Class Book. — == — t — — jC — Gop}Tight N° -£l COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. (^ ^r2,*'9Cy' U~zr>' HUNNICUTT'S AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS BY JAMES B. H U N N I C U T T Former Editor ''The Southern Cultivator" REVISED BY R.'J. H. De LOACH Director Georgia Experiment Station and formerly Professor Cotton Industry, Georgia Slate A. ' incorporated into all of our school curricula. In order to meet the increas- ing demands for information on the subject, teachers are being forced to give time and atten- tion to it in order to give the instruction in a sub- ject that is required l\v law in most of the States. It is important therefore that a text book on the elementary principles of Agriculture should have timely suggestions on how to teach and use material for teaching the subject as well as to con- tain a great mass of information. Most of us can. give information on agricultural topics, but there are a very few who can successfully tell how to teach it and make a book interesting enough to attract pupils to the study. Most of them study it because they are required to do so, as many of our teachers are teaching it. This ought not so to be. It is an interesting as well as a useful study, and the author of a text should prove this beyond the questioning of the most pedantic teacher. The first requisite for such a text it seems should be an easy familiar style, short i)ithy para- graphs, and conversational suggestions. The book should talk with the teacher and pupils — figura- tively speaking — rather than contain long dis- courses on Agricultural subjects. Every chapter in such a book should make the teacher wish to Vi PREFACE have pupils experiment with plants and the soil, or animals, and then suggest just how such ex- periments can be conducted in any school, with a minimum cost, but with the one purpose of de- veloping the subject as a trade, profession or art, worthy of the best talent in the land. Hunnicutt's Agriculture for the Common Schools, written by Dr. J. B. Hunnicutt, is a pioneer in its particular field, and is well known to thousands of farmers and teachers in the Southern States. It was prepared with a view to its use by farmers and general readers as well as schools; special attention was given to an exposition rather than a presentation of the subject; more infor- mation about the problems of the farm and the farmer, and less attention to methods of presen- tation of the subject to the young mind. The book is a classic on account of its pure diction and plain simple Anglo-Saxon words and is worthy of a place in any library. The author had be^n a public speaker for many years and had developed a style that is quite pleasing. The present edition of the book is almost entirely re-written, with a view to giving definite instruction on class-room work in Agriculture, to indicate how and where to find material with which to teach the subject, and lastly how to use this material to the best advantage. Most of the elementary books and many of the advanced treatises on the su})ject of Agriculture have been consulted, for which acknowledgments are here made. R. J. H. DELf)ACH. Athens, Ga., 1913. INTRODUCTION Plow deep and on a level. In peace and plenty revel. That is science as well as rhyme. Pulverize the soil and get pay for your toil. The farmer feeds and clothes the millions. To help him do this with pleasure and profit is the mission of this little book. Every farmer in the South should have this helper at hand and learn to take more pride in being a farmer. The first thing, except one, that we remember in this world, we shouldered our hoe and marched off to the cotton field. So we were taught to plow and to hoe, to reap and to mow, and always keep up with our row. Through life we have continued to study soil and plants. We have found pleasure and profit in learning how to make the soil grow good crops. Now, in response to a thousand requests, we have tried to tell how to do this. But if farming ever reaches the place among other callings which it should have, it will be when we have taught our children its beaut}^ and its rank in the schoolroom. Agriculture should be taught in every school. We have made it so simple that any teacher can use this book, even if entirely ignorant of the prin- ciples of Agriculture or the practices of farming. We tliink the student who has studied this book will see the world with different eyes. City life has been absorbing the brain and beauty of the country. And it needs it. But we VIII INTRODUCTION can not afford to spare so much of our young manhood and womanhood as we have been doing. We must keep the young folks on the farm. Many books have been written on Agricul- ture, but they are all more or less treatises on botany and agricultural chemistry. We have avoided this channel. While we adhere strictly to scientific truth, we have used plain language. Technical terms have been left out. We have tried to write so that every child could under- stand. How we have succeeded we must leave you to judge. Industrial education is the demand of the day. Agriculture is the largest and most important of the industries. Heretofore it has been at the bottom. Let us now see that it is placed at the top. To do this, we must educate the farmers. The world will respect brain. If we make our- selves the equals in intellect of those in other call- ings, then we will be as much respected, and not until then. We need as much skill to grow plants as does the physician to heal the sick, or the lawyer to clear criminals. It takes as much brain to run a four-horse farm as to run a bank or a railroad. The farmer carries all. If the farmer fails And can not buy, Then the merchant's goods On his shelf must lie. If the farmer fails And has nothing to sell, Then the banker's account Ceases to swell. INTRODUCTION IX If the farmer fails And has nothing to ship, The railway train Makes an empty trip. If the farmer fails — Hasn't the money he ought, Then the lawyer's fee Drops down a naught. If the farmer fails And hasn't the bills. Then the doctor Ceases to roll his pills. If the farmer fails And can not pay, The school teacher's account Waits another day. If the farmer fails, As sometimes fail he must. The world's business lags And the wheels o" commerce rust But if the farmer succeeds. As succeed he should. We all look happy And we all feel good. For upon our broad shoulders. All the rest do lie. And sometimes the pile Gets very, very high. Success to the farmer. Atlanta, Ga., 1903. James B. Hunnicutt. X INTRODUCTION List of Apparatus. — In order to teach Agri- culture successfully teachers must have certain material with which to carry the lessons home to the students. The best apparatus for this purpose is that which can be made at home and at school, and out of the home-made material. Make what- ever you can without buying anything. The fol- lowing is a suggested list, and it is hoped that most of the material can be secured: 100 feet dressed lumber in sizes 1x3, 1x8, and 2x4. 5 pounds 6d nails. 25 germinating pots, 6 in. at top by 5 in. at bottom — may be made out of lumber. 6 flower pots of size to suit plants — may be made at school. 1 set garden tools, inclufiing small hand plow. 12 soil pans. 6 150mm evaporating dishes. 1 small drying oven. 4 alcohol lamps. 2 thermometers. 1 small spray outfit. 1 pair pruning shears. 12 six ounce bottles with cork stoppers. 3 sixteen ounce bottles with cork stoppers. 1 mortar and pestle, medium size. 1 small geologist's hammer. 12 packages red litmus paper. 12 packages blue litmus paper. 12 ten-inch white crockery plates. 12 plain straight lamp chimneys. 12 common glass tumblers. 2 one-gallon glass pitchers. 10 pipettes, lOcc. 10 cylinder measures, 25cc. 10 cylinder measures, lOOcc. 10 cylinder measures, 500cc. 2 scales, accurate, one measuring from grains to grams, the other tenth ounces up to ten pounds. Of course some schools will not be able to get all these utensils, but it may well be said that if the subject is to be taught successfully teachers will naturally resort to such material as found in the above list that they may the more easily impress the various lessons outlined in this little volume. CONTENTS Page Agriculture Man's Chief Pursuit . . - - 1 Agriculture as a Science 4 History of Agricitlture 7 I The Soil 11 II Formation of Soils -- 14 III Soil Elements --------- 16 IV Kinds of Soils 18 V Water Holding Capacity of Soils - - - - 22 VI How Soils are Made to Hold Water Longer - - 26 VII The Problem of Soil Temperature - - - - 28 VIII Effect of Lime on Soils - - - - - - -31 IX Soil Drainage 34 X Irrigation --.--..---38 XI The Bealtty of the Soil ...... 43 XII Possession of the Soil ..--.--47 XIII Tilling the Soil -- 51 XIV Further Studies on Cultivation 57 XV Farm Implements 61 XVI The Plant 73 XVII The Plant; Stems, Leaves and Flowers - - - 79 XVI II Manures and Fertilizers - - - - - - 83 XIX Commercial Fertilizeijs 90 XX The Proper Use of Manures and Fertilizers - - 97 XXI Compounding Fertilizer Formulas - . . . 108 XXII Some Outdoor Exercises with Fertilizers - - - 112 XXIII Planting or Seeding - - 116 XXIV The Cultivation OF the Soil 121 XII CONTENTS Page XXV The Harvest Time -------- 128 XXVI Crop Rotation - - - 139 XXVII Limit of Production of Farm Crops - . - 145 XXVIII Practical Lessons in Plant Breeding - - - - 155 XXIX Truck Farming - . . . 163 XXX Special Crops --------- 171 XXXI Fruit Culture --------- 175 XXXII Crop Pests ---------- 184 XXXIII Farm Animals 195 XXXIV Dairy Husbandry for the Farm ----- 205 XXXV Poultry for the Farms ------ 217 XXXVI School Gardening -------- 225 XXXVII Nature Study in the Common Schools - - - 237 XXXVIII Bird Life - - - - 245 XXXIX Co-Operation in Agricultural Work - - - 253 XL The Farmer's Opportunity ------- 269 Useful Tables --------- 276 BOB WHITE HE HELPS THE I'ARMER FIGHT INSECT PESTS. — Photo Courlay DuPom Pcioder Co. Hunnicutt's Agriculture FOR THE Common Schools Revised and Rewritten by R. J. H. DeLoach AGRICULTURE MAN'S CHIEF PURSUIT. Agriculture is the noblest pur- suit of man. Before he fell, Adam dressed the Garden of Eden. Partak- ing of forbid- den fruit was the cause of the The sentence pronounced upon fallen man w^as that "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." The sentence pro- nounced upon the ground was that "thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." The re- sult of these two sentences re- mains in full force to this day. The evil growth is spontaneous. The good must be cultivated, and from this cultivation all the race must eat their bread. This means that 2 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS we can not live without cultivating the ground. We must destroy evil and useless plants and keep good and innocent plants. The work necessary to do this is called Agriculture, which word sig- nifies tilling or cultivating the field. All other pursuits, callings and professions among men grow out of the necessities of the agri- culturist, and are largely dependent upon him for their support. The farmer needed tools with which to cultivate his crops, hence the blacksmith came into being. He needed houses, and thus called for the carpenter's skill. The blacksmith and carpenter needed iron and steel, hence the miner was called for. The farmer needed schools for his children, that they might not grow up in ignorance, and thus called forth the teacher. His religious wants called for the preacher, and his legal rights demanded government and laws, and hence lawyers, judges and officers of all ranks came in due time to serve the farmer's necessi- ties. Disease called for the physician, and in- creased trade called for traders and transporta- tion, and all the mechanism of banking and com- merce has sprung into existence primarily to serve the wants and wishes of the tiller of the soil. Successive generations have multiplied these. Science, art and invention have contributed to the rapid development of society, and now we see a vast, complex civilization dependent upon min- ing, manufacture and agriculture for support. Agriculture is easily the chief of these three, because we can not live without bread, and bread grows from the ground. "The king himself is fed AGRICULTURE MANS CHIEF PURSIJIT 3 from the field." No amount of education, learn- ing, science, invention, industry, or skill can do away with the necessity for cultivating the ground. The more these increase and flourisli, the greater the need for the products of the farm. They only increase the number of non-producers to be clothed, fed and sustained by the cultivators of the soil. The farmer nuist feed himself and his family as well as all these others; so we see he is the most useful man of all. His calling, pursuit or profes- sion is therefore the most useful of all professions. If this is true, it should be considered the most honorable, but for many reasons it is not so con- sidered. These reasons we shall examine later on, when you will be prepared to understand them better. INIost young people and many older peo- ple think it is more desirable to be a professional man, such as a physician, merchant, banker, law- yer, or the like, than to be a laboring man, and many prefer to labor at anything in the shade rather than in the sunshine. We have thus come to look upon farming as the least honorable of all pursuits. The chief reason for this is the fact that we have taught our educated children to go into other pursuits, and the uneducated, or less educated, to go to the farm. Brain controls muscle. Men will respect brain. The pursuit or profession enjoying the highest education will be the most honored. In the past Agriculture has not been taught in the common schools. . It is now coming to be generally taught, and this book will try to help in bringing about this change. 4 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS Agriculture as a Science. — God has made this world by law. He has so arranged everything in it, both in the moral and physical universe, that there are no accidents. All things continue to exist by definite, fixed laws. Science is what man knows about God's laws. Chemist 7"y is what we know about the laws that control the movements and existence of the ulti- mate minute atoms and molecules of matter. Physics is what we have learned of the laws that regulate larger bodies of matter. Hence we speak of the Science of Chemistry, the Science of Physics, meaning not all that God knows about these things, but what we have learned of His laws concerning them. The earth, or soil, was created and adapted to cause seed to germinate, or sprout, and grow under certain conditions. Seeds are so made that under certain conditions they will sprout and grow in the soil. Neither of these operations takes place by accident. Both always take place according to laws. These laws are fixed, definite and certain in their action. Seeds do not produce plants un- til the essential conditions are complied with. When these conditions or laws of life, one and all, are fulfilled, they produce plants and seed after their kind and then die; but when these condi- tions are wanting or when they are violated, the seeds die before they have completed their work, or produce sickly plants, of little value. These conditions are laws which God has made, and by which plants grow. They are laws as definite as the laws of chemistry or of physics, or those of AGRICULTURE AS A SCIENCE any other science. We know many of them as clearly and certainly as we know the laws of any other science. Therefore we are justified in say- ing that Agriculture is a science. Not only is this true, but it is the greatest of all physical THE FARM DESOLATE AND FORLORN. THIS DRIVES THE BOY FROM THE FARM sciences. All of the others are more or less related to and grow out of this science. Chemistry is largely a science of the growth and uses of plants and soils and of the elements that enter into soil composition and plant life. Physics is largely a knowledge of the laws that control the elements of plant life, growth and utili- zation. Heat, light., electricity, moisture, winds, gaseous movements, and such, are all contributory to healthy plant growth. Agriculture does not stop with the study of AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 7 soils and plants, but has much to do with animal life and development. "All flesh is grass", and the growing, handling, care and utilization of ani- mals is a very important part of every successful farmer's work. Bee-farming, poultry-farming, dairy-farming, cattle-growing, and many more in- stances, show that animal industries are a part of farm economy. The insects and birds contribute to our success or failure as they are harmful or helpful. Even microscopic life often enters largely into the account of success or failure. All the way from the microscopic to the telescopic worlds, we are much concerned. The heavens are scanned and the seasons foretold and "weather probabili- ties" forecast for our benefit. Agriculture touches all nature when the inter- est of living man is considered. It is indeed the greatest of all sciences. No other science pro- poses to take the unorganized and organize it, to give life to the sleeping germ and growth to the silent dust. If it does not create, it brings us into closest contact with the Creator. To know the laws which govern the life, health and growth of plants and animals is to know the science of Agriculture. The History of Agriculture. — We can not give space for anything like a complete history, nor can we get satisfactory information if we had the room. Agriculture has received very little atten- tion from historians. We get glimpses here and there which throw some light upon its condition through all the ages past. In the times of which Moses wrote, some enor- 8 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS mous crops were grown in Egypt, but very little is said about the methods used. It seems to have been the exceeding richness of the soil that lay along the Nile, rather than the methods of culti- vation. But we are not at liberty to conclude that the grapes of Eshcol were a wild growth. In after years the children of Israel made the land of Canaan yield such abundant crops of all kinds that we must believe that their methods of culture were not very crude. That country will not to- day support one-tenth of the population which then lived in great luxury on it. The Romans gave great attention to their farms. Many of their best statesmen and orators prided themselves upon their skill in conducting their farms and the beauty of their country homes. Virgil gives a minute description of their fruit farms. But we find the oldest nations, like the Chin- ese, still pursuing very crude methods of farming. They use the poorest of implements and exhibit but little skill and science in the matter. So of many other old countries, which pride themselves in the fact of their history covering many cen- turies. We feel justified in saying that the people who have farmed best have been the strongest people, and have had most influence upon the world's history and growth in all that is good. But the Science of Agriculture is a new science. Little seems to have been known of soil adaption to plant production until comparatively recent years. The study of the laws of plant germination and growth HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 9 is still more recent. It has been hardly half a century since this study took definite shape and systematic form. The application of plant analy- sis to the products of the farm, and thereby find- ing the wants of plants and how they are to be supplied, has wrought a revolution in farming. THE MAN WHO GROWS CROPS LIKE THIS PUTS THE FARM ON A PAYING BASIS. We no longer grow plants as if it were by acci- dent. We may now know what any plant wants for breakfast, and how it will have it served. We know many of the laws which regulate plant life. Since we have entered upon this new era of farming, we can teach with certainty how to suc- ceed in many lines of Agriculture. England, Germany, France, the United States 10 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS and all civilized nations have established schools, experiment stations and colleges for the instruc- tion of their farmers in this great and useful science. Our government has appropriated money to maintain one such station and college in each State and Territory. Able faculties are main- tained in each of these colleges to teach the young men of the country to farm scientifically. Many books are written annually and numer- ous journals published to help spread this valua- ble knowledge among those who can not go to the schools and colleges, and the schools are now ac- tively teaching the subject to all who enter their portals. So we see this science, so long neglected or little known, after having slumbered for nearly six thousand years, now, at the dawn of the last century, coming right to the front and claiming to be equal in importance to any. The chemistry side of Agriculture has already demanded and received serious attention, and books on that subject flood the market. What is needed now is a few good books, written by men of large experience in farming, on the practical side of this great subject. The laws are known and the theories are nu- merous and good. We need to have the theory put into practice, so as to show its correctness and value. CHAPTER I. THE SOIL. Some Ways of Showing How Soils are Formed. — Find a large stone or rock and observe the fine sand and small pebbles that lie about it. Brush from the surface of the stone the loose pebbles and gravel. These show the first steps in the formation of soils from rock. Take small rocks into the school room and with a hammer crush them into fine pebbles. Continue this process till there is produced very fine grained sand. Compare the crushed rock to the fine sand and pebbles newly formed from the larger rocks by natural processes. Do they look the same.'^ What are the differences.^ The gravel made by hammering the rock is usually harder and less brittle than that formed by nature or weathering. This process called weathering is a very important process and to it may be traced the beginnings of a large part of the soil. We should look in our dictionary for the term, also in our cyclopaedias, and learn all we can about it. In fact we should find a convenient sized rock and leave it by the school house, where the rains can fall on it and freeze and thaw, and then see from year to year how the fine pebbles flake off from it as the process of weathering goes on. We are reasonably certain that when the earth first cooled down there was no soil anywhere, but 12 AGRICTTLTTTRR FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS only masses of rock. After countless ages, when the earth got cool enough and began to freeze, the rocks began to flake off and form a crude kind of soil. This was not soil according to our present conception of soil, but it was the beginning of soil. It was the crude material out of which all soil has been made. By the time plants in great numbers and animals and man appeared on the earth, the outer crust of rocks had rotted and crumbled away and formed what we now call soil and subsoil. Rain- water soaks into the surface of rocks and freezes, thereby flaking off small particles. These particles accumulate through the years into cjuite a mass, and this mass it is that forms the basis of our present soils over the entire face of the earth. To quote from Bailey's Cyclopaedia of Agri- culture: "The soil is not a mere inert mixture. Its parts have shape and size and arrangement, as well as being merely composed of certain sub- stances. xA.ll of these parts have been separately formed, moved, and assorted, and then laid down together as we find them ; and, moreover, they are not even yet at rest, but are always taking new forms and new places and making new partner- ships, entailing a never-ending series of mysteries. From the soil all things come; and into it all things at last return ; and yet it is always new and fresh and clean, and always ready for new genera- tions. This soft thin crust of the earth — ^so infinitesimally thin that it cannot be shown in proper scale on any globe or chart — supports all the countless myriads of men and animals and THE SOIL 13 plants, and has supported them for countless cycles and will continue to support them for other countless cycles, In view of all this achievement, it is not strange that we do not yet know the soil and understand it; and we are in mood to be patient with our shortcomings," CHAPTER II. FORMATION OF SOILS. Soil Formation. — In the former chapter we learned something of the source of soils and had some suggestions of how big is the problem of the study of soils. Now we are to get some idea of how nature actually manufactures soils out of the original rocks of mother earth. Of course we do not know^ all of nature's methods of forming soils. We can observe some of her ways and thereby get acquainted with a few of her secrets. Collect several smooth and several angular rocks for a school-room museum. Can we not imagine that all were rough and angular at one time.^ What changed them into smooth stones.^ Generally this change is brought about by the action of moving water, moving ice, and in some places to some extent by moving atmosphere or wind laden with fine sand or dust. Moving water and ice aid mostly in reducing rock to soil. Perhaps the most active agents now known in the formation of soils are as follows: 1. Moving water. 2. Ice. 3. Weathering, (in which process ice also plays the best part). 4. Winds. 5. Living animals. 6. Living plants. 7. Decaying animals and plants. 8. Acids and gases. It is not necessary to discuss these agencies FORMATION OF SOILS 15 here. We only need to think about them, and prepare to make further study of tliem when the time is ripe for it. We should, however, make some observations on a few of them. Relation of Decaying Animals and Plants to Soils. — Whatever of organic matter there is in the soil must have come from decaying animals and plants, and as this is a very necessary ingredient, we should give special attention to this division of the subject and learn how to increase the organic matter in our soils in order to make better crops and larger yields. Another chapter will be devoted entirely to this subject. Relation of Living Animals and Plants to Soil Formation. — Earthworms can be observed almost any time in spring and summer, depositing their worm-shaped piles of earth and thereby renewing the surface soil. They enrich the soil by increasing the nitrogen content, and perhaps change the chemical composition otherwise. Other animals to be mentioned in this connection are ants, moles, and other burrowing animals. How do these help to form soil.