1288 (4)
t U What Professor '
.A. Massey Says
. - - 4 ' THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER.
bench 4x10 feet In the cellar under the office la of another till he is able to get land of his own.
a little hot-water boiler, and the piping runs Into Under the present system, or rather lack of sys
the little house for heat The whole thing, ln tern, In the South, the tenant. is simply regarded
eluding the hot-water apparatus, cost less than as a land-skinner, and rented farms are considered
f 100 and makes a very handy place to start seed ..to be on the road to ruin;, while under, a fair sys
and cuttings.- With the fire-heated hotbed, you tern, in which good rotative farming is the rule, the
must keep up the regular heat all the time, after tenant has a better chance; while the land-owner
starting, night and day; and a furnace arranged ; finds that his farm is Improving instead orrunning
for hard coal will be better than one for wood,; as dowm -Men In: eastern Maryland have become
-you can leave it for, hours to run a slow fire. ;.;But millionaires. by. buying and. renting'land, and' their
MR. WOODS says very truly that vines, as a rule,
are injurious to trees. But there is one that
does no harm and clothes the tree with beauty. in
winter. This is the evergreen English Ivy. There .a little house in which We can work comfortably .'tenants have prospered -and have -bought farms
ana tne same system in tne;outn would rapidly
do away with the one-mule. tenant and make him
are' immense old trees near me that ajre covered
with ivy and have been so covered for many years,
and yet both tree and Ivy thrive. Now that the
leaves are off the trees, the Ivy makes a fine
show. But climbers like wistaria and honeysuckle
should never be allowed on a tree.
is far better.
M
R. DE SAUSSURE condemns using little, pota- a more prosperous and successful man;
GRAPE cuttings made now should be cut close
under the lower bud and about an inch above
the upper one. Three buds are enough. Tie the
cuttings in bundles and bury them in the ground
upside down. I do not know why, but varieties
that do not root readily will root well if buried in
this way and set in the rows in the spring. In
setting the cuttings in spring set them so that the
top bud will be just above the ground. If the soil
is clayey, it will be better to put some, sand in the
bottom of the trench in which to set the cuttings.
toes for bedding,; but the fact is, that in a All of which means, of course,Hhat every younir
bed we want to get as many sprouts as possible, man should as soon as possible get. land of his
and hence '. want plenty of potatoes and not so. : own to improve. -'; Land Is still cheap In the South,
much room for parts - that .make no . plants; - I but the day of cheap land is rapidly, drawing to a
would not advise the taking" of the; stuntecT pota-' closed and the men who own land and cultivate it
. toes of the general crop for beddingf but ; would in a profitable way will find its value' Increasing
grow potatoes for that purpose. 1 Make cuttings i of all! the time. Mr Ppehas weJl shown the value
the vines in July or Augusta yard long and coll. . of intensive work on small farms in Denmark, and'
the cutting around your hand,nd plant the whole what-we. need in the South, is to understand the
coil in the hill with only the tip exposed. Every ' ' profit there is in the intensive working of, a small
joint will make a bunch of little .'.potatoes that ;aVe farm rather thn . spreading our -efforts : over a
the very best for- bedding, and if the cuttings 'are large area and scratching the land instead of plow-
. selected from the best hills, they will improve. the ing it well. ' - - " ' ' :0 ". "
product annually, " - ;
rlUTTINGS of all hardy shrubs, such as the spi-
in the same way as grape cuttings, and set out to
root in the spring. Cuttings of the Leconte pear,
too, treated in this way will root easily. Cuttings
of the hardy roses, such as the Remontants, the
"crimson Rambler and others can also be treated in
this way and will grow readily in spring. Cut
tings of figs, too, made from the past season's
growth should be made now and buried deeply in
the earth till spring, and then set for rooting
Young Man, You Can Get Out of the
One-Horse Class.
i
- The boys in the Corn Clubs ' have shown how
the productiveness of the land, is ; increased by
heavy manuring and if we can get one acre up to
the "production of over 200 bushels of corn, why
not extend the same to ten acres, rather than try.
to spread it over lou acres. 4 stable manure is im-
HAVE all sorts of synfpatby with the one-horse portant, but the. same result can be had with peas
farmer, and my sympathy is mainly devoted and crimson clover, aided by commercial fertil-
to getting him out of the one-horse class,' for izers, and when we get one acre to make two to
no man can do the best farming, even on a small three bales of cotton, the cotton crop assumes a
place, with but one horse. It is not practicable, much greater importance. But this Improvement
especially on the upland red clay soils of the cannot.be well done with only a single mule to do
A SUBSCRIBER asks: "If seed corn is treated
.with carbon bisulfide will it injure the germ
ination, and will it injure grain for food? Feeding
sixty-eight steers, I would like to know if phos
phate and potash are sprinkled in the manure of
the shed where thpy feed, will it hurt their feet?"
