UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES A FAPM HOME ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE ; - Mw - ..: JAMES S. iGRIM, PH.D. KEYSTONE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, KUTZTOWN PENNSYLVANIA " JVb other occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor and cultivated thought, as agriculture." ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ALLYN AND BACON Boston Neto f|0rfc , COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY JAMES S. GRIM Norinoot) $rri J. 8. Gushing Co. Berwick A Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 7 PREFACE FARMING is a business our chief business. But the study of agriculture should be not only economic ; it should be edu- cational and social as well. Good homes, good schools, good roads, must wait on good business. Elementary Agriculture is an attempt to utilize the social values of farm life as educative material ; it aims to make country boys and girls love farm life, not only because this life is worthy and wholesome, but because farming, if directed by a trained mind, is a most interesting and profitable calling. This book places the emphasis on doing something as a home exercise or project, both for its educational and for its material value ; it aims to correlate with farm life, when possible, such related subjects as arithmetic, history, literature, geography and the sciences generally ; and it gives pointed suggestions at the end of each chapter for practical and productive work. The social and the economic treatment, which has been gen- erally ignored, takes up the first six chapters. But the first lesson may start with corn and the seasonal sequence of subjects may follow in order. Most teachers prefer to select their own order of chapters to suit local conditions, and to this plan Elementary Agriculture is particularly well adapted. The study of agriculture is wider than the study of any text- book. Books on agriculture are mere guides or instruments imperfect at best ; they must be judged by what they lead to rather than by what they contain. They should not be compila- tions of agricultural bulletins written by experts. These bulle- tins are readily available, and no textbook can take their place. The time has come when we must mobilize our instructional resources in agriculture. They have not been doing effective iii iv PREFACE team work. Cooperative associations, churches, schools, indi- viduals, all have special fields of activity, but none can do its best work unless it works with and borrows from all the others. When this idea is applied to students of agriculture it means that an important part of their education consists in locating their fellow workers and in cooperating with them freely and wholeheartedly. Elementary Agriculture aims to teach them this. The author gratefully acknowledges his special obligations to the following: Dr. Harold G. Foght, specialist in Rural School Practice, United States Bureau of Education ; Professor C. H. Lane, Chief Specialist in Agricultural Education, United States Department of Agriculture ; Thomas J. Mairs, Professor of Agricultural Education, Pennsylvania State College ; L. H. Dennis, Director of Agricultural Education, Harrisburg, Pa. ; Professor Frank App, Agronomist, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station ; William D. Hurd, Director Massachu- setts Agricultural College ; Superintendent E. M. Rapp, Read- ing, Pa. ; Professor W. Theo. Wittman and Dr. Franklin Menges of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture; Albert E. Wilkinson, Professor of Horticulture, Cornell University, New York ; Dr. William Frear, Professor of Experimental Agricultural Chemistry and Vice-Director of Pennsylvania State Experiment Station; Arthur E. Grant- ham, Professor of Agronomy, Delaware Agricultural Experi- ment Station ; Mr. Charles S. Adams, County Agriculturist, Reading, Pa. ; George H. Von Tungeln, Associate Professor of Rural Sociology, Iowa Agricultural College, and several other members of the Iowa Agricultural College. J. S. G. KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF ILLUSTRATIONS National Stockman and Farmer, 357, 368, 373, 374, 375, 378, 389, 395, 397, 400, 401, 402, 410, 411, 412, 413, 418, 419. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 77, 89, 135, 196, 197, 325, 326, 328, 329, 351, 352, 382, 433, 435. College of Agriculture, Vermont. 2, 3, 55, 63, 115, 144, 199, 200, 201, 214, 244, 246, 247, 300. College of Agriculture, Pennsylvania. 107, 129, 138, 140, 141, 276, 370, 384, 425. College of Agriculture, Missouri. 62, 86, 87, 108, 399, 403, 437. College of Agriculture, New Jersey. 231, 232. College of Agriculture, Delaware. 372, 426. Bureau of Vocational Education, Harrisburg, Pa. 28,42,322,366,441. International Harvester Company. 8 (Copyrighted 1913, by Keystone View Company), 20, 26, 34, 67, 81, 110, 123, 142, 143, 281, 288. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I RURAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES CHAPTER PAOK I. The Farmer and Nature 1 II. The People of the Farm 16 III. Country Children 31 IV. The Affairs of the Farm 45 V. The Business of Farming 61 VI. Rural Conveniences 77 PART II THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT VII. The Soil 93 VIII. Plant Food . . .112 IX. Fertilizers 123 X. Soil Management 134 PART III CROPS XI. The Nature and Work of Plants 152 XII. How New Plants are Started 160 XIII. More about Starting New Plants 171 XIV. Making Better Plants 190 XV. Common Diseases of Crops 208 XVI. The Farm Garden 22 1 XVII. Keeping the Garden Produce 231 XVIII. Potatoes 243 XIX. Corn 251 vii vni TABLE OF CONTENTS OIAI'TFR PAOR XX. Small Grain Crops 265 XXI. Forage Crops 276 XXII. Weeds 291 XXIII. The Orchard 300 XXIV. Timber Trees 313 XXV. Ornamental Plants 325 XXVI. Insects and Birds 334 PART IV STOCK XXVII. Improvement and Feeding 355 XXVIII. Cattle 366 XXIX. Milk and Its Products 382 XXX. Horses 395 XXXI. Sheep and Swine 409 XXXII. Poultry 425 PART V FARM ECONOMICS XXXIII. Farm Finance 446 Appendix A . . 457 Charts of United States Products. Appendix B 472 I. Value of Farm Property. II. Farms Classified by Size. III. Number of Domestic Animals. Appendix C 473 Agricultural College of the United States. Appendix D 474 Magazine Articles on Agriculture. Appendix E 475 Constitution of Boys' Pig Club. Appendix F 473 Use of Farmers' Bulletins. Appendix G 481 Report of a Pupil's Project. Appendix H 487 Supplies. Appendix 1 489 Farm Journals. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. A Farm Home Frontispiece 2. A Farm Brook 2 3. Elms at the Water's Brink 3 4. A Pleasant Farmhouse 4 5. A Quiet Corner of the Farm 5 6. Variation in Timothy Heads 6 7. Plowing along the Nile 8 8. Head of Fox 10 9. Rattlesnake: Copperhead; Garter Snake ; Water Snake . . 10 10. The San Jose Scale 11 11. Orchard and Forest 12 12. Nature in the City 12 13. Spinning Flax 16 14. Plowing with Oxen . . . . . . . . .18 15. Sowing with Tractor and Drill 18 16. Making Brooms on the Farm 19 17. Cyrus H. McCormick 20 18. Type of Barn a Century Old 21 19. A Modern Homestead .; . . 23 20. Barn at Mt. Vernon 24 21. An Industrial Center 26 22. Hard Work 27 23. Blacksmithing 28 24. The Best Farm Crop . . . ... . . .31 25. Light Work for Children 1 . . 32 26. Comparative Values 34 27. Tablet at Union Station, Washington 35 28. Farm Pets 37 29. Organized Play 38 30. Home Work 39 31. Boy Scouts at Camp ,41 32. Rope Splicing 42 33. The Typhoid Carrier 46 34. Caught! 47 35. The Country School .48 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS norac PAO 36. Cooperation of Farmers .... . 49 37. Club Members Working their Projects . 51 38. Poultry Club Member . 52 39. School Exercise in Pruning .... . 53 40. An Agricultural Fair . 54 41. An Orchard Meeting . 55 42. Farmers and their Wives . 56 43. Tree Planting Demonstration . 57 44. Agricultural College Bulletin . 59 45. Farmers Shipping by Rail .... . 62 46. Farmers Shipping by Boat .... . 63 47. A Successful Farm . 64 48. A Bumper Potato Crop .... . 65 49. Making Sure of Clean Milk .... . . .66 50. European Peasant Farmers .... . ' . .67 51. Intensive Farming . 68 52. Small Fields and Tenant Farms . . 70 53. Farm Labor ....... 71 54. Bad Farming . 72 55. A Windmill on the Farm .... . 77 56. Getting the Morning Mail .... . 79 57. The Automobile on the Farm . 81 58. Stone Crusher . 82 59. Models Illustrating Road-Building . 85 60- Effect of Narrow Tires . 86 61. Effect of Broad Tires . 87 62. Kitchen Conveniences . 89 63. Handy Farm Implement .... . 90 64. Grain Elevators . 91 65. Clod of Soil Magnified . 93 66. Relative Sizes of Soil Particles . . 94 67. Clay 95 68. Sand 96 69. Bottle of Soil Sifted . 97 70- Disintegration . 98 71. How Roots Hold the Soil .... . 99 72. Studying Soils . 101! 73. Capillary Attraction . 103 74. Ditching Machine . 107 75. Part of Irrigation Dam . 108 76. Pumping Water to Irrigate Farm Lands . 110 77. Root Hairs on Wheat . 112 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi FIGURE 78. Soil in Good Tilth 79. Curly Kale PAGE . 113 1 15 80. Nodules on Bean Roots . 116 81. Sweet Clover on Shallow Limestone Soil .... . 119 82. Spreading Manure 83. Proper Care of Manure 84. A Lime Kiln . 123 . 125 . 126 85. Preparing Stone Lime 86. A Pile of Slacked Lime . 128 . 129 87. Effect of Tillage 88. A School Garden . 135 . 137 89. Spreading Lime ......... 90. The Common Plow . 138 . 140 91. The Spaulding Plow 92. Traction Plow and Disk Harrow ' . 141 . 142 93. Furrows Properly Turned 94. Spring-Tooth Harrow 95. Extension Harrow . 143 . 144 . 145 96. Timothy in Bloom 97. Plant Cells . 153 155 98. Chlorophyll Bodies of a Leaf 99. Millet Seed . 157 160 100. The Life Story of a Pear 101. Staminate Flowers and Pollen of Corn Plant . 161 . 162 102. Corn Tassel 103. Corn Silk . 163 164 104. Effect of Poor Pollination . 165 105. Buckwheat Plant in Blossom . 166 106. Seeds and Flowers of the Potato Plant .... . 168 107. Sections of Corn Kernels . 171 108. Poor Alfalfa Seed . 172 109. Good Alfalfa Seed " . . 174 10. Alfalfa Seeds after Testing 11. Roots of Wheat Seedlings 12. Buds in the Axils of Leaves . 174 . 175 . 177 13. Breathing Pores of a Leaf 14. Geranium Cutting 15. Rose Cuttings 116. Stolons of White Clover . 178 . 180 . 181 . 183 1 1 7. Strawberry Runners 118. Cleft Grafting 1 19. Tongue Grafting . 183 . 184 . 185 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 120. Budding 186 121. Grafting Exercise 187 122. Luther Burbank 191 123. Variation in Plant Breeding 193 124. Corn Bagged 195 125. Prize Corn 196 126. Tomatoes -197 127. Niagara Grapes 199 128. Improved Blackberry 200 129. Blackberry Field 201 130. Improved Crab Apple 203 131. Compound Microscope 209 132. Bacteria 210 133. Plum Rot 210 134. Peach Rot 211 135. Shot-Hole Fungus on Apple Leaves 212 136. Anthracnose on Bean Pod 213 137. Potato Blight 214 138. Clean and Smutted Oats 215 139. Corn Smut 216 140. Black Knot on Plum Twigs 217 141. A Wood-Destroying Fungus 217 142. A Farm Garden 221 143. Handy Garden Tools 222 144. Asparagus Plot 222 145. Bush Beans Ready to Cover 223 146. Hill of Sweet Corn 223 147. Bantam Sweet Corn 224 148. Bean Plant 226 149. Making a Hot-Bed 227 150. A Bean Project 227 151. Celery 228 152. Kitchen Canning 231 153. Home Canning Outfit 232 154. Yeast . 233 155. Molds 233 156. Dried Corn 234 157. Canned Corn 235 158. Dried Peaches 236 159. Dried Apricots 237 160. Dried Apples 238 161. Meeting of a Tomato Canning Club 240 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii FIGURE PAOK 162. Young Potato Plant . 243 163. Covering Potatoes with a Two-Winged Plow . 244 164. Cultivating Potatoes . 245 165. Class Selecting Seed Potatoes . 246 166. Potato Digger . 247 167. A Good Potato Crop . 248 168. Sweet Potatoes . 249 169. Good and Bad Seed . 252 170. Class Selecting Seed Corn . . ... . 253 171. The " Rag Doll" Test . 254 172. Removing Seed for Testing . 255 173. Box Method of Testing Seed . 256 174. Starting a Corn Variety Test . 257 175. Six Types of Corn . 258 176. Result of not Testing Seed . 260 177. Wheat Grains . 265 178. Threshing Wheat . 266 179. A Wheat Variety Test . 268 180. Oats Natural Size . 269 181. Oats as Planted in Drills . . 270 182. Buckwheat Natural Size . 271 183. Buckwheat Planted in Drills . 271 184. Barley Grains . 272 185. Rye Grains . ........ 273 186. Cutting Forage . 276 187. A Typical Meadow . 277 188. Hay Tedder at Work . 277 189 Red Top 278 190. Timothy Seed . 279 191. Seed of Kentucky Blue Grass . 280 192. Hay Loader . 281 193. The Alfalfa Plant . . 282 194. Red Clover .......... 283 195. Red Clover Seed. Natural Size . 283 196. Dodder, a Parasite on Clover . 284 197. Alsike Clover . 285 198 Soy Beans 286 199. Building a Cheap Silo ... .... . 286 200 Cow Peas ......... 287 201. A Cement Silo . 288 202. Joe Pye Weeds . 291 203. Ragweed 292 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PIOVKK PAOR 204. Wild Carrot 293 205. Moth Mullein 294 206. Milkweed 295 207. Fennel 295 208. Two Kinds of Pigweed 296 209. Canada Thistle 296 210. Plantain 297 211. Tumble Grass 298 212. Chicory 299 213. Apple Orchard in Winter 300 214. An Old Orchard 301 215- Grape Twigs 302 216. Peach Twigs 303 217. Apple Shoots 304 218. Pruning Peach Trees 305 219. Early Bearer 306 220. Broken Crotch 306 221. Bad Pruning 307 222. Dehorned Apple Tree 308 223. An Apple Show 309 224. Harvesting Peaches 309 225. Orchard Tools 310 226. An Oak in an Open Field 313 227. An Elm in an Open Field 314 228. A Mixed Stand of Timber 315 229. A Wind-Break 316 230. Cross Section of Oak .317 231. Cross Section of Norway Spruce 318 232. A Rail Fence 320 233. Injury to Shade Tree 321 234. A Lesson in Forestry 322 235. Landscape Gardening 325 236. An Attractive Country Home 326 237. English Style of Planting 328 238. Italian Style of Planting 329 239. Hollyhocks 330 240. Starting Rose Cuttings 331 241. A Flower Project 332 242. Spraying Apple Trees 334 243. Hand Sprayer 335 244. A Method of Mounting Insects 335 245. Wheat Partly Destroyed by the Hessian Fly .... 336 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XV PACK 246. Angoumois Grain Moths and Grain Weevils .... 336 247. Potato Beetle 337 248. Insects on Leaves 338 249. Toads Eating Caterpillars 339 250. Tent Caterpillars 340 251. Work of Walnut Caterpillars 341 252. Shot-Hole Borer 342 253. Work of the San Jose Scale . 343 254. Scale Parasite 344 255. Work of the Scale Parasite 344 256. The Coddling Moth 346 257. Ichneumon Flies 347 258. Bee Hives in an Orchard 349 259. Bird Boxes 350 260. Red-Headed Woodpeckers 351 261. The Crow 352 262. A Dairy Herd 355 263. A Holstein Calf '.357 . 264. Beef Cattle in Pasture 359 265. An Elaborate Dairy Barn 360 266. Live Stock Judging 366 267. Hereford Cow 368 268. Shorthorn Bull 369 269. Herefords at Pasture 369 270. Aberdeen Angus Bull 370 271. Raising a Holstein Calf 371 272. Jersey Cows 372 273. Guernsey Cow 373 274. Ayrshire Cow 374 275. Holstein Cow . . 375 276. Interior of Dairy Barn 378 277. Milk Pails 382 278. Butter Making Outfit , 384 279. Testing Milk. Babcock Tester 385 280. A Dirty Cow 388 281. A Clean Cow 389 282. Milk from the Clean Cow 390 283. Milk from the Dirty Cow 390 284. Germs of the Dairy 39 1 285. Blooded Saddle Mare 395 286. Horse Barn 396 287. Percheron Stallion . 397 XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PIOFRK FA0B 288. Percheron Brood Mares 399 289. Clydesdale Stallion 400 290. Belgian Stallion 401 291. Shire Stallion 402 292. Pair of Mules 403 293. Raising a Colt 405 294. A Flock of Sheep 409 295. Hampshire 410 296. Shropshire 411 297. Merino 412 298. Cheviots 413 299. Sheep Feeding in Rape Field 415 300. Pigs Feeding on Alfalfa . 417 301. Berkshire 418 302. Duroc-Jersey 419 303. Chester White Pig in Unattractive Pen 421 304. Bacon and Ham 422 305. A Poultry Project 425 306. White Leghorn 426 307. Minorca Cock 427 308. Egg Yields 428 309. Barred Plymouth Rock Hen 428 310. Buff-Orpington 429 311. White Wyandottes 430 312. Rhode Island Reds 432 313. Brahma Cock and Hen 433 314. A Setting of Eggs 434 315. Poultry Feed . . . 434 316. Feeding the Chickens 435 317. Small Chicken House 436 318. Putting Chicks in the Brooder 437 319. A Colony Hen-House 438 320. Modern Poultry House and Yard 440 321. High School Boys Preparing for the Poultry Show . . .441 322. Turkey 442 323. Successful Farming Requires Capital 448 324. Transportation 450 325. Farmers' Bank .... ... 456 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE PART I RURAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES CHAPTER I THE FARMER AND NATURE Let Nature be your teacher. WORDSWORTH. 1. The New Earth. Everything we see is subject to constant change. We are told that our bodies change completely once every seven years. Orchards that are white with blossoms in May are laden with fruit in Octo- ber. Meadows that are brown in autumn are to be car- peted in spring with a rich green. Through all the world, change is always going on. Many of the changes can be detected only by comparisons from week to week or month to month ; and still others take place so slowly that even a lifetime is not long enough to see them. There may be a hill near your home. Can any one doubt, on seeing the muddy water running from its side, that in time, perhaps in a thousand or maybe in a million years, a large part of the hill will be carried away ? Thus, a new earth is forming every day. It is formed out of the old earth which, more or less rapidly, is being made over. New plants and animals and new particles of soil are ever taking the place of the old ones. Just as 1 2 THE FARMER AND NATURE our bodies are constantly losing old matter and building up new matter, so are our fields, crops, stock, and lands. One of the never-ending joys that come to the farmer is A FARM BROOK. In every brook are forces which are constantly changing the face of nature. the novelty of continually having a new earth with which to work. 2. Things that Abide. There are invisible things in nature, however, that never change. These invisible changeless things we call forces of nature. The snow falls and warms the soil, and then melts and runs away as water. That is, moisture changes its form ; but the in- visible forces that formed the snow in the sky, and that caused it to fall and then melt, do not change. They abide, and are always ready to work when conditions are favorable. The forces of nature are working to-day exactly as they did when the world was young, and they will continue to work forever, as far as human knowledge goes, precisely as we find them working to-day. NATURAL FORCES ON THE FARM ELMS AT THE WATER'S BRINK. The scene changes from day to day, but the forc'es which make it are eternal. 3. Natural forces at work on the farm are of three kinds, the physical, the biological, and the chemical forces. a. A dashing rain falls on the corn field. The surface of the soil is thus compacted ; its particles are pressed tightly together. The farmer knows that unless this crust is broken up the soil will lose a great deal of water 4 THE FARMER AND NATURE by evaporation, and the corn will suffer on that account. This rapid evaporation through a crusted soil is due to a physical force or principle (capillary attraction), about which more will be learned in Chapter VII. To prevent too rapid a loss of moisture the farmer cultivates, or breaks A PLEASANT FARMHOUSE. Nature adds charm to the farmer's home. up, the crust, because this principle acts more slowly in a loose soil. b. A sqed drops into the soil ; it seems lifeless. It will remain apparently as lifeless as a pebble unless heat, moisture, and air are applied to it. In the soil, in a good season, it finds these three things, and it sprouts. Sprout- ing is growth, and growth is a biological principle. c. A farmer spreads lime on the land ; the lime "sweetens" the soil, and thus enables certain plants to thrive better. This work of lime illustrates a chemical principle. We shall explain these principles more in detail in later chapters. THE FIRST FARMER 5 4. Natural Principles as Tools. Now the loss of water from the surface of the corn field, the sprouting of the seed, and the action of lime, like all the principles or forces of nature, act continuously and are uniform under the same conditions. Man may interfere with them and prevent their operation here and there by changing the conditions; but he cannot destroy the principles them- selves. We can regulate the loss of field water, to a great A QUIET CORNER OF THE FARM. extent, by cultivation and by other means ; we can hasten the growth of seeds, by giving careful attention to their needs ; and we can modify the action of lime in a field, by growing certain crops : but the principles themselves remain unchanged. Thus we may think of these forces as invisible tools with which the farmer must learn to work. He must learn to regulate the force of evaporation much as he learns to control a plow. 5. The first farmer was the first man who became con- scious of the fact that there were plant forms which 6 THE FARMER AND NATURE changed from time to time, and that there were forces which caused these changes, but which did not themselves change. Then he began to work upon these forms through these forces. Let us say that he noticed a sort of grass growing in an open space of the forest. We may suppose that this was wheat in its wild state. The man discovered that its seed was good to eat. But the good plant died. The man planted some seeds of it, however, and thus obtained another plant nearly like the first one. Then he planted seeds from the second plant, and from the third, and so on, and always obtained plant after plant that differed little from the first one which he found in the VARIATION IN TIMOTHY HEADS. These heads of timothy all grew in the same square yard. Selecting the best is the first step in improvement. forest. Thus this first farmer discovered two things : namely, a form of plant structure which perished, and & force which did not perish. The form of the wheat plant he could see, and, in part at least, could easily understand. But he saw also, dimly, that back of that grass form, and of every form, like a tree or a horse, lies a hidden principle of growth that carves out, as it were, the wheat or the tree or the horse IMPROVING ON NATURE 1 into its shape. He saw that, because of this force, like produces like, and the new plant resembles the old one from whose seed it springs. This force was invisible. He could not understand it as readily as he could the plant form. 6. Our Trust in Natural Forces. Only by slow steps have men learned to trust the regular action of these natural forces. There is a force, we have just said, that made the second and third wheat plants resemble the first one. We now call that force by the name heredity, and we are still learning much about its workings. We know surely, how- ever, that, like all the forces of nature, heredity works constantly and uniformly under like conditions. But the first farmers, for thousands of years, thought that it was a goddess, and that it must be worshiped with prayer and sacrifices, or it might cease to work for the good of men. It was natural for these first farmers to distrust the un- seen forces " the invisible tools " with which they had to work, and to feel that these forces might stop working at any time as a punishment to men. The strange thing is that in our own day of so much knowledge, some farmers have made scant progress toward a proper outlook on nature. Such men still cling to old superstitions, and are particular to plant seed according to the " signs " of the almanac. Wise men trust to the regularity of natural forces. 7. Why Farmers Have Sought to Improve on Nature. We know little that is really definite about the farmers of the earliest times. It is quite probable that the first men obtained their food and clothing from wild ani- mals and wild plants. If the streams, hunting grounds, wild cereals, wild fruits, and wild roots had satisfied men's needs, we should not have the modern cattle, fruit, grains, or other good things of the farm of to-day. But the first men THE FARMER AND NATURE found it hard to live at all. Especially did many children die from lack of proper food and clothing. To some minds it became a problem to supply the food and clothing needed. The first farmer who stirred a plot of ground with a crooked stick and then sowed there the seed of a wild wheat plant instead of eating it made a wonderful advance. It PLOWING ALONG THE NILE. Early farmers probably used some such simple tools. was no longer necessary to depend wholly on wild crops for food. It had been noticed that the seeds of certain wild plants were covered with strong fiber*, and women had sometimes woven these fibers together for clothing. At last a few of these hairy seeds were planted in a cultivated plot. This was the first cotton field. USEFULNESS IN NATURE 9 At some later time, a sharp eye noticed that if insects visited the cotton blossom, the seed was improved. Here was a suggestion of another great principle, the principle of improvement through crosses (Chapter XIII). So, too, the early horse was weak in body and slow of foot. Because of their needs, the early farmers improved it, as they improved the wild cow and the wild apple and the wild wheat, from a condition of little usefulness to a condition of greater and greater usefulness. The betterment of plants, animals, and farm machinery rank among the greatest achievements of the human race; but this betterment is the result of human needs. The common things of the modern farm have been the products of yearnings for greater comfort. This aspiration has shown men how to transform the crooked stick with which the first farmer stirred the ground into the spade, the plow, the gang plow, the tractor plow. In this betterment there have been four distinct stages. First, man used nature as he found her wild. Then he copied nature in her re- production of like from like, as when he sowed the wheat, hoping only to receive a grain like the wild grain. Then he observed how nature sometimes made improvements, and he copied those methods; and finally he experimented to find how to make improvements faster than nature alone could make them. This last step is comparatively modern. 8. Does Everything in Nature Have a Use? Every object exerts influence on other objects, and we cannot foresee all the consequences from the destruction of apparently use- less things. Brook snails used to be thought useless ; but now we know that they keep the water sweet by eating the germs in it, and also that they contribute to the plu- mage of a gorgeous waterfowl that feeds upon them. Throughout nature the lower life contributes to the higher life. In the present imperfect state of our knowledge we 10 THE FARMER AND NATURE HEAD OF Fox. Foxes serve a useful purpose in de- stroying animals, such as rabbits, that bark young trees and eat vegetables. ought to be very cautious in deciding that any plant or animal is more harmful than useful. We do feel justified in exterminating such plants as the poison ivy. quack- grass, and the Can;ul:i thistle, and such animals as wolves, rattlesnakes, and disease-bearing nms- quitoes and flies. On the other hand, the farmer is just beginning to recognize some of his best friends in nature. Many of these friends long escaped notice be- cause of their micro- scopic size. There lives in the soil a low form of life which we call bacteria. These microscopic bacteria enrich the soil by breaking down the complex bodies of larger animals and plants and making them over into plant food. Fertile soil teems with them. The role they play has been the subject of much recent study. It has been learned, for instance, that alfalfa will not usually grow well in a new district until the right kinds of bac- teria have been placed in the soil. These small agents, our invisible co- 1 , RATTLESNAKE ; 2, COPPERHEAD ; 3, GARTER SNAKE ; 4, WATER SNAKE. Snakes render important service by de- stroying vermin, mice, and so on. USES OF BEAUTY 11 The following is a common workers, are in large measure responsible for soil fertility, and so for our very lives. Other allies of man long remained unrecognized, not because they were small, but because no competent scien- tist had taken the trouble to investigate them. Certain insects belong to this class. To it belong also plants and animals of diverse groups, example of this. Fastened to the window panes of the house or stable, during the fall, many dead flies may often be noticed. Growing out of each fly there is prob- ably a fluffy growth, the work of a beneficial fungus. For many years people did not know why flies died in this manner. They did not recognize the agent that kills the flies. Other pests are often destroyed in some such manner, though no one can yet name the particular agent that wrought the blessing. No doubt, many forms of life now thought useless will be proved to be helpful to man. There are few fields of human life where the highest scientific knowl- edge can play a more useful part than in agriculture. The best education is not thrown away upon the farmer. 9. Uses of Beauty. Moreover, it is narrow for the farmer to look upon nature only from the viewpoint of his purse. "Man shall not live by bread alone." We ought to feel that we are made " brothers to the insensible THE SAN JOSE SCALE. This pest has destroyed thousands of orchards. 12 THE FARMER AND NAT I' UK ORCHARD AND FOREST. clod which the rude swain turns with his sliare and treads upon." The study of the clod, the star, the wayside flower, enlarges the mind and helps to give us a vision of the vast forces that work harmoniously throughout the universe. NATURE IN THE CITY. USES OF BEAUTY 13 And the farmer is poor indeed if the odor of clay is so fixed in his nostrils as to shut out the fragrance of flowers. The genius of man never invented a moving-picture out- fit to show such splendors as may be seen in the glow of the dying day. Or, to take a homely scene, the cow stands in a brook beneath a spreading tree ; beyond stretches a meadow, or a field of corn ; at a distance loom the farm buildings. A painting of this scene may bring fame and fortune to the artist. Wandering crowds may gather in a gallery to admire the colored canvas. But the country child may feast his eyes on the real scene the long seasons through. The farmer, in the following poem of Helen Hunt Jackson, would have been the richer if he had lifted his eyes to see what the poet saw : " Along Ancona's l hills the shimmering heat, A tropic tide of air, with ebb and flow, Bathes all the fields of wheat until they glow Like seas of green which toss and beat About the vines. 2 The poppies, 3 lithe and fleet, Seem running, fiery torchmen, to and fro To mark the shore. The farmer does not know That they are there. He walks with heavy feet, Counting the bread and wine of autumn's store ; But I, I smile to think that days remain, Perchance, to me, when the bread be sweet no more, And red wine warm the heart in vain, I shall be glad, remembering how the fleet Lithe poppies ran like torchmen through the wheat." 1 Ancona is a beautiful town in Italy on the Adriatic. 2 Grapes and grain are the two principal products of the district. 8 The wild European poppy is a tall, wonderfully graceful, deep red, bell- shaped flower, growing often in great numbers along the margins of grain fields. 14 THE FARMER AND NATURE PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. Name a few changes in nature which you have noticed. 2. How is some farm you know different from what it was a year ago? 3. Name three natural principles with which the farmer must work. 4. In what way can a form be distinguished from a principle? 5. In what way can a natural principle be spoken of as a farm tool? ii. Why have farmers sought to improve on nature? 7. In \vlmt way do wild plants differ from cultivated plants? 8. Which is the more beautiful, a good painting of a farm scene or the scene itself? 9. Can you think of anything in nature that is not useful to the farmer ? HOME EXERCISES 1. In beginning the study of Farm Life we should recognize "the new earth," or the constant changes everywhere at work. Let us study some of these changes by making use of our local history and geography. Ask your father or grandfather to relate how people farmed when he was a boy. Inquire as to what farm improvements were made during the last fifty years. When was the first reaper used in the neighborhood? The first Babcock tester? The first cream separator? The first gasolene engine? Inquire into the his- tory of the local wood lots. How long ago were trees growing in fields which are now cleared and cultivated? Do the streams carry as much water as formerly? Are the numbers of horses, cows, sheep, and pigs increasing ? By sending a card to your state capital, much interesting local information can be obtained. Perhaps the assessor can also aid you. Get a knowledge of the local farm resources past and present. Write a report on what you have learned. 2. Look for any farm plant, like corn, wheat, potatoes, or onions, that may be found growing wild. Examine such plants carefully and tell in what way they differ from like plants properly cared for by man. SUGGESTIONS 1. Pupils raised on a farm have usually a considerable body of first-hand knowledge of natural objects. Teachers should not ignore this knowledge, but should correct it and seek to organize it. 2. Agriculture is a study in which there must be continually a direct contact with real and vital things. The teacher will not stop REFERENCES 15 THE FARM AND THE MARKET. with the book answers to questions, but will assign other questions that can be answered only from material at school or at home. Whenever possible the question should be in the form of a problem requiring practical work before it can be answered. }. Some member of the class may be given a special topic, such as "the conflict between the farmer and nature." Farmers battling against weeds, pests, floods, droughts, storms, and diseases are sug- gestive points. The discussion of a topic should be entirely original the result of direct observation. 4. In order to save time and enable pupils to get the clearest possible ideas on vital problems, it is advisable to correlate related subjects to agriculture. We must remember that we are not teaching certain school subjects merely, but are training future citizens : Subject matter organized on a rather artificial basis at best and placed into certain pigeon holes we call textbooks can always be reenforced and made dynamic if approached from several different points of view in the same discussion period. The Agricultural Educational Monthly, published by the United States Department of Agriculture and sent free to all who desire it, has been giving detailed directions on how best to connect with agriculture related school subjects such as his- tory, literature, geography, botany, geology, and chemistry. REFERENCES Handbook of Nature Study. Comstock. Nature Study and Life. Hodge. Animals and Man. Kellogg. CHAPTER II THE PEOPLE OF THE FAEM The Country wins me still; I never framed a wish, or formed a plan That flattered me with hope of earthly bliss, Rut there I laid the scene. COWPBR. 10. Why Study about the Farm People. In the study of agriculture we are especially interested in the people who follow farming as an occupation. The happiness, the well-being, and the mode of living of the people themselves are of more vital concern than the work they do. Better SPINNING FLAX. Formerly a part of farm work. 10 CHANGES IN POPULATION 17 farming is worth while only if it bears fruit in better liv- ing. It is needful, therefore, to study farm life and farm business, just as it is needful to study flowers, fruits and farm stock. 11. Population. There are more than 100,000,000 people living in the United States. These people may be divided into two classes, the city dwellers and the coun- try dwellers. Since 1900 the United States Census Bureau regards all districts having a population of 2500 or more as cities. The following table from the Census Reports shows the percentage of our population in country and in city at different periods : 1790 1890 1900 1910 Country .... City 96.7 3.3 63.9 33.1 69.5 40.5 53.7 46.3 That is, when Washington was President, only one man out of thirty in America lived in town. Twenty-nine out of every thirty lived in the country. To-day the propor- tions are nearly half and half. 1 The whole population has grown steadily during this century and a quarter; but plainly the country population and the city population must have grown at different rates. The following table from the Census Reports shows these rates: 1790-1820 1820-50 1850-80 1880-1900 1900-1910 Per Cent Per Cent Per Cent Per Cent Per Cent Increase in country dwellers 34.1 30.3 24.2 14.3 11.2 Increase in city dwellers 50.9 83.1 58.4 48.6 34.8 1 The Director of the Federal Census Bureau, to whom these figures were submitted for verification, stated to the author that pupils should bear in mind that, were the dividing line between city and country 8,000 as in the 18 THE PEOPLE OF TIIK PLOWING WITH OXEN. Methods of I860. When we became a nation, a rapid city growth was just begin- ning. 1 Ever since then that growth has been more rapid than the country growth. The rate of country growth, indeed, has decreased steadily from the first, and is now only a third of the rate of city growth. All these figures, it must be remembered, are for the nation as a whole. For some districts the facts are quite different. Thus, accord- ing to the last census rural Vermont showed a loss of 4.2 per cent ; Ohio, 1.3 per cent ; Indiana, 6.5 per cent; and Iowa, 7.2 per cent. The rural districts of the south Atlantic states, on the other hand, have been growing for the last century about as rapidly as have their cities, while, in industrial parts of the United States (New England, for SOWING WITH TRACTOR AND DRILL. Methods of 1916. earlier censuses the per cent of rural population at the last decennial census would be 61.2 per cent of the total population instead of but 53.7 per cent, as given in the table. 1 In 1700 there were only 6 cities of the United States having a population of 8000 or more; in 1910 there were 778. In 1790, New York, the largest city, had a population of 49,401. The figures for 1910 show that the number of residents of New York City increased nearly one hundred fold since 1790, and that there are 101 cities of the United States having a population greater than New York City had in 1790. RURAL POPULATION 19 example), city increase has been very marked compared with rural increase. 12. There are three kinds of forces that affect the decrease of rural population : a. The first kind has to do with the invention of new machinery. We are living in what has been called "a machine age." Machine labor is substituted for hand labor whenever the change can be made profitably. MAKING BROOMS ON THE FARM. In 1815 (one hundred years ago) Pennsylvania was al- ready a leading manufacturing state ; but its manufactures were still turned out, for the most part, on the farm. In that year, Pennsylvania manufactured only about one million yards of woolen cloth, and more than fifteen six- teenths of this was manufactured in family homes, by hand labor upon spinning wheel, loom and shuttle. These very simple machines were then in use in every farmhouse. Only one sixteenth of the woolen cloth was manufactured in city factories, by large machinery. That was the " Age THE PEOPLE OF THE FARM of Homespun," and the age of independence of rural t';t in i lies. Trade was in its infancy. Each family supplied most of its own needs. To-day (1915) Pennsylvania manufactures about 2000 million yards of cloth, and all of it is turned out from city factories that use costly and com- plex machinery with little hand labor. In those early days when nearly all the cloth was woven on the family loom, the sons and daughters of farmers could scarcely find work away from home. And, on the other hand, cities could not grow, because, with the simple farm tools of that time, it took many producers of food and clothing to supply one extra consumer. But machinery in- creases production ; and manufacturing machin- ery is so costly that the workers must come to- gether to work in fac- CYRUS H. MCCORMICK. . -p, ., oftn tones, trom 1820 to 1850 (see table above) the cities of the United States increased 83.1 per cent in population. This was the period of their most rapid growth. This was also the period when machinery first began to be extensively used. Inventions applied to production and transportation were multiplying rapidly. Woolen mills, cotton mills, and furnaces sprang up. The invention of the steam loco- motive made it possible to gather the raw materials together and carry them to distant factories. The de- mand for labor to operate the machinery grew apace. RURAL POPULATION 21 Farmers' sons left home to seek employment in the new enterprises. But even the invention of machinery to work up and re- fine the raw materials of the farm cheaply and rapidly would not allow men to leave the countryside unless some ways were devised for each farmer to produce more food than before. Otherwise, these new city laborers would have nothing to live upon. McCormick and others met this difficulty. The reaper of McCormick made it possible TYPE OF BARN A CENTURY OLD. for one farmer to produce more grain than four or five formerly. In 1845 the farmers produced 4.33 bushels of wheat to every inhabitant of the United States. In 1889, though the farming districts at this time had lost in popu- lation relatively, the farmers produced 10 bushels of wheat to every inhabitant. Machinery, then, in city and in country, is the first important force affecting the growth of rural population. b. The second group of causes for the relative decline in rural population is found in certain peculiarities of 22 THE PEOPLE OF THE FARM country life. Some features of farm life have failed to satisfy man's nature. Man is a social animal. He craves companionship, and is not satisfied with the isolation that has been so marked in the past, and which is yet a charac- teristic of many farms. Many people, therefore, have left the country for the city for social reasons. The greater business opportunities and educational opportunities of the cities have also influenced a considerable body of country people to move there. c. The third cause lies in the character of the farmer. Some farmers are not successful in their work. They may not be good farm managers. They can succeed best when working under the direction of a foreman. The big enterprises that require many foremen are naturally located in the centers of population. These unsuccessful farmers often move to the city to work under the direc- tion of foremen. Then, too, some city occupations are very remunerative. Farmers' sons who desire to be engineers, enter a profession, become a merchant, or engage in indus- trial work, find the financial opportunities of the city attractive. 13. What Does Rural Migration Mean ? We have learned that, considering the entire United States, the rate of growth of the rural communities has been gradually de- clining for more than a century, but that in certain states the decline is greater than in others, and that especially in the South there has been no decline at all, but a large increase, in the population of rural districts. What does all this signify to the American farmer? What does it mean to the nation, to its institutions, to its future ? The trend to the city is found not alone in our country ; it is world-wide. It is particularly marked in Europe. It is one of the marks of present-day civilization, and is RURAL MIGRATION 23 largely the result of the railroad, the reaper, the traction engine, electricity, scientific agriculture, and factory machinery. There is little in the present trend of rural population to occasion alarm. The cry "Back to the farm," or even " Stay on the farm," indicates an uneasiness for which there is little warrant. Young farmers who show pecul- iar aptitudes for other occupations can serve their day better by leaving the farm for the city than by staying at home. Thousands of acres of poor farm land can best A MODERN HOMESTEAD. be " abandoned." The railroads have made the New York City market more accessible to the Kansas farmer than it was to the Massachusetts farmer a century ago. The difference in freight rates from those two widely separated states to New York City is less than the difference in the cost of producing some farm crops on the hill slopes of Massachusetts and on the Kansas prairies. Farming is a business, and cannot long be run at a loss due to compe- tition with better land, with better machinery, or with better market facilities. Most farmers are beginning to understand the adapta- 24 THE PEOPLE OF THE FA KM bility of certain crops to particular soils and special climatic conditions. During the past generations such questions were not carefully considered, and so count- less unwise beginnings in farming were made. These attempts are now wisely being given up. Certain old hill- side farms, covering in their total area thousands of acres, can be devoted to forestry more profitably than to general BARN AT Mr. VERNON. Washington was the most scientific farmer of his day. farming. Such farms are not really being "abandoned"; they are merely being put to a more natural use. If the South were to stop growing cotton ; if the West were to stop growing the sugar beet ; were the central states to stop growing corn ; that is, were any great sec- tion to fall off seriously in the crops especially adapted to its soil and climate, then a note of alarm ought to be sounded. But nothing of this sort has taken place. The general result of the forces that are modifying the rate of ATTRACTIVENESS OF FARM LIFE 25 increase of rural population will be a better organization of agricultural work throughout the country, a better adaptation of crops to soils, an increased efficiency, and a higher order of manhood and womanhood on the farm. 1 It is true, to be sure, that many individual boys have left the farm for the city when it would have been better for them and for the nation if they had stayed. Some mistakes of this kind will always be made both in country and city. Perhaps they have been particularly common in the country because farm life has often been less attrac- tive than it ought to have been, and far less attractive than it is coming to be under 'our modern conditions. 14. Natural Attractiveness of Farm Life: Influence on Character. Says Washington Irving : " In rural occupa- tion there is nothing mean and debasing. It leads a man forth among scenes of natural grandeur and beauty ; it leaves him to the workings of his own mind, operated upon by the purest and most elevating of external influ- ences. Such a man may be simple and rough, but he cannot be vulgar. The man of refinement therefore finds nothing revolting in an intercourse with the lower orders in rural life, as he does when he casually mingles with the lower orders of cities." Farming is one of the freest and most independent of callings. The farmer is more or less detached from those influences of society and politics that bend men against their wishes and beliefs. He is the producer of the first necessities of life ; and a consciousness of this tends to give him a robust character. 111 Better let the lands be 'abandoned'; and stay 'abandoned'; better let the forest grow anew and untouched, where the fox may dig his hole unscared and the traveler lose his way in the wilderness, than that New England thought, New England culture, and New England statesmanship be turned over to a peasant class." BREWER, The Farm and Farmer, the Basis of National Strength. 26 THE PEOPLE OF THE FARM 15. Influence on Physical Welfare. Outdoor activities are refreshing, and act as a tonic to the body. This is especially true of outdoor work in the country. The noise and hurry of the city, and its indoor life, batter down and undermine the nervous system. Cities are learning the need of parks, open-air school buildings, and AN INDUSTRIAL CENTER. Industrial workers labor under countless disadvantages, when compared with farm workers. open-air sanatoriums, to enable people broken down in health to get fresh air, quiet, and sunshine to build them up. Farms have in themselves many of the advantages of parks and sanatoriums for maintaining and restoring health. The superiority of the country in the conditions 1 of wholesome life is fully proven by figures. The New York State Commission of Lunacy states, in its report for iSorae diseases, notably typhoid, are more prevalent in the country than in the city. There would be even fewer cases of typhoid in the city were it not for the contaminated milk shipments of certain farmers. The city boy, too, has generally the advantage of tested water, gymnasiums, swimming pools, dispensaries, hospitals, and other health conveniences. The point is, we must not think of the city-bred boy as necessarily weak and the country-bred boy as necessarily strong and healthy. We are speaking of natural as against artificial advantages to physical welfare of city and country. ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE FARM 27 1908, that more than three fourths of all insane patients in the state hospitals come from the city ; and the Na- tional Census Report for 1910 gives the following table of average yearly death rates for each thousand of population of the age period indicated : UNDER 1 YKAK 1-5 YEARS 5-U YEARS 15-24 YEARS 25-34 YEARS 35-44 Y EARS 45-64 YKARS 65 AND OVER Cities .... 184.7 69.7 4.3 5.9 9.1 12.1 24.3 90.9 Country . . . 117.4 34.4 3.2 5.3 6.8 8.0 15.7 76.8 The wholesome nature of country life and of the farmer's work shows also in the figures that deal with moral health. Seven criminals are produced in the city HARD WORK. Which is more tiresome, shoveling fuel or pitching hay? to one in the country. All reports upon suicide and upon divorce are alike favorable to the rural districts. And the census shows that less than one fourth the paupers come from country occupations. 16. The Growing Attractiveness of the Farm. These con- ditions, just discussed, concerning the farmer's character 28 THE PEOPLE OF THE FARM and health, have existed for a long time with little change. Now let us note a very great change in another side of his life, a change that is making the farm more attractive to bright, intelligent boys and girls than ever before in the world. In the past, farm work has been excessively hard, with a long labor day ; and also it has been largely drudgery. BLACKSMITHING. Farm boys are now taught repair and construction of machinery. That is, the work has been, in a large degree, a kind of work in which brains did not play a big part. That means that the work was necessarily uninteresting. Now the work is still hard even on the most progressive farms; and hours are still long; but more and more the farmer is mixing brains vrith muscle in his work. 1 The sulky plow, the riding cultivator, the manure spreader, the milking 1 The movement for the eight-hour day makes more headway in industrial tlian in agricultural communities. Recent surveys, however, show that certain city laborers work as many hours as farm laborers. