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VOL. LXVI INDIANAPOLIS, OOT. 7, 1911. NO. 40 IMPORTANT POINTS IN FARMING. SOME THINGS AFFECTING CROP YIELDS. By H. E: Mern. Planting a crop is more or less of a gamble. You wager the cost of planting, caring for, and harvesting the crop that it will be worth more than the cost. Whether you win or not depends on a number of things. Usually you do win, but not always. Why? Possibly there was something which you oould not, or at least did not take into account in raising your crop. This aliscussion will be devoted to a few of the factors which affect crop yields. For our purpose we have selected the following five topics: the seed, pests and diseases, the weather, plant food and water. The Best Seed. It is but a truism to say \wt th« R4>ed should be of the best. Men have said [hat for ages. How many of them, though, have made it a practice to plant only the best seed? How many, in fact, know what "best" seed is. Two things are required of "best" seed. First, it must grow vigorously; and secondly, it must be of the variety and strain which does best in its locality. Much of the recent improvement in corn cultural practice has been along this line. Who can measure the value to Indiana of the germinating box? It takes care of the first requirement for "best" seed because only that is planted which has shown that it will grow vigorously. It does not take care of the second requirement. A field trial is the only means of doing that. What is true of corn in this respect is true of wheat, except that the germinating box cannot be used as with corn. A great many unproductive strains of wheat are sown every year in Indiana; and, to addition, a great deal of the wheat ls 'loomed before it is sown. Some of the grains are shriveled and weak, some are light, some are infected with disease; and it often happens that the good .heavy grains which produce the strong, productive stalks are in the minority rather than in the majority. Are these conditions necessary? No and yes. The shrivelled, small and 'Kht grains can be screened and fan- *d out; and some of the diseases may j* controlled by treatment with forma- "• but as yet tlfcre is no satisfactory ^■eatment for some of the wheat dis- ases. When we consider clover seed, * have a case where there is even less chance for control of jonditions. The overs as yet are not so much divided 0 Varieties and strains as are other Ps- Here ls a chance for some one ° do some good work by specializing me strain of clover for a special pur- *•» or a special locality. Such work is going to lead to better returns. The problem of getting the best seed to sow is a large one with any crop, and it is scarcely possible to give it too much attention. Insects and Fungus Disease. With many crops, however, the problem of insect pests and fungus diseases Is of equal or .greater importance than that of the seed. This, of course, is especially true of the fruits, -which ing the latter part of the period of growth. Late frosts and early frosts annually do damage to crops, and sometimes this damage is of great importance. Every year there is a large loss due to drouth. To greenhouse men, an insufficiency of light may even be of importance. A number of other Instances of the effect of the weather on crop yields might easily be cited, but these mentioned are enough for our purpose here. The point is Devil's Tea Table, near Worthington, Ind.; photographed by Herman Hayden. are particularly susceptible to their attacks and are not raised directly from seed. Even with the cereals, however, the influence is very great. The cutworms, white grubs, corn ear worm, wire worms, and the smut have lost many men a .great deal of money on the corn crop; while the Hessian fly, the joint worm, the rusts, smuts, and other diseases have cut many a wheat yield far short of its possibilities. What can be done? Most of the fruit pests and diseases can be controlled by spraying; some of the insects affecting field crops can be avoided; and some of the fungus diseases can be held In check by seed treatment; but for the most part, the grower of field crops is pretty much at the mercy of these hindrances. In the future we may reasonably expect investigators to find some practical remedy for many or all of those diseases over which we now have no control. Weather and Quality of Crops. The weather is a third factor which has a great deal to do with crop yields and with the quality of the products. Every one knows that warm weather and an abundance of water are of great importance to the corn crop. The quality and yield of wheat depend very largely on the weather, the hardest, best milling wheat being produced when the weather is hot and dry, dur- that the weather is one of the determining factors in crop yields and that it must be taken pretty largely as it comes. Fruit and garden crops can often be protected from frosts, and the effects of dry weather can be partially overcome with some crops by thorough tillage, but many crops cannot be tilled. It is our personal conviction that irrigation is destined to become very generally the practice in humid sections during periods of dry weather. UntU then, we must remain largely dependent on the weather, the rainfall in particular. Soil and Plant Food. Another factor which deserves our attention is the productivity of the soil. By productivity we mean that characteristic, whatever it is, by which one soil will produce under identical conditions larger yields than will another. The productivity of soils was long attributed to the plant food in the soil, but more recent researches show that many other things are concerned also. One group of men, led by Milton Whitney, of the Department of Agriculture, now maintain that there is enough plant food in any ordinary soil to stand continuous cropping for an indefinite, long period of