ty^'y South Dakota State College Agronomy Department Lessons in Field Management By MANLEY CHAMPLIN Copyright 1917 Manley Champlin A458015 FEB 14 1917 S 5"^ EXERCISE 1 Farm Prospects I. Farm Opportunities. 1. Farm Ownership. 2. Farm Tenancy. 3. Salaried Farm Managership. II. Does the Farm Pay? I. A System of Farm Records, a. Daily Record. h. Farm Day Book in journalized xorm. c. Farm Ledger. d. Field Plat' Record. e. Special Tabulations. III. Statistical Methods. EXERCISE 2 Farm Day Books I. Prepare a daily record for the month of April, showing labor performed and other mat- ters of a general nature, after the following form: April 3. etc. 2. Prepare a journalized day book for the month of April, showing business transactions after the following form, red ink for the ruling: Dr. Cr. April I Sold 1 TonHay@$io Jones, J. Cash Sold 30 lbs. Butter (a) 30c Smith & Co. Carried Forward Hay Cattle 6 4 9 10 9 19 19 QUESTIONS What five classes of records are necessary in keeping account of a farm? What is the purpose of the daily labor record? What is the purpose of the business record or journalized day book? Illustrate how to rule up an ordinary book for a journalized day book. In what two ways may the dates be recorded? What accounts would you suggest keeping for the varidus farm departments? If you sold 3 hogs at $20 each to John Jones and he paid you half cash and charged the balance, what would your journal entry be? EXERCISE 3 Farm Ledgers 1. Accounts will be needed on a diversified farm for all the departments, such as: Horses, Hogs, Sheep, Cattle. Poultry, Wheat, Barley, Oats, Corn, Alfalfa, Mixed Hay, Rye and Sorgiuim. 2. Besides the above, accounts are needed f(.r Cash, Sundry Expenses, Labor and one for e.tch person with whom we do a credit business 3- Some special accounts may be needed in addition to the above or some mentioned in No. I may be omitted. All in No. 2 are essential. 4. Rule up ledger accounts for each of the separate individuals or departments mentioned in your journal in Exercise 2, using the following form with red ink ruling: Cash Dr. Cr. Bal. on hand 93 ' ! April I Oil, I gal. 80 April I March wages 75 5 Cream, 100 lbs. @ 6c 6 10 Nails 50 8 Hogs, 780 lbs. (a' IOC 78 i 15 Axle grease I 00 QUESTIONS What general accounts are needed on every farm? What does Cash represent. Which side of an account is used for credit ledger entries ? Which side for debit entries? Illustrate how to rule up a ledger account. What words are used for carrying forward sum totals? What words are used where an amount is brought forward? Why is it necessary to carry totals forward from page to page? Since hay for horses and cattle is often kept in the same barn, would it be preferable to have horses and cattle in the same department ? 10. What is the purpose of the expense account? EXERCISE 4 Farm Ledger, Continued Post the ledger accounts which you have prepared. Balance each account. Insert the balance in red ink on the side where it is needed. Draw sing-le red line under money columns. Total same to even totals. Draw double red lines across page under the totals and bring down the balance on the reverse side of the account in black ink. INIakc a trial balance. Add all the debit balances and all the credit balances. The sums should be equal or should agree with cash on hand April i if any. QUESTIONS If vou purchase seed wheat for $125 and pay cash, what account should be debited? Which credited? If you use wheat you have on hand for seed, what account would be debited if any? Which credited? If you put 100 bushels of corn into the b-'n to be fed to hogs, what account would be deb- ited? Which credited? Why should the sum of the debits equal the sum of the credits? In case of failure in the trial balance, how may the error be found? W'hat are the common causes of error-' 10. How may a debit be distinguished from a credit? EXERCISE 5 Tabulation of Records 1. Tables consist of a systematic combination of verticle and horizontal columns for the purpose of condensing special records. They may be adapted to many purposes. 2. Prepare a field record table as follows: Use ii verticle columns per page, the one at the left being double the width used for others. Cross these columns with 20 horizontal spaces. The plain blue lines will serve the purpose on ordinary ruled paper. 