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 29 machine, the gasolene engine, these and the many like contrivances on the modern farm not only shorten labor hours and reduce the severity and the more disagreeable features of the work, but also call for more mind, more ingenuity, more skill, than the older tools did. Important as is this matter of labor-saving and mind- developing machinery, it is only a small part of the vast change. There is a whole new world of knowledge open- ing to the twentieth-century farmer. He must " keep up" with these new discoveries in scientific farming, and know how to apply them to his conditions. He must know not only what crops best suit his soil, but also what ones are likely best to suit the market conditions of harvest time. He must know the principles of breeding plants and animals. No education, he finds, is " too good " for his use. More and more he takes on the air of a business man ; and his growing prosperity wins him a new respect in the eyes of the world. PRACTICAL QUKSTIONS 1. According to the Census Bureau, how many inhabitants must a district have in order to be considered a city ? 2. During any period of the last century has the country increased in population as rapidly as the city? 3. What is meant by the phrase "machine age"? 4. How can the machine take the place of a man ? 5. In Pennsyl- vania a century ago was there more woolen cloth made in the large factories or in the homes? 6. What is meant by "The Age of Homespun " ? 7. How did the " Age of Homespun " keep people on the farm? 8. How has invention retarded the growth in population of country districts? 9. What has been the main cause for the in- crease in the production of wheat? 10. What do you understand by the economic side of a farmer's life ? The social side? 11. Is an economic force stronger than a social force ? 12. Does the country satisfy man's social nature? 13. What is migration? 14. Has the son of a farmer a right to leave the farm to enter a profession ? 15. Is it possible for a person who leaves the farm to go elsewhere 80 THE PEOPLE OF THE FARM than the city? 16. State three attractive features of farm life. 17. How does the business of farming compare with that of other occupations ? HOME EXERCISES 1. Report the history of your own near relatives as to their occu- pation and place of living. If any have moved away from the old homestead, seek the reasons for this fact. Perhaps your parents can give all the desired information ; if they cannot, write directly to these relatives about this matter. 2. Estimate the number of men required to do all the work now done by machinery on some farm near you. 3. Count the number of people in your school district. Compare this number with the corresponding number five and ten years ago. SUGGESTIONS 1. Emphasis should be placed on studying the people of the farm directly. Every community is a center of great interest, and many local facts pertaining to farm life should be gathered and recorded in the schoolroom for future reference. To make country life better and more satisfying we must first know the facts. A mere statement of these facts is often sufficient to arouse interest in rural betterment. 2. It is not supposed, when the school assumes the position of leadership, that pupils pry into the private affairs of their neighbors. This is not only unnecessary but undesirable. Pupils, however, can gather a vast fund of valuable information on local conditions without giving offense to any one. REFERENCES Constructive Rural Sociology. Gillette. Rural Economics. Carver. The Challenge of the Country. Fiske. Country Life and the Country School. Carney. Chapters \n Rural Progress. Butterfield. CHAPTER III COUNTRY CHILDREN Now, while the growing boy's education must not be especially prejudiced in favor of any particular calling, there is no good reason why the farmer's son should not be given the benefit of every possible intimate and wholesome relation to the father's work and business. MOKEEVKR. 17. Farm Children as a Farm Crop. It is a common saying that the most valuable crop on the farm is the children. Sometimes this saying is taken in a mistaken THE BEST FARM CROP. All members of one farmer's family. sense. Occasionally a selfish parent thinks of raising children for the profit which he himself can make out of them. 31 32 COUNTRY CHILD HEN It is true that nearly every day of the year, and es- pecially during the summer, children of fit age can help in the lighter farm work. In some kinds of work a boy of ten years can do as much as a man. Undoubtedly farm children have more chance to do useful work, and to learn how to work, than city children have. And no doubt there is some temptation to a selfish, short-sighted farmer to LIGHT WORK FOR CHILDREN. Watching the cows. overwork a child, just as there is temptation to overwork a colt. But it is not with regard to the work they do on the farm that children are called the "most profitable crop." Any child that is properly reared, in city or country, must cost many times more in money than he can possibly repay in labor while a child. To understand this, it is needful only to consider the care that a child must have; the over- sight essential for his play, his schooling, his work; the large part of his childhood spent in school; the cost of his living; the taxes for his school, the money spent for books COUNTRY CHILDREN AND CITY CHILDREN 33 and other pleasures; and the early age at which many children insist on joining the wage-earning class on their own account. When we speak of children as the best farm crop, we are not thinking of their value to their parents in the work they do; we think of their value to the nation as future citizens and workers and men and women. Espe- cially do we think of the better chance for developing a good and useful man or woman out of a country child as compared with the chance for a city child. 18. Country Children and City Children. Professor Gillette of the University of North Dakota recently investigated the height, the weight, and the head circumference of a number of city and country boys and girls with the follow- ing results: COUNTRY SEX Aui NfMBER HKICIIT WKIGIIT HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE Male . 12 19 68.9 8(3.1 lb. 21.34 inches Female . 12 11 57.11 82.2 lb. 21.34 inches Average . 58. 84.14 lb. 21.34 inches CITY SEX AGE NUMBER HEIGHT WEIGHT HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE Male . . 12 20 56.5 80.7 lb. 21.27 inches Female . 12 20 57.77 80.47 lb. 20.97 inches Average . 57.14 80.58 lb. 21.12 inches It will be noticed, so far as these few individuals can show anything, that the country boy excels the city boy in every point considered, and that his sister falls below the city girl in but one point. These results are interesting; COUNTRY CHILDREN but on account of the small number of children studied, they cannot be accepted as fully correct for the average country and city child. They agree, in the main, however, with the results secured by the careful observations of other scientists. Thus, in his Psychology of the Country Soy, Professor Gold states that " while in the sprints the inability of the country boys to get a quick start acts as a COMPARATIVE VALUES The boy is a greater asset than the pile of hay on which he stands. serious handicap, in the longer races they maintain a more regular pace and manifest greater endurance than city boys, even when there is a demand made upon the will to keep up the muscles to a last supreme effort." A very slight investigation will show that most of our presidents, great generals, statesmen, great business men, and famous writers were country-bred. Fiske says in his Challenge of the Country: "Early in the year 1912 some five hundred leading business and professional men of the cities of New York State met at a banquet under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association. Dur- ing the evening it was discovered that nine tenths of COUNTRY CHILDREN AND CITY CHILDREN 35 these influential city leaders had come from country homes. They were born on farms in the open country or in rural villages of 2500 population or less." From such statements it appears that in spite of the drawbacks of our rural life the farm home is the best place for child rearing. The crude materials for awakening the best efforts of a child are there. The open sky, the sing- ing birds, the bursting buds, the babbling brook, are con- TABLET AT UNION STATION, WASHINGTON. stantly making an appeal for a wide outlook on nature. The many-sidedness of farm activities plowing, dairying, harvesting, threshing, and marketing form an ideal combination. The farm boy has opportunity denied to his city cousin to develop quiet resolution, thoughtful- ness, and love of nature. With good reason, over the entrance to the great Union Station at Washington there has been carved the following inscription : THE FARM: BEST HOME OF THE FAMILY: MAIN SOURCE OF NATIONAL WEALTH: FOUNDATION OF CIVILIZED SOCIETY: THE NATURAL PROVIDENCE. 86 COUNTRY CHILDREN 19. Drawbacks in the Farm as a Nursery.. An oak tree growing alone spreads out and forms many thick limbs. The growth that went into the limbs would have been more useful had it gone into the main trunk. It would have then formed a long, tapering body, yielding little waste in lumbering. Forest trees growing together pro- duce this desired form. Like the solitary oak, children brought up on a farm, away from the touch of close neigh- bors, are in danger of developing characteristics, like side branches, that impair their usefulness. Isolation or separation from other people is a weakness of our rural life. The country is too often a mere collection of homes, rather than an association, or a community, of homes. Alone with nature, young people tend to become selfish and do not learn to cooperate. They receive little practical training in service to any outside the home. The little farm on which they were born and reared assumes too great an importance when compared with the rest of the world. The church and the school, agencies that should train for rural service, are frequently poorly adapted for effective work. Farm crops often suffer from a bad environment ami heredity. The climate may be too cold or too hot, too wet or too dry. The soil may be too rich or too poor. Diseases may appear. The seed may have been weak or diseased. All such conditions interfere with the best growth of the farm crops. In the farm home, in like manner, children may be ex- posed to too high a temperature or to impure air. Their food may be too rich or too poor. Eye strains, ear defects, and other general physical weaknesses may go uncorrected. Parents may transmit tendencies to physical and moral weaknesses, thus giving their children poor bodies and minds. Little or no opportunity to develop the sense of ATTENTION TO HEALTH OF COUNTRY CHILDREN 37 ownership may be provided. No pets may be present in the home to stir up a feeling of companionship in the children. In many ways, on account of a weak heredity and a poor environment, the rural home may fail in secur- ing the best conditions for child rearing. Probably more effort is now given to meet such needs in the average city home than in the average country home. 20. There Should Be More Attention to the Health of Country Chil- dren. To prevent dis- ease is to save money to say nothing of more important things. Costs come out of the same income, whether they are due to diseases of plants, of animals, or of children. It is as expensive to have to call in the doctor as the veterinarian. The farmer is obliged to raise more bushels of grain to the acre to keep up the regular income if he has also to pay doctor's bills. In school, in some measure, children are taught about the parts of their bodies, and how the body should be cared for, just as they are taught to care for dumb animals, but much more such education is needed. Animals cannot do their best work when they do not feel well; nor can children. True, country boys may fol- low the plow for an entire day, swallow their meals, bathe infrequently, neglect to clean the teeth, or to change their clothing if wet, and sleep at night in a closed bedroom, and not know of any ill effects for years. This is because nature has been kind to them in giving them strong bodies, and because these evil habits are partly counteracted by FARM PETS. 365435 88 COUNTRY CHILDREN the good side of their outdoor life. Still the results of such physical abuse will show themselves sooner or later. And poor health in child or man means less work and less pleasure, an added expense to the home. 21. Play. Froebel, one of the world's most famous teachers, says, " A man is a whole man only when he plays." Play to the child is the same as sunshine to a stalk of corn. The child may grow without play just as ORGANIZED PLAY. the corn may grow without sunshine, but neither can grow very well. As a boy plays with his dog, he is training him- self in the most practical fashion to work with the animal forces in later life. The doll is a means of teaching the girl to direct the affairs of her future home. And organized play is useful as a preparation for community service and for better cooperation in farm activities. Farmers who do not make provision for neighborhood contests and plays, either at the school or at some other community center, are not doing all that is best for the children. WORK 39 Professor McKeever says that rural play affords: (1) better physical health and increased power to resist disease; (2) enlarged opportunities for the outlet of free activities through the use of the hands and other parts of the body; (3) provisions against evil thoughts and deeds; (4) op- portunities for getting along with one's fellows and for learning to treat them with fairness and justice. HOME WORK. Boy gathering the peas he has planted and tended. 22. Work. Definite tasks must be assigned the older children. And in no other occupation can children of all ages receive such a stimulating uplift from a variety of tasks as may be given on the farm. It is, however, just as harmful for children to work too much as too little. It is as bad to toil at tasks beyond their years as it is to loaf. 40 COUNTRY CHILDREN In an increasing number of districts, school credit is being allowed for home work. A boy who raises a hog, swats a fly, or produces a pint of pure milk to feed a sickly child is performing a patriotic service for his country. He becomes an honorable part of the great army that is doing the world's work. He is contributing something valuable to our common life. Sooner or later teachers will come to recognize such activities in grading their pupils. 23. Books. Unlike most farm crops, a child matures slowly. The long period of infancy, childhood, and youth greatly extends his opportunities for mind growth. And during these years, if he has not formed the habit of loaf- ing at questionable places, and if a fondness for good reading has been awakened in school, he can greatly en- rich his mind from the treasures of literature. Books are very valuable and very cheap. A farmer needs a selected library, not only such books as pertain to agriculture and rural life, but also juvenile books, books of travel, history, fiction, poetry, and science. If he is a lover of good books himself, he most naturally will awaken a desire for good reading in his children. Thus he may multiply the pleasures and profits of farm work, and create a dislike for the low things of life. 24. Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. The rural move- ments, under the names of Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls, seek to develop the spirit of sympathetic fellowship, and to acquaint their members with a first-hand knowledge of nature about them. For the Boy Scouts the motto is " Know the secrets of the open country." Among their first duties are the following : 1. Know by sight and call ten common birds. 2. Know by sight and track ten wild animals. 3. Know by sight five common game fish. THE CREED OF THE COUNTRY BOY 41 4. Know in the fields ten wild flowers. 5. Know the sixteen points of the compass. 6. Know the elementary rules for the prevention of typhoid fever. 7. Plant and cultivate, according to the latest scientific methods, not less than one half acre of some farm or garden crop. 8. Own and care for, according to latest scientific methods, some type of pure-bred domestic animal. 9. Maintain a bank account of not less than -115. 10. Know the elementary rules for the prevention of tuberculosis. BOY SCOUTS AT CAMP. Social " hikes " are taken, and promotions are made from the third to the first class. The duties in the ad- vanced classes become more extended than those named above. 25. The Creed of the Country Boy. "I believe that the country which God made is more beautiful than the city which man made ; that life out-of-doors and in touch with the earth is the natural life of man. I believe that work is work wherever we find it, but that work with nature is COUNTRY CUILDltEN more inspiring than work with the most delicate machin- ery. I believe that the dignity of labor depends not on what you do, but on how you do it; that opportunity comes to the boy on the farm as often as to a boy in tin- city ; that life is larger and freer and happier on the farm than in the town ; that my success depends not upon my location, but upon myself, not upon my dreams, but ROPE SPLICING. Practical work for the country boy. upon what I actually do, not upon luck but upon pluck. I believe in working when you work, and in playing when you play, and in giving and demanding a square deal in every act of life." - EDWARD OSGOOD GROVER. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 1. How can farm children aid their parents? 2. How do country and city children compare ? 3. In a race, why should not the country boy start as quickly as the city boy? 4. What Presi- dents of the United States came from the country ? 5. Name some writers that were country-bred. 6. What side of country life appeals most to you? 7. How may children suffer from the effects of bad environment ? 8. Give an experience with your dog. 9. Can SUGGESTIONS 43 a dog reason? 10. Which position do you like best on the ball team? Why? 11. Do children like to work for their parents at home? 12. Which job on the farm do you like best ? 13. Which least? 14. Do you belong to the Boy Scouts' or Camp Fire Girls' organization ? 15. Do these organizations make better rural citi- zens? 16. Can you accept the " Creed of the Country Boy "? HOME EXERCISES 1. Organize a ball team among the farm boys and send a challenge to a suitable team near by. Work up enthusiasm for clean rural sports during the long summer months. If possible, organize town- ship leagues. Sympathetic cooperation is what is needed. Organize teams for different varieties of contests among the girls also. Advertise all contests widely. See that the older folks come out on a Saturday afternoon. They, too, need recreation. 2. Make a list of the books, periodicals, papers, pictures, and musi- cal instruments you have at home. Read at least one book a month, and tell the story of what you have read to your class. 3. How many dollars did your father lose this last year through avoidable sickness in the family? SUGGESTIONS 1. The bringing-up of the right type of children that are content to stay on the farm, if they can be of greater service there, is as much a problem of agriculture as is soil fertility. The pupils should make a list of all the features of the farm environment that have most helped them to grow physically, morally, and spiritually. As an illustration we present herewith a list of country-life pictures that are exerting an uplifting influence on the moral side. Millet Dupre The Gleaners Escaped Cow Angelus The Hay Makers Feeding Her Birds Milking Time Rosa Bonheur Le Rolle Oxen Plowing By the River A Norman Sire The Shepherdess Weaning Calves The Horse Fair A Humble Servant 44 COUNTRY CHILDREN Ruysdael Constable Landscape with Windmill The Cornfield The Coming Storm Valley Farm 2. Those chapters of physiology that treat of alcohol and of the cigarette habit can be correlated with the ideas set forth in this chapter. The child may be shown that, even if he be viewed only as plants are viewed, all those agencies that retard his growth inter- fere with agricultural prosperity. REFERENCES Farm Boys and Girls. McKeever. Rural Hygiene. Brewer. Chapters in Rural Progress. Butterfield. Constructive Rural Sociology. Gillette. Play and Recreation. Curtis. Country Life and the Country School. Carney. The Challenge of the Country. Fiske. CHAPTER IV THE AFFAIES OF THE FARM The farm is out of doors. It has relations with everything out of doors, with the wild animals as well as the rest. This general relationship has been little appreciated in a conscious way, and the result is the farming business has not yet been closely adapted to its environment. BAILEY. I know of no pursuit in which more real and important service can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture and its breed of useful animals. GEORGE WASHINGTON. 26. A Larger Farm Life. Farming has to do with making a living out of the land; but, still more, it has to do with the farmer's life itself. The smith does not live in his shop, but goes home when the day's work is done. So do the merchant and the miner. But the farmer lives on his land as well as from it. The farm is his place of busi- ness, and also it is his home. Whatever concerns it affects not merely his wealth but also his welfare. Health, school, cooperation, community spirit, and all the agencies that uplift farm life and give it a wider outlook are vital affairs of the farm. 27. Health. Filth, flies, and fever are a combination of vital concern to the farmer. If the filth, which includes refuse of almost any kind likely to be exposed around dwellings, is destroyed or made inoffensive, the flies and the fever need less attention. Without filth, flies will not breed. With filth, health is always endangered. So long as the house fly was regarded merely as an intruder in the 46 46 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM household its presence was only annoying ; but now when we know that it spreads the germs of typhoid, tuberculosis, and cholera among human beings, and of anthrax among cattle, it must be regarded as a menace. Franklin said, "A people's health is a nation's wealth." Any condition that undermines health, whether it be the presence of flies, a lack of cleanliness or of suit- able clothing, or the practice of wrong habits of living, limits hap- piness and impairs suc- cess. Good farming requires health and cheerfulness. It is even more important for the farmer to keep himself and his family well and strong than to protect his crops and stock from pests and diseases. 28. Schools. The rural schools cost, on an average, $12.52 a year per pupil. The money spent in the city for THE TYPHOID CARRIER. The hairs on legs and body of the house- fly carry disease germs. the same purpose is $30.78. His investment for schools is the best the farmer can make. His school taxes bring more good than the same money spent in any other way. In a free government, education should reach all. Children need trained minds whether they are to become lawyers, mechanics, engineers, or farmers. In the country not only such branches as arithmetic, history, and geography should be studied, but agriculture as well. Ninety per cent of COOPERATION AMONG FARMERS 47 the young people in our schools will remain in the com- munity in which they were born and reared, and it is their duty and their right to become acquainted in school with some of the affairs of their mature life. Our government and agricultural colleges are willing to send, for the most part free of charge, attractive and helpful bulletins that will ex- plain in detail every difficult farm operation. Children in the country should learn to profit by the ideas found in these bulletins. Men study agriculture, 1 just as they study law or medicine, and farmers need a special education in their walk of life to be en- tirely successful. 29. Cooperation among Farmers. About half the farmers of the United States belong to cooper- ative societies. These societies operate irrigation plants, insurance companies, telephones, creameries, laundries, cheese factories, grain elevators, farmers' banks, and so CAUGHT ! Mice and rats are common carriers of disease germs. 1 The farm management department of Cornell University gathered data recently relative to the labor income of more than thirteen hundred New York farmers. The University found that the labor income of the farmers who had completed the eighth grade only was 318 per year; of those with a high school training was $622 per year; while the farmers with a college course received 847 per year. The investigation made by the United 48 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM on. Farming is a business, and it must be based on business principles. By collective buying, the price of reapers has been reduced from $ 275 to $ 175; of threshers from $ 300 to $200 ; of wagons from * 150 to $ 90. It has been estimated by Professor Valgren that the Mutual THE COUNTRY SCHOOL. A farm institution. Fire Insurance companies save the farmers of Minnesota annually $750,000. The farmers of Denmark, however, for the last half century have best shown the advantages of working to- gether. In 1864, after a ruinous war, with depleted soil fertility and with scant funds, the Danes started many States Department of Agriculture of the labor income of two hundred seventy- four tenant farmers of Indiana is likewise very favorable to the work of the schools. The Department discovered that the farmers with a common school education made 8742 annually; with a high school training $1268 annually ; while the college trained tenant farmer was having a yearly income of 8 1721. These facts indicate strongly that it pays prospective farmers to prolong their schooling, even when one considers education as a financial investment merely. COMMUNITY SPIRIT 49 cooperative enterprises. At the present time they are the richest farming class in Europe in per capita wealth. Sir Horace Plunkett, a celebrated economist, states that cooperation made this wealth possible. 30. Community Spirit No farmer can realize the fruits of his best efforts without the friendly assistance of all good citizens of the community. If one spends his entire time working for himself, his life soon becomes dull. There are many social duties and social opportunities for country COOPERATION OF FARMERS. Grange meeting at a "rural center." people. Granges, cooperative societies, rural betterment leagues, educational agencies, schools, churches, are fields in which farmers can profitably take an interest. The ideal farmer is one who not only does his own work well, and is neat and prosperous, but who also takes a lively in- terest in all forms of rural activities that promote the gen- eral wealth and welfare of the community. The farmer's happiness as well as his profits arise from being a part of a neighborhood instead of being merely a resident in it. We naturally expect a community consciousness to be more highly developed in the centers of population where 50 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM individuals are thrown closely together in their habits of living. Quite as naturally do we look for collective action in most of the rural districts of Europe, for the reason that the farms there are much smaller in size than the average of America, thus bringing the rural workers together more directly. Our broad acres, without the best means of com- munication and travel, do not lend themselves so readily to community planning. One of the best means of fostering early in life a feeling that should later ripen into a wholesome cooperation is group contests. When a pupil raises a patch of corn in competition with many others, he is receiving, no doubt, a kind of training which can not be excelled by any other method ; but if we carry these individual contests very far, pupils begin to think too much of themselves, or of winning the prize. They become selfish and distrustful of others. When, however, the young people of a farm section form a group or club and then plan and strive to get superior results as a group, each member becoming willing to sacri- fice a little personal advantage for the good of the whole, we are laying the foundation for an efficient community spirit in later life. Just as we play or work together, as young folks, so later on we will select together certain varieties of fruit, kinds of poultry, cattle, or grains, and soon develop a high degree of local pride by producing products of the highest merit. Instead of one farmer alone trying to place his district " on the map " there will be team work, united effort. The leader of this community action, whether the local minister, teacher, or Y. M. C. A. director, will have one ideal; namely, to make the local farm life better for all, both socially and economically. Dealers who are looking for produce in large quantities will then soon learn that in the southern end of a certain county, for example, farmers CLUBS 51 by working together have developed fine herds of one standard breed or excellent apples of an approved variety. The dealers will say " for Holstein cattle we will go here ; for Berkshire hogs we will go there." This is the fruit of a community spirit. It pays. American farmers need to learn this lesson thoroughly. 31. Clubs. In order to develop a better community spirit and to make country life more satisfying, many CLUB MEMBERS WORKING THEIR PROJECTS. farmers' clubs have been organized. In 1914 there were more than 200,000 of them, and their popularity is grow- ing. Sometimes the club membership is made up largely of the older boys and girls, including many who have left school. Some rural leader teacher, superintendent of schools, or county agent takes up club work with the young people and urges them to organize to work on some definite problem, such as potato growing, tomato growing, .VJ THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM or corn growing. A letter may be sent to the state leader in charge of boys' and girls' clubs at the State Agricul- tural College. This organizer will take up the matter at once and discuss the plans to be followed. If the young people decide to have a corn club, instruc- tions for raising corn are sent from the Agricultural College to every member. The instructions are most practical and helpful, and contain the best advice that can be given. By following them, many boys have surpassed their parents in producing greater yields per acre and in reducing the cost of production. Suitable prizes, perhaps a trip to Washington, are offered to the club member obtaining the best results. The basis POULTRY CLUB MEMBER. of award is made ac- cording to such schemes as are given in this book at the end of the corn or potato chapter. The club idea is now an important affair in many rural communities. Each member of a club is impressed with the fact that he has some worthy purpose in life. Circu- lars and bulletins that are sent to him free of charge take on a new meaning. The young farmer knows that thou- sands of other young people are facing the same difficulties that confront him ; and a consciousness of this fact helps him to " make the best better." 32. Festivals. Festivals of different kinds, such as corn (si ivals, are excellent means for quickening the social life. When people get together and ask questions and listen to discussions of local problems, they will be benefited not only socially but in purse as well. The success of festivals FESTIVALS 53 depends largely on the leadership. The country teacher is in a position to be the natural leader, but the pupils under her direction should do the main work. Suppose we decide to have a corn festival during some future evening. The hall or schoolhouse should display corn and all its products. The pupils are expected to render selections or read essays on the different phases of corn growing. The festival means a corn night. Some SCHOOL EXERCISE IN PRUNING. The farmers were invited to attend this demonstration. one who has been successful in corn growing should give the others the benefit of his experiences. The members of the local corn club should learn at least one new thing in addition to having a good time socially. Such festivals should be made very practical and help- ful in every feature from first to last. The stringing and testing of seed corn may be demonstrated. A talk on seed selection and the points of corn judging would be helpful. Anything is in order that will lead to definite results. 54 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM 33. Agricultural Fairs. Over 1200 county fairs are held in the United States yearly. At many of these the State Agricultural Colleges have exhibits. Premiums are offered for the best specimens of fruit, sheep, model dairy barn, vegetables, preserves, beef and dairy products, swine, feed and forage crops, needlework, and for numerous other articles. Unfortunately, however, low-grade shows, AN AGRICULTURAL FAIR. gambling devices, and fakers offset in part the services these fairs render the farmers. Colleges of agriculture use the fair as a means of reach- ing the farmer personally, and for explaining the work of the college. Demonstration work is carried on. Results of investigations in fertilizing, spraying, crop rotation, and feeding are explained. Names and addresses of repre- sentative farmers are secured. Afterward, agricultural information is sent to them, and thus many projects for rural improvement are started. 34. The Government and the Farmer. In order to pro- mote better farming, Congress spends at least $ 20,000,000 a year. The Secretary of Agriculture is a member of the President's cabinet. Every problem that concerns farm work is studied by experts of the Department of Ayricvl- THE GOVERNMENT AND THE FARMER 55 ture. During 1912 there were 13,000 employees in this service, of whom 2,500 were stationed at Washington. Fifteen hundred kinds of new seeds and plants were brought to the attention of farmers by the Department during the year 1914. Tests of the soil are made in all parts of the country in order that grazers, vegetable AN ORCHARD MEETING. 1 growers, and others may know the exact character and needs of their lands. In addition to this work done by the national govern- ment, each state and territory has its own Experiment Station and College of Agriculture. The New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell, for example, has a 1 From left to right : Prof. F. A. Waugh, Massachusetts Agricultural College ; T. L. Kenny, owner of the orchard ; A. C. True, United States Depart- ment of Agriculture ; Prof. G. L. Hills, Vermont Agricultural College ; Prof. L. R. Jones, Wisconsin Agricultural College; Prof. S. A. Beach, Iowa Agricul- tural Collegtf ; Prof. John Craig, Cornell University. 56 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM faculty of over a hundred men, and expends over a half million dollars annually on its work. The enrollment in most of the colleges for farmers has multiplied greatly during the last few years. Recently, in a number of states, experts known as county agents are being located in the different counties to advise interested farmers personally on questions peculiar to their farms. These men are the apostles of scientific FARMERS AND THEIR WIVES. On an excursion to visit the State College of Agriculture. agriculture. In the most vital way, they reach many who are not in the habit of looking beyond their neighborhood for assistance. The help rendered in this manner is of the most practical kind. The county agents are carrying out some of the pur- poses of the Smith-Lever bill which became a national law May 8, 1914. This law provides for instructive and prac- tical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not having the advantages of attendance at an agricultural college. To carry the provisions of the law THE NEED OF SCIENTIFIC FARMING 57 into effect $480,000 are appropriated annually to the sev- eral states from the national treasury. The second year the law is in force an additional sum of $ 600,000 is likewise appropriated, "and for each year thereafter for seven years a sum exceeding by $500,000 the sum appropriated for each preceding year, and for each year thereafter there is permanently appropriated for each 3 r ear the sum of $4,100,000 in addition to the sum of $480,000 hereinbefore provided." These sums are avail- TREE PLANTING DEMONSTRATION. A county agent in the center. able to the several states on the basis of their rural popu- lation compared to the total rural population of the entire country, provided that the state legislature appropriates from its local treasury an amount equal to the sum pro- vided for by the federal law. 35. The Need of Scientific Farming. At the present time there is need of more scientific farming in America. When nearly everybody lived on the land, for each farm to produce sufficient food for itself until the next harvest was about all that was required. With the growth of 58 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM cities, increasing demands were made upon the farm. But fanning in America was on an unscientific basis, ill-pre- pared to meet all the new demand. This was partly due, perhaps, to the ease with which land was acquired. Most of the farm land in the central and western sections of our country was originally sold by the government very cheap, or even given away to settlers. In 1800, the government began to sell quarter-sections (160 acres) at $2 an acre, taking one fourth in cash and giving credit for the rest. This system led to a wild rush to the new lands, and the long lines of would-be buyers before the doors of the government land offices gave rise to the expression "doing a land-office business." In 1820, the government stopped giving credit, but began to sell eighties (80 acres) at $1.25 an acre. Then in 1862, under the Homestead Law, it began to give land, in 160- acre tracts, to any settler who would improve it and live upon it a certain length of time. This generous policy of the nation in regard to its public lands had many good results ; but it had at least one bad result. It encouraged careless and unscientific cultivation. Farming on these easily acquired lands was carried on in a very primitive way. Stock raising was little more than herding on the open range. Even for the tiller of the soil, plowing, sowing, and harvesting made up the whole business. The waste of the soil was tre- mendous, and the soil is our most valuable national re- source. It is partly because of these old, destructive methods of agriculture that the people of the United States are now facing a rapid increase in the cost of farm produce, and that some thinkers fear lest the food supply will not keep pace with our growing population. Science is now laying the foundation for better and less wasteful farming. Chemistry teaches the scientific feed- AGRICULTURAL PUBLICATIONS 59 ing of animals and the food requirements of crops. Physics unfolds the principles of the control of soil water and of the construction of farm machinery. Biology re- veals the proper methods of combating harmful insects, and explains the nature of plants and animals. Economics considers the best plans for buying and marketing, the most efficient farm unit to operate, and the various questions of community efficiency. Scientific farming means systematic and intelligent management along all these lines. 36. Agricultural Publications. Over 9,000,000 copies of farmers' bulletins are distributed annually by the United States Department of Agriculture. Any per- son in our country can be enrolled on applica- tion, and can receive the free monthly list of avail- able Department pub- lications. These pub- lications are sent, for the most part, free of charge, on request. Interesting and in- structive matter is also mailed free by the State Colleges and Experiment Stations. Helpful books relating to farming, country life periodicals, and carefully prepared matter sent to local newspapers exert great influence in rural sections. The state and local associations of stockmen, horticulturists, and grain growers distribute their proceedings widely. The printed page attrac- tive, readable, and reliable, as it has now come to be is awakening a better life in the country, and its influence for good cannot be measured. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BULLETIN. 60 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. How does the house fly affect the farmer's health ? 2. In what way can health be considered as wealth? 3. What is the pur- pose of the rural school? 4. Why do pupils study agriculture? 5. What is meant by cooperation ? 6. Give as many instances of cooperation as you can. 7. Of what value is an agricultural fair? 8. Name three ways in which the government helps the farmer. HOME EXERCISES 1. Visit the local cemetery and note the ages of about fifty people buried there. Average these ages and report. Compare the average with that of your near relatives at the time of death. 2. Make a list of all enterprises in which your parents cooperate with their neighbors, and with home aid estimate the resulting gain. SUGGESTIONS 1. Farmers are missing an excellent opportunity if they do not keep in touch with the work the government is doing for them. It will be well to have a child in eacli family send a postcard either to Washington or to your state agricultural college for a free cir- cular or bulletin that gives full information on some problem of local interest. This circular should become the property of the pupil, and naturally the parents would read parts of it. A course in agriculture, except in colleges, must be brief and deal mostly with a few general principles. Detailed information, such as no school text-book can give, is needed on wheat in Kansas ; potatoes in Maine ; or cotton in Louis- iana. It is the purpose of the " College Extension Service " of every state to give this information in readable and attractive bulletins suitable for recitation work in the schools. This service is free. Teachers should see that these helpful aids are not lacking. REFERENCES Rural Hygiene. Brewer. How to Cooperate. Myrick. Outlines of Practical Sanitation. Bashore. Farm Hoys and Farm Girls. McKeever. Country Life and the Country School. Carney. Country Life. The Annals, March, 1912. The New Earth. Harwood. The State and the Fanner. Bailey. Our Farming. Terry. Better farming, better business, better living. ROOSEVELT. At the head of all the sciences and arts, at the head of civiliza- tion and progress, stands, not militarism, the science that kills, not commerce, the art that accumulates wealth, but Agriculture, the mother of all industry and the maintainer of human life. JAMES A. GAEFIELP. 37. Why do we Farm? We are likely to overlook the reason why more than one half of our people are farming. We see a man rising early in the morning and driving many miles to market, eager to sell his produce there ; we see another man busily at work in the field ; we see large barns and herds of cattle in many country places. What does it all mean ? Why do we farm ? The main business of farming is to build the right kind of a home. Of course, means must be provided for this, and so farm operations must be gainful, but not necessarily as an end in themselves. It is unfortunate for farmers to be so interested in their work as to lose all taste for music, books, art, and the beautiful in nature. An appreciation of these things would greatly enrich their lives, and so help the " main business " of farming. It is true that one half of our people would starve if they were not fed by the farmers, and it is well for the farmer to feel that his work serves mankind as well as himself ; but all this does not change the main issue of farming, that of home building for the farmer and his family. 61 62 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 38. Farming a Primary Industry. According to a recent classification, there are about five hundred occupations followed in the United States. These are grouped under nine different headings : namely, Agriculture, Extraction than 40 per cent of the farms are less than 12} acres in size. The size of the average American farm is 138 acres. DANGERS OF THE TENANT SYSTEM 69 42. Tenants. In the United States 37 farmers out of every hundred are tenants, or renters, of the farms they work. This is an increase of thirteen tenants per hundred farmers since 1810. In some sections of the South the proportion of tenant farmers exceeds ninety per cent, the large majority being negroes. The main causes of the tenant class are : (1) Increase in the price of land ; (2) The lure to the centers of population ; (3) The desire to make safe investments by men of means. So long as free land could be secured from the govern- ment by any one who took the trouble to go west and to establish a claim, the price of land was low and labor was high. When the supply of free land became practically exhausted, ten or twenty years ago, land values began to rise, and it became increasingly difficult for men of meager means to buy farms. 43. Dangers of the Tenant System. John Stuart Mill, a famous English writer of the last century, held that small farms, owned by those who work them, are necessary for individual and national well-being. Farm tenancy in America is not necessarily a bad thing. Most tenants are young farmers for whom tenancy is a stepping stone to ownership. There are nevertheless some undesirable features associated with it. Tenants are apt to take little interest in community affairs. As a rule they keep less There are more than ten times as many people to the square mile in Germany, for instance, as in the United States, or, to be exact, 320 to 31. Intensive cultivation is generally a necessity abroad; but, as yet, in many localities here, it is not yet advisable. Just as there is a point beyond which it is not profitable to add an additional pound of weight to growing steers, just so there is a limit to higher and higher yields of crops. A man may raise forty bushels of wheat to the acre and go in debt ; another may raise twenty bushels to the acre and have a generous income. The cost of production, not the yield per acre, is the important thing. 70 THE HUM NESS OF FAliMING live stock than land-owning farmers do ; and this means that too little manure is produced to maintain a permanent soil fertility. Good schools, good churches, and good roads are best built up and maintained by a settled popu- lation. A tenant who is continually looking for a better farm, and a landlord who is only waiting for a price to sell at a profit, are neither of them likely to contribute anything to the permanent uplift of the community. SMALL FIELDS AND TENANT FARMS. 44. Farm Labor. The average American wages for farm laborers is $16.40 per month, with board and lodg- ing. The hours are long and the employment is irreg- ular. The shorter hours and higher wages of the cities attract men. The scarcity of suitable homes in certain sections make farm labor unattractive to married men with families. Immigrant laborers do not look with favor upon the separation from their countrymen which results from employment in the country. Farm labor, however, has its attractive side. Mill workers, teamsters, miners, and railroad employees are frequently subjected to conditions of employment that endanger the body and undermine the health. Lawyers, FARM LABOR 71 doctors, and other professional people, while rated at hav- ing a better income than farm hands, are under much heavier expense. In addition to his regular wages, a married farm hand is usually allowed the use of a little FARM LABOR. The employer and the "hired man." land for the growing of vegetables, and this materially reduces the cost of supporting his family. Drudgery on the farm, too, is rapidly passing. 1 Much hard work is now performed by machinery. The farm laborer is becoming a machinist. From the preparation of " I emphatically deny the common notion that the farm boy's life is drudg- ery. Much of the work is laborious, and this it shares with all work that is productive ; for the easier the job, the less it is worth doing. But every piece of farm work is also an attempt to solve a problem, and, therefore, it should have its intellectual interest ; and the problems are as many as the hours of the day and as varied as the face of nature. It needs but the informing of the mind and the quickening of the imagination to raise any constructive work above the level of drudgery. It js not mere dull work to follow the plow, I have followed it day after day, if one is conscious of all the myriad forces set at work by the breaking of the furrow ; and there is always a landscape, the free fields, the clean soil, the rain, the promise of crops. Of all men's 72 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING the seed bed to the hauling of the produce to market, along the entire line of activities, invention is lightening the burdens of farm life. Rural engineers are constantly at work on new devices, self-feeders, loaders, shellers, pneumatic stackers, automatic measures, potato diggers, manure spreaders, and numerous contrivances that multiply the grati- fication of the hired ma 1 1 . One factor in the difficulty of finding farm help is altogether good. This is the way in which the best farm laborers are continually working up into tenants and land owners. The re- port of the Country Life Commission, page 39, puts this thought well: "So long as the United States continues to be a true democracy it will have a serious labor problem. As a democracy we honor labor, and the higher the efficiency of labor the greater the honor. The laborer, if he has ambition to be an efficient agent in the development of the country, will be anxious to advance from the lower to the upper form of effort, and from being a laborer himself to become a director BAD FARMING. Wheat sprouting before it is harvested. labors, the farmer's is the most creative. I cannot help wondering why it is that men will seek work in the grease and grime of a uoisy factory, but will recoil at what they call dirty work of the farm. So much are we bound by tradition." L. H. BAILEY. BUSINESS FAILURES 73 of labor. If he has nothing but his hands and his brains, he aims to accumulate a sufficient capital to become a tenant, and eventu- ally to become an owner, of a farm home. A large number of our immigrants share with the native-born citizen this laudable ambition. Therefore, there is a common decrease of efficient farm labor by these upward movements." 