70L. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 27, 1907.
NO. 30
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FARM SPECIALTIES.
A Source of Pleasure.
1st Premium.—On account of scarcity
of farm help (not being able to secure outside help, and having no sons of my own
old enough to help), I have never had experience of my own in raising a specialty
in conection with general farming but
have witnessed the success of some of my
friends and neighbors who have specialties. Some of them are keeping pure bred
poultry, hatching with incubators and
raising with brooders. They make a nice
profit on their broilers, besides supplying
orders for eggs for hatching and selling
year old chickens for a handsome price.
Others are keeping registered Jersey cattle. One neighbor has both pure bred cattle and Poland China hogs. He not only
profits from the sales of his stock but also
attends several fairs each season and always wins a good portion of the premiums.
Another has registered Berkshire hogs
and has been well pleased with Bales made
and ribbons taken at the fairs. Still another has sheep, and thinks they are more
profitable than hogs or cattle.
But, getting off of the poultry and cattle
subject, we ea_ find several that have
been growing fruit as a specialty and they
too have been well payed for their trouble.
One man of my acquaintance is the proud
originator of a famous peach. All the
people in several counties are singing its
praises and trying to buy that especial
kind every year. Another man makes
seed corn a specialty and can give good information to any one on the subject. Another acquaintance makes a specialty of
hot bed and cold frame plants, and finds it
pleasant as well as a paying work. The
neighbors are also made glad by it early
ic the spring as they can buy plants of him
as early as the ground will do to set them
out, and the plants are always thrifty and
of the best varieties.
It pays to have a specialty in connection with general farming, if situation and
circumstances will permit It is better for
the farmer to have a hobby. He then
has something that gives him greater
pleasure in his work and elevates his
mind. It is also well to let the boys and
young men on the farm produce some
specialty, as it will interest them more in
the farm and help them there when they
come to choose their own occupation for
life. Farmer.
Depends on Circumstances.
2d Premium.—It has been said that this
in an age of specialists. We notice the
tendency to specialize in nearly all lines
of action. This is especially true in the
professions. In the law we find the
criminal lawyer, another is versed in international law, while another is authority
on civil law. In medicine we find the
specialist for the eye, another for the ear,
another perhaps for pulmonary or heart
diseases. It is believed that he who
makes a specialty of any one line may become proficient and secure better results
than one whose efforts are more diverse.
We see this fact emphasized in factories,
packing houses and in the large mercantile
etsablishments. No one attempts to learn
the details of the whole business. Each
has his part, and when his efforts are confined to his own department, he can, without doubt accomplish more than when a
large  part  of  his   time  is   consumed   in
doing something nf which his understanding is  limited.
Farming, perhaps, admits of less specializing than most any other busiiress. To
be a successful farmer it is necessary to
have au understanding, in some degree,
of botany, horticulture, ehemsitry, soil
fertility, live stock, poultry, marketing,
etc. It    should  be    the aim of    every
farmer to be as near self-supporting as
possible and to buy nothing whieh he can
profitably produce. To do this he must
have bread, meat a good garden, butter,
eggs, milk, fruit, etc., and for the stock
there must be corn,    oats, hay and  pas-
good   results on  clover sod. While  the
price fluctuate! to a considerable extent,
on an average we have found this a profitable crop. Clover and potatoes ig a
specialty which might well receive mm h
more attention than at present.
We believe there are but few who determine their specialty in advance, but
having met with more marked success in
some one line they increase their efforts in
that direction until the less profitable
crops are dropped, and thus the specialty
is established. It would seem that a
better course could hardly be pursued. It
is impossible for one to choose for another,
Farm Home of Geo. C.  Peed, Gibson County.
ture. Above these requirements he should
raise such crops as are most profitable,
and this depends greatly on the man, the
nature of the farm and its location. Near
a large city, truck, fruit, dairying and
poultry are much more profitable than
general farming, but it would not be good
policy to make a specialty of these where
the demand is limited or market facilities
lacking. And there are farms that are
adapted to but little else than stock raising. To attempt to raise grain on such a
farm is to invite defeat. On the other
hand one, who has no love for stock is not
likely to succeed in stock raising. We
often hear a man say he has no luck with
horses, hogs or sheep, that he makes
more money in some other line. It is
our belief that luck plays a very insignificant part in the matter. It is adaptability and love for some certain employment that insures success. Wucre Uie
heart is there the best efforts are put
forth. It is this adaptability and the
adaptability of the farms, together with
its location, that should determine the
specialty, and .when this is discovered
pcrserverance will usually bring success.