^ Examine the roots of growing plants, especially those that grow on or about rock. It will be ob- served that they pierce the rocks and help to break them down and form soil. Plants also pro- duce acids to some extent which aid in reducing rock. The living bacteria of the soil, which are so small that they cannot be seen without being magnified many times, are wonderfully active in reducing all kinds of decaying matter to soil, and making it available for use by growing plants. CHAPTER III. SOIL ELEMENTS. What is an Element? — An element is a sub- stance that cannot be or has not been divided into two or more simpler substances. Gold is an element because it cannot be divided into simpler substances. Silver, iron, copper, and the like are elements for the same reason. There are as many as seventy-five of these simple elements that can- not be divided into two or more substances, and the various combinations of two or more of them into compounds make up the whole of nature as we see it. Gi^owing tilings differ from each other only in this one essential fact, that they have slightly different combinations of elements that go into their making. The soil is the storehouse for much of the material that goes to make plants, and plants differ from animals in that they can make living matter out of these simple elements in the soil. What a wonderful law it is under the opera- tion of wdiich several of these elements — such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phos- phorus, potassium, iron, and several others — can combine under certain conditions and make a cotton plant, and then under certain other condi- tions make a corn plant ! This world of nature that surrounds us is filled with such wonders and we shall find it exceedingly fascinating to make little excursions into that fairy-land of science that is sometimes called Agriculture. The essential elements of the soil, so far as they are useful to man and subserve his purposes SOIL ELEMENTS 17 in the production of useful plants, are those named above: Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, oxygen, hydrogen, car})on, iron, calcium, and a few others of less importance. A soil in order to l)e considered good must have all these in sufficient quantities to afford the plant ample food supply, as all of them except carbon must come through the root system to all parts of the plant. We shall learn later how carbon is supplied to the plant. All but three of these elements are always found in sufficient quantities in the soil and do not have to be supplied by man. The three about which man should be most concerned are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus as they have to be supplied constantly to almost all soils. Another element that must be supplied to most soils from time to time is calcium which is usually applied in the form of lime. Much more will be said about these elements and how best to secure and apply them, in connection with fertilizers and manures. We thus see that the soil is not a very simple thing to be easily understood without much study. It is a mixture of many compounds of many elementary substances, and through many years of adjustment has become exactly suited to the growth of plants. Perhaps the plants too have done their part in adjusting themselves to the soil in which ihey grow. This mutual relationship between the soil and the organic life that grows in it is one of the best illustrations that can be cited of the wonderful power of adaptation in nature. CHAPTER IV. KINDS OF SOIL. General Classification. — Soils are classified into the following groups: sandy soils, clayey soils, loamy soils, swamp soils, limestone soils, alkali soils and arid soils; each class being determined by the amount of sand, clay and humus or other ingredients contained therein. These various classes differ in their composition, those containing a large per cent of sand being determined sandy soils, and those containing a large per cent of cla}^ being called clayey soils. Sand soils contain about seventy per cent of sand and clay soils have about the same per cent of clay. Soils which have about one-half clay and one-half sand are called loamy soils. When they have more sand than clay, about sixty per cent sand and forty per cent clay, they are called sandy loams. If they have more clay, about sixty per cent, and less sand, about forty per cent, they are called clay loams. We find, then, sandy, clayey and loamy soils, all varying with the relative quantities of sand and clay entering into their composition. This classifica- tion is based entirely upon the mechanical structure of the soil. Sand is the name given to coarse particles and clay the name given to fine particles. How to Find the Amount of Sand Contained in Soil. — Put in a glass jar about a pint of ordinary soil and fill the jar almost full with water. Shake this well and let stand; the sand will settle at the KINDS OF SOIL 19 bottom, and the clay next, the coarser particles of clay settling above the finer. This form of experiment should be made on a number of kinds of soil and in this way determine according to the above to what class each soil thus treated belongs. The muddy look of the water is caused by the amount of fine particles of clay held in suspense. If this water were moving, the particles thus held in suspense would go into the rivers and some of it on down into the sea. On top of the water will be found some humus that would also get away and thereby deplete our soils. By measuring we can calculate about what proportion of clay and sand are contained in the different samples of soil, and in this way tell to what class our several soils belong. Sandy Soils. — Sandy soils are always easy to work, but are rather poor in plant foods. They do not hold water like the clayey soils, but absorb water rapidly and as rapidly lose it. Sandy soils are best suited to rapidly growing crops. A con- siderable amount of vegetable matter and com- mercial fertilizer incorporated into sandy soils makes them yield large crops. Clayey Soils. — These may be easily recognized by their sticky character. Some claim that 50% of clay in a soil makes it a clay soil, while others claim that 70% of clay is required to make a soil clayey. Clayey soils are usually cold soils and suffer from extremes of rainy and dry seasons. The grasses and cereals do better on them than other crops. Loamy Soils. — This term is applied to soils 20 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS with a mixture of sand and clay, and may be divided into sandy loams, containing a low per cent of clay; common, loams, containing a slightly higher per cent of clay; clay loams, containing perhaps as much as 40% of clay; limy loams, containing some lime and a low per cent of clay. Loamy soils are fine for almost any kind of farm- ing and are found chiefly in black prairie belts and river valleys. ■ A W 1 CELERY IS PROFITABLE ON BOTTOM LANDS. Other classes of soils are the lime soils, swamp soils, alkali soils, and arid and semi-arid soils, and some put another in the list under the name of humid soils where there is a heavy rain- fall, or constant overflow of a river. The names applied to these last types of soil suggest what they are, but every school should make an KINDS OF SOIL 21 effort to get samples of every class of soil here given and keep for class study. This may be done through the aid of Agricultural Colleges and P^xperiment Stations, provided they cannot be secured locally. Secure locally as many kinds of soil as possible, and measure a pint of each and weigh and record result. Dry out the samples thoroughly in a heating oven or by a fire, and weigh again in order to find the water holding capacity of each. In the next chapter we are to make a study of the water holding capacity of soils, and the best methods of investigating the problem. to CHAPTER V. watp:r holding capacity of soils. Moisture in Sampks of Field Soils. — One of the greatest problems in soil physics is a study of the relation of moisture to the texture and treat- ment of the soil. What the soil contains, and how we cultivate it determine more than anything else what this relation shall be, whether or not it is to be a wholesome relation as regards plant growth. The securing of a soil with large capacity for absorbing and holding water, yet one permitting the normal growth and development of the roots of plants, — or perhaps a soil that can as well draw the water from below for the use of plants during dry weather — are conditions for which the farmer should strive, and without which he cannot get good results. In order to get the truth about the amount of moisture contained in our soils suppose we make the following test: Collect samples of soils from a well cultivated and fertilized field, from sandy loam, and from clayey soil. To collect these samples, secure a two-inch auger with long handle, clear away top loose soil to the depth of about a half inch, and for the surface soil or soil proper, bore down to a depth of about 7, 8, or 9 inches, the depth depending on the usual depth to which the land is plowed. Discard two inches and go to a depth of 16 inches WATER HOLDING CAPACITY OF SOILS 23 to get a sample of subsurface soil. Discard another two inches and for a sample of subsoil go to a depth of about 35 or 40 inches. Take these samples all in duplicate from each of the three kinds of soils, also from the three layers of soil, making in all a total number of eighteen samples, and put each in a drying pan, taking care that no water evaporates before the samples are accurately weighed. ^C a — sou.. b HARDPAN. C POROUS EARTH BELOW. After they are accurately weighed and records made, place them in a drying oven and heat up to about 212 to 225 degrees F., or a little above the heat required for boiling water. Let the samples remain heated for about 4 or 5 hours, and then remove from the oven and weigh again. The difference between these latter weights and the former will represent the per cent of moisture held in the soils, and will represent the water holding capacity. A number of students should be working at once in this experiment in order to keep it going properly, and should be carefully directed and 24 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS tutored in the methods of the work before begin- ning it. If successfully carried out, it will mean a great deal to them in the way of bringing to their attention the advantage a good soil has over a poor, and will also suggest to them how necessary it is to strive to make poor soils good. For convenience suppose small outlines for tables be drawn after the following manner: Sample No. Wt. of pan Wt. of wet soil Wt. of dry soil Difference % water Conditions of the Test. — The samples of soil should be handled rapidly after taking them from the ground till they are in the oven or at least in an air tight vessel in order for them to keep the moisture in them till weighed. They should also be weighed as quickly as possible after they are taken out of the oven in order to keep them from absorbing moisture before they are weighed again. Questions that should be stressed are as follows: What kind of weather was it the week before the samples were taken? Were the samples very WATER HOLDING CAPACITY OF SOILS 25 moist? Which one contained the most water? Which layer contained the most moisture, the top soil, subsurface soil, or subsoil? Attention should be directed to the reason why the good soil contained the most moisture, namely, that the vegetable matter in it both held water and kept the water in the subsoil from getting away. It must become evident that a soil that is covered with an}^ kind of decaying vegetable matter will hold water better than mere grains of sand or clav or the mixture of the two. CHAPTER VI. HOW SOILS ARE MADE TO HOLD WATER LONGEST. A Test to be Made on Soils Taken as in Last Chapter. — Secure samples of soils as in last chapter, and weigh immediately before smy moisture has had time to escape. Record these weights, and then spread in a dry place and weigh the same samples every twenty-four hours, and see the difference in the rate of drying of the various samples. Capillary Moisture. — This is the thin film of moisture around the soil particles and benefits directly the plants, and therefore is of the greatest interest to the farmer. It is the moisture that moves freely through the soil on the principle that water is soaked up in a cloth that is put in the edge of a basin containing water. Soon the cloth will be moist far above the water line. This is done by capillary attraction. So is moisture capillary moisture when it moves freely in the soil through capillary attraction. Not all of the water film over the soil particles moves, and hence it is not all capillary water. That which does not move is called hygroscopic water, and does growing plants little or no good. This moisture can be driven from the particles only by a high heat, while the capillary moisture will soon evaporate if the soil is exposed to the air. Since it is the capillary moisture that is so important in agriculture, we should make every effort to prepare our soils to hold capillary mois- ture. How are we to know if our soils are able to hold capillary moisture.'* The following test will enable HOW SOILS ARE MADE TO HOLD WATER LONGEST 27 US to tell: Secure samples of soil as in the former chapter, and weigh as quickly as possible before evaporation takes place, and record the weights thus obtained. Spread out the samples in the soil pans and carefully weigh every 24 hours, until the weights become a constant, — that is do not any longer change from day to day. It will be observed that the difference between this loss of capillary moisture and the total moisture content determined in last lesson is the hygroscopic moisture. This latter is not very important; but the capillary moisture which may be obtained by calculating what per cent of loss was incurred by exposing the samples to dry air until the weights have become a constant, is of the greatest import- ance. Compare the capillary moisture of the various samples, and see how the good soil ranks in this particular. A number of experiments along this line will be of the greatest benefit in classwork, and should cover the greatest possible variety of soils from the poorest to the best. It will be noticed that any kind of decaying vegetable matter will help to increase the amount of capillary moisture in any soil, and therefore should be used with this truth in mind. Any form of vegetable matter plowed under, even in the form of common hay or grass, helps wonder- fully to increase the water holding capacity of the soil, an item that cannot be overlooked in the development of soil. Frequently the size of the crop that is taken from a field is determined by the water holding capacity of the soil and by this alone. CHAPTER VII. THE PROBLEM OF SOIL TEMPERATURE. The Relation Between Heat and Moisture in the SoU. — It has been found that no chemical change can take place without the presence of both heat and moisture. The presence of air or oxygen is also necessary in most organic changes. Each of these three we must have, but not in such quantity as to preclude the presence of the others. It goes without saying that a wet clammy soil is colder than a loosely constructed soil, and will retard the germination of seed in spring, and the growth of plants in any season. The color of a soil has much to do with its temperature, but the question of drainage plays the bigger part. Some soils are easily drained while others are not. A sandy soil is generally an easily drained soil while a clay soil is not easily drained. To show how important drainage is to successful farming, suppose we make the following test: Make two small wooden boxes, about 2 feet square and 6 inches deep. Put good soil of the same kind in each, and have one water tight while the other has holes in its bottom. Saturate both with water, and then on a clear sunshiny day, begin in the early morning about 8 o'clock and take at frequent intervals the temperature of the soil in each box. See which one remains cooler, and explain to your satisfaction why this is. THE PROBLEM OF SOIL TEMPERATURE 29 Application of This Lesson. — Some fields have no drainage and lience present a cold chilly soil in spring for the young seeds. It takes so much heat to germinate seed, and a certain temperature for plants to grow off well, and if this condition is not satisfied we cannot get the desired results. The warmer soil- is usually one that has drainage and can get more of the heat of the sun in early spring. Some Suggestions for Securing Better Drainage. — It is not always possible to get good drainage without tile-draining, but in most cases the neces- sary drainage may be secured in other ways. We all have noticed that where deep plowing is done, we have better crops even with lighter applica- tions of fertilizers. If plowing ten or eleven inches with a turn or a disc plow does not give the desired effect, we should plow our land once in three or four years with a sub-soil plow and go about fifteen or eighteen inches so the surface water will have ample room to settle below the root area of the plants before it seeps away. We have already learned by experiment that a soil with decaying vegetable matter in it contains more capillary moisture than one without this material. It is equally true that a soil that has vegetable matter in it is much more easily drained than one without the vegetable matter, and this is an additional reason why we should strive in every way possible to increase the vegetable matter in our soils. Tile-draining. — We are not going to consider tile-draining in this connection, but it seems 30 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS timely to suggest in this connection that this is one of the ways of getting proper drainage in our soils. Most of our rich bottom lands could be made to double their yield without increasing the fer- tilizers, if they were properly tile-drained; and it is as certain that many of our hill-sides need only to be tile-drained in order to put new life in them. In another chapter we are going to have more to say on this subject. Relation of Color to Temperature in Soils. — A dark colored soil is warmer than a light colored soil, as msiy be proven by the following simple test: Make a flat box about three feet by six feet, and six inches in depth, with bottom not too tight so that water can easily run through it. Fill one end with the lightest colored soil you can find and the other with some very dark soil. Keep the partitions well marked by a board or some other marking. Keep moderately moist. In one side put several kinds of farm-crop seed and put the same kinds of seed on the other side and in relatively the same position. Keep notes on which side the seed germinate first. Keep the temperature of the soil on each side carefully in your notes, and see if you cannot associate this with the difference in the time of the germination of the seed on the different sides. This is one of the most interesting as well as essential experi- ments that can be made, and is very simple too. CHAPTER VIII. EFFECT OF LIME ON SOILS. Friable Soil. — Friable soil is any soil that easily crumbles or pulverizes, and is easily worked. This condition is sometimes hard to secure, in heavy red uplands, and farmers have to apply lime to the soil in order to get the proper results. When clay soils are plowed too wet, they form large heavy clumps that can hardly be worked out in a whole season. Many clay soils that have been improperly worked run together and after a rain will crust over almost like brick or cement. In order for soils to be in good condition for tilth, they must form medium to small size crumbs, perhaps about the size of alfalfa seed, and these must lie loosely together. This is just what lime does for heavy soils; it causes the particles to flocculate, and form a kind of crumbly texture. This, of course, makes the soil lighter to till and causes better drainage. In a small area in the plots about the school ground, clear oft' a small piece of ground, say a small area of about 8x16 feet, and on one-fourth, put no lime; on the second fourth, put one quart of lime; on the third fourth, two quarts; on the fourth, three quarts. Plant some convenient crop and notice just how dift'erent the several plots will respond to cultivation. Calculate how much per acre of lime you applied at the above rates. 32 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS Other Benefits of Lime Applied to the Soil. — Some soils are acid, or have too high per cent of carbonic acid in them. This condition usually obtains in low places, or nmcky swamp lands. To correct this evil, a good deal of lime must be applied, once every few years. The acid is pro- duced by the decay of vegetable matter, and generally indicates a rich soil otherwise. There are certain small organisms in the soil that do much better in their work of reducing decaying vegetable matter to plant food material, under the influence of lime or some other form of carbonate than when these materials are not applied. The organisms seem to get the carbon in their little bodies or shells from practically no other source. The organisms themselves are very essential to the health of the soil, and hence their health should be as carefully looked after as the health of the plant. Some farmers think that lime is a fertilizer, but it is not in the sense that other materials are fertilizers. If very often releases the forces of nature and aids plants materially in making use of other forms of fertilizer, but it is no fertilizer in itself. He who applies it should have in mind the real function of lime to the soil, to the plant, and to the soil organisms, if he would plan wisely its application. How Much Lime to Apply. — This depends on what we apply it for, as well as on the condition of our land. To aid in stimulating the soil organ- isms we apply only about 500 pounds to the acre. To correct the acidity of an acid soil we should EFFECT OF LIME ON SOILS 33 apply from 1,000 to 3,000 pounds per acre, depend- ing on the amount or per cent of acid in the soil. If we use lime to make our heav}^ lands friable, we need apply as much as we can conveniently apply up to two tons, the minimum depending on the closeness of the soil as well as its hardness. What Kind of Lime to Apply. — It might be well to consider this topic one of the greatest import- ance, as farmers who apply quick lime to the soil injure the soil bacteria. Quick lime and slaked lime both help to set free plant food, especially nitrogen, but inasmuch as the slaked lime "does the good without doing any injury, it is the proper form to use. Its effect upon the granulation of clay soils is slightl}^ less than the quick lime, but the freedom from all harm makes it the safer to use. . CHAPTER IX. SOIL DRAINAGE. The Importance of Soil Drainage. — All farm crops must have a well ventilated soil in which to grow. If the water stands too near the surface, the plants will soon sicken and die. The hydro- static water must be below the normal depth of the root S3^stem of the plants if we expect perfect development. Thousands of acres of lowlands and swamp lands have been reclaimed by drain- age, and millions of acres of uplands can be made to double the present yield by careful drainage. What is Soil Drainage ? — Soil drainage is the draining of water from soils that ordinarily are not properly drained naturally. Such soils are either from their nature too sticky, or shallow^ or are lowlands, and to drain them means to make possible the proper aeration of that portion in which plants grow, that was not ventilated before. A soil in which water stands to within a few inches of the surface too long during a rainy season, is not suited to the development of plant life, and has to be ventilated if used to the best advantage. Methods of Drainage. — The common practice is to ditch or tile-drain, either of which may be done with very little difficulty. Lowlands may be ditched in sections and tile-drained between ditches. In fact this is quite necessary to get the best results. On hill-sides, only the underground drains are possible. Farmers often have a barren SOIL DRAINAGE 35 hill-side that never makes a profitable crop and are at a loss to know just what is the trouble. In most cases, a tile-drain on the brow of the hill will remove all difficulty. The water that falls on top of the hill or upland seeps out at the edge of the hill and keeps the hydrostatic water too near the surface, and plants will not grow. This condition may not last longer than the rainy sea- sons in spring and early sum- mer, and autumn, but this will be quite sufficient to hinder the growth of plants, and hence keep the spots barren. A tile- drain run just on the turn of the hill, will catch most of the water, and help to air the soil, ill begin to flourish there immedi- A DRAIN DITCH. and crops w ately. Effects of Drainage. — We were required to construct two boxes for conducting an experiment outlined in Chapter VH. If we take these two boxes and fill them each with the same kind of soil, plant seed in them, and saturate with water, we shall see which one germinates the seed earlier, the box that has the drainage or the one that is water tight. The well drained box not only has the moisture problem of the soil regulated, but also regulates the heat, by having the water properly reduced. We may say then that to regulate the water content of the soil by proper drainage is to regulate the temperature as well, and make ideal or natural conditions for plant growth. 36 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS The Cost of Drainage. — This will always depend on several conditions: On the kind of labor eniploj^ed in ditching, The nature of the soil, The depth of the ditch, The distance apart that the tiling is to be put. Price and freight — or total cost of tile. All these things considered, the cost will range between $25.00 and $40.00 per acre, count- ing on getting labor at a normal price and having to ditch land that is medium — not too hard nor too soft. A few good farmers with well organized labor have reduced the cost to about $21.50 per acre, but this is the exception and not the rule. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poet and philoso- pher says: "Tiles are political economists. They are so many young Americans, announcing a better era and a day of fat things." It is claimed by many that the land that needs tile-drainage will pay for all expenses for tiling the first year, in the increase of production. This sounds like a rather extravagant claim for the merits of tiling, but the most enthusiastic advocates of tile-drainage are those who have tried it. Invariably they have been greatly profited. Ditches for tile-draining need not be more than 18 to 20 inches deep, and should be about 20 to 40 feet apart depending on the stiffness of the soil that is to be drained. Tile should be put in a straight bottom ditch, not bobbing up and down, and should have enough fall to insure drainage, SOIL DRAINAGE 37 and lead to an open ditch or a main pipe at the junction of two gently sloping hill-sides. In other words, the main pipes should usually follow a drain made by surface water, or a gully, and should also have enough fall to insure draining. CHAPTER X. IRRIGATION. Importance of Irrigation. — A great many people think that irrigation is a subject that should be studied only by those who are to make a living by farming in a dry country where the rainfall is not sufficient to keep plants alive without arti- ficial irrigation. This is not true, as almost any farm can be made to treble the present yield if it could be properly irrigated. Out of every hundred pounds of vegetable crops produced about ninety-five pounds is water; besides this much more water evaporates through the leaves. In order to prove the ^^due of irrigation to our connuon Eastern or Southern farms, suppose we try the following simple experiment: Take two plats of ground al)out the school or home, not more than 6 feet square, each, and fertihze and prepare as perfectly as possible. Plant four or five hills of cotton in each, and cultivate regularly alike and keep all grass and weeds down. Let nature water one and keep the other in a proper moist condition between rainy seasons in early summer. Note in which one the plants grow faster. Why is this.^ To leave this little demonstration to the imagination and not carry it out as outHned, is to deprive the class of much pleasure and leave them still unconvinced of the effect of irrigation. Sources of Water. — Only in hilly countries or hilly sections of any country coidd one depend on the fall of river beds for irriiiation water. It is IRRIGATION 39 not uncommon to find that lakes and wells supply many sections with water, a small pump and gasoline engine being used to get water in the necessary quantities from either of these sources; but in any small ten acre field, many a crop would more than pay for these in one year with the proper use of the water. We have not begun to apply irrigation as it should be in the South. Methods of Irrigation. — There are three ways of irrigating: SURFACE IRRIGATION IN A CABBAGE FIELD. First, we take running streams, and by using dams and ditches turn them from their natural bed or channel and carry them by gravity over the fields to be watered. To do this successfully, often requires very large outlays of money and 40 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS h '•.^.J^ IRRIGATION 41 skillful engineering. Canals have to be made hundreds of miles long and large enough to carry large rivers. Smaller and still smaller ditches are carried from these until finally the water is turned in small streams upon the fields. This method is largely employed in growing the fine fruits and grapes in California, and can be made use of wherever the country is broken and the streams have a good fall. Even where we have rain this adds very much to the yield. A second method is to use windmills and steam-pumps and raise the water from wells, lakes or rivers, and then distribute it much as above described, the chief difference being in the method of obtaining the Water. This method is generally used where there are no streams with sufficient fall, or on the plains where there are no streams at all. The water thus obtained is frequently measured out to the customers at a certain price. By these tolls the expenses of the system are paid. Private waterworks may be often utilized to greatly increase the yield of vegetables in our domestic gardens. The third method of irrigation, if we may be pardoned for a somewhat new use of this term, is to irrigate from below, instead of from above. By this we mean that we may plow the soil so deep and pulverize it so fine that capillary attraction will bring up the water when it is needed, pro- vided we have taken care of the fall of water in winter, when we did not need it. The heat of the summer sun and the pumping power of the plant root will greatly assist in bringing up the water. 