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VOL. LXV INDIANAPOLIS, NOV. 5, 1910. NO. 45 Written for the Indiana Farmer: THK FUTURE OF AGRICUI/Tl Ki: By J. II. Haynes. I A gentleman said to us: "Fifty years hence our systems of agriculture will be as obsolete as are the methods used fifty years ago. Science and our agricultural schools are revolutionizing the methods. Just see the meth- aials used in our selection of seed corn, etc" We made no response of "yes" or "uo" to his observations but we did do a little thinking. First as to the methods of 50 years ago, we plowed then just as we do now —just as deep and just as well. We cultivated the same way—-kept down weeks with perhaps a little more hard labor. Wi- harvested more wheat and gathered more eorn to the aere than we do now. The same ratio in production was found in all our products, even though agricultural schools did not aid us, and science has since improved machinery. Wbat aliout our agricultural schools? What are they teaching? Agriculture'.' No Wel aster de- lines agriculture as "that species of cultivation whicli i.s intended to raise grain and other tielal crops for man and beast." They are teaching methods of raising stock, fancy and otherwise; that's not "agriculture." They are teaching the combatting of diseases in stock; neither is that "agriculture." They are teaching dairy methods and poultry tactics; neither of which is "agriculture." The very essential things they should teach, they do not teach, and that is the study of the character and condition of our soils and the adapting of those soils to certain crops. What good does their teachings do if we are constantly losing productive power in our soils and having added to our list of worn out soils many other thousand acres every year? With less productive power comes less feeding material and consequent higher prices, because of the inability to put on the market the animals that give our meat supplies. Confronted as we are with these conditions why do not our schools teach the remedy to lift us out uf danger. The Kgyptians, 4,000 years ago, practiced what we would term a crude tystem of agriculture. Yet they fed their millions with ease. There was not apparently much science in their simple modes of planting, cultivating ani harvesting, perhaps they learned the secrets of soil fertility and how to keep it, lessons we stand in need of learning so badly today. The trouble with our agricultural methods is they are a sort of commercial robbery for "revenue only," in taking from our Ian Is all they will yield without paying anything back. How aliout the "seed corn" problem? V.'e. oil larmers. 50 years asn went into the fields before heavy frosts came and selected our seed eorn showing early ripening and other good qualities, and having gathered it we would hang it up on the joists over our rude cabin floors, or in the lofts or garrets above our sitting rooms, and let the smoke brown and fertilize the grain through the winter days and nights. The next season when that seed corn was planted the young blade showed great vitality, and the product of that seed corn ran from 75 to 100 bushels per acre. But it seems the "practice" became obsolete, and now we have "schools" teaching "seed corn" selection. What do "ye old farmers" think of that? farms to the cities not only by the greater attractions of town life but by better pay received there even by unskilled labor. Investigation, however, would hardly seem to bear thi^ out, as the following figures will show. They are furnished by a business man of Indianapolis who is also a farmer, and who has constantly ln his employ- On the Indiana Union Traction Lines. at least $50 per month to equal $30 with the advantages above mentioned. O. S. C. Passenger and Freigh t Station at Kokomo. Good seed corn is all right, but good seed corn badly planted in uncongenial soil is a poor investment. Over about Kokomo the farmer plants good seed corn in alkali soils. In Carroll county numbers of worn out clay land farms still try to produce from 20 to 30 bushels of corn per acre. Something to learn here. What about 50 years hence? Simply this: If present methods of soil robbery continue our fields will be as unproductive as are the hills and valleys of old Xew England, where corn and wheat proaluetions have become obsolete. Every day we see loads of baled straw- en route to the strawboard mill. Those farmers who furnish this straw are "soil robbers." Maybe necessarily so, but more probably not. COUNTRY VERSUS CITY IiABOR. Editors Indiana Parmer: The tide that has been setting from the country to the cities for some years show little signs of abating yet. but as the population becomes more and more congested in the great centers over the country, and the prices of food stuffs soar higher and higher, the limit must sometime be reached and the pendulum swing the other way. The opinion seems to prevail that men are drawn from the both farm and factory hands. In his factory the unskilled labor receive from fifteen to seventeen and one-half cents an hour, or from $33 to $38.50 for four weeks of fifty-five hours each; and this may be taken as the usual wage in the Indianapolis factories and shops for workmen of this elass. It should be added that holidays are deducted from this. On his farm this employer pays $30 per month for the services of a man and his wife, the latter being expected to attend to the butter-making from four cows. She is also afforded the chance of extra work at extra pay if she desires it. Besides the wages they are allowed free milk and a pound of butter each week, house rent, firewood and garden stuff from the general garden. How much these items reduce the necessary cost of living may be judged when it is said that my informant's last man, out of the $3G0 received during the year just past put $200 in bank. How many men In the city at a wage of $1.75 per day can at the end of a twelve-month make that much of a showing? With house-rent at, say $10 a month and every item of food to buy at present prices, to say nothing of sundry extravagances whieh almost