45. Business Failures. Agriculture as a business does not lend itself well to large units, that is, to the manage- ment of enormous areas and the investment of a vast capital under the direction of one man. A few men may control the iron or oil trade, or even regulate the price of meat or grain after they have been marketed, but the pro- duction of these necessities is mainly in the hands of men of small capital. A record of the failures of the " bonanza farmers," therefore, may pass without discussion here. Nor, even for the small farmer, can all the reasons for a lack of business success be mentioned. The following ones may be noticed: a. Too much book learning. Some graduates of agricul- tural colleges fail, not because they know too much that is useful, but because they experiment too much with what is useless. Theories are valuable, but there must be a combination of brains, brawn, and sense. b. Too little book learning. Some fairly successful farmers continue in the " calf paths " that were made by their ancestors. They mistrust improvements, and look upon higher education with misgivings. They lack the open mind ; they will not read ; they ignore the uplift that comes through contact with men of wide experience ; they become self-centered, selfish, self-sufficient, and con- sequently can show only decreasing returns for their labor. c. Hostile environment. It costs about twice as much to produce a bushel of corn on a steep hillside as it does on a rich flood plain, a few hundred yards below. 74 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING Farmers on the hill slopes of New England are working at a disadvantage on account of the free trade with the rich, level lands of the West. While the yield per acre is higher in New England than in the western states, yet the cost of producing crops is also higher on account of the fact that large machinery cannot be used on the slopes. Many farms, therefore, have been abandoned for economic reasons, and are now growing forests, for which they are better adapted. d. Personal peculiarities. Under this heading may be mentioned such weaknesses in certain farmers as a tend- ency to laziness, shiftlessness, and alcoholism. Strong drink and laziness have darkened the prospects of many a homestead. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. How many different occupations are there in the country? In your neighborhood ? 2. What is the difference between trade and transportation? Public service and domestic service? 3. In what sense is farming a primary industry? 4. Explain why the secon- dary occupations are gaining over the primary occupations. 5. Is the invention of machinery a benefit to the farmer? 6. What is meant by success in farm life? 7. Is it possible for a farmer to be a failure and yet be making more than he spends? 8. In what way is the farmer affected by the high cost of living? 9. State and discuss three causes that raise prices. 10. What is a tenant? 11. To what is our increase of tenancy due ? 12. Do tenants take as much care of farm properties as owners do? 13. Would you sooner work in a mill or on a farm? 14. Why are some farmers more successful than others ? HOME EXKRCISES 1. Make a study and keep careful records of one farm operation as conducted by your father. Determine the gain or loss per cent in the operation, and, if possible, the reasons therefor. 2. Determine the per cent of tenant farmers of your school district and compare this number with that of ten years ago. SUGGESTIONS 75 3. Ask your father for the size of the home farm. Who has the largest farm in the neighborhood? 4. Keep a record for one week of the prices of farm produce as given in a city paper. SUGGESTIONS 1. It would be interesting to count up all the occupations of the school district. Write the names on the board and the number of people following each. Use the classification of the Census Bureau, given at the beginning of this chapter. Is the number of different occupations increasing? Would it not pay the farmer to do his own carpentering and blacksmithing in order to reduce the number of separate occupations? 2. If any facts are available, it would be instructive to find out whether a farm boy who has left home has, in a given time, actually saved more than a young man that has stayed on the farm. While farmers seldom become millionaires, yet there are not a few opportu- nities for large incomes in almost every rural community. Do the farm patrons of the school study the bodily needs and wants of city people? Every farmer can spend a little time "just browsing" in the city market, studying the whims of buyers. He can then better understand why some sellers get more for their produce than others. A little knowledge of human nature brings better returns than much information on soil analysis. 3. A list of " Farmers' Bulletins " is appended at the end of nearly every chapter. These bulletins, unless otherwise stated, can be se- cured, in most cases, free of charge from the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. A complete list of all bulletins available is not given. It is suggested that whenever pupils need fuller information on certain points they be encouraged to hunt for it, first, at their own state institutions, and then, failing to find it there, they should send to Washington. State publications are not often cited in the refer- ences, for the reason that such publications are not intended primarily for use beyond the state line. Each school should have a complete set of the publications of its own state and of those of Washington, at least a complete set of those publications which treat on subjects of local interest. Ordinarily, bulletins of a technical nature are not well adapted to school purposes, and should not be requested. In a gen- eral way local aids are to be preferred to those more distant. 76 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING RKKKRKNCES ( 'onntry Life. The Annals, March, 1912. Chapters in Rural Progress. Butterfield. The Farmer's Business Handbook. The Fat of the Land. Streeter. Book-keeping for Farmers. Atkinson. Farmers' Bulletins, Washington, D. C. 62. Marketing Farm Produce. 242. An Example of Model Farming. 280. A Profitable Tenant Dairy Farm. 325. Small Farms in the Corn Belt. l;?7. A System of Tenant Farming and its Results. 454. A Successful Xew York Farm. 635. What the Farm Contributes Directly to the Farmer's Living. CHAPTER VI RUKAL CONVENIENCES Ah, why Should life all labor be? TENNYSON. 46. Motor Power. In Chapter II the statement was made that the invention of machinery has enabled the farmer to do more work than formerly, and thus has re- A WINDMILL ON THE FARM. leased some farm labor to other occupations. In Chapter V we noted briefly that machinery has also done away with much of the old drudgery for those who remain on the farm. This second fact deserves more detailed notice. It is important ; for the drudgery element in farm work in the past has driven away many who could have ren- dered better service on the farm than elsewhere. 77 78 RURAL CONVENIENCES A motor is a machine that transforms energy from a form that is useless into a form that is useful. Windmills, a kind of motor, have been used for centuries for pumping water, especially in Holland. For the same purpose hy- draulic rams are widely used. The rams are cheap and easily installed ; and a slight flow of water, if it be steady, is enough to keep them in constant operation. Perhaps the most useful motor for farm work is the gasolene engine. Gasolene engines operate wringers, separators, saws, vacuum cleaners, churns, dynamos, threshers, feed grinders, pumps, silo fillers, milking ma- chines, sewing machines, and many other useful contriv- ances. The engines are easy to operate ; they are safe ; and they are made in different units of power, so as to meet the most diverse needs. They have probabry done more to banish drudgery from farm life than any other machine. Several manufacturing firms are beginning to sell electric equipment for farm work. This form of power has been used in rural Germany for several years. In many places electric power is transmitted over great distances into the country for the farm and household. It is beginning to replace the gasolene engine for many kinds of work. Electricity is clean and safe, and if it can be secured at all, it can be used in any place and at any moment. 47. The telephone lias become a very important aid to the farmer. From 1902 to 1907 the number of rural telephones increased threefold. In 1910, in Iowa and Illinois, there were 190,000 farms, and 174,000 rural telephones, or one for almost every farm. The lot of the farmer's wife is lonely enough at best, and the telephone helps to satisfy her longing for association with her neighbors. Matters of business, social welfare work, and conferences on all affairs of local interest find the telephone a helpful RURAL MAIL SERVICE 79 assistant. It means a great saving of time to call up the village store for needed supplies in order to have them sent out by the next car, or by some neighbor who happens to be in the village. When haying and harvesting are in progress, the notice of a probable change of weather may mean the saving of many dollars. In some places " Cen- tral " reports the weather forecast daily to all the farmers on the line. GETTING THE MORNING MAIL. 48. Rural Mail Service. A very few years ago country folks had no government delivery or collection of mail. To post a letter now and then, or to find out whether one lay waiting at the post office, the farmer himself had to drive to the village perhaps over many miles of wretched roads. Packages of more than four pounds could be sent or received only by freight or express, and express rates were extremely high. Under such conditions the farmer's family sent little mail and received little. Now the par- cel post and the daily rural mail service bring to his door the merchandise of a distant city and the latest news of 80 RURAL CONVENIENCES the world ; and, in turn, carry his butter and new-laid eggs to profitable city customers, all at very cheap rates. In 1911, when rural delivery was new, 41,359 carriers served 19,000,000 country people at a cost to the govern- ment of about two dollars apiece. This cost, it was found, was repaid by the increased postal business. In the first two years after "free" service was extended to the country, the general mail matter in one Maryland county increased 90 per cent. Then, January 1, 1913, the parcel post was started, and the volume of postal business grew enormously. A year later a new parcel post law made the low rates still lower, and raised the weight limit on packages. 1 The next year (1915) the rural mail service was reorganized and greatly extended, so as to reach nearly all the farms except those in exceedingly isolated and inaccessible districts. 49. The trolley and automobile have taken high places among the farmer's conveniences. The trolley may pass his house and stop at his front gate. With little expense, then, he can take his family to the village or city store, or send his freight to the consumer. The number of auto- mobiles that have been bought by farmers in recent years proves that this convenience is being appreciated. Many farmers now consider the automobile a necessity. A few miles on a good road mean very little to the man at the wheel. The farmer can travel for many miles with speed, pleasure, and comfort, to compare his own work with that of his neighbors, or to do his marketing and to carry light produce to town. The automobile truck, also, for general 1 In I'.'ll it became possible to send by mail almost any package under 50 pounds in weight to any point less than 150 miles distant, and to send 20-pound packages to any point in the United States. There is a size limit, however, as well as a weight limit on postal parcels. A SHORT HISTORY OF ROADS 81 delivery purposes, and especially for long hauls, is meeting with high favor among farmers. 50. Good roads are among the foremost conveniences of rural life. Markets, schools, churches, neighbors, are made more accessible by them. They save labor and time and add value to land and produce. In Chapter IV we learned that a community spirit was necessary in order THE AUTOMOBILE ON THE FARM. that individual farmers may receive larger returns for their labor. But this community spirit has little chance to de- velop without good roads. 51. A short history of roads helps us to understand their value. The ancient Romans covered Europe with mag- nificent paved roads, two thousand years ago, in order to move their armies easily from place to place. But after the Roman Empire fell, these noble highways went to ruin ; and for hundreds of years European roads were as bad as America has ever seen. The modern good-roads movement began in England, only a little before the time of the American Revolution. Until that time, even England had 82 RURAL CONVENIENCES only worn-out dirt roads, over which merchandise had to be carried almost wholly by pack animals, and on which all travel was by horseback or in favored districts by a slow coach toiling along four miles an hour behind six horses, with an occasional overturn in one of the many mudholes. Then, a hundred and fifty years ago, England began to build turnpikes between a few important cities. At first a STONE CRUSHER. turnpike was merely a dirt road where the earth was turned in toward the middle, so as to " crown " the road and let the rain water drain off quickly into ditches at the side. In places, gravel or crushed stone was added to improve the surface; and new ditches, when needful, drew the water away from the sides of the road. It was found that if water was not allowed to stand on the road or at its side, the surface would not easily be cut into ruts by ordinary travel. Then, in 1810, John MacAdam, a Scotch engineer, built a few miles of road that made his name famous. He GOOD ROADS AS RURAL CONVENIENCES 83 placed first in the roadbed a layer of stones about three inches through. These were packed firmly. On this layer he placed another layer of stones about one inch in diameter. These were also rolled or packed firmly. Then a third layer, or surface dressing, of finely crushed stones was placed on top, and likewise packed and rolled. Like the other turnpikes, the road was elevated in the middle and made to slope gradually toward the gutters on the sides, receiving in this way a smooth and hard surface and a gentle crown. The " macadam " road still ranks among the best of highways all over the world. Until after 1806 the United States had only dirt roads, from which, at most, the brush, stumps, and rocks had been removed. Even these unimproved roads were few ; and they ran, nearly all of them, east and west joining some Appalachian district with an Atlantic port. The first movement in our country for good roads grew out of the needs for closer union between the eastern Appalachian slope and the Mississippi valley. In 1806 Congress made an appropriation to begin a highway from Cumberland in Maryland to St. Louis ; and for thirty years more the government gave many grants of money to complete and repair this famous " National Road," until its place was more than taken by the growth of railroads. The present good-roads movement in America is still young. It received its first impulse largely from the new needs of the automobile. Much has been accomplished in the past few years, though we are still shamefully behind European lands. Perhaps the best result from the move- ment, so far, is the universal conviction that good roads are vital to the prosperity of any farming district. 52. The further discussion of good roads as rural conveniences will be considered under the heads of economy, construc- tion, and maintenance. 84 RURAL CONVENIENCES a. Economy. Poor roads mean poor economy. The following are the results of an extensive investigation in Europe to determine the average cost of hauling a ton a mile: Per ton per mile On earth roads, in poor condition 39 cents On stone roads, in good condition ..... 8 cents The Department of Agriculture of the United States also made a similar investigation on American roads with the following results : Per ton per mile On earth roads, in poor condition 25 cents On stone roads, in good condition 10 cents The results of both investigations show that poor roads are expensive. b. Construction. In nearly all European countries it lias been the common practice to place the construction and maintenance of roads altogether in the hands of expert road engineers, men who are versed in the technical side of road building. For this reason, European roads are usu- ally in excellent condition. In America, on the other hand, the responsibility for the building and the upkeep of roads is commonly in the hands of men who have never made a special study of the road problem. This is one main reason why our roads are inferior to those abroad. The essential points to be considered in the construc- tion and maintenance of roads are: (1) grade, (2) foun- dation, (3) surface, (4) crown, (5) gutter. By the grade of a road is meant its rise or fall from a horizontal plane. The ideal grade is one which is prac- tically level. In hilly countries a level grade would cost too much ; but much can be done merely by lowering an elevation here, and raising a valley there, along the level of a road. Often to run the road around the base of a GOOD ROADS AS RURAL CONVENIENCES 85 hill will be preferable to the shorter distance but steeper grade across the hill. After the grade has been established, the next thing is to lay the foundation. Turnpikes and " macadam " roads have been explained above. Only a small per cent of American roads, however, are " macadamized." More than 2,000,000 miles of our roads are "dirt roads." That is, they have no foundation except the natural earth. No MODELS ILLUSTRATING ROAD-BUILDING. Cross-section of macadam road and splitlog drag. layers of stone are laid down and rolled, to support the smooth surface. The dirt road will probably be for many years the kind used by most farmers. Accordingly it is highly desirable to make it as good as possible. The dirt road is made by crowning a strip of land from such earth as is found close beside it. If there are gravel pits near by, a little gravel, spread near the middle of the road, improves the surface and helps to preserve the crown. Crushed stone is even better for the surface, but more expensive. Gf-utters, or ditches, to keep the rain 86 RURAL CONVENIENCES water from the road, are even more important than \\ ;th macadam roads. c. Maintenance. An ingenious device to keep dirt roads in good condition is the "split-log drag." This cheap and helpful contrivance was invented, not many years ago, by Mr. D. W. King of Iowa. In its original form the King road drag is simply a heavy log split through the middle, the two pieces being then joined by stout bars of wood about two feet long. This forms a double scraper. EFFECT OF NARROW TIRES. Horses are attached to this drag in such a way as to give it a slanting movement. By drawing it along first one side of the road and then the other, especially just after a rain when the earth is soft, the loose dirt is scraped from the side toward the middle. This fills ruts. At the same time, ridges are smoothed away, and the surface is more and more firmly compacted. This invention is improving thousands of miles of dirt roads. A Massachusetts road official reports an an- nual saving of five sixths of the road tax by its use. Mr. King's idea has been copied in many kinds of iron drags; and these have generally replaced the primitive split log. CONVENIENCES IN THE HOUSE 87 53. Conveniences in the House. Failure to employ modern methods to save labor within the house works a needless hardship upon the farm woman. Household conveniences which used to be found only in the city are now often available in the country. Many a farmer's wife finds her life easier and richer thereby ; and many another, who is wasting her energy and impairing her health by struggling and worrying along as her grandmother did, might find great relief in the use of simple and inexpensive conveniences. EFFECT OF BROAD TIRES. This is the same road as in the previous picture. Note the difference in its condition. a. Running water, hot and cold, both for bathroom and kitchen, saves much drudgery, and means a great deal for the health and comfort and uplift of farm life. Often the house is situated lower than a near-by spring. Under these conditions a few days of labor and a small expjense for pipes will bring the water into the house. If it is not possible to use a hillside spring for this purpose, perhaps a hydraulic ram can be installed beside a passing stream to pump water into the house, as is described above ( 46). And if neither of these simple means is available, then a windmill or gasolene engine will do the work. 88 RURAL CONVENIENCES In this last case, an elevated tank for the storage of the water must be built. The tank may be placed in the attic, the barn, or an outside tower. Water weighs 62.5 pounds per cubic foot, and a large tank in the attic would hardly be safe. A description of the details of construc- tion and operation of such a tank (or of the air-pressure tank that is also used for this purpose) can be obtained readily from dealers in windmills and in farm water sys- tems. The windmill and tank, and especially the air- pressure water system, are somewhat costly to install. But, like all permanent improvements, they add to the selling value of the property; and if the first cost can be afforded, the subsequent running expense is very small. In any case, the farmer who provides a windmill for his cattle has no excuse for not extending its use to his wife. b. Furnace. A furnace in the cellar will heat the en- tire house. In a large house it does the work of many stoves. Evenness of temperature is desirable in all the rooms that are commonly used. Otherwise the entire family will be likely to live in the warmest room, usually the kitchen. This is not sanitary. Steam, hot-air, and hot- water heating systems have each their advocates. For a large building with a good flue, steam is generally preferred. Steam heating requires a good fire constantly. Hot air and hot water as carriers of heat are more economical in small houses than steam. Whatever system is used, it should be accompanied by an adequate system of ventilation. Fresh air within the house is strangely neglected in many country houses. c. The kitchen is the workshop of the home. It may be called the center of farm activities. It should be well planned, having a convenient pantry, ice box, modern range, and a convenient arrangement of necessary articles in constant use, such as pots and pans. CONVENIENCES IN THE HOUSE 89 The kitchen range is perhaps the most important ma- chine on the farm. It is used much of every day; and so to buy a poor one is wasteful. A good steel range will last a lifetime and give satisfaction daily. The range should be plain; trimmings and ornaments are hard to keep clean and are not artistic. Steel wool is an excellent and inexpensive material for cleaning the range and the metal ware used about it. KITCHEN CONVENIENCES. In selecting granite ware, linoleum, rag rugs, ice box, and other necessary articles for the kitchen, there should be harmony in the color scheme. The cost is no more ; and such harmony adds much to the attractiveness of the home. A bright and cheerful kitchen, in which conven- ience, health, and comfort are kept in view, means a great deal in making country life satisfying. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. How does machinery influence drudgery? 2. What is meant by motor power? 3. Name three kinds of work on the farm in which a motor is used. 4. Discuss the use of the gasolene engine. 90 RURAL CONVENIENCES ">. \Vhat farm work might be done by electricity? 6. Discuss the advantage of the rural telephone. 7. Give some facts on the prog- ress made in installing rural telephones. 8. In what way is the rural mail service a convenience ? 9. How may running water be introduced into a rural home? 10. What are some of the advantages of a fur- nace in the cellar? 11. Dis- cuss five conveniences of the rural kitchen. 12. In what way are good roads conven- iences? 13. How do high- ways of all kinds influence national life? 14. Give some facts showing that good roads are economical. 15. Describe the construction of a macadam road. 16. What is the "split-log drag" and how is it used? HANDY FARM IMPLEMENT. This combined sled and wagon is con- venient for moving plows, harrows, wood, and so on. HOME EXERCISES 1. Make a list of all the conveniences of your house and barn. Indicate by a sketch the location of all the buildings with reference to the public highway, and indicate on the same sheet where the buildings might have been located with greater regard to present convenience. 2. Draw an outline map of your township, locating the public roads. By using the circumference of a carriage wheel as a unit of measure, estimate the number of miles of highways in the township. Can you find out whether the farm buildings determine the location of the highways or the highways determine the location of the farm build- ings ? Could the roads be more conveniently located ? 3. Let us suppose that it would cost f 100 to obtain running water in the house. Then if your mother's time is worth ten cents an hour, would the labor saved in carrying water equal the interest on the investment? SUGGESTIONS 1. A trip by the class to some home to study the gasolene engine would be instructive. The name and use of each part should be noted. If this trip cannot be taken, the gasolene engine may be REFERENCES 91 assigned to some member of the class "whose father has one, as a special 'lesson. A drawing of the parts on the blackboard by this pupil should be expected. But no discussion about the engine in its absence is so valuable as an explanation of it while it is before the class. 2. If possible procure a telephone outfit and explain its construc- tion. 3. Make a model of a macadamized road. This can be done on a board placed on the desk. Place some clay on the board for the bed. Upon the clay arrange different sized stones in layers. On top put a dressing of sand. It can readily be explained how the large stones in GRAIN ELEVATORS. A convenience in the Wheat Belt. the bottom prevent the rise of water from below and thus keep the road dry and hard. Sprinkle some water on the completed model. In a short time pull apart a section of it. Note the absence of water between the large stones. 4. Make a model " split-log drag " from the description given. Ex- plain its operation on the model road. REFERENCES Constructive Rural Sociology. Gillette. The Farmstead. Roberts. Cyclopedia of American Agriculture. Bailey. Country Life. The Annals, March, 1912. 92 RURAL CONVENIENCES Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D. C. 126. Practical Suggestions for Farm Buildings. 270. Modern Conveniences for the Farm Home. 338. Macadam Roads. 342. A Model Kitchen. 505. Benefits of Improved Roads. Sewage Disposal for Rural Homes. Wisconsin, No. 34. Reading Courses for Farm and Farm House. Ithaca, N. Y. PART II THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT CHAPTER VII THE SOIL A soil, to be fertile, must above all things be light and pliable, and this condition we seek to bring about by the operation of plowing. VIRGIL. 54. Soil and Life. The ancients used to say, " The earth is the mother of us all." This statement is liter- ally true. The soil sup- plies us with the means of life. In great meas- ure, all living beings are organized soil par- ticles. Plants and ani- mals and human bodies are made up of sub- stances which occur in a simple state in nearly every handful of earth. Man cannot use these simple substances di- rectly as food, but plants can and do ; and man and all the higher animals live on plants or on other animals which thrive on plants. 93 CLOD OF SOIL MAGNIFIED. This soil is said to be not "in good tilth," as the particles are bunched, not loose and granular. 94 TllK SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT Not only does the soil supply the materials out of which we build our bodies, but it also produces the sub- stances with which we clothe our bodies, cotton, linen, silk, and wool. Even such articles of commerce as lumber are gifts of the soil to man. Many articles, too, which are dug out of the earth (not, however, from the "soil," as the farmer uses the term) are useful to us. Iron, coal, paint, building stones, cement are either rocks or their RELATIVE SIZES OF SOIL PARTICLES. From left to right : clay, silt, sand, gravel. products. And rocks, as we shall learn, come in time to form the bulk of the soil. Truly, " the earth is the mother of us all." 55. What Soil Is. The term soil is used frequently in this book. What is soil? It may be defined as the loose surface material that covers the land and in which plants usually grow. Pick up a handful of soil and examine it. It is made up of many different substances, little stones, gravel, sand, and, if allowed to dry, of a fine powder. Bits of partly decayed plants and parts of insects may also be noticed if we use a microscope. If we examine the dust with a magnifying glass, it is seen to be composed of par- VARIATIONS OF SOIL PARTICLES 95 tides of different sizes, and each particle looks much the same, under the glass, as do the larger ones to the naked eye. The spaces separating the minute fragments are, of course, filled by air or water ; and we know that soil con- tains moisture, because so often it is damp. Soil, then, is surface material, made up of waste or fragments of rocks, of organic matter, and of small particles of air and water. 56. The varying de- grees of fineness or coarse- ness of the soil particles are expressed by the names clay, silt, sand, gravel, and stone. a. Clay is formed of very small soil particles. They are so small that it would take at least 5000 of them laid side by side to reach one inch. The largest par- ticles of clay, the red corpuscles of our blood, and the green corpuscles (chlo- rophyll bodies) of plants are all about the same size. If a bit of moist clay is rubbed between the fingers, it is found to lack grit. A clay soil is hard to drain be- cause its very fine grains will not allow the water to pass through. In drying, clay tends to form a hard, compact mass, through which it is difficult for plant roots to pene- trate. If plowed when wet, it becomes puddled, as when a small boy makes marbles out of wet clay. Clay lands are cold, stiff, heavy, and difficult to work, although they hold water well and are unusually rich in plant food. CLAY. The largest particles of clay are about sii f an i nc h ' n diameter. THK SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT b. Silt is a term used to define soil particles next larger than clay. A silt particle is so small that it would re- quire 500 of the largest ones placed side by side to extend one inch. A silt soil is slightly lighter and more porous than a clay soil. Like clay it retains moisture and fer- tility very well, and is, therefore, well adapted for corn and grain, especially during dry seasons. Both clay and silt if properly worked will become granular or open ; that is, many of these tiny par- ticles unite into little masses or granules and thus resemble sand. c. Sand. Soil made up of particles larger than those that form silt is called sand. The United States Bureau of Soils recognizes dif- ferent grades of sand based on the size of tin- particles. Sand parti- cles run from one twenty -fifth to one two- hundredth of an inch in diameter. Soils containing con- siderable sand are called light, because they are easily worked. A cubic foot of dry sand, however, really weighs more than a cubic foot of dry clay. Pure sand is mostly quartz (a mineral closely related to glass), and it contains little food ready for plant use. d. Gravel. Tiny bits of rock between one twelfth and one twenty-fifth of an inch in size form gravel. Gravel differs still more from clay than sand does, and it dries out even faster than sand. e. The term stone in agriculture refers to all rock SAND. Seen under the microscope. WHERE THE ROCK PARTICLES COME FROM 97 masses over one twelfth of an inch in diameter. Very large stones are called rocks. Stones form a surface cover to prevent evaporation from the soil beneath them, and so far they are helpful to farming. A boy sometimes likes to turn over the flat stones in a field to see the insects scamper away from beneath it. They had been drawn to the place by the moisture under the stone. BOTTLE OF SOIL SIFTED. Each pile is in front of the sieve through which it came. 57. Where Do the Rock Particles Come From ? Except for the size of their particles, there is little difference, as far as appearances go, between sand, silt, clay, gravel and stones. It is possible to go to a ledge, and, detaching a large, rocky mass, to crush it with a hammer, first into stones, then into gravel, next into sand, then into silt, and finally into clay. In fact, when rocks are crushed for road building or concrete work, this is what the crusher actually does. (The crusher, of course, makes all the different sizes at one blow.) Now there are natural forces that produce the same 98 THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT result as the hammer or the road crusher. These forces, however, act more silently, and their operation is fre- quently unnoticed. When the earth was young, there was no soil upon it, but only a hard, rocky crust, like that which often appears on hillsides where the soil has been removed. Silently and slowly, through long periods, DISINTEGRATION. A limestone ledge breaking up and forming soil. nature crushed and refined the outer surface of these rocks by means of two different processes : namely, disin- tegration and decomposition. a. Disintegration is a physical process. That is, by it rock particles are pulled apart without their nature being changed. You have perhaps noticed a bottle of water left standing outdoors for a few days during a cold part of the winter. The water froze and broke the bottle. A tre- mendous force must have been exerted in breaking the bottle. When the temperature of water drops from four degrees centigrade to zero, or the freezing point, it WHERE THE ROCK PARTICLES COME FROM 99 expands ; and as it expands it exerts enormous power in order to find room for itself. Go to a quarry and notice the numberless cracks, joints, and fissures in the rocks. These openings were formed mainly by freezing water during the winter. Many rock masses are rent asunder by this power. Usually, at the foot of a rocky ledge we How ROOTS HOLD THE SOIL. The soil has been removed from these roots to show how they penetrate and prevent its washing away. may see large masses of fragments which are the results of this kind of disintegration. In our science studies we have learned, no doubt, about many other physical forces that break up the solid rocks. We know that glaciers have acted as gigantic plows in breaking loose and carrying away and crushing up enor- mous quantities of rocks ; and we know, too, that erosion is still working, more gently but unceasingly, to the same end. 100 THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT b. Decomposition is a chemical process ; its work is done by changing the composition of the particles. Rocks rugt^ as iron does. That is, their surface particles com- bine with oxygen from the air. Then the powdery rust particles are easily removed. Rocks are also acted upon by certain acids which the decay of organic matter forms in the soil. In this way parts of the rocks are dissolved ; and then they are carried away by running water. De- composition and disintegration fre- quently work together, in this way, on the same rock, each aiding the other in forming soil. 58. Humus. Humus is partly de- cayed vegetable and animal matter in the soil. It is found in a pure state around rotten stumps. The greater part of humus comes from plants that have decayed in the presence of mois- ture and of the oxygen in the air. Humus is a very important part of the soil. It has the following uses : (1) It makes the soil lighter and more porous, thus improving its con- dition. (2) It helps the soil to hold heat and moisture. SOIL AUGER. Used for examining soils at different depths. (3) It supplies food for growing plants. (4) It promotes the growth of useful bacteria. Humus is obtained from roots, stubbles, and manures, which are plowed under and left to decay in the soil. Usually it makes the surface soil darker than the subsoil, or what lies below the reach of the plow. In fact the color of the soil is often taken as an indication of the amount of humus present. SOIL AIR 101 59. The Kinds of Productive Soil. For farming we do not want the soil to contain much stone or gravel, nor do we want pure sand or pure clay. We want a mixture of sand, silt and clay, with some humus. Such a soil is called loamy. All productive soils are usually loamy. Loam is a soil that is intermediate between sand and clay. It is not so open and porous as sand, or so stiff and tenacious as clay. That is, it is a mixture of sand, \ STUDYING SOILS. Students using the soil auger to get samples of soils. silt, and clay, together with some humus and of course with air and moisture. The major portion is silt. A sandy loam contains more sand than clay ; a clay loam, more clay than sand. For general farm purposes a medium or average loam is preferred, especially if it contains a large amount of humus. 60. Soil Air. The spaces between soil particles are occupied either by air or water. Both are necessary for plant roots. If we completely submerge ,the roots of a potted plant in a pail of water, the plant soon turns yel- 102 THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT low and dies. That is because the roots can no longer get air. Low areas in fields that are flooded during the summer show the same result. Trees along the sidewalk often die because the pavement shuts off the air from the roots. Certain trees, like willows, thrive beside streams, because their roots can use some of the air in the running water. Soil in a good state of cultivation has nearly half its volume filled with air and water. Mixed with this " soil air" there is usually more carbon dioxide than is found in the air above the surface. This larger amount of car- bon dioxide comes from the decay of vegetable matter in the soil. 61. Water in the Soil. Soil is not productive unless it con- tains water. All other needful ingredients may be pres- ent in proper quantities, and yet the soil will give small yields if moisture is insufficient. There is an old saying that soil, like a chain, is as weak as its weakest link, and that the moisture is often the weakest link in soil fertility. Plants use an enormous quantity of water in their growing season. An average crop of corn needs 8 inches of rainfall to mature it, allowing nothing for evaporation or percolation. It has been estimated that an acre of cabbage draws from the soil, and throws off into the air, 500,000 gallons of water in one summer, and that an oak tree with 700,000 leaves transpires in this way about 180 gallons of water daily. Plants must have this vast amount of water for a number of reasons. For in- stance, it is the water within them which transports the food material from the soil to their leaves. In order that a plant may get out of the soil something like an ounce of earthy matter it must absorb nearly a barrel of water for this purpose alone. Plant substance, too, like the human body, is largely CAPILLARY WATER 103 water. Nine tenths of the weight of some common plants is water. In a very dry season, or in a dry place, too much of this essential water evaporates from the body of a plant, and the plant wilts. This is because the water was needed to fill out its body, and to give it substance and stiffness. Water exists in the soil both as free water and as film water. If a tin can is filled with pebbles and water, and if then a small hole is made in the bottom of the can, the free water will run out, and leave the film water coating the pebbles. So while the free wa- ter can be drained off the land, the film water cannot be. 62. Capillary Water. Film water is often called capillary water. The word "capillary" means hair-like, and it refers to the hair-like, irregu- lar spaces between the small soil particles. It is in these spaces that film water, or capillary water, is found. By placing the corner of a blotter in a little water, one can see how capillary water behaves. The water rises through the blotter rapidly at first, and then more slowly. The rise is due to the attraction which the paper fibers have for the water films. This is known as film attraction, or capillary attraction. In the soil, capillary attraction tends to transfer water from its moist parts to its dry parts. This transfer may be in any direction, up, down, or sidewise. The amount of capillary water which a soil can hold CAPILLARY ATTRACTION. The height of the water in the tubes varies in- versely with the size of the bore. 104 THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT depends on the extent of surface of the soil particles. A cubic foot of coarse sand will hold one third its bulk of water. Only a part of this water, however, is capil- lary water, that is, water which clings to the surface of the grains. We have learned in arithmetic that surfaces in- crease as the squares of their like dimensions while solids increase as the cubes of their like dimensions. A grain of sand has a greater surface in proportion to its size than a pebble has. Therefore a cubic foot of sand will hold more capillary water than a cubic foot of pebbles. 63. Preventing Loss of Capillary Water. Farmers give a great deal of attention to preventing the needless escape of capillary water from the soil, since nearly all the water absorbed by plants is of this sort. When the sun shines bright again after a heavy rain, the surface of the soil soon becomes hard and compact, forming a crust. Pick up a small block of such crust and look for air spaces in it. They are exceedingly small. In other words, the soil par- ticles are fine and close together. Such a condition (ac- cording to the statements in the last paragraph above) hastens the movement of soil water to the surface, from which it is evaporated and lost to the crop. The way to prevent this rapid loss is to break up the crust into loose particles with the hoe, harrow, or cultivator. By the use of these tools a dry mulch is formed at the surface of the soil, and the widely separated particles of this mulch draw up the capillary water from below very slowly. Of course, some moisture continues to evaporate; but, by renewing the mulch every few days, the loss can be kept very small. Top dressings of straw or manure, and cover crops like rye and clover, are also effective mulches. Moreover, when plowed under and turned into humus, such substances enable the soil to hold more capillary water. DRAINAGE 105 64. Free water shuts out the air from the soil. Bacteria must have air ; and so free water hinders the growth of soil bacteria. More heat is necessary to warm a quantity of water than to warm the same bulk of earth; and so free water makes the soil cold. Frequent rains in spring some- times flood fertile parts of a farm and delay seeding enough to shorten the growing season seriously or even fatally to the year's crop. In these three ways, then, free water on the soil is harm- ful to farming. It is capillary water upon which nearly all farm plants depend. But the supply of capillary water is kept up from the free water. A chief problem for many farmers, therefore, is to keep up the proper supply of capillary water by securing enough free water at all times without having too much of it at any one time. If the water from the clouds would fall in every place at the desirable time in quantities just sufficient to supply the capillary water needed by the crops, there would be no free-water problem. But rains are not always dependable; and some land needs more water than other land close by that gets the same rainfall. So the farmer must often drain lands which are too wet, or irrigate lands which are too dry. 65. Drainage. There are nearly 75,000,000 acres in the United States which are unproductive because they are too wet and marshy. " Bottom lands " and swamp lands are common in almost every state. In many districts, entire cultivated fields, or parts of fields, are drowned during parts of the year. Some of this wet land cannot be drained, because there is no lower place near it to which the water can be carried, but much of it can be drained. Drainage carries away the useless or harmful water. It lowers the " water table," or the level at which free water stands in the ground. Thus it opens to cultivation many 106 THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT districts that could not otherwise be farmed at all; and on old farm lands it corrects the three evils named above due to too much free water. That is, it admits air and bac- teria to more soil, and so gives the plant roots more soil to feed in. It makes it easier for the sun to warm the soil. It lengthens the growing time upon certain lands. Artificial drainage is not needed in an open, porous soil, such as we find in sandy or gravelly regions. It is the hard, compact, clayey soils which hinder the escape of the surplus water and which need to be drained by the farmer. There are two methods of effecting drainage, the open method and the closed method. 66. Open drainage means the use of open ditches or sur- face drains as water carriers. These ditches are expected only to remove the surplus water in times of flooding. Their size and cost depend entirely on local conditions. The greater the territory to be drained, the greater must be the capacity of the ditches. In the Central West many miles of these surface drains, extending through many farms, have been constructed by farmers working together. Side or lateral drains run into the mains. The main ditch may be perhaps eight feet deep and twenty feet wide. Large dredging machines are used in digging these large ditches. The first cost of open ditches is less than that of closed drains ; but they take up a good deal of the farm area, cut up the farm inconveniently, and cost much labor and trouble to maintain. 67. Closed Drainage. The second method of effecting drainage is by closed drains underground. This method has certain advantages over the former. No valuable sur- face land is used ; the farm is not disfigured and cut up ; and if the drains are properly made, they last a life time. The most simple kind of closed drain is made by plow- CLOSED DRAINAGE 107 ing and shoveling out a deep gutter, as for a surface ditch, and then partly filling it with large stones, which are afterward covered with earth and soil. The water from the soil at the sides drains into this stony space readily, and escapes at the bottom or along the slope. Where stone is at hand, this kind of drain costs only a little more than the open drain. In time, however, fine particles of earth and soil will work down between the DITCHING MACHINE. This saves time, labor, and expense. stones and interfere with the further passage of water. The stone-filled drain is not so lasting as some other kinds of closed drains. Hollow tiling makes a better filling for the drain than stone, and it is now used extensively. These tiles, made of concrete, are made in sections only two feet or three feet long, and with different diameters. A large main ditch may call for a twelve-inch tiling, if much water is to be carried ; but the lateral drains will use smaller tiling. 108 THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT 68. Number and Grade of Drains. In heavy clay soils more drains are needed than in soils where there is an admixture of sand, because in the latter natural drain- age is better. In clay bottom it is a good plan to place the "side drains about sixty feet apart, while in lighter soil one hundred feet or more is the proper distance. The grade or fall of the main ditch should be at least an inch to eighty feet, and the fall of the side drains should be an inch to twenty feet. 69. Does Drainage Pay ? The drainage of water-soaked lands yields a large income on the investment. Pro- fessor Waid describes some experiments made by the Massachusetts Experiment Station. Ordinary land was used for the test. Before drainage it had pro- duced a rotation of corn, potatoes, rye, and clo- ver. The same rotation was followed for four years after drainage. The second four years gave an increased yield of twenty-five per cent, on the average, over the average yield of the four years before drainage. Professor Waid shows that this increase, at market prices, amounted to a profit of forty-one per cent on the cost of drainage. 70. Irrigation is used, as drainage is, to secure the proper amount of soil water; but it is used under conditions just the opposite to those that make drainage profitable. Irri- PART OF AN IRRIGATION DAM. IRRIGATION 109 gation is the process of supplying dry lands with water sufficient to meet the needs of the growing plants. Irrigation is practiced in certain sections of the West on a large scale. Immense quantities of water are conveyed directly to the farmer by ditches from distant sources, lakes, rivers, or artesian wells, having suitable elevation. Occasionally it is necessary first to pump the water into large reservoirs to obtain a suitable supply and elevation. Millions of dollars have been spent by the government and by private individuals in installing irrigation plants ; and thousands of acres which would otherwise be unproductive are in this manner made to produce luxurious crops. Water gates regulate the flow of water from the reser- voir into the main ditch, which carries it toward the plains below. At proper distances, lateral ditches branch off on either hand, and from these again new laterals, until the land is intersected by a network of canals. Each ditch, large or small, has its water gate, and some ditch reaches each farm in the district. At a given farm, the water is admitted from the public ditch to the farmer's private ditch when needed ; and from this ditch it is conducted over the land at will by shallow furrows to be taken into the soil. A similar system of irrigation is employed, on a much smaller scale, in many ordinary farming districts by the truck farmer. Truck plants are sensitive to drought, and if the trucker must depend on the uncertain rainfall, his profits will often disappear. Irrigation enables him to do away with this uncertainty. In place of this ditch-and-furrow irrigation, some truckers use an overhead system which supplies the water in imitation of natural rain. Perforated pipes, an inch or two in diameter, are erected on supports, high enough to allow cultivation of the soil beneath them, and they are so arranged over the field that by operating a lever one or 110 THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT more series of these pipes will sprinkle water over parts of the garden patches. Except on cloudy days the sprin- kling is done during the morning or evening. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1 . In what sense is the earth a mother ? 2. Name all the differ- ent articles obtained from the earth. 3. Can you think of anything more important than soil ? 4. Define soil. 5. Of what substances is soil composed? 6. What is soil texture? 7. Explain the terms clay, silt, sand, and gravel. 8. How is soil formed ? 9. Distin- guish between disintegration and decomposition. 10. Of what value is humus? 11. How would you show the need of soil air? 12. How may a needed sub- stance in the soil be the weakest link in soil fertility? 13. Explain the difference between film water and free water. 14. How do farm- ers prevent the loss of cap- illary water? 15. How does free water injure crops? 16. Explain the purpose of drainage. 17. How does irri- gation differ from drainage? HOME EXERCISES 1. Make a sketch of your farm, or of a farm you know, marking off the fields. Look carefully for differences in the soil texture of the differ- ent fields. If you notice any differences, indicate them on the sketch. 2. Take a sample of the darkest soil you can find on the farm and a sample of the lightest colored. Examine them carefully and note the differences. From what parts of the farm were these samples taken? 3. What is the average thickness of the surface soil on your farm? 4. Does any part of your farm need drainage or irrigation? PUMPING WATER TO IRRIGATE FARM LANDS. REFERENCES 111 SUGGESTIONS 1. The study of the nature of soils can be made most interesting and profitable, if the pupils are taken on a soil excursion. A spade or soil auger should be taken along. Note which is the lighter in color, the surface soil or the subsoil. Note, too, which contains the greater amount of humus, and how far down the roots of different plants extend. 2. To show the action of capillary water, fill three lamp chimneys, one with fine sand, another with clay, and the third with gravel. Press down the soil somewhat with a stick. Tie cheesecloth over the top of each chimney, and invert them in a shallow dish of water. Note how rapidly the water rises in each. Explain the reason for this difference. 3. To show that soil contains air, throw a small handful into a glass of water and watch the air bubbles rise. To measure the exact amount of the soil air, fill a quart jar with the soil to be measured. From another jar add water slowly until no more will be absorbed. The water takes the place of the soil air. Find the per cent of soil air. 4. To show that soil water contains plant food, take a glassful of clear water from a ditch or pond and evaporate it for several days on a fairly warm part of the stove. Do you notice a deposit on the side of the glass ? What is it ? REFERENCES Fertility of the Soil. Roberts. Soils. Burkett. Soils and Crops of the Farm. Morrow and Hunt. The Fertility in Illinois Soils. Bulletin No. 123. Soils. Minnesota Bulletin No. 41. Humus in Its Relation to Soil Fertility. Year Book, 1895. The Storage and Use of Soil Moisture. Nebraska Bulletin No. 140. Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D. C. 245. Renovation of Worn-out Soils. 524. Tile Drainage on the Farm. CHAPTER VIII PLANT FOOD It is not the land itself that constitutes the farmer's wealth, but ii is the constituents of the soil which serve for the nutrition of plants. LlEBIO. 71. The Soil and the Plant. In the last chapter we studied a few points about the soil, and learned among other things that the soil is the natural home of plants. We will now inquire more especially what the plant finds in the soil to feed upon. Plants modify a part of their body into what we call roots, to take hold upon the soil and to secure certain kinds of nourishment from it. The roots of plants must extend far enough into the soil to enable their thread-like outgrowths, called root- hairs, to reach the desired nourish- ROOT HAIRS ON WHEAT ROOTS. Through the walls of these tiny hairs plant food passes to the root proper. ment ; and the soil should not be so hard as to prevent them from penetrating into it for the required distance. Nearly all the common farm plants feed from the " sur- face soil." This is the part we plow and pulverize. 112 THE SOIL AND THE PLANT 113 When the soil can be easily pulverized, and contains plenty of organic matter, it is said to be in good tilth. This condition is favorable for root growth. It enables the roots to extend themselves more readily between and around the loose particles, and it makes easy the SOIL IN GOOD TILTH. work of the delicate root hairs through which the plant absorbs its food. Plants require not only that the soil be in good tilth, but also that it contain such plant foods as they need and that it have these foods in such a state as to be usable. Soil water holds some carbon dioxide (a gas), which comes from the air, and various mineral substances in solution as water in a cup may hold salt or sugar in solution. Plants absorb soil water through their roots. Most of it they give off again through their leaves but first they take from it such of the minerals as they can use for food. A fertile soil must have a sufficient supply of soil water and the necessary mineral substances for this water to take up to feed plants. We will now see what these plant foods are. 114 PLANT FOOD 72. Plant Foods. About eighty distinct elements l are known to the chemist. Thirteen of these are used by plants. The following table names these thirteen and gives some facts about them. Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Calcium Chlorine Iron 'Magnesium Silicon Sodium Sulphur Nitrogen Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen These four elements are supplied by the soil, but soil is likely to be deficient in one or more of them, and then the farmer must supply the need. These six elements also are supplied by the soil. None of these elements need be sup- 2>lied by farmers. These four elements are supplied by the air and the water. They are always pres- ent if the soil is not lacking in water. A combination of carbon and oxygen forms the gas called carbon dioxide ; and a com- bination of hydrogen and oxygen forms water. The farmer, then, needs only to attend to the supply of soil water and of the four elements in the first group above. The supply of soil water has been discussed, briefly, and the matter will receive more attention later. The supply of calcium, the main substance in lime, and one of the four important elements, will be treated in the next chapter. The present chapter will now deal with the other three elements, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These are sometimes called the three great agricultural elements. 1 An element is a substance which cannot be resolved into different kinds of substances. Air was once called an element, but it is no longer called so, because chemists have found how to separate it into different gases. Each of these gases, however, like oxygen or nitrogen, is an element. HOW NITROGEN ENTERS THE SOIL 115 73. Nitrogen is a gas, slightly lighter than air. It lacks color, taste, and odor. It does not combine easily with other substances, and its compounds break up very readily. It makes up four fifths of the air, and it is probably the most important food element for both plants and animals. Neither plants nor animals, however, can make use of it in its free state, as it is found in the air. They can take it only from certain compounds, and the compounds of CURLY KALE. The heavy crop shows abundance of plant food in the soil. nitrogen which are usable by plants are not common. Much money and effort are expended to get these com- pounds into the soil. 74. Nitrogen enters the soil to become available for plants in four ways: (1) through the use of barnyard manure; (2) through the decay of vegetable matter in the soil ; (3) through commercial fertilizers placed in the soil; and (4) through the use of legumes, such as clover and peas, with certain bacteria on their roots. a. Ammonia gas can often be smelled in fresh manure 116 PLANT FOOD piles. This gas contains about eighty per cent nitrogen. The soil absorbs ammonia to a marked degree and -changes it to available compounds of nitrogen. Even ammonia itself is slightly available for the uses of plants, but not NODULES ON BEAN ROOTS. Where the nitrogen-gathering bacteria grow. to the extent of other nitrogen compounds, which are called "nitrates." b. Ammonia is also set free for plant growth when the decay of vegetable matter forms humus. In a general way it may be said that the amount of nitrogen in the soil is in proportion to the humus it contains. PHOSPHORUS 117 c. Nitrate of soda, or Chile saltpeter, contains about fifteen per cent nitrogen ; and dried blood, tankage, and bone meal carry from three to fifteen per cent nitrogen. These last three fertilizers are products of the slaughter- house. In all these commercial compounds, nitrogen costs three to four times as much as an equal weight of phosphoric acid or potash in their commercial compounds. d. The best way to get nitrogen into the soil is to grow clover or alfalfa or other leguminous plants in a rotation upon it. The ancient Chinese said, " Beans are good for the ground " ; but they did not know why it was so. We know now that plants of the clover family assist the growth of certain bacteria in the soil about their roots, and that these bacteria "fix" free nitrogen from the air into compounds suitable for plants to use. Nearly all crops leave the soil poorer ; but clover crops usually leave it richer by the addition of this costly and essential food for other crops. 75. In the world of life, nitrogen is the great builder. All protoplasm, the primary substance out of which all organisms build their bodies, contains this element. Work may go on for a time, or heat may be produced, without nitrogen ; but no plant or animal structure can be built up without its aid. It does not build alone, but its presence is always required for building. A little nitrate of soda, scattered on the sod beneath a languish- ing tree, will commonly tend to stimulate its growth and tint its foliage with a healthy green color. 76. Phosphorus forms the principal element of phosphoric acid, a compound of phosphorus and oxygen, one pound of phosphorus forming nearly three and one third pounds of phosphoric acid. Pure phosphorus is a straw-colored solid, having the consistency of beeswax. The whitish smoke which appears when a phosphorus match is first 118 PLANT FOOD lighted is phosphoric acid. As a plant food phosphoric acid is obtained from manure, from phosphate rock, from slag and manure, and from bones and other waste ma- terials of meat-packing houses. Phosphate rock is some- times treated chemically to reduce it to phosphoric acid before it is used on the land ; but sometimes it is merely crushed and then applied directly to the soil. In this second case it is converted into plant food very slowly. Animals separate their food roughly into bones and manure. Bones are rich and manure poor in phosphoric acid. But manure contains potash while bones do not. Hence when we return bones and manure to the soil, we give back to it in a measure what the animals remove from it. Phosphoric acid aids in the transfer of protein (see Chapter XXVI) in the plant, and is especially necessary for the formation of seeds. 77. Pure potassium is a silvery white metal, tinted with a pale blue color. It ignites when thrown on water, burning with a violet flame. Like phosphorus, it is a deadly poison in its pure state, but it is seldom or never found in that state in nature. With oxygen it forms a compound called potash, the form in which we know it best. One pound of potassium forms one and one fourth pounds of potash. Most of our potash comes from Germany. The crude rock is there mined under such names as kainit, camallit, sylvinit, hartsalz, and steinsalz. These rocks run about twelve per cent potash. Hardwood ashes contain from two to twelve per cent potash, ordinarily averaging about six per cent. The function of this plant food is twofold: it is needed in the transfer of carbohydrates such as sugars, and for the growth of seeds. AMOUNT OF PLANT FOOD IN THE SOIL 119 78. Amount of Plant Food in the Soil. An acre of average productive soil to the depth of 6|^ inches, rep- resenting the amount usually turned over in plowing, weighs about 2,000,000 pounds and will contain nearly 8000 pounds of nitrogen, 2000 pounds of phosphorus, and 35,000 pounds of potassium. This, however, is a rough estimate only. The nitrogen content may vary from 1000 to 35,000 pounds ; the phosphorus from 160 to 15,000 pounds ; and the potassium from 3000 to 60,000 pounds. In some soils there is scarcely any lime at all; in others the lime runs as high as 20 per* cent. While there are enor- mous quantities of po- tential plant food in an average soil, yet only a' small fraction of it is liberated as available plant food during -an av- erage season of average farming. That is, two per cent of the nitrogen (8000 x .02 = 160 pounds of nitrogen) ; one per cent of the phosphorus (2000 x .01 = 20 pounds of phosphorus) ; and ^ of one per cent of potassium (35,000 x .0025 = 87.5 pounds potassium) is estimated to be liberated in one season. In other words the surface soil to the depth of 6| inches should have resources enough to supply the nitrogen for 50 years, the phosphorus for 100 years, and the potassium for 400 years, even were we to ignore all additional plant food from whatever source. SWEET CLOVER ON SHALLOW LIMESTONE SOIL.- 120 PLANT FOOD Let us examine two common crops as corn and clover hay and note to what extent they withdraw fertility from the soil. A 50-bushel crop of corn removes about 74 pounds of nitrogen, 12 pounds of phosphorus, and 35 pounds of potassium. A ton of clover hay removes about 40 pounds of nitrogen, 5 pounds of phosphorus, and 30 pounds of potassium. By a simple calculation we can determine how many years we could expect these yields if we knew our soil resources. But, unfortunately, the question is not so simple. A soil may be non-productive and yet be very fertile so far as these chemical elements go. That is, there may be an abundance of these elements present, but other substances, acids, alkalies, vegetable poisons, or an excess of free water perhaps, may by their harmful activity ren- der the soil non-productive. The Germans have a proverb which says, " Kalk macht die Vater reich, aber die Sohne arm." (Lime makes the fathers rich, but the sons poor.) This means in a general way that lime liberates plant food and tends to exhaust soil fertility. That is, lime is an active substance, as are phosphoric acid and potash. The amount of potential plant food in the soil is not so important as the process at work there in forming and accumulating available plant food. 79. Available Plant Food. Available plant foods are such substances as can be utilized immediately through natural processes. The foregoing soil analyses tell us the total quantity of plant food in the soil. This knowledge has a bearing upon the permanency of agriculture, but it has little meaning so far as this year's or next year's crop is concerned. The practical question concerns the avail- able supply. How much of what is in the soil is the plant able to get ? This problem is taken up in the next chapter. SUGGESTIONS 121 PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. What is the relation of the soil to plants? 2. How does pul- verizing the soil aid the growth of plants? 3. Name the elements needed by plants. 4. What are the so-called three great agri- cultural elements? 5. Give two characteristics of nitrogen; of phosphorus ; of potassium. 6. How do plants obtain their nitrogen ? 7. What is the function of nitrogen? Of phosphorus? Of potassium? 8. Distinguish between plant food and available plant food. HOME EXERCISES 1. Dig up carefully several different farm plants ; then measure and draw their roots. Are there any farm plants which send their roots into the subsoil ? In case of corn, how near to the surface do the roots extend ? Can you see whether roots move to or from the more moist parts of the soil ? 2. Is it possible to overfeed a plant? Try it in the garden by add- ing a large quantity of fertilizer or compost to a plant. Take notes from week to week on the behavior of the plant. 3. Ask the fertilizer man for a small quantity of nitrate of soda, acid phosphate, and muriate of potash. He can obtain these plant foods from dealers at a trifling cost. Add a little of each of these substances to different plants on your plot, and note and describe the results. Write to the county agent for details in working out this exercise. SUGGESTIONS 1. It would make the subject very real to have in the schoolroom a small sample of pure phosphorus and potassium ; a half ounce of each would answer. Supplies of this nature are cheap, and can be bought at any of the supply houses listed in the appendix. The burning of a bit of potassium on water is an especially striking experiment. Phosphorus must be handled with great care. 2. To show that the air contains about four fifths nitrogen, burn up the oxygen contained in the air in an ordinary wide-mouthed bottle. Proceed as follows : Take a splint of wood about six inches long. Light this at one end and insert the lighted end into an inverted bottle which is then immersed in water. Measure the quantity of water that arose in the bottle to take the place of the oxygen consumed. What is left in the bottle is mostly nitrogen. What per cent is it? 122 PLANT FOOD 3. Pupils usually know much more about the parts of plants above the ground than they do about roots, the main feeding organs of plants. The reason for this lies in the fact that roots are hidden from view. The teacher should demonstrate before the class the complete root systems of common farm plants. REFERENCES Fertilizers and Crops. Van Slyke. Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture. Hopkins. Fertilizers. Voorhees. Chemistry of Plant and A nimal Life. Snyder. Plant Culture. Goff. Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D.C. 186. Elementary Exercises in Agriculture. 237. Lime and Clover. 245. Renovation of Worn-out Soils. 257. Soil Fertility. 327. Conservation of Natural Resources. CHAPTER IX FEETILIZEKS It cannot be denied that the use of commercial fertilizers is a source of profit for the farmer, when they are used in the right way. ROBERTS. 80. Why Do We Use Fertilizers? However well a soil may be irrigated or drained, and however intelligently it may be otherwise cared for, some additions must be made to it SPREADING MANURE. The manure spreader separates hard masses and distributes them evenly. from time to time in the form of fertilizers in order to keep up its producing power. Soils tend to run down. They lose fertility, and become poorer and poorer. Many east- ern farms now selling for twenty or forty dollars an acre would be worth three or four times as much if the soil had been cared for properly. These farms have been treated for 123 124 FERTILIZERS a long time as though crop after crop could be removed without injury. Often, in such neighborhoods, one farmer produces twice as much to the acre as another close by. This difference was not noticeable a century ago. One soil has been abused ; the other has been cared for. It is just as reasonable in the long run to work a horse day after day feeding it no grain, but only hay or straw, as to work the soil season after season without supplying it with plant food. 81. Kinds of Fertilizers. A fertilizer is any substance added to the soil to maintain or to increase its power to produce crops. Fertilizers are either direct or indirect. A direct fertilizer is one that supplies available plant food directly to the soil. Nitrate of soda is a common example. An indirect fertilizer, such as lime, is one that benefits the growth of plants through its effects on the soil by im- proving texture, preventing sourness, promoting the growt li of helpful bacteria, or by converting unavailable plant food into available food, but not by furnishing substances to plants directly. A complete fertilizer is one that supplies nitrogen, phos- phoric acid, and potash, all three. One that furnishes but one or two of these plant foods is termed an incomplete fertilizer. Commercial fertilizers. The question of fertilizers has become so important that large industries have been de- veloped in the United States to manufacture certain kinds of them. Nearly six hundred manufacturers are selling more than $150,000,000 worth of fertilizers to American farmers yearly. Such manufactured products are called commercial, or artificial, fertilizers to distinguish them from those like manures, which are produced by nature. The manufacturers gather the raw materials from widely BARNYARD MANURE 125 different sources, as was noticed in the last chapter. They then treat these materials in many different ways and compound the products into various combinations to meet the varying needs of farmers. 82. Fertilizer Formulas. The composition of commercial fertilizers is expressed by formulas. If we say the formula for a certain brand of fertilizer is 2-8-10, we mean that PROPER CARE OF MANURE. Note the location of the pile under a shed. the minimum guarantee for the fertilizer is 2 per cent nitrogen, 8 per cent phosphoric acid, and 10 per cent potash. This order, you will notice, is the alphabetical one. In the general trade, nitrogen is usually expressed as am- monia, fourteen seventeenths of which is nitrogen. 83. Barnyard manure consists of the solid and liquid excreta of the farm animals, together with the absorbents employed. Its most valuable fertilizing influences are in- direct. The large amount of vegetable matter in it be- 126 FERTILIZERS comes humus, and makes the soil looser in texture, more able to hold moisture, and better able to turn its plant food into available forms. Manure is also highly useful as a direct fertilizer. Its composition varies with the animals, their bedding, and with the kind of food they have had. A ton of average barnyard manure supplies from 10 to 15 pounds of nitro- gen, from 4 to 9 pounds of phosphoric acid, and from 9 to 18 pounds of potash. Thus, though low in its proportion of phosphorus, it contains all the substances that soils are most likely to lack. It is a " complete fertilizer." Fresh manure, how- ever, decomposes rap- idly if exposed to the air, and so loses much of its value. The care and use of it, therefore, are of vital concern. The nitrogen and the potash are the elements most likely to be lost. The best way to prevent this loss is to spread the manure on the land as soon as possible. The three direct fertilizing elements are found mainly in the liquid manure. Care should be taken to provide bedding enough to absorb and hold this, and in this way to apply it directly to the soil. The farmer should see that it is not allowed to drain off into a passing stream. 84. Green Manure. Green clover, cowpeas, and rye are A LIME KILN. LIME 127 frequently plowed under for humus. However, the prac- tice is growing of feeding a part of these crops to the stock and then using the manure on the land. In some localities, a profit in fattening beef cattle can thus be made as a by-product. Three fourths of the nitrogen and phosphorus and one third of the organic matter of feeds on the average live-stock farm is recovered in the manure. 85. Lime, we have already said, is valuable mainly as an indirect fertilizer. As such, it works in five ways : a. It liberates plant food that is held in insoluble com- pounds in the soil, by combining with them into new com- pounds which are soluble in the soil water. b. It hastens the decomposition of vegetable matter into humus and makes available the fertility it contains. c. It aids the action of manure. The full benefit of manure or other fertilizers will not be realized in soils deficient in lime. d. It mellows clay soils, making them more granular, friable, and loose. e. It " sweetens " the soil. This is the most important use of lime. Decomposing vegetable matter leaves cer- tain acids in the soil. These aid in making the soil sour, so that needful bacteria cannot flourish. Lime corrects this sourness, by combining with the acids into harmless or helpful compounds. 86. When Should Lime Be Used ? Litmus paper (to be had at drug stores) shows whether the soil is sweet or sour. Its use is a simple matter. Place a red and a blue strip in a hole several inches below the surface. If the blue paper reddens after remaining in contact with the moist soil for an hour or less, lime is needed; if the red paper turns blue, no lime is required. The presence of plaintain and sorrel is commonly taken to indicate a sour soil or a soil in need of lime. 1-28 FERTILIZERS The failure of clover on soils where it once grew is a good indication of the need of lime, provided the failure is not due to plant diseases or to a bad season. On the other hand, a good stand of clover indicates positively that the soil is sufficiently sweet. 87. Forms and Application of Lime. Lime is obtained from limestone rock. This rock is sometimes ground into PREPARING STONE LIME. Pulverized natural limestone is taking the place of other forms of lime as a fertilizer. fine particles, and then applied to the land. The fine division of the rock is needed to spread it evenly and to increase the relative surfaces of the particles in order to hasten its action. But even in this ground form, lime- stone rock acts very slowly, because it must first be dis- solved in the soil. Often, therefore, limestone is heated in a kiln, to drive off its carbon dioxide, and so changed into quicklime. This is then slacked by air or water. When FORMS AND APPLICATION OF LIME 129 water-slacked, quicklime is caustic and acts swiftly. In the air-slacked form, the lime has been changed back toward its original state, except that it is no longer in stony masses but in very finely divided particles. In either form, however, especially in the first, quicklime is apt to decompose some of the humus in the soil. For this reason, A PILE OF SLACKED LIME. many farmers are coming to prefer the slower but more beneficial action of the limestone rock. PENNSYLVANIA EXPERIMENTS WITH LIME YIELDS PER ACRE DURING TWENTY YEARS. TREATMENT CORN OATS WHEAT HAT Grain Bushels Straw Tons Grain Bushels Straw Tons Grain Bushels Straw Tons Tons None 819 699 18.8 16.5 678 617 14.3 17.8 279 318 13.2 14.6 24.9 23.6 Burned Lime . . Ground Limestone 798 18.6 732 20.4 331 16.6 29.2 130 FERTILIZERS This experiment shows in the most convincing manner the tendency of burned lime to destroy fertility. In every case it is noticed that the limestone rock produced higher yields. This experiment incidentally shows that it often takes a long time to bring even the most careful work to any con- clusion that will stand the severest tests. Farmers should therefore be cautioned against arriving at conclusions from their home experiments carried on for a brief period only. Too much lime is harmful. The best practice is to make small but frequent applications ; it is not well to try to add enough lirne at one time to last a generation. 88. What Fertilizers to Apply. A few years ago nearly all farmers believed that the sole purpose of fer- tilizers was to supply a plant food exhausted from the soil. They reasoned as follows: "Fifty bushels of corn remove from the soil about 74 pounds of nitrogen, 12 pounds of phosphorus and 35 pounds of potassium. Growing corn on the same field for a few years, then, must exhaust the supply of these food elements ; and so fertilizers must be supplied to make good the loss." While men argued in this way, they thought that a chemical analysis of the soil was all that was needed to show what fertilizers should be supplied. But now we have learned (Chapter VIII) that in an average soil there is enough of all these plant foods to last for two generations of yearly cropping. We have also learned, however, that only a small part of this food is available. That is, only a small part of it at any one time is soluble, or in a form that can be used by plants. The addition of a little fertilizer, however, may cause a marked increase in a crop yield. This is because the fer- tilizer may not only add plant food directly to the soil, but may also release for use some of the store before imprisoned in the soil in unusable forms. WHAT FERTILIZERS TO APPLY 131 Soil analysis, therefore, is not enough to tell us what fertilizer to use. It is helpful, particularly if it shows the absence of some important element ; but for the average farm it is less instructive than experiments with differ- ent fertilizers. Experiment stations make these experi- ments on the different types of soil in their respective districts. They keep careful records of the kinds and quantities of fertilizers used on different fields, and on sections of the same field, and they measure carefully the crop yield through a period of years before and after this fertilization. Then they publish the results, and suggest allowances to be made for variations in rainfall or in other climatic conditions. It is usually safe for the farmer to adopt the advice of a station, based upon such experiments; but it is well for him at least to confirm the experiment himself by keeping records and observing carefully whether the results se- cured by the station are secured also upon his land. And if there are no records of satisfactory government experiments in his neighborhood, or upon his kind of soil, it need not cost the farmer much money or time to experi- ment for himself. Two or three kinds of fertilizer added to as many strips through a field will give a useful basis, at the close even of one season, for comparing the results of the different fertilizers with one another and with the absence of any fertilizer on the rest of the field. The fertilizer that brings the best returns upon a particular soil and for a particular crop is the one to use for that soil and that crop. It is well worth while to find out what this one is. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. Define the four different kinds of fertilizers. 2. Discuss barnyard manure as a direct and indirect fertilizer. 3. What crops 132 FERTILIZERS are used to furnish green manure? 4. State five uses of lime. .">. How can a farmer tell the need of lime? 6. What different forms of lime have you seen ? 7. If a man desires to plant an acre of potatoes, what fertilizer should he use ? II" Ml EXERCISES 1. Hunt up all the fertilizer sacks you can find and copy the for- mulas on them. Bring these formulas to school and compare them with those brought to school by other students. 2. Do you know of any farmers who mix their own fertilizers? Does it pay ? 3. Visit a limekiln and find out all you can about it ; then write up a report on burning lime. 4. Get the selling price of manure and of the commercial fertilizers. Which does the greatest amount of good, considering cost? 5. Keep a careful record of the cost and action of fertilizers used on your father's farm. SUGGESTIONS 1. A way of making the study of fertilizers very practical is to ask the pupils to report their home experience on the kind of fertilizer used and the crop yields. It is not so much, however, a question of getting information that counts, as it is the carrying out of a few simple ideas for improving farm practice. When possible, a little land should be used by the pupils themselves for this work. 2. Many interesting and instructive experiments can be made with a bit of limestone. Pour hot vinegar on it : carbon dioxide, a com- mon gas, escapes. Throw a piece in the stove, and even when cooled, it may burn the fingers, because it has been changed to a weak alkali. Place a bit of the burned stone in a glass of water and blow your breath into the water through a straw ; the water turns milky, show- ing that you exhale carbon dioxide. REFERENCES Soils and Fertilizers. Snyder. Fertilizers. Voorhees. Farming with Green Manures. Harlans. Talks on Manures. Harris. EEFERENCE8 133 Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D. C. 44. Commercial Fertilizers. 77. The Liming of Soils. 192. Barnyard Manure. 237. Lime and Clover. 259. Use of Commercial Fertilizers. 273. Leguminous Crops for Green Manuring. CHAPTER X SOIL MANAGEMENT Ye rigid Ploughmen! bear in mind, Your labor is for future hours. Advance! spare not! nor look behind! Plough deep and straight with all your powers. I lOKN K. 89. What is Soil Management ? We have said that the soil is our most valuable natural resource. All the wheels of industry would stop, and even our lives would soon end, if the soil did not produce food for man and beast and supply materials for man's industries. But, like other useful things, the soil must be used intelligently. Careful planning is necessary to get the best results from it. Many farmers fail to secure large crops, not because the soil is at fault, but because the farmers are. Too often they abuse and injure the soil, just as some ignorant men abuse and ruin a horse. Farmers should look upon the soil with great respect and not think of it as mere dirt. Scientists who have been studying the soil for the greater part of their lifetime say that they have found out only a little about it. We ought not to have a low opinion of anything that is the abode of so much that is still unknown. Many useful facts, however, have been discovered with regard to managing the soil; and if all farmers would apply this knowledge, they would greatly profit both them- selves and the rest of the world. One point in particular 134 TILLAGE 135 should be kept in mind whenever we have anything to do with the soil: we should each see to it that the soil is as fertile and productive when we pass it on to our children as it was when we received it from our parents. More people will have to be fed from the soil in the future than in' the past; and it is not fair to the coming generations for us to handicap them EFFECT OF TILLAGE. The alfalfa at the left was grown in soil more carefully prepared than that at the right. by lowering the producing power of the soil. Rather, it is our duty to increase that power. Proper soil management, then, is the handling of the soil in such a manner that it will produce year after year the largest possible yields of valuable crops, at the lowest possible cost, without lowering its productive power for the future. 90. Tillage. No one knows who first conceived the idea that before a crop is planted the soil should be prepared 136 SOIL MANAGEMENT to receive it. We call this preparation tillage. Its origin takes us back from the modern plow and harrow, past rude implements still in use by barbarous peoples, to the days of the crooked stick of the savage. From the very earliest times, men stirred the soil before planting the seed, not knowing exactly why, but believing that they would obtain larger crops by doing so. Civilized man has found out several reasons why tillage is beneficial. We will now note some of them. a. Tillage, we have already said, breaks compacted soil apart and pulverizes it. Soil lying untouched for a year or two becomes compact chiefly by the force of falling rain, by the action of the water and ice within the soil, and by the pressure of the upper soil layers. This shuts out air from the soil. But we have learned that plant roots need air. Tillage ventilates the soil, driving out foul gases that it may contain, and making open spaces, or pores, which take up fresh air. b. Tillage conserves moisture. In the last chapter it was stated that soil moisture is perhaps the most important point for farmers to watch in connection with their soils. This was why so much space was devoted to the study of drainage and irrigation. Capillary water escapes from the soil either by direct evaporation or by being absorbed by plant roots. It is the loss by evaporation that needs to be regulated by tillage. In this matter the first thing to see to is to be sure that the deeper layers of the soil store up all the water they can hold. To help this process, where needful, the farmer loosens up the under crust, sometimes by dynamite, but more commonly by deep fall plowing. The idea in mind is to get many open spaces for water storage deep in the soil. Surface or shallow tillage is next resorted to in order to TILLAGE 137 conserve this deep soil water by preventing it from moving upwards too rapidly and escaping by evaporation from the surface. In a previous chapter (page 104) we have de- scribed the way in which this is done by shallow tillage. There is an old but truthful saying that it is possible to water the garden with a rake. The dust mulch formed by the rake makes the water below it last longer, so that it does as much good as more rain from above. c. Tillage cleans the soil. A farmer must always keep on the lookout for injurious agents like insects and weeds. A SCHOOL GARDEN. Students making practical tests of soils. He must try not to allow them to become established in his land. Many harmful insects pass the winter in the ground on account of the protection it affords. During the late fall, when these pests are at rest in fancied secur- ity, the farmer may plow them up and leave them exposed to the winter weather and spring birds. Weeds likewise are destroyed wholesale by tillage. When the weed roots have become established in the soil, the farmer inverts it by plowing, thus smothering the stems of the weeds and exposing their tender roots to the dry, withering air. And as this deep tillage kills mature weeds, 138 SOIL MANAGEMENT so frequent shallow tillage keeps new weeds from starting or from becoming firmly established. d. Tillage serves many other useful purposes. It en- ables the farmer to mix fertilizers of different kinds uni- formly in the soil. It makes it easier for him to plant his seed and cover it. (Probably this was the only benefit from tillage that early farmers knew.) It brings different SPREADING LIME. This spreader distributes the lime more evenly than if it is shoveled from a wagon. particles of soil at different times to the surface where they can be cleansed and made more usable for the plant. To sum up briefly : tillage helps the farmer get seed and fertilizers into the ground. It kills countless enemies of the growing plant before and after it starts, and brings new food within its reach. It brings to the plant's root- lets indispensable air which otherwise would be shut out, and it keeps in for those rootlets much indispensable water which would otherwise escape. STORY OF THE IMPLEMENTS OF TILLAGE 139 91. Story of the Implements of Tillage. Many of the im- provements in the tillage implements of to-day have been made in quite recent years. When the famous Minute Men of the Revolution left their plows standing in the furrows to rally for the defense of their country, they left a clumsy wooden " bull plow," which was about as crude and primitive as the plows used by the Egyptians when the pyramids were building, fifty centuries before. So, too, of other farm tools of that time. There had been little improvement in them for five thousand years. Even a generation later, when Thomas Jefferson became Presi- dent, the farmer in America and elsewhere still plowed with this bull plow, which at best could only scratch the ground, sowed his grain broadcast (by hand), cut it with the prehistoric sickle, and threshed it on the barn floor with the flail of prehistoric times if he did not tread it out with cattle, as the ancient Egyptians did. The first threshing machine was invented in 1785, but for many years it did not come into use. The only farm "machinery" to be drawn by horses in 1800 was the bull plow, an equally clumsy, wedge-shaped, wooden harrow, and a cart. The sickle, scythe, flail, fork, ax, spade, hoe, and rake complete the list of farm implements of that day; and, except perhaps the ax and scythe, all these were awkward in shape and heavy. The first cradle scythe a hand tool, but a vast improvement on the old sickle for harvesting grain was patented in 1803. 1 In 1800, the era of rapid change in farm machinery was just at hand. A large part of the new machines of this age have to do with the crop at harvest or after it. Some of this machinery will be treated in later chapters. This chapter will now treat of the implements of to-day that 1 The brief historical statement of the last two paragraphs is taken mainly, with permission, from West's American History and Government,^. 390, 391. 140 SOIL MANAGEMENT concern the preparation of the soil and its care while the crop is growing. 92. The plow has often been called the most important instrument ever invented. Its pictures decorate the coat of arms of many of our states. Two great classes of plows are now in use: a. The disk plow has a rolling motion, and is used mainly in dry soil. b. The moldboard plow slides along through the ground. By varying the shape and slope of the moldboard, we get varieties of this kind of plow, the stubble plow, the THE COMMON PLOW. Here the plowman walks behind. breaking plow, the black-land plow, and so on. These varieties are used for the purposes that their names indicate. 93. Stages of the Plow. In very early times, and in some backward countries to this day, the plow was literally a crude tree crotch, which was drawn by slaves or cattle. It took centuries to make the improvements that are now so well known. The iron share, in some form, must have been in existence 1100 years B.C., because the Bible relates that the Israelites went down to the Philistines " to sharpen, every man, his share and coulter." About 1800 A.D. the cast-iron plow appeared; but farmers long STAGES OF THE PLOW 141 declared that its use poisoned the ground, and it did not fully replace the bull plow until about 1825. Then the better plowing it made possible created a new era in farm- ing. Thomas Jefferson had had much to do with this improvement, by his experiments upon various forms of moldboards, and Daniel Webster also had a hand in the movement. x THE SPAULDING PLOW. Here the plowman rides and can adjust the plow from his seat. On even ordinary farms in the prairie states of the West it is rare indeed now to see a farmer walking behind a plow. The usual plow there is the "gang plow." This consists commonly of three distinct moldboard plows fastened together, one a little to the rear and to the left of the one before it, so as to turn three furrows at once. This gang plow is drawn by five horses, and the driver rides. One man and five horses, in this way, do much more work than three men and six horses with single plows. 142 SOIL MANAGEMENT The growth of the "age of steam" made possible still further development in the plow. To-day, on large farms free from stumps and stones, the 110 horse-power trac- tion plow moves as fast as a man can walk, covering a strip 30 feet wide at one time. This machine plows, harrows, and seeds at the same time, and treats 80 or 100 acres a day. 94. In plowing, we must consider the depth, the time, and the manner of turning the furrow. TRACTION PLOW AND DISK HARROW. Note the width of land plowed and harrowed by. one man. a. Depth. It pays to plow deep. Said a wise man to a farmer who complained that his land was poor: " There is much wealth in the farm under the one you have been tilling : plow up that wealth." It will not do, however, to bring up a large amount of new subsoil at any one plowing, because that undersoil lacks humus and cannot get much of its plant food into available forms in the first season it is tilled. About one inch deeper than previous plowings is as deep as the plow should go at one plowing. Deep plowing should be secured gradually. Deep plowing is especially necessary in dry regions and TIMES AND WAYS OF PLOWING 143 on worn-out lands (on lands, that is, where the surface has been worn out), and it is always advisable for root crops. On the other hand, some small grains, like oats, thrive well on shallow plowing because their roots feed near the surface. In a rotation of corn or potatoes, small grain, and clover, it is often well to plow deep for the corn crop, and then plow shallow the next year for the oats. b. Time. Clay soils should not be plowed when wet, because they are likely to "puddle." This compacts FURROWS PROPERLY TURNED. them, and makes it hard for air and roots to get into the soil, fall plowing is best in regions of scant rainfall and clay soils, because more of the winter moisture can then sink into the ground, instead of running off. On hill- sides, where the winter rains are apt to wash the lands, spring plowing is to be preferred. c. The furrow. There are two objections to turning the furrow slice of sod completely over, so as to make it lie flat in the bottom of the furrow. First, the capillary con- nections between the sod and subsoil will be broken more 144 SOIL MANAGEMENT than necessary ; and, second, the ground will not pul- verize well. It is better to have each furrow slice lap slightly upon the preceding one. 95. The Harrow. The first harrow was probably a tree limb with projecting branches. The purpose of the har- row is to crumble the soil and to give it good tilth, or fine- ness. After plowing, the surface of the ground should not be allowed to dry out be- fore harrowing, since it is then more difficult to break up the clods. There are three com- mon types of harrows : a. The spike-toothed harrow is made of spikes fastened in a wooden or iron frame. This type is especially useful in forming a dry-dust mulch. It is used to follow the plow, and sometimes, again, with crops like corn and po- tatoes, after planting SPRING-TOOTH HARROW. This is especially effective in leveling and breaking up the surface soil. but before the plants sprout. In this second case, the teeth are slanted back, so as to stir the soil very lightly. b. Each tooth of the spring-toothed harrow is a broad spur extending from a strong half coil of steel. When these teeth strike an obstruction that they cannot tear up, they " spring " back and release themselves. This kind of harrow, therefore, is suited to stony fields and to orchards THE CULTIVATOR 145 where roots abound. For a like reason it is useful in many new lands. c. The disk harrow cuts the clods and the surface soil. It is very effective in pulverizing the ground and in de- stroying weeds. To prepare corn stubble land for oats, the disk harrow is often used in place of the shallow plowing that was discussed a little above. EXTENSION HARROW. A labor-saving device for level fields. 96. The cultivator is used for intertillage, or tillage between the rows of such crops as grow in rows. It may be used after planting, before the plants appear, if the rows are so marked that they can be seen ; but its main use is between the rows of standing crops. In small gardens a hand cultivator (pushed by hand) has great advantages over the hoe; and it finds an impor- tant place also in truck gardening on a large scale if land is so valuable that it is desirable to plant in rows too near together for the use of a horse. 146 SOIL MANAGEMENT For larger crops, horse cultivators are necessary. These, if drawn by two horses, are usually also riding cultivators. Like "sulky" plows, these "riding cultivators" make the work more rapid, easy, and interesting. 97. The roller and the planker are compacting and smooth- ing tools which are often used after plowing and harrow- ing. Some soil moisture is sacrificed by their use; but without them many clods in some soils can hardly be broken up. Small seeds, too, germinate more quickly and strongly in soil that is pressed tightly about them. 98. Crop rotation is quite as important to the welfare of the soil as is fertilizer or tillage. Crop rotation means the growing of a series of different crops on the same field in a definite order through a series of years. A field that grows corn this year may perhaps grow wheat or oats next year, clover the year following, and then begin with corn again the next season. This is an example of a three- year rotation. In a case like the above the farmer probably wants to raise some of all three crops each year; so he divides his tilled land into three nearly equal fields. Each of these fields has one of the three crops; and just as the three crops are rotated on each field through the years, so is each crop "rotated" through the three fields. The im- portant side of crop rotation, however, is the side men- tioned first, the change from year to year in a given field. Let us see why this change is necessary. 