A couple of our neighbors make a specialty of stock raising, and are making
money, while we have made more of a
specialty of raising potatoes, cabbage and
tomatoes, and have met with good results. However, it is our good fortune
to be situated near a large canning factory where there is a demand for cabbage
and tomatoes. We believe that more
farmers might profitably make a business
of raising potatoes.        We always  have
but each must be governed by local conditions and determine the specialty for himself. Subscriber.
Qood Illustration.
3d Premium.—Some people think there
is no value in raising a specialty in connection with general farming. The
value received is owing altogether to the
crop raised and amount of care needed to
dispose of it. If it is a crop that does
not require so very much time until after
all the rush work is done it ean be made
a profitable one.
liaising sweet corn is a side line which
can be taken care of in such a way that it
will pay. It can be planted about a
week before the field corn, and by the
time the field corn is laid by it is ready
to   harvest. It   does   not   require     as
long a time to mature as the field corn,
therefore it can be planted to come in at
the most convenient time. It requires
from six to eight weeks until it is in the
milk, and that is when it is ready to market. By pressing the thumb into the
grain you can determine when it is ripe,
as the milk will fly from it. Sweet corn
should be planted in rows 3 feet C inches
apart, and can be drilled in with a corn
planter, dropping a grain every six or
eight inches. It can be sowed on one
side of the corn field, and cultivated in
the same way and at the same time, and
in this way it does not require much extra labor. We find it best to plant from
% to y_ acre every four days, for three or
four plantings, so we can have new corn
coming into maturity as  the old is sold
off. From % to 1% acres will be sufficient to keep one man busy, if attended to
properly.
When the grains are filled out it can
be gathered in evenings, removing the
outside husk, and throwing loose in a
wagon box. An early morning start will
give a chance to get to the market and
back in time for other work. By getting
the contract for supplying several stores
one can make this branch of work pay
many times more per acre than the raising
of field corn. Sweet corn is generally
worth from 5 to 10 cents per dozen, owing to the time of season. All that is
necessary to make it a success is a fairly
well manured piece of ground which is
well drained and suitable for other corn.
When the cron of soft corn is sold there
generally remains some ears which become
hard. This along with the stalks can be
fed to the cattle and hogs, thus using it
for both a soiling and corn crop, although
the stalks may have died or dried up a little. The use of the fodder for feeding
purposes pays for the other trouble, and
the roasting ears are clear profit.
J. L. J.
No. 595, Aug. 3.—Does it pay the individual farmer to experiment in a limited
way?      Give illustrations.
No. 590, Aug. 10.—Tell how to increase
the productions of an old orchard, by
fertilizing and otherwise.
No. 597, Aug. 17.—State the fine points
about seeding wheat—things that are apt
to be overlooked or neglected.
Premiums, of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the best, second and third
best articles for the Experiment Department each week. Manuscript should be
sent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should be sent one week before
date of publication.
OUR FOREST LANDS.
Gifford Pinchot, tJ. S. Forester, gives
the following information in a recent circular:
"The forest lands of the United States
are owned in three separate ways: First,
by the Government of the United States,
to which belongs the National Forests;
second, by some of the States; and third,
by private owners—individuals, companies, or institutions. The private forest
lands exceed in area those of the States
and the Federal Government combined,
and their preservation in a condition to
produce timber and to conserve the water
supply is of vast importance to the nation. The treatment which they usually
receive tends to destroy their value rather
than to sustain or increase it. The reason is evident. Like other private property, these lands are held for the returns
they yield; and the owners have only begun to understand that it pays better, as
a rule, to protect a forest in harvesting
the timber crop than to destroy it. The
forest Service, therefore, offers practical
assistance to private owners in devising
definite plans for the proper care and
management of their forest lands, in order that the lands may be kept permanently and increasingly productive.
The lands are mainly of two kinds-
small holdings, for the most part farmers'
woodlots, and large timber tracts."
There is enough back-breaking work to
do without using the scoop shovel to unload grain. Put in a portable dump elevator. The team will do the rest, and it
will take only a few minutes to crib a
big load of corn.