42 AGRICrLTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS If the land has been properly plowed, the plant roots will grow very deep in the soil — from three to seven feet, and as each of these is a skillfully made pump, all of them, acting at once, will be able to bring up great quantities of earth water. A great advantage in this method of irrigation is that, besides helping to secure all the water needed, it will help in very many other things. It will prevent all washing and leaching, and will make the soil deeper and richer from year to year. All the time it will be yielding larger and larger crops. Keep in connection with the earth water below, and this water will, by percolating through the pores of the soil, supply the growing plant with the life-giving water in hot summer. Short drouths will not injure the crops. Thus, when the poorly farmed land yields short crops, this properly worked land will give large crops when the prices are best. The farmer who properly manages the water on his land will be almost sure to be a prosperous man. We shall readily see that it does not pay to put nuich water on land that is poorly cared for, as the water may take off some of the small amount of fertilizers, but with any soil that is properly cultivated and fertilized a properly regulated supply of water will always improve and make larger and better crops. CHAPTER XL THE BEAUTY OF THE SOIL. How Beauty Affects Our Education. — Certainl}^ it is as niiicli the duty of our teachers to place before us the poetry and beauty of the soil as it is to give the scientific and practical operations of farm life. It has been our custom to dissociate agriculture from all that is beautiful in nature, and to put it on the basis of routine and monotony. A few lessons on the sentiment of the soil, will win many more students to a love of farm life, and at the same time will help to put the study on its proper basis. Education is not complete unless it idealizes in a measure all that it touches upon, and certainly there is no more beautiful back- ground for poetry, eloquence, and religion than some reflections on the genuine beauty of the soil. The Soil in Literature. — ^Howevemear heaven our poets and philosophers soar in their effort to get away from mother earth, they must sooner or later come back for food, for thought, for renewed energy and inspiration, that they may soar higher each time in the good they do. In fact, when they remain in upper air for a season, they learn without being told that mother earth is as much heaven as there is in upper space or elsewhere in the great universe, and are contented to anchor themselves anew on this blessed gift of the Great Spirit of the universe. We therefore find literature full of references 44 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS to the soil and many of the parables in the Bible are based directly on a study of the soil. Give two soil parables, outlining the agricultural im- portance of same. For a month after this chapter had been studied, note in all forms of reading how often the earth and her powers and bounties are referred to. Note also what a change is coming in the references to soil in literature. The following quotations should be read and re-read till we all get their full meaning, and then should we learn to think of them in connection with our own home farms. They are all from the best of literature, and are worthy of more study than any mere mechanical lessons in agriculture: "As I drew a still fresher soil about the rows with my hoe, I disturbed the ashes of unchronicled nations who in primeval years lived under these heavens, and their small implements of war and hunting were brought to the light of this modern day. They lay mingled with other natural stones, some of which bore the marks of having been burned by Indian fires, and some by the sun, and also bits of pottery and glass brought hither by the recent cultivators of the soil. When my hoe tinkled against the stones, that music echoed to the woods and the sky, and was an accompaniment to my labor which yielded an instant and immeasurable crop. It was no longer beans that I hoed, nor I that hoed beans." — Taken from Thoreau's Walden Pond. "The general evolution of this soil is toward greater powers; and yet, so nicely balanced are these powers that within his lifetime a man may ruin any parfof it that society allows him to hold ; and in despair he throws it back to nature to reinvigorate and to heal. We are accustomed to think of the power of man in gaining dominion over the forces of nature, he bends to his use the expansive powers of steam, the energy of electric currents, and he ranges through space in the light that he concentrates in his tel- escope; but while he is doing all this he sets at naught the powers in the soil beneath his feet, wastes them, and deprives himself of vast sources of energy. Man will never gain dominion until he learns from nature how to maintain the augmenting powers of the disintegrating crust of the earth. * * * The surface of the earth is ours to do with it much as we will. It is the one great resource over which we have dominion. Within this crust are great stores of minerals and metals and of other materials that we can use for our comfort; these materials we can save and we may use THE BEAUTY OF THE SOH. 45 them with economy, but we can not cause them to increase. But the soil may be made better as well as worse, more as well as less; and to save the producing powers of it is far and away the most important consideration in the conservation of natural resources. "I am glad of every new effort that puts men rationally on their feet on the soil. It will be a great thing when the soil is known in the schools. I wait for good politics and good institutions to grow out of the soil. 1 wait for the time, also, when we shall have good poetry and good artistic literature developing from subjects associated with the soil; for we want good literature to appeal to all men." — L. H. Bailey. "A little consideration of the relations of the higher animals to plants makes it clear that all the advance of the earth's life above its simpler forms depends upon the existence of moderately fertile soils such as produce food fit for the nurture of the higher forms. They could not have developed if the world had afforded no better provision for them than the license of the rocks or the mosses of the peat swamps. We thus see that the soil is really the immediate source not only of the superior kind of plants which feed in the soil, but also of the animals which depend upon them. If the plants such as those which produce fruits, grains, or nutritious herbage, had not had this field for their development, there would have been no chance for the evolution of the series of animals which has led life up to the es- tate of man to find a place upon the earth. "The foregoing considerations should give the student a larger con- ception of the historic features of the soil coating than can be acquired by any mere limited view of their conditions. He should clearly see that this mass of debris, which at first sight seems a mere rude mingling of un- related materials, is in truth a well organized part of nature, which has beautifully varied and adjusted its functions with the forces which operate upon it." — N. S. Shaler. "I never tire of contemplating the soil itself, the mantle rock, as the geologists call it. It clothes the framework of the earth as the flesh clothes the bones. It is the seat of the vitality of the globe, the youngest part, the growing, changing part. Out of it we came, and to it we retm-n. It is literally our mother as the sun is our father. "The soil! the residuum of the rocks, the ashes of the mountains. We know what a vast stretch of time has gone to the making of it; that it has been baked and boiled, and frozen and thawed, acted upon by sun and star and wind and rain; mixed and remixed and kneaded and added to, as the house- wife kneads and moulds her bread; that it has lain under the seas in the stratified rocks for incalculable ages; that chemical and me- chanical and vital forces have all had a hand in its preparation; that the vast cycles of animal and vegetable life of the foreworld have contributed to its fertility; that the life of the sea, and the monsters of the earth, and the dragons of the air, have left their ashes here, so that when I stir it with my hoe, or turn it with my spade, I know I am stirring or turning the meal of a veritable grist of the gods. * * * \ handful of the soil by your door is probably the most composite thing you can find in a day's journey. 46 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS It may be an epitome of a whole geological formation, or of two or more of them. * * * Our lawns are made up of ashes from the funeral pyre of mountains, of dust from the tombs of geological ages." — John Bur- roughs, Time and Change. Much time should be devoted to a study of the meaning of these passages. They are good Hterature, and are the best authority on the formation of the earth's crust. Whether we are young or old, we shall certainly find a great treat in these beautiful tributes to the soil under our feet. CHAPTER XII. POSSESSION OF THE SOIL. Let every pupil in school gather a handful of soil from some clean place about the grounds, and bring it in and place it on a piece of paper on the desk. This will be material with which to spend one study period. First try to imagine just how this soil has been formed from the rocks of the fore- world. Use a few sketches from the former chapter by way of suggestion. Imagine how vital this bit of filthy looking material must be to feed a Iiimgrj^ world of animals and plants! Read the following to show the transformation that comes about in the growth of animals and plants: "Now I am terrified at the Earth! it is that calm and patient. It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions. It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless successions of diseased corpses. It distils such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor, It renews with such unwitting looks, its prodigal, annual, sumptuous crops, It gives such divine materials to men, and accepts such leavings from them at last." — Whitman, Leaves of Grass. We sometimes grow vain enough to think that we really own a part of this old earth when we have a title to a piece of land. Perhaps the fol- lowing from Emerson will teach us who can really own part of the earth: "The charming landscape which I saw this morning is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke 48 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts; that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title." The following poem brings out the same idea, and certainly places poverty not on the one who THIS SO-CALLED OWNER A GOOD TENANT TO NATURE. does not own titles, but who cannot really assimi- late and own and possess a beautiful landscape; Emerson also proves that materially speaking, mother earth owns us, and it is only a question of time when she will take us back into her body out of which we came: POSSESSION OF THE SOIL 49 "Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Meriam, Flint, Possessed the land which rendered to their toil Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool, and wood. Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm. Saying, ' 'Tis mine, my children's and my name's. How sweet the west wind sounds in my own trees! How graceful climb those shadow's on my hill! I fancy these pure waters and the flags Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize; And I affirm, my actions smack of the soil.' "Where are these men.'' Asleep beneath their grounds; And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plow. Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs; Who steer the plow, but can not steer their feet Clear of the grave. "They added ridge to valley, brook to pond. And sighed for all that bounded their domain; 'This suits me for a pasture; that's my park; We must have clay, lime, gravel, granite-ledge, And misty lowland, where to go for peat. The land is well — lies fairly to the south. 'Tis good, when you have crossed the sea and back, To find the sitfast acres where you left them.' Ah! the hot owner sees not Death, who adds Him to his land, a lump of mould the more. Hear what the Earth says: EARTH-SONG. " 'Mine and yours; Mine, not yours. Earth endures; Stars abide — Shine down in the old sea; Old are the shores; But where are old men? I who have seen much. Such have I never seen. " 'The lawyer's deed Ran sure. In tail. To them, and to their heirs Who shall succeed. Without fail, Forevermore. 50 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 'Here is the land. Shaggy with wood, With its old valley. Mound and flood. But the heritors? Fled like the flood's foam. The lawyer, and the laws, And the kingdom. Clean swept herefrom. 'They called me theirs. Who so controlled me; Yet e\'ery one Wished to stay, and is gone, How am I theirs, If they can not hold me, But I hold them?" 'When I heard the Earth-song, I was no longer brave; My avarice cooled Like lust in the chill of the grave," Emerson. CHAPTER XIII. TILLING THE SOIL. Here's to deep-plowing, shallow-cultivation, Tillage, manures, diversification. Cotton a surplus croj), plenty of meat — To Southern farmers enjoyment complete! During the early history of man's existence on the earth, he no doubt roamed over prairies and hills and through valleys eating the natural fruits of mother earth just as other animals did. But as he grew in wisdom his wants multiplied, and soon he began to work out plans to have a variety of things to eat, all growing in the same locality. This in time necessitated moving plants from one place to another, and of gathering seeds from different places and ])utting them near the place he had begun to call home. The planting of trees and seeds necessitated digging in the earth, which soon led to what we know now as tilling the soil. This practice is no doubt almost as old as any other of man's practices on the earth. From the earliest records we find of man in history, he was conducting some kind of agriculture; we con- clude that it belongs to the pre-historic arts. When we take this view of the matter, the mere sight of a man plowing in the field over there means more to us. Now we can see in this simple farm operation the evolution of an art in which over 40% of the human race is engaged, and one which has grown from the simplest planting of a few plants and seeds to a great and important science. 52 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS The Meaning of Tillage.— The dictionary defi- nition we may look for, and bring to the class written out with our opinion as to whether it is complete. The word must involve at least preparation of land for planting seed and then the keeping of land in condition suited to the growing of plants. Tillage may be said to be the manipu- lation of the soil by means of implements. When A DISC PLOW. {Besi plow for bottom lands and stubble fields.) we do anything to the soil to improve it, or to make it a better home for plants, we are said to be tilling it. Objects of Tillage. — Let each of us try to tell in our own language just why we till the soil. This will be a good lesson with which to supple- TILLJN(i THE SOIL 53 ment our language lesson for the day. Perhaps the most common objects of tillage are the follow- ing three: 1st, To change the texture of the soil and thereby conserve moisture and enable the air to penetrate down to the roots of the plants; 2nd, to mix thoroughly the manures that we may apply to the soil; 3rd, to pre- pare thoroughh^ the seed bed in order to make seeds germinate better after they have been planted; 4th, to keep down weeds and grass. We are already aware that too much or too little moisture at the roots of plants will cause quick and permanent injury. Tillage will help to regulate this water supply and give the plants a better opportunity to develop. In a later chapter we shall take up the relation of water supply to the different forms of humus applied to our lands. (Under side, shimming Jion' the heavy hoards are boiled logelher.) Tillage Implements. —These may be divided for convenience into the following groups: 1st, Plows; 2nd, Harrows and Cultivators, and 3rd, 54 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS Drags, Crushers and Levelers. It will be well for each of us to bring in a list of implements under each heading with local names attached, and sug- gest in the class the use of each. Some are in the habit of calling everything that is done to the land, with horses and implements, plowing. They have not learned that plowing and cultivating are two separate and distinct processes, and are done for entirely different purposes. Here is another place we can use our dictionary to good advantage, in comparing the meanings of the two words — plowing and cultivating. Plowing. — Plowing is the process of breaking land after one crop has been made, and before GOOD BREAKING — MOULDBQARO TURN PLOW FOLLOWED By SUBSOlLgR, TILLING THE SOIL 55 another is to be planted. It is an annual or semi- annual process for keeping the land well pulver- ized, and should not be confused with the culti- vation of the land. Plowing is a kind of turning over of the land, and turning under any rubbish or decaying old plants or vegetable matter, so that they will not be in the way of cultivating the new crop when it comes on. Plowing is sometimes synonymous with the popular term "turning" the land, or "breaking" the land. Cultivating. — By this time we have been pre- THE FIVE-TOOTH CULTIVATOR. pared to realize that cultivation is a process of itself, and is quite as important to the welfare of the farm as any other process. It is whatever we do to the land to make it a better place of living for the growing plants. Cultivation, or the stirring of the soil with cultivators, harrows or other like implements is usually designed to suit the age of the plant as well as the nature of the soil. For instance, young plants whose roots 56 AGRICULTURE FOR THP: COMMON SCHOOLS have not developed could be cidtivated any rea- sonable depth without injury, but after the root systems have developed and covered a considera- ble portion of the soil under the surface, it will not do to cultivate deep, as the plants depend on the root systems for food and water supplies, and anj'thing that interferes with the roots inter- feres also with the food and water supply. This is the reason why it will not do to bar cotton after it has developed sufficiently to fill the bed in which it grows with root systems. CHAPTER XIV. FURTHER STUDIES ON CULTIVATION. Some Comparisons. — Suppose we take three small areas of land and plant in cotton or some other convenient crop. Fertilize and plant each of the spots alike, but cultivate one regularly and shallow, and leave another uncultivated as a check; and in the third plat cultivate deep all the time, from planting till laying by time. Take careful notes on the difference in the growth of the three plats. In this experiment, be sure to measure the depths of cultivation in each plat and at each time of cultivation, also measure the heights of plants each time. This will be quite convincing as to the value of proper cultivation. What Cultivation Really Does. — In order for plants to thrive as they should they must have a proper amount of underground air. We all know that a newly cultivated field will be more likely to permit air to penetrate the soil than a crusty surface that has not been cultivated. But each rain that comes in spring and summer especially during the growing period of the crop forms such a crust over the soft soil that it practically shuts out the air from the soil below this crust. Our crop seems to l)e checked in growth, and begins to look yellow if we do not get to it in a reasonably short time after the rain, and soon it becomes impossible to recover it from this check. The remedy is to cultivate as early after a rain as 68 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS possible. Cultivation then opens the pores of the soil — so to speak — and lets the plants breathe more freely in the growing period. It also creates a mulch on the surface of the soil and enables it to hold the water much longer. A crusty surface causes the soil moisture to get away in mid- summer and helps to keep the soil cold in spring. A third thing that is accomplished by cultivation is to help increase the heat in the soil in spring when the young plants first begin to grow. The crust reflects the heat while the soft newly culti- vated soil absorbs the heat. Experiment to Show Heat. — In two small plats place a few cotton seed in early spring. Keep one well stirred and let a crust form over the other. See which one germinates the seed earlier, the cultivated or the uncultivated. This result can be compared with field conditions in the community in which the test was made. See which of the farmers keep their newly planted fields cultivated and which do not. Compare these facts with the stand each farmer gets. Time to Begin Cultivation. — Should this be after the young plants are already up or not? We shall claim most emphatically not. The time to begin cultivation is when the land needs it. Cultivation is a process for bettering the condition of the land ift which plants are to grow, and we should keep in mind the land in which the plants grow instead of trying to watch the plant to see when it needs attention. After the plant shows that it begins to need attention, we have needlessly neglected our dut.y far too long. The plant should FURTHER STUDIES ON CULTIVATION 5§ never show lack of attention. Our soil should be so well kept that the plant cannot show lack of cultivation. A SUUSOIL PLOW. Time to Stop Cultivation. — ^Cultivation should be kept up so long as we can pass through the crop without injury to the plants, at least till the fruit is beginning to mature. Most people lose a big per cent of the profits of the farm by stopping the cultivation a little too early. Sometimes the last cultivation itself determines whether the farm pays or not. Do not be afraid of interfering with the growth of the plant if you cultivate shallow enough. If the last cultivations come far apart, they should aim only to break the crust and let the air down in the soil. Sometimes cultivation injures crops because farmers cultivate a little too deep after having waited too long between cultivations. This is because the roots that have come near the surface of the soil are cut and the plant therefore suffers. A very shallow 60 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS cultivation at this time will not cause this trouble. These suggestions apply to all farm crops. Something will be said as to the best methods of cultivating each of the several crops when these crops are reached in the text. The same general laws of cultivation apply to all crops and we should not fail to go over and over these till we thor- oughly understand them. Our knowledge of them will depend largely on experience with them rather than on reading about them, therefore it is quite necessary that we do something to enable us to see the truth of any statement about the cultiva- tion of the soil. CHAPTER XV. FARM implp:ments. At the present time when so many farm imple- ments are being placed on the market one hardlj^ knows just how to begin a study of them. By the time vou have learned how to use one kind of AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS STUDYING FARM MACHINES IN DETAIL. implement, it is out of date and replaced by a more modern and convenient one that does prac- ticall}^ the same kind of work with much more ease and less power often. This forces us to make a study of the principles involved in the use of farm implements rather than the analj^sis of the instruments themselves. How many of us who 62 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS are now in the common schools remember the old Dixie Boy plows, or the still older Yankee turn plow, and yet they were all the talk when I began work on the farm several years ago. Plows Proper. — Not every kind of implement in front of which a horse goes back and forth through the field is a plow. Suppose we turn to our unabridged dictionary for a moment and see just what a plow is, or what the maker of the dic- tionary decided that it was. We shall be pretty apt to find that it is an implement drawn bj^ beasts of burden for the purpose of breaking the land, and i^reparing it for jjlantiiig. Here the definition will stop, or perhaps tell you that it is also used to cut ditches for draining, or to subsoil with. We may conclude with safety that a plow is an implement with which we plow, and not one with which we cultivate. Each member of the class in this study should examine a disc plow, a mould-board plow, and a subsoil plow, and bring a description of each to the class. These implements are the ones that make for better farming, and should be studied. We should visit two fields to get a good idea of the importance of proper plowing; one in which deep plowing has been practiced, and another in which onl^^ the small one-horse plow has been used. Get statistics on the yield per acre of these two fields, and bring in for a lesson in Arithmetic. We shall learn by this experience that our profits in farming depend more on going deeper into the soil than on spreading out over more acres. Cultivators. — This term originally meant a Farm implements 63 triangular implement set with small shares^ drawn by a horse or other beast of burden and set to handles. Now it means any implement used for stirring the soil around growing plants, or for killing weeds about the growing plants. There are many kinds of cultivators, and we shall be refj[uired to examine at least two different kinds, one on the order of the Planet, Jr., and the other after the manner of the Little Joe harrow which I consider a very good cultivator for all crops in IHll SPKING-TOOTH CULTIVATOR. early spring before the grass begins to grow. We shall be able to find cultivators in any modern hardware store. A description is not necessary, because with every manufacturing concern the idea seems to be to get some small change in all implements as often as possible and hence keep up with the times. We have often thought that all rural schools should have as part of their equipment a set of farm tools for studv with classes, and be able to 64 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS give regular weekly or bi-weekly demonstrations with them. This will be required in future as much as carpenters' tools are required to teach manual training. How easy it would be for stu- dents to get an idea of the value of a certain kind of farm implement, if they could see it in opera- tion ! Harrows. — The coming of the harrow^ marked wonderful progress in agriculture, and as it be- comes adapted to a greater variety of uses, its services to the art will be more and more felt and THE DISC HARROW THE GREATEST TOOL OF MODERN TIMES. appreciated. Harrows are essentially of three kinds, spike tooth harrows, spring tooth, and disc harrows. All of these have their special merit and all three kinds will be found on many of our Southern farms. An accurate description of each of the three kinds of harrows should be required of each member of the class, the description being based on actual observations and then corrected and re- written. We are often slow to appreciate how any object looks till called upon to give a description of it. Then we never forget. Do not restrict FARM IMPLEMENTS 65 to any particular makes of harrows, but require that they be of the classes above referred to. What are Harrows? — A general definition would be farm implements designed to pulverize the soil preparatory to making a seed bed. There are many uses to which they are put, and we have an almost endless variety. Every conceivable shape and combination has been tried, from the wooden beam, with a few pegs driven in, to the steel frame with elastic steel teeth. Perhaps you will need several of these. Some to scratch, some to smooth, and some to cut. The object generally is to make fine the soil turned up by the plow. This work cannot be done too often nor too well. To make dust of the soil is desirable and profit- able. Often we need harrows to break the crust and destroy weeds and grass. They are great labor-saving machines. They enable one man and one team to do the work of several. Some har- rows are so made as to be used in covering grain, and enable the farmer to do this very rapidly and nicely. Sometimes they have seeding and guano- distributing attachments. These machines do the work of several hands at once. Those of an- other form are called cultivators, and are so con- structed as to greatly simplify the work of culti- vating many of our crops. Other Farm Implements. — Planting machines have almost entirely done away with hand planting. They do the w^ork more rapidly, accurately and cheaply than can be done by hand. The new implements are so constructed as to put seed all along in a continuous row, or drop them at any 66 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS required distance in hills. By using different attach- ments, some of them may be made to plant almost any kind of seed. Manure spreaders are so arranged that they grind up or tear to pieces the coarse barnyard manures and distribute them quite evenl}'^ over the fields. The work is much better done than can be done by hands and forks. Here, as in all FARM DEMONSTRATION AGENTS TESTING OUT NEW IMPLEMENTS. good machines, there is a great saving in labor. Mowing machines, horse rakes, hay tedders, stackers and unloading conveniences are so well known and appreciated that we need only mention them as a part of the march of progress on the farm. No farmer would think of harvesting a large crop of hay bj^ hand. Hay presses make it possible to handle hay with great ease, and greatly FARM IMPLEMENTS 