The fumes of the carbon bisulfide soon pass off
and no damage is done to the grain for seed or
South, properly to break and prepare the land;"
with a single horse or mule.. -
Now, as I have said heretofore, I was, at the
close of the war, as poor as any man anywhere. . I '
had absolutely nothing but a little household fur
niture, and not a horse, nor a plow, nor any.im- 1
plement at all. Yet I had the nerve to rent, a
farm of over 100 cres and, fortunately, had a
reputation for character and honesty of purpose.
So I got two horses and a plow and harrow and.
a few hand tools, and went in debt for these, and
. for, fertilizer and seed, and went to work growing
the breaking, for he cannot turn an eight-inch
furrow in a clay soil, and the loson even a small
place will soon more than pay for another horse.
We hope that all of the young men who read
this paper and are now trying to farm with a
single horse or mule will determine to get out of
the one-horse class at oncer You can do it if
you will. . i
The- Fanner and Fertilizer Experiments.
food. There will be no danger in using acid phos
phate in the manure, but whether potash would J corn and tnick cropS) and at the end of that year I
hurt the. cattle's feet or not, I am unable to say,
and would hardly advise it.
MR. MAXSON found that an ad sold his pears,
and every farmer could soon get a regular
clientage if he advertised what he has for sale
and stated the price at which he will deliver these
things. If an ad sold pears, it will sell peppers,
turnips, cabbages and anything else that people in
the towns want. There is no better way to get a
customers than thru printer's ink in the papers'.
Then, too, a sign-board on the road leading to
your place can be constantly, stating what you
have for sale. Hiding one's light under the
bushel never sells products.:
owned tne wnoie and sold my crops. and rented a
better, farm. I have never .been a one-horse farmer,
and i do - not believe, that J. it is 'necessary for
any young man, such as I was at the time,
to be a one-horse farmer," for will, pay. any
young .man who has energy and character to go
in debt for team enough to do his work well. This
II
ARROW seems 'Inclined to criticize my advice
in regard to experimenting with the soil to
find what is needed in the way of fertilizers.
He thinks that the average farmer will not do
this with any exactness. Probably not, but we are
writing for the reading farmers, rather than the
average man whose crops cut down his State's av
erage in the making of statistics. This average man
is especially true of the man who owns his land, is always a poor farmer, and we would like to get
and hence can give more security" for his pur- him educated up to the point of taking some pains
chases than I did. . to find out what his soil needs. But there are
It is largely a matter of energy and industry, thousands all over the South who are sufficiently
and any young man with good health and industry . Intelligent to make these experiments, and I know
can work ' Out of the one-horse class. Hence, as of some good farmers who!have tested their soil
WHAT per cent of potash is contained in wood'
ashes? I can get some from a near-by brick
kiln for half a cent a bushel." No one can possi
bly say how large a percentage of potash may be
in any certain lot of wood ashes without a chemi
cal analysis. The amount will vary with, the kind
of wood from which they come, and the way they
have been kept. Ashes from pine wood are very
I have said, my sympathy for the one-horse farmer
would lead me to urge him to get Into the two-,
four- or six-horse class as fast as he can.
The average one-horse farmer is a one-mule
farmer, and while' the mule is a valuable animal,
it is a poor investment fori a poor man. Far bet
ter get good mares and raise your colts, and if
you do not need them, it will pay as part of your
farming to raise good colts and sell them.