99. The Need of Crop Rotation. A farmer and his teams may work hard to prepare the soil for seeding ; the soil may hold an abundance of plant food ; the seed may be good, and the season favorable ; and yet the crop may be poor because the same kind of crop has been grown on the field for too many years in succession. Each kind of plant takes its particular kind of food THE NEED OF CROP ROTATION 147 from the soil. Potatoes remove large quantities of potash; timothy takes nitrogen ; small grains take phosphoric acid. If any one of these crops be grown year after year on the same field, the soil there will lose most of the avail- able food for that kind of plant. But though the land that has grown potatoes for three or four years gives only decreasing crops of that plant, it may give excellent grain crops. An " exhausted " soil often is exhausted only for a particular crop. Nearly all plants, however, require at least a small amount of each kind of plant food ; so if exhaustion of any sort goes too far, it becomes difficult to use the land profitably at all until its fertility has been built up again by slow and costly processes. In colonial times tobacco was raised on the rich lands of Virginia and Maryland each season until field after field was exhausted and abandoned. A little later, in the central West, and later still, in the more distant West, a like sin against the soil was committed with wheat. Of course some attempts were made on the colonial to- bacco lands and on the western wheat fields to supply the needed plant food by fertilizers. But it was found, to the surprise of the farmers, that this checked the decrease in crop returns only partially. As will be more fully ex- plained a little further on, the fact is that food exhaustion is not the only evil that follows from using the soil con- tinually for the same crop. It is possible, however, to grow crops on the same land every year for centuries, and at the same time to improve its condition steadily instead of exhausting it. To do this requires fertilizers, but quite as much even more it requires that successive crops vary in kind. That is, it requires a wise crop rotation. In a rude way, even some barbarous peoples have learned the need of a " rota- MS SOIL MANAGEMENT tion" in crops, while European farmers and the better American farmers have practiced some kind of crop rota- tion for a long time. Of late years nearly all farmers have adopted the practice, because at last they have found that it pays. And quite recently a great deal more has been learned about why it pays, and what kinds of rotation pay best. 100. Five reasons why crop rotation pays will be noted here. a. Rotation varies the demand for soil-food from year to year ; thus it enables the natural forces in the soil to accumulate a new supply before it is again especially demanded. This was the lirst beneficial result that men learned, but it is not the most important. b. Rotation avoids the collection in the soil of certain poisonous substances known as root excretions. Our knowledge about this is very recent and rather theo- retical. The roots of a plant, we now know, throw off waste matters as we do in perspiring. These excretions cannot escape freely from the soil; and so, if the same crop is grown on a field for several years, the soil there accumulates so much of the excretion of this particular plant as to poison future crops of it. The roots of an- other variety of plant, however, will not be injuriously affected by this poison. Plants are rotated, then, to avoid the effects of their own excretions. After three or four years, natural forces in the soil destroy the excretion, and then the first plant may be grown again. c. Rotation permits the use of different layers of soil by alternating deep and shallow rooted crops, like corn ami wheat. d. Rotation makes it easier to distribute farm labor more evenly through the year. One of the problems of the farmer is to keep his help busy at profitable work. Farmers who grow wheat only, or cotton only, have little BEST ORDER OF ROTATION 149 to do between seed time and harvest. They cannot afford to keep regular help ; and so when harvest comes, they often have difficulty in securing all the labor they need. Farming, too, will be a better business, and the farm will be a better place to live, .when the farm laborers have a regular home upon it instead of coming and going as tramps. e. Rotation keeps down pests, like certain insects and weeds. Different pests live upon different crops. By changing the crops from time to time we can more easily exterminate the pests. The best order of rotation depends upon the kind of farming and the products of the district. Some districts find a good five-year rotation in corn oats wheat or rye clover and timothy timothy corn. This rota- tion is practiced by many eastern farmers. Timothy is drilled in with the fall wheat or rye, and the clover is broadcasted early the following spring. The common red clover usually dies out at the end of the second year, but the timothy thickens up to take its place, and the land is left in grass for two years. Manure is spread on the sod, to be plowed under for the coming corn crop ; and mineral fertilizers are drilled in with the wheat. Some farmers spread much of their manure on the oat stubble. This practice is not as good as the other one mentioned, since the manure generally lies in the yard until after the oat harvest and so loses much of its value. A good three-year rotation for a potato section or a dairy section is potatoes or corn wheat or oats clover. In alfalfa regions the alfalfa is usually allowed to stand for four or five years ; then corn is planted for two seasons ; finally wheat, rye, or oats ; and then alfalfa again. 150 SOIL MANAGEMENT PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. What is meant by the phrase soil management? 2. In what ways may a soil be abused? 3. Define tillage. 4. How did the ancients till their land ? 5. How does tillage conserve moisture ? 6. Discuss tillage as a means of ridding the soil of insects and weeds. 7. What is the most important purpose of tillage? 8. Describe the plow. 9. State some facts on plowing. 10. Describe the work of the different types of harrows. 11. In what sense are crops "rotated"? 12. State three benefits of crop rotation. 13. Give a good order of crops for a five-year rotation. HOME EXERCISES 1. Make a drawing of your farm or one you know, as at the close of the last chapter, showing the exact size and location of the differ- ent fields. Mark on each field the name of its crop for this year, last year, and for the last five years. Does your rotation correspond with any of those given in the text ? 2. Ascertain the yield per acre of all your leading crops. What was the cost of the fertilizer, and how many dollars worth of produce were sold ? 3. How is your manure kept? Is it placed under cover or stored in the yard ? How many loads of manure do you apply to the acre ? Is the manure spread on the sod or on oat stubble? If on neither of these, where is it spread ? 4. If there are any poor or run-down farms in your neighborhood, what is this condition due to? 5. Does your father turn the furrow over completely in plowing? 6. Write a description of all your home implements of tillage and the care that is given them. SUGGESTIONS 1. Get a good manual or bulletin for detailed directions on how best to illustrate the topics discussed in this chapter. 2. A member of the class may be given the problem of studying the different methods of tillage as practiced in the different countries. Histories, geographies, encyclopedias, and other books likely to con- tain information on this point should be used. A few days should be allowed for this work and then an' oral report should be presented. 3. A Club study on soil management under the direction of the REFERENCES 151 county agent will be appreciated by the older boys. This study may be combined with others, such as grain raising, baby-beef pro- duction, or the growing of forage crops. It would be well if a number of pupils were to work together in a cooperative group, using a short rotation of crops. The members undertaking this work should be organized into a club. This adds zest and develops the spirit of sympathetic helpfulness, in place of that selfish rivalry which is often the fruit of contest between individuals. The basis of the award may be as follows : a. The plan and management of rotation 20 b. The average yield per acre 20 c. The net profit on investment . 20 d. The fertile condition of the soil at the time of rotation . . 20 e. Soil and crop records, with written report 20 Total score 100 REFERENCES The Soil. F. H. King. Physics of Agriculture. F. H. King. Farmers' Bulletins, Washington, D. C. 245. Renovation of Worn-out Soils. 320. Management of Soil to Conserve Moisture. 406. Soil Conservation. PART III CROPS CHAPTER XI THE NATURE AND WOBK OF PLANTS Plants exercise two sets of functions , growth and reproduction. The higher plants may be said to have three sets or classes of organs : those that have relation with the soil ; those that Jiave relation with the atmosphere and sunlight ; those that are concerned with repro- duction. BAILKY. 101. Why should farmers be acquainted with plants? It is not possible to grow plants successfully unless we know something about their character and habits. It is true that one may obtain fair results by rule-of-thurab meth- ods when working under the directions of other people ; but the highest rewards come to those who know why they do things. We have already studied about cer- tain foods which plants must have. Every one knows that plants must have water. But why do they need it ? What purpose does it serve in crop growth ? Why must we supply the other special needs of plants? The man who knows these why's not only supplies the needs more intelligently, but also finds greater joy in doing so. So even the average farmer is better off for knowing a little about cells and protoplasm. It will not do to say that such subjects belong only to the scientists. Many common activities of plants cannot be understood without this knowledge. Perhaps a boy has learned how 152 PLANTS AND ANIMALS 153 to graft apple trees; if he wants to learn why the process works, a book will tell him that the cells of the one plant unite with those of the other, and that the protoplasm of these cells multiplies rapidly until a perfect union is ef- fected. But what do these terms mean? Farm papers and farmers' bulletins, in trying to explain important matters, are compelled to use many other such terms. The farmer who cannot understand them is shut out from the cheapest and most ac- cessible information about his work. 102. Plants and Ani- mals. Any one can dis- tinguish a horse from a tree, or even a worm from a root. The horse grows to a definite size, moves from place to place, and has special organs for the taking in of food and air. In a word, it has a complicated body whose many parts have widely different structures and uses. A tree must stay where it has been planted ; its limbs may sway, its leaves may flutter, and its roots advance into the dark soil, but it cannot move away. The body of the tree, too, is made up of parts that show differences of structure and use, but these parts are few in number and simple in their relation to one another. No central station like the brain of the horse controls all the other parts of the tree's body. Each organ of the tree does more TIMOTHY IN BLOOM. Note the falling anthers. 154 THE NATURE AND WORK OF PLANTS different things than single organs of the horse do. The tree does not have so many separate organs, each for a dis- tinct purpose, as the horse has. It has no eyes, no ears, no teeth. Its structure is simpler than that of the horse. When, however, we go down the scale of life and com- pare the simpler plants with the simpler animals, it grows harder and harder to tell plant from animal. The sponge that may be seen in the ocean, and even in some farm brooks, cannot move from place to place although it is an animal. On the other hand, certain low plants, like the pond scums that may grow beside the sponge, have much freedom of motion. The Difficulty becomes still greater when we come to bacteria. For more than a century after they were dis- covered, they were taken to be little animals. Now, how- ever, they are regarded as plants. 103. Protoplasm. The white of an egg is a substance familiar to all of us. It is jelly-like. It lacks stable form ; and, if pressed between the fingers, no grit is felt in it. It is thicker than water, of which it is mostly com- posed. If heated, as is well known, it coagulates; that is, it becomes white and opaque. Certain chemicals also, like alcohol, will coagulate it. A lump of sugar can be kept, at ordinary temperatures, for any length of time, without decomposing. But the white of an egg, unless carefully preserved, soon spoils and gives off an offensive odor. This white-of-egg substance we call albumen, or protein. Now protein is a large part of protoplasm, about which we wish to learn. Chemists tell us that protoplasm is ex- ceedingly complex. Huxley, a great English scientist, called it "the physical basis of life." It is present in all the growing parts of plants and animals, and, under a powerful microscope, it has exactly the same visible char- HOW PLANTS GROW 155 acteristics, whether it is found in the finger of man or in the twig of a tree. The word " protoplasm " means first formed. Every part of plants and animals was made from it. In reality, it is the only part of an organism that can grow. Only a small part of a tree is really alive, since only that small part contains protoplasm. 104. Cells. Protoplasm does not usually occur in large masses, but in tiny lumps, each separated from the next by a more or less distinct wall. It is these walls that give the plant strength. Each separate lump, with the wall about it, is called a cell. If one had eyes sharp enough to see all the cells of a stalk of corn at one time, the stalk would resemble a tall, oddly shaped building, whose outside walls would appeal- composed of irregular masses cemented together, not unlike the stones in the wall of an ordinary house. Within the stalk, long, hollow, cell-like pipes could be noticed ; and around the pipes, separating them from one another, countless round bodies (the pith cells) might be observed. The cells of the cornstalk have many different shapes, just like the parts of this imagi- nary building. Some cells are as irregular as the corn- stalk itself ; others have the shape of cubes, wedges, plates, or strings. 105. How Plants Grow. Floating in the protoplasm of each live cell is a small rounded body known as the nucleus. This nucleus is an important agent in the growth of new cells. Cells, as we have said, never attain PLANT CELLS. As seen in a growing onion root. 156 THE NATURE AND WORK OF PLANTS a large size, although they may grow rapidly. If well nourished, each nucleus quickly divides into two nuclei. (Nii'cle I is the plural of iiii'cle us.) A new wall appears between these nuclei, forming them into two cells. When either of these has enlarged to the size of its parent, it is ready to divide again, and so on. When we speak of plants growing, we mean that their cells are multiplying in this way. Cells take in food through their surfaces, and the amount of food that can enter them depends in part on the extent of their surfaces. Just as a pea has a greater surface in comparison to its bulk than an orange has, so a small cell has more feeding surface relatively .to its needs than a large one has. This means that the larger cells become, the greater their chances of starving. Cell mul- tiplication, then, is a means of saving the life of plants, as well as a process of growth. 106. Plants as Storehouses of Food. Every plant has some part which it uses for a storehouse. Plants do not use up for their own growth all the food that they gather. They do so for a while, it is true, until they secure a sea- son's growth. Then they begin to store up the plant food in seeds or roots or tubers for their offspring the next season. The farmer takes this stored-up food for his own purposes, just as a bee farmer takes the food his bees have stored away. Food stored in the plant always contains both albumen (protein) and starch, but different plants store these things in very different proportions. Some, like beans, are rich in albumen ; others, like corn, in starch. Albumen is the tissue-building part. Starch furnishes heat, or energy. The albuminous foods, or proteins, contain nitrogen (Chap- ter VIII); the starch is carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It is called a carbohydrate. Another carbohydrate is THE STORING PROCESS 157 sugar, which, in composition, is almost the same as starch. 107. The storing process is exceedingly interesting, and the farmer ought to understand it. Starch is formed mostly in the leaves. The sunlight and the green sub- stance of the leaves (chlorophyll) manufac- ture it out of carbon di- oxide and water. 1 The rest of the process varies in different plants. In the potato plant the starch is next turned into sugar. The sap then dissolves this sugar, 2 and carries it to the under- ground tubers, where it is turned back into starch CHLOROPHYLL BODIES OF A LEAF. Note the separate cells, each containing about half a dozen chlorophyll bodies. and stored away. In some plants, during these parts of the pro- cess, deposits of sugar itself are formed. Other plants form deposits of gums, which are always nearly like starch and sugar in composition. Still other plants deposit fatty substances that we call oils. Vegetable oils are found especially in the olive, in cotton seed, and in nuts. The coconut is an extreme instance of an oily food deposit. Fats, like carbohydrates, furnish heat. 1 In this part of the process, some oxygen is thrown off into the air as a by-product. Plants breathe through fine pores usually on the under side of their leaves, much as the higher animals breathe through their nostrils. But animals take the air for the sake of its oxygen, and their lungs throw off into the air carbon dioxide. Plants breathe largely to get this cavbon dioxide, and throw off some oxygen. However, plants do consume some oxygen, and in this respect they resemble animals. 2 It cannot well dissolve starch. TIIK NATURE AND WORK OF PLANTS 108. The plant is a factory which works only by daylight. No starch can be made without sunlight. Sunlight may be looked upon as the power that runs the factory, as steam runs a mill. We may carry this comparison further. A shoe factory, besides its power, needs a variety of materials, wood, leather, nails, and so on. If the supply of shoe pegs has been allowed to run out, all the work must stop, though everything else is ready at hand. So, too, the absence of only one of the things needed by the plant factory may cause it to suspend work and die. Sunlight, warmth, water, the various plant foods in available forms, all must be secured in the degree needful. A lack of any one will damage or destroy the crop. 1. Distinguish between plants and animals. 2. What are the characteristics of protoplasm? 3. Name three parts of a cell. 4. Compare the parts of a building with the parts of a plant. 5. Explain how cells are useful to plants. 6. Why do cells divide ? 7. Explain how a plant may be likened to a factory. 8. Of what advantage to the plant is it to store up food or energy? 9. Explain how man profits by the tendency of certain plants to store up food. 10. Review the uses of water to a plant. 11. Name three gases use- ful to plants. 12. How do plants breathe? 13. Name six mineral substances found in plants. HOME EXERCISES 1. Make an estimate of the number of different plants you can find on your farm. You can readily determine the area of the different fields, and you can count the number of plants in an average square foot of each field. A simple calculation would give you the entire number. 2. Collect as many different kinds of wood as you can and com- pare their hardness, stiffness, and readiness to split. How does the nature of wood determine its uses for handles, spokes, flooring, and so on? REFERENCES 159 3. Compare a piece of meat with a tip of a growing plant. In what ways do they differ? SUGGESTIONS 1. Make a list of some of the characteristics of a tree and another list of those of the horse, and underscore those that are common to both. 2. Procure an egg and open it in a small dish. Note the absence of grit when a bit of the albumen is rubbed between the fingers. Place a small quantity of the albumen in water to see if it sinks. Then boil the water and note the effect. Vinegar or alcohol poured on some of the albumen will produce the same effect. Try it. 3. Take a bit of moist clay the size of a walnut. Into the soft mass press a pebble the size of a pea. Procure a small box just large enough to hold the mass. Mold the mass to the form of the box and place it inside. The box represents the cell wall; the clay repre- sents the protoplasm ; and the pebble, the nucleus of a cell. Old cells may lack the nucleus and protoplasm, and an empty box of any form would therefore represent them, except that usually the sides of a " dead " cell are packed closely together. 4. Coat a small plant with a thin smear of vaseline, and note the effect. The vaseline prevents the loss of water, and the entrance and exit of gases. 5. Burn a match. What remains is mineral matter. REFERENCES Some good textbook in Botany. Hand Book of Nature Study. Comstock. Plant Culture. Goff. Study of Corn. Shoesmith. Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D. C. 195. Simple Exercises Illustrating Some Applications of Chem- istry to Agriculture. 218. The School Garden. 408. School Exercises in Plant Production. CHAPTER XII HOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED In the morning sow thy seed. EOCLESIABTES xi. 6. 109. A plant is born, grows, and finally dies, much like an animal. Like animals, too, each kind of plant has a quite definite term of life. A grain of corn may be planted in May, and by October the plant will die. A turnip may start to grow in April and live through the second summer. Within an apple blossom a new apple tree begins a life that endures perhaps for a century. Many trees of the forest live for several centuries ; but for each one, under even the most favorable con- ditions, a certain period of growth is followed by a period of decay and finally by death. 110. During its lifetime, each plant is busied largely in re- producing itself in new plants. Its whole character is adapted to the particular way in which it " propagates " itself, or extends its life around it and into the future. But man needs many kinds of plants in greater numbers 160 MILLET SEED. By which the plant is " propagated." FLOWERS 161 than could be found if they were left to their own efforts in this matter. A chief part of the farmer's work, there- fore, in field, garden, and orchard is to help useful plants propagate. To do this best, he needs to know the methods THE LIFE STORY OF A PEAR. Twig, bud, blossom, and fruit. by which plants work by themselves. First of all he must understand their flowers. 111. Flowers. Most plants, including nearly all found in our fields, reproduce themselves through seed. Seed is always formed from parts of a flower. Flowers are not always showy and fragrant, like the flower of the rose. The blossoms of wheat, oats, timothy, or other grasses are very small and have little color. Still the wheat flower is more important to the wheat plant than is the rose flower to the rose plant and much more important to us. HOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED 112. Flower Parts. In the blossom of the common pear 1 you can easily notice four whorls, each of a distinct kind. (1) The outside whorl is made up of five green leaves. (2) Next within is a whorl of five large white leaves. The outside whorl is the calyx, and each of its leaves is a sepal. The second whorl is the corolla, and each of its leaves is a petal. (3) The base of the calyx STAMINATE FLOWERS AND POLLEN OF CORN PLANT. supports a third whorl of several thread-like parts. These are the stamens. Each stamen has at its tip a little sac called the anther. (4) At the center of the blossom are the pistils, three to five of them. They resemble the stamens. Their stalks or styles all come from one point at the center of the flower, but lack the brightly colored heads or anthers, and have green heads, or stigmas, instead. Were we to pull apart the urn-shaped base of the calyx, we should find the pistils extending to the center of the 1 If the pear blossom is not available for this examination, the teacher or class can easily find some other flower that shows sepals, petals, stamens* and pistils, though the number of parts may differ from those of the flower described here. STAMEN AND PISTIL 163 urn, where they unite into a central mass known as the ovary ; the ovary will form the core of the pear and the calyx the soft pulp outside the core. The calyx also serves as a fleshy wrapper to the delicate ovary. 113. What is the work of each of the flower parts? The calyx protects the bud when starting, and, later on, it fur- nishes some starch to the grow- ing seeds. The corolla is need- ful to attract insects. Grains of the fine flower dust called pollen are produced in the sta- men's anther. When pollen falls upon the pistil's stigma, that organ absorbs it, and passes it down through the style to the ovary, where there are already minute egg-like bodies called ovules. The pollen fertilizes these ovules; that is, it joins with them to make them grow into seeds. No seed can be formed without this union of pollen and ovule. 114. The stamen and pistil, accordingly, are the essential parts of the flower. Both are absolutely necessary to the production of seed, which is the purpose of flowers. Calyx and corolla may assist in one way or another, but they are not essential parts. Many kinds of flowers do not have them. The cornflower does not, but it produces much seed. Indeed, no one cornflower has both stamens and pistil. The tassels at the top of a stalk are clusters of staminate CORN TASSEL. Staminate flowers. 164 HOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED flowers (flowers with stamens). 1 If you shake a stalk of corn when the anther sacs have the pollen ready, a cloud of yellow powder will fall from the tassels, looking like a shower of sulphur. The pistillate cornflowers grow lower on the stalk in one or more bunches, or "ears." If you pull away the husk from a young ear soon after the silk begins to show, you will see that each of the many silk threads ends in a kernel. This kernel is an ovary ; each thread of silk is both style and stigma ; kernel and silk together form a pistillate flower. The pollen from some tassel flower at the top falls upon the many silk stigmas of each ear and is carried down to the bunch of ovaries. 2 Flowers that contain both stamens and pistils are called perfect flowers, whether calyx and corolla are present or not. Flowers that lack either stamens or pistils are im- CORN SILK. Pistillate flowers. 1 These flowers are very small. They grow along the spikes of the tassels, in couplets. Each flower is nearly inclosed in a hard, ribbed covering called glume. If this is pressed aside with a pin, one can see three stamens, partly surrounded perhaps by an inner wrapping. Usually only one flower of each couple produces pollen. 2 The pistillate cornflowers in the ear have interesting likenesses to the staminate flowers of the tassel. Thus the flowers on the ear, too, grow in couples. If we examine the young ear with great care, a sterile grain will be found under tlic fertile one. And each grain of the couple is inclosed in outer and inner wrappings. These show on the cob when the ripe corn has been shelled. CROSS-POLLINATION 165 perfect flowers, even if they have both calyx and corolla. The pear blossom that was described above was a perfect flower ; each kind of cornflower is imperfect. 115. Cross-pollination. Even in some kinds of perfect flowers the pistil often gets its pollen from the stamen of an- other flower instead of from its own stamen. All clover blossoms have both stamen and pistil ; but the pollen and ovules of the same blossom do not readily unite. The EFFECT OF POOR POLLINATION. pistil uses pollen brought to it from another blossom. This is cross-pollination. With farm plants, cross-pollination is far more common than self-pollination. Nature seems to have found out that cross-pollination gives more vigorous plants. Charles Darwin, one of the world's greatest scientists, proved by experiments that when cabbage flowers used their own pollen, they grew heads only a fourth as heavy as when they used pollen from another cabbage. 116. In cross-pollination how is the pollen carried from plant to plant? The wind carries corn pollen. Most of it falls on the ground or on other plants ; but each stalk pro- duces a large amount, and its high place on the plant helps the wind to distribute it well, so as to powder nearly every bunch of corn silk with it. 1 1 If the corn silk receives pollen from the tassel of its own stalk, the polli- nation is not cross-pollination, because both flowers belong to the same plant. Corn uses both self-pollination and cross-pollination. 166 UOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED The wind, too, is one agent in transferring the pollen of other plants from flower to flower, but many plants would fail to produce seed if nature did not also use other less wasteful devices. In a field of red clover in blossom, bumblebees are usually busy visiting flower after flower. Commonly, the yellow pollen can be seen sticking to parts of their bodies. When a bee enters a flower, he brushes off upon it part of the pollen he brings with him ; and, before he leaves, his body collects some fresh pollen to carry on to the next plant. The clover blossom and the bumblebee are especially suited to each other. The long tongue of the insect just reaches the nectar of the flower ; the blossom has the tint of red which, experi- ments show, is particu- larly attractive to the bee, 1 and the clustering of many small flowers in one head makes it easy for the visitor to carry pollen to them all with little loss of time. Red clover gives two crops in a season : one early in the summer; the other in the late summer or early fall. Even if the first crop is allowed to stand, it produces little seed, though blossoms have been abundant and vigorous. On the other hand, the second crop, if permitted to ripen, is BUCKWHEAT PLANT IN BLOSSOM. 1 Probably, however, the bees like this color only because it is the color of the flower where they usually find food. OTHER METHODS OF PROPAGATION 167 usually profitable for seed. Farmers have known these facts for a long time, but only recently have they known that the difference between the two crops is due to the habits of the bumblebee. In the spring, when the first crop is in blossom, bumblebees are rarely seen; and the few that have survived the winter can cross-pollinate only a small proportion of the flowers. But by the time the second crop is in blossom, the colonies of bumblebees have multiplied, and many more of the flowers are cross- pollinated. The honeybee has a tongue too short to reach the nectar of the red clover, but for multitudes of other flowers it is a most efficient pollen carrier. Butterflies, some moths, and humming birds help in a like way. Usually a study of any one of these creatures and of the flowers it visits most will show some striking way in which the blossom and its helpful visitor are suited to each other, as bumblebee and clover are. 117. Other Methods of Propagation. Many plants propa- gate themselves in other ways besides by seed. This used to seem very strange. Some years ago, however, August Weismann, a famous German scientist, advanced the theory that all life comes from a certain form of proto- plasm which he called germ plasm. In the higher animals this germ plasm is found only in the organs of reproduc- tion; but in plants it is more or less distributed through all their live tissue. This is why we can propagate some plants from shoots or by grafting and budding. Many plants, to be sure, have little germ plasm except in the flower. Such plants can be propagated to advantage only from their seed. In other plants, the germ plasm permeates the entire structure, or at least various parts besides the flower. Many plants reproduce themselves underground by tubers, like the potato, or by new shoots 168 HOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED from the germ plasm in the roots, as shrubs and trees will do. The willow will produce offspring from its twig*, if they are cut off and placed in the ground properly. The SEED BALLS AND FLOWERS OF THE POTATO PLANT. begonia and other similar plants have the reproductive power even in the leaf. 118. The Two Great Ways of Propagating Plants. All these various methods of propagation are classed under two heads, sexual and asexual (non-sexual). a. The seed method is sexual. Stamens and pistils are sex organs of plants. The pollen from the stamen con- tains tiny particles of male protoplasm; the ovules of the pistil contain female protoplasm. The union of the two kinds produces an active germ plasm in the seed. 6. Propagation from roots and cuttings, and indeed by all methods except by seed, is asexual. The new plant may be said to have a mother but no father. The tendency to likeness between offspring and parent is much stronger in this kind of reproduction than in re- production by seed. SUGGESTIONS . 169 PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. What are flowers, and what is their purpose? 2. What is meant by reproduction ? 3. Do all flowering plants reproduce by seeds ? 4. Describe a pear blossom or any other blossom. 5. How many parts are there to a pear blossom ? 6. Give the function or use of each part. 7. Define self-pollination and cross-pollination. 8. How do plants secure cross-pollination? 9. In what ways are the bumblebees and the blossoms of the red clover suited to each other? 10. Account for the small amount of seed in the first crop of red clover. 11. Have you ever noticed any insects besides bees visiting flowers? 12. Distinguish between a perfect and an imperfect flower. 13. Describe the two kinds of flowers borne on the cornstalk. 14. Will the grains of corn develop without pollen? 15. How do you account for cobs only partly filled out with corn ? HOME EXERCISES 1. Ascertain how each farm plant reproduces. Have you ever seen flowers on potato plants? Examine a head of wheat shortly after the flowers have appeared. Is the pollen carried from head to head ? 2. Collect all the different farm flowers that you can find, and de- scribe those of the leading crops. Bring report along to school. SUGGESTIONS 1. In learning the names of the parts of a flower care should be taken not to select flowers for study that belong to the daisy family or that are very small. Large, simple specimens should be selected. 2. The flower selected should be pulled apart, and its parts care- fully noted and described. 3. An effort should be made to determine which flowers are visited by insects and which are not. This work must be done in the field. The kinds of flowers visited should be noted. It is interesting to determine whether showy and fragrant flowers are more frequently visited than other kinds. 4. Bring to the schoolroom a few red clover blossoms. Count the number of flowers in each head, and look for the nectar glands. An interesting exercise would be to study the red clover blossoms in the field for the kinds of insect visitors. 170 HOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED 5. Dissect and draw the parts of the two kinds of flowers borne on the cornstalk. RKFKRKNCES Botanies. Familiar Flowers of Field and Garden. Matthews. Practical Floriculture. Henderson. In God's Out of Doors. Quayle. Cornell Nature Study Quarterly, No. 2. Ithaca, N.Y. CHAPTER XIII MOEE ABOUT STAKTING NEW PLANTS Contact with nature affords a better tonic and nervine than the pharmacist can compound. CARD. I. REPRODUCTION To start plants to the best advantage, we should know more about them. First we will consider some more facts that concern reproduc- tion by seed. t^ SECTIONS OF CORN KERNELS. In the top row the kernel is cut lengthwise; in the middle row, cross- wise; in the bottom row, flatwise. The white part is starch; the gray part, germ. 171 17-J MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS 119. Seeds and Embryos. Two common types of seed are represented by the bean and the corn. a. A bean seed can easily be split into two equal parts, called cotyledons. Attached to one end of the seed, between the cotyledons, are a pair of miniature leaves called the plumule, and a short root sprout known as the radicle. The three parts together form the embryo. This contains the germ plasm that was formed by the union of pollen and ovules. Plants whose leaves are net-veined and which bear flowers hav- POOR ALFALFA SEED. Before testing. divisions to their calyx and corolla produce seeds of the bean type. b. A grain of corn cannot readily be split apart into halves. A cross section of the ker- nels, especially if the seed has been soaked in water, will show the embryo at the base. This embryo or germ consists of one irregular cotyledon, a plumule made of sheathing leaves, and a radicle. Occupying the broad end of the grain is the endosperm, a mate- rial that is mostly starch, to feed the embryo when it sprouts. This corn type of seed is found in plants that have parallel-veined leaves and that bear flowers with the parts commonly arranged by threes or by sixes. NEEDS OF THE SEED 173 120. Seed should be tested to determine what per cent of it will sprout and to find out whether it contains im- purities such as dirt, weed seeds, and chaff. Farmers often lose heavily by using poor seed. The Iowa Experi- ment Station at one time tested 3300 samples of seed corn and found only sixty per cent of the samples good enough to use. Under the most favorable conditions this seed as a whole would produce but little more than half a crop. 121. The quantity of seed to sow to the acre varies some- what with the character of the soil and with its prepara- tion. The following table of a few common kinds of seeds shows the quantity of each that has been found most profitable for an acre of average land in good tilth. Alfalfa (broadcast) 9 to 12 quarts Alfalfa (drilled) 6 to 8 quarts Clover (alsike) 5 to 10 quarts Clover (red) 6 to 10 quarts Corn 6 to 7 quarts Corn (for silage) 9 to 12 quarts Oats 2to3 bushels Potatoes 10 to 20 bushels Rye 4 to 8 pecks Timothy 1 to 2 pecks Wheat t 6 to 10 pecks 122. Needs of the Seed. A seed is a plantlet asleep, or in its resting stage. It may live a long time without change, if kept cool and dry ; or it may awaken to activity in a few days, if kept warm and moist. Good seed will not sprout well in an ice chest, even with plenty of air and water ; nor will it do so in a well-corked bottle with sufficient water and the proper degree of heat; nor in a dry room with warmth and air. Warmth, air, and mois- ture, all three, must be present in the soil for the awak- ening of the seed. 174 MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS 123. The Seedling. A young plant that comes from a seed is called a seedling. This name is likewise applied even to many mature plants started from seeds, if such plants are commonly propagated in other ways also. The term seedling apple, for example, distinguishes an apple plant started from the seed, from a plant started from shoots. A young seedling at GOOD ALFALFA SEED. Before testing. first depends for food on the material stored up within its seed coats. A critical period in its early life comes when it has ex- hausted its own food material, and has not yet formed enough leaf- age and rootage to sup- ply fully the demands of its groivih. During this period a few days or longer the seedling is very tender and deli- cate. If planted too deep, it may find the soil around its roots too cold or lacking in fresh air. If planted too near ALFALFA SEEDS AFTER TESTING. Note that some have not sprouted at all, while others have sprouts an inch long. the surface, it may suffer from lack of moisture. The DEPTH OF PLANTING 175 farmer, then, should be careful not to bury the seeds too deep nor to plant them too near the surface. He should be especially careful also to have the seed bed warm, moist, and mellow, so that the seed may germinate quickly and shoot up rapidly, and so get through its crit- ical stage in as short a time as possible. 124. Roughly speaking, the depth at which a seed should be planted depends upon its size. Large seeds need deep plant- ing; small seeds require shallow planting. It is a common practice to broadcast clover seeds on the winter wheat in early spring (Chapter XXI), and trust to spring rains or to the freezing and thawing of the ground to cover . The one on the left was grown in sand ; them sufficiently. Let- the other> in waten tuce seeds are sown on the surface and pressed in slightly with a board. In one series of experiments, wheat planted at the depth of one half inch required eleven days to come up ; that planted three inches deep required twenty days, and that planted six inches, twenty-three days. Moreover, only one third of the seeds planted under six inches of soil grew, while three fourths of those planted under three inches of soil grew and flourished. Such experiments have been made upon many kinds of seeds, and it is worth while for farmers to know the results. ROOTS OF WHEAT SEEDLINGS. 176 MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS II. NON-SEXUAL PROPAGATION: PARTS OF THE PLANT CONCERNED To understaud better the non-sexual propagation of plants it is necessary to know more about their stems, roots, buds, and leaves, the parts by which they are propagated. 125. Stems. Most farm plants have one or the other of two kinds of stem. One kind is illustrated by the pear tree ; the other, by corn. a. An examination of a stem of a pear tree 1 will show three distinct groups of tissue in it: the bark; the cambium; and the wood. (1) In the bark, especially in the bark of new stems, numerous openings may be seen, about as large as ordinary pinheads. These are breathing pores for the deeper layers of bark. The bark serves mainly to protect this next group of very tender, liquid-like tissue. (2) This middle group of tissue, between bark and wood, is the cambium. From the viewpoint of growth and re- production, it is the vital part of the stem. Its cells contain protoplasm in a more active form than in those of any other part of the stem; and some of this is germ plasm and may create a new plant. There are two layers of cambium cells: one adhering to the inside bark; the other, to the outside wood. The two together are about as thick as a leaf of the paper in this book. A boy often sees the two cambium layers of the willow when making willow whistles in the spring. After hammering the bark to loosen it, he pulls it away from tt piece of the stem; then sometimes he scrapes away loose, moist particles that cover the surface of the wood. These particles are the inside layer of cambium. Perhaps 1 Surh an examination can be made most easily in the spring when sap is starting. STEMS 177 he has been unlucky enough to split the cylinder of bark; if he looks at the inside face of it, he will see other moist particles. These are the outside cambium layer. Bordering each layer of cambium, many of the cells are arranged in long strings, or pipes, much as our blood vessels are. Through these pipes the sap of the plant circu- lates, rising from the roots to the branches through the outer wood, and returning to the roots in the inner bark. 1 (3) The wood of the stem supplies strength and firmness to the tree, as bones do to animal bodies. In an old tree the heart or center wood is merely a mass of dead cells, and serves no use except to give strength. But the sap wood, or that nearest the cam- bium, in addition to affording stiffness to the tree and to providing pipes for the rise of sap, serves as a storehouse where the sap may store surplus food for the next season's growth. Each year a layer of BUDS IN THE AXILS OF LEAVES. Branch of a cherry tree in July. 1 A stem of any rapidly growing plant placed in red ink will show in a most striking manner in what part of the stem the sap rises, and the rate at which it moves. 178 MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS light wood in the spring, and usually of darker wood in the summer and fall, is formed by the cambium, so that the age of a tree can easily be determined, when cut down, by counting these pairs of rings. b. The stem of the cornstalk consists of a series of nodes, or swellings, which are separated by internodes. Each internode is made up of a hard outer rind, or bark, and a soft interior structure composed of numerous hollow fibers and pith. The fibers are thread-like and are embedded separately in the pith. They corre- spond rather closely to our blood vessels, in that they are the bearers of the sap of the plant. They run upward in each internode, leaving the stem at the nodes to enter the leaves. 126. Roots have much the same structure as The three dark spots are open breathing gtems> They ftre less firm, however, and they have one important feature that stems do not have. This is the growth of hair that densely clothes new roots. These hairs are each about a fourth of an inch long and as fine as the threads of a spider web. They grow out of surface cells on the roots. They are very delicate, and are easily destroyed. Without them a plant cannot grow, for it is through them that food enters the plant in solution in the soil water. In transplanting plants, special care must be taken not to pull off or destroy too many of these root hairs. CUTTINGS 179 127. Buds. If we observe buds on a shrub or orchard tree from time to time in the early spring, we notice that some buds grow into shoots that bear leaves only ; others, into shorter shoots that bear both leaves and flowers ; and some into still shorter shoots that produce only flowers. Accordingly, we speak of three kinds of buds, leaf buds, mixed buds, and flower buds. The buds of trees and shrubs are formed during sum- mer and fall, and must be protected from freezing during the winter. This protection is afforded largely by a cov- ering of scales, cemented together by a kind of wax. 128. The leaf is the factory of the plant. In it are manufactured its starch, protein, and oil. The framework of the leaf is largely a collection of veins, which branch more and more on entering the blade or flat part of the leaf. These veins give stiffness to the leaf, and distribute the solids in solution. The tiny openings in the skin of the leaf (mainly on its under side) are its breathing pores. The} 7 are about one tenth as wide as the thickness of this paper. It has been estimated that there are about 13,000,000 of these breathing pores in a sunflower leaf. III. METHODS OF NON-SEXUAL PROPAGATION We have described briefly stem, root, bud, and leaf, because these parts, one or more, are used in propagating some plants asexually. Next we will consider the Jive chief ways in which these parts are used for this purpose : (1) by cuttings ; (2) by using certain modifica- tions of the stem which, in some plants, are especially suited for this purpose ; (3) by layering ; (4) by grafting ; and (5) by budding. 129. Cuttings are detached parts of a plant's body. A piece of a stem, or of a root, or of a leaf of some plants may be placed in the soil in such a manner as to develop roots at one end. Roses, grapes, currants, gooseberries, and ornamental shrubs are commonly propagated in this 180 MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS manner. Pieces from such plants form hardwood cut- tings, as distinguished from the green cuttings of " soft " plants like the geranium and begonia. Roses are among the easiest plants to propa- gate. In early fall, cut off a part of a rose stem about six inches long, allowing a leaf or two to remain on the cut- ting. The cutting should be brittle enough to snap off if bent quickly, and so the most rapidly growing shoots are not suitable. Place about one third of the cutting in the ground, which must then be 'firmly pressed about it. Cover the cutting with a glass jar to prevent excessive evaporation. Roots should appear in a few weeks, and by spring the young rose stalk is ready for trans- planting. The stems of grapes, currants, and gooseber- ries are also cut about six inches long, and each should have at least one eye or bud above the ground when planted, and at least one in the soil. Cuttings of ornamental shrubs, like dogwoods and mock GERANIUM CUTTING. Note the two roots just starting. CUTTINGS 181 oranges, are usually made in early fall. Healthy, vigor- ous branches are cut into pieces with two or three eyes or nodes apiece. These slips may be tied together, some twenty-five in a bundle, and kept in a cool place through the winter, to be started in the field in the spring when- ever the soil and weather are favorable. Or they may be planted at once in the fall, in moist sand, and kept warm by decaying compost. The temperature should not rise above 80 F. The sand must be kept thoroughly moistened, but not wet, and must be well pressed down around the cut- tings. After they have taken root they should be transplanted to small pots, and then should be partly buried in sand. As soon as the pots are filled with the roots, larger pots must be pro- vided. Green, leaf-bearing ROSE CUTTINGS. The one on the left has already sent out rootlets ; that on the right has not been planted. cuttings from the ge- ranium, for instance are propagated in essentially the same manner. The foliage should be trimmed off before planting, to retard evaporation. Root cuttings made from the plum, blackberry, and red raspberry are given much the same treatment as that just described for ornamental shrubs. The temperature of the bed of cuttings must be kept down until towards spring. Sweet potatoes are roots, and are occasionally cut into pieces for planting. Or they may be started in hotbeds; 182 MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS then the shoots which come up may be pulled off and planted. \Yith a few common plants, notably the begonia, only a portion of leaf may be used for a cutting. Perhaps one half of the leaf is first removed, the remainder is then placed in moist sand, its stem being partly embedded. The leaf should not be allowed to dry up. Roots should soon start, and after they have made a good growth, the cutting may be transplanted. Tubers, like potatoes and artichokes, are stems, although they grow underground. The "eyes" are the buds on these stems. In reference to potato cuttings, Professor Fraser of Cornell says : Early varieties do not do as well when cut; and varieties with white flowers seem to be softer in texture and more liable to failure, if cut, than those with purple or colored blossoms. Some varieties can- not be cut with profit, owing to lack of bud-producing eyes. The labor of cutting is often greater than the cost of extra seed. When seed is expensive, as when a variety is new, it is wise to cut as far as possible to secure the largest possible yield in the least time, but this course must be followed by selection, or rapid deterioration of the variety will result. A potato cut into single eyepieces, and each piece planted in a hill, would give a greater yield than it would had it been planted whole. 