67 reduce the storage room required, but a cheap power press is still much to be desired. Inventive genius has done wonders in solving the question of handling small grain. From cutting with the hand sickle, separating with the flail, or horses' feet, and winnowing with the wind, we have ad- vanced until now the grain is cut by the self- binder and delivered ready for the shock, or cut, threshed and sacked ready for the miller. These wonderful machines are run by self-traveling en- gines, propelling themselves and the machinery. ONE HORSE PLANTER. (Drops seeds in hills or in drills.) These are used only on large grain fields. Yet they are a part of the farm equipment possible, and affect the price of the grain produced. The hand- ling of the corn crop is being greatly simplified. Instead of the labor of pulling the fodder and ears by hand, shucking and shelling in the same la- borious wa3^ the machine does it well-nigh all. The stalk is cut and fed to the shredder. This machine takes off the ears, shells and sacks the grain, and shreds the stalk, shucks and blades into excellent hay. 68 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS In gathering and preparing cotton for the mar- ket, comparatively httle advance has been made. We still pick it by hand, gin it with saw gins, and bale it in rude packages, unwieldy and unsightly. New processes are being tried for the improve- ment of the bales. Inventive genius may yet suc- ceed along these lines. As soon as the cotton leaves the producer's hands, all this is changed. The huge compress takes the bale in its embrace, and hands it out reduced in size. Thus the rail- roads and ship companies can carry three times as many, and the cost of transportation is thereby greatly reduced. When we enter the cotton fac- tory, we find ourselves in wonderland. Mar- velous machines, that almost seem to think and speak, manipulate this fiber of the farm into a thousand useful fabrics. A THRESHER AT WORK ON A SOUTHERN FARM. FARM IMPLEMENTS 69 So we find at every step, from the hoe handle to the steam thresher, improved machinery which enables the farmer to cut down his expenses, do better work, and run up his profits. It would be just as sensible to expect the traveling public to abandon the Pullman sleeper for the old-time lumbering coach and six, as to expect the farmer who understands his opportunities to continue his old wa}^ of farming. The manufacturer could as well afford to exchange the spinning jenny and power loom for the old-time hand spinning wheel and hand-shuttle loom, as the farmer of today can afford to ignore the mower and reaper. The Cotton Picking Machine. — This may well be considered in the list of farm implements. While the success of such a machine is not yet assured, some cotton has been picked commer- cially by several makes, and we have no right to doubt that their success is a possibility. Some considerable discussion has been brought about as to whether the suction picker or the spindle picker is the more likely to win out. These two principles are the only principles on which pickers seem to have been constructed, and the spindle is too destructive to the plants, and will not per- mit of two pickings perhaps, while the suction is too tedious and slow, though it will pick much more than four or five men. Cotton picked with the machines has to be treated differently from that picked by hand, and this fact will perhaps delay the coming of the machine into general use. It has much more trash than cotton picked by hand and therefore must have a cleaning attach- 70 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS nient to the gin before it is permitted to run through the gin. The Dixie and the Price-Campbell are the two pickers about which much has been said and written, and they are perhaps the best machines yet invented for picking cotton. They are both operated by means of revolving spindles, which twist the cotton out of the bolls, after which a rapid moving fanner brushes it back into a holder. This holder is emptied at regular stations up and down the rows of cotton, — usualh^ at the ends of the rows where they are short. These pickers seem to crush the cotton plants, and riddle many of them, so that it is not easy to go over the same field the second time with them, especially if the plants are in any way brittle. The Care of Farm Implements. — Tools left out in sunshine and rain lose, in a few years' time, more in value than it would cost to build a shelter. The wooden parts ver}^ soon begin to decay. The iron and steel rust, and are thus injured. The oxygen in the air is no respecter of men or tools. Its gnawing tooth is never idle. A little care spent in keeping tools of all kinds well painted, will be found to pay well. This is particularly true of the wooden parts, but often applies to the metal also. No skill is required in doing this kind of painting. The paint can be purchased ready mixed, of any desired color. Any- one can put it on. It will pay to do this about once a year on tools that are much used. This work can be done on rainy days, or other odd times, without interfering with the regular work. FARM IMPLEMENTS 71 Relation of Skilled Labor to the Use of Farm Implements. — In buying new and improved im- plements, we must alw\\vs have due regard to the intelHgence of the laborer who is to use them. This consideration again emphasizes the need of a technical education among farmers. An educated brain is a power. A trained hand is valuable. Unite both of these in one man, and you have the MACHINERY SHED ON A SOUTHERN FARM. possibility of doing wonders. In such cases the brain gives increased utilitj^ to the machine, and the machine gives increased capacity to the brain. Machinery does not require feeding or clothing, hence it is generally more economical than hand 72 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS labor. If kept in order and properly handled, it never makes mistakes. It requires more human strength and animal power to do sorry work with a sorry tool than it does to do good work with a good tool. We do not advise buying everything new that is offered, but when a tool has been tried and proven to do more work or' better work, or both, if the price is reasonable, you want that tool. Always require a guarantee that the machine will do what it claims to do. The market is at all times full- stocked with failures and humbugs. Farmers have caught their full share of these bugs. CHAPTER XVI. THE PLANT. Materials. — There is no time when we shall not be able to get ample material for lessons on plants, especially if we have planned our lessons a little ahead. Several small packages of various kinds of seeds are always useful and should be on hand. They should consist of corn, cotton, beans, peas, vetch, clover, alfalfa, and as many others as can be conveniently found. Saucers, or small shallow plates, may be used for germination tests. Try to have in the school room at all times some kinds of flowers in bloom. This will not be found a very hard task if we will take time by the forelock and plant them in boxes, jars and other vessels. No one can teach about plants without having plants present, though have tried to actually DEVICE FOR SEED TESTING. thousands of teachers teach about them from pictures in books, when plants were so plentiful. In order to have everything convenient for growing flowers, we should have in addition to the above, several flower pots or boxes, — the boxes being preferable if they can be made at school by 74 AGRICFLTlllE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS the bo3^s and girls. We should also have some dilute manure which should be obtained from some lane or passage way that cattle use going to and from pasture. The best form for this manure is to sweep up some earth with the manure and put in pots, after diluting with leaf-mould or some rich earth. This will grow the best flowers, and will establish a practice of making fine flowers for home use. Do not get the manure till it has been trampled into dust, and can hardly be distinguished from dust. In early spring wild flowers can be secured for a study of parts of plants, which should be taken up as early as possible. These should be trans- ferred to boxes and left growing just as they are found in the woods. Parts of Plants. — All plants may be divided into the four general parts: Roots, Stems, Leaves, Flowers. Each of these parts may be sub-divided into other parts as we may deem fit. Surely our knowledge of these parts will arouse our interests sufficiently to cause us to inquire into each part, and see what is there. The Roots. — Place roots on the desk before us and see just how" they are constructed. Who will be the first to find out if there are any very small roots fastened on the larger ones.^ Of what use can the plant make of these tiny little rootlets.^ The}" seem almost too small for anything, and yet THE PLANT 75 the plant owes its very life to them. See whether they cover the entire length of the roots or only part. Do they go to the tip of the root.^ Through the intimate union of these small roots with the soil, they are able to withdraw from the soil the minute particles of water necessary to the life of the plant. The older parts of the roots take no part in the process of absorption. The young roots of the plants absorb very little moisture except in the region of the fine root-hairs or the zone in which they usually grow. In the water that the small roots thus absorb are carried in solution the minerals necessary for the food of the plant. No plant can take food that is not in solution. Plants do not take food into their systems that is not good for them. There may be in solution many minerals not good for the plant, but the plants exercise a choice through the peculiar selective power of the cells. The cell walls can perhaps take in every thing in solution, but living protoplasm through which the material must pass before it can benefit the plant, excludes certain substances, while allowing others to pass through more or less readily. The rejected matter is exhaled through the leaves of the plant. Solutions must not be too strong, as they will permanently injure these small root-hairs. In fact the food that is supplied to the plant must be properly diluted, so that the roots will extend and manifest thrift, if the best results are to be secured. This should suggest the importance of properly distributing fertilizers in the drill rows. 76 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS GROWING PLANTS. THE PLANT 77 and not putting them down with drills to be left unmixed with the soil. A plant is tenderest when it first begins to grow, and any strong solution of chemicals proves detrimental to its growth and health, at this time. This question of method of putting commercial and other fertilizers in the soil will be studied again under the heading of fertilizers. Kinds of Root Systems. — In order to study the diiferent ways plants develop root systems, we may take before us, a root of a cotton plant and one of a corn plant. What do we find as to the essential differences of the methods of growth of these two plant roots .'^ Does the corn plant have any central root around which there are many branches? Does the cotton? The large central root of the cotton is called a tap root. Has the corn plant a tap root? A number of plant roots should be studied in order to find out to which class they belong. Some plants are able to gather nitrogen on the roots. Can anyone tell what class of plants has this power? Name as many legumes as you can. Something more will be said about this class of plants in another chapter. Some plants that creep along on the earth, grow roots at every joint almost. Can someone tell the name of one plant that does this? We are to collect up samples of grasses and running plants that have this habit. Aerial Roots. — Some plants have roots that never reach the soil, but gather food for the plants from the air. These are called aerial roots. This form of roots is usually found on climbing plants, 78 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS the roots becoming supports or filling the place of tendrils. The trumpet creeper is one of the plants that has this kind of roots, and some one may bring some of it to the class. Other kinds of plants have aerial roots only and are therefore known as air plants. Among these may be men- tioned the tropical orchids. It will be well for us to try to get up with some common plant the complete root system and see just how much more extensive it is than the stem and branches above ground. This will enable us to realize the importance of having a roomy and comfortable place for the roots to grow. It will also incidentally impel us to make better prepara- tions for the growing of better field, forest, and garden crops. CHAPTER XVII. THE PLANT: STEMS, LEAVES AND FLOWERS. In this chapter we shall make general observa- tions on the nature and growth of these organs of plants, and have a few lessons in Botany in another chapter. It must also be borne in mind that there are so many kinds of plants, and these have so many kinds of flowers, leaves, and stems that it will not be practical nor desirable to give in a short outline like the present text more than fruitful suggestions for further work by student and teacher. The Stem. — Practically all the stems in agri- cultural plants can l)e studied from specimens taken from the fields and gardens, and this should be done. It never paj's to pass over a lesson on any phase of plant life without the proper illus- trative material, and we will succeed in our study in proportion to our willingness to collect such material and wisely use it. What is the definition of a stem? Some authorities say it is that part of the plant that grows in the opposite direction to the root. This is not a bad definition. Suppose we examine several plants to see if we shall be able easily to find exceptions. The stem in growing upward is seeking light and air while the roots in their downward growth are seeking food and drink for the plant. In form the stem is generally round 80 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS or cylindrical, though there are exceptions. Pupils will be required to find and name at least one exception. Kinds of Stems. — Stems are divided into many classes as well as kinds. We may class them according to their ability to hold themselves erect. Those that cannot do so are called vines. Those that can are divided into herbs, shrubs, and trees. This latter classification is based on the nature, duration, and mode of branching. Those that die down to the earth every year are called herbs. Those whose stems live through the year are called trees or shrubs according to circumstances. If the branches live through the year and arise from the main stem or trunk we call the plant a tree. But if the branches come from the ground or from near the ground it is called a shrub. When this gets very bushy the plant is called a bush. We shall bring before the class a herb, and shrub, and let the class in turn go before or to the tree and study it. In Agriculture, most of our crops are herbs, though the subject has come to include forestry and horticulture, and now may incorporate all three classes of plants. Leaves. — The leaves are the parts of the plants that aid primarily in the process of nutrition, or the proper assimilation of foods. They are also the lungs of the plants, so to speak. In Agri- culture, the plants that are called forage plants have their greatest value in their leaves, and the leaves usualh^ make the bulk of forage plants. Leaves indicate their state of health by their color, which should be in most cases a rich green. THE PLANT: STEMS, LEAVES AND FLOWERS 81 The richness of their color is directly related to the supply of food. When the food is lacking in nitrogen, the leaves will usually show this by exhibiting a light yellowish green. The health of the plant will usually be indicated by the leaves, and we should give special attention to the needs of these important organs. The Flowers. — The flowers are the organs of reproduction; and in farm crops they generally develop into the val- uable part of the crop. All the grains, the f r u i t of the legumes, cotton, and horticultural pro- ducts are the direct result of the flower. The success of these plants depends on the success of the flow- ers. Flowers are said to be only mod- ified leaves and as- sume definite func- tions of reproduction after they have been adapted for this w ork. Parts of the Flow- er. — Complete flow- ers are those that have the four parts, calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil. All others are said to be in- complete. These parts of the flower will be studied at length under the proper heading. It USE THE COTTON BLOSSOM FOR A LESSON IN BOTANY. 1. Petal. 2. Sepal. 3. Ovary. 4. Ovules. 5. Pistil. 6. Stamens. 82 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS is important to know at this time that flowers have male and female organs, and a careful study of these organs is quite necessary to the improve- ment of farm crops. Ignorance of these has cost our farmers a great deal of money annually, and we should know how to save this loss. Varieties of corn and cotton are kept pure only by keeping them from crossing, and we should learn how crosses are made by wind and insects. Let each of us bring some pollen to the class. Pollen is the fine dust that is shaken from the stamens of flowers such as corn tassels, which are the male organs of the corn. The silks which are fastened to the young cob are the female organs. Before the young grains can grow, or even form, the pollen must get on the silks. The wind usu- ally blows the pollen into the air, and it afterward settles on the silks. This is then called wind- pollinated. Pollination may be done by hand, or by insects. Later we shall have some exercises in Botany, and shall then pollinate some flowers. CHAPTER XVIII. MANURES AND FERTILIZERS. It is possibly well for us to consider here that the modern practice of applying fertilizers to our farm lands is a new thing in the development of Agriculture. Peruvian guano was first intro- duced into the United States in the year 1845, and the year following Mr. David Dickson of Hancock County, Georgia, seeing an advertisement of it in the old American Farmer, published at Balti- more, bought three sacks of it and finding that it paid him well, continued to increase his use of it till 1855 or 1856, "and then went into it fully". This is perhaps undoubtedly the first time that commercial or concentrated fertilizers were used in the southern United States. Manures. — Manure is anything w hich has once been a part of plants or animals, or both, but is now decayed or decaying. Rotting vegetable or animal matter of any kind is more or less a manure. The word is generally used to mean the refuse from do- mestic animals. Hence we speak of horse manure, cow manure, sheep manure, hog manure, and so on. The general name of all these is lot or stable manure, sometimes called barnyard manure. When these substances decay they become soluble in water and then furnish plant food. Thus they cause plants to grow very rapidly. Having once been plants, they are apt to furnish all the kinds of food needed, and about the right quantity of each. The voidings from animals are rich in the 84 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS elements needed for plant-building. This is par- ticularly true of the liquid. Hence, by using some vegetable waste, such as leaves or straw, or even sawdust, to absorb the urine, we greatly increase the quantity of stable manure. We also improve the quality. The liquids are already dissolved. The solids must become so before we are helped by them. Farmers who fail to use the liquid manure from their cattle lose the best half. The solid or liquid voidings may be kept together or separate, but neither should ever be lost. If both are preserved together, we have a perfect or com- plete manure, suited to almost every plant, and to every kind of soil. We have already shown that a very small amount of a needed constituent will exert a great influence in the growth of any plant. Small quantities of soluble manure may thus increase the crop. Sometimes we get two or three times the yield by adding a small quantity of manure. The Soil in its Relation to Manures, — No part of the earth's surface may be considered soil till it has decaying and decayed vegetable and animal matter in it. Sometimes, through careless farm- ing, this valuable material is permitted to be reduced to a minimum. This decaying matter forms the best part of the plant food existing in the soil, and forms also an invaluable material for the physical condition of the soil. The land may, however, be so treated that it will have very little of this material in it, or in fact very little plant food of any kind. Again, there may be plentiful supplies of NATURE S TOOTHSOME SPRING TONIC- MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 85 mineral substances, but a lack of ammonia, and the crops will be poor. Supply this need and the crops will be bountiful. A field of wheat containing fifty acres, lacking this ammonia, might only be able to yield a crop of ten or twelve bushels per acre. Use some stable manure, costing about three dollars per acre, and the 3'ield is often run up to twenty or thirty bushels per acre. We thus have a profit of ten to twenty dollars per acre, or five hundred to a thousand dollars on fifty acres, from the use of one hundred and fifty dollars. This wonderful change was brought about in part by supplying the lacking constituent of plant food, but this was not all that was done. There were in the decaying manure microbes which caused a process of fermentation to begin in the soil. This created acids and gases, which helped to decompose the plant food already abundant in the soil. But they were not soluble before, and could not be used by the plant. Now they are made soluble, and the power of the soil to produce crops is greatly increased. This fermentation changes the soil much as yeast changes the dough. Thus we get from the use of stable manures bene- fits far beyond the cost of the plant food in them. To get the full benefit from them, they should never be allowed to get wet, or be leached by rains, before they are put in the fields. The most solu- ble part is always the most valuable part. As soon as they get wet this part is dissolved into the water. If the water is permitted to run through, it carries this away with it. Millions of dollars' 86 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS worth of the very best plant food is lost in this way everj^ year. It either soaks into the earth or evaporates into the air. In either case the farm- er loses it. Manures Should be Kept Dry. — Manures of all kinds should be kept under shelter, and only given enough water to assist in the rotting. If properly handled, the urine will generall}^ supply this. When taken from the shed or barn, the manure should be spread broadcast upon freshly plowed ground, and harrowed in. If this cannot be done at once, then as soon as can be. Plow the ground, so as to get the manure mixed with the soil as soon as practicable. More or less loss is going on until this is done. The advan- tages of spreading the manure are many and important. We have spoken of the fermenta- tion and its good effects upon the soil in turning loose locked-up stores of plant food. We can see at once that this can be done better if the manure is mixed with all the soil than if it be confined to narrow streaks and spots. Again, plant roots go everywhere through the soil, seeking food. If the supply of food is uniform, the crop will be so and the plants will be healthier. If the manure be only in the row or hill, then only those roots which are there can get any good from it. So we lose very much by using manure in drills or hills. Another great gain in keeping manure dry is in the handling and hauling. One ton of manure will easily absorb several tons of water. Many farmers pay more in labor and in money for hand- ling and hauling the water than the manure. MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 87 Live Stock and the Supply of Manure. — The qiiantitj' and quality of the manure depends somewhat upon the feed. Cattle take away very little from the available plant food in the vege- table matter fed to them. They consume chiefly the elements wdiich come from the air. They add to the manure waste material from their A MONEY MAKER. blood, flesh and bones, which increases the value. Hay and grain foods, such as cotton-seed meal, wheat bran and oil cake, support the cow w ith only part of their contents. A large part of these and of all other food substances passes on to the manure heap, rich in all the elements of plant food. This 88 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS has been rendered more soluble by the processes of digestion. A ton of cotton-seed meal will give flesh to the cow and increase the flow of milk, improve the yield of butter, and furnish nearly as much for plant food after being fed to the cow as before. The cow has taken some, and added some from the waste of her own system. It is hardly possible to keep up a high standard of fertility on our farms without the aid of cattle. The cow seems to be the cheapest guano factory the farmer can patronize. She gathers up from the highways and the byways, pastures and hedges and odd corners much that would be lost. Cattle- growing has been a leading feature of farming in all ages and countries. We might sum it up this way: Grow grass to feed cattle, to make manure, to make the land rich, so that we can grow more grass to feed more cattle to make more manure, to make the land richer, to grow more grass, and so on forever. Green Manures. — When we plow under a growing or partly green crop it is called green manure. Sometimes this term is applied to stub- ble. In any case while barnyard manure is suited to all crops, it is not the only good manure. All decaying vegetable matter makes the soil richer. Stubble and trash of all kinds should be plowed in. They keep the soil porous and warm, as well as add some plant food. Some plants take nitrogen from the air and leave it in the soil. Clovers and leguminous, or pod- bearing, plants generally have this power. Cow- peas are very valuable for this purpose. Very MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 89 poor soils have been made rich by sowing a pea crop after a grain crop for a few years. The vines are good for manure, and help to enrich the soil, if left to die and decay on the field; but the most good is done by the roots. The vines are so much more valuable for hay that it is not good farming to let them rot. They are worth about fifteen dollars per ton as hay, and about four dollars and fifty cents for manure. It is poor economy to lose this difference — about ten dollars per ton. But we need not lose anything at all. Save the vines and feed them, and thus get the hay value in full and the manure value in addition thereto. The droppings from cattle fed with pea-vine hay are very rich. CHAPTER XIX. COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. Animal Matter as Fertilizers. — Not only are vegetables valiial)le for manure-, but decayed animal matter also is rich in plant food. Even the bones and hoofs and horns of animals are valuable for manuring purposes. They form the basis of many of the best guanos. Rotting fish are largely used for the same purpose. Manures and fertilizers are often spoken of as though they were the same. Strictly speaking, they are different in some important respects. Manures are the result of natural decays. Fer- tilizers are chemical compounds. The plant food they contain is made soluble by strong acids. Animal bones are ground fine, and the acid is added to the flour. By the action of the acid, more or less of the phosphoric acid, potash, lime and mineral elements is made soluble in water. These compounds are called acid phosphates, superphosphates, and so on, according to the quan- tity of the different elements. If sulphuric acid is used, they are called sulphates. If nitric acid is used, they are called nitrates. If carbonic acid is used, then they are called carbonates, and so on through the list. If the substance used with the acid is potash, then we have the nitrate or sulphate or muriate THE OUTGO. COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 91 of potash. If soda was the base, then we have nitrate of soda. If Hme, we have sulphate or carbonate of Hme. These chemical compounds are carefully ana- lyzed, and the exact proportions of the differ- ent elements made known. This soluble percentage of each plant food must be plainly marked on the sack or barrel, and guaranteed by the parties selling. This is for the protection of the farm- er. By looking, he can see what he is purchasing. They are generally sold by the ton of two thou- sand pounds. Thus, eight per cent, phosphates means that in a ton there are one hundred and sixty pounds of soluble phosphate; two per cent, potash means that in a ton you will get forty pounds of potash. In a ton of phosphate we get about these quantities of plant food — two hundred to two hundred and forty pounds. Now, if we distribute these, as is the custom, at about the rate of one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds to the acre, we are putting on each acre about ten or fifteen pounds of phosphate, and two and one-half to four pounds of potash per acre. We expect thes.e small quantities to cause a great increase in yield. Often they do. We often have four to six thousand stalks of corn per acre, and ten to fifteen thousand stalks of cotton. If the roots find all we give per acre, how much pot- ash would one stalk get.