time; and that, therefore, the cause of a lack of productivity must be- Idolced for elsewhere. They claim that the roots of a plant secrete a substance which ls harmful, poisonous in fact, to that plant and sometimes to other plants. This is given as the reason why continuous cropping leads to low yields. Another group of men, headed by Cyril G. Hopkins of the University of Illinois, champion the old idea that the essential cause of unproductiveness in a soil Is a lack of plant food, usually phosphoric acid, potash, or nitrogen. It is yet an unsettled question as to who is right or whether either is right. Neither theory seems to account for all the facts in the case. Whatever may be the cause of unproductiveness we need not worry about it. because we know that tf we keep a liberal supply of plant food in the soil, keep up practice good, clean cul- tivaion, with rotation of the humus content, and crops, the productivity of the soil will be high. The Water Supply. In all probability there ls no one factor so potent in determining crop yields as is the water supply. This has already been touched on in connection with one or two other points, but its importance is so great as to merit separate discussion. We can realize the necessity of a very large water supply when we consider that on irrigated lands the yield is regular, uniform, and very large, and that a plant uses from 300 to 500 pounds of water in producing one pounds of dry matter. Now, the amount of water which a soil will deliver to a plant depends on ahe amount that it will absorb and the ease and completeness with which it will give it up. A sandy soil absorbs comparatively littla water but delivers that little more freely and completely than any other type of soil. A clay soil stands at the opposite extreme, while a loam comes in between. A heavy loam or a clay soil when flocculated; i. e., when the very flne soil particles are cemented into larger ones, partakes somewhat of the nature both of clay and of sandy soils. It will give up v/ater more readily than the dense clay and will absorb more than the light sandy soil. This fact helps to explain the beneficial effect of lime in many instances. It flocculates the clay. Tile Drainage and Cultivation. Crops may be injured by too much water or by too little. If the former be the case, the remedy, of course, is drainage; and in many cases this must be tile drainage. Paradoxical as it may seem, tile drainage often lessens the damage due to drouth. A patch which is boggy in spring often becomes dry in summer. Plants cannot root deeply in the boggy soil, and when the water level sinks in summer, they a.re left high and dry. Tiling lowers the water level in the spring, the plants root deeply, and so have a larger store of water at their disposal during the
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1911, v. 66, no. 40 (Oct. 7) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA6640 |
Date of Original | 1911 |
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 | 2011-04-12 |
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. LXVI INDIANAPOLIS, OOT. 7, 1911. NO. 40 IMPORTANT POINTS IN FARMING. SOME THINGS AFFECTING CROP YIELDS. By H. E: Mern. Planting a crop is more or less of a gamble. You wager the cost of planting, caring for, and harvesting the crop that it will be worth more than the cost. Whether you win or not depends on a number of things. Usually you do win, but not always. Why? Possibly there was something which you oould not, or at least did not take into account in raising your crop. This aliscussion will be devoted to a few of the factors which affect crop yields. For our purpose we have selected the following five topics: the seed, pests and diseases, the weather, plant food and water. The Best Seed. It is but a truism to say \wt th« R4>ed should be of the best. Men have said [hat for ages. How many of them, though, have made it a practice to plant only the best seed? How many, in fact, know what "best" seed is. Two things are required of "best" seed. First, it must grow vigorously; and secondly, it must be of the variety and strain which does best in its locality. Much of the recent improvement in corn cultural practice has been along this line. Who can measure the value to Indiana of the germinating box? It takes care of the first requirement for "best" seed because only that is planted which has shown that it will grow vigorously. It does not take care of the second requirement. A field trial is the only means of doing that. What is true of corn in this respect is true of wheat, except that the germinating box cannot be used as with corn. A great many unproductive strains of wheat are sown every year in Indiana; and, to addition, a great deal of the wheat ls 'loomed before it is sown. Some of the grains are shriveled and weak, some are light, some are infected with disease; and it often happens that the good .heavy grains which produce the strong, productive stalks are in the minority rather than in the majority. Are these conditions necessary? No and yes. The shrivelled, small and 'Kht grains can be screened and fan- *d out; and some of the diseases may j* controlled by treatment with forma- "• but as yet tlfcre is no satisfactory ^■eatment for some of the wheat dis- ases. When we consider clover seed, * have a case where there is even less chance for control of jonditions. The overs as yet are not so much divided 0 Varieties and strains as are other Ps- Here ls a chance for some one ° do some good work by specializing me strain of clover for a special pur- *•» or a special locality. Such work is going to lead to better returns. The problem of getting the best seed to sow is a large one with any crop, and it is scarcely possible to give it too much attention. Insects and Fungus Disease. With many crops, however, the problem of insect pests and fungus diseases