3. Insert words indicating data desired in wide columns as follows: ^■ariety Crop Field Size of Field Fertilizer (Kind) Fertilizer (Date applied) Plowing (Depth) Plowing (Date) Harrowing (Date) Discing (Date) Planting (Date) Planting (Rate) Stand (%) Emerged (Date) Ripe (Date) Harvested (Date) Disease (Kind %) Yield (Grain) Yield (Straw) Remarks. 4. Similarly prepare a corn breeding record tal)le inserting the following data for a 25 row plat: Row Number Stand Date Planted Date Up Date Detasseled Date Seed Selected Date Bulk Harvest Wt. Select Seed Wt. Bulk Corn Total Corn Yield Equalized Yield to 100% Stand Remarks. EXERCISE 6 Tabulation of Records 1. Prepare a table adapted to the seed grain business which would enable one to keep a rec- ord of each purchaser with address, amount purchased, when shipped or delivered and the balances in the respective bins. 2. Prepare a table adapted to reporting the yields obtained and the number of days to mature in a variety test of oats. 3. Prepare a tal)le adapted for a daily record of actual labor perfcirmed showing: Horse hours, man hours and field on which labor was done. 4. Prepare a table adapted to some special farm need on a place in which you may be inter- ested. QUESTIONS 1. In what ways are tables of value? 2. What is a table? 3. What data is needed for a complete field record? 4. What data is needed for a corn breeding record? 5. What data is necessary to the dealer in seed grains ? 6. Suggest a method for reporting three facts nlout a series of twenty varieties. 7. Suggest other possible uses for tabulated records. EXERCISE 7 Crop Rotation Mapping the Farm Continuous Cropping 1. Continuous cropping is detrimental to the soil and becomes unprofitable eventually be- cause: a. It fdls land with diseases. b. It puts soil in poor condition. c. It exhausts soil fertilit}-. d. It wastes labor. e. It prevents proper tillage. 2. The pioneer improvement is the two year or two course rotation consisting of summer til- lage, with or without crop and a small grain crop. 3. Construct two charts representing a farm of 160 acres continuously cropped to small grain for five years. On the left hand chart enter the crops grown and yields each year. On the right hand chart indicate the soil preparation for each of the five years. 4. Make out a financial statement with journal ruling, totals inserted in right hand money column showing the cost of producing the crops for each of the five years and the prob- able gross returns and the net gain or loss. 5. Items to be considered in determining production cost include: Plowing, rent of land, other tillage, seed, seeding, harvesting, stacking, threshing, marketing. QUESTIONS Discuss the advantages of crop rotation. What are the leading labor difficulties which you find in continuous cropping? What is the approximate average yield per acre of wheat in this state? Of barley? Of oats? Of corn? Suggest a method for preparing a record o: the use of land. Describe the method of preparing a financial statement. Did you discover any way to condense financial statements covering a period of years? If so how? What items are to be considered in preparing a financial estimate for crop production? EXERCISE 8 Crop Rotation Two Course Rotations 1. A two course rotation to be of value must consist of cultivated crop or fallow and a non cultivated crop. 2. The following combinations may be made : a. Corn, wheat. b. Corn. oats. c. Corn, barley. d. Corn, rye. e. Fallow, winter wheat. f. Fallow, winter rye. g. Potatoes, wheat, h. Potatoes, barley. i. Potatoes, early oats, j. Sorghum, winter rye. k. Sorghum, millet. 1. Sorghum, barley. m. Row oats, wheat or barley. 3- Using blank cards, practice methods of crop rotation. 4. Construct four charts representing a two year rotation, using left hand chart for crops and right hand for labor on land for each year. Prepare financial estimates as in Exercise 7 5. Assign names to the fields and place in upper left hand corner. Insert acreage of each field in upper right hand corner. Use red ink for names and acreages. Letters as A, B. C, etc. are"usually used for field names and in case a field is divided among different crops, numbers are appended to the letters as Ai, A2, A3. Bi. B2. etc. 6. Divisions between fields are indicated by plain lines. Lines between subdivisions are dot- ted to indicate that the division is temporary. 