130. Modified Stems. In the preceding paragraph the potato tuber was called a stem. The plant modifies its stem into this form in order to store food and grow plasm for reproduction. The farmer meets many other peculiar stems that have also been modified for the same purposes. a. Bulbs are scaly and fleshy stems. Certain common members of the lily family, including the onion, are propa- gated by bulbs. b. Cforms are solid bulbs. The gladiolus is grown from corms. MODIFIED STEMS 183 STOLONS OF WHITE CLOVER. A leaf appears at each node. c, Rootstocks are also underground stems. Many grasses produce branches that burrow into the ground. These branches show regularly arranged nodes and internodes. The leaves of these underground branches have been reduced to whitish scales or have entirely disappeared. Many plants keep alive through the winter through their rootstocks. The part of the plant above the ground is killed; but the underground stem remains alive because of the protection afforded by the ground. In the spring, a shoot, or new plant, may be sent up from any of the nodes. This is why the farmer may have a permanent pasture without replant- ing, and why he is troubled by quack grass and Canada thistles. d. Stolons are creep- ing steins, like those of the strawberry, dew- berry, and currant. After creeping on the ground for a few inches or a few feet, a stolon bends over, strikes root at the tip, STRAWBERRY RUNNERS. Four runners have started from the plant at the top. 184 MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS and develops a cluster of leaves. From this new plant, the main stem continues to creep further and again strikes root, and so on. a. Suckers are vigorous branches that spring up from roots or from stems near the surface of the ground. Plums, white poplars, and lilacs form suckers freely. The prop- agator cuts off the root connection, and trans- plants the sucker to start a new plant. 131. Layering is an- other kind of propaga- tion by stems. Certain plants, like the black raspberry, can be made to take root at the tip of the stem if the stem is bent over and the tip covered with moist soil. This is layering. When the new roots are of fair size, the connection between the old plant and its offspring is cut, and the young plant may be transplanted. 132. Grafting is the art of uniting parts of two different plants. The part to be propagated is called the scion, and the part of the other plant to which the scion is to be united is known as the stock. The union is effected by the rapidly multiplying cells of the cambiums of scion and stock. These cells must be kept moist in order to multiply. There are two common kinds of grafting, cleft grafting and tongue grafting. a. Cleft grafting is performed usually on limbs about the thickness of a man's wrist. From the stock a limb is sawed off smoothly, and the stump is split with a knife or CLEFT GRAFTING. BUDDING 185 chisel. From the other plant two scions, a few inches long, each bearing a bud or two, are cut at the base to a wedge shape. These scions are now inserted in the cleft, one at each side, in such a manner as to bring the cambium layer of each in contact with that of the stock. To insure this contact it is best to spread the scions slightly. Graft- ing wax is then worked over all the cut surface. This wax prevents the evaporation of moisture from the growing cells and also helps to hold the scions in place. b. Tongue grafting or whip grafting is a more difficult opera- tion. A scion and a stock must each be about as thick as a pencil, and from two to four inches long. A slanting cut is made at one end of each. This cut end is then split down a short distance with a knife. The two split ends are now fitted into each other in such a way as to cause their cambiums to meet at the surface. The scion and stock are usually held in place by a waxed cord. Apple trees are started in this manner. The seedlings at the end of the first season are dug up, and their roots are cut into pieces for stocks. A section of a one-year-old twig from a tree of the desired variety furnishes the scion. They are then buried in sand and placed in a cool cellar until spring. The plant that grows from this union will resemble the scion plant. 133. Budding is a form of grafting. A T-shaped cut is made in the stock, and a bud from a desired variety is TONGUE GRAFTING. isr, MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS inserted beneath the bark and is held in place by raffia or occasionally by a common string. Peaches are usually propagated by budding. Peach stones are allowed to freeze during the winter. In the spring they are planted, and before winter the shoots are ready to use. A bud is inserted upon each shoot near the ground; and after it is well started, the shoot above the BUDDING. Four stages of the operation are shown from left to right. bud is cut off. Other stone fruits, like cherries and plums, are propagated in a similar way. 134. Stock and Scion. In all forms of grafting, includ- ing budding, the scion is really a transplanted plant. The new growth, above the graft, resembles the scion plant. 1 The stock does little except to furnish nourishment to the 1 If branches are allowed on the stock plant below the graft, those branches will resemble the original stock. An apple tree may be so grafted as to bear several different kinds of fruit on different branches. STOCK AND SCION 187 transplanted scion. This it does in a remarkable degree ; so that one purpose in grafting is to secure quicker growth. An apple seedling will not bear much fruit until seven or eight years old ; but if a scion from it is early grafted upon some mature root, fruit may be secured some years sooner. In certain cases, the stock exerts some other slight in- fluence on the scion. Sweet-apple scions on crab-apple stock bear sour fruit. A quince stock will dwarf a pear tree scion ; and in like manner the influence of a dwarf apple tree will retard the growth of scions from a large apple tree. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. What is propagation? 2. Explain the statement that all living things have a period of life. 3. What is germ plasm? 4. Name all the parts of a plant that may contain germ plasm. 5. What is the sexual method of plant reproduction? 6. How does the asexual method of reproduction dif- fer from the sexual ? 7. Describe a bean seed. 8. What are some of the general characteristics of plants which produce seeds ? 9. De- scribe the structure of a grain of corn. 10. Discuss the value of seed testing. 11. Explain how clover seed may be tested. 12. In what sense may a seed be spoken of as a plantlet that has fallen asleep ? 13. How do farmers awaken seed to activity ? 14. Define a seedling. 15. What is the most critical period in the life of a plant. 16. W r hat is the best depth for planting wheat and tobacco ? 17. Describe the GRAFTING EXERCISE. The boys are renovating an old apple tree by cleft grafting. 188 MORE ABOUT STARTING NEW PLANTS structure of the pear stem. 18. Discuss the structure and function of the cambium. 19. Compare the structure of a corn stem with that of a pear stem. 20. Describe a root hair. 21. Give the function of a leaf. 22. What are cuttings? 23. What plants are propa- gated by cuttings? 24. Name three different kinds of cuttings. 25. For what purpose are certain stems modified ? 26. Define root- stock, tuber, corm, bulb, sucker, and stolon. 27. Explain the art of cleft grafting. 28. Distinguish between a scion and a stock. 29. Ex- plain how certain plants are budded. 30. Discuss the effect of the stock on the scion. HOME EXERCISES 1. See how many grafts you can get to grow in your home orchard. As soon as you see that you are successful, you should make an effort to improve some plant by grafting. 2. Test your father's clover, alfalfa, and grass seed according to the method suggested on page 225. Report in school the per cent of germination for each kind. 3. After some one has shown you how to start cuttings, propagate several at home and report. 4. How much seed per acre does your father use for his different crops ? 5. Start a fruit tree from the seed according to directions given in the text. SUGGESTIONS 1. Demonstrate the propagation of a rose cutting. A school gar- den is convenient for this purpose. 2. The mechanical side of budding and grafting should be demon- strated by the teacher on material brought to the classroom. Each pupil should then be given some practice and be required to insert a bud and make a graft. The details of all the points should be ex- plained from this material. After a little skill has been acquired thus, real work should be attempted on the outside or at home. The pupils should be graded on the number of successful operations per- formed. 3. Beans and corn should be soaked for a few hours, and their parts then dissected, drawn, and labeled. 4. Procure some small seed like alfalfa and clover. Determine the per cent of germination. If no balance is available, give each pupil a REFERENCES 189 thimbleful of seed and ask him to separate the seed and the dirt into piles. In a rough way the per cent of dirt may thus be estimated. 5. Determine the needs of a growing plant, air, moisture, heat, and light, by simple experiments such as those suggested in the text. 6. In a large glass jar containing soil, plant different seeds at differ- ent depths. Place the seeds against the glass in order that their attempts to rise to the surface may be noted. This experiment is very simple and instructive. 7. Ascertain, if possible, how the farmers of the neighborhood start their plants, and where they obtain their seed. REFERENCES Botanies. Nursery Book. Bailey. Pruning Book, Bailey. Systematic Pomology. Waugh. Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D. C. 113. The Apple and How to Grow It. 134. Tree Planting on Rural School Grounds. 154. The Home Fruit Garden : Preparation and Care. 157. The Propagation of Plants. 181. Pruning. 213. Raspberries. 428. Testing Farm Seeds in the Home and in the Rural School. CHAPTER XIV MAKING BETTEE PLANTS It has been clearly demonstrated that it is possible to increase the product per acre of the average farm up to 40 per cent simply by the use of improved strains of seed developed on the farm itself, at the cost of a little well-directed effort on the part of the farmer. TAOT. I. THE SCIENCE OF PLANT BREEDING 135. A New Science. About fifty years ago a new science was born. It is called the science of plant breed- ing. Already it has created many new, highly desirable plants, and improved many other old plants in a most astonishing degree. It has established the principles of an art that have enabled an expert to produce a seedless orange ; to introduce better flavors into many fruits ; to create plums of unusual size and texture ; to grow a blackberry plant that bears a bushel or more of berries ; to produce a peach-plum that hides the twigs with its fruit ; to increase the size of many cultivated roots and tubers and at the same time to decrease the amount of woody fiber in them; to make potatoes, prunes, almonds, lettuce, and apricots of larger size and better quality than were known before ; and to improve many other fruits, vegetables, flowers, and trees. 136. The leading plant breeder in the world is Luther Burbank, who now lives at Santa Rosa in California. He was born in Massachusetts, March 7, 1849. As a boy he was a great reader of good books and a close observer of 190 BREEDING PLANTS 191 nature. This habit of observation gave him passionate delight, and finally started him, while he was yet a youth, upon his great work. While hoeing in his potato patch one day, he noticed an unusually interesting seed ball on a remarkably vigorous potato vine. This hill of potatoes he guarded carefully, and when the seed was ripe, he gathered it. From this seed he pro- duced the celebrated " Burbank " potato. It is said that a local seeds- man paid the young man f 150 for the right to use this discovery. High authorities declare that the dissemination of this variety of potato has enriched the farmers of America to the extent of $20,000,000. Better still, it showed how to go to work to obtain other varieties, and since that time there have been developed, from promising seed balls, several kinds of potatoes even more valuable than the Burbank. Best of all, the creation of the Burbank potato started young Burbank upon a new career that has benefited the world beyond all computation. On his extensive experi- ment grounds in California he has worked miracles in plant creation and improvement. All the marvelous plant work mentioned in the first paragraph of this chapter was done there by him and his little army of trained assistants. LUTHER BURBANK. 192 MAKING BETTER PLANTS With good reason Luther Burbank is called " The Plant Wizard of the West." 137. The plant breeder produces new kinds of plants and improves old ones, by crosses. He does not leave Nature to produce crosses unaided. He experiments in new crosses, such as Nature, left to herself, would perhaps never secure. The genius of the breeder is shown mainly in selecting the plants to cross. After the selection has been made for any one experi- ment, the work itself is relatively simple. It is merely a matter of cross-pollinizing the two plants and listing the results. 138. In cross-pollination the breeder is concerned mainly with stamens and pistils. He must take the pollen from one plant to fertilize the pistil of the other, and he must see to it that that pistil is not fertilized in any other way^ or he would not know what factors produced the result which he finally obtains. First the plant whose pistil is to be fertilized is stripped of most of its flower buds, so that the remaining ones may develop vigorously. The remaining blossoms are de- prived of their stamens, by the use of fine scissors. This is done before the blossom fully opens, so as to make sure that the anther shall not have already shed pollen on the pistil. Great care is taken, of course, not to injure the pistil when cutting away the stamens ; but the calyx and corolla may be cut away also if they are in the way. The remaining pistil is at once covered with a small paper bag, tied on the flower stalk, so that neither bees nor breezes may deposit undesired pollen there. Insects, to be sure, are not likely to visit a mutilated flower ; but it is necessary to be absolutely sure, or the experiment is worth little. The breeder next takes pollen from the stamen of the TESTING THE RESULT 193 other plant selected, and applies it to the prepared pistil with his finger or with a brush. Usually he first moistens the stigma slightly, to make the pollen adhere to it better. 139. Testing the Result. After all this work, the pollen may not fertilize the ovules, and no seed may be formed. That is, these two plants may refuse to breed together. In a vast number of experiments this is the case. VARIATION IN PLANT BREEDING. Note the differences in size and shape among these kernels of corn. If the ovules are fertilized, seed is formed, and this seed will produce a plant different from its parents. But until this new plant matures, it is impossible to tell whether the plant is an improvement or not. From thou- sands of crosses the breeder selects only a few to preserve. In some cases it takes years before the breeder can tell whether his new cross is worth preserving. If he has been working with apples, he must wait until the new plant produces fruit; and then if the result is disappoint- ing, he must begin over again. It is fortunate, therefore, that he can hasten results with such plants by grafting. If a sprout for the new apple tree, when a year old, is 194 MAKING BETTER PLANTS grafted upon an old tree of almost any sort, the new variety of fruit may be secured and tested in the fourth year from the time the experiment began, while if the seedling is left to develop by itself, many more years will be required. At the best, it is plain that one human life is hardly long enough for complete experiments upon the longest lived plants. Plant breeding is still an infant science; and even more wonderful results are to be looked for from it in the future than those so far secured. II. SOME RESULTS ALREADY SECURED 140. Corn, a leading crop in the United States, has been much improved both in yield and in quality. a. Increasing the yield. The average yield of corn in the United States is still less than 30 bushels to the acre. In Corn Club work, however, Walter Lee Dunson of Ala- bama during the summer of 1913 grew 232.7 bushels of corn on his acre of ground, at a cost of 19.9 cents a bushel. Jerry Moore, another southern boy, is said to have raised 228.7 bushels of corn on his acre. These results were secured partly by superior tillage, partly by selecting superior seed. The latter factor is the only one of the two which has a bearing upon plant breeding. In the average field of corn there are many stalks with only poor ears or with no ear whatever. These barren stalks usually produce an unusual abundance of pollen. Their reproductive energy goes wholly to this. Since the pollen grains from the barren stalks are more numerous relatively than those from productive ones, the tendency to barrenness may increase. A corn breeder counteracts this tendency by removing the tassels of the barren stalks before their pollen can reach the silk of the productive stalks. This operation does more than counteract the evil tendency: it positively strengthens the opposite good CORN 195 tendency, because the ears are then fertilized only by pollen from stalks more productive than the average. The seed from a crop that has been treated in this way will be, not only not worse, but decidedly better, than the seed that produced that crop. Every farmer who saves his own corn seed as all corn raisers , should do ought to be a breeder of corn at least as far as concerns this simple and profitable operation upon his seed plot. There are other still more important methods of breed- ing corn for increased produc- tion. These will be discussed in Chapter XIX. Some of them, too, are suitable for practice on any ordinary farm when corn is raised at all, and their more general adoption would add enormously to our national wealth. If our average corn yield on the present acreage were increased only from 40 bushels to 50 bushels, the increase would be worth half a billion dollars each year. This would pay all the expenses of our school system, from the kindergarten to the university. b. Improvement in quality. An average bushel of corn, weighing 56 pounds, contains approximately 36 pounds of starch 7 pounds of gluten 5 pounds of bran 4 pounds of germ 4 pounds of worthless matter including water. Glucose manufacturers desire corn with high oil value. Feeders of bacon ho) The Piercers or Suckers are insects that have their mouth parts formed into sharp, slender, hollow beaks. They live entirely on sap, which they suck up through the beaks, without eating away the plant's body. They merely pierce the skin of a leaf, and suck up its juices. Plant lice, scales, and squash bugs are sucking insects. HAND SPRAYER. For shrubs and vegetables. A METHOD OF MOUNTING INSECTS. Tobacco worm moth at left ; cecropia moth in center ; mourning cloak butterfly at right. 247. Two Corresponding Kinds of Remedies. The way the mouth parts of insects are constructed, and their method of feeding, determines the choice of materials to be used in spraying them. INSECTS AND JtlKDS (a) The members of the first class are killed by internal poisons. Since they eat away parts of the plant, they WHEAT PARTLY DESTROYED BY THE HESSIAN FLY. can be destroyed much as we destroy rats by putting poison on a piece of bacon for them to eat. As the bacon is eaten, the poison enters the rat's stomach along VJ with it. So we spray ^^ the leaves of plants with a liquid solution poison- ous to insects ; then, as a part of the leaf is con- sumed by an insect, the poison upon the leaf likewise enters the body of the pest and kills it. Two common inter- nal insecticides (internal poisons for killing in- sects) are arsenate of lead and Paris green. ANGOUMOIS GRAIN MOTHS AND GRAIN WEEVILS. Above is the injured grain; below at the left are the weevils ; at the right, the moths. TWO KINDS OF REMEDIES 337 (1) Arsenate of lead, if in the paste form, is mixed with water in the proportion of 3 pounds of the poison to 50 gallons of water. In its dry form 1 pounds of the poison is enough for 50 gallons of water. The materials should be well mixed and strained before spraying. Arsenate of lead by the hundred- weight costs from eight to twelve cents a pound. (2) Paris green is used with quicklime and water in the follow- ing proportions : Paris green \ pound Quicklime 1 pound Water 50 gallons The Paris green is first made into a paste with a little water ; and about a pint of water is addecl to the lime to slake it. The two sub- stances are then put together, some more water added, and the mixture is strained and made up to 50 gallons. If quicklime is not readily secured, one fourth pound of the Paris green may be mixed with 50 gallons of water. The purpose of the quicklime is to prevent the Paris green from burning the foliage. Both insecticides are applied in a fine spray. It is impor- tant that the spray mist touch every part of the plant where the pest is likely to feed. Arsenate of lead is very adhesive, and not easily washed off a plant by rain. It is rapidly taking the place of Paris green for spraying. Farmers often use either one or the other of these insecti- cides in combination with some fungicide (poison for POTATO BEETLE. Stages of growth from egg to adult. INSECTS AND HIRDS killing fungi) like Bordeaux Mixture or diluted lime- sulphur wash. One spraying then serves two pur- poses. For large fields there are "horse sprayers" that cover several rows at one time. Lead arsenate and Paris green are both deadly poisons to larger animals and to man, as well as to insects ; and care must be exercised in putting away these mixtures and in cleaning the vessels used in mixing them. (6) External poisons. Since sucking insects obtain their food from the interior of the plant, and do not eat its tissues, they would not be destroyed by an internal poison unless it were dis- solved in the sap. This would injure the plant. Therefore an external poison is applied to such insects as are attacking the plants. Two common external insec- ticides are the following: (1) Kerosene Emulsion Hard soap pound Hot water 2 gallons Kerosene 2 gallons INSECT WORK ON LEAVES. The soap is cut into thin slices and dissolved in hot water ; and the kerosene is added while the solution is still hot. On dormant trees, without foliage, this solution is diluted with eight times its bulk of water; on foliage, TWO KINDS OF REMEDIES 339 with twelve times its bulk. The mixture should be stirred thoroughly before application. (2) Lime and Sulphur Solution Fresh quicklime 50 pounds Sulphur 100 pounds Water 50 to 60 gallons The lime is slaked in a little water, and the sulphur is made into a paste. Both are boiled together in sufficient water in a kettle for one hour. The solution is then strained, and made up to 50 or 60 gallons by adding water. TOADS EATING CATERPILLARS. When ready for use on dormant trees, as for San Jose" scale, the spray should be diluted with eight times its vol- ume of water or more exactly so that the hydrometer (an instrument to measure densities) reading is 1.03. For summer control work, that is, when the spray is to be used on foliage as a fungicide as well as a weak insecti- cide it should be diluted twenty-four times its volume with water, or so that the hydrometer reads 1.01. These external poisons coat the insect's body with a fine film, and close up its breathing pores. The spraying must be done thoroughly, so as to reach all insects upon the plant. The principle is the same as that of sprinkling chickens with a chicken powder to kill lice. 340 INSECTS AND BIRDH 248. Some harmful insects cannot be reached by sprays. Cutworms, for instance, do much damage in fields and gardens by cutting off the tender plants. To destroy them, one half a pound of Paris green is mixed with twenty-five pounds of dry bran. The mixture is stirred up in two gallons of water and sweetened with a little sugar or molasses. Small quantities of the mash are placed here and there in the soil as the vege- tables come up. Mosquitoes are de- stroyed by the use of kerosene on the ponds in which they breed, a pint of kerosene to 250 square feet of water sur- face. The grain moth is killed by evaporating carbon bisulphide where the grain is stored. The potato vine borer is de- stroyed by gathering up the vines and burning them. The peach tree borer must be dug out when once in the tree. 249. The Great Variety of Insects. There are more than 200,000 different kinds of insects known. Only few of these can be found on one farm ; but if a man who has made a special study of insects should make a list of all the different kinds which he can find in one neighborhood, the number would, no doubt, be surprisingly large. Not all insects are harmful. Some are beneficial ; and 341 others are of no special interest to farmers in either way. Most of the good work done by the beneficial ones con- sists in aiding man in destroying the harmful ones by acting as parasites. 250. Common harmful varieties include the clothes moth, bedbug, carpet beetle, cockroach, apple maggot, weevil, chinch bug, corn-root worm, plant lice, currant worms, potato bugs, and the many other pests that exact a heavy toll from the farmers' toil. Three pests will be treated in some detail, the house fly, the San JosS scale, and the codling moth. 251. We place the house fly first because it is so well known over the en- tire globe, not only in the country, but in most cities as well. In Chap- ter IV we learned that house flies breed in filthy places, and are the carriers of disease germs to man. Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the United States Bureau of Entomology, 1 has made a long study of the house fly in its relation to disease, and he has shown that typhoid fever germs are carried to healthy people principally by the house fly. If there is a microscope in the school, place a house fly under it. Look for the hairs on its body and legs, and for the sticky pads at the toes. You will not be able to 1 Entomology is the Science of Insects. WORK OF WALNUT CATERPILLARS. The leaves are eaten but the nuts are left. 342 INSECTS AND BIRDS see any germs, perhaps, but you can see thousands of tiny hairs to which germs can cling. When flies come from stables and outhouses, these hairs may be literally covered with dangerous germs ; and these may multiply rapidly if allowed to reach suitable food, like milk. The house fly is one of those insects requiring special treatment. A knowledge of the methods by which it se- cures its food is of little value. No one would begrudge the little it eats. We must do two things to control flies: SHOT-HOLE BORER. Above is the insect natural size and below, some of its ravages on peach bark. (1) keep them from hatching, so far as we can ; and (2) keep those which have hatched away from human food. Farm homes should have substantial window screens and fly doors in an excellent state of repair. The com- mon adjustable screen, selling for about thirty-five cents, is easily bent or warped, and hence useless. Permanent screens, to last season after season, ought to be fixed in all the main windows of the house. It is an investment that THE HOUSE FLY 343 pays. For flies that gain entrance, a liberal use of fly paper is recommended. If many flies have entered the house, it is well to close it up, and disinfect with per- manganate of potash and formalin. For a breeding place, the house fly prefers horse manure, but it likes also any other manure. This is one more rea- son (see Chapter IX) for removing barnyard manure to the field as quickly as possible. Excretions in outhouses WORK OF THE SAN JOSE SCALE. Note the many dead branches. should be covered with lime, ashes, land plaster, or plain earth, to keep away the flies ; and, if any member of the family has typhoid fever, the excretions should be treated with formalin, or some other disinfectant. This treat- ment should continue for a year after the disease has disappeared. The power which flies have to reproduce is almost in- credible, as is the case, too, with most other insects. A fly lays about 120 eggs at a time. These eggs will develop into adult flies in about ten days, and half of 344 I \SKCTS AND SCALE PARASITE. them will be females, ready to lay more eggs. In one season, if none of the descendants of the first pair were destroyed, the offspring would equal the unimag- inable number of 2 fol- lowed by twenty-three ciphers. One fly " swat- ted " in the spring means many less in the sum- mer and fall. 252. The San Jose Scale. The house fly is a household pest; the San Jose scale is a pest of the orchard and garden. And a destructive pest it is. Orchard after orchard has been destroyed by it. Entire neighborhoods have lost nearly every fruit tree. Farmers at first seemed helpless in the presence of its ravages. Many of them had never heard of spraying fruit trees, when this insect appeared in this country, and quite a ievt did not believe that spraying would be an effective method of controlling it. No pest, however, has created such an interest WQRK op THE ScALE PARASITE in spraying as the San Jose" scale has. And in a sense, while its damages have been tremendous, the interest it has aroused in the neces- THE CODLING MOTH 345 sity of combating pests by scientific methods is part payment for the injuries it has inflicted in farm and garden. The San Jos6 scale comes from China. The name is taken from the town of San Jose", California, where the insect first appeared in the United States. It is a small sucking insect, a member of the louse family ; and it is called a scale because it develops a flat roundish shell, or "scale," over its body. The scale is from a twenty-fifth to a twelfth of an inch in diameter. The insect inserts its beak in bark, leaf, or fruit ; and injects a poison which injures the sap for the tree but makes it digestible for itself. This modified sap is then sucked into its body. Thousands of these scales at work at one time on a limb will soon destroy it, or at least weaken its vitality. The lime and sulphur spray is a most effective remedy. The spray is applied in spring or fall, while the plant is dormant, or in a leafless state. Every part of the affected tree or shrub, especially all new growths, must be thoroughly covered by the spray. Several kinds of parasites, it has been observed, prey upon the San Jose scale. So far, these parasites have done more in the way of checking its ravages than all the spraying. But checking pests by parasites, as we shall learn a little later, is not always a dependable method. 253. The Codling Moth. The word "codling" means an immature apple. However, the codling worm lives not only in the immature but in the mature or ripe apple. Boys have often noticed a pinkish, dark-headed worm in apples. How often have we gone to the orchard and started to eat an apple, only to come upon an ugly worm ! One can usually see the hole, surrounded with apple chip- pings, where the fellow entered. The worm feeds in and around the seed only, and does not destroy the tree itself :J4! INSECTS AND BIRDS as the San Jose scale may do. When full grown, the worm leaves the apple and hunts out a secluded spot, per- haps under a bit of bark. There it spins around itself a loose silken cocoon. A small gray moth hatches from this cocoon. Spring cocoons hatch in the summer, and fall cocoons hatch the following spring about the time of apple blossom- ing. The moth can best be destroyed while in its worm stage. 1 Since it is a chewing insect, its de- struction is affected by spraying with lead arse- nate or with Paris green. The spray should be ap- plied on the young fruit as soon as the petals have fallen, and before the calyx has closed about the pistil. Spray thor- oughly into and all THE CODLING MOTH. around the fruit cluster. The mother lays an egg on or near the flower. In a few days a tiny worm hatches from the egg and by instinct it is guided toward the enlarging ovary. If this has been covered with poison, the worm's first meal is its last. The tree should have a second spray- Below, the worms in an apple ; above, nests and worms ; two holes in center chip show where woodpecker has robbed the nests. 1 Insects in their development pass through several stages. In the case of moths the stages are four in number; namely, egg, worm, pupa, and adult. It is the pupa that is inclosed in a cocoon, or silken bag. THE SCALE PARASITE 347 ing about a week or two after the first, in order to make sure that all young worms will be poisoned. Infested apples frequently fall to the ground. Up to a certain point this enables the remaining ones to increase in size, on, the principle that the falling is a thinning out process. Since nearly all the early falling apples are apt to be wormy, they should be gathered promptly and fed to the hogs. ICHNEUMON FLIES. These are beneficial, as they lay their eggs in harmful caterpillars. The eggs hatch and the maggots kill the caterpillars. 254. A Few Helpful Insects. If the farmer were obliged, by himself, to check the ravages of each particular pest, it would probably soon be impossible for him to raise enough food for the world's needs. Fortunately for us, insects are ever waging a bitter warfare among themselves. The moment the numbers of one kind increase above the normal, they are preyed upon and checked by parasites. 255. The Scale Parasite. A notable example of this warfare by parasites is seen in the gradual decline in the numbers of the San Jose scale. But a few years ago the scale seemed to be destroying nearly every unsprayed 848 INSECTS AND BIRDS orchard. Many farmers believed that in time every un- sprayed apple, peach, plum, and pear tree would be killed. Here and there, however, some trees were seen to be hold- ing out, showing little damage. It was generally thought that such trees had greater power of resistance to the ravages of the scales. This may be true but cannot be taken as a full explanation of the facts. Unnoticed to the eye of nearly all fruit growers, a tiny worm was at work, within the body of the scale. This worm is hatched from an egg inserted into the scale by a small wasp-like insect about one fiftieth of an inch in length. This parasitic worm, and its near relatives, have now, for the present at least, exterminated the San Jose scale in parts of the Eastern states. In the course of time it is probable that this beneficial parasite may be so reduced in numbers on account of the destruction of the food for which it has formed a liking, or, by still smaller parasites living on itself, that the few scales unparasitized may start to increase again at an enor- mous rate until their parasite can once more multiply to such numbers as to check them. So nature maintains her balance. 256. Bees. When we were studying about cross-pol- linating flowers, bees were mentioned as pollen carriers. In this respect they are very beneficial. But bees are also valuable for the honey which they make. Beekeeping throughout the world is a very old industry ; and in America thousands of colonies are maintained for this purpose. As is well known, bees live in colonies. Each colony is made up of workers, drones, and a queen. The workers are undeveloped females, whose business is to gather pol- len and nectar. The drones are the males. The queen is the only fully developed female. She lays the eggs. BEES 349 The nectar which bees gather from flowers is made into honey, and the pollen into beebread, for the young bees. Bees are kept in hives. A hive is a box having a top and bottom that can be removed. The bottom projects somewhat on one side to form a platform on which the bees may alight. They can then pass inside through a small hole at the base of the hive. Within the box frames BEEHIVES IN AN ORCHARD. Bees are useful in pollinating plants. are arranged in which the honey is to be placed and the young reared. In the spring, when the colony has increased in num- bers and a new queen is about to appear, the old queen gathers together a large number of workers and leaves the colony. This is " swarming." The swarm usually lights on some object like a tree limb. It is then necessary to collect the swarm in a bag, and place it in a new hive. Bee keepers sometimes clip the wings of the queen to keep her from flying far. Thus they run little risk of losing the swarm. During the winter, bees need protection from cold. The hive should be placed in a cellar, or shed, or be INSECTS AND HIRDS loosely covered with straw or old carpet, according to the climate. If bees are carefully handled, there is money in them. But one must not neglect them, nor allow diseases, like the foul brood, to enter the hive. Few farmers, however, engage in beekeeping except as a side issue, and for this reason they are likely to neglect the hives except at odd moments. 257. Birds, too, help the farmer to save his crop, beside adding beauty to his life. Longfellow's " Birds of Killing- V f\ BIRD BOXES. worth " contains the following graphic picture of a bird- less neighborhood, where the farmers had slain all the birds: " The summer came, and all the birds were dead, The days were like hot coals ; the very ground Was burnt to ashes ; in the orchard fed Myriads of caterpillars, and around HOW KIRDS HAVE BEEN STUDIED 351 The cultivated fields and garden beds, Hosts of devouring insects crawled, and found No foe to check their march, till they had made, The land a desert, without leaf or shade." It is believed that if it were not for the birds, success- ful agriculture would not be possible. They not only check the ravages of many harmful insects, but they also eat up tons of weed seeds. 258. How Birds have been Studied. It is diffi- cult to follow a bird day after day to watch what it eats. Some may be seen eating caterpillars one hour, and grain the next, so that the good they are known to do may be offset by the damage. Some years ago, in order to have re- liable information, com- petent men, in the em- ploy of the United States Department of Agricul- ture, undertook to an- alyze the stomachs of many specimens of all the com- mon farm birds. The results of this work have re- moved all doubt as to the fact that most birds pay well for their board and lodging. The following contents, found in the stomachs of a few of the birds examined, show the main articles of diet of those specimens. RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS. All woodpeckers feed on insects harmful to farmers. INSECTS AND IURDS 1 Flicker . . 1 Nighthawk . 1 Crackle . . 1 Killdeer . . 1 Tree Swallow 28 White Grubs 34 May Beetles 100 Cotton Bollworms 300 Mosquito Larvae 30 Chinch Bugs 1 Pheasant 8000 Seeds of Chick weed and Dandelion 1 Duck 72,000 Weed Seeds 1 Bobwhite .... 1700 Weed Seeds 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 217 Fall Webworms 259. Some Less Helpful Birds. Except for a few varieties, the value of farm birds is generally granted. Even those varieties that are usually believed to be harmful have some good points. Hawks and owls are usually classed as thieves. The truth is that most of them also are the friends of the farmer. In the nest of a barn owl there were THE CROW. An enemy of the corn. found over 3000 skulls of mice and rats. Only three species of hawks are known to be injurious, the Cooper's hawk, the sharp-shinned hawk, and the goshawk. An investigation of the food habits of the crow, based on an examination of 909 stomachs, shows that about 29 per cent of its food for the year consists of corn and other grain, the greatest quantity of this being eaten in the winter months. The remaining food consists of noxious insects, wild fruit, and seeds. The English sparrow is another bird of ill repute. The best that can be said for it is that about 10 per cent of its food is weed seeds. Our native sparrows, such as the SUGGESTIONS 353 chipping, vesper, song, field, and grasshopper sparrows, are all beneficial. They look much like the English sparrow and care should be taken to see that they are not killed by mistake. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. Of what value is the study of insects? 2. Distinguish be- tween chewing and sucking insects. 3. In what way may the structure of an insect determine the kind of remedy to be used in controlling it ? 4. Give the composition of an internal and of an external insecticide. 5. Describe the relation of the house fly to man. 6. Discuss the ravages of the San Jos6 scale. 7. In what way may parasites be beneficial ? 8. What have you learned about the codling moth ? 9. Speak about the scale parasite. 10. Of what benefit are bees to the farmer? 11. Commit to memory the quota- tion from Longfellow. 12. How can we prove that birds are an aid to farmers? 13. Have you ever seen any birds doing damage to man? 14. What bird do you consider of least value? HOME EXERCISES 1. Collect all the insect pests you can find at home. Bring them along to school for study. 2. Select an insect pest of your garden or your father's farm, and give an oral report on what you have done to combat it. 3. Make a careful study of one bird, like the grackle, which may be regarded of doubtful value. Follow it for one hour and report its work. SUGGESTIONS 1. An endless variety of school exercises is possible with insects, almost any time of the year. In many sections, the milkweed worm is common when school starts in the fall. Its transformation in a tumbler is delightfully interesting and instructive. It passes through the same stages as all the higher insects, eggs, larva or caterpillar, pupa, and adult. 2. A pest like the cabbage worm or the codling moth, should be brought to school, placed in a tumbler or box, and fed, to get it to pass on to the next stages. Worms should be fed on what they are found eating. Cabbage worms are usually available in September. All that is necessary is a tumbler covered with netting held in place by a rubber band. Collect a few worms and a part of a cabbage leaf 354 INSECTS AND BIRDS and place them in the tumbler. Keep the tumbler clean and add fresh cabbage daily. You may be growing the cabbage butterfly or, if the worm is slightly hairy, a small moth. As in the case of the milkweed worm the transformations take place rapidly. 3. Pupils may be encouraged to send to the State Experiment Sta- tion a specimen of some pest for identification and for information as to the best methods of controlling it. A little practical field study, and a report should then be made on the pest. 4. Get a good bird book, as Chapman's, and learn the names, songs, and habits of the birds. Be kind to the farm birds. Give them food and water when these cannot be secured in winter. 5. Before any bird is condemned, it should be caught stealing or doing some real harm. 6. Concerning bird boxes, do something, even though the boxes are not artistic. Perhaps we can do considerable good in this way even in the country. REFKRKXCKS Bird Life. F. M. Chapman. i'.ronomic Entomology. J. B. Smith. Inserts and Insecticides. C. W. Weed. Injurious Insects to the Farm and Garden. M. Treat. Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D.C. 54. Some Common Birds. 127. Important Insecticides. 155. How Insects affect the Health in Rural Districts. 178. Insects. 275. The Gypsy Moth and how to Control it. 442. Treatment of Bee Diseases. 447. Bees. 492. The More Important Insect and Fungus Enemies of the Fruit and Foliage of the Apple. 4! i:5. The English Sparrow as a Pest. 513. Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard. 543. Common White Grubs. 621. How to Attract Birds in Northeastern United States, 630. Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer. 679. Horse Flies. (The School library may well contain also Long's School of the Woods and Robert's Kindred of the Wild, two charming books that aid in the understanding of nature.) PART IV STOCK CHAPTER XXVII IMPROVEMENT AND FEEDING Tlie lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea. OKAY. 260. The Importance of Farm Animals. Man owes much of his progress to live stock. The ox and the horse have A DAIRY HERD. made history. Until they were domesticated, our fore- fathers were not far removed from savagery. Since they became the companions and the helpers of man, their in- 355 856 IMPROVEMENT AND FEEDING fluence on him, and his on them, have meant the progress of both. Just when this association was first formed, no one knows. Primitive man left scant records of his doings; and so it is only natural that mystery surrounds the early development of our farm animals. We do know, however, that our common stock was once wild, and that man domesticated it. He needed the labor of the horse, and at times, the meat ; and the milk, flesh, and hides of the cow ; the wool and mutton of the sheep ; the eggs and meat of the hen ; and the manure of all such animals to be spread on the land. 261. How Stock is Improved. In their wild state, all our farm animals were very inferior to the varieties that we know to-day. The horses lacked speed and draft. The cows furnished enough milk only to supply the needs of their young. Little lard grew on the sides of the swine. The jungle fowl laid no more eggs than were necessary to keep up the numbers of her offspring. And the wool of the sheep was scant and poor in quality. Just as man improved wild plants into plants of much higher usefulness to him, so, too, he improved wild animals. The two greater natural forces with which he worked were heredity and variation. These forces we have dis- cussed in Chapter XIV. To-day man understands better how to use these forces than his ancestors did, and recent progress in live-stock improvement has been exceedingly rapid. Heredity helps the farmer to keep up his standard : variation gives him a chance to improve his standard. The average hen in farm flocks lays about 135 eggs a year. In almost every flock, however, some hens lay more than that. One or two in a common flock may lay 200 eggs. If the farmer can find out which these are (a matter that calls for some time and trouble), and then GRADING UP LIVE STOCK 357 uses only their eggs in raising new chickens, the young hens should, many of them, lay about 200 eggs a year. Those that lay many less should be weeded out. If one or two lay 250 eggs, there is chance for still further advance. By careful " selection " of this kind, chicken breeders in late years have produced whole flocks that average nearly 250 eggs a year, while some 300-egg hens have been produced. Lady Eglantine, a White Leghorn, of the Delaware station has an official record of 314 eggs for one year. Man's part in this improvement is to select, over and over again, the proper variations that nature offers, and then to protect these selections from going backward toward the old average by mixing with poorer stock. 262. Grading up Live Stock. Much money could be added to the farmer's income, if his stock had more desir- able qualities. For ex- ample, the average cow of the United States produces 145 pounds of butter fat yearly. But in 1914, May Rilma, then the champion Guernsey of the world, produced 1058. 54 pounds of butter fat from April 8, 1913, to April 7, 1914; and since then (1915) this record has been beaten by several cows. In all herds, there are differences enough in production so that the farmer may " grade up " his herd by selecting only the higher producers for breeding purposes. Certain terms are in use to express the standing of A HOLSTEIN CALF. Sold in Chicago June 5, 1914, for $20,000. 358 IMPROVEMENT AND FEEDING live stock. Pure-bred animals are those which have been bred for particular qualities during a number of genera- tions. To be recognized as "pure," they must have a pedigree, that is, a statement of their ancestry. Grades are the offspring of a " pure-bred " parent and a scrub or an- other "grade." When more than half of an animal's parentage is pure bred, it is called high grade. If the ani- mal comes from a cross between two different kinds of pure breeds, it is called a crossbred. Few farmers can afford to stock a farm all at once with pure-bred animals. The cost is too high, desirable as such animals are. As a rule, the best way is to " grade up " the stock. For this, the farmer needs to buy only a pure-bred male for his herd sire. This sire is bred to the best females at hand. Of the offspring, only the best are kept for mothers. By continuing to select and breed in this way, the herd will soon consist of "high grades." If the farmer can afford to buy one or two pure-bred females, along with the sire, he will be laying the foundation for a new pure-bred herd at the same time that he is so " grad- ing up " his old herd. 263. A breeder may aim at any one of a variety of qualities. and, by skillful selection of animals to be bred, he may approach his ideal. Unfortunately, too many breed mainly for qualities that are only ornamental. Until very re- cently, chicken breeders selected breeding stock more to secure markings of the feathers than to secure high egg production ; and prizes at poultry shows have usually been awarded on this false basis. So breeders of Jersey cows have often been in the habit of discarding a good milker if she did not happen to have a black nose and black tongue, while Guernsey breeders discard heifers, otherwise promising, if they do have a black nose. It is beginning to be understood that such practice is THREE KINDS OF FEEDS 359 wrong. The wise breeder aims at two qualities, per- formance and ability to reproduce. The cow that gives a large quantity of good milk is to be preferred, in breeding, to the cow with the most perfect color markings. But even that high-producing cow is of little value to the BEEF CATTLE IN PASTURE. dairy world if her calves are few, or weak, or of inferior quality. 264. Feeding. In getting good results from the farm animals, feeding is next to breeding in importance. We have learned in Chapter VIII that plants are nour- ished by such simple foods as nitrates, phosphates, and potash in the soil. Animals cannot make use of these foods directly. It is the work of plants to transform these simple substances into more complex bodies by combining them with other simple compounds like water and carbon dioxide. 