inevitably accompany life in the eity. wages there would have to be FARMIXG IX EUROPE. The friend from whose personal letter we quoted some notes of her European tour in the Farmer of August 27, sends us an interesting account of farming as she saw it from the car windows through France and Germany. We quote: < I was pleased to see as we eame into France a few labor-saving machines in the fields. In Germany and Switzerland no such thing did we see, but men and equally as many women working in the broiling sun, while little- groups of children—from babies up— were waiting about until work was done. No one at home evidently to take care of them so they had to go to the fields. In France it is not uncommon to see women working, but not nearly as many, but we saw none of the "cut and bind" kind. France is a vast field of grain, outside the cities. We rode from Paris to Chartres yesterday (50 miles or more) to see a great cathedral and the "fields were white to the harvest" all along the way, and work going on. The country is almost perfectly level and the highways straight and level, a paradise for automobilists. Along the side of the road were heaps of small stones and earth, all ready for use at short notice if roads need repair. Never saw such good roads on the stretch for miles. We could see ahead ten miles of level and excellent road. Of course the scenery was monotonous, but I love to see cultivated ,fields all in such regular shapes, although not a fence anywhere. The country is too dry and oats were small. We saw mountains in Switzerland, grand, grand! No words of mine can describe Switzerland, but the people outside the towns and cities, work so hard to sustain life on the steep mountain sides! The women looked as if life was a sorry matter to them; so thin, gaunt, ill-dressed, old before their time. But we saw no untidy, ill-kept or deserted homes. They are cleanly- good sort of people although dpsper- ately poor. The little clusters of houses way up on the sides of the mountains, away from everything, it was pathetic to think of the lives spent there. Only occasionally could they come down to church or to meet their kind. Now and then in the midst of a village a church spire was seen. But I never can begin to tell anything about Switzerland. Such wonderful engineering displayed in the building of railroads, bridges, tunnels, etc. Nothing seems too hard for man to undertake in these days. In his excellent book on alfalfa F. D. Coburn says that fed alfalfa in reasonable rations of from ten to twenty pounds a day, livery horses may be kept in vigorous thrift with a small additional quantity of grain, and thus a saving be made of twenty to thirty per cent in cost of maintenance. In the alfalfa districts there may be found many liverymen wh'o. having hail experience with alfalfa hay, feed their horses little of anything else. In the last few years there has been a growing demand for alfalfa hay for southern towns and cities.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1910, v. 65, no. 45 (Nov. 5) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA6545 |
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, NOV. 5, 1910. NO. 45 Written for the Indiana Farmer: THK FUTURE OF AGRICUI/Tl Ki: By J. II. Haynes. I A gentleman said to us: "Fifty years hence our systems of agriculture will be as obsolete as are the methods used fifty years ago. Science and our agricultural schools are revolutionizing the methods. Just see the meth- aials used in our selection of seed corn, etc" We made no response of "yes" or "uo" to his observations but we did do a little thinking. First as to the methods of 50 years ago, we plowed then just as we do now —just as deep and just as well. We cultivated the same way—-kept down weeks with perhaps a little more hard labor. Wi- harvested more wheat and gathered more eorn to the aere than we do now. The same ratio in production was found in all our products, even though agricultural schools did not aid us, and science has since improved machinery. Wbat aliout our agricultural schools? What are they teaching? Agriculture'.' No Wel aster de- lines agriculture as "that species of cultivation whicli i.s intended to raise grain and other tielal crops for man and beast." They are teaching methods of raising stock, fancy and otherwise; that's not "agriculture." They are teaching the combatting of diseases in stock; neither is that "agriculture." They are teaching dairy methods and poultry tactics; neither of which is "agriculture." The very essential things they should teach, they do not teach, and that is the study of the character and condition of our soils and the adapting of those soils to certain crops. What good does their teachings do if we are constantly losing productive power in our soils and having added to our list of worn out soils many other thousand acres every year? With less productive power comes less feeding material and consequent higher prices, because of the inability to put on the market the animals that give our meat supplies. Confronted as we are with these conditions why do not our schools teach the remedy to lift us out uf danger. The Kgyptians, 4,000 years ago, practiced what we would term a crude tystem of agriculture. Yet they fed their millions with ease. There was not apparently much science in their simple modes of planting, cultivating ani harvesting, perhaps they learned the secrets of soil fertility and how to keep it, lessons we stand in need of learning so badly today. The trouble with our agricultural methods is they are a sort of commercial robbery for "revenue only," in taking from our Ian Is all they will yield without paying anything back. How aliout the "seed corn" problem? V.'e. oil larmers. 