ills his new possession consisted of acres ot of land more or less with good buildings and all the stock machinery and other equipment then in an the farm arm the stock consisted of 0 three horses 60 50 cows 12 head of cattle and a few chickens the ordinary equipment was left on the place together with some hay grain and roughage about 90 acres of 0 the tann farm U e in the broad level valley the remainder being on a slope too steep for or cultivation and on the top of a hill nearly feet above the valley about 30 acres of quite level and easily tillable land are on the hilltop hlll top hut but it Is difficult of access for this entire property was paid in cash and as a mortgage the land and buildings were valued at and the stock and other movable equipment at the former owner had been in possession of the farm tor for 67 years it had been profitable 30 or 40 years before and had bad been recognized as 9 a farm of considerable fertility in the years immediately preceding its purchase by mr english it had not paid expenses to say nothing of 0 the interest on the investment and the e 14 j I 1 youngsters like these soon grow I 1 into p profitable cows neighborhood generally prophesied that the former owner would get tho farm arm back on the mortgager mortgage iu in a few years it was even said that there thera was a deliberate purpose in selling to one who had so little farm experience had little capital As can readily be imagined mr english found himself in a rather difficult H cault position when he took posses oton alon of the farm he was practically without farming experience and had very little working work lne capital he had a rugged constitution however and had been brought up on hard bard work so BO that he was not afraid ot of it IL to the college and the agricultural press and especially to the personal help and interest of 0 one college professor he ascribes 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 he had observed that rapid progress was bellig made in every line ol of industry but agriculture and ho he took a new interest in everything pertaining 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 mal mailing ing a good profit others were causing a daily loss the fertility of the soil was maintained by the use of manure alone and this went to produce teed feed crops for the cattle very little hay was sold there was no systematic plan of 0 crop production or rotation or definite method ot of soil improvement system had faults such a system had several faults fault S the correction of which was early recognized as essential to success unprofitable cows were destroying the profit of the better ones the limitation of the income to practically one source put upon that factor the entire burden ot of the farm expenses labor was wa poorly distributed and was of necessity frequently employed on unproductive enterprises in order to hold it 7 0 o e 1 V I 1 X ir I 1 X I 1 1 1 tv tl 5 A wg ayt AY t i ic R V V T cows make the farm more profitable for the dairy work and this was unsatisfactory both to employer and men no definite system of 0 crop production was iw in use to provide the right proportion ot 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 tha improvement of the dairy the performance for mance of each cow was studied and the unprofitable ones disposed of the next important step was to increase the sources of income by growing such crops as the labor necessary tor for the dairy could handle without extra expense or in other words to diversity 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 teed feed tor for the stock and provide a cash crop these were taken up and carried out as rapidly as possible A herd of GO CO fairly good cows was purchased with the farm and at the start dairy products were about the only source of 0 income gradually this has been changed and at present even though the dairy is an aa important part of 0 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 herd the heifer calves from the best producing cows were grown and tested out tor for dairy production the best being kept and the others discarded in this way the quality and the producing of the cows have been constantly cons bantly increased the herd today toda y Is uniform and able to produce results several cows have produced 60 pounds or more of milk a day and have maintained this record for continuous periods of from tour four to six months limiting factors sir 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 make out of it it if the price of the milk was low so BO was tho the price of the crop it if the cow was waa a poor one the price ot of the crop was still lower moreover there was much time on this farm the labor wan not hilly fully nna anu pius pio stably employed the distribution ot 04 labor was wab so BO poor that that the tin men could not be given give steady employment by the year and some di difficulty cu y was experienced perien ced in getting satisfactory labor so this farmer wanted to add to his income without cutting down the in come com efrom 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 binghamton it was found that an average of from 10 to 20 tons of beets could be raised per acre which brought 5 per ton tom an average income of at least 75 per aern could thus bo be obtained besides baang as many tops as there were beets sold these were of 0 considerable value as s P succulent teed feed for the cows potatoes were next the next crop tried was potatoes and it proved to be so good a money 77 4 X A mans greatest benefactor the cow she pays debts and saves home maker that it Is now an annual crop irish cobbler was the variety grown and with good culture to bush eo per acre were produced annually As many as an 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 i a dinall but profitable direct market marke t 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 bay early taught mr air english the lesson which so many farmers are now learning 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 if Is a simple economic proposition to decide which is cheapest home grown or purchased grain mr english figured that he could raise enough sweet corn potatoes 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 ills his average crop of clover Is about three tons per acre and several era I 1 times he has cut five tons per acre in two cuttings not only does it yield practically as well as alfalfa under his conditions but it is regarded as aa equally valuable as a feed tor for cattle for such he insists that the clover must be cut earlier than Is the custom he alms aims to cut it before much bloom appears despite the lower 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 the cows on the farm receive a good teed feed of silage and all the clover hay they can consume noteworthy farming this facility of adapting his farming in to the conditions of the season and the markets Is one of the things which makes the farming of mr english so noteworthy in this rotation as now practiced commercial fertilizer Is used on potatoes only from to pounds of a fertilizer containing 4 per cent of nitrogen 6 per cent of phosphoric acid and 10 per cent potash la is almost always used being applied with a potato planter tests testa 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 to pounds of hydrated ume lime this form is used because it Is easiest to apply though its first cost is higher than other forms is applied 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 every cow in the dairy is now a profitable one all ali the boarders have been dropped without materially increasing the expenses of the farm the income has been practically doubled by supplemented receipts from the dairy and by cash crops tor for the city markets especially potatoes while the income from the dairy has been increased the expenses have bave been reduced by growing a larger part ot of the rations on tho the farm succulent feeds and feeds high in protein have made this possible especially corn tor for silage and clover hay j |