Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Feb. 11, 1909, edition 1 / Page 13
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Thursday, February "11, 1909. THE1 PROGRESSIVE FARMER. IMPLEMENTS THAT WILL HELP YOU MAKE MONEY r Use the Weeder Instead of Hoe Hands. te Way to Make Cora. - ' ' . 1 . ... ' . ... : - . . . -. ' . - ., ..' , . -. .. - .... .. ... . " '" Mr. Striblmg by Using Weeders and Cultivators Needs no Hoeing at All for Corn and Only One for Cotton He Espe cially Likes the Stalk Cutter, Cotton Planter and Fertilizer Distributor." , - EXT to good, brain power and good horse power, ; good up ' to-date farm implements and machinery are the most import ant assets upon well-regulated farms. Without efficient farm implements good brain power cannot be properly transmitted and utilized over and in the ground of the farm, any more than the power of the dynamo can be put to proper use without transmit ting wires. Many bright young men have gone away from the farm be fore they would consent to compete with the crude, unskilled muscle , power of the Common negro laborer on the farm. Their born pride and ambition have taught these bright minds that their lives were being wasted in such cheap competition; and yet good teams and up-to-date farm implements and machinery would have supplied the transmission line to distribute the dynamo power of a well-balanced head all over rtment of the farm work, and would have lifted this bright and naturally talented - man up to his proper position . above the common muscle force of the every-day laborer. A Stalk Cutter Will Save Six Hands A Day. At this season about the first im plement we need is a good cotton stalk cutter; but as many cannot spare the ready cash for this, a cheap substitute may be rigged up by at taching two stout trace chains eighteen inches from ends of a split 1 0-inch log or railroad iron ten to fourteen feet long; then bring ends nf chains together where double tree is attached.- The flat side of this split log or railroad iron should co down, and a 12-inch board, may ' be attached on top of drag convenient for thA iiHvftr to stand, where more weight is needed to strip -big: stalks. j Two horses to this drag will strip three rows of stalks as they go and will do it better than seven hands, thus saving labor of five or six hands per day This drag is useful for smoothing plowed land also. " Some Good Plows and; Harrows. On rolling lands the reversible disc plow is the best breaking plow of the day; and besides saving labor In using more horses to the hand, the discing down hill lightens the draft and does away with the finishing furrows. But on level lands a good three to four horse gang plow does as good work and cheaper work. The combined double-disc four horse harrow saves more labor and leaves the land in better shape than any other harrow. For breaking out cotton or corn lands the two-section adjustable 4 disc to the section harrow, will save three hands and two horses each day, by bedding up and laying off a com plete row each trip through the field, nrenarine land for the cotton planter on the ridge or the corn planter in water furrow on upland. Since we have learned to put in fertilizers nearer the surface or from 100 to 150 Dounds with cotton seed as we plant, the combined fertilizer distributor and cotton planter saves the labor of about three hands and two horses per day and does the job better. "I Have Quit Hoeing Corn and Hoe Cotton But Once." When we used to hand-hoe cotton and corn from three to four times, we now hand-hoe cotton but once to thin it to a stand and have Quit hand-hoeing corn altogether, except ing in very rough or . stumpy lands, and if we could get our cottonseed completely stripped of lint and grad ed and tested so that we could drop the seed in a corn planter we would discontinue the hand-hoe from the cotton field also. A Weeder Will, Pay for Itself in Five Days Use. Of all the cheap labor-saving im plements the weeder heads the list with our folks. But good judgment in management and rapid and fre quent use is where results come in. ; A slight ridge just over the corn and cotton seed to be pulled down oy me weeder Mayes me young plants clean and the' young grass up rooted. One-horse and one hand to a good weeder will finish up two rows at each trip and will make rapid, cheap and effective work just at the time when labor is scarce, and high. My estimation is that five days' work with a weeder in the early cultiva Break the Land With la Biding Disc, Manure it with a Spreader and Plant It With a Planter, Then Use a Harrow and Later a uuiuvator, Gather With a Harvester and Finally Shred the Crop. Messrs. Editors: A girlionce said she would never marry a farmer be cause he had to r work 1 so hard: which, being translated, means that his work is dirty and his clothes, necessarily rough. The day will not come when the countryman will not come in contact with a little healthy dirt, nor will he see the time that he can wear a "biled" shirt and claw hammer coat at his work. ! But with the advent of machinery the day of drudgery is largely past,! and a new and easier epoch is dawning. - Take the ordinary progressive farmer and his corn crop. He breaks his field with a riding disc plow. The ride may not be altogether pleasant, but it beats following th0 plow on foot, with gravels forever working into his shoes and . harrasslng his corns..:- -. : When the field is broken, the next thing is the disc harrow. This pul verizes the ground thoroughly, and if each round is lapped no fidge will be left. In preparing the land for any crop, it seems to me that no 'tool This Week's Guide Post to $500 More a Year. (See Page 2.) E DO not continue to use man labor instead of horse and machine labor because we are poor, but we we are poor hAcansn we refuse to do those things by which the cost of production is lessened and the earning capacity of each man is increased. s . 