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VOL. LXV INDIANAPOLIS, SEPT. 3, 1910. NO. 36 Written for the Indiana Farmer: FAKM MANAGEMENT. By J. II. Haynes. Farmers are the producers of the wealth of the world, but unfortunately they do not share equally with others in the profits. To a great extent this is their fault. We hear it said jof this or that farmer: '"He ought to be well off for he works 16 hours a day." That brings us to the query whether work or rnanagement is the key to success. We know farmers who might work 24 hours a day and still be poor. Why? Bad management. If the ordinary business men did their work as loosely and carelessly as do many farmers, the business world would be bankrupt. System and order have much to do with success in any undertaking especially that of the farmer. There are more losses due to the ■ lack of management than to crop failures. In fact most crop failures are due to bad management. Failure to make the best use of land ls a very common source of loss. A knowledge of one's soil is necessary to enable one to do this. Corn is planted on uncongenial soil because the owner does not understand the nature of it. Again too much idle land is left untilled each year. This should not be. Every available foot of land should be made to produce some crop except weeds. Fence corners where rail fences are still in use take up quite an acreage over the country, and these strips are producers of weea>- of all classes that furnish the fields with seed. Another source of loss is in the employing of unintelligent help either sts managers or laborers. Rented farms sulfer most from this cause, and these farms as a rule neither pay tenant nor the landlord a just income. As renting farms are on the increase great danger of underproduction arises from this cause. Farm laborers should be as intelligent or more so than any other class of laborers. When a farm once begins to lose its producing powers it is hard to get an intelligent renter to take charge of it, and this leads to a continual going down under bad management. Another fault Is in not keeping label ers constantly employed. If circumstances make it impoassible to do one thing, perhaps there is other work that could be done to good advantage. We nave known farmers and their help to go to town on wet days while many things went undone, that could have been done at such a time. Another source of loss is a failure 'o make the best possible use of lane?. This necessitates the keeping of stock of all classes to use lands that may lie 'die. It also requires the farmer to keep up the fertility of the soil so that it will produce to a good advantage. The care and keeping of this stock will give employment to the help through many hours that otherwise would be wasted. Every farm should have a proportionate amount of stock according to its size for reasons givea further on. There are always unmarketable produce on every farm that would be wasted unless fed to stock or otherwise utilized. The poultry, hogs or cartl^ can proflt by its use. In the way of fruit when not fit f.ir market much of it can be saved in the many ways known to the prudent housewife. We have seen orchards where the ground was covered with decaying fruit because of bad management. One more source of loss to the farmer is a want of proper storing places for his products. If he threshes his grain it is taken to the elevator because bage, onions and other products of tho garden, all of which could have, and should have been produced at home. But the owner could not trifle time away in the garden. We have heard farmers say lt was cheaper to buy their strawberries than to raise them. Perhaps it was in their cases, but one thing is true they never bought them and the family never knew the pleasure of having such luxuries. A well kept fruit and vegetable garden pays a better per cent than any other investment on the farm. Try them if you never have. he has no bins or granery in which to store it. When corn husking time comes around rail pens are built and the corn exposed in it to the weather, to the havoc of rats, etc. One years loss from these sources would build a well protected granery. The implements are too often piled in fence corners, or around straw stacks, and quite often in the field where last used. As a result but few years pass until the implement is consigned to the junk pile while if it had been properly housed, and an occasional coat of paint given it would have been in use for many years. The continual buying of new implements and their future treatment causes immense losses to the farm world. Ignorance in the buying and selling prices of farm commodities causes many losses. True they may be small in single instances, but in the aggregate amount to much. Every farmer should be posted daily of the market prices of each and every product of his farm and in connection with this information he should know the demands of his home market. We know one farmer who had paid off a $5,000 mortgage by a close watch of these things. When home prices did not justify him he shipped his products to markets where the prices would. The knowledge of these things will protect the intelligent farmer against designing tricksters on the markets. A very common source of loss to the farm is the want of a well kept garden and fruit patch. We have had farmers come to us at threshing time for cab- MAINTENANCE* OF EARTH ROADS. By R. M. Dolve, Prof. Farm Mechanics, N. Dak. Agricultural College. In order to make our roads good the greater part of the year a system of continuous maintenance must be adopted. Many have argued that every farmer should keep in repair a certain definite piece of road near his farm but this system, although often productive of a great deal of good, has never been entirely successful. The trouble is that the farmer has too much important private business to atiend to and cannot always give the ~oad his attention when the condition of the road requires tt. Ther too thU system is against the tendency of the times which is for division of labor and intense specialization. The present day farmer is a specialist in the true sense of the word. He no longer concerns himself about the making of his shoes, clothing, tools or other equipment; he no longer worries about the bringing of his mail and the time is coming when he should no longer be bothered about the direct maintenance of his roads. The farmers' mail is brought to .his door and he takes it as a matter of fact, stopping to consider the system which brings it there only when the mail for some reason or other fails to appear. Likewise the ideal system of road