I fcnow a renter on a farm of less than 300 acres
who had, the last time I was on his place, nineteen
low in potash. Ashes of hardwoods like oak and
hickory have a much larger percentage of potash. horses and colts. -and was uslnir an automobile in
T)ii4 WrNVft 4-Vt 1. A 1 A. . i J 1 t J 1 Ml. ... - - . -
uul cvcu lUM w"i uave iosi a gooa aeai, ii ieii ridine around, for tie said tnat tne colts were
exposed to the rains. The brick kiln probably
burns pine wood and ashes are left outside. It
would hardly be safe to estimate them at more
than 2 per cent in potash. .Good hardwood ashes
may contain from 5 to 10 per cent, or more, of
about the most profitable part of his farming,, as
he gets ali the forage grown on the place free of
rent, the farm taking ttie manure in lieu thereof,
and he uses part of lis share of the corn crop in
in this way, and have done it with care and ac
curacy. The average farmer is down in the ruts,
and we want to elevate all the readers of The Pro
gressive Farmer away above'the average, and we
assume that most of them are already above the
average or they would not $e taking the paper.
Of course, I can advise a man in a general way
in regard to what would probably be a profitable
fertilizer in his soil, but as I have often said, it
looks too much like quackery to advise In all cases
as to what a farmer should use for the greatest
profit. When a man writes to me: "My land is
poor-and makes about ten bushels of corn an acre;
how much 'fertilizer and what kind shall I use to
get fifty bushels an acre?'.' I simply have to tell
him that I do not know, and do not think' it can
be done in that way. My constant effort is to get
farmers to farm right and thus to Increase the
potash. Then there is usually about 35 ner cent" .better to feed the corn. to these and to beef
of lime and a small percentage of phosphoric acid. , cattle than to sell corn. The manure made not
But at the price you name it will probably pay to only benefits the owner of the farm but the tenant,
use the ashes up to a ton m acre. ' , . " . too, for he is a permanent tenant, and is.flxed.on
, ' the farm so long as he farms right. ,
PLEASE tell how to. make a fire-heated hotbed, The man who farms one piece of land this year
and how many hours a day the fire needs to be and another , next" year will always x have a hard
the production of good colts, and finds that it pays humus content in their soil so that any fertilizer
they may use will have a better effect than it will
on the old dead mixture of sand and clay; I want
to show them that by' good farming, with the leg
umes, and the growing and feeding of these with
the cottonseed meal, they can entirely avoid the
purchase of the costly nitrogen in a fertilizer, and
on the majority of the upland clay soils of the
kept up?" To make a fire-heated bed it will be time to get along and to get out of the one-mule South jieed buy no fertilizer except a good car
necessary to make an excavation the size of the
bed and build a furnace' like those used in tobacco
barns, opening under a shed outside. The flue is
run straight thru ,the excavation. The sides are
enclosed and a frame above the ground made to
receive the usual 3x6-foot hotbed sashes. A floor
Is made a foot above the flue on which to place
class. We need In the South a fair and permanent rler of phosphoric acid, and by spending the -same
tenant system that will encourage young men to amount of money for this that , they now ' spend
farm right. and to feel that so long as they do so for a complete fertilizer, they can farm far more
they can remain as permanently as tho the farm profitably. I want to get all of our .farmers out
was their own. It is the cropper system of the of the entire dependence on fertlliz"ers to make' a
South that keeps men in the one-mule class. Land- crop, and to show them that they need not spend
owners neea to sunaerstana tne pront tnat can oe money for what their land does not need; or for
the soil, for 1 ; the flue , Is "Ll?,?!1;!0 having a. permanent tenantry in comfort- what they can get in greater, abundance -without
make a hot and . dry streak, and you must have the
hot-air chamber, under the, bed. It Is far better to
make a little span-roof greenhouse with the sashes
and run "the flue from a furnace all around it.
You can then go Inside and work more com
fortably, than outdoors stooping over a hotbed.
I have a" little house opening from the rear door
of my office;' . This is 6x10 feet, and gives me a
able homes, under a system' that is fair to both
sides. We, need good farmers, tenants compelled
to farm In a systematic way not only for the bene
fit of the tenant but also of the land-owner. .
Of course, it Is better for the young, farmer to
work out his 'salvation on landthat is his own,
but when one can only get the" stock needed he
had better get a'falr rental and' farm on the land
cost, and even make a, profit In getting it. In
short, I . do not want to assume that our Southern v
farmers are all careless ignoramuses,, but men ln
.tent on' doing better and better In their farming
every year. Hence I try to advise them. as to what
I , consider the best, means for, the study of. their
, soil, assuming that they are really Intent on Im
proving.' ...... ; v " . ; ' ,