5 'v:V t .;. ; : ' '': ", ' The one single thing which will do most towards securing that "$500 More a Year" for the average Southern farmer is better preparation of the soil. f i Under our present methods of preparing the land for crops, efficient and economical cultivation is impossible. The man who thoroughly prepares his seed-bed and uses the harrow and weeder freely, seldom or never gets "in the-grass." It will never do to go two to four times across the j field to cultivate one row. Our crops must be cultivated more cheaply, and this must come through the use of better implements and more horses and mules. j could be used' to a greater advantage nan a disc harrow. Another Important labor-saver to those having stable manures, is a manure spreader. There is nothing . so tedious and disagreeable as scat tering manure with a fork. At best it isn't a sweet-smelling job, but it is infinitely better to drive across the field and back, than to try to scatter a heterogenous mess of lumps and dust by hand. Then comes the planting. Only the most degenerate of countrymen calls otft his wife' and daughter to fall over the clods dropping corn. His neighbors use planters, either one- or two-row. They select their seed carefully and adjust their ma chines to drop exactly the right amount, so there is no thinning or replanting. Some people lay off the rows first. On level land, where there is no danger of washing, this is a good plan, I think, for the planter is much easier guided, besides placing the heel below the surface of the ground which has its advantages in making a deep-rooted plant, and al lowing better cultivation. A light harrow draged over the field when the corn is sprout ing helps; and when the ; plants are larger, a riding cultivator is the thing. If you are un wed and have hopes for a proto type of the girl before-mentioned,, you can get an umbrella attachment for your cultivator, an thereby save your complexion. ; ; For gathering the crop a corn-harvester is good for speed and a great saver of muscle, but my experience la that corn shocked without tying into bundles dries out better and Is not as likely to mould. , Of course In the final handling of the crop nothing can take the nlace of the shredder. Finally, brethren, we want to enjoy life. To enjoy life we need more leisure; we want to put on our Sun day pants and starched collar and plug hat and go to picnics like city folks. We cannot do this unless we have time. We cannot have time unless we have machinery to help us. Get the machinery. "RUSTIC." Iredell Co., N. C. tion of cotton or corn will repay the cost of the implement, and for pre paring clover and grass lands the weeder is our best implement ior both covering the seed and prepar ing the land. The Best Cultivators. As to cultivators, let me say that where lands are comparatively level and rows are long, the riding "one-row-at-a-go" kind is a success with an expert, but for rolling lands, short, crooked rows, and the average farm hand, the two-horse walking cultivator is perhaps the most prac tical for better cultivation of crops. The upright-growing cowpeas and soy beans planted in rows can be harvested in damp days or eariy mornings with a corn harvester or a table rake reaper, and threshed out by the larger pea separator, but we neeed a two- or three-horse combined stubble breaker and pea -planter. J. C. STRIBLING. Anderson Co., S. C. The Harrow Beats the Plow. The Grain DriU, Disc and Smoothing Harrows, a Good RoUer and a Planter Every Farmer Should Have. Put me on your subscription list for a life-time and let The Progres sive Farmer keep coming. I can't farm without it. L. R. T., N. C. Messrs. Editors: One of the most useful implements on my j farm is the grain drill. For seeding oats, wheat and peas I use the disc drill and ap-i ply the fertilizer at same time I do the grain. For peas It is fine. I can break the land and run j drill behind plow, and it puts the peas in uni formly and distributes the fertilizer regularly and at the same time har rows the land and leaves it ; in fine condition. Much better:: than plow ing them in. ! ! The peg-tooth harrow, all iron, with levers to set the teeth: slanting or straight up, is also very useful. Run this over rough land before the grain drill, and it levels the land so the drill will work better. It is useful to run over your corn while small. It will kill the small grass and put the land, in fine condition; and one can do so much work with it. I har row my wheat in the spring, and It Is a good working for the wheat. ' The disc harrow for turfy and rough land Is fine. If you haven't a grain drill It is also fine for putting in peas. -The cultivators for plowing both sides of a row at one operation will save one hand and do the work as well as going onone side at a time. You will do double the work in same time. I use the walking, as I don't do the plowing. If I were to do the plowing, I might get the rid ing; but as I don't plow, and the walking cost half price, and I think does the work as well, I ' get the walking , cultivator. The Iron Age harrow is the thing for harrowing corn and cotton in place of plowing It and throwing up ridges. I never plow anything after it is planted. , I guess all farmers have corn and cotton planters, because these Save more labor and do the work better than anything on the farm. If I had to say which one implement was worth the most, I would say the planter. 'Franklin Co., N. 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The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 11, 1909, edition 1
13
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