265. Three Kinds of Feeds. In this way, plants form three main kinds of food for animals, proteins, carbohy- drates, and fats. Some mention of these has been made in Chapter XI. In most vegetables and grains, the three are combined in some proportion. But protein occurs nearly pure in the white of an egg; carbohydrate, in 360 IMPROVEMENT AND FEEDING starch and sugar ; and fat, in lard. Stock feeds differ in no way from the vegetable food we serve on the table except in their coarseness, and in the fact that heat is seldom applied in preparing them for eating, and in the further fact that no attention is given to seasoning. Protein, we have said, contains the important element of nitrogen. Its presence in any feed can be detected by AN ELABORATE DAIRY BARN. the yellow color produced if a few drops of nitric acid be dropped on it. As found in the white of an egg, it coagu- lates when heated. Its main work is to build tissues, and to repair those that are wearing out. llecent experiments show that it can also take the place, for a time at least, of carbohydrates and fats, but only at high cost. Fats and carbohydrates are considered together because their functions in feeding are similar. Both produce energy and yield heat, although fat is two and one fourth times as valuable for this purpose as carbohydrate. Car- bohydrate, however, is of particular importance because of its bulkiness and its high per cent of crude fiber. These SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 361 qualities are mechanical aids in digestion. Carbohydrates are readily transformed into fat in the animal's body. 266. The foil wing table shows the per cents, or number of pounds per hundred, of digestible nutrients of dry mat- ter, protein, carbohydrate, and fat, in a few common feeds, together with their nutritive ratios. 1 100 POUNDS OF DEY MATTER PROTEIN CARBOHY- DRATES AND FAT NUTRITIVE EATIO Alfalfa hay . . . 91.6 11.0 42.3 1 3.8 Buckwheat bran . . 89.5 7.4 34.7 1 4.7 Clover hay .... 84.7 6.8 39.6 1 5.8 Corn silage . . . 20.9 .9 12.9 1 14.3 Corn grain . . . 89.1 7.9 76.4 1 9.7 Gluten meal . . 91.8 25.8 68.1 1 2.6 Linseed meal . . . 90.8 29.3 48.5 1 1.7 Oats, grain . . . 89.0 9.2 56.8 1 6.2 Timothy hay . . . 86.8 2.8 46.6 1 16.6 Wheat bran . . 88.1 12.2 45.3 1 3.7 Wheat middlings 87.9 12.8 60.7 1 4.7 NOTE. If you take any of the numbers in the protein column and divide it into the corresponding number of the carbohydrate and fat column, the second number of the ratio will be found. For example, 42.3 divided by 11.0 equals 3.8. The nutritive ratio then is a method of expressing the protein by 1 and the carbohydrate and fat correspondingly. It will at once be noticed from the table that there is a wide difference in the composition of foodstuffs. This difference must be taken into account in feeding. 267. Scientific Feeding. Scientific feeding takes into con- sideration the cost, palatability, digestibility, bulk, variety, and composition of different feeds and the effects on the health of the animal. In Henry's feed tables, feeding 1 By this phrase, nutritive ratio, is meant the ratio of the weight of digest- ible protein in any food to the weight of digestible carbohydrates and fat combined. 36:2 IMPROVEMENT AND FEEDING standards per day for 1000 pounds live weight are given. Expert feeders follow tables of this nature. Examples of these requirements are as follows : HKNRY'S FEED TABLE FOR 1000 POUNDS WEIGHT DBY MATTER PROTEIN CARBO- 1IYDBATR AND FAT NUTRITIVE RATIO Horse moderately worked . . . Cows giving 11 pounds milk daily Cows giving 22 pounds milk daily Fattening cattle Pound* -M 25 29 30 Pound* 2.0 1.6 2.5 3.0 Pound* 12.4 10.7 14.1 16.1 1:6.2 1:6.7 1:5.6 1 -5.4 Fattening swine 32 4.0 25.1 1 -6.3 Poultry, for egg production . . 55 8.2 39.4 1:4.8 Suppose a 1000-pound horse, moderately worked, were given the following rations daily : DRY MATTER PROTEIN CARBO- HYDRATE ANI> FAT NUTRITIVE RATIO 10 pounds timothy hay . . . 10 pounds clover 8.6 8.4 .0 .6 4.6 3.9 8 pounds oats 7.1 .7 4.5 5 pounds wheat bran .... 4.4 .6 2.2 Total weight 28.5 2 1 15.2 1 :7.2 Requirements of standard . _'l 2.0 12.4 1:6.2 By comparing the total weight with the requirements as stated in the table, it will be noticed that the feed or ration selected contains too much dry matter and carbohydrate and fat and a very slight excess of protein, and that the nutritive ratio is too wide ; that is, there is not enough protein for the carbohydrate and fat. A feed, therefore, should be selected with consideration of cost, palatability, FEEDSTUFFS and variety, that would supply less dry matter and carbo- hydrate and fat, and that would bring down or narrow the nutritive ratio to nearly 1 : 6.2. Such a feed would be what is known as a balanced ration. Let us make another trial ration, dropping the clover hay entirely and substituting linseed meal for wheat bran. DRY MATTEK PROTEIN CARBO- HYDRATE AND FATS NUTBITIVK RATIO 14 pounds timothy hay . . 10 pounds oats 12.15 8.9 .392 .92 6.52 5.68 3 pounds linseed meal . . . 2.72 .879 1.46 Total weight .... Requirement of standard 23.77 24.00 2.191 2.00 13.66 12.4 1: 6.2 1: 6.2 It will at once be noticed that the above proportions satisfy the requirements of the standard ration as to nutritive ratio exactly, and as to the other three require- ments very closely. Theoretically, then, other things being favorable, these quantities of feeds may be used. It is quite possible, however, that the first ration would give as good results as the second in spite of its greater variation from the standard. The linseed meal has a marked effect on the digestive action of the bowels and is used mostly to secure finish in a horse for sale or for the show ring, but not above ten per cent of the total feed. If we take one pound of linseed meal and two pounds of wheat bran instead of the three pounds of the linseed meal, we should have, for most work horses, a better ration, although one not as closely balanced as the one just given. 268. From the standpoint of bulk, feedstuffs are divided into two classes, roughages and concentrates. By rough- age is meant coarse materials like silage, fodder, and hay. Concentrates contain more nourishment, bulk for bulk. o't IMPROVEMENT AND FEEDING i, grains, middlings, chop of all sorts, are examples of concentrates. Good feeding requires a mixture of both roughage and concentrates. Roughage is used mostly for filling up the intestines and for carrying along the more nutritious feeds. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. How do the improvement and the feeding of stock go together? '2. Which is the most important factor in improvement, feeding or breeding? 3. Define and illustrate the law of heredity. 4. Is the law of heredity of more practical value to the farmer than the law of variation ? 5. What is meant by " grading up " a herd? 6. Con- trast a "grade" witli a crossbred. 7. For what ideals should a breeder strive? 8. As regards the food consumed, how do plants differ from animals? 9. Give the function of each class of feed for animals. 10. What points are considered in scientific feeding? 11. Define a balanced ration and a nutritive ratio. 12. Work out a balanced ratio for a cow weighing 1000 pounds and giving 22 pounds of milk daily. 13. Distinguish between a roughage and a concen- trate. HOMK EXKRCISE 1. Give a complete report on the methods of home feeding and compare these methods with those of the standard tables so far as they are given in the table. 2. What pure-bred stock do you have? Ask your father whether pure-bred stock pays. 3. How much money does your father spend each year for feed ? If there is an analysis given on the sacks, copy it and bring the analysis to school. ySuGGESTIONS 1. To illustrate the universal laws of heredity and variation, many leaves of a tree, the apple leaf for instance, may be brought to school. Each pupil may try to find two exactly alike. 2. One hundred leavas should be measured and a graph (like those made in algebra) of them may be placed en the board. Arrange the graph as follows : For the smallest leaf, place a dot in the upper right-hand corner above number 1, and opposite the number for centimeters (fractional REFERENCES 365 parts of an inch, quarters, for example, may be used) appearing on the left side. The numbers on the side iadicate the height of the leaf. A mark for the next larger should be placed above number 2, in the upper right-hand corner of the square opposite its height, and so on. Draw a line connecting these points. The horizontal tendency of the line represents the law of heredity ; its vertical tendency, the law of variation. 1 REFKRENCES The Feeding of Animals. Jordan. . Feeding Farm Animals. Shaw. Principles of Breeding. Davenport. Management and Feeding of Cattle. Shaw. Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D.C. 22. The Feeding of Farm Animals. 170. Principles of Horse Feeding. 251. Cheap Dairy Rations. 305. Roots and Cabbages for Stock Food. 1 This statement is not strictly accurate since heredity and variation refer to the likeness or unlikeness between ancestors and offspring. The method of procedure, however, were the materials as available, would be the same as above. CHAPTER XXVIII CATTLE The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising, There are forty feeding like one. WORDSWORTH. 269. All boys and girls are naturally interested in cattle. Cattle are beautiful creatures, and in most cases entirely harmless. Watch the cows grazing. They move along LIVE-STOCK JUDGING. together, facing in one direction, cropping rapidly and steadily. Watch them at noonday chewing the cud, lying under a spreading tree, or standing knee-deep in a cool 366 BEEF TYPES 367 stream, a perfect picture of peace and contentment. Then the young calf ! What a wabbly creature it is ! Because it cannot stand the journey with its mother while she is browsing she hides it, perhaps in a clump of bushes. And for the reason that it must go without food for a long time, it has a large, compound stomach which holds nourishment enough for several hours. The mother, too, feeding her young at such long intervals, needs a large udder to hold the milk supply. 270. Fanners, however, raise cows, not because they are beautiful, or have interesting structures and habits, but because they may be very profitable. There was a time when cattle were the main bearers of man's burdens. They serve that purpose still in China, and, indeed, to some degree, even in some sections of the United States. In our pioneer days, especially when there was much logging to be done, oxen were preferred to horses. Oxen pulled slowly but steadily, and had sufficient patience for such tedious work. As draft animals they even yet are widely used, particularly in foreign countries. The main reason, however, for our interest in cattle lies in the fact that they supply us with meat, hides, milk, and many useful products of milk, cream, butter, and cheese, and that they supply large quantities of manure. We have learned how important it is to keep up soil fer- tility. Cattle return to the soil as manure nearly three fourths of the fertile elements which they consume as food. The breeds of farm cattle are classified under two heads, beef cattle and dairy cattle. 271. Beef Types. The use to which our forefathers designed cattle determined their type. Beef and the ability to produce just enough milk to feed the calves were the two things wanted in the beef types. The ani- 368 CATTLE mals belonging to that type are low, blocky, compact, broad in the back, and usually poor milkers. The com- mon breeds are : Shorthorn, or Durham, Polled Durham, Hereford, Aberdeen Angus, and Galloway. (a) The Shorthorns, or Durhams, came from northern England. They were early brought to this country, and are widely distributed and very popular here. Even as a HEREFORD Cow. dairy animal they sometimes take fair rank. In England there is considerable Shorthorn blood in good dairy herds. The horn is variable but always short. In color they have a wide range, being pure red, red and white, pure white, or roan. (Roan is a growing together of red and white hair without forming solid patches of either color.) The Polled Durham* are merely hornless Shorthorns. (6) The Hereford cattle come from Hereford in the western part of England. They were first imported BEEF TYPES 369 into the United States by Henry Clay in 1817. As a breed, they seem best adapted to level regions. They are found, therefore, chiefly on the plains west of the Mis- SHORTHORN BULL. sissippi, and on the prairies of Argentina and Australia. Their thick coat of hair and their strong vitality makes them unusually successful under hard conditions of cli- HEREFORDS AT PASTURE. 370 CATTLE mate. They are occasionally called " white faces," be- cause the white face and underline contrast sharply with the red bodies. The muzzle is flesh-colored, and the horns well-developed. ( Number of special premiums ; nature of same Chickens used at home should be credited at market prices. Labor at 10 cents per hour : Number of hours ; cost- - . KIND OF FEED NUMBER OF POUNDS USED COST OF FEED Dollars Cents 444 POULTRY Two copies of this report must be filled out to January 1 ; one to be given to the teacher and the other to be retained by the club member. SUGGESTIONS 1. Send to your Agricultural College for modern poultry house plans. Small models can readily be made in school. After the models have been completed, mount them on the floor or on a broad table. Sawdust stained with a green dye may be placed around them to resemble grass. Invite the patrons of the school to see the exhibit. Compare these models with the poultry houses of the com- munity. If there is a planing mill or box factory in the neighbor- hood, the scraps of material needed for the sides and supports can be cheaply and easily obtained. The entire cost of an excellent poultry- house model need not exceed ten cents. 2. Open up a fresh uncooked egg in a shallow cup or saucer. Note the germ, a small red spot on the yolk. This is the vital spot where growth of the chick begins in a fertile egg. Notice thechala/a in the albumen or white of the egg. This is made up of denser layers of albumen, and is for the purpose of protecting the unhatched chick by keeping it away from the shell. Take a little of the albumen and of the yolk, and shake them separately in a glass containing a little water. Note which appears to be the more oily. Examine the shell. Note the two membranes. Both membranes can be seen at the thicker end of the shell, where there is an air space. Hold a bit of the shell and membrane up to the light separately, to see if either is porous. If a microscope were available, the pupils would be better able to see the pores if any are present. Gases must enter and leave the egg during the hatching period. Can gases pass through a membrane that is not porous? 3. Remove the shell from a hard-boiled egg. Study the membranes of the shell, and the layers of albumen. Notice the whitish layers in the yolk. Fat is lighter in weight than albumen, hence the yolk floats at its surface, as is seen when the shell is removed. For this reason eggs must be turned occasionally for a few days during the early period of hatching. Otherwise, the germ that is found on the top of the yolk would dry fast to the shell and die. A sitting hen, of course, turns the eggs herself. 4. Each pupil should keep a record of the home egg production. The number of hens should be counted, and a record kept of the number of eggs produced by them. Determine the per cent of laying hens. REFERENCES 445 REFERENCES Productive Poultry Husbandry. Lewis. Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture. Robinson. American Standard of Perfection. Drevenstedt. Making Poultry Pay. Powell. Farmers' Bulletins. Washington, D.C. 51. Standard Varieties of Chickens. p 128. Eggs and Their Use. 200. Turkeys. 236. Incubation and Incubators. 287. Poultry Management. 445. Market Eggs through the Creamery. 452. Capons and Caponizing. 528. Hints to Poultry Raisers. 530. Important Poultry Diseases. 562. The Organization of Boys' and Girls' Poultry Clubs. 574. Poultry House Construction. 594. Shipping Eggs by Parcel Post. 624. Natural and Artificial Brooding of Chickens. 682. -A Simple Trap Nest for Poultry. PART V FARM ECONOMICS CHAPTER XXXIII FARM FINANCE " If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." EXODUS x.\H. 25. 325. The Call of Better Farm Management. We have now studied a few facts about rural life ; and a few points on the soil, its origin, composition, and treatment. We have noted certain peculiarities of farm plants, how they can be best selected and grown with profit ; and we have also become acquainted with some of the well-recog- nized principles of feeding farm stock, also how cattle^ horses, sheep, and poultry are grouped into types and breeds, each presenting its special point of interest. But a knowledge of all these things is valuable only so far as it can be made to serve useful purposes. Knowledge is power only when put into use. We must not conclude our study of the great subject of agriculture without a brief discussion of farm management, the kind of management which spells farm, community, and national efficiency. Agriculture is not only a science and an art, but a plain business proposition as well. And whenever we talk of busi- ness we talk of money and we deal with principles of finance. In every chapter of this book " Home Exercises " have 446 WHAT CAPITAL is 447 been outlined. We desired to give you, as you worked on these exercises, the skill to earn money for yourself. Out- side of school, learning and earning go together. The more we learn of what is really useful in our work the more we shall probably earn. The amount, however, depends in large measure on whether we are good managers or not ; in other words, on whether we have good judgment and show business ability as well. American farmers have often been criticized for their lack of good business sense. Many of them do not keep records of receipts and expenditures of important farm operations. Many are at times extremely radical, then at other times extremely conservative, on scientific and finan- cial questions. The only thing that has saved them against the competition of the world has been their boundless re- sources and their exceptional opportunities. Up to within a few years it was possible to waste our soil, destroy our forests, and neglect our capacity for developing and extend- ing credit in rural sections, without feeling the effects of mismanagement severely either in the foreign or in the domestic trade. But these days are gone. Farming is now coming to be more and more a business enterprise the world over ; and it is our plain, patriotic duty as Americans to recognize the necessity of skillful management in directing this business, just as we have for years recognized it in the organization and direction of our industrial affairs. At bottom our agricultural problem is largely an eco- nomic one. It concerns capital and all the agencies, both individual and collective, which can attract and manage capital under conditions that will promote and not pre- vent rural development. We will first inquire as to 326. What is Capital? Capital, according to Adam Smith, is all resources from which one expects revenues. 44S FARM FINANCE It is wealth employed in production. Let us use a common illustration to show how capital differs from mere wealth with which it is often confused. You may own a fancy chicken, ornamented with feathers of an unusual design. You did not breed this chicken in order to make money out of it, but merely for the pleasure its presence gave you. This chicken is a form of wealth. If, however, you are raising this fancy stock for profit, it will then be capi- tal, since it is used for production of more wealth. The /SLV ' ~ * SUCCESSFUL FARMING REQUIRES CAPITAL essential feature of capital then, whether in the form of money, tools, machinery, stock, or land, is the use to which it is put, rather than the form which it takes. Farm capital is sometimes regarded either as fixed or circulating. By the term fixed capital is meant such forms as land, bridges, and roads, which may be used many times in production. Circulating capital consists of such articles as fuel, fertilizer, and feed, which lose their value or are consumed when used. THE NEED OF CAPITAL 449 327. Need of Capital. It was stated in Chapter IV that the per cent of tenant farmers in the United States is increasing. The following census table shows this: 1880 1890 1900 1910 Per cent of Tenants to Landlords 25.6 28.4 35.3 37 This growth in tenancy is more of a symptom than a cause of any fundamental disturbance in our country life. It is a symptom that more capital is needed in successful farming to-day than was required a generation ago; that small farms poorly equipped with machinery and stock are placed at a disadvantage when competing with larger farms under modern management. Even small farms of less than 100 acres equipped in modern fashion may now be laboring under a handicap. Large farms of several hundred acres fitted out with up-to-date appliances can often produce yields most economically. All this means large capital. In early days little capital was needed for farm purposes. If farmers did lay aside a little money each year, they were more likely to buy some municipal bond or well- advertised stock calculated to improve a distant city or industrial center than to invest these earnings in farm improvements. A few simple tools, many of which were made at home or at the local blacksmith shop, were all that they knew how to use. Land was either free or very cheap. Not only land, but expensive stock, tools, and machinery, are necessities in present day agri- culture. Our industrial development has outrun our agricultural development. We have watched the building of great 450 FARM FINANCE trunk lines and the growth of industrial centers with satisfaction. Nor was it regarded of vital importance, to equalize the burdens of taxation on the property of the manufacturers and that of the farmers. The report of the commission which recently investigated the tax ques- tion in California, a typical state, reports that: "Manu- facturers pay of one per cent on their capital in taxes; TRANSPORTATION. Here may be seen a railroad and a canal side by side, two common types of transportation. farmers pay 1.14 per cent, or two and one third times as much. Manufacturers pay of one per cent of their gross income in taxes; farmers pay nearly 7 per cent, or twenty times as much. Manufacturers pay 2 per cent of their net income, while farmers pay 10 per cent, or five times as much." It would doubtless be an error to consider the lack of capital in farming as the only cause of the alarming THE NEED OF CAPITAL 451 tendency of our foreign trade, but that it is a vital factor cannot be denied. Our food animals and foodstuffs exported during the fiscal year of 1912 amounted to $99,900,000 or 4.6 per cent of our total exports, while during the fiscal year 1900 they amounted to $227,300,000 or 16.59 per cent of the total exports. Our similar imports for the year 1912 were $180,120,000, but for the year 1900 were only $68,700,000. During this period our foreign trade was not affected by war, and when the present war is over the same tendency, unless arrested, will continue. In plain language we are exporting less and less, and importing more and more, each succeeding year. What will the final effect of this be on splendid America ? Bankers, statesmen, all patriotic citizens, are begin- ning to inquire why this is so and where it will lead to. It was once thought that a lack of scientific farming alone was responsible. Scientific farming is without doubt an important factor, but just as our industries, even with American ingenuity and skill, would have labored under a tremendous handicap without available capital, just so our agriculture has been for years, and is especially now, distressed because of a lack of financial accommodations suited to its peculiarities. These peculiarities call for low rates, long terms, and that type of security which is based in large measure on character, thrift, and intelligent industry. Our national and state policies have been built up with the idea of encouraging manufacturing and of neglecting, or what is worse, of placing a handicap on the develop- ment of farming. That farm capital is of vital importance to successful agriculture can be seen in part from an investigation 4;V2 FARM FINANCE made recently by Professor Warren of 615 farms operated by owners, of Tompkins County, New York. The fol- lowing are the results of this investigation: RELATIONS OK CAPITAL TO PROFITS CAPITAL NUMBER OF FARMS AVERAGE INCOME or LABOR 12,000 or less 36 $192 2,000-$ 4,000 200 240 4,000-6,000 183 390 6,000-8,000 94 530 8,000-10,000 45 639 10,000-15,000 44 870 over 15,000 13 1164 It will at once be noticed from the foregoing table that farmers with $4000 capital were making less than the hired man, and that farmers with the larger capital were getting the larger labor income. Hence it is more profit- able, ordinarily, unless a farmer can get control of about $5000 worth of capital, to be a hired man, a share renter, a cash renter, or part owner, than to be a full owner. 1 For this reason young farmers, especially, enter the tenant class, and, unless they can control later on a reasonable amount of capital, find it most profitable to remain indefinitely in this class. But it is necessary, whether owners or tenants, to get the control of some capital the more, within certain 1 A share renter is one in which the landlord may furnish the tenant the land only; or the laud and some of the live stock, feed and fertilizer; or everything except human labor. The tenant and the landlord divide up or " share " the produce of the land, each taking the part agreed on, often one half. The cash renter usually furnishes everything except the fixed capital land and buildings, and agrees to pay a stipulated sum to the landlord for the use of the fixed capital. THE NEED OF CAPITAL 453 limits, the better, and this question of the need of capital takes us at once into one of the most pressing problems of American farm life, how to secure, under the best terms, the capital requirements for the ordinary farmer. How May Capital be Secured? There are but two ways open to the farmer to secure the capital he needs, he may spend less than he earns or he may borrow what he re- quires from others. 1 If a person is obliged to wait on his own efforts for the money he must have in business, he will be obliged very often to skimp along through life with scant productive power. If, however, he can borrow some money, not to pay living expenses, but to add to his power as a pro- ducer, he may be able soon to pay back the amount loaned from the increased earnings. Some farmers think that it is not respectable to borrow money and thus carry a debt. It gives them greater joy to have a little bag of gold hid in a safe place in the floor, having the sweet consciousness that they may be able to add a little to this sum in miserly fashion from year to year, than to plan on borrowed capital a wider, a richer, and a more productive farm life. Wise borrowing is re- spectable, for the reason that it is the only means of in- creasing the earning power open to many farmers. Where to secure the Capital. There are four sources of supply open to the average farmer, private individuals, stores, banks, and cooperative associations. , 2 When a farmer comes to one of these sources for funds the first question asked him is, What credit or security 1 Neither of these methods, of course, includes what may be obtained by the laws of inheritance. 2 Borrowing from private individuals is the simplest method, and it would be the best if the borrower and the lender could readily find each other. 454 FA KM FINANCE does he possess, that is, what confidence can the lender place in him for the materials or money to be advanced. 1 Why is it that when a farmer asks for assistance from one of the sources of supply, his credit is not regarded as good as that of the average manufacturer ? A banker of Stark County, North Dakota, as quoted in a recent issue of The American Review of Reviews, says that often the farmers are themselves to blame. " It is our belief," the banker says, " that the scarcity of money and the high interest rates are largely due to poor fanning. The people having money to loan know well that our farmers here have an uncertain income, according to their present methods of farming, and would expect a much higher rate commensurate with the risk taken than when they can find people where money can be placed more safely. As conditions are now, some people have not paid all their interest for at least three or sometimes for four years. ... As soon as farmers can show that they are safe and can take care of their obligations promptly, they can command the lowest interest rates that may exist. We believe it is more necessary to work on better farming methods, encouraging them, than on better interest ra'tes ; for the lower interest rates are the natural consequence to better farming." 2 We will now take up the main loaning facilities open to farmers more in detail. 328. The Country Store. The country store has always exerted a marked influence on the business and social activities of farm life. This influence, however, has often 1 Credit has couie to be the chief instrument of business. Most of the world's work is being carried on through credit. A manufacturer gives his note in payment for the materials he must have. He expects to pay off the note from the proceeds of the business made possible from these materials. The note based on credit is a substitute for money. 2 This view, of course, expresses the lender's side of the question. THE COUNTRY STORE 455 been harmful to farmers. In no part of the country have local merchants developed a more vicious system of agri- cultural credit than they have in the South. It has been the custom of the storekeepers of this section to advance corn and bacon and such other produce as the poor farmers needed, expecting to be paid from the proceeds of the cotton crop. Cotton in the South is the main money crop, and this crop is often mortgaged to the storekeeper. The farmer in consequence is obliged to get his produce from the man who holds the mortgage and is further required to plant cotton to the exclusion of other crops. The evils of this one-crop system naturally multiply, the land becom- ing poorer and poorer. Diversified farming to the extent of raising corn and bacon is discouraged by the local mer- chants for the obvious reason that the raising of these necessities would decrease their trade, since corn and bacon are the chief articles advanced by the merchants. For years one of the chief handicaps to a better agricultural life in the South has been this baneful type of credit. In justice to the local merchants it must be said, how- ever, that it is often necessary for them to supervise the type of farming out of sheer self-defense on account of the fact that some of the farmers are thriftless and lightly re- gard their financial obligations. It has been discovered in North Dakota, from a ques- tionnaire sent to 54 hardware dealers supplying goods to farmers, that only 13 per cent pay cash and 87 per cent ask for credit; that most of the transactions are book transactions, and that the average account runs over a year, or more exactly 12.37 months. The average rate of inter- est on the notes held by these dealers against the farmers is 10.26 per cent. It often happens if a crop fails and the farmer is unable to pay the principal, the dealers must keep the account open for another year. While the country 4f>r, FARM FINANCE store has often been of genuine service to farmers in exchanging produce which farmers do not need for sup- plies which they must have, yet the main evil arises when merchants are in a position to dictate the type of agricul- ture to be followed. We will now see what is the relation of commercial banks to rural credits. 329. Bank Credit. Bank credit is better suited to the needs of agriculture than is store credit. When a farmer goes to the bank he gets cash and can then buy where he pleases. He at once becomes more independent. Banks are middlemen and desire short or long loans on tangible security, short loans of from 30 to 90 days, so that they can often turn over their money during the year ; long loans, and this is especially true of sav- ings banks, so that they can have a permanent in- vestment of their funds. In either case the terms and conditions of the loans may not fit in to the requirements of agriculture. However, from a recent report of the Comptroller of Currency of the United States our banks held outstanding loans of $ 1,769,000,000, which was mostly on farm mortgages. Mortgage loans, while of excellent help in securing title FARMERS' BANK. COOPERATIVE LAND BANKS 457 to land, are not well adapted to raising money for buying seeds, tools, fertilizers, and household supplies, for the reason that the long time the mortgage usually runs, from three to five years, is not well suited to such purposes. Neither do the terms of bank loans nor their rates suit the needs of farmers. A farmer must often pay from four to six per cent more interest than the manufacturer. For these and other reasons there are coming into existence in this country, as there have been in Europe for more than half a century, banks known as cooperative land banks. 330. Cooperative Land Banks. The following are the chief characteristics of cooperative land banks. 1. They are organized and managed by and for the farmers themselves. 2. Loans are made to farmers at the lowest possible rate and for as long a time as needed, but for provident and productive enterprises only. 3. The funds for these loans are borrowed mostly from outside sources. Some cooperative banks sell stock to members to raise some of the funds. 4. The security required is personal, a responsible neighbor or two indorsing the note of the borrower. 5. Each member is jointly liable for his share of the debts of the bank, and in Europe that liability is often unlimited. 6. The sphere of activity of each of these banks is local, what we might call a school district, each member thus being able to investigate the purpose for which the loan is to be made. These are the main characteristics of cooperative banks as they have been organized in Europe. We can understand much better the great part they can play in farm finance if we learn the thrilling story of Herr Raiffeisen. 458 FARM FINANCE Who was Herr Raiffeisen ? During the middle of the last century there lived in Westerwald, a poverty-stricken section of the province of Westphalia, on the Rhine, a well-to-do and kind-hearted gentleman by the name of Raiffeisen. Herr Raiffeisen dearly loved his neighbors, who were mostly poor German peasants. He studied how he could relieve their sufferings and make their lives more enjoyable. He saw that these peasants were not ignorant as a rule and that they knew how to farm, how to sow their seeds, how to cultivate the soil, and how to garner their crops. But there was distress everywhere. No one doubted that, and no one seemed to know just why. The poor peasants had great confidence in the wisdom of Raiffeisen and for this reason they chose him to be the Burgomeister of the little farming village of Weyerbusch. Herr Raiffeisen, after having made a most careful study of the causes of this widespread distress, gave it as his opinion that the chief cause was lack of cooperation, espe- cially in money matters. Here he saw poor German women wending their weary way to a distant market, each bearing a load of sufficient weight to burden a horse, while a neighbor's team was standing idle, in the stall. There he saw Jewish and Christian money lenders, exacting their usurious and exorbitant gains from the peasant farmers, farmers who individually were at the mercy of these loan sharks. Each farmer was trying to fight his battles alone. To add to their misfortunes a famine for which the peasants were in no way responsible was also upon them. This was in the years 1846 and 1847. Herr Raiffeisen's first step toward practical cooperation was to establish a cooperative bakery through which the peasants might buy their bread at about one half the COOPERATIVE LAND BANES 459 regular selling price. He then organized a cooperative association for the purchasing of cattle. Both ventures were highly successful from the start. Raiffeisen then gathered these good, honest, but poverty- stricken peasants together and explained to them in plain speech that the cause of most of their woes was their own mistrust of one another. He told them to get together and combine their resources, forget their differences, and present a united front to the evils which oppressed them. " If you who trust one another organize into a society to form a savings and loan bank to which character is the prime requisite for membership and to which you will pledge all the property you own, we can dig a channel for credit. We will keep our own money in the district and we will attract savings. Bankers will loan on the property of all of us, so that money will come to us when we need it to help us in our production. Indirectly the whole district will benefit. " We can accept savings from anybody, but loan only to members, and to them only for purposes which will bring increase. We will pay only a moderate interest on savings, and then it will be necessary to ask members to pay only a little more for their loans. To make a loan we may take the same sort of securities as other banks. We may loan on personal security if we keep a high standard of membership. If money is needed for any reason, any one of you may go to your neighbor and show him what you want to do and why it will be profitable for you to do it. If he approves it, bring him with you to the bank. If he is willing to sign your note, becoming your surety, the bank must consider the loan, investigate it, and upon your promise to use it for the purpose stated will advance you the money. 460 FARM FINANCE " You cannot borrow money to pay your debts, or to invest so the return will be uncertain or in any but provi- dent ventures. Not all of you will need money, but there is none of you who may not require funds to buy seeds or fertilizer or machinery. It is clearly a matter of wisdom for you to protect yourself by having open to you some source of credit. This you may have if you all stand together in brotherhood. You must each watch to see that the bank's money is properly spent, and give serv- ice wisely, willingly, and unselfishly." From this lengthy quotation, taken from a recent article by John L. Matthews, we shall not be surprised to learn that the Raiffeisen idea of cooperative credit spread widely over Germany. Indeed, the Raiffeisen banking system comprises about 15,000 local banks, having a membership of over 2,000,000. The aggregate yearly business of these banks is nearly $ 1,500,000,000.! 331. Land Banks in America. Fortunately, in America we do not have to work in the dark. In attempting to extend credit facilities to rural communities we have the light of foreign experience to guide us. It is not neces- sary, however, to remind the average American that Ger- many is not America and that German conditions are not exactly similar to American conditions. 2 Nevertheless many of the principles worked out and so 1 Sir Horace Plunkett, the famous Irish rural economist, states that the Raiffeisen idea has done as much for Germany as has the invention of the steam engine. 2 Farms in Germany average 10 to 15 acres apiece and throughout Europe farmers live mostly in small villages. The average farm in the United States is more than 100 acres. In the west the federal homestead act requiring the domiciling of the farmer on his farm and regulating the size of the farm makes conditions there especially different from those abroad. Cooperation in America is naturally more difficult. Then, too, we do not have a real peasantry here. Our farmers produce yearly from $8,000,000,000 to 10,000,000,000, and are virtually independent. See Appendix A, Chart VIII, page 470. COOPERATIVE LAND BANKS 461 successfully applied by Herr Raiffeisen and his co-workers of his own country and of France and Italy are so broad and sound that with proper adaptation to suit American conditions they should form a basis for the rural credit legislation of both state and nation. The excellent record of our building and loan associa- tions and of our mutual savings banks shows that the co- operative principle in banking can be extended to serve our farmers in a more vital way. We need an agency which will aid the deserving man without property to borrow small amounts for provident purposes at low rates and on easy terms for repay- ment, the personal security being based largely on character, thrift, industry, and sobriety. We need an association of good members rather than a large supply of capital. The first state to pass a law to provide for an adequate system of rural credits was Massachusetts. This was in the year 1909. The Massachusetts law, however, while based on the Raiffeisen idea and on the well-known prin- ciples of our savings and loan associations, provides for credit unions in general and is not restricted to credit ac- commodations to farmers. The credit union considers the object for which the loan is to be used quite as much as its security. It seeks to discourage unwise borrowing. As M. Desjardins, a celebrated Canadian student of rural credits, observes, " It tries to transform moral qualities into valuable assets and brings to the industrious and thrifty man a higher reward than mere wages the con- fidence of his fellow men." In 1915 Massachusetts authorized the establishment of farm land banks with a capital stock of not less than $50,000. ' These state land banks may issue debenture bonds (instruments issued as evidence of debt) based on 462 FARM FINANCE farm mortgages, which are a first lien and may not be in excess of 50 per cent of the value of the property. The term of the farm loans ranges from five to thirty-five years. New York state also has a law with the same gen- eral features. In order to meet the need for rural credits more effec- tively and to provide a more general scheme for their organization and supervision, it lias been thought that Congress was in a better position to cope with the problem than the several states individually. Accordingly there was established in July, 1916, at Washington a new Fed- eral Land Bank System. 332. Federal Land Banks. The federal land bank bill for rural credits is the result of considerable agitation and study covering more than a decade. Congress sent a commission abroad to study the problem. The need of better financial facilities for the open country was clearly recognized by all parties alike. Little opposition to it in Congress was encountered. The provisions of the new law are generally held to be sound and well suited to American farm life. The federal land bank law follows in a general way the main features of the recent Federal Reserve Banking Act, a companion measure. It provides for a Federal Farm Loan Board, consisting of five members, one of whom is the Secretary of the Treasury. The continental United States is divided into twelve districts, in each of which there is to be established a land bank with a capital stock of not less than $750,000. The capital stock of these district banks may be subscribed by any one. However, 5 per cent of each loan made to farmers must be deposited in the farm loan association for the land bank stock of its district. The farm loan associations reach the farm directly. COOPERATIVE LAND HANKS 463 Each of them is made up of ten or more farmers, and their affairs are managed by a secretary-treasurer. Let us take a concrete case to see how the Federal Laud Bank System works. A farmer desires to borrow money for farm purposes. He comes to the manager of the local loan association and says that his land is worth, let us say $1500, and the improvements on it, $500. The manager states that if he finds the land and improvements as claimed by the farmer and the farmer's title to the property unquestioned, he can advance him $900 or 60 per cent of the value of the land and $100 or 20 per cent of the value of the improvements, a total of 81000 in all. But before advancing the money the farmer must join the loan association, unless he is already a member, must take 5 per cent of his loan in stock, and must assume 10 per cent of his loan as liability against the possible losses of the other members. Thus the farmer really receives but $950 on his property. The $50 worth of stock is to be turned over by the local association to the district land bank. When the loan is paid, the farmer is credited with the value of this stock, which is then canceled. Farmers can also borrow on their crops and stock, and the Federal Reserve Banks will rediscount farmers' notes based on current farm operations. The debentures issued by the land banks pay 1 per cent less interest than their underlying farm mortgages, and the redemption of the debentures issued by any land bank is guaranteed by the resources of all the land banks. Some advantages of the Cooperative Land Bank System are : interest rates are reduced ; small annual payments may be made on long term loans ; farm first mortgages become bankable assets ; the federal government supervises and secures money for the farmer at least cost ; there is also economic and social cooperation among the farmers. 464 FARM FINANCE 333. The Outlook. Now that the Federal Land Bank System has been organized for the farmers ; now that the Smith-Lever law (page 56) provides generous sums to the several states for agricultural extension work ; and now that there are so many other evidences of cooperation among farmers themselves and between the government and the farmers we may confidently expect a general im- provement in rural conditions, better homes, better schools, better roads. This new cooperative point of view, while not weaken- ing the farmer's rugged individuality, places strong emphasis on group action, community building, efficient citizenship. Agricultural preparedness is to-day, and probably will remain for years to come, a pressing problem. Bankers, teachers, scientists, statesmen, all leaders alike, must work together to mobilize our agricultural re- sources and must seek to make more effective the lives of our numerous farm folk, who live apart often out of touch with the impulses which direct our national think- ing. The call of America is the call to serve its institu- tions, and no institution is more typical of American life and more of a bulwark to it than our plain farm home, where there is prosperity and vision. PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. Is unused knowledge of farming valuable? 2. What is the purpose of the " Home Exercises " ? 3. How have American resources helped the American farmer? 4. In what sense is farming now coming to be a business? 5. What is farm capital ? 6. How does wealth differ from capital ? 7. In what sense does credit differ from capital? 8. Discuss the relation between our growing tenancy and our lack of farm capital. 9. Why in the early days was there little need of capital? 10. In what sense has our industrial development out- run our agricultural development? 11. What has been the main cause of our decrease in exports and our increase in imports ? 12. How has the country store been an injury to the southern farmer? REFERENCES 465 13. What objection is there to credit given by ordinary commercial banks? 14. What are some of the characteristics of cooperative land banks? 15. What did Herr Raiffeisen do for his neighbors? 16. Discuss rural credits in the United States. HOME EXERCISES 1. Ask some one at home what the prevailing rate of interest is and how long different kinds of loans are usually made to run. 2. While it is very natural for people not to want the general public to have too much information on their private affairs, yet it is possible wit.hout giving the least offense to make a copy of blank mortgages, notes, and other business papers of the farm and have the copy brought to school for explanation. If no blank papers can be found among the patrons at home, no doubt the local Justice of the Peace would supply them. 3. If some one would loan your father f 100 for six months for any farm purpose, how much do you think he might make with the money ? 4. Would it pay to borrow $ 200 to buy improved farm machinery? Figure this out on the basis of labor cost which would be saved. SUGGESTIONS 1. One of the first needs of many farmers is to keep accurate ac- count of their business operations. If the average business man knew as little about the money end of his affairs as the average farmer knows about his receipts and expenditures, there would be much more financial distress to-day than there is. In most cases it is not necessary to keep on paper an elaborate account of all minor farm operations. Some transactions may be carried in the head. But the tendency is to try to carry too much in the head. Farmers should have a simple method of bookkeeping. 2. Before a dollar is borrowed the purpose for which it is to be used should be clearly thought out and discussed. Under the rural credit system this discussion must be with the other members of the union. 3. It will be easy to pay the interest on the loans, but the payment of the principal is the main difficulty. Better not borrow than be unable to repay. 4. The main point to be brought out in the discussion of rural credits is the long-term mortgage having low rates of interest with repayment of principal in easy annual installments. 466 FARM FINANCE RKFKKKNCKS J > rinciples of Rural Ei-nnumn-a. T. X. Carver. Rural Wealth ami Welfare. Fairchild. Farm Management. Warren. Principles of Rural Credits. ,T. B. Morinan. Survey. 31 : 690 ; 32 : 307, '13. World's Work. 26 : 622 ; 27 : 252, '13. Rural Credit. No. Am. 199 : 796-800, '14. Rural Credit and Farm-land Banks. Ind., 78 : 185-6, '14. Unfinancial Farmer. J. Parr. Everybody'*, 31 : 61-4; 188 :200. Credit Union Primer. Russell Sage Foundation. Rural Credits. Commonwealth Club. San Francisco, Cal. ( 'niiperation in Agriculture, Marketing and Rural Credit. Austin and Wehrwein, University of Texas. Farm Bulletins. Washington, D.C. 50. Diversified Agriculture and the Relation of the Banker to the Farm. 178. Cooperative Organization Business Methods. 511. Farm Bookkeeping. 572. A System of Farm Cost Accounting. 593. How to Use Farm Credit. 654. How Farmers may Improve their Personal Credit. 661. A Method of Analyzing the Farm Business. APPENDIX A CHARTS OF UNITED STATES PRODUCTS I. WHEAT PRODUCTION (CHAPTER XX.) II. OAT PRODUCTION (CHAPTER XX.) 467 468 APPENDIX A III. CORN PRODUCTION (CHAPTERS XIV AND XIX.) IV. POTATO PRODUCTION (CHAPTER XV111.) UNITED STATES PRODUCTS 469 V. HAY PRODUCTION (PAGE 279) VI. ALFALFA PRODUCTION (PAGE 280) 470 VII. ORCHARD PRODUCTION (PAGE 301) VIII. UNITED STATES CROP VALUES (PAGE 460) UNITED STATES PRODUCTS 471 IX. DISTRIBUTION OF DAIRY Cows (PAGE 372) X. DISTRIBUTION OF SHEEP (PAGE 413) APPENDIX B I. VALUE OF FARM PROPERTY OF THE UMTED STATES 1 1910 1900 Land $28,476,674,169 $13 068 007 Si '.."> Buildings 6,326,461,528 3,666 689,496 Implements and Machinery . . . Domestic Animals, Poultry, and Bees . 