^ Two thousand corn stalks will divide each pound among them. Four thousand cotton stalks must feed on each pound. Ammonia Necessary to a Complete Fertilizer. — Experience shows that, besides potash, phos- 92 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS phoric acid and lime, we need nitrogen for very many crops. This is added to the phosphate by the use of nitrate of soda, Peruvian guano, de- cayed fish, dried blood, cotton-seed meal, and many other substances. Plants seem to require that the nitrogen be given to them in the form of ammonia. We find this generally guaranteed on the sacks in about the same quantities as the potash — one and one-half to two and one-half, sometimes three per cent. This little change gives a new name to the compounds, and they are called complete fertilizers, or ammoniated guanos. It adds considerably to the cost per ton. It is very readily dissolved by water, and constantly tends to evaporate in the air, particularly if exposed to hot sunshine. Guano. — Among the nitrogen group of fer- tilizers comes guano, the excrement of the sea birds that inhabit certain coasts, especially the western coast of South America. The use of this material as has been suggested above, was first used in the United States in 1845, but it was used in great quantities in Peru long before that country was invaded by the Spaniards. A pam- phlet published in 1609 says "that no one was allowed under pain of death, to visit the Guano Islands during the breeding season, or, under any circumstances to kill the birds which yield this substance; and that overseers were appointed by the Government to take charge of the guano districts, and to assign to each* claimant his due share of the material". Guanos differ from other nitrogen producing COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 93 fertilizers in the fact that they are natural products of the earth, produced from the deposits of millions of birds, or rotting fish bones, or both combined. They are generally found in tropical regions. They are very rich in nitrogen. This element determines their comparative value. Peru fur- nishes us with most of the highest grades. The name, however, is often applied to manufactured goods con- taining ammonia. Strictly speaking, they belong to the manures, for manures are made by natural processes; fertilizers by chemical pro- cesses. Difference Between Ma- nures and Fertilizers. — There is a radical difference between manures and ferti- lizers, and to the farmer this distinction means a great deal. What is made by chemical processes he cannot make. This he must buy. What is made from natural processes, he can make for himself. This he need not buy. If you un- derstand your business, you can mix your own fertilizers. You need not buy them ready mixed. Cotton-seed meal is a good source of ammonia for farms. a PLANT NOT FERTILIZED. b PLANT PROPERLY FERTILIZED. 94 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS But there is another very important difference between manures and fertihzers. Manures make the soil richer at the same time that they make the crop larger. They do this by constantly add- ing to the soil much vegetable matter which, though not immediately soluble, will soon become so by the agencies already at work in the soil, and by the fermentation which they cause to set up in the soil. Thus, by nature's own methods the work of enriching the soil goes right on, while the soil is making the owner richer year by year. This is not the case with chemical fertilizers. They are prepared by a definite formula, and pre- pared to do a fixed amount of work and no more. They carry to the plant a small quantity of dis- solved food. This is all they can do. We have already seen how small this quantity is. They supply in some soils wliat is wanting and this is all they can do. They may, and very often do, increase the growing crop. They act like the iron in the blood. They make the plant healthy and strong, so that it sends out many active roots, which feed on the soil food, and thus a heavy growth is secured; but they make very little con- tribution to the permanent food supply of the soil. They have rather stimulated it to extra effort, and often it is left poorer. The long continued growth of heavy crops by the use of commercial fertihzers alone does not build up a high state of fertility. Now, we have in the first twelve inches of soil about four to eight thousand pounds of phosphoric acid, sixteen hundred pounds of potash, and from five hundred COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 95 96 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS to four thousand pounds of nitrogen to each acre of land. The next twelve inches have rather more of all except nitrogen. What we need then is a system of culture which will make available these vast quantities of locked-up plant food. Using chemical fertilizers does not do this. Using home- made manure does help to do so. Chemical fertilizers are useful if properly used, and often pay a good profit on the investment, but we should never learn to depend entirely upon them. Southern farmers have enough ammonia in their cotton seed to supply not only their own needs, but to supply any farm in the United States. CHAPTER XX. THE propp:r use of manures and FERTILIZERS. It goes without saying that thousands of tons of good plant food go to waste every year on ac- count of careless methods of applying it to the soil. We have learned that manures help the physical condition of the soil as well as furnish the plant with food, and are therefore far more valuable than chemical fertilizers. When farmers realize this fact fully, they will renew their efforts to apply some manures to their land as well as to buy annually $18,000,000 worth of chemical fertilizers to put in our Georgia soils. Very much of the profit of farming comes from the skillful use of manures and fertilizers. Manures are generally coarse vegetable matter in process of decay. To get the fullest benefit from them, we must so direct this decay as not to lose any of the constituents of plant food. Some of these, the nitrogen and ammonia, for instance, will readily evaporate and thus be lost. Others, such as the potash, are readily dissolved and carried away with the water. But a certain quantity of water is needed to help the decaying process. Composts. — From our dictionary we may learn that composts means materials compounded or mixed together. To the farmer the term suggests certain mixing of definite kinds of barnyard manures, and in the south whole cotton seed, together with some lime or acids to hasten decay. It may consist of heaps of stable manure com- 98 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS bined with other vegetable matter, mineral com- pounds or chemical fertilizers, or all of these at once. The object of composting is to reduce the manure so that it can l)e mixed more thor- oughly with the soil. The mineral and chemi- cal substances are used to absorb the ammonia, potash and other substances as the heap rots. The end in view is to get a resulting compost that will furnish all the elements of food in read- ily soluble condition. When these heaps are made they become very much heated, as the rot- ting process is slow burning. The heat at first hastens decay, but when very hot destroys the best elements of plant food. SMALL COMPOST DISTRIBLTTER. Best Method of Applying Compost or Manures. — The practice of having large compost heaps on the farm is about to pass away and we now find that we get better results by composting in the fields. Instead of costly work, long continued after the old style, we believe it to be better to carry the manure directly from the stalls or sheds and spread it upon the field, and if we THE PROPER USE OF MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 99 wish to add other substances, do so as we dis- tribute or afterwards. It will be profitable to keep on hand German kainit, acid phosphate and gyp- sum, or land plaster, and sprinkle these over the manure as we clean the stalls or pile the manure under the shed. These will absorb all escaping gases. When it is not convenient to do so, nearly the same results may be obtained by mixing them in the field. The advantage of this method is that the chemi- cal reactions take place in the soil and help to make it loose. At the same time they cause other chemical changes in the soil itself. Another im- portant point in the use of manures is their appli- cation as to depth. Many have contended that they should be put deep down in the soil to pre- vent loss by evaporation. This idea is not well founded, because the fine soil is a wonderful ab- sorbent and readily holds all gases. Dust is the best destroyer of all odors or smells. Another rea- son why this is not best is found in the fact that the valuable part is the soluble part. Water tends to go down, and the general tendency is to carry all soluble elements with it. We find this illus- trated in the common farm ash barrel or hopper. We put the ashes in, pour the water on top, clear as crystal. In a short while this same water runs out at the bottom but not clear. It has taken the soluble potash from the ashes along with it, and is now a highly colored lye. So in the field the tendency is for the water to carry all soluble plant food downward. We say, the tendency, because capillary attraction and 100 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS ASH HOPPER; THIS IS THE WAY PLANT FOOD IS CARRIED. root action very greatly modify this. But this tendency is so strong that it is safe to apply most manures very shallow. Some do the best work when used entirely on top of the soil. The only danger in shallow- application is due to the fact that manure is use- less without water, and the seasons may sometimes dr^^ the soil below the manure. In such cases the manure can do no good, A safe rule is to ap- ply all manures shallow in the fall and winter, and a little deeper in spring and summer. The Relation of Fruiting to Proper Application of Fertilizers. — If a soil is very poor, or not rich in vegetable matter, much larger crops can be made by putting all the manures in the seed bed, because the roots will not spread a great deal. A thoroughly good seed bed is a most essential thing in the success of farming, and if the land is rich enough to cause the roots to spread to all parts of the middle, we must consider the whole field as a solid seed bed. In this case a matter of great value to the farmer is equal, thorough distri- bution. Every inch of soil will be filled with roots seeking food, and every inch should have food ready. If the manure is put in the drill, a strong plant is started, and calculations are made for a vigorous crop. When the fruiting season is reached and the demand for food is heaviest and every energy of the plant is strained in search of needed THIS CORN HAD TOO MUCH FERTILIZER AT PLANTING INSTEAD OF AT FRUITING SEASON. 102 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS nourishment, then the roots are thrust out to the middle and find a soil much poorer than that in which the plant started. There is disappoint- ment. The plant begins to readjust. It can not secure the needed food. It throws off the young fruit. This reaction is always hurtful, sometimes ruinous. The limbs or leaves are already formed. Being tougher than the young fruit, they hold on,' while the fruit falls. Cotton-growers suffer im- mense loss in this way. Other plants may not show the harm so plainly in the fields, but they will in the barn. The wheat grains will be fewer, smaller and lighter. Corn will give nubbins instead of full ears. If all the soil had been alike, the growth would have been healthy and the crop better — less stalk and more fruit. Mixing Fertilizers in the Soil Essential. — Whether we apph^ fertilizers in the drill row or broad cast them, they should always be thoroughly mixed with the soil. As has just been stated in the paragraph above, the roots reach all parts of the soil and should find food wherever they reach. This food should be so placed that it may be supplied to the plant as the plant needs it. Strong chemical fertilizers will prove too strong for the young tender growing roots, and may retard the, growth of the plant, when large appli- cations are made. The larger the applications, the better should they be mixed with the soil. Chemical fertilizers are always costly and the farmer should get the greatest possible good from the first crop. This he cannot do if only a few of the plant roots reach the supply of food. All plants THE PROPER USE OF MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 103 need most help when putting on fruit. Part of the food should always be reserved for the fruiting sea- son. For this reason many have felt that only a p^rt of fertilizers should be used when plant- ing. The other part should be put in when cultivating cultured crops, and used as a top- dressing on grain or grass crops. Experiments lean strongly to this theory. Whatever the method of using, the success will be greater if the soil and manure be thoroughly stirred together. Skill Should be Exercised in Using Large Quantities of Fertilizers. — The quantity to be supplied is an interesting question. We have already said that extremely small quantities of soluble plant food make great increase in the yield. Where a pound of potash, phosphoric acid or nitrogen has been given, to be divided among thousands of plants, the effect has been great. Does it hold true that we can increase the crop as we increase the foods .'^ It seems to be true. Many experiments seem to show that a ton of fertilizer per acre will give a larger clear profit on the money cost than 150 pounds. Good common sense and great skill are needed in using these great quantities. There must be a corre- sponding increase in the depth of the soil, the sup- ply of water, and number of plants per acre. The culture must be rapid and skilled. With proper care there seems to be no known limit to the quantity that may be profitably used. Market gardeners and truck farmers find it profit- able to cover the soil several inches with good sta- ble manure. More than forty tons per acre are 104 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS sometimes used. After they liave mixed this thoroughl}^ with the soil, they sometimes add large quantities of chemicaP fertilizers. In this way they are able to grow many successful crops on the same soil in one year. The danger line does not seen! to lie in that direction. Strange as it may seem, it is in many cases true that rich soils show greater profits on high manuring than poor soils. This can be understood if we remem- ber the statement already made that soils are poor on account of bad mechanical conditions. These conditions do not give the added food a fair chance. The better crops your land is able to produce, and therefore the less it seems to need manure, the better it will pay you for high manur- ing. A healthy man can eat and digest a larger dinner than a delicate, sickly one. Soil Study Necessary to Good Results. — If we do not know our soils it goes without sa^'ing that we cannot know what to supply them with in the production of crops. All crops do not need the same food. While certain of the substances already named are found in all plants, they are not required in the same ({uantities by each. Again, the availa- ble plant food in all soils is not the same. Put these together and we see that very different amounts of certain substances would be needed to produce the best crops. If a soil is lacking in potash, but pretty well supplied with phosphoric acid, lime and nitrogen, you need only to supply the potash and get a good crop. This would be still more needful if the crop we wished to grow on that soil were one that requires a large quantity of potash. THE PROPER USE OF MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 105 If two of these substances are lacking, then we must supply both. Simply supplying one would not secure a good crop. If potash and phosphoric acid are both wanting, then supplying the potash would not produce the crop If phosphoric acid alone be added, we will not get the crop; but if we add both the potash and the phosphate, we get the desired yield. FRUITS REQUIRE HIGH PERCENTAGE OF POTASH AND PHOSPHORIC ACID. We have some soils in which very little of either of the four needed elements is soluble. Such soils need a complete manure. Stable manure suits such soils. Ammoniated standard guano 106 AGRICULTFRE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS suits such fields. So we find that different crops demand different help. Wheat needs am- monia as well as phosphate. Oats seem to do as well with phosphate alone in the fall or at sowing time, but all grains and grasses rejoice in a top- dressing of a highly ammoniated preparation in the spring, while growing rapidly. Indian corn does well with phosphate and potash. Grapes, watermelons and other fruits and many vegetables do best with large doses of potash and some phos- phate added. The cotton plant will do well with a complete fertilizer, but does not seem to care much if you leave out the nitrogen. The legumes generally get all the needed nitrogen from the air. They need potash and lime. Home Mixing. — Every school should secure small quantities of the various kinds of plant foods and mix in the school room before classes. Pupils should then mix for themselves small quantities of a perfectly balanced plant food and apply to some small garden spot. With proper conveniences, farmers could do their own mixing to great advantage and in this way each crop can be furnished with what it needs, and nothing be lost. The separate articles can be bought very much cheaper than ready-made mixtures, and about 25 per cent may be saved in this way. Phosphate flour, potash or kainit can be bought very cheap, if taken in car-load lots, unsacked. It is true that many will not need a car load, but several farmers can join to purchase their needed supplies. Plants do not create anything. All the growing THE PROPER USE OF MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 107 crops do not add an ounce to the material world, nor does their death and consumption take away anything. They only change the form of the mat- ter. It is the farmer's place to direct in these wonderful changes, without which the world would soon die. If he does this wisely, he will be pros- perous and happy. If he does it ignorantly, he will be poor and unhappy. CHAPTER XXI. COMPOUNDING FERTILIZER FORMULAS. Ill order to get the most out of this chapter, it should be used in connection with Arithmetic. The calculations will prove more interesting and important than the pages of any book on abstract figures. Besides it will set us to thinking along lines that will enable us to improve our financial as well as mental condition, and will certainly prove a stimulus to the patronage of the school. The Basis of the Calculations. — Formulas for fertilizers show the amount of available plant foods in a hundred pounds. For instance, an 8-2-2 formula means that the fertilizer has eight pounds phosphoric acid, two pounds nitrogen and two pounds potash available in each hundred pounds of the fertilizer. Suppose we wish to make or mix a ton of fertilizer of this formula out of acid phosi^hate, kainit and dried blood. We would have 8 per cent of 2,000 lbs. equals 160 lbs. available phosphoric acid. 2 per cent of 2,000 lbs. equals 40 lbs. available nitrogen. 2 per cent of 2,000 lbs. equals 40 lbs. available potash. But the acid used will analyze 16% phos- phoric acid, the dried blood 14% nitrogen, and the kainit 12^/2% potash. In order to get the required number of pounds of each ingredient into the formula, we divide the total number of pounds of each ingredient that is to become available by the per cent of availabilit}^ guar- anteed in the several raw materials used. Of acid we would require 160 divided by 16%. To COMPOUNDING FERTILIZER FORMULAS 109 make a table, that would be convenient for calcu- lation we tabulate as follows: 160 Available acid -r 16% availability = 1,000 lbs. acid phosphate. 40 Available nitrogen -r 14% availability = 285 lbs. dried blood. 40 Available potash H- 12.5% availability = 320 lbs. kainit. Dirt or rich earth required for filler 395 lbs. Total 2,000 lbs. Some Exercises. — Suppose the pupils be re- quired to work out a similar problem, each pupil in the class selecting a separate problem to suit himself. One may take the problem to work out a formula for a 9-3-4 commercial fertilizer com- posed of acid phosphate analyzing 17%, nitrate of soda analyzing 16% and muriate of potash analyzing 50%. Another may take the formula 9-3-3 to be worked out from a combination of South Carolina dissolved phosphate rock 15% available, tank- age 6% available, and sulphate of potash 48% available. In the back of this book will be found the various percentages of availability of the several common fertilizers, from which at least a dozen problems should be made up. Suggestions for Home Work. — Pupils may bring to school the names of brands of fertilizers used on their own farms, together with the analysis of same. No better way could be devised to get patrons interested in the work of the school than to have them go over this work with pupils. Before this shall be done, however, be sure that the pupils thoroughly understand the principle, 110 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS and can work out the problems without making an error. The Problem of the Filler. — This may or may not be used to get the required analysis. It will be easy enough to get the proper analysis and then leave out the filler. This in fact should be done where we do our own mixing at home. We should bear in mind, however, that fertilizers without filler are more concentrated and should be more thoroughly mixed with the soil in order to remove any possible danger to the young plants, especially if we make applications as heavy as 400 to 500 pounds to the acre. With the exception of the extra cost of hauling and the freight, the filler would be preferable in most cases, because it does tend to reduce the strength of the fertilizer, without losing any of its value, or availability. Organic Nitrogens. — For long growing crops like cotton, some of the nitrogen should come from an organic source, such as cotton seed meal, dried blood, tankage or dried fish scrap. This is best because the quickly available fertilizers would all be dissolved and used up or washed away before the fruiting season came on. A top dressing should always be made with quickly available nitrate, such as nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia. It would therefore be best in compounding a fertilizer of this kind to let half of the source of nitrogen come from cotton seed meal and half from nitrate of soda, or a like combination from some of the other organic and chemical nitrogens. In making this calculation, we should bear in COMPOUNDING FERTILIZER FORMULAS 111 mind that if we wish 20, or 30 or 40 pounds of nitrogen to the ton avaihible, 10, 15, or 20 pounds should come from one source and the same amount from the other, and proceed with the work just as above, remembering that on account of the different analyses each amount must be worked out separately. CHAPTER XXII. SOME OUTDOOR EXERCISES WITH FERTILIZERS. Most school exercises in fertilizers are conducted with flower pots or other vessels that hold a small quantity of soil and in which fertilizers may be inserted in any required quantity and proportion. This is an excellent method of showing before a class just how different plant foods affect the growth of plants. There are methods of doing work out doors that will prove interesting and as conclusive as any tests that can be made with pots. Materials to be Used.^For a test of this kind we must have some of the following ferti- lizers: Nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, cotton seed meal, muriate of potash, kainit, acid phosphate, and slaked lime. We need have but small quantities of these for school tests and fertilizer companies will be glad to donate small quantities to the schools that will carry out the experiments. We should have a small area of about one- twentieth of an acre at the disposal of the school, and divide this up into small plots of 8x16 feet or some convenient form so they are all of uniform size. In order to have room for plants to grow, the plots should not be less than eight feet wide. The land should be medium and average soil for the community in which the school is located, and should be divided up into at least ten small plots or divisions, as follows: SOME OUTDOOR EXERCISES WITH FERTILIZERS 113 Plot No. 1. For no fertilizer. (Check plot.) Plot No. 2. Nitrogen only. Plot No. 3. Potash only. Plot No. 4. Phosphoric acid only. Plot No. 5. No fertilizer. (Check plot.) Plot No. 6. Nitrogen and Potash. Plot No. 7. Nitrogen and Phosphoric acid. Plot No. 8. Potash and Phosphoric acid. Plot No. 9. Nitrogen, Potash and Phosphoric Acid. Plot No. 10. No fertilizer. (Check plot.) These plots should be fertilized ever}' year just the same, and should be the basis for many lessons ill Arithmetic. Pupils should work out the yield of each per acre basis, and the cost of each on the same basis, also the net gain and the total cost. In addition to these, they should have two plots of the same size on which they can test the value of barnyard manure as compared with field peas in the building up of soil. On one they should apply barnyard manure and on the other plow under field peas every other year, and the alternate years plant some other crop and apply the same amount of commercial fertilizer to each plot. It should be impressed upon us the fact that a test is worth more the longer it is conducted, and there should be some permanent record of such tests kept in some convenient place in the school room, so pupils can consult it with the least effort. As for the amounts of each of the above to apply, this should be worked out by pupils, on the basis of so much per acre, only it should be the same amount each vear, when once this has l^een set- tled. Crops. — The crop to be planted on such an area would be determined mostly by the location of the school. In Georgia, it should be corn and 114 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS cotton ill the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont section, and wheat, oats, rye, and other small jrrains as well as corn in the hillv section and the mountains. The same crop need not necessarily be planted every year on the same place, but the same crop should be planted on all the plots in any given year, so that we could compare the value of the different kinds and combinations of fertilizers for the same crop. In fact this would be the only way we could compare the results with any degree of satisfaction. Application of the Fertilizers. — The amounts of the various fertilizers should be carefully weighed out and calculated on the acre basis some days before the application and stored in small sacks made by the girls. The sacks can be made out of yellow homespun which may be obtained for about 7 or 8 cents per yard, and it will take only two or three yards. The sacks can be made about 8x12 inches, so they will hold quite enough for the tests. When the time comes for application, the pupils should carefully scatter the given quantities over the plots as uniformly as possible, keeping the dates of same, each year, and cultivate in order to mix thoroughly with the soil. Keeping Results. — Some difficulties will be experienced in getting these plots looked after in the summer months while there is no school in session. This can be arranged for, however, as it is being done in many places, by giving the re- sults of the plots to one of the boys who lives nearest the school if he will keep them clean and cultivated during the summer. The results them- SOME OUTDOOR EXERCISES WITH FERTILIZERS 115 selves should always be collected in and measured or weighed as the case may be, by a committee of the class that is making the tests This committee should be appointed by the teacher or elected by the class or school. There are many ways of conducting tests of this kind, and we should never neglect an oppor- tunity of learning lessons of this kind by observa- tion rather than by a mere text book. Pupils ma,y remember some things in the text, but they can never forget the lessons that are learned by observing some simple lessons in soil fertility. If teachers prefer to experiment with pot cultures instead of plot work, they may do so with the greatest ease, letting the boys of the school make the boxes out of boards about three-quarters by eight inches. The boxes should be not more than ten inches square at the top. When such tests are made in pots, the fertilizers may best be applied by first dissolving them in water, and pouring gently into the soil in the boxes. CHAPTER XXIII. PLANTING OR SEEDING. Preparation. — The crop we wish to phint will suggest in a measure the details of how we are to prepare the land, but there are some general principles that apply to all crops alike. One of the most important considerations for a planter is the preparation of the seed bed. If this is properly done and care taken in planting, a good crop is generally assured. Then how shall we go about preparing our land for planting .f* We must realize that the conditions for plant growth, deep plowing and fine harrowing, and the weather have a great deal to do with our success or failure. Most of our crops need a deep mellow seed bed. To fail to provide this is to fail in our crop production. We should then, according to the best practice, plow our land deep in the fall in order to prevent winter washing. This will also help us to get rid of the insect life that winters in the soil, and will retard the growth of fungi that may be lurking in the soil, and waiting for the new crop in the spring. In Case of Winter Cover Crop. — Should we break our land deep in the fall as suggested above, and wish to put a winter cover crop on it, we may do so and thereby save much of our plant food from leaching out during the winter rains. This will, however, necessitate deep plowing again in the spring, unless our winter cover crop is expected PLANTING OR SEEDING 117 to make our regular field crop for the coming spring. That is, if our winter cover crop should happen to be oats, and we expected the oats to ripen in the spring, we could not, of course, plow the land again in spring, at least till the oats had been taken off. A winter cover crop is always to be recommended and will in every case more than pay for the extra cost of seeding. When the I)ractice of putting in winter cover crops is more general, our rivers will not be so red and completely charged with our good Georgia soil. Bedding in Spring. — Before bedding our land for spring planting, it will almost always be neces- sary to run over it with harrow and loosen and level it. This being done, we are ready for plan- ning our rows. If for cotton we will lay off rows about four, or four and a half, or five feet apart, and begin to prepare our seed bed. If our fertilizers have been broadcast over the field, our bedding will be very simple. After opening, we shall only list and bed and then level the bed. Then we are ready for planting. This bedding softens up the land and permits the warmth of spring to enter and aid in germinating the seed. If Fertilizers are Put in Drill Row. — If our land is moderately poor, better results will always be obtained by putting the fertilizers in the drill row. This statement is confirmed by many experi- ments. In this case, after we have made the furrows, we put the fertilizers and manures in the rows, mix thoroughly and incorporate them with the soil and then list and bed as before. * Level down the rows and we are ready for planting. 