7. Fields rotate in reverse order of the alphabet, that is B follows A, C follows B. etc., as to crop produced. 8. Cultivated crop fields may be manured, may be plowed deeply and usually may be planted rather late which permits discing. EXERCISE 9 Crop Rotation The Three Course Rotation A three course rotation permits tlTC use of the three essentials of a good rotation namely; a cultivated crop, a small y'rain croj) and a let^uminous crop. Cultivated crops adapted to South Dakota include; corn, ])otatoes, sorghum, proso, foxtail millet for seed production, field beans, soy beans, etc. Small grain crops include spring and winter wheat, winter rye, emmer, early and late oats, barley, foxtail millet and proso. Leguminous crops include alfalfa, white sweet clover, red clover, alsike clover, field peas, field beans, soy beans, etc. For the diversified farm system white sweet clover is appar- ently most profitable. Biennial legumes are seeded the second year of the rotation with the small grain and pro- duce two crops the third year. Alfalfa, though a perennial may be used as a biennial. The standard rates of seeding- for biennial and perennial legumes are lo lbs. of legume to one bushel of nurse crop per acre. Annual legumes prefer shallow rather mellow seed beds and may usually be cultivated or not to suit, with the exception of field beans which are best grown in hills of four or five plants cross cultivated. Prepare six charts, two for each year as before. Indicate preparation and labor on the right hand and crops and yields on the left hand chart as before. Select your own crops from the three groups given above. Prepare financial estimates as before for each of the three crops in the rotation for the three years grown. EXERCISE 10 Crop Rotations Multi-Course Rotation Including Perennials 1. The leading- perennials available to the South Dakota farmer are timothy, mammoth clov- er, alfalfa, red top for the eastern section. In the central and w^estern section, slender wheat g-rass and brome grass replace timothy and red top. 2. Rates of seeding perennials are suggested as follows : a. Timothy 8 lbs. + Clover 6 lbs. b. Timothy 4 lbs. + Red Top 3 lbs. + Alsike 4 lbs. + Red clover 2 lbs. + Italian rye grass 2 lbs. c. Alfalfa 8 lbs. + Brome grass 6 lbs. d. Alfalfa 8 lbs., Slender wheat 6 lbs. e. In all cases add i bushel cereal as nurse crops. 3. Prepare a map of some farm in which you are interested, as it is now. QUESTIONS 1. Suggest combinations suitable for two year rotations. 2. What practical objection is there to rotating wheat or oats with sorghum? 3. What is the first improvement in farming in nearly every agricultural community? 4. What are the advantages of a three year rotation? 5. What annual legumes may be used? 6. What biennials? 7. What perennials are available to the dry land farmer? 8. Explain how a perennial may be worked into a farm system. 9. Give some standard rates of seeding for perennial mixtures. 10. Which is adapted to low, wet land? EXERCISE 11 Crop Rotation Multi-Course Rotations Including Perennials, Cont'd. 1 . Replan the farm mapped in Exercise 13, putting it in to one or more good rotations, incliul ing a perennial or perennial mixture. QUESTIONS In replanning the farm what objects did you keep in mind? Was the farm you planned in a rotation at the outset? Was it in an orderly rotation at the time the ideal was reached? Of what value is a perennial in a farm system? \\'hat object is attained by using mixed perennials instead of a single crop? If you had rough, untillable land, how could you utilize it? In such a case would you give it the same average valuation as the rest of the farm? EXERCISE 12 The Farm Invoice ,% 1. At the beginning and ending of any year's business it is necessary to take an invoice to d pay. 3. How the land is handled. 4. The amounts due to us or to others from us. If the system meets those requirements it is complete. In practice the journalized day book may be omitted if it seems desirable and postings of daily business may be made direct to the ledger. QUESTIONS 1. What are the essential featiu^es of farm management records? 2. How is an invoice prepared? 