VOL. LXVII
INDJ ,s/\POLIS, JULY 6, 1912
NO. 27
Does Farming Aiwa/* Pay?
Lessons   From  A   Poorly
Managed Farm Section.
SOIL FERTILITY   IS   KEYNOTE   TO
SUCCESSFUL FARMING.
By B. F. Mack, New York State.
Almost every enterprise is entered
into and conducted with a view to the
profits, and farming is not an exception to the rule. The merchant, the
miner, the manufacturer or railroader
5vho invests his capital, first asks the
question "What is there in it?" "What
per cent can I reasonably expect to
make on the investment?" These are
proper questions for a business man.
Should not the farmer be a business
man? Should he not know just what
per cent his capital is returning him?
And should be not know what he receives for his labor?
There are farms that pay a liberal
■lividend on tne investment, and there
are farmers who are being well paid
for their labor. But there are men
on farms who are not farmers, they are
not qualified to be agriculturists. They
are haphazard, unsystematic, unscientific disturbers of the soil. Such
men reflect discredit on farming and
the aggregate reduce the average
profits on agriculture to the minimum.
There are sections of country where
the average farming is high. The
principle that like begets like, and that
environment has its influence is apparent. A poor and thriftless farmer,
if he has any pride, cannot afford to
live under an environment of prosper-
our agriculturists. He will either emulate their example or seek his level
elsewhere. And so it is with the prosperous farmer, his enjoyment is curtailed by being associated with business men  far below  his sphere.
An  Unprofitable  .Section.
I live in a section where as I believe the average farming does not
Pay. Not that this section is not
adapted to farming. I am informed
'hat the early settlers here were successful, many of them acquiring a
competency. The leading crops are
'ye, corn, oats and timothy hay. The
lime was when wheat was grown but
'• is said that the soil will no longer
Produce it profitably. The same of potatoes, comparatively few being grown.
A number of years ago there were in
operation within a radius of a few
miles of where I live twelve or fifteen
■strawboard mills, to supply which rye
straw was in demand at a fair price.
This induced farmers to make a specialty of rye. The habit of selling every-
'hing oft the land and returning comparatively little eventually robbed the
soil of Its humus content.
We have had several dry seasons
;'iid spring seeding to clover has failed.
'« the three years that I have lived
iere I have not seen a field of clover.
have seen fields with a spear here
and there, but no field where the clov-
'J covered the ground. Some have
"Vera up trying to grow clover as they
s*y 't is    impossible to    get    a stand.
Timothy is grown, but the yield is
poor, and a large part of the hay is
shipped off the farms. In proportion
to the size of the average farm but
few cows are kept, perhaps from four
to  ten  would  indicate  the average.
Selling All Products Robs Farm.
Since the advent of wood pulp for
paper making, the strawboard mills
have generally gone out of business.
But there has been an increased demand for rye straw by the liverymen
in neighboring cities, and thousands of
soil and the man who d'riends upon
them must become propo. tlinally
poorer as his soil becomes barreu.
Commercial fertilizers are useful only
under the best system of farm!"\g, and
on lands in a high state of . ..-tllity,
but their use will not pay on a depleted infertile soil. Without humus in
the soil, either from the decay of green
crops or barnyard manure it will become sodden, having lost its texture
and the roots of plants cannot ramify
it in search of their food. The soil
moisture is more readily evaporated
and crops must fail to grow. Under
the'se conditions farming does not pay.
Succeeding  With   Clover.
Wherever you find good farming the
Gain from use of fertilizer on well managed farm. Wheat yield 42
bushels per acre. Fertilizer used 300 pounds of 2%-8-2%. Photo by Middle
West   Soil   Improvement   Committee.
tons of straw are still shipped away
year after year and the soil is still being robbed of its humus and plant
food.
When to U.se Fertilizers.
Some farmers in their desperation
have resorted to commercial fertilizers, but commercial fertilizers do not
improve   the   physical   texture   of   the
rule, you will find a system of rotation
practiced, and whatever the rotation
you will find clover its leading adjunct.
But clover will not grow In poor land.
If the weather is favorable when sown
in the spring it may, as I have seen it
come up well, but as soon as the hot,
dry weather, peculiar to our summers,
prevails it soon disappears. Under
these conditions lt will be necessary to
Live  Stock  Makes Farm  and   Farmer   Prosperous.
improve the physical condition of the
soil before clover will succeed. Sometimes a top dressing of well rotted
rnanure spread on the surface after
plow'ng and well harrowed in will insure a t,*and. Where the soil is badly
depleted ot ,."mus it will be necessary
to replenish it uy fuming under green
cover crops. Cow peas, soy beans or
some variety of vetch c«a be turned
under with profit, aa they wii! add to
the soil the elements congenial to the
clover plant. After clover is once established, by judicious husbandry of
the soil, there will be no trouble to
continue it in the rotation. The past
season has been one of the worst in
years to get a stand of clover. The
exceedingly dry April and May together with almost unparalleled hot sunshine was fatal to most spring seeding.
When to Sow Clover In Fall.
In the autumn when there has been
abundant rain from the first of August
I am satisfied that where other conditions are favorable clover may be made
to succeed following the removal of
summer crops. Rye or oat stubble, if
welt disked and a good seed bed established, would have afforded ideal conditions for clover. The writer, on
August llth last, as an experiment,
sowed a plat on ground from which a
crop of early potatoes had been harvested. The seed was sown quite thick
and by September 20, the plants had
made a good growth and almost covered
the ground. I have known clover to
succeed when sown in corn at the last
cultivation. Of course weather conditions are to be considered, but the
shading "afforded by the corn will be of
benefit in protecting the young clover
from the direct rays of the sun. While
more or less risk always attends such
ventures I should not hesitate to risk
it  in  a favorable  season.
To make farming pay requires the
most careful exercise of every faculty
and a judicious system of operations.
The time was when the new lands reclaimed from the forests, filled with
humus, the decay of vegetable and animal deposits, the accumulations of
centuries, could for a time be abused
by haphazard and unscientific methods called farming. But the time
has come when such a system can no
longer be followed, and the man who
would make farming pay must be wide
awake, he must mix brain with his
brawn. Science must be his monitor
and with the proper exercise of these,
farming will pay.
THE CENTENNIAL OF INDIANA.
A great demonstration of the growth
and progress of our State is to be
made in 1916, its 100th anniversary,
and the State Fair grounds has been
wisely suggested as the proper place
for holding it. It is hoped and believed that the Legislature and the
State Board of Agriculture will plan
and act in harmony to make this a
great and important occasion. All
good suggestions on the subject will be
welcomed by the committee having the
matter in charge.
 »  a i
John Mott, living near Waynetown,
has a ewe that kills and eats chickens.
It had eaten more than forty chickens
at regular intervals before it was discovered that the ew» was making
away with them.