118 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS Many farmers do not mix fertilizers with the soil, but drill it with a distributer in the bottom of the drill row and cover it. This practice does not insure the best results, as the roots of the young plants find these concentrates too strong for them, and cannot prosper till the fertilizers have become dissolved. Whatever we plant and however we prepare the soil, we should always thoroughly incorporate the fertilizers with the soil if we wish to get the best results. Putting in the Seeds. — A rule that we should always observe is to not put seeds in soil that is too wet or too dry . If we do this we shall meet with success, other things being equal. If the soil is mellow and has the proper amount of moisture, the seed will germinate ^^ery quickly, and we will have a good stand of plants. Planting is usually done with a planter, or drill of some kind, as machinery has taken the place of most hand work in recent years. Most seed should be planted shallow when put out in spring: cotton about one inch, corn from one inch to two inches, and most vegetable garden seed much shallower than this. Many seeds are lost by planting too deep. Others are fed to birds, or perish by sunshine, because they are not covered, or too lightly covered. Small grains, generally, should be covered from three- THE SEED DRILL SECURES A PERFECT STAND. PLANTING OR SEEDING 119 fourths of an inch to an inch and a half. They may come up outside of this range, but they will , :«£',. J 216 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON vSCHOOLS dry. It is then stored in vessels and sold for sizing. Milk sugar is made almost directly from the whey and is therefore not ver^^ costly. This material is the basis for many of the infant foods so popular in our homes. It was once used only for medicinal purposes, hut its merit became so evident on further examination that it lias become very popular as a food. CHAPTER XXXV. POULTRY FOR THE FARM. It seems rather strange that farmers will work hard all the year and eat "hog and hominy" and then have to buy much of the chickens they eat if they eat any, when poultry can be raised so easily. If we once begin to think about it, chicken is not only l)etter to eat, but in fact cheaper than most other meats, especially if we have to buy the other meats. One of the most pleasant things one can do on the farm is to have varied interests, so if one thing falls partly through, others will help to save us. The matter of raising poultry has been looked upon as child's play long enough. We should awake and really go into this as a real farm business. It will pay and prove exceedingly pleasant. Only a few suggestions will be given on this subject. It is a special business, but a small poultry business should be run in connection with every farm, if for no other reason, to get the boys and girls interested in such work and show them another side of farm life. Types of Chickens. — There are several breeds of chickens and each breed has been produced in response to a certain demand. While this is not literally true, it is in general true. There is the egg bird, the meat bird, the dual purpose bird, and the fanc^^ breed. (a) The Egg Bii'd.—The most common of the egg birds we have in the South are the Leghorns, the Anconas, and the Minorcas. The Leghorns 218 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS themselves may be divided into the white, black, brown, buff, rose-comb, and others. This class of chickens has been bred solely for lajdng purposes; and while they are non-sitters, they pay if kept for the purpose for which they have been bred. BEST AND CHEAPEST MEAT FOR EVERY FARMER. Careful attention should be given to their diet and care, especially in winter. (b) The Meat Bird. — To this class belong the Cochins, Brahmas, and Langshans. These three POULTRY FOR THE FARM 219 breeds are of Asiatic origin and are large, heavy, awkward birds. They grow rapidly and make fine table birds, but may not be quite as palatable as other breeds. The Light Brahma is the largest chicken known, the cock weighing about 12 pounds and the hen about 10 or a little less. (c) The Dual Purjjose Bird. — To this class !)elong the Wy- andottes. Barred and other Ply- mouth Rocks, Rhode Island '.r^. Reds, and Orp- /'^' ingtons. As the -^;- name suggests, ; ,; these birds are /^J^.- good for laying "^iif and the table, ;;^, and should be '_ the most popu- lar for the aver- a g e farmer. They will lay and hatch the eggs if required to do so. (d) Fancy Birds. — There are a great many breeds of chickens that are not grown for any other purpose except to show. These are called fancy breeds. To this class belong such breeds as the Bantams, the Silkies, Frizzles, and a few others of less importance. These will not reward ■ajgy/WttiJ ' '■ J^ ' BROWN LEGHORNS FOR EGGS. 220 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS the keeper unless he expects to win prizes or something of the kind with them. They are not recommended to the farmer as worthy of his attention. Standard Bred Utility Hens for Profit. — It should be the purpose of every fancier or grower to breed birds for utility purposes, but this is not the case. The best birds out of a flock are kept for show purposes, while those a little off in color are sold as utility birds. In fact, those birds that do not come up to the show stand- ard are p u t aside and sold for utility stock. This puts utility below other features of breeding. The most important quality" is utility and a bird that does not come up to a high standard of utility should be discarded, and not sold. To breed utility birds we must have trap nests and keep close accounts with them. When they do not come up to the standard of egg production, we should discard at once and replace with an- other and a better. The utility bird is the found- ation stock for the farmer. Care of Chickens. — They should have a close house, well ventilated, and so arranged that GOOD TYPE OF GENERAL PURPOSE FOWL. POULTRY FOR THE FARM 221 plenty of sunshine can get in. The yard should be closed on north and west by a board fence and should slope to south or east if possible. This will keep the chickens in better health and often keep them laying all winter. In summer, they require plenty of shade and cool water. ^JH^^^^H^^^^^^I BEAUTY AND UTILITY COMBINED. Houses for Chickens. — A house for chickens should be dry, it should have plenty of sunshine,, it should be free from drafts, it should be built tight on three sides, and should face south or east. The fourth side may be covered with wire and have a drop door that could be used during cold weather. If anyone of these considerations should be left out, chickens will not thrive very well. Feeding Chickens. — It will not do to give chickens that are enclosed just one kind of food 222 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS such as wheat or corn. This is not sufficient. There must be given some animal food, and on the average farm this part of the diet is supphed; the chickens eat all kinds of insects and get the meat scraps thrown from the table. Of course, chickens must have a great deal of A MODEL CHICKEN HOUSE. green stuff to counterbalance this meat ration. This is essential to keep them in health and espe- cially to keep them laying. Pastures. — The yards that are usually planted in small grain for chickens ought to be made large enough to give the chickens plenty of green stuff for winter diet. The average yards are so small that the chickens keep them as clean as a swept POULTRY FOR THE FARM 223 yard. There is nothing better for them tli- n the young small grain, but rape, clover or vetch may be planted, and will give practically the same results. Then a larger pasture will give the chickens larger runs, and keep them in better health. On the farm this will be overcome by letting them run loose part of the time. THE ARTIFICIAL HATCHER. Raising Young Chicks. — Where we are going to raise only two or three hundred chicks in the year it is usually better to hatch the eggs with hens instead of an incubator, but if we have larger numbers it would pay to use the incubator. The rule is that if we have the non-setting hens, or if we raise a large number of chickens, it pays to have an incubator, but otherwise it does not. As a substitute for incubators, when we have Leg- 224 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS horn hens, it might pay to get a few heavy hens for setting. Results to be Expected. — We shall never get great results with poultry till we invest more thought and a little more money in it. It is a big paying business when it is properly looked after, but will never amount to much until we go into it with a knowledge and w^ill. Good results will BKOODER- — THE INCUBATOR CHICKS NURSERY. follow good efforts. No farmer should deny him- self the pleasure and profit of raising poultry on a small scale, and the matter should not be treated lightly like it hasjbeen|treated in the past. All of us have been far too indifferent about this important branch of Agriculture. CHAPTER XXXVI. SCHOOL GARDENING. School gardening is a subject that has engaged the attention of many educators in recent years, and is coming to be looked upon as a necessary supplement to school work. It is one of the shortest and best ways of getting interested in and in sympathy with nature. To be able to get out to chop, dig, and hoe a little among the plants we have planted with our own hands is to quicken the latent powers of observation and this is what we wish to do in undertaking to develop a school garden. Every school should have some kind of a gar- den, whether for growing ornamental or for other- wise useful plants, and often such a garden can be made to pay a handsome annual income when well operated. "There are about 1,000 school gardens in connection with the country schools in England", observes Miss Sipe of the Office of Experiment Stations, "to inspire and teach the boys and girls of rural England the elements of Agriculture and Horticulture". Selection of Ground for School Garden. — It would be far better to have none at all than to have a poor school garden, as the people in every neighborhood are always wishing something to talk about and anj^ kind of failure in the school circles will afford much for comment and criti- cism. Therefore it is well to select a rich and easily cultivated plot for the garden. The aim will be to get plants to grow and get them to grow 226 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS SCHOOL GARDENING 227 well. Poor plants make a poor showing, and good ones always cause favorable comment. Ordi- narily, the spot selected for the school garden should be toward the rear of the school house, if other conditions favor this. Size of Ground for Garden. — This will depend on several things, the most important of w^hich is the size of the school and the number of grades in same. It ought to be arranged so that the plots could be given out by grades and each grade have a certain crop to grow. This has worked well, and shows the possibility of making many crops on a small area. We should then assign each pupil so much ground. In England each pupil is allowed one square rod of soil, and all the plots are laid out b^^ the boys as a preliminary lesson. The most desirable shape for these individual plots is rectangular, letting them be very narrow and long. In some schools, narrow streets are run through the plots, and each individual plot about 23/2 f^^t by 8 feet. This part may be left to the individual taste of the teacher and pupils. What to Plant. — (3ther things being equal, we should by all means plant such crops as can be gathered while school is in session. If this cannot be done, we must make the best of the situation. Crops common to the community in which the school is located take first place. The purposes of the school garden are to teach how^ to improve plants already growing in a community as well as to introduce new crops, and of course there must be no neglect of crops already in existence. Sug- gestions are made elsewhere how to arrange for 228 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS such crops as cannot be gathered during the session of the school. If rapidly growing vegeta- bles do not take up all the space of the gar- den, and it should not, we must not hesitate to put farm crops on our ground, such as corn, cotton, potatoes, sweet and Irish, and even small grains. Much good will result in the habits of observation that may be developed. Cold Frames and Hot Beds. — In connection with ever}' school garden there should be at least one cold frame and one hot bed. The cold frame may be used for growing cold weather plants HOT-BED, SHOWING FRAME AND SASH. during winter months. In this we would have lettuce, radishes, chard, kale and young cabbage plants. Teachers will find it exceedingly inter- esting to give lessons from time to time on the value of these plants both as food and as table decorations, and pupils will appreciate them very much. If the frame should be a rather large one, say about 6 feet by 30 feet or 40 feet enough lettuce can be sold from it to buy a valuable chart or map for the school room. Hot beds are about the same as cold 230 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS frames, except they are a little deeper and must have a heavy layer of barnyard manure on the floor or bottom, which produces the heat for the tenderer plants and at the same time a place for them to grow in. All our young tomatoes, pep- pers, egg-plants, and other tender crops must be forced in the hot bed, and made ready for reset- ting in early spring as soon as the cool weather is over. The boys can make these, by bringing spades, shovels, saws, hammers and nails some Saturday. The depth should be about two feet below the surface level and a good, solid, wooden frame made in this. Posts should be about 4 or 5 feet apart and stout boards nailed on them. Fill up on the outside, make one edge of the top about a foot or more higher than the other so it will shed rain readily. Then fill with earth up almost to the top of the outside, so the water will be less likely to run in and stand in the frames. Cover with light boards or cheap sea island cloth. Ribs should be run across the frame every few feet to hold the cover up, especially if it be made of cloth. Revenue from Young Plants. — It nuist be remembered that a school garden is conducted in connection with schools primarily for the purpose of teaching how to get results from all gardens, and to help pupils to think about why certain crops are cultivated or fertilized differently from others in order to get the best results. In addition to this, the teacher can show how home and school gardens can be made to become a source of revenue. Young tomato plants, peppers and egg- plants are quite salable in the spring when every- SCHOOL GARDENING 231 body is fixing to start the home garden, and if the school has such plants ready, many thousands can be sold and the proceeds go to building up the school library. Get the thought and it is easy to get the results. Some schools have cleared as much as $65.00 in one spring selling young garden vegetables for resetting in the home garden. Cabbages that are to be thus sold must be put out very early after January, if not in the fall. Tomatoes, and peppers should be seeded in the frame about February 10th or 20th, depending on the latitude, altitude and climate. Fertilizing Beds or Plots. — When our plants are ready to be transferred from frames to plots, our land should be well spaded and fertilized. The nature and kind of fertilizer should be deter- mined by the crop itself, and a table is given in the back of this book showing formulas for most farm and garden crops. Where possible, a wheel- barrow load of some kind of barnyard manure should be put on each plot that is allotted to a pupil. This will cause the plants to do much better and therefore bring success to the work. Only a few pounds of fertilizer will be needed for the whole garden, and perhaps only about two pounds for each plot of 23^2 by 8 feet. A little nitrate of soda may be scattered in the bed a little later, or in one half of each bed leaving the other half with- out it, to show the pupil the results of such an experiment. Implements to be Used in Cultivating Plots. — It has already been stated in this book that every school should have a set of garden tools as object 232 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS lessons. Some day, a small set of such tools will be required just as a third reader is required at present. Pupils will be required to keep such implements on hand. The tools necessary to cultivate school gardens are a hoe, rake, spading- fork, shovel, pitchfork, and hand-plow. Several other implements can be used to advantage, but the above is the minimum. The time of culti- vation, as well as planting can be worked out just as spading and breaking the plots may be. Do P^gl^ ■ V - ^H EVERY SCHOOL SHOULD HAVE AN ANNUAL FAIR— THIS ONE IS IN A SCHOOL IN BRAZIL. not be afraid to put out sucli plants as cabbage in mid-\\ inter. Tie cold weather dees not hurt them and they will grow the more rapidly the earlier they are put out. If parents object to the purchase of garden implements for their children, the teacher can arrange to purchase same on credit at some grocery store in the nearest by town and let the pupil pay for it with lettuce and other salable SCHOOL GARDENING 233 vegetables. This has been done in many places and has inspired the young people to do their best work. Pots and Boxes for Growing Flowers and Vegetables. — It is quite easy to give valuable lessons in nature study and gardening by the use of pots and boxes to grow plants for demonstra- tion lessons. Ornamental plants, garden vege- tables, and other forms of vegetable life can be grown in them and many of them sold or reset in home gardens. The school should perhaps undertake to supply every garden in the commun- ity of the school with a complete variety of garden vegetables at the proper time for planting the home garden. This can be done without cost, and it will win patrons to the work of the school. Pupils should be taught how to put out the young plants so they can get credit at school for such work done at home when the parent informs the teacher that it has been successfully done at home. Why do not country homes have more vegetables, a greater variety of them, and have them a longer period of time through the year.^^ It is perhaps because it has not occurred to them that this is a very easy thing to do, and that it costs scarcely anything at all. The Duty of Teachers in Such Matters. — If a teacher goes into a community to instruct, he or she should carry a consciousness of a great responsibility into the community, and make it a point to leave nothing undone that would tend to make life easier, and health surer in the community. Pupils must see that school is directly connected 234 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS with home activities, and they are learning to Hve happier in the home if the school is a success. This question of supplying young garden plants for home planting, will often be the means of welding the school and home forever together. The next step may be to have patrons come out on Friday and discuss methods of gardening and trucking. In this way, clubs can be organized among the older people that will in every way promote the interest of the school and the home. Flower Gardens. — Certainly no school should be without a flower garden. The arrangement of a flower garden can be left largely to the ingenuity of the teacher and pupils, but some general sug- gestions will perhaps guide us in the initial work. In some convenient place near the front or on one side or both sides of the school house, have the boys measure off the space necessary for the flower garden or gardens. There should be at least enough space in this plat for some plants for every pupil in the school. For roses and shrubbery there should be something like 300 square feet of land, measuring about 10 feet wide and 30 feet long. For bulbs, there should be at least two and better four smaller beds, near the entrance to the front of the school house. These should measure about 3x6 or 4x8 feet, or if in some convenient corner, they need not be so formal in shape, but may fit in any where the room can be spared; only see that they are not shaded too much by fences or trees. All these beds should be thoroughly spaded in late winter before the cold weather is over, and SCHOOL GARDENING 235 fertilizer and manures thoroughly worked into the soil. Sweepings from some cowpen will make the very best manure for the bulbs. The bulbs should consist of hyacinths, daffodils, jonquils, tulips, crocuses, narcissi, and others that may be SCHOOL GARDEN PLATS, FROM U. S. FARMERS' BULLETIN NO. 160. selected by the pupils themselves. Some cannas, colei, and dahlias will help to make out the variety. These latter will be more useful near the house, or even to bank up against the house, let- 236 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS ting the cannas be first, the colei next, and last, or furthest from the wall, dahlias. For the larger bed we may use roses, japoni- cas, lilacs, spiraea, arbor vitae, and several other kinds of shrubs as may be suggested by pupils or teacher, or some good catalogue. Get shrubs when possible from the homes of the pupils. This will place the school in a very happy relation with the homes. Pay back for these plants when the young garden plants are ready for replanting later in spring. CHAPTER XXXVII. NATURE STUDY IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS. Weld nature study and Agriculture and you have gone far toward making a happier and thriftier population, wherever you may be. The ancients learned: ''Nature will soon change all things which thou seest, and out of their sub- stance will make other things, and again other things from the substance of them, in order that the world may be ever new". This is a useful and a beautiful lesson, and blessed is he who can see ever and anon the newness in nature. Dr. L. H. Bailey well says: "The nature- study idea is bound to have a fundamental influ- ence in carrying a vital educational impulse to the farmers. The accustomed methods of education are less applicable to farmers than to any other people, and yet countrymen are nearly half of our population. The greatest of the unsolved prob- lems of education is how to reach the farmer. He must be reached on his own ground. The methods and the results must suit his needs. My plea is that new educational methods must be employed before we can really reach the farming communities. I am not insisting that we make more farmers, but that we relate the rural school to the lives of the people and that we cease to unmake farmers." Objects of Nature Study. — The greatest object of nature study is to get us to thinking about the things about us; to relate us, so to speak, to the 238 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS world in which we hve. We may say that to know that the house fly is a carrier of diseases of all kinds is to appreciate the importance of warring against him. To know that insects and fungi will destroy our crops if we do not make war on them is to have better crops. To know that it is impos- sible for our plants to succeed in the warfare against insect life without birds to eat the insects, is to protect bird life and thereby save the trees. What is all this strife in nature for, anyway .^^ Have we ever taken time to stop and think that man often stands in his own light by not knowing just what step to take next.'^ Nature study will help us to move oft" in the right direction and win in this great battle. It will prepare us to recog- nize and aid our friends, and to make war against our enemies in this gigantic struggle. Let's make this chapter one of the liveliest in the whole book, and see how it will help to make many others seem more delightful. Methods of Pursuing the Study. — Every school should be a special collecting house for all kinds of natural objects; such as cocoons, old birds' nests, wasp nests, insect galls, peculiar plant growths, and all kinds of insects, especially injurious species, and the various rocks that are exposed about the school house. It would not be possible to mention just here the great number of items that could be collected in a short season. Each grade or class might be held responsible for collecting a certain class of objects, and in this way very pleasant rivalry could be made to stimu- late the several classes to get a fine collection. The NATURE ST[TDY IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS 239 effect of this will be surprising. It will also be interesting to see in a short time how many things in nature that we ordinarily pass unnoticed prove quite interesting. Make each class of objects a subject of special study for one, two or three days, and then return to these in regular order if the necessity should arise. We shall never find success trying to teach nature study without having a laboratory of liv- ing things as well as other objects. The school garden, pot plants, and flower beds should con- stitute part of our living laboratory, and should l)e visited from time to time and made part of our regular work, — not merely things about which to show curiosity, or to give an excuse to get out of an hour's work. The Larger Things a Part of Nature Study. — With some teachers, only the smaller things about the school house and the home are considered among the objects for teaching nature study. These are good as far as they go, but surely we shall not try to limit the child's mind to the near- at-hand objects and let the larger things of nature go unnoticed. A lesson for a rainy day should be composed of a short paper by each pupil in the class on clouds. What are clouds.^ How are they formed .^^ Are there several kinds of clouds.^ Are clouds useful as well as beautiful.'^ How is water taken to plants in places where they do not have clouds .^^ Are clouds always blessings? How about floods .^^ Sometimes we say a cloud has a great deal of wind in it. Is this literally true.