maintenance is one by which the roads are kept in repair as automatically but as surely as the delivery of the rural mail. One of the best implements yet devised for repairing roads is the King split log drag or some modification of it which may be made either of wood or steel. The roads should be dragged with this implement as soon after a rain as possible; when the drag squeezes the water out of the soil leaving a smooth layer of puddled soil on the road surface which bakes hard when dry and "sheds water like a duck." The effect of the drag is accumulative in a way very much similar to the application of paint on a building, for the thinner the coats and the greater the number the more lasting is the paint. Every time the drag is used a new layer of puddled soil is smeared on top of the previous one until, after several years of the accumulative effect of dragging, a road crust, consising of a large number of thin layers of puddled soil is formed that will support the heaviest traffic without breaking up. The drag not only keeps tho road smooth and well crowned but also koops the ditches clean so that, if outlets are provided for thom as there should be, water will run away from the roads and the grade thus remains firm. There is a total of seventy-two miles of road in a township but usually less thnn thrty-five are travelled to any extent. In many townships one man and two horses could maintain the roads perfectly throughout the summer months with a road drag. In others two men and four or six horses would be required to do the work when it should be done. This system of maintenance would not be at all prohibitive and it would be found that in old townships where the roads are already graded there would be little use for the road grader. About the only repair that would have to be attended to outside of this system would be the building of bridges and culverts and this could, in time, be almost eliminated if reinforced concrete were used in their construction wherever possible. PROTECT THE TOAD. B. W. Douglass, State Entomologist, in his annual report for 1909 speaks very favorably of the toad. He says: "As a matter of fact the common toad does more to rid our fields anu. gardens of noxious insects than many of the feathered songsters of which we hear so much. But simply that he is ugly—emphatically and most unmistakably us'y—the toad has all manner of defamation and libel heaped upon him. "Early superstitions have charged the toad with about all the vicious qualities possible for one creature to possess. Some of these traditions, however, are of such a nature as to render the toad an individual to be avoided rather than to be sought and killed. But in spite of his ugliness the little animal is about as harmless as any we can find in our woods and fields, and as a destroyer of insects his value has been established beyond a doubt. Ninety-eight per cent of the food of the toad consists of animal matter, and of this the greater part is injurous insects." Mr. Douglass believes that farmers and gardeners should provide suitable places in their gardens and fields where the toad may breed, and that their protection should be encouraged in every way.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1910, v. 65, no. 36 (Sept. 3) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA6536 |
Date of Original | 1910 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-04-08 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | VOL. LXV INDIANAPOLIS, SEPT. 3, 1910. NO. 36 Written for the Indiana Farmer: FAKM MANAGEMENT. By J. II. Haynes. Farmers are the producers of the wealth of the world, but unfortunately they do not share equally with others in the profits. To a great extent this is their fault. We hear it said jof this or that farmer: '"He ought to be well off for he works 16 hours a day." That brings us to the query whether work or rnanagement is the key to success. We know farmers who might work 24 hours a day and still be poor. Why? Bad management. If the ordinary business men did their work as loosely and carelessly as do many farmers, the business world would be bankrupt. System and order have much to do with success in any undertaking especially that of the farmer. There are more losses due to the ■ lack of management than to crop failures. In fact most crop failures are due to bad management. Failure to make the best use of land ls a very common source of loss. A knowledge of one's soil is necessary to enable one to do this. Corn is planted on uncongenial soil because the owner does not understand the nature of it. Again too much idle land is left untilled each year. This should not be. Every available foot of land should be made to produce some crop except weeds. Fence corners where rail fences are still in use take up quite an acreage over the country, and these strips are producers of weea>- of all classes that furnish the fields with seed. Another source of loss is in the employing of unintelligent help either sts managers or laborers. Rented farms sulfer most from this cause, and these farms as a rule neither pay tenant nor the landlord a just income. As renting farms are on the increase great danger of underproduction arises from this cause. Farm laborers should be as intelligent or more so than any other class of laborers. When a farm once begins to lose its producing powers it is hard to get an intelligent renter to take charge of it, and this leads to a continual going down under bad management. Another fault Is in not keeping label ers constantly employed. If circumstances make it impoassible to do one thing, perhaps there is other work that could be done to good advantage. We nave known farmers and their help to go to town on wet days while many things went undone, that could have been done at such a time. Another source of loss is a failure 'o make the best possible use of lane?. This necessitates the keeping of stock of all classes to use lands that may lie 'die. It also requires the farmer to keep up the fertility of the soil so that it will produce to a good advantage. The care and keeping of this stock will give employment to the help through many hours that otherwise would be wasted. Every farm should have a proportionate amount of stock according to its size for reasons givea further on. There are always unmarketable produce on every farm that would be wasted unless fed to stock or otherwise utilized. The poultry, hogs or cartl^ can proflt by its use. In the way of fruit when not fit f.ir market much of it can be saved in the many ways known to the prudent housewife. We have seen orchards where the ground was covered with decaying fruit