3. What two labels are necessary to every field' Which is ]ilaccd at right and which at left upper corner of field on plat? 4. How are the debits from the invoice balanced with a credit? 5. From whence come the posted items for the ledger? 6. How is the overflow or sundry expense apportioned? 7. Should the pasture account balance? EXERCISE 14 Statistical Methods Correlation of Length and Weight in Ear Corn. Length ). In this exercise two varieties are cumpared as ti> length and weight of ear. J. The following symbols or abbreviations mav be nsed: V — Value, in this case length or weight. F — Frequency, the number of ears in each measurement. FV — A^alues x Frequencies. D — Deviation from the mean. D2 — The deviation squared. ^ —Sigma or the sum of. o — Small sigma or standard deviation. G — Guess as to the mean. N- — ^Number of samples studied, ^o— VS^D2F N M— Mean or average. FL — Frequency as to length. VL — Value of length. ML — Mean length. DL — Deviation of length from mean. oL — Standard deviation of length. Fw — Frequency of weight. Vw — Value of weight. Mw — Mean weight. Dw — Deviation of weight from mean ow — Standard deviation of weight. r — Coefficient of correlation. r — oW — coefficient of weight to length, or V— I^ Dl Dw oL N ol ow ,^ Prepare arrays showing lengths of all the ears in each variety furnished in h?lf inch grad- uations. 4. For reference study Davenport, pag/^s 419-422. EXERCISE 15 Statistical Methods, Cont'd. Correlation of Length and Weight in Ear Com Weight 1. Prepare arrays showing weight of each ear in each variety furnished. 2. For reference study Davenport, pages 423-425 and 458-461. QUESTIONS Define type. Define distribution. 3. Define array. 4. Define mode. 5. Define frequency. 6. Define empirical mode. Define modal coefficient. How is it found? MF How is the mode found? Vi F1+V2 F2+Vr Fr. N 10. How is the mean found? 1!^ VxF EXERCISE 16 Statistical Methods Cont'd. Correlation of Length and Weight in Ear Com Correlation 1. Prepare a correlation table as follows : a. Label the verticle columns with the weight values from one to ten by ounce graduations. b. Label the horizontal spaces with the probable lengths from the shortest to the longest ear found by half inch graduations. c. Place tally mark in proper square to indicate any coincident weight. Later place table in permanent note book using figures instead of tally marks. d. Determine correlation coefficient in accordance with example on Pp. 461 Daven- port, using but one decimal place. 2. For reference study Davenport Pp. 462 — middle of 465. QUESTIONS 1. Define correlation. 2. What is the use of determining correlation? 3. Define coefficient. 4. Howistnecorrelationcoemcientiound.'^ V- — N 02 o W 5. Howis the EP found? V E D2 F N EXERCISE 17 Choosing a Farm I. In choosing a farm we should consider the following points? Type Topography F"ertility Physical Condition Farmstead Convenience Arrangement Usefulness Comfort Beauty Size Distance Roads Size Diversity d. Type of Farming Dairying Diversified Specialty Truck Grain Neighbors Schools Churches Telephones Rural Free Delivery I'ounty Agricultural Organization Abstract of Title Deed Contract for Deed Mortgage For convenience in learning to consider these matters in an orderly manner, weights have been assigned to each point and the following score card has been constructed. EXERCISE 18 The Farm Score Card Points Perfect Name of Farm | Name of Farm 1 Score Student Score Student Score £, ., \ Condition S°'' 1 Fertility rr ^ , \ Convenience Topography ^ Adaptability ,, , 1 Distance Market , i^i^^^^j^y r-. ^ J ^ Buildings Farmstead ^ ^^^^^^^ Social Conditions Title to Possession Total Score lO lO lO lO 15 5 lO 5 15 10 I 100 1 Remarks. Score farms as assigned by the instructor. QUESTIONS In choosing a farm what points should be considered? What considerations as to soil? How would one judge of the condition of the soil? 4. The fertility? 5. How does topography affect value? 6. How does distance front market affect farm value? If it costs one cent per mile per bushel to inarket barley and the average yield is thirty bushels per acre, land one mile from town being worth $100 per acre, what is land ten miles from town worth for barley production if money is worth 6%? 8. How might land thus distant from town market its products to better advantage?