^ What is the cause of 240 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS the rapid movements in the atmosphere? Get the dictionary and find out the difference between fog and cloud and steam. We shall learn to appreciate and love the earth as a unit only as we see it riding through space at the rapid rate of more than sixty thousand miles an hour, and moving from West to East at the rate of twenty -five thousand miles in twenty- four hours. Some one will volunteer to w rite a lesson on the beauty of the stars. We must not forget what Emerson said about the stars: "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown ! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile." The Honey Bee. — If possible we must have a hive of bees somewhere in the neighborhood so we can visit it. A colony should be exhibited under glass near the school in working season, and the whole school have access to it daily. A hive in perfect balance consists of a single queen, sev- eral thousand workers and in certain seasons a few hundred drones. The queen will be found on the most crowded comb, and will be distinguished by her long, slender, and graceful body, with short wings going not more than half way the long body. The wings of working bees cover the body. The drones are broad and heavy and are awkward looking bees. Bees are not only useful in making honey for NATURE STUDY IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS 241 our table; they are important agents in the fer- tihzation or polhnation of plants. When visiting flowers to get the honey, the pollen sticks to them and is thereby put on the stigma or female organ of that or a neighboring flower. The honey is carried to the hive in the crop, and that large yellow patch you ma}' happen to see on the hind leg of the bee is pollen from the flowers and is to go into bee-bread. A good queen lays about 2,500 eggs daily, one QUEEN. in each cell of the comb. This tiny white speck hatches out on the fourth day and makes a white larva or maggot, which is fed constantly by the worker bees till about the ninth or tenth day, when it spins a cocoon and forms into a chrysalis. On the twenty-first day the chrysalis comes out a young bee. Nothing will prove more interesting and instructive than to watch a hive of bees closely for a season. The Toad. — Professor Hodge of Clark Uni- 242 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS versity has found many interesting facts about the common toad that are not generally known. He built a small pen in his garden and put in it two toads in a pan of water and placed some bits of meat and bone near the pan. Of the toads he has the following to say: "They spent most of the time sitting within reaching distance of the bait, and killing the flies attracted by it. I watched one toad snap up eighty-six house flies in less than ten minutes. "One day I gathered a quantity of rose bugs in a tin box and began to feed the bugs to a toad. At first I did not count, but finding his appetite so good I started to count. When I had counted over eighty bugs and the toad showed no signs of wishing to conclude his meal, I picked him up. Previous to my beginning to count he had taken anywhere from ten to twenty bugs. I foinid the toad equally greedy for rose beetles, canker worms, ants, caterpillars, moths, June bugs, weevils, snails, and many other insects." We also learn from Prof. Hodge that farmers in England pay $24.00 per hundred for toads to have them placed in gardens and flower beds. Toads destroy many cut worms, and in this way may be worth in a season as much as $19.88 apiece to a farmer. Have you heard the blinking toad Sing his solo by the river When April nights are soft and warm, And spring is all a-quiver? There is no reason why we cannot Ikia e some real fun and get some good information by ex- NATURE STUDY IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS 243 perimenting with the toad in the school grounds. A small pen will be made of fine mesh wire by the boys, about 6 feet square, and a basin of water put in this. Some sweet or fresh meat will be placed near the pan. At the rest period of school, the class will go and observe the habits of Mr. and Mrs. Toad. Notes should be taken, especially of the number of times they catch food. They eat most of their food at the close of the day and in the night, so not much will be seen in the middle of the day. The Bumble-bee. — The bee to which we refer is the one that comes around the house in early spring to tell you that winter is gone, and stands in space without a lighting place, and apparently without motion. This is a most intelligent insect. We are all to be on the lookout for his nesting place. If this happens to be in some convenient place, we shall bring it into the school house if it can be detached. We must saw^ longitudinally through and see just how the bee digs out his home. By watching him carefully, we can see his methods of carpentry. He goes from directly below through the piece of timber selected for his site, about three or four inches, and then goes to the end of the timber in many cases, and comes for about ten or twelve inches directly to the upper end of the opening from below. You will not be able to tell just where he stopped the vertical or horizontal holes, so perfect has the work been and so well directed has been the blind instinct. This is a wonderful lesson and should not be missed. Why Study Nature? — This will suggest that 244 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS we might have put this information under the heading, "Objects of Nature Study," but it is different. If we take a wheel from a watch, we can learn very little about it, if it is detached from the watch. We must study the other wheels in the watch, especially those nearest the wheel in question, if we ever expect to know this one. "Man therefore seeking to know himself, must fail utterly, unless he remember that he is only a part of the great machine of the universe. He must therefore study the other wheels, that is, the life-forms about him which are parts of his environment and offspring of the same creative power of himself." When we consider that we are a part of nature, it must appeal to us that it is important that we study nature, else we cannot study ourselves. "I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars; And the running blackberry Avould adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery. And the cow crunching with depressed head surpasses any statue. And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. And I could come every afternoon of my life to look at the farmer's girl boiling her iron tea-kettle and baking short-cake." There is no study that will prove more inter- esting than nature study if we will only learn to observe the relation of things about us in nature. The next chapter will contain some suggestions that if followed out will help us to get in sympathy with one phase of nature and at the same time bring nuich happiness and man;^' resources of life to us. CHAPTER XXXVIII. BIRD LIFE. We must stop for a moment and wonder if boys are still like they used to be. To acknowledge that they are is to have to confess that we are slow in our processes of civilization. Only about twentj^-five years ago, boys thought that birds were made only for boys to shoot at in learning how to use a gun, or sling shot, or cross-bow. In fact the birds are almost as indispensable in the ample field of nature as we boys are. Why is it that girls have never enjoyed killing birds like boys.^ They seem not to be so brutal as we are. We must learn now that it pays to protect and enjoy the birds. They were made for a serious and noble purpose, and we must try to learn what this is. Simple Experiments in Bird Study. — First of all we must not kill a bird for this study unless we have to do so. Let each of the boys select a different bird for study. Secure a small note book and make an accurate record of his knowledge of the bird. This record must be read in school about April 1st to 15th. Agree to watch the bird at least part of each day for two or three days and note exactly how it behaves, what it eats, how it flies, where it lights, its song and call note (if it happens to be singing in April). This little experiment will prove more interesting than we had thought. We may be free to use all the literature on the subject of birds that we can find. 246 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS Why Study Birds? — We should study birds because they are so completely woven in with man's history and happiness. They are the natural enemies of injurious insects, and there is some doubt if man could grow things upon the earth without the aid of birds in the warfare against these millions of insect pests. Because of their beauty, birds arouse in us that natural interest in and love for the animal kingdom to a degree that perhaps could be reached in no other way. The bird adds beauty to the land- scape and makes a walk into the woods more inviting and wholesome. We feel that we have friends on all sides, after we begin to know some- thing about birds, and this makes the study a very useful as well as a beauti- ful study. Nothing in the great world of nature about us even compares with the birds in interest and usefulness and how can we longer delay to make a close study of them in their relation to human life. Some of the suggestions that follow will give us additional reasons why we should follow up these lessons on birds. Birds and Insects. — It is estimated by ento- mologists that insects destroy in the United States THE BLUEBIRD ONE OF THE MOST FAMILIAR AND USEFUL OF OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS. BIRD LIFE 247 alone five hundred million dollars' worth of agri- cultural products annually, aside from the immense cost of spraying outfits and sprays used in the war- fare against them. The insectivorous birds in Massachusetts destroy 21,000 bushels of insects a day during late spring, summer and early fall, and are estimated to do half this good during the winter eating the scales and insect eggs. At that rate, it is hard to estimate the enorm- ous number of in- sects eaten every day of the year by the great army of birds in the United States. Try to consider then what the birds do for us on any sum- mer day, when in- sects are so abund- ant that the hum of their united voices becomes an almost inherent part of the atmosphere. But if this great army of insects is left to do its full capacity of destruction, the question of raising field and garden crops would prove too big a problem for man. In other words, there is doubt as to whether man could prosper on the earth without some aid in the war- THE SPARROW HAWK AND SOME SPARROWS HE EATS THIS BIRD ALSO DESTROYS MANY RATS AND MICE. 248 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS fare against these small creatures. The birds are the most useful of all natural agencies in the war- fare against the insects, and should be protected in every possible way. How Birds Feed Upon Insects. — For a general classification of birds according to their methods of feeding the following will answer: Those that feed in the open air, those that feed a m o n g trees and s h r u b b e r y , those that feed upon trunks and branches of trees, and lastly those that feed upon the ground. To the first class belong the swal- lows, swifts, night- hawks, and whip- poor-wills. To the second class belong the fly- catchers, warblers, and vireos. To the third class belong the wood- peckers, nuthatches, and creepers. To the fourth class belong most of our walking birds such as larks, blackbirds, quail and doves. There are many useful birds that may not come under any one of the above classes, but it was not intended to suggest a complete list. The A FAMILY OF CARPENTERS. BIRD LIFK 249 above is, however, a good working list. In order to make the study interesting, we must learn thoroughly at least two birds of each of the above fourteen groups. Some Birds That Eat Certain Insects. — This is the part of the study that we must learn for ourselves, but to give the following information will not hinder us from getting first hand informa- tion along the same line. Certain birds are known to prefer certain kinds of insects for their meat supply while others have an entirely different menu. This difference no doubt is due largely to the question of supply and demand. Birds will naturally cultivate a taste for certain kinds of food, if other supplies happen to run short. The following suggestions have been given out by a number of authorities on economic ornithology and combined by Mr. E. H. Furbush, Ornitholo- gist to the State Board of Agriculture of Massa- chusetts : The chickadee holds in check the tent cater- pillar by eating the eggs. The white l)reasted nuthatch feeds largely on scale insects and their eggs. The wood peewee feeds on moths, beetles, flies, gnats, mosquitoes and other small flying insects. Robins, and catbirds eat the famous cecropia moth, one of the worst enemies of groves and orchards. The cuckoo is famous for its love of the hairy caterpillar. The Mexican cotton boll weevil is eaten bv at 250 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS least thirty-eight species of l)irds, the most active among these being the oriole, nighthawk, martin, bank swallow, barn swallow, rough wing swallow, and cliff swallow. This could be multiplied indefinitely, but to say too much about it would possibly keep us from seeing more of what birds eat. We must actually get out in the field and see just what birds do eat. Flagg says that each species of bird performs cer- tain services in the economy of nature, which cannot be so well accomplished by any other species. It is therefore important that we protect all the birds in order that we do not make a fatal error by destroying some species. Bird Migration. — One of the most interesting things about bird life is migration, or passing from zone to zone as the seasons roll by. In early spring they wend their way northward day by day till some of them reach the north shore of Labrador. In the autumn southward they come in great bands by day and by night. How happy is one who knows when to look for these passing bands of birds and can be out and see them, and name them. What is the cause of this great movement of birds from one section of the globe to another .^^ An answer to this would be almost impossible, but many have suggested some reasons why birds migrate. Some claim that it is a search for a supply of food on which to rear the young, while others think it is only this ''homing instinct" to get back to the place of their birth before rearing the young. Many factors no doubt play some part in causing birds to migrate. Shall we let them go BIRD LIFE 251 In^ season after season without getting a glimpse of them? A table of migrations should be posted in every school in the United States so our happy young people could have some basis for a study of bird migration. A table will be found in Chap- man's Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, and some good pupil may copy it off for part of his or her monthly ex- amination. Bird Song. — Have you really ever stood and listened to the song of a wood thrush? Do so, and then try to analyze this heaven-sent melod}^. You will never thereafter es- cape the calming in- fluences of bird music. It is so beau- tiful and free and MOCKING BIRD, HXJMMING BIRD AND JOREE. wholCSOUie that We should never miss it when it comes into our community. Some birds sing almost all the year while the great majority of the species sing only about nesting time. Bird students seem to agree that the song instinct of birds is very closely associated with their mating, the time of the year that they seem most happy. The song proper must be differentiated from the 252 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS call notes of birds. ''The call notes," observes ]\Ir. Frank Chapman, "are the birds' daily language, while the true songs are only outbursts of emotion." It is quite important therefore that we know the call notes as well as the songs in order to be on good terms w4th the birds. "The beauty of birds, the music of their calls, the majesty of their soaring flight, the mystery of their migrations, have ever been subjects of absorbing interest to poets, artists, and nature lovers everywhere. Prominent among the undy- ing memories of men are mental pictures of the birds of childhood, their coming in the spring, their nesting, and their chosen haunts. Many an exiled emigrant longs in vain to hear again the out-pouring melody of the sky-lark as it soars above the fields of England." TO OUR MOCKING BIRD. Trillets of humor, shrewdest whistle-wit. Contralto cadence of grave desire, Such as from off the passionate Indian pyre Drift down through sandal-odored flowers that split About the slim young widow who doth sit And sing above — midnights of tone entire — Tissues of moonlight shot with songs of fire; Bright drops of tune, from oceans infinite Of melody, sipped off the thin-edged wave And trickling down the beak — discourses brave Of serious matter that no man may guess — Good-fellow greetings, cries of light distress — All these but now within the house we heard: O death, wast thou too deaf to hear the bird? Sidney Lanier. CHAPTER XXXIX. CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK. After many years of plannino; and stndy on the subject of extension work in all Agriculture, most authorities seem to come to the same con- clusion, that co-operative work and demonstra- tion work, together with the formation of clubs, must eventually be the solution of the problem of farm improvement. Among the various clubs iiil^iiji illi li Hi,, EVERY FUTURE FARMER SHOULD ASPIRE TO A COLLEGE EDUCATION. formed to promote this kind of work are the Boj^s' and Girls' Clubs, Farmers' Co-operative Demon- stration Work, College Extension Work, and Co- operative Live Stock Associations, as well as many other organizations of a similar nature. This movement is a new movement, but is sure to revolutionize Agriculture within the next few 254 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS years. We have long since learned that very few people can get the benefits of a college education, and in order for a college to serve the whole people it must make every effort to reach them through the medium of organized clubs. The Department of Agriculture has felt that it can render no greater service than to carry the news and methods of scientific Agriculture to the farm- ing communities, and what it has accomplished in this line under the late Dr. Knapp fully justifies all efforts. Boys' Corn Clubs. — Every school should aid in the organization of a boys' corn club. This is easily done and may be the means of making a far better school. In order to do so, get in cor- respondence with your State agent usually located at your State College of Agriculture. He will forward blanks for memberships in these organiza- tions, and co-operate with teachers in perfecting the organizations. The Department of Agricul- ture gives the following purposes for organizing boys' corn clubs: (1) To afford the rural teacher a simple and easy method of teaching practical agriculture in the school in the way it must be acquired to be of any real service, i. e., mainly by actual work upon the farm. (2) To prove that there is more in the soil than the farmer has ever gotten out of it; to inspire boys with a love of the land by showing them how they can get wealth out of it by tilling it in a better way and thus be helpful to the family and the neighborhood. (3) To give the boys a definite, worthy purpose and to stimulate a friendly rivalry among them. The following rules may be adopted by a club, with such modifications and additions as may be found necessary: CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK 255 256 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS (1) Boys joining clubs and entering contests must be between 10 and IS years of age on January 1 of any given year. (2) No boy shall contest for a prize unless he becomes a member of a club. (3) The members of the clubs must agree to study tlie instructions of the Farmers" Co-operative Demonstration Work. (4) Each boy must plan his own crop and do his own work. A small boy may hire help for heavy plowing in preparing the soil. (5) Exhibits must be delivered to the county superintendent of educa- tion on or before November 1. (6) The land and corn must be carefully measured in the presence of at least two disinterested witnesses, who shall attest the certificate of the boy. (7) The entire crop of corn should be weighed when it is in a dry con- dition. Two 100-pound lots should be weighed from different parts of the total. Weigh the shelled corn from these two lots in order to find the aver- age percentage of shelled corn. Multiply the total weiglit by this per- centage and divide by 56 in order to get the total number of bushels. In cases of large yields the moisture content should be ascertained. Doubt- less the agricultural colleges will be glad to make such tests. If not, apply to the Demonstration Bureau and it will be arranged with the proper office of the Department of Agriculture. (8) In awarding pi'izes the following basis shall be used: Per cent a. Greatest yield per acre 30 b. Best exhibit of 10 ears 20 c. Best written account showing history of crop 20 d. Best showing of profit on investment based on the commercial price of corn 30 It is a good plan to have (i and h judged by a committee of farm experts and c and d l)y a com- mittee of school officers and teachers. Their combined judgment can be made very helpful. Girls' Canning Clubs. — In some States the girls' chib work is in charge of a special expert located at the State College of Agriculture, where the advantages of co-operative publications in the form of l)ulletins and the ready advice of specialists are always available. This j^roves an ideal arrangement from the standpoint of admin- istration work. This work comes under the State Agent for Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK 257 Work llirougli whose office is usually field a State contest for prizes. The purposes of the girls' clubs have also been outlined hy the Department of Agriculture as follow^s: (1) To encourage rural families to provide purer and better food at a lower cost, and utilize the surplus ancl otherwise waste products of the orchard and garden, and make the poultry yard an effective part of the farm economy. (2) To stimulate interest and wholesome co-operation among mem- bers of the familv in the home. C.\N YOUR PE.\CHES AND H.AVE KRUIl UlEl IHt YE.AR 'ROUND. (3) To provide some means by which girls may earn money at home, and, at the same time, get the education and viewpoint necessary for the ideal farm life. (4) To open the way for practical demonstrations in home economics. (5) To furnish earnest teachers a plan for aiding their pupils and helping their communities. The county is tlie proper unit for organization of clubs. This unit may be subdivided into dis- 258 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS tricts according to centers of population and natural barriers, so as to place a club within the reach of every girl in the county, if practicable. The plan of this work should usually be pre- sented to the county teachers' association by the proper authorities. A leader may be selected from among the teachers with the assurance of co-operation from local and district agents and county agents of the Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration Work. These agents are paid to promote the welfare of Agriculture in the county, and will have instructions from the State Agent to help the local clubs in their organization work. (1) Girls joining the clubs must be between ten and eighteen years of age. The age for any year will be fixed by the age of the girl on January first of that year. Special classes may be organized for older girls. (2) No girl shall be eligible to receive a prize unless she becomes a member of the club and plants a garden containing one-tenth of an acre. (3) The members of the clubs must agree to study the instructions of the United States Department of Agriculture, and such other instructions as may be sent them from co-operating sources. (4) Each girl must plan her own crop and do her own work. It will be permissible to hire heavy work done, but the time must be charged. (5) In estimating profits the following uniform prices must be used: One dollar for rent of land; ten cents for each hour worked; two dollars a ton for stable manure; and actual cbst for commercial fertilizer and other things purchased or furnished. (6) The garden and products must be carefully measured and two disinterested witnesses must attest the report submitted at the close of the season. PRIZES AND AWARDS. The award of prizes and honors shall be based on the fresh and canned products of the garden according to the following schedule: 1 . Quality 20 per cent 2. Quantity — pounds vegetables harvested and used 20 per cent 3. Variety of canned product 20 per cent 4. Profit 20 per cent 5. Written history, account or composition — "How I made my crop." 20 per cent CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK 259 Poultry Clubs. — It is a well-known fact that the raising of chickens can he made a pleasant and profitable business, and that fresh eggs always have a ready marketable value. The object of forming poultry clubs is to emphasize the value and importance of this much neglected industry, and to co-operate in an effort to secure for market a uniformly excellent product. Usually some one connected with the State College of Agriculture or with the Department of Agriculture in Wash- ington will help with poultry club organizations, and every girl in a community should belong to such a club even if she already belongs to a can- ning club or any other club. When such clubs are organized, regular meetings should be held from time to time and the problems of the industry discussed. It will be well to have a president, one or more vice-presidents, and a secretary. A simple con- stitution and by-laws should be adopted. It will be found profitable to subdivide the county organ- ization by townships, schools, or school districts, and have local meetings at school houses or at different girls' homes occasionally. Each club should adopt the following general regulations: 1. Girls joining the club must be between 10 and 18 years of age on January 1 of any given year. Special classes may be organized for older girls. 2. No girl sHall be eligible to receive a prize unless she becomes a member of the club, and sets at least one sitting of 15 eggs. 3. Each member of the club must agree to study the instructions of the United States Department of Agriculture. 4. Each girl must plan to do her own work and keep strict accovmt of all expenses, such as feed, labor (for which 10 cents an hour should be charged), sale of stock, etc. 260 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS SUGGESTIONS TO MEMBERS. To rid the poultry house of mites, spray the pen, the roosts, and the dropping boards with kerosene or crude petroleum at least once a week from the time warm weather sets in in the spring until cold weather comes in the fall. Those having lime and sulphur compound could use it to good advantage for destroying lice and mites in the poultry house. Market all cockerels, except those intended for breeding purposes, as soon as they attain broiler size, for they will pay a larger profit at that time than if held until fall when the market becomes overcrowded. It is urged that club members strictly adhere to the following rules in handling their poultry and eggs: L Keep the nests clean, provide one nest for every four hens. 2. Gather the eggs twice daily. 3. Keep the eggs in a cool, dry room or cellar. 4. Market the eggs at least twice a week. 5. Sell, kill, or confine all male birds as soon as the hatching season is over. Berkshire Clubs. — This may include all breeds of hogs or the name may be changed to suit the breed. We merely suggest here that such clubs ought to be organized in every community and the price of meat reduced in this way. It would also be the means of elevating the ideals of young people as regards diversification of crops, if they be permitted to sell a few thoroughbred pigs and use the money to improve the remaining stock. The same general rules should apply to these clubs as those above, in reference to age, membership and other like things. It would be consistent for boys ( ()-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK 261 262 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS to organize hog clubs, though girls should not be barred from such clubs. General Purpose of Club Work. — A happy rivalry always stimulates us to great efforts to accomplish something, and clubs have done much to interest boys and girls in the improvement of farm crops and farm animals. It should interest them as much in the improvement of school work and school life, and school improvement clubs should be organized. Teachers should always see to it that a school improvement club is organized in their own schools. Boys and girls will do much toward keeping a school together and advancing its causes, if they once get interested. So will they aid in improving the home, if they are encour- aged in home improvement and crop improvement. If they take no interest in such matters, it is because they have not been trained to do so, and therefore ha^'e been neglected. Give them some encouragement, and great results may be expected. CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK 263 SOME SCORE CONTESTS: CARDS FOR DIFFERENT SCORE CARD FOR THE COTTON PLANT. THE COTTON PLANT. SCORE PLANT, Vigorous, Stocky, 2.5 Points: Size, medium to large as influenced by soil, location, season and variety Form, symmetrical, spreading, conical, height and spread according to soil, etc Stalk, minimum amount of wood in proportion to fruit. . . . Branches, springing from base, strong, vigorous, in pairs, short- jointed, inclined upward Head, well branched and filled, fruited uniformly FRUITING, 24 Points: Bolls, large, abundant, uniformly developed, plump, sound, firm, well-rounded, apex obtuse, singly or in clusters Nlhviber of bolls, according to variety, soil and season. . . . Bolls per plant, thin uplands. 