because of bad management. One more source of loss to the farmer is a want of proper storing places for his products. If he threshes his grain it is taken to the elevator because bage, onions and other products of tho garden, all of which could have, and should have been produced at home. But the owner could not trifle time away in the garden. We have heard farmers say lt was cheaper to buy their strawberries than to raise them. Perhaps it was in their cases, but one thing is true they never bought them and the family never knew the pleasure of having such luxuries. A well kept fruit and vegetable garden pays a better per cent than any other investment on the farm. Try them if you never have. he has no bins or granery in which to store it. When corn husking time comes around rail pens are built and the corn exposed in it to the weather, to the havoc of rats, etc. One years loss from these sources would build a well protected granery. The implements are too often piled in fence corners, or around straw stacks, and quite often in the field where last used. As a result but few years pass until the implement is consigned to the junk pile while if it had been properly housed, and an occasional coat of paint given it would have been in use for many years. The continual buying of new implements and their future treatment causes immense losses to the farm world. Ignorance in the buying and selling prices of farm commodities causes many losses. True they may be small in single instances, but in the aggregate amount to much. Every farmer should be posted daily of the market prices of each and every product of his farm and in connection with this information he should know the demands of his home market. We know one farmer who had paid off a $5,000 mortgage by a close watch of these things. When home prices did not justify him he shipped his products to markets where the prices would. The knowledge of these things will protect the intelligent farmer against designing tricksters on the markets. A very common source of loss to the farm is the want of a well kept garden and fruit patch. We have had farmers come to us at threshing time for cab- MAINTENANCE* OF EARTH ROADS. By R. M. Dolve, Prof. Farm Mechanics, N. Dak. Agricultural College. In order to make our roads good the greater part of the year a system of continuous maintenance must be adopted. Many have argued that every farmer should keep in repair a certain definite piece of road near his farm but this system, although often productive of a great deal of good, has never been entirely successful. The trouble is that the farmer has too much important private business to atiend to and cannot always give the ~oad his attention when the condition of the road requires tt. Ther too thU system is against the tendency of the times which is for division of labor and intense specialization. The present day farmer is a specialist in the true sense of the word. He no longer concerns himself about the making of his shoes, clothing, tools or other equipment; he no longer worries about the bringing of his mail and the time is coming when he should no longer be bothered about the direct maintenance of his roads. The farmers' mail is brought to .his door and he takes it as a matter of fact, stopping to consider the system which brings it there only when the mail for some reason or other fails to appear. Likewise the ideal system of road maintenance is one by which the roads are kept in repair as automatically but as surely as the delivery of the rural mail. One of the best implements yet devised for repairing roads is the King split log drag or some modification of it which may be made either of wood or steel. The roads should be dragged with this implement as soon after a rain as possible; when the drag squeezes the water out of the soil leaving a smooth layer of puddled soil on the road surface which bakes hard when dry and "sheds water like a duck." The effect of the drag is accumulative in a way very much similar to the application of paint on a building, for the thinner the coats and the greater the number the more lasting is the paint. Every time the drag is used a new layer of puddled soil is smeared on top of the previous one until, after several years of the accumulative effect of dragging, a road crust, consising of a large number of thin layers of puddled soil is formed that will support the heaviest traffic without breaking up. The drag not only keeps tho road smooth and well crowned but also koops the ditches clean so that, if outlets are provided for thom as there should be, water will run away from the roads and the grade thus remains firm. There is a total of seventy-two miles of road in a township but usually less thnn thrty-five are travelled to any extent. In many townships one man and two horses could maintain the roads perfectly throughout the summer months with a road drag. In others two men and four or six horses would be required to do the work when it should be done. This system of maintenance would not be at all prohibitive and it would be found that in old townships where the roads are already graded there would be little use for the road grader. About the only repair that would have to be attended to outside of this system would be the building of bridges and culverts and this could, in time, be almost eliminated if reinforced concrete were used in their construction wherever possible. PROTECT THE TOAD. B. W. Douglass, State Entomologist, in his annual report for 1909 speaks very favorably of the toad. He says: "As a matter of fact the common toad does more to rid our fields anu. gardens of noxious insects than many of the feathered songsters of which we hear so much. But simply that he is ugly—emphatically and most unmistakably us'y—the toad has all manner of defamation and libel heaped upon him. "Early superstitions have charged the toad with about all the vicious qualities possible for one creature to possess. Some of these traditions, however, are of such a nature as to render the toad an individual to be avoided rather than to be sought and killed. But in spite of his ugliness the little animal is about as harmless as any we can find in our woods and fields, and as a destroyer of insects his value has been established beyond a doubt. Ninety-eight per cent of the food of the toad consists of animal matter, and of this the greater part is injurous insects." Mr. Douglass believes that farmers and gardeners should provide suitable places in their gardens and fields where the toad may breed, and that their protection should be encouraged in every way. |
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