Is of equal or .greater importance than that of the seed. This, of course, is especially true of the fruits, -which ing the latter part of the period of growth. Late frosts and early frosts annually do damage to crops, and sometimes this damage is of great importance. Every year there is a large loss due to drouth. To greenhouse men, an insufficiency of light may even be of importance. A number of other Instances of the effect of the weather on crop yields might easily be cited, but these mentioned are enough for our purpose here. The point is Devil's Tea Table, near Worthington, Ind.; photographed by Herman Hayden. are particularly susceptible to their attacks and are not raised directly from seed. Even with the cereals, however, the influence is very great. The cutworms, white grubs, corn ear worm, wire worms, and the smut have lost many men a .great deal of money on the corn crop; while the Hessian fly, the joint worm, the rusts, smuts, and other diseases have cut many a wheat yield far short of its possibilities. What can be done? Most of the fruit pests and diseases can be controlled by spraying; some of the insects affecting field crops can be avoided; and some of the fungus diseases can be held In check by seed treatment; but for the most part, the grower of field crops is pretty much at the mercy of these hindrances. In the future we may reasonably expect investigators to find some practical remedy for many or all of those diseases over which we now have no control. Weather and Quality of Crops. The weather is a third factor which has a great deal to do with crop yields and with the quality of the products. Every one knows that warm weather and an abundance of water are of great importance to the corn crop. The quality and yield of wheat depend very largely on the weather, the hardest, best milling wheat being produced when the weather is hot and dry, dur- that the weather is one of the determining factors in crop yields and that it must be taken pretty largely as it comes. Fruit and garden crops can often be protected from frosts, and the effects of dry weather can be partially overcome with some crops by thorough tillage, but many crops cannot be tilled. It is our personal conviction that irrigation is destined to become very generally the practice in humid sections during periods of dry weather. UntU then, we must remain largely dependent on the weather, the rainfall in particular. Soil and Plant Food. Another factor which deserves our attention is the productivity of the soil. By productivity we mean that characteristic, whatever it is, by which one soil will produce under identical conditions larger yields than will another. The productivity of soils was long attributed to the plant food in the soil, but more recent researches show that many other things are concerned also. One group of men, led by Milton Whitney, of the Department of Agriculture, now maintain that there is enough plant food in any ordinary soil to stand continuous cropping for an indefinite, long period of time; and that, therefore, the cause of a lack of productivity must be- Idolced for elsewhere. They claim that the roots of a plant secrete a substance which ls harmful, poisonous in fact, to that plant and sometimes to other plants. This is given as the reason why continuous cropping leads to low yields. Another group of men, headed by Cyril G. Hopkins of the University of Illinois, champion the old idea that the essential cause of unproductiveness in a soil Is a lack of plant food, usually phosphoric acid, potash, or nitrogen. It is yet an unsettled question as to who is right or whether either is right. Neither theory seems to account for all the facts in the case. Whatever may be the cause of unproductiveness we need not worry about it. because we know that tf we keep a liberal supply of plant food in the soil, keep up practice good, clean cul- tivaion, with rotation of the humus content, and crops, the productivity of the soil will be high. The Water Supply. In all probability there ls no one factor so potent in determining crop yields as is the water supply. This has already been touched on in connection with one or two other points, but its importance is so great as to merit separate discussion. We can realize the necessity of a very large water supply when we consider that on irrigated lands the yield is regular, uniform, and very large, and that a plant uses from 300 to 500 pounds of water in producing one pounds of dry matter. Now, the amount of water which a soil will deliver to a plant depends on ahe amount that it will absorb and the ease and completeness with which it will give it up. A sandy soil absorbs comparatively littla water but delivers that little more freely and completely than any other type of soil. A clay soil stands at the opposite extreme, while a loam comes in between. A heavy loam or a clay soil when flocculated; i. e., when the very flne soil particles are cemented into larger ones, partakes somewhat of the nature both of clay and of sandy soils. It will give up v/ater more readily than the dense clay and will absorb more than the light sandy soil. This fact helps to explain the beneficial effect of lime in many instances. It flocculates the clay. Tile Drainage and Cultivation. Crops may be injured by too much water or by too little. If the former be the case, the remedy, of course, is drainage; and in many cases this must be tile drainage. Paradoxical as it may seem, tile drainage often lessens the damage due to drouth. A patch which is boggy in spring often becomes dry in summer. Plants cannot root deeply in the boggy soil, and when the water level sinks in summer, they a.re left high and dry. Tiling lowers the water level in the spring, the plants root deeply, and so have a larger store of water at their disposal during the |
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