50 years asn went into the fields before heavy frosts came and selected our seed eorn showing early ripening and other good qualities, and having gathered it we would hang it up on the joists over our rude cabin floors, or in the lofts or garrets above our sitting rooms, and let the smoke brown and fertilize the grain through the winter days and nights. The next season when that seed corn was planted the young blade showed great vitality, and the product of that seed corn ran from 75 to 100 bushels per acre. But it seems the "practice" became obsolete, and now we have "schools" teaching "seed corn" selection. What do "ye old farmers" think of that? farms to the cities not only by the greater attractions of town life but by better pay received there even by unskilled labor. Investigation, however, would hardly seem to bear thi^ out, as the following figures will show. They are furnished by a business man of Indianapolis who is also a farmer, and who has constantly ln his employ- On the Indiana Union Traction Lines. at least $50 per month to equal $30 with the advantages above mentioned. O. S. C. Passenger and Freigh t Station at Kokomo. Good seed corn is all right, but good seed corn badly planted in uncongenial soil is a poor investment. Over about Kokomo the farmer plants good seed corn in alkali soils. In Carroll county numbers of worn out clay land farms still try to produce from 20 to 30 bushels of corn per acre. Something to learn here. What about 50 years hence? Simply this: If present methods of soil robbery continue our fields will be as unproductive as are the hills and valleys of old Xew England, where corn and wheat proaluetions have become obsolete. Every day we see loads of baled straw- en route to the strawboard mill. Those farmers who furnish this straw are "soil robbers." Maybe necessarily so, but more probably not. COUNTRY VERSUS CITY IiABOR. Editors Indiana Parmer: The tide that has been setting from the country to the cities for some years show little signs of abating yet. but as the population becomes more and more congested in the great centers over the country, and the prices of food stuffs soar higher and higher, the limit must sometime be reached and the pendulum swing the other way. The opinion seems to prevail that men are drawn from the both farm and factory hands. In his factory the unskilled labor receive from fifteen to seventeen and one-half cents an hour, or from $33 to $38.50 for four weeks of fifty-five hours each; and this may be taken as the usual wage in the Indianapolis factories and shops for workmen of this elass. It should be added that holidays are deducted from this. On his farm this employer pays $30 per month for the services of a man and his wife, the latter being expected to attend to the butter-making from four cows. She is also afforded the chance of extra work at extra pay if she desires it. Besides the wages they are allowed free milk and a pound of butter each week, house rent, firewood and garden stuff from the general garden. How much these items reduce the necessary cost of living may be judged when it is said that my informant's last man, out of the $3G0 received during the year just past put $200 in bank. How many men In the city at a wage of $1.75 per day can at the end of a twelve-month make that much of a showing? With house-rent at, say $10 a month and every item of food to buy at present prices, to say nothing of sundry extravagances whieh almost inevitably accompany life in the eity. wages there would have to be FARMIXG IX EUROPE. The friend from whose personal letter we quoted some notes of her European tour in the Farmer of August 27, sends us an interesting account of farming as she saw it from the car windows through France and Germany. We quote: < I was pleased to see as we eame into France a few labor-saving machines in the fields. In Germany and Switzerland no such thing did we see, but men and equally as many women working in the broiling sun, while little- groups of children—from babies up— were waiting about until work was done. No one at home evidently to take care of them so they had to go to the fields. In France it is not uncommon to see women working, but not nearly as many, but we saw none of the "cut and bind" kind. France is a vast field of grain, outside the cities. We rode from Paris to Chartres yesterday (50 miles or more) to see a great cathedral and the "fields were white to the harvest" all along the way, and work going on. The country is almost perfectly level and the highways straight and level, a paradise for automobilists. Along the side of the road were heaps of small stones and earth, all ready for use at short notice if roads need repair. Never saw such good roads on the stretch for miles. We could see ahead ten miles of level and excellent road. Of course the scenery was monotonous, but I love to see cultivated ,fields all in such regular shapes, although not a fence anywhere. The country is too dry and oats were small. We saw mountains in Switzerland, grand, grand! No words of mine can describe Switzerland, but the people outside the towns and cities, work so hard to sustain life on the steep mountain sides! The women looked as if life was a sorry matter to them; so thin, gaunt, ill-dressed, old before their time. But we saw no untidy, ill-kept or deserted homes. They are cleanly- good sort of people although dpsper- ately poor. The little clusters of houses way up on the sides of the mountains, away from everything, it was pathetic to think of the lives spent there. Only occasionally could they come down to church or to meet their kind. Now and then in the midst of a village a church spire was seen. But I never can begin to tell anything about Switzerland. Such wonderful engineering displayed in the building of railroads, bridges, tunnels, etc. Nothing seems too hard for man to undertake in these days. In his excellent book on alfalfa F. D. Coburn says that fed alfalfa in reasonable rations of from ten to twenty pounds a day, livery horses may be kept in vigorous thrift with a small additional quantity of grain, and thus a saving be made of twenty to thirty per cent in cost of maintenance. In the alfalfa districts there may be found many liverymen wh'o. having hail experience with alfalfa hay, feed their horses little of anything else. In the last few years there has been a growing demand for alfalfa hay for southern towns and cities. |
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