10-20; fertile uplands, 20-2."); "bottoms," .50-100; special selections. 100-500. . . . Bolls per pound. of seed cotton, large, 10-60; medium, 20-7.5; small, 80-110 Character of bolls, number of locks 4 to 7; kind of sepals: retention of cotton Opening of bolls, uniform including top crop, classify as good, medium, poor YIELD — Standard One Bale Per Acre, .30 Points: Seed cotton, estimated by average plant, distance of planting, per cent, of stand, plants per acre; thin up- lands, 10.000; fertile uplands, 6, .500; "bottoms", 4,.500; distance of plants 3iixl}4 ft., 4i'2xl,'-2 ft., 4,^^x2 ft., re- spectively Per cent, lint, not less than 30, standard 40 Seeds, 30-.50 per boll, large, plump, easily delinted, color, according to variety; germination not less than 95 per cent QUALITY and Character of Lint, 21 Points: Strength, tensile strain good, even throughout length. . . . Length, long, according to local standard, upland 7-8 to 1 inch; intermediate Hi to 1 5-16 inches; long staple l}-'2 to 2 inches Fineness, fibers soft, silky and pliable, responsive to touch Uniformity, all fibers of equal length, strength, fineness. . Purity, color dead white; fiber free from stain, dirt and trash Total 100 No. of Plant Source Type Remarks on Plant Date 19 ... . Name of Student . 264 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS DIRECTIONS FOR JUDGING COTTON. 1 — The Plant. On the score card the ideal plant is given a rating of 25 points. For plants departing only slightly from the variety standard as to size, a cut of 1 to 1}^ points should be made. If this departure is very marked a cut of 3 points may be made. For excessive long joints and poorly placed and developed branches cut a maximum of 2 to 5. For slight defects in these respects cut from 2J^ to 3 points. For a well-opened or vase-shaped head admitting light and air in abund- ance allow 5 points as the perfect score. SCORE CARD FOR CORN. Class Variety STANDARD. Stalks per Acre Ears per Stalk Weight of Ears Lbs. Yield per Acre Bus. I Length inches. \ Grain Ear < ' Color - I Circumference inches. / Cob Uniformity: a. Uniformity of exhibit /_ b. Trueness to type f _ Shape of ear — cylindrical .' Weight — according to standard Length — according to standard Circumference — according to standard Market condition and quality — sound and bright . . Color — No discolored grains Tips — Covered over end Butts — Filled out, rows straight Space between rows — very little Uniformity and shape of kernels Percent, of grain, estimated Found . 10 10 10 5 5 20 Total 100 Name of Student Date 19,... Uniformity. — It is important that the ears of an exhibit shall be uniform in length, circumference, color, shape of kernel and shape of ear. The exhibit should be true to type, that is, correspond closely to the ac- cepted standard for the variety. Sh.\pe of E.\r. — Other conditions equal, the cylindrical form of ears yields the highest percentage of grain to cob. Large, expanded butts and ears decidedly tapering must be discarded. Length AND Circumference. — .Vbnormally long or large ears are objectionable. The medium, synnnetrical and compact ear is preferred to the mammoth kind. CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURAL WORK 265 Market Condition and Quality. — The grain should be sound and bright. Discolored germs should be severely discounted since corn in this condition will not germinate. Chatfy grains usually indicate immaturity or curtailed development. HOG AND POULTRY CONTEST. To get the boys and girls interested in live stock, we would suggest to the county school commissioners that they offer liberal prizes for a con- test of this kind to be held at the same time as the Corn Contest. The chief reason for selecting these two classes of live stock is that the l>oys and girls can usually afford to invest the small amount of capital necessary to get a start in this line, and it is also true that the hogs and ])t)ultry will give larger returns for money invested than any other class of live stock. SCORE CARD. BACON HOGS. 4J 'S 8 c 2 8 ■a 'Mt^. '*"^*«H^. "^^t^. OUR COUNTRY HOMES MIGHT BE AS TASTEFUL AS THIS ONE. beautiful, but in fact make us and all who come in contact with these improvements more beautiful. It is therefore the best method of developing culture among our young people on the farm. THE FARMERS OPPORTUNITY 275 GENERAL REFERENCES. Bailey: "Principles of Agriculture" — Macmillan & Co. "Practical Farming and Gardening" — Rand McNally & Co. "Ten Acres Enough" — The Cultivator Pxiblishing Co. Newman: "The Southern Gardener's Practical Manual" — ('. L. Newman. King: "The Soil" — Macmillan & Co. Roberts: "The Fertility of the Land" — Macmillan & Co. U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 257: "Soil Fertility." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 245: "The Renovation of Wornout Soils." Johnson: "How Crops Feed" — Orange Judd Co. Bailey: "The Horticulturist's Rule Book" — Macmillan & Co. Voorhees: "Fertilizers" — Macmillan & Co. Harris: "Talks on Manure" — Orange Judd Co. U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 192: "Barnyard Manure." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 22: "The Feeding of Farm Animals. " "David Dickson's System of Farming" — Cultivator Publishing Co. U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 151: "Dairying in the South." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 41: "Fowls, Care and Feeding." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 129: "Sweet Potatoes." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 62: "Marketing Farm Produce." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 95: "Good Roads for Farmers." U. S. Farmers" Bulletin No. 218: "The School Garden." l^. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 154: "The Home Fruit Garden." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 156: "The Home Vineyard." U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 242: "An Example of Model Farming." Farmers' bulletins are sent free upon application to the Seerctary of Agriculture or to Congressmen. Many of them are very valuable and pupils should learn to consult them. The teacher should also make use of the bulletins of the State experiment station which can be had upon request. Addresses of Southern Agricultural Experiment Stations With Names of Directors, from Whom Free Bulletins May be Secured. Alabama — Auburn; J. F. Duggar. Arkansas — Fayetteville; C. F. Adams. Florida — Gainesville; P. H. Rolfs. Georgia — Experiment; R. J. H. DeLoach. Kentucky — Lexington; J. H. Kastle. Louisiana — Baton Rouge; W. R. Dodson. Mississippi — Agricultural College; E. R. Lloyd. North Carolina — Raleigh; B. W. Kilgore. Oklahoma — Stillwater; J. A. Wilson. South Carolina — Clemson College; J. N. Harper. Tennessee — Knoxville; H. A. Morgan. Texas — College Station; B. Youngblood. Virginia — Blacksburg; S. W. Fletcher, 276 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS USEFUL TABLES. We add a number of tables, compiled from various sources. They contain much useful information, and should be memorized b\' the student or farmer. COMPOSITION OF MANURES. Table L Nitrogenous Manures. Pounds Per Hundreo. ARTICLE Nitrogen Phosphoric Acid Potash 15M to 16 19 to 201^2 12 to 14 in toll 11 to 12! 2 5 to 6 7 to 9 63-; to 7>o Ammonium sulphate ■ 3 to 5 1 to 2 11 to 14 6 to 8 lli to 2 Tankage, bone Dried fish scrap 2 to 3 Table IL Phosphatic Manures. Pounds Per Hundred. ARTICLE Phosphoric Acid Nitrogen Available Insoluble Total ... 26 to 2S 26 to 28 33 to 35 13 to 16 16 to 20 20 to 25 22 to 29 15 to 17 Florida phosphate rock . . . ■ 33 to 35 12 to 15 i 1 to 3 14 to 16 1 1 to 4 5 to 8 1 15 to 17 6 to 9 ' 16 to 20 13 to 15 1 2 to 3 2'/^ to 4^ IH to2^^ Dissolved bone 2 to 3 USEFUL TABLES 277 COMPOSITION OF MANURES— Continued. Table IIL Potassic Manures. ARTICLF Pounds Per Hundred Potash Phosphoric Acid Lime Chlorine 50 48 to 52 12 to 121^ 16 to 20 20 to 30 2 to 8 1 to 2 5 to 8 45 to 48 H to lyi 30 to 32 42 to 46 7 to 9 1 to 2 1 to 1}4 3 to 5 10 30 to 35 35 to 40 3H Table IV. Average Composition of Farm Manures. ARTICLE Pounds Per Hundred Moisture Nitrogen Phosphoric Acid Potash Lime Cow manure, fresh Horse manure 85.3 71.3 64.6 72.4 56.0 75.0 0.38 0.53 0.83 0.45 1.63 0.50 0.16 0.28 0.23 0.19 0.54 0.26 0.36 0.53 0.67 0.60 0.85 0.63 0.31 0.21 Sheep manure 0.33 0.08 0.24 Mixed stable manure 0.70 278 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS FERTILIZER FORMULAS. Table V. Simply as guides the following are recommended for ordinary soil in fair condition: For Cotton: Cottonseed meal 300 lbs. Acid phosphate 1,400 lbs. Kainit 300 lbs. Use from 200 up to 800 pounds per acre. For Corn: Cottonseed meal 200 lbs. Acid phosphate 1,600 lbs. Kainit 200 lbs. Use 200 up to 1,000 pounds per acre. For Potatoes, Melons, etc.: Cottonseed meal 600 lbs. Acid phosphate 1,000 lbs. Kainit 400 lbs. Use 600 to 2,000 pounds per acre. For Small Grains and Grasses: Cottonseed meal 800 lbs. Acid phosphate 1,000 lbs. Kainit 200 lbs. Use 200 to 600 pounds per acre. The materials needed to make a ton of compost according to a good formula are as follows: Quick lime 100 lbs. Kainit 150 lbs. Acid phosphate (14 per cent.) 250 lbs. Cottonseed meal 200 lbs. Stable manure 1,200 lbs. Quick lime 100 lbs. Kainit 150 lbs. Acid phosphate (14 per cent.) 250 lbs. Green cottonseed 400 lbs. Stable manure 1.000 lbs. USEFUL TABLES 279 PLANT FOOD REMOVED BY CROPS. Table VI. Nitrogen Phos. Acid Potash One 500 pound bale of cotton removes: Lint 1.22 27.13 .30 9.00 3.82 Seed 9.25 Total 28.35 54.06 41.06 9.30 21 11.06 13.07 Fifty bushels of corn removes: 12 Stover 56 Total 95.12 20.25 14.00 32.06 7.85 3.00 68 Fifteen bushels of wheat removes: Grain 5.6 Straw 12.5 Total 34.25 19.2 15.3 10.85 8.0' 5.2 18.1 Thirty bushels of oats removes: Grain 6.2 Straw 30.3 Total 34.5 13.2 36.5 SAVING MANURE. The South loses thousands of dollars annually from the effect of burning stalks and stubble upon our lands. 2,000 pounds of com or cotton stalks make only fifty pounds of ashes, worth $10.00 per ton. As a decayed vegetable matter they would be worth at least $5.00. Stable manure left exposed to the weather four months, worth per ton at begin- ning $2.80, loss per ton $1.74. loss per cent. 62. 280 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS PLANTING TABLES. Table VIL Amount of seed necessary to plant an acre {Henderson's "Gardening for Profif). Asparagus 4 to 5 pounds. Bean, dwarf in drills 2 bushels. Bean, pole in hills 10 to 12 quarts. Beet in drills 5 to 6 pounds. Cabbage in beds, to transplant . . . J^ pound. Carrot in drills 3 to 4 pounds. Com in hills 8 to 10 quarts. Corn (for soiling) 3 bushels. Cucumber in hills 2 to 3 pounds. Cress, water in drills 2 to 3 pounds. Cress, upland in drills 2 to 3 pounds. Kale, or sprouts 3 to 4 pounds. Mustard broadcast 3 to 4 pounds. Melon (musk) in hills 2 to 3 pounds. Melon (water) in hills 4 to 5 pounds. Onion (for sets) in drills 30 pounds. Onion in drills 5 to 6 pounds. Onion (sets) in drills 6 to 12 bushels. Parsnip in drills 4 to 6 pounds. Pea in drills 2 bushels. Pea broadcast 3 bushels. Potato (cut tubers) 10 to 12 bushels. Pumpkin in hills 4 to 6 pounds. Radish in drills 8 to 10 pounds. Sage in drills 8 to 10 pounds. Salsify in drills 8 to 10 pounds. Spinach in drills 10 to 12 pounds. Squash (running varieties) in hills 3 to 4 pounds. Squash (bush varieties) in hills 4 to 6 pounds. Tomato to transplant ^ pound. Turnip in drills 1 to 2 pounds Turnip broadcast 3 to 4 pounds. Barley broadcast 2 to 3 bushels. Broom com in hills 8 to 10 quarts. Clover (red), alone 15 to 20 pounds Clover (white), alone 12 to 15 pounds. Clover (Alsike), alone 8 to 10 pounds. Clover (Lucern), alone 20 pounds. Grass (mixed lawn) 4 to 5 bu-.hels. Oats broadcast 2 to 3 bushels. Rye. broadcast IH to 2 bushels. Vetches broadcast 2 to 3 bushels. Wheat broadcast IJ^ to 2 bushels. Timothy, alone H bushel. Orchard grass, mixture 4 to 5 bushels Millet J^ to 1 bushel. USEFUL TABLES 281 PLANTING TABLES— Continued. Table VIIL Number of Plants per Acre at Different Distances. DISTANCES. PLANTS. 2 feet X 2 feet 10,890 2 feet X 3 feet 7,260 2 feet X 4 feet 5,445 2 feet X 5 feet 4,356 2 feet X 6 feet 3,630 3 feet X 3 feet 4,840 3 feet X 4 feet 3,630 3 feet X 5 feet 2.904 3 feet X 6 feet 2,420 4 feet X 4 feet 2,722 4 feet X 5 feet 2,178 4 feet X 6 feet 1,185 5 feet X 5 feet 1,742 5 feet X 6 feet 1,452 6 feet X 6 feet 1,210 6 feet X 8 feet 907 DISTANCES. PLANTS. 8 feet X 8 feet 680 8 feet X 10 feet 544 10 feet X 10 feet 435 10 feet X 12 feet 363 10 feet X 15 feet 290 10 feet X 18 feet 242 10 feet X 20 feet 217 20 feet X 20 feet. 20 feet X 30 feet. 30 feet X 30 feet. 30 feet X 36 feet. 40 feet X 40 feet. 40 feet X 50 feet. 40 feet X 60 feet. 50 feet X 50 feet. , 108 72 48 40 27 21 18 17 LEGAL OR CUSTOMARY WEIGHTS OF BUSHEL OF PRODUCE. Table IX. ARTICLES. POUNDS. Apples 48 Apples, dried 26 Beans, castor 60 Beans, white 60 Buckwheat 56 Com, ear 70 Com, shelled ' 56 Com meal 50 Onions 57 Peaches 38 Potatoes, Irish 60 Potatoes, sweet 50 ARTICLES. POUNDS. Peas 60 Bluegrass seed 14 Turnips 55 Wheat 60 Peanuts 28 Cottonseed 32 Bariey 48 Rye Rutabagas . . Oats Clover seed. 56 60 32 60 282 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS STOCK FOODS. Table X. Pounds of Fertilizing Constituents Per Ton Note — Protein is the food that forms muscle, milk, etc. Carbohy- drates and fat form the fat of the animal and give heat and energy. Digestible Nutrients in One Pound Expressed in Decimals Nutritive Ratio J3 1 u h c & e 4-> 6 6 10.6 NAMES OF FEEDS M O Si to O 11 .Q 1 3 (U 5 0) P S'^ 6 3 1.8 5 Green Fodders. .207 .011 .007 .021 .030 .029 .022 .018 .039 .028 .015 .020 .026 .014 .038 .009 .006 .015 .027 .020 .030 .017 .025 .059 .076 .108 .110 .108 .129 .012 .078 .043 .068 .004 .028 .121 .176 .141 .198 .148 .093 .087 .112 .118 .081 .169 .187 .171 .099 .113 .149 .084 .084 .132 .181 .324 .343 .409 .384 .390 .393 .385 .329 .386 .388 .460 .417 363 .431 .004 .012 .004 .008 .007 .004 .002 .004 .006 .002 .004 .010 .006 .007 .007 .002 .009 .013 .010 .019 .007 .012 .012 .020 .011 .012 .015 .031 .008 .004 .015 .030 .004 .014 1:11.9 5 .206 .234 1:29 14 1:7.1 .349 .292 .193 .164 1:7.2 8 3 10.8 1:5.6 1:4.6 6 2 2.6 3 3 5.4 14.4 5.8 9 1:5 11 2 Alfalfa .282 1:3.1 10 6 .285 .140 1:4.8 7 2 1:5.7 Hungarian grass (German millet) . . Oat fodder .289 .378 1:8.4 1:8.2 .283 .235 .209 .239 .207 .258 .280 .275 1:13.2 1:3 74 2 5.2 Ensilage. 1:14.3 1:25.6 1:7 1:4.3 9.2 2.6 10.6 1:7.9 Alfalfa silage 1:4.3 28 5.8 10.8 5.4 7.6 10.4 10.2 13.4 20.2 35.2 28 40 53.2 43.8 46.4 Hay and Dry Fodders. .595 .578 1:20 17 8 1:14.9 31 .871 .847 .893 1:7.4 44 1:5.7 29 4 1:3.8 SS 6 .916 1:3.8 21 6 .887 .887 1:3.9 Vetch hay 1:3.1 35.4 5.6 9.2 .908 1:33.6 Mixed vetch and oat hay .869 .911 1:5 1:11.6 19.6 5.8 35.2 924 .904 1:7.2 1:93 18 10.6 25.2 .868 1:166 USEFUL TABLES STOCK FOODS- Continued. 283 Pounds of Fertilizing Constituents Per Ton 6.8 7.6 5.6 10.2 9.2 8.6 9.4 7.4 9.6 9.6 10 10.8 19.8 9.4 7 19.8 32.2 11.8 30 20.4 3.8 3.2 3.6 3.6 1.8 1.8 2 1.8 2.4 2.2 2.8 11.4 13.8 15.8 15.8 16.4 16.4 12.6 11.4 11.2 16.4 57.8 27 60 5 4 3.4 2.8 3.8 31.6 33 30.2 47.2 35.2 77.4 31.6 28.2 57.8 61.6 53.4 56.4 130. 13.8 11.2 9.6 3 10.6 Note — Protein is the food that forms muscle, milk, etc. Carbohy- drates and fat form the fat of the animal and give heat and energy. NAMES OF FEEDS Root Crops, Etc. Turnips Mangel beets Sugar beets Carrots Irish potatoes Cabbages Artichokes Pvunpkins Grain and Other Seeds. Corn Oats Barley Wheat Rye Cowpeas Kaffir com Mill Products. Corn meal Com and cob meal Low grade flour Ground com and oats Tequal parts) Pea meal Oat meal By-Products. Wheat bran Wheat shorts Cottonseed meal Cottonseed hulls Skim milk Butter milk Whey Whole milk Digestible Nutrients in One Pound Expressed in Decimals 1 2 >, V «4i v Qu ^r. ap XI •S{1 2ii KJii Ki H bo o 5 .095 .010 .061 .002 .091 .011 .054 .001 .135 .011 .102 .001 .114 .008 .078 .002 .316 .012 .241 .153 .018 .081 .004 .200 .020 .168 .002 .091 .010 .058 .003 .891 .080 .659 .046 .890 .092 .473 .042 .891 .087 .656 .016 .895 .102 .688 .017 .884 .099 .673 .011 .878 .200 .532 .008 .875 .058 .536 013 .850 .06,S .653 .035 .849 .044 .600 .029 .876 .082 .627 .009 .881 .070 .612 .1,39 .895 .168 .615 .007 .921 .115 .510 .059 .881 .122 .392 .027 .882 .122 .459 .038 .915 .381 .160 .126 .895 .003 .329 .017 .096 .031 .045 .008 .099 .039 .038 .on .066 .008 .047 .003 .128 .036 .040 *037 Nutritive Ratio o.g 1:7.7 1:5.1 1:9.4 1:10.3 1:20 1:5.1 1:8.7 1:6.5 1:9.6 1:6.2 1:8 1:7.2 1:7.1 1:2.8 1:9.8 1:11.7 1:15.1 1:7.9 1:8.7 1:3 1:5.7 1:3.7 1:4.8 1:1.2 1:125 1:2.1 1:1.7 1:6.8 1:3.6 284 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS STOCK FOODS -Continued. Table XL Pounds of Food Required Per Day for 1,000 Pounds Live Weight. KIND OF ANIMAL Digestible Nutrients Oxen at rest in stall Oxen at moderate work Fattening cattle Milch cows: Giving IJ^ gallons milk Giving 2 gallons milk Giving 2}^ gallons milk Giving 3 gallons milk Sheep, wool-growing Sheep, fattening Horses, moderate work Horses, hard work Swine, fattening Swine, brood sows Growing Cottle: Average live Age in wt. per head months. Lbs. 2-3 150 3-6 300 6-12 500 12-18 700 18-24 850 18 25 28 25 27 28 32 20 29 22 26 32 22 22 23 24 24 24 0.7 2.0 2.7 1.6 2.0 2.5 3.3 1.5 3.0 1.8 2.5 4.0 2.5 4.0 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 0.1 0.5 0.6 0.3 0,4 0.5 0.8 0.3 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.5 0.4 2.0 1.0 0.6 0.4 0.3 8.0 11.5 15.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 11.0 15.0 11.0 13.3 24.0 15.4 13.8 13.5 13.5 13.0 12.0 1:11 8 1: 6.5 1: 6.1 1: 6.0 1: 53 1: 4.5 1: 7.8 1: 5.5 1: 6.9 1: ?.0 1: 6.3 1: 6.6 4.7 5.3 6.0 7.0 8.5 USEFUL TABLES 285 HOW TO BALANCE A RATION. Calculate the total dry matter, protein, carbohydrates and fat in the feeds you desire to use, multiplying the figures in Table VIII by the number of pounds of the feed your experience and the inspection of its nutritive ratio suggest as a proper amount. Add the amounts of each nutrient and compare with the standard ration given in Table IX. . For example, if a cow gives about 23^ gallons of milk and it is proposed to feed ■on cottonseed meal, wheat bran, cottonseed hulls and mixed hay, we might proceed as follows: Total Dry Matter Protein Carbo hydrates Fat 3 pounds cottonseed meal 2.745 7.048 17.900 4.355 1.143 0.976 0.060 0.295 2.474 2.5 0.480 3.132 6.580 2.045 12.237 12.0 0.384 216 20 pounds cottonseed hulls 5 pounds hay 0.340 060 33.048 28.0 1 00 05 This ration is therefore excessive in total dry matter, carbohydrates and fat, while the protein is slightly below the standard. It can be remedied by using four pounds cottonseed meal, six pounds bran and three pounds hay. 286 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS STOCK FOODS— Continued. Table XII. Specimen Balanced Rations for Cow Giring 2J^ Gallons Milk Per Day. No. 1. 25 pounds hay. 3 pounds cottonseed meal. 2J^ pounds wheat bran. 1}4 pounds com meal. (2 pounds corn and cob meal can be^substituted for corn meal.) No. 2. Cottonseed meal .■ 4 pounds. Com ensilage 40 pounds. Pea hay 15 pounds. No. 3. Cottonseed meal 4 pounds. Wheat bran 6 pounds. Com stover 30 pounds. No. 4. Cottonseed meal 4 pounds. Wheat bran 6 pounds. Cottonseed hulls 20 pounds. Mixed hay 3 pounds. No. 5. Wheat bran 6 pounds. Cottonseed, whole 6 pounds. Mixed clover and grass, or pea and sorghum hay 20 pounds. Farmers' Bulletin 22, which can be procured from the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, or by request addressed to your Congressman.fcontains full feed- ng tables and directions for calculating rations.^ Every farmer should get it. USEFUL TABLES 287 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Table XIIL Troy Weight. (Used by Jewelers.) L-4 grains 1 pennyweight. 20 pennyweights 1 ounce. 12 ounces 1 pound. A pothecaries' Weight. (Used in weighing medicines.) 20 grains 1 scruple. 3 scruples 1 drachm. 8 drachms 1 ounce. 12 ounces 1 pound. Avoirdupois Weight. (Used in ordinary commercial transactions.) 27.34 grains 1 drachm. 16 drachms 1 ounce. 16 ounces 1 pound. 2,000 pounds 1 ton. Long Measure. 12 inches 1 foot. 3 feet 1 yard. 5H yards 1 rod, pole or perch. 40 rods 1 furlong. 8 furlongs 1 statute or^landlmile. 3 miles 1 league. Square or Land Measure. 144 square inches 1 square^ foot. 9 square feet 1 square' yard. 30H square yards 1 square^rod. 40 square rods 1 rood. 4 roods 1 acre. 640 acres 1 square'mile. Liquid Measure. 4 gills 1 pint — 28.875 cubic inche , 2 pints 1 quart — 57.75 cubic inche 4 quarts 1 gallon — 231 cubic inche' 63 gallons 1 hogshead. 2 hogsheads 1 pipe or butt. 2 pipes 1 tun. Dry Measure, 2 pints 1 quart. 4 quarts 1 gallon. 2 gallons 1 peck. 4 pecks 1 struck bushe 1 . 288 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS WEIGHTS AND MEASURES— Continued. Table XIV. The Metric System of Weights and Measures. Metric Units in English Equivalent«: Inches. Feet. Yards. Centimeter 0.393685 0.032807 Decimeter 3.93685 0.328071 0.109357 Meter 39.3685 3.28071 1.09357 Decameter 393.685 32.8071 10.9357 Hectometer 328.071 109.357 KUometer 3280.71 1093.57 Myriameter 32807.1 10935.7 Are — 154.988 sq. in., 1,076.4 sq. ft., 119.60 sq. yds., 0.0247 acres. Hectare— 107,640 sq. ft., 11,960 sq. yds., 2.471 acres. Liter— 33.8 fluid ounces, 1.0567 liquid quarts, 0.02838 bushels. Gram — 15.43234 grains, 0.03527 ounces avoir., 0.0022 lbs. avoir. Kilogram — 2.2 lbs. avoir. Foot — 0.3048 meters, 3.048 decimeters, 30.48 centimeters. Mile — 1,609.344 meters, 1.609344 kilometers. Acre — 40.4685 ares, 0.4047 hectares. Gallon— 3.7854 liters. Pound — 0.4536 kilograms, 4.536 hectograms. Ton (2,000 lbs.)— 907.1 kilograms, 0.9071 tonneau. Bushels— 35.237 liters. Miles. 0.0G21347 0.6213466 6.213466 Table XV. A Cubic Foot is Equal to 1728 cubic inches. 0.8036 struck bushels of 2150.42 cubic inches. 3.2143 pecks. 7.4805 liquid gallons of 231 cubic inches. 6.4285 dry gallons. 29.922 liquid quarts. 25.714 dry quarts. 59.844 liquid pints. 51.428 dry pints. 0.2667 barrel of three struck bushels. 0.2375 liquid barrel of 31 H gallons. USEFUL TABLES 289 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES-Continued. Table XVI. A Few Interesting Facts. One bushel of wheat contains about 320,000 grains. One bushel of oats contains about 540,000 grains. One bushel of cottonseed contains about 125,000 seeds. Wheat roots will grow in good ground from six to eight feet deep. Corn roots will grow in good ground from eight to ten feet deep. Clover roots will grow in good ground from ten to twelve feet deep. Alfalfa roots will grow in good ground from twelve to eighteen feet deep. Oats will grow in good ground from eight to ten feet deep. Common grass will grow in good ground three to four feet deep. The following yields per acre have been made, and can be made again: Corn 255 bushels. Wheat 80 bushels. Oats 125 bushels. Barley 80 bushels. Buckwheat 75 bushels. Potatoes 1329 bushels. Turnips 1200 to 1500 bushels. Mangels 80 tons. Timothy 6 tons at a cutting. Bermuda grass 6 tons at a cutting. Red clover 5}4 tons at a cutting. USTDEX Agriculture, History of, 7-10; import- ance of, 1-3; as a science, 4-7; teaching, V-VIII, 9-10; teaching, apparatus used in, X; teaching, references for, 275. Bees, Honey, 240. Bird Life, 245. Blackberries, 173. Breeding (see Plant). Canning, Clubs for girls, 256. Compost, 97 (see Manures). Co-operation in Agriculture, 253; boys' com clubs, 254; girls' canning clubs, 256; pig clubs, 260; poultry clubs, 259; score cards, 263-268. Corn, boys' clubs, 256; food values of, 282; harvesting, 131; plant food removed by, 279; score card for, 264; silage, 137; "Song," 153; large yields, 146, 152. Cotton, baling, 133; boll weevil, 185; breeding, 157; harvesting, 132; plant food removed by, 279; picking machine, 69, 132; score card for, 263; large yields of, 148, 152. Cultivation, of crops, 121; depth of, 122; and disease, 126; and dust mulch, 125; implements for, 55, 56, 62-65; object of, 57; time for, 58, 121, 123; "Tull Theory" of. 124. Dairy farming, 205; vs. beef cattle, 208; butter, 212; cows, feeding, 208; feeding tables, 282-286; milk bacteria, 210; milk fat, 210; milk food, 214; milk products, 214; ropy milk, 212; milk sampling, 212; milk souring, 211. Drainage, 28-30, 34-37; cost of. 36; effects of, 35. Farmers, as citizens, 272; conveniences for, 270; and health, 269; homes, 273; home dairies; opportunities of, 269. Feeding tables, 282-286. Fertilizers, composition of, 276; com- plete, 91; distinguished from ma- nures, 90, 93-96; distribution of, 276; formulas, calculating, 108; formula tables, 278; guano, 92; Home mixing of, 106; ingredients to use, 104-106; sources of nitro- gen, 110; test plots for, 112-115. Fruit culture, 175; budding, 178; cuttings, 183; grafting, 180. Fungi, 193 (see plant diseases). . Grain, food value of, 282; harvesting, 128; plant food removed by, 279; large yields, 150, 152. Guano (see fertilizers). Harrows, 64, 65. Harvesting corn, 131; cotton, 132; grain, 128; potatoes, 136; sweet potatoes, 134; silage, 137. Heat and cultivation, 121; and moist- ure, 28. Hot beds, 228. Implements, 61-65; care of, 70; cot- ton picking, 69; cultivators, 62; relation to skilled labor, 71, 72; plows, 62; for tillage, 53. Irrigation, 38; three methods of, 39. Lime, and the Soil, 31-33. Live stock (see also Dairy), beef vs. dairy cattle, 208; breeding up, 199; cattle, 200; classes of, 195; feeding, 198; feeding tables, 282-286; hogs, 201; hog clubs, 260; hog score card, 265, 266; and man, 195, 203; and manures, 87, 196; sheep, 202. Manures, animal, 90; applying. 98- 100; compost, 97; composition of, 276; definition of, 83, 90; distinguished from fertilizers, 83, 90, 93-96; green, 88; and live stock, 87; saving, 86, 279; and the soil, 84; testing value of, 113. Measures and weights, 287-289. Moisture (see soil, and water). Moon's influence on crops, 119. Nature Study, 237; birds and insects, 246-249; bird life, 245; bird mi- gration, 250; bird song, 251; bumblebee, 243; Honey bee, 240; methods and objects, 238; toad, 241. Pests, classes, 184; cabbage worm, 189; codling moth, 187; cotton boll weevil. 185; curculio, 186; INDEX 291 cut worm, 189; fungi (see plant disease); grain weevil, 187; gypsy moth, 190, 191; harlequin bug, 193; plant lice, 192; potato bug, 189; San Jose scale, 192; twig girdler, 188. Plants, parts of, 74; flowers of, 81; leaves, SO; roots, 75; stems, 79. Plant breeding, by crossing, 161; in cotton, 157, and disease, 158; history of, 160; by selection, 155; test plots, 158; variation in, 157. Plant Diseases (see also pests), and cultivation, 126; fungi, 193; and selection, 1.58. Plant food in crops, 279. Planting, or seeding, 116; bedding for, 117; fertilizing, 117; and the moon, 119; preparation for, 116; seeds, 118; tables, 280,281; time for, 119. Plowing. 54, 62. Potatoes, harvesting, 136. Poultry, 217; care of, 220; clubs, 259; dual-purpose, 219; egg-type, 217; feeding, 221; fancy, 219; meat breeds, 218; raising, 223; score cards. 267, 268; utility, 220. Raspberries, 171. Roots, 75. Rotation, advantages, 140; defined, 139; planning, 140-144. School Gardening, 225; care of plots, 231; cold-frames and hotbeds, 228; flowers, 233-236; planting, 227; size of, 227; young plants, 2.30. Seeds in hotbeds, 228; planting, 116; planting tables, 280, 281. Silage, 137. Soil, beauty of, 43; color and tempera- ture, 30; cultivating, 121-126; drainage, 28-30, 34-37; elements, 16, 17; formation, 11-13; forma- tion agencies, 14, 15; irrigation, 38; kinds of. 18-21; and lime. 31-33; and literature, 43; and ma- nures, 84; capillary moisture, 26; hygroscopic water, 26; moisture and temperature, 28, 35, possession of, 47; temperature and culture, 121; texture, 31; tilling, 51; water holding capacity, 22-25. Strawberries, 171. Sweet Potatoes, harvesting, 134. Tillage, 51; implements for, 53; "is Manure," 124. Tomatoes, 173. Truck Farming, 163; fertilizers and tillage, 166; location, 165; market gardening, 164; quality vs. quanti- ty, 166; raspberries, 171; straw- berries, 171; tomatoes, 173; what crops, 167, 171-173; yields, 150. Water and humus, 25-27 (see also soil moisture). Weights per bushel, 281; and measures, 287-289. Yields, large, 145, 289; of com, 146; of cotton, 148; of grain, 150; sugges- tions for, 152; of truck, 150, 166. DEC 1913