1,265,149,783 4,926,173 610 749,775,970 3,075 477 703 Average value of all property per $6,444 s. ",,.->< ;3 Average value of land per acre . . ft 32.40 .sir,.',: II. FARMS CLASSIFIED BY SIZE NUMBER OK FARMS 1910 1900 All farms under 20 acres .... 20 to 49 acres 839,166 1,414,376 673,870 1,257,496 50 to 99 acres 1,438,069 1,366,038 100 to 174 acres 1,616,286 1,422,262 175 to 499 acres 978,175 868 020 600 to 999 acres 125,295 102,526 1000 acres and over 60,136 47,160 III. NUMBER OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS 1910 1900 Chickens 280,346,133 233,666,021 Cattle 61,803,866 67,719,410 68,186,676 c.-j.sc.s.on 52,447,861 61,503,713 Horses . . . 19,833,113 18 267 020 4 209679 3,264 615 1 From United States Census Report. 472 APPENDIX C AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES OF THE UNITED STATES STATE POST OFFICE STATE Pofer OFFICE Alabama Auburn Nebraska Lincoln Arizona Tucson Nevada Reno Arkansas Fayetteville New Hampshire Durham California Berkeley New Jersey New Brunswick Colorado Fort Collins New Mexico Agricultural Connecticut Storrs College Delaware Newark New York Ithaca Florida Gainesville North Carolina West Raleigh Georgia Athens North Dakota Agricultural Idaho Moscow College Illinois Urbana Ohio Columbus Indiana Lafayette Oklahoma Stillwater Iowa Ames Oregon Cornwallis Kentucky Lexington Pennsylvania State College Louisiana Baton Rouge Rhode Island Kingston Maine Orono South Carolina Clemson College Maryland College Park South Dakota Brookings Massachusetts Amherst Tennessee Knoxville Michigan East- Lansing Texas College Station Minnesota St. Anthony Park, Utah Logan St. Paul Vermont Lexington Mississippi Agricultural Washington Pullman College West Virginia Morgantown Missouri Columbia Wisconsin Madison Montana Bozeman Wyoming Laramie 473 APPENDIX D MAGAZINE ARTICLES ON AGRICULTURE In addition to the publications of the United States I >r- partineut of Agriculture, the state agricultural colleges and experiment stations, there is a variety of other very accessible agencies which are sending out valuable information on country life. Prominent among these agencies are the numerous farm journals. But just as vital as these journals, perhaps, and often more effective and resourceful, are the many excellent articles appearing from time to time in magazines and other high-class publications. All teachers and students of farm life can profit by reading these articles. In recent issues the following are noted : Efficiency Movement in its Relation to Agriculture. N. J. Spillman. Annals American Academy, 59 : 65-76, May, 1915. Marketing of Milk How Farmers are driven out of Business. Current Opinion, 59 : 355-356, November, 1915. Agricultural Efficiency a Foundation for National Defense. H. H. Gross. Scientific Monthly, 2 : 380-384, April, 1916. Human Agriculture. Outlook, 112 : 9-10, January 5, 1916. Boys' and Oirls' Agricultural Clubs. G. A. Works. School and Society, 3 : 749-750, May 20, 1916. Country Life and the Next Generation. L. H. Bailey. Independent, 86 : 336-338, March 6, 1916. Farm Accounts as They should be Kept. D. Buffum. Country Life, 30 : 84, June, 1916. The County Agent and the Home. Journal Home Economics, 8 : 199-201, April, 1916. Open Letter to Secretary Houston from a Farmer's Wife. M. D. Shelby. Outlook, 111 : 923-925, December 15, 1915. Cost System -on a Missouri Farm. F. A. Zenders. Collier's, 67:26, April 8, 1916. 474 APPENDIX D 475 Oh, the Poor Farmer's Wife I E. D. Gates. Woman's Home Compan- ion, 43 : 18, June, 1916. How to make the Farmhouse Grounds look Attractive. A. E. P. Searing. Ladies' Home Journal, 33 : 70, March, 1916. IVho Feeds the Nation? E. Sears. Harper, 132 : 860-870, May, 1916. Federated Boys' 1 and Girls' Club Work. O. H. Benson. National Educa- tional Association, 1914 : 898-905. Pig Assumes an Educative Sole. Outlook, 111:347-348, October 13, 1915. Rural Education that Counts. D. Cunningham. Country Life, 28 : 86, October, 1915. Agricultural Education and Agricultural Prosperity, A. C. True. Annals American Academy, 59 : 61-64, May, 1915. Agricultural Instruction for the Millions. Scientific American, 113 : 461, November 27, 1915. Massachusetts Home Project Plan of Vocational Agricultural Education. R. Stimson. School Review, 23 : 474-478, September, 1915. Cities and Towns joining Hands in a Country-wide Get-together Move- ment. J. A. Scheuerle. Illustrated American City, 12:312-317, April, 1915. APPENDIX E SAMPLE CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF A BOYS' PIG CLUB 1 CONSTITUTION ARTICLE 1. Name The name of this association shall be the County Pig Club Association. . ARTICLE 2. Object The object of this association shall be to promote interest in the breeding and improvement of high-grade and purebred swine ; to instruct its members in the prevention and eradica- tion of the diseases peculiar to swine ; and to instill in the boys a love for farm animals which will result in their taking more interest in farm life. ARTICLE 3. Membership Any boy or girl between the ages of 10 and 18 years who will agree to secure at least one pig and care for it under the instructions furnished by the State agent in pig-club work may at any time become a member. ARTICLE 4. Organization The officers shall be a president, a vice president, and a secretary-treasurer. ARTICLE 5. Meetings There shall be a regular annual meeting of the association and such special meetings at times and places as may be deter- mined by the president. ARTICLE 6. Elections The election of officers shall be held at the regular annual meeting, and such election shall be by l>allot. ARTICLE 7. Amendments Amendments to this constitution may be made by a two- thirds vote of the members present at the annual meeting. 1 From the Bulletin of the United States Department of Agriculture. 476 APPENDIX E 477 BY-LAWS SECTION 1. Dtities and privileges It shall be the duty of each member to cooperate as far as possible with his fellow members in the use of purebred boars ; also to solicit new members and to encourage them in better methods of caring for their animals. Each member shall be entitled to one vote in the business meetings of the association. SECTION 2. Officers The officers shall be elected to serve one year and perform such services as are ordinarily required by their position. They shall serve until the election of their successors. SECTION 3. President The president shall preside at all meetings of the associa- tion. He shall also collect all reports from the club members and send them to the State agent. SECTION 4. Vice president The vice president shall perform the duties of the president in his absence. SECTION 5. Secretary-Treasurer The secretary-treasurer shall keep a record of all proceed- ings of the association, and shall render a report of the same at the annual meeting ; shall act as correspondent in matters pertaining to the business of the association, and shall keep a correct enrollment of all members. SECTION 6. Order of business Beading of the minutes of the previous meeting. Report of the secretary-treasurer. Reports of committees. Unfinished business. New business. Election of officers. APPENDIX F USE OF FARMERS' BULLETINS Teachers sometimes find that many Farmers' Bulletins are not very teachable, that is, their subject matter lacks good pedagogic form. To meet this difficulty free leaflets are be- ing prepared by specialists of the United States Department of Education to aid teachers in the use of these Bulletins. The following suggestive outline is a type of many others that are now available. HOW TEACHERS MAY USE FARMERS' BULLETIN 537, HOW TO GROW AN ACRE OF CORN BY E. A. MILLEK, Specialist in Agricultural Education Range of use. General. Relation to the course of study. This bulletin may be used in the study of agriculture in connection with crops in general and corn in par- ticular. The topics of the publication lend themselves to correlation with other school subjects. Topics. The material of the bulletin should be grouped into six lessons for class study: (1) Getting a start with seed kind of corn to grow, selecting seed for the acre, and preparing seed for planting, pages 6, 6, 7, and 9 ; (2) making a start with the crop selecting an acre for corn, fertilizing the acre, and preparing the seed bed, pages 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14; (3) planting, pages 14 and 15; (4) the growing period com- bating cutworms, thinning, and cultivation, pages 15, 16, 17, and 18 ; (5) improvement work selecting seed and drying and caring for seed, pages 7, 18, 19, and 20 ; (6) determining yield and conclusion, pages 20 and 21. Study questions. What races of corn are grown in the community ? Flint ? Dent ? Sweet ? Pop ? Soft ? Which is the better adapted to the community, flint or dent ? Is corn grown as a money crop ? What varieties have succeeded best in the community ? Are one-eared or prolific varieties best adapted to the section ? Is it the practice in the 478 APPENDIX F 479 community to sort and test seed corn ? What type of soil in the com- munity produces the largest yield ? What characteristics indicate a good corn soil ? What leguminous crops should precede corn ? What are guard rows ? Why should they be planted ? What are the advantages of good manure ? When should it be applied to the land ? Why and when should lime be applied ? What essential elements are supplied by commercial fertilizers ? In what inexpensive way may nitrogen be stored in the soil ? How and when should commercial fertilizers be applied to the soil for corn ? When and how should the seed bed be prepared ? What kinds of plows are used in the community ? What kinds of harrows ? Is deep plowing practiced ? What are the advan- tages of deep plowing ? What constitutes good plowing ? Poor plowing ? What implements are used for planting corn ? Is corn planted in drills or in checks ? What should determine the distance in planting corn ? To what depth should corn be covered ? What are cutworms ? In what way do they damage corn ? How can they be successfully combated ? When and how should corn be thinned ? Give reasons for cultivation. For shallow cultivation. How frequently should corn be cultivated ? Why should seed be selected in the field ? What should characterize a good stalk ? A good ear ? When should the selected ears be gathered ? Give directions for drying and storing seed corn. Give a desirable plan for determining the yield of an acre of corn. Illustrative material. Secure and label specimens of the different races and varieties of corn. Secure from farm papers and catalogues pictures of races and varieties of corn, plows, corn planters, cultivators, and harvesting machinery. See illustrations in the bulletin. Practical exercises. (1) Selecting in the field, gathering, storing, judging, and testing corn. Mixing fertilizers and studying farm machin- ery afford suitable practicums. (2) Corn-club members get profitable home work in growing an acre of corn. Correlations. Language : Require the members of the class to write accounts of field trips for seed selection, descriptions of sand tray and rag-doll testers, and descriptions of farm machinery. List and spell all new words appearing in these studies. Drawing : Make drawings of the different seed testers used and proper and ill-shaped grains. Geography : Locate on the map the 10 leading corn-producing States. Compare them as to location, climate, and other agricultural industries. In what other countries is corn grown ? Compare these countries with the corn-growing States as to longitude, latitude, climate, and other agri- cultural industries. What part of the corn crop of the United States is exported ? What countries constitute our corn markets ? What is the 480 APPENDIX F principal grain market of the United States ? Compare the total and the average production per acre in your own State with that of the leading corn State. la the average yield per acre in your State above or below the average for the whole country ? History: Where is corn native? Why is it called "Indian corn"? What other crop were the Indians growing ? Require each member of the class to write an account of the corn-club movement. Arithmetic : Problems adapted to the advancement of the pupils should be developed from the reports of corn-club members. Make a community corn survey to determine these facts: (1) The number of farms growing corn, (2) the number of bushels produced on each farm, (8) the total number of bushels produced, (4) the average number of bushels produced per farm, (6) the average number of bushels produced per acre, (6) the total value of the crop produced in the com- munity, and (7) the number of bushels bought or sold by the community. APPENDIX G REPORT OF A PUPIL'S PROJECT Mr. Layton S. Hawkins, Specialist in Agricultural Education for New York State, recently published the following record, which was prepared and submitted by a pupil in the agricul- tural department of a New York high school as part of his work for the year 1913. Also on page 486 may be found a condensed report on home projects as carried on by the differ- ent pupils of the high school. PUPIL'S PROJECT STUDY RECORD The equipment used consisted of two acres of land sloping toward the south and east, a barn 28 by 20 feet with three and one half stories. The two lower floors were fitted up with roosts, nests, dropping boards, and other essentials for a henhouse. Each fowl has 8 inches of roost and 2 square feet of floor space. On the south side of the barn there are openings fitted with cloth frames to keep out rain, let in light, and pro- vide good ventilation. Even on stormy days these frames are opened for a little while in order to air out the coops. The nests are placed under the dropping boards, where they are secluded and convenient. I try to make the coops as cheerful and bright as possible, because a happy hen is a laying hen. I whitewashed the interior of the coop thoroughly, adding a pint of carbolic acid to 50 gallons of whitewash. This was put on with a bucket sprayer. This spray is both a good disinfectant and insecticide. For litter I use corn stalks cut into short lengths, because I have these on hand. There was also a coop 12 by 48 feet. This coop had a ground floor only, so I placed 12 inch, inch mesh, poultry netting around the bottom to keep the rats out. During the winter, hens are kept in this coop, but last spring it was used for a brooder house. The chickens were hatched in eight Cycle hatchers with a capacity of 60 eggs each. These incubators are all metal, economic, durable, and 481 482 APPENDIX O have proved practical. The lamp is in the center and the eggs are placed around it in three rows, with the small end down and toward the lamp. The eggs are kept at a temperature varying from 102 degrees Fahrenheit the first week to 103 the last week of incubation. The chickens were left in the incubators until the oldest were 36 hours old, when all the healthy dried ones were removed to the brooder, where they were fed a mixture of sand, bread crumbs, and hard-boiled eggs chopped fine. The chickens were kept at a temperature of about 95 degrees for the first two days, then the heat was reduced gradually as the chickens grew older. Gradually a little oatmeal was added to the ration. The brooder consists of a 3 foot square box, 12 inches high, with sheet iron nailed on top, with a 1 inch space between it and the board floor. In the middle of the floor a hole 6 inches in diameter was cut and a 2 quart basin nailed over it, the basin having several holes in it. On the edge of the floor are upright boards to keep the litter and chickens inside. A 2 foot square hover with a slit flannel drapery on the edge was placed over the basin on four 0-inch legs, one at each corner. Now a bracket lamp is put into the box under the hover. The chickens are led from the hovere by means of an inclined board covered with dirt. There were eight of these hovers, with a capacity of 60 to 60 chicks each, placed in the 12 by 48 foot coop. The chickens were provided with runs inside and outdoors. These brooders were a constant worry because a kerosene lamp cannot be depended upon. I intend to install a hot- water system next season if possible. At the beginning of the season the chickens grew well, but later, as the weather turned bad and rats got into the coop, we moved brooders and chickens outdoors. On account of the sudden change I lost quite a number of them, perhaps more than the rats would have killed. When the chickens were eight weeks old, I separated the cockerels from the pullets and fed them a fattening ration. At ten weeks those that were not fit to save for breeding purposes I shipped alive to a com- mission merchant who handles our products. I received an average of twenty-four cents a pound for them. We keep two strains of single-combed white leghorns, and so we had to leg-band some of the chickens. As soon as the young stock were old enough, I laid a cement floor in their coop to keep out rats. The coops were already fitted up with dropping boards, roosts, and nests. Of the 760 chickens hatched, we now have 320 pullets and 26 cockerels fit for breeding. The first pullet commenced laying September 1st. The work of taking care of the young stock consisted of cutting hay APPENDIX G 483 for litter, cleaning the hovers at least once a week, regulating the diet of the chickens as far as possible, and spraying the hovers with kerosene and carbolic acid once every two weeks. The brooder lamps had to be filled every other day and trimmed every day. Green food was furnished in the form of finely cut lawn clippings and sprouted oats. The chickens of certain matings had to be leg-banded and kept separate. In picking out the cockerels for next year's breeding pen, I chose them from the early hatches in order to have them mature next spring when I wish to use them. In picking out the cockerels, I follow the " Ameri- can standard of perfection," and what I have learned. I select cockerels which are well formed, large, having pure white plumage, a well-developed tail standing at an angle of 45 degrees, clear colored yellow legs, bright eyed, five distinct points on their combs, white ear lobed, and which crow the most because crowing denotes vigor. Of course it is impossible to get all these good qualities well developed in one bird, that is, a cockerel may be well developed in shape and color but at the same time lacking in vigor, which is essential for breeding stock. I try to counterbalance the poor qualities of the male by picking out hens which have these qualities well developed, that is, if the cock is small, I would have large hens. My idea is to produce a strain of single-combed white leghorns which shall be good layers, well proportioned, pretty, healthy and vigorous, and which develop good-sized early broilers. As to feeding, I feed all the fowls a ration to make them large and good layers of large, white, chalky eggs. To the old stock I feed each morning three quarts of grain, wheat, oats, and barley mixed, for each hundred fowls. I keep a dry mash before them all the time in a Cornell range hopper. This mash consists of one hundred pounds of bran, one hundred pounds of middlings, one hundred pounds oatmeal mill by- products, ground corn, wheat bran, middlings, and oat refuse. Beef scrap is kept before them all the time, and I give them fresh ground green bone, about an ounce for each hen daily. During the molting season, August, September, October, and November, I add 50 pounds of linseed oil meal to the mash. This produces feathers and hurries them through their molt. Green food was supplied to them in the summer in the forms of lawn clippings, green oats, or alfalfa. In winter I used cut dried alfalfa, cabbages, and other vegetables. The fowls run in an orchard of apple, pear, plum, cherry, and peach trees. I kept this sowed with oats during the summer while it was damp. At night I feed all the stock all the mixed grain that they will eat up clean, so that their crops will be full and they can digest the food while they sleep. All the grain is fed in litter to make them work, because exercise is necessary for vigor and egg production. 484 APPENDIX G In taking care of the fowls my work consisted of feeding and watering them, cleaning the dropping boards at least three times a week, going over the roosts with kerosene oil every two weeks, and changing the litter when it was worn out and dirty. One of the most essential qualities of a good poultry farm is cleanliness, and nothing can be done without it because the stock will sicken and lose vigor. So I kept the houses and yards as clean and dry as possible. Twice during the summer I had their yard cultivated. Our main business is producing large, uniform, chalky-white eggs, and that is why we keep single-combed white leghorns because they lay an abundance of such eggs, which is what the New York City market demands. We are located near the railway, and our shipments reach their destination in New York City in twelve hours. In marketing all our products we take great care in having them uniform and clean. With the broilers we like to have large hatches so that there will be enough cockerels for a shipment, that is, about fifty. But with the fowls we cannot be so particular, because we sell them mainly to get them out of the way. In selecting for market we pick out the poor layers, small- combed, anaemic, or over-fat fowls, so our fowls do not bring good prices because they are small and not uniform, and, moreover, we could not expect good prices for meat fowls, when that is not our business. But in producing and marketing eggs we receive from 2 to 5 cents a dozen above market quotations. We keep the nests as clean as possible in order to keep the eggs white. The eggs are gathered three times a day, and if in gathering the eggs I found a tinted egg I watched to see which hen laid the egg, and when I found her I marked her to be killed when she stopped laying, because we are breeding for clear white eggs. The eggs are cleaned with a washing powder when necessary, but the eggs are never rubbed hard because that would remove the chalky appearance which denotes a fresh egg. The eggs are kept in a cool, dry place before shipping. They are not taken to the station until two hours before train time, so as to keep them from getting heated. We never keep eggs over ten days before shipping, either in winter or summer. In fact, we try to get them on the market as soon as possible after they are laid, because we have a reputation with our commission merchant that we ship only fresh eggs and so he relies on us. We try to furnish him the best eggs that can be produced and so he pays us from 2 to 5 cents more a dozen than market quotations. This merchant has always been more than square with us. He sends us egg cases free, except for freight and cartage, which is 2 cents a case, and even pays return express on our shipping crates. So we are fully in favor of commission merchants, but of course when we can sell direct to a good reliable consumer, we will do so. APPENDIX G 485 I keep myself posted on poultry by reading farm papers, among which are : The Rural New Ynrker, Rural Life, American Poultry Advocate, and Poultry Success. I intend to follow the poultry business for an occupation. The following is a list of the supplies which we buy and an account of my summer work : Wheat $ .95--$ 1.10 a bushel Oats 45 a bushel Barley 60 a bushel Bran 1.60 a hundred pounds Middlings 1.60 a hundred pounds Stock feed 1.40-1.50 a hundred pounds Linseed meal 1.75 a hundred pounds Beef scrap 2.75 a hundred pounds Green bones 00 1 a pound Gasoline for engine 25 a gallon Litter 50 a hundred pounds In closing I will say that a daily record was kept of the following : Number of hours of work and cost, Number of eggs laid, Eggs shipped, Fowls shipped, Returns from shipments, Eggs and fowls used in the house and price, Amount of feed and green bone bought, Miscellaneous expenditures, Mortality in chicks, etc. Every good poultry man who wishes to succeed should keep an account of his poultry just as if he were a business man, which he really is or needs to be. By doing so he is enabled to see mistakes and avoid or rectify them. In addition to the equipment described, I might say that we have a two horse-power gasoline engine, a green bone cutter, clover cutter, and a water supply which furnishes water to all the coops and also provides fire protection. We now have about 400 head of old stock which we are keeping for breeding purposes next year. During the summer I had practically entire charge of the poultry work, but I have only a third interest in the business. 486 APPENDIX G a :- w M c M S5 O H a: u - 1 1 II >\ I | 1 IM | jo H3HK.i\ KK ECT FAMIL I'rr it 7 - o c =5 S = = -= O * OO * * ^ (N -N -OOOCOO Ot- OO '*1<^-l-f U5Q I-^ rot- t^-* *<-* 0 .O t- -^t^i-o-H ooeo ^l s :s i- O O O t- 00 ep O ?P O - O O O .O-frt . n (M . D " -M -0 Q O t- .10 .SMI-I o o eo 3SOOOOOaO:D C i~o>c5i'-iTt9 S 2 2 IB a( O ^.^.^^.^m^wi^i, 60- '&C Ml -... fcCi.o -i 6I)_; > gMSj. . . S C . be 5P = O <3 . "3 E 4> = ~Z ~- "? la 'I "I 5P 9*3 hr'S !i -S -1 a 42 s rt ? r - rt g 2 S I r .Pour woMJJ=Buo.^rtj>>^"';y., SHHOOO 30H03 Cc2 K i. aS." < o-o'S^g.--o'o < o < 5 < -p' o"5~ g"'" iu>>wS- c >.>>Soooo>. t ^^ >>o r-4^-*r3-<'"" HH>^_---^--it 5*EE! lllll^ptggllll < "- 18 fcg^gB- 5 *^ ., . I A A O CD CD ' I ^ *^ ^ ^ sr *" * * Tld-lJ JOaKV.V ' APPENDIX H SUPPLIES The farm and garden are the natural laboratories for agri- cultural work, and all work indoors should seek to explain and to interpret outdoor problems. The value of laboratory work in school depends vitally on how it is connected with real life. It must justify itself, not merely by the construction of neat and accurate notebooks or by providing for the actual handling of farm materials, but by its service to the pupils and to the community. Agriculture should be regarded as essentially an industrial subject, and its study should be approached largely from the industrial side the side of productive activity. Many of the most valuable supplies for the successful teach- ing of Elementary Agriculture can be obtained from the local farms, or village store, or they may be made by the pupils themselves. Some supplies, however, cannot be secured in this way, particularly if the course is to develop into an ex- tensive one ; they must be purchased from a distance. The department of public instruction, or the agricultural college of many states, supplies its own manual to the schools free of charge. Helpful directions on various phases of school agriculture have also been published by the United States Department of Agriculture. These also are free. A Unit of Agriculture, by Elliff, published by Kow, Peterson and Com- pany, and A Laboratory Manual of Agriculture, by Call and Schafer, published by The Macmillan Company, are both teach- able manuals. Both list the required equipment for their exercises. The few supplies needed for Elementary Agriculture which 487 488 APPENDIX H must be purchased at a distance can l>e obtained from Arthur H. Thomas Company, Philadelphia, or the Central Scientific ( 'ompaiiy, Chicago. A mass of illustrative material can be obtained free of charge from the following : Foods, from the Postum Cereal Company, Battle Creek, Michigan. Feeds and Fertilizers, from local dealers. Wheat, from the Washburn-Crosby Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Silk, from Cheney Bros., South Manchester, Connecticut. Corn, from the Corn Products Refining Company, New York City. General Products and Raw Materials, from the local College of Agricul- ture and Department of Agriculture, Washington. APPENDIX I FARM JOURNALS Farm journals are very helpful in the rural home as well as in the schoolroom. There are more than two hundred different farm publications in the United States. In Minnesota there are nine ; in Pennsylvania, seven ; and nearly every state has at least one. Below, under A, is a list of those which have the largest circulation in the various states. Under B is a list of farm papers which are devoted to special lines. A. FARM JOURNALS PRICE PEE YR. Alabama. The Progressive Farmer. Birmingham $ 1.00 Arizona. Southwestern Stockman- Farmer. Phoenix 1.00 Arkansas. Arkansas Farmer and Homestead. Little Rock . . .50 California. California Home and Farmer. San Francisco ... .50 Colorado. The Great Divide. Denver 50 Connecticut. New England Farms and Connecticut Farmer. New Haven 1.00 Georgia. Southern Euralist. Atlanta 60 Idaho. Idaho Farmer. Spokane, Washington ..." 60 Illinois. Better Farming. Chicago 26 Indiana. Farm Life. Spencer .25 Iowa. Successful Farming. Des Moines 25 Kansas. Missouri Valley Farmer. Topeka 25 Kentucky. The Inland farmer. Louisville 60 Louisiana. Modern Farming. New Orleans 50 Maine. Maine Farmer. Augusta 1.00 Maryland. The Farmers' 1 and Planters' 1 Guide. Baltimore . . .25 Massachusetts. Farm and Home. Springfield 50 Michigan. Gleaner and Business Farmer. Detroit ..... .50 Minnesota. The Farmer's Wife. St. Paul 25 Missouri. Journal of Agriculture. St. Louis 60 489 490 APPENDIX I I'm. i PEK YB. Montana. Montana Farmer. Great Falls 1.00 Nebraska. Deutsch-Amerikan Farmer. Lincoln 40 New Hampshire. Mirror and Farmer. Manchester 76 New York. The Rural Neic- Yorker. New York 1.00 North Carolina. Our Rural Home and Carriers' Messenyir. .60 Winston-Salem . . .50 North Dakota. North Dakota Farmer. Lisbon . . ... .60 Ohio. Farm New*. Springfield 26 Oklahoma. Oklahoma Farmer- Stockman. Oklahoma City . . .60 Oregon. Western Farmer. Portland 1.00 Pennsylvania. The Farm Journal. Philadelphia 60 South Dakota. National Alfalfa Journal. Sioux Falls 26 Tennessee. Southern Agriculturist. Knoxvtlle 60 Texas. Farm and Ranch. Dallas 1.00 Virginia. Southern Planter. Richmond 60 Washington. Northwest Farm and Orchard. Spokane 60 Wisconsin. Wisconsin Farmer. Madison 1.00 Wyoming. Wyoming Stockman- Farmer. Cheyenne 26 B. SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS Bees. American Bee Journal. Hamilton, 111 1.00 Cooperation. The Cooperator's Herald. Fargo, North Dakota . 1.60 Dairy. KimbaWs Dairy Farmer. Waterloo, Iowa 26 Farm Home. The American Home Weekly. St. Paul, Minn. . . .35 Forestry. American Forestry. Washington, D.C 3.00 Horticulture. Green's Fruit Grower. Rochester, N.Y 60 Livestock. The Breeder's Gazette. Chicago, 111 1.00 Machinery and Power. Farm Engineering. Chicago, 111 50 Poultry. Reliable Poultry Journal. Quincy, 111 50 INDEX [References are to pages.] Aberdeen Angus cattle . . 370 Acidity, test for 127 Adaptability of crops to soils 23 Advantages of country life, attractiveness 25-29 natural beauty 13 physical endurance .... 34 physical welfare 26 variety of activities .... 35 Affairs of the farm . . . 45-60 Age of homespun 19 Age of machinery 19 Age of steam 142 Agricultural Education Monthly 15 Agricultural publications . 59 Air pressure tank 88 Alabama 194 Albumen 15G Alcohol 235 Alfalfa, as feed 286-289 failure with, causes .... 281 good seed 174 history of 280 inoculation for 281 in rotation 149 pigs feeding in (picture) . . . 417 plant 282 poor seed 172 quantity of seed to the acre . 173 testing seed of 174 tillage for 135 Allies of the farmer . . 10, 11, 347 American and European farming compared ... 67 American class of poultry . 428 American Review of Reviews 454 Ammonia 115 Angoumois grain moth . . 336 Annual weeds 291 Anther 162 Anthracnose on beans . . . 213 Apples 303-305) Apricots 237 Arbor day 324 Arsenate of lead 336 Asiatic class of poultry . . 427 Asparagus 222 Automobile 80 Ax 139 Ayrshire cattle 374 Babcock, Dr. S. M 385 Babcock milk test . . . 14, 385 ' Back to the farm " .... 23 Bacon 63, 422, 455 Bacon swine 417 Bacteria ... 10, 106, 117, 208, 239 how they multiply 209 in milk 390 their growth, how hindered . 105 Bailey, L. H 45, 72 Balanced ration 363 Bank credit 456 Barley 272, 273 Beach, Professor S. A. . . . 55 Beans 117, 226, 227, 238 Beauty, uses of in farm life . . 11 Beef cattle 367-370 in pasture 359 Bee hives 349 Bees 166, 348 Belgian horses 398 INDEX [References are to pages."] Berkshire swine 418 Biennial weeds 292 Biology 59 Bird boxes 318, 350 Birds 317, :;:; how they have been studied . 351 Birthplace of prominent people 34 Blackberries 200,201 Black knot 217 Blanching _':(" Bluestone 214 " Boarders " (cattle) .... 387 Bone meal 117 Bordeaux mixture .... 214 Border planting 328 Bottom lands 105 Box method of corn testing . 256 Boy scouts 40 Bradford, Governor, quoted . 252 Brahma poultry 433 Bran 195, 362, 377 Breathing pores (stomata) 157, 178 Breazeale, quoted 231 Breeding new plants . . 190-205 corn 194 tomatoes 197 wheat 197 Brewer, quoted 26 Broilers 439 Brooders 437 Brood mares 399 Brood sows 422 Broom making 19 Buckwheat 166, 271 Budding 185 Buds 179 Bulbs 182 Bull, Ephraim W. . . 199, 202, 203 Bulletins 47, 52, 59, 75 (Also at the end of each chapter.) Bumble bees 166 Burbank. Luther 190 Bush beans 223 Business failures on the farm 73 Butter 63, 383, 391 outfit for making 384 Buttermilk 383 Cabbage 223, 240 California . . 450 Calyx 162, 346 Campflre girls 40 Canada 272 Canada thistle 294 Candling eggs 436 Canning 236 Capillary attraction ... 4, 103 Capillary water 103 loss of 104 Capital 447-l.V.! how and where secured . . . 453 Carbohydrate . 118, 156, 359-363 Carbon dioxide . 102, 113, 114, 132 Carmen No. 3 244 Carriage horses 400 Carrots 224 Cart 139 Casein 383 Cattle 366-379 care of 378 feeding 359, 376 types of 367,371 Cauliflower 225 Celery 228,241 Cells 155 Census bureau 17 Certified milk 383 Cheese 391 Chemistry 58 Cherries 310 Chester white swine . . . 418 Cheviot sheep 413 Chewers 335 Chicken, the first 426 Chickens, see Poultry. Chicory 299 Chile saltpetre 117 Chlorophyll 157 Church 70 Clay 13, 95, 143 Clover 166, 283 alsike 285 crimson 284 red 283 sweet 119 white 284 Clubs, corn growing 194 organization of 229 pig 423 poultry 52, 443 INDEX 3 Clubs continued purpose of 51 soil management 150 vegetable growing 229 Cochin poultry 428 Codling moth 345-347 Cold frames 225 College extension service . GO Colony henhouse 438 Colt 405 Community spirit 298 Companion cropping . . 223 Compound microscope . . 209 Concentrates 363 Concord grape 198 [References are to pages.] Cotswold sheep 411 Cotton 9, 24, 455 Cotyledons 172 Country and city people compared 17 "Country Life Commis- sion," quoted 72 Country store 454 County agent 51, 56 demonstrating 57 Cover crops 104, 306 Cow peas 279, 286, 332 Cowper, quoted 16, 221 Cows (see Cattle) .... 9, 32 Crab apple 203 Condensed milk 383 | Craig, Professor John 55 Conservation 322 Contests 50 Conveniences of farm home 77 Cooperation 45-54, 248, 298, 457, 458 Cooperative breeders' asso- ciation 388 Cooperative land banks . . 457 Cooper's hawk 352 Corms 182 Corn, bagged 195 canned 235 club work with .... 194, 263 culture of 259 dried 234 ear-to-row test 257 festival 52 improvement 194-196 in rotation 149 judging 260 kernels of (sections) .... 171 kinds of 258 maturity of 256 pistillate flowers of .... 164 pollen of 162 poor pollination of 165 prize 196 smut of 216 staminate flowers of .... 162 stem of 178 sweet 223, 224 tassel of 163 Cornell University . . . 47, 55 Corolla 162 Correlations .... 15, 150, 424 Cream 387, 391 Creamery 47, 387 Cream separators .... 14, 391 Credit unions 461 Creed of country boy ... 41 Criminals 27 Crop rotation, need of 146 reasons for 148, 210 Crossbreds 358 Crosses 9, 192, 199 Cross-pollination . . . 165, 166 the method of 192 two great ways of 168 Crow 352 Cucumbers 225 Cultivator 145 Curing 239 Currants 235 Cuttings, green 181 hardwood V 180 root 181 Cutworms 340 Dairy barn 360, 378 Dairy cattle 371-376 Death rates 27 Decrease in rate of growth of rural population ... 17 Demonstrations .... 57, 311 Denmark 48, 62 Desjardines, M., quoted . . . 461 Diseases of cattle 378 INDEX [Reference* are to paget.] Diseases of continued crops 208 people -(> poultry 431 sheep 412 swine 41!) Ditching machine 107 Diversified farming .... 455 Dodder (a parasite) .... 284 Dorset sheep 411 Draft horses 398 Drainage, open and closed . 106-108 Drains, ^rade of 108 Dried blood 117 Drill . . 18, 271 Drudgery on the farm, 28, 71, 77, 78 Evaporated cream .... :uvi Excursion to agricultural college 86 Dry rot . . . Durum wheat 214 268 Ear selection of corn . . . 253 Earth, the new 1 Ear-to-row experiment . . 257 Economic aspect in relation to {esthetics 11-13 community spirit 49 education 47 machinery 19, 63 public highways .... 81-86 rights of the child .... 31-33 rural migration 22 securing capital 44(1-462 Economics (rural) defined . . 59 Education for the farm . 46, 47 Egg breeds of poultry ... 427 Egg plant 237 Eggs (53, 440, 441 Egyptians 8, 139 Electricity on the farm . . 78 Elms 3, 314 Embryo 172 Endive 225 Endosperm 172 England 67 English sparrows 352 English style of decorative planting 327 Entomology 341 Environment for rural child rearing ... 37 hostile 73 External poisons 338 Fairs (agricultural) 54 Farm "abandoned" 23 animals 355 as a nursery 36 attractiveness of 25 blacksmithing on 28 brook (picture) 2 capital 447 finance 446 former methods on . . 20-22, 447 garden 221-228 home (pictures) 4, 23 imports and exports .... 451 influence on physical welfare . 26 labor 16, 70 management 446-462 Farmer, the tirst 5-9 and nature 1-13 Farmers' bulletins .... 75 (also at end of each chapter) Farmers' hindrances lack of capital 524 poor judgment 73 shiftlessuess 74 Fat 359, 376, 383, 385 Feeding cattle 376 horses 402 poultry 434 principles of 361 sheep 411 swine 420 Feeds 359 Fennel 295 Fernow, quoted 321 Fertilizers 123-131 application of 130 commercial 124 complete 124 cost of 124 direct 124 formulas of 125 indirect 124 Festivals :._' Fibres 8 INDEX [References are to pages.} Fiske, John, quoted .... 34 Flail 139 Flax, spinning (picture of) . . 1<> Flower garden 330 Flowers 161 kinds of 1(53, 164 parts of . 162 Fly 45, 341 Fodder 279 Foliage 338 Forage crops 276-289 kinds of 276 Forces of nature 2 heredity and variation . . . 200 in improvements 198 regular action of 7 Forcing boxes 225 Foremen 22 Forestry 322 Formalin 394 Fox 10 Fox grape 199 France 67 Franklin, Benjamin, quoted . 46 Frazer, Professor 182 Free water 103 Froebel, quoted 38 Fryers 439 Fungi 11, 212 diseases due to 218 Fungicide 337 Furnace (in cellar) 88 Furrow 143 Galloway cattle 370 Game animals 317 Gapes 431 Garden 221-228 Garden tools 222 Garfleld, James A., quoted . 61 Gasolene engine 78 General-purpose breeds of poultry 428 Geometrical style of plant- ing 330 Geranium cutting . . . 180 Germany 68, 78, 458 Germ plasm .... 167-168, 176 Gillette, Professor .... 33 Ginseng 68 Glumes . . 104 Gold, Professor, quoted . . 34 Goshawk 352 Government and the farmer 54 " Grades " of animals . . . 358 Grafting 184 cleft 184 tongue 185 Grain elevator 47, 91 Grange 49 Grape 198, 199, 302 Grasses 278, 279 Green's Vegetable Garden- ing 225 Grover, Edwin Osgood . . 42 Ham 422 Harrow, disk 142, 145 spike-toothed 144 spring-toothed 144 Hartsalz 118 Hay 276-282 Hay loader 281 Hay tedder 277 Health, in country .... 16,45 of country children .... 37 Heat 105 Heavy horses 398 Henry's feed table .... 362 Herbs 327 Heredity ........ 7 in animal breeding .... 356 in plant breeding 200 Hereford cattle 368 Hessian fly, work of .... 336 High cost of living .... 65 " High grade " animals . . 358 Hills, Professor G. L. ... 55 Hogs (see Swine) Hollyhocks 330 Holstein-Friesian cattle . . 375 Home, country (exercises for, at the end of each chapter) as a nursery 36 the main object of farming . 61 work at the 39,446 Homestead Law ..... 58 Honey 348 Horse barn . 396 INDEX [References /' /.. poyet : Horses 395-408 breeds of :W-400 care of 7 . . . lul cleaning 402 feeding 40J types of :>9(! Hotbeds J.-> Hot-house lambs 412 House fly 4.">, H41 Household conveniences . . 87 Housewife 87, 'J.r> Howard, Dr. L. 341 Hughes, H. D 254 Human nature, a knowledge of 75 Humus 100, 268, 30(5 Hybrids 204 Ice cream 392 Ichneumon flies 347 Illinois 78 Immigrant farmers .... 70 Imperfect flowers .... 165 Improvement, animals 355-359; 428 plants 7-9, 1510-205 Increase of city population rate 17 Incubation artificial 436 natural 433 Indiana 18, 377 Indian corn 252 Inoculation of soil .... 281 Insect breeding 353 Insecticides :<> Insects 334-350 method of control 149 method of mounting .... :'''< two great classes of .... 334 Internal poisons 336 Internodes 178 Irrigation 108 Irving, Washington, quoted . 25 Italian style of decorative planting 330 Jackson, Helen Hunt ... 13 Jefferson, Thomas .... 139 Jelly making 232-2W Joe pye weed 291 Johanna Rue ....... :'>7. r > " Johnny Appleseed " . . . .KM Jones, L. R. ...... 55 Experiment Kainit Kale Kansas tion Kentucky blue grass Kerosene emulsion . King, D. W King. F. H Kitchen, country canning in Kohl-rabi 115 Sta- 118 .V, 2), :2 Labor-saving devices . . . Lady Eglantine . . . 357, Lambs ....... 412 Lancaster county ..... Land banks ... ... Landlords duties of ........ increase of ....... Landscape gardening . . 325 Langshan poultry .... Lard swine ....... Lawn .......... Layering ........ Leaf net-veined ....... parallel-veined ...... Leghorn poultry ..... Leicester sheep . . . . Lettuce .......... Lice .......... Light horses ....... Lime, experiments with ..... functions of ....... kiln .......... preparing stone ...... slaked . . ...... source of ........ spreading ........ stone ......... Lime and sulfur wash . . . Lincoln sheep ...... Litmus paper test .... Live stock judging .... Loam . . . xi 401 88 231 225 i;:; 426 413 (54 4.">7 70 449 333 428 418 331 184 17- 17'_' 427 411 224 :;i :!99 PJ'.i P_'7 126 I'-'H PJ9 9.H 138 128 3.'59 411 127 366 101 1M)EX {References are to pages.] Longfellow, quoted .... 330 Long wool sheep 411 Mac Adam, John . . . . 82 Macadam road 85 Macaroni wheat 268 Machinery of the farm, as to conveniences 77 as to population .... 10, 63 cooperative buying of ... 48 development of 139 drudgery relieved by ... 28, 71 improvements in .... 9 tillage by 139 Maize 252 Manure, amount recovered in ... 127 as a by-product 367 as a complete fertilizer . . . 126 as a direct fertilizer .... 126 barnyard 125 care of . . . 125 composition of 126 green 126 in flower garden 331 in hotbed 226 in rotation 14!t spreading of 123 Maps, township 90 Market (picture of) .... 15 Marketing, by boat and rail 62, 63 fruit ... 307 potatoes 248 poultry 439 Maryland 147 Massachusetts 108, 190 May Rilma 357 McCormick, Cyrus H. . . . 20 McKeever, William A.' . . 31, 39 Meadow 1, 278 Measurements of children compared 33 Meat breeds of poultry . . 427 Mediterranean class of poul- try 427 Medium wool sheep .... 410 Mendel, Gregor 204 Merino sheep 411,412 Microscope, compound . . . 209 Middlemen 67 Migration, rural 23 Mildews 213 Milk 382-392 care of 66,389 composition of 383 definitions 383 quality of 385 quantity of 384 testing 382 value of 387 Milk fat 376, 385-389 Milk pails 382 Milk sugar 382 Milk-testing associations . . 388 Milkweed 295 Millet 160, 286 Mill, John Stuart 69 Minnesota 272 Minorca poultry 427 Models of poultry houses 444 road building 85 Molds 218, 233 Montana 272 Mortgage 455 Mosquitoes 340 Moth mullein 294 Motor power 77 Mulch, function of 104 how made 104 Mules 401 Musk melon . ... 225 Nature, her tools 5 improvements on 7 in breeding 198 in city (picture of) 12 our trust in 7 Nile (picture) 8 Nitrate of soda 117 Nitrates 116 Nitrogen . . . 115-117, 119, 282 Nodes 178 Nodules 116, 290 North Dakota 33, 455 Norway spruce 318 Nucleus 155 Nutritive ratio 361 INDEX [References are to pages.} Oak 313 Oats 271 in rotation 149 Oat smut, cause of 215 loss, due to 215 Ohio 18,272 Oil 195 One-crop system, evils of . . 455 Onions 223, 240 Orchard 12, 300-311 management of 306 planting of 303 securing the stock for . . . 302 the site of 301 Ornamental plants .... 323 Orpington poultry .... 429 Overhead system of irriga- tion 109 Ovules 1(53 Parcel post 80 shipping eggs by 441 Paris green 227, 336 Parsley 225 Parsnips 224 Pasteurized milk 383 Pasture 278 Peaches . 186, 211, 236, 303, 305, 310 Peach rot 211 Pears 161,303,309 Pear stem 176 Peas 205,238 Peasant farmers . . 68, 458-460 Pedigree 358 Pennsylvania, lime experiment 129 manufacturing 19, 20 milk yield ...:.... 376 Pepper 225 Percheron horses ..... 398 Perennial weeds 292 Petal 162 Petridish 225 Pets 37 Phenolphthalein 290 Phosphoric acid . . . 117, 246 Phosphorus 117, 119 Physics 69 Pictures for country life . . 43 Piercers 325 Pig raising 420 Pigs see Swine Pigweed 296 Pistillate flowers 164 Pith 178 Flanker 146 Plantain 2!i7 Plant diseases 208 Plant food, amount of, in soil 119 available 120 elements in 114 how secured 112 Plantings as a framed picture 328 Plants, as factories 158 as storehouses 156 ornamental 325 Play 38 Plow, bull 139 disk 140 gang 9 moldboard ....... 140 spaulding 141 traction 9, 142 Plowing, ancient 8 depth of 142 fall 143 spring 143 with oxen 18 with tractor 142 Plum 310 Plum rot 210 Plumule 172 Plunkett, Sir Horace . . 49, 460 Plymouth Bock poultry . . 429 Poland China swine .... 418 Pollen' 162. u;:; Population 17 per square mile 69 Potash 118, 119 Potassium 118 Potato 243-248 blight 214 Burbank 191 cultivation of 247 flowers and seed balls of . . 168 harvesting 65,248 in rotation 149 INDEX [References are to pages.} Potato continued marketing 248 scab 217 selection of seed 245 soil for 246 storing 240, 248 varieties of 244 Potato beetle 337 Potato-vine borer 340 Poultry 425-442 breeds of 427-430 diseases of 431 feed 434 finishing 439 housing 430 marketing 439 project 443 raising of 432 types of 426 Poultry houses . . . 436, 438, 440 Poultry show 441 Preserves 239 Principles as farm tools . . 5-9 Prizes for home work ... 52 Profits in relation to capital 452 Projects 51 baby beef 379 bean 227 colt 406 corn 263 flower-growing 333 fruit tree 311 pig 423 poultry 442 soil management 150 Propagation, asexual .... 168, 179-187, 204 sexual 168 Protein .... 118, 156, 359-363 Pruning 304, 307 Pumpkin 225 Pure-bred animals .... 358 Pustules of smut . . . . . 215 Quack grass 10, 297 Quartz 96 Radicle 172 Radishes 224 Rag doll test for corn . . . 254 Ragweed 292 Raiffeisen 458 Railroads 23,450 Rake 137 Rape, sheep feeding in (pic- ture) . . 415 Raspberries 235 Reaper 63 " Record sheet " for milk . . 384 Red top 278 Rennet 392 Renter, cash 452 share 452 Reproduction, asexual 179-187 sexual 171-175 Reversion 202, 203 Rhubarb 225 Road horses 399 Roads 81 construction of 84 economy of 84 effect of broad and narrow tires on 86, 87 history of 81 maintenance of 86 Roasters 439 Roberts, Professor, quoted . 123 Roller 146 Roosevelt, Theodore, quoted 61 Root excretions 148 Root hairs 112, 178 Roots, function of 99, 112 structure of 178 Rootstocks 183 Rope-splicing (picture) ... 42 Rose cuttings .... 181,331 Rotation of crops .... 146-149 Roughages 363 Roup 431 Runners 183 Rural betterment, aptitudes for 23 community spirit a factor . . 49 leadership for 53 the facts needed 30 Rural credits 460 Rural mail service .... 79 Rural New Yorker 244 Russia ..... 268 10 INDEX [References are t<> ;<. 279 _'<;.-, 321 253 :7 319 397 Selection continued potatoes 245 poultry }:) principles of 355-:i.V.i Sharp-shinned hawk . . . :w. Sheep 40!Mlti breeds of 411 care of 412 feeding 411, 415 types of 410 Shipping by boat 63 parcel post 441 rail 62 Shire horses 399 Shorts 420,422 Shot-hole borer :;u Shot-hole fungus 212 Short-horn cattle 368 Shows, corn 264 poultry 441 Shropshire 411 Shrubbery 327 Sickle 139 "Signs" 7 Silage 286 feeding of 289 Silt <*; Skim milk 38.'?. ::'._' Small grains 2(55-275 Smith, Adam 417 Smith-Lever bill 66 Smut, corn 216 oats _'!.". Snakes 10 Social aspects of farm life, boy scouts and campfire girls 40 clubs 51 conveniences which promote the 77-81 fairs 54 festivals 52 organized play 38 Soil 93-151 analysis of l-'l as source of life 93 composition of . 101-105, 114-120 defined . . . !U INDEX 11 [References Soil continued exhaustion 147 fertility 130, 135, 447 management of 134-141 origin of, decomposition 100 disintegration 98 productive . 102 structure of (arrangement of particles), tillage 135-146 tilth 113 texture of (size of particles), clay 95 gravel 96 sand 96 silt 96 stone 96 water, capillary 103, 104 free 103-106 Soiling crops 285 Soybeans 286 Spade 139 Spinach 237 Split log drag 85 Spores .... 210, 211, 213, 215 Sports 199 Sprayer 335 Spraying 334 Squash 225 Stallion ........ 400-402 Stamen 162 Staminate flowers .... 163 Starch 156 Stems . . 176 Sterilizing 233, 383 Stigma 162 Stock 355 grading up 357 how improved ...... 356 Stolons 183 Stone crusher 82 Stover 276 Strawberries 183 Style 162, 164 Subsoil 143 Successful farming .... 64 Suckers 184 Sugar beet 24 Superstitions 7 are to pages.] Sweet potatoes 249 Swine 416-423 breeds of 417, 418 care of 419 feeding 417,420 types of 416 Sylvlnit 118 Symbiosis 283 Tablet at Union Station . . 35 Tamworth 418 Tankage 117 Taxes, inequality of 450 Telephone . 78 Tenants 69, 74, 449 Tenant system, dangers of . . 69 Tennyson, quoted 77 Tent caterpillars 340 Threshing wheat . . . 139, 266 Thrush (disease of horses) . . 402 Tillage 135 implements of 139 value of 136,293 Tilth 113, 144 Timber trees, 313 direct value of 314 indirect value of 315 Timothy, seed of 279 value of 280 variation in the heads of . . 6 when planted 149, 284 Toads, value of 339 Tomatoes 197, 223, 236 Tractor 18 Transportation 450 Trolley 80 Truck gardening 145 True, A. C 55 Tubercles on legumes . 115, 290 Tubers 167, 182, 244 Tumble grass 298 Turnips 224 Turnpikes 82 Union Station, Washington . 35 United States Department of Agriculture, bulletins (at end of each chap- ter) employees in 55 12 INDEX [References are to pagrg.] United States Department of Agriculture continued in project work _'_".' investigations in breeding . . 273 investigations in labor income . 48 publications of 59 secretary of 54 Vacuum cleaners 78 Valgren, Professor .... 48 Van Hise, quoted 323 Van Slyke 383 Variation 6, 193, 200 Variety test, corn 257 wheat 268 Vegetables . . .' . . . 71, 221 Ventilation in barn 401 house 88 Vermont 18 Vetch 286 Vines . . 327 Wagon horses 400 Waid, Professor 108 Walnut caterpillars .... 341 Washington, George, quoted 45 Water, in soil 102-111 running, in house 88 Water table 105 Waugh, Professor . . . 55, 331 Webster, Daniel 141 Weeds 291-299 controlled by chemicals 29:t cutting and pulling .... 293 rotation of crops .... 149, 293 smothering 293 summer fallowing .... '_1H tillage 137 cooperation in control of . . 298 kinds of 291,292 project work on . . . . . . 299 Weisman, August 167 Wheat 6, 21, 72, 265 culture of 268 elevators for 91 harvesting 64, 270 improvements of 197 in rotation 149 production of 21 seedlings of 112, 175 selection of seed of 267 types of 267 Whey 383 Wind breaks 317 Windmills . . 78 Wood 177, 313-323 Wood lot 321 Woodpecker 351 Wordsworth, quoted .... 1 Work 27, 32, 39 Wyandotte poultry .... 429 Yeast Yorkshire swine Zinnias 233 417 332 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below LQ8 A VoSLES . A 001 107 527 2 S495 G87e