;g(5;' ll CURTIS U.LL r^'l DR. D F LUCKtV fiS S, M- JORDAN PAl DR. W P. CUTLER [f JJ HICHWAY EKClNrE" I?) STATE VETERINAP. AN I®' ' N S T 1 T U T E LEG T URER " lol DA IR Y COMM I S5 10 N ER ]} 7S] J. KELLY WRIGHT r°Tr I Q J INSTITUTE LECTURER L°J I DO EX OFFICIO MEMBERS AND OFFICERS, BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. CORPORATE MEMBERS, BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MISSOURI State Board of Agriculture A Record of the Work for the Year 1910 ALSO REPORT OP MISSOURI FARMERS' WEEK, 1911, TOGETHER WITH CENSUS RETURNS, FARM STATISTICS AI^JD OTHER INFORMATION AND PAPERS RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS ALLIED INDUSTRIES. PUBLISHED 1911 LIBRARY NEW YORK BOTANICAL THE HUGH STEPHENS PRINTING COMPANY, JEFFERSON CITY, MO. /^//) OFFICERS OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE President — W. C. Hutchison, Jamesport. Vice-President — P. P. Lewis, Crescent. Secretary — T. C. Wilson, Columbia. Assistant Secretary — W. L. Nelson, Columbia. Institute Director — S. M. Jordan, Columbia. Treasurer — W. A. Bright, Columbia. State Veterinarian — Dr. D. F. Luckey, Columbia. State Highway Engineer — Curtis Hill, Columbia. State Apiary Inspector — j\I. E. Darby, Springfield. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. W. C. Hutchison, Jamesport, F. B. Mumford, Columbia, P. P. Lewis, Crescent, Chas. Householder, Thompson, E. L. Newlon, Lewiston, Fred. T. Munson, Osceola. EX OFFICIO MEMBERS. Governor of Missouri, Herbert S. Hadley. Superintendent of Schools, Wm. P. Evans. Dean Agricultural College, F. B. Mumford. CORPORATE MEMBERS. (Term expires July 20, 191 1.) Cong. Dist. Name. Residence. County. 2 W. C. Hutchison Jamesport Daviess. 3 A. M. Thompson Nashua Clay. 5 J. B. Sampson Lee's Summit Jackson. 13 E. E. Swink Farmington St. Francois. 14 R. A. Young Alton Howell. 16 A. T. Nelson Lebanon Laclede. (Term expires July 20, 1912.) I E. L. Newlon Lewiston Lewis. 4 Geo. H. Sly Rockport Atchison. 7 N. H. Gentry Sedalia Pettis. 8 W. A. Dallmeyer Jefferson City Cole. 15 S. Mc. Smith Reeds Jasper. Missouri Agricultural Report. (Term expires July 20, 1913.) 6 Fred T. Munson Osceola St. Clair. 9 Charles Householder. . Thompson Audrain. 10 P. P. Lewis Crescent St. Louis. II Norman J. Colman. . . . St. Louis City S21 Holland Bdg. 12 W. R. Wilkinson St. Louis City. OFFICERS OF STATE FAIR DIRECTORY. President — W. A. Dallmeyer, Jefferson City. Vice-President — Sanford Mc. Smith, Reeds. Secretary — John T. Stinson, Sedalia. Treasurer — W. H. Powell, Sedalia. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE STATE FAIR DIRECTORY. W. A. Dallmeyer, J-efferson City. N. H. Gentry, Sedalia. Sanford Mc. Smith, Reeds. E. E. Swink, Farmington. W. R. Wilkinson, St. Louis. -R. A. Young, Alton. A. T. Nelson, Lebanon. Geo. H. Sly, Rockport. Norman J. Colman, St. Louis (Honorary). STATE VETERINARIAN AND DEPUTIES. Name. Address. D. F. Luckey, State Veterinarian Columbia W. F. Berry Joplin Henry Boettner Perryville Horace Bradley Windsor E. Brainerd Memphis L. D. Brown Hamilton Jno. W. Chenoweth . . . . ; Albany L. G. Clark Nevada D. W. Criswell Savannah D. E. Crites Jackson James Cullison Charleston B. C. Davis Carrollton A. C. Donohew Boonville Joseph Emonts O'Fallon G. P. Gant Kirksville A. D. Glover ' Newark J. W. George ' Harrisonville L. B. Graham Salisbury Paul S. Grigsby Louisiana A. J. Hammerstein, 2437 Lemp Ave St. Louis E. M. Hendy Jefferson City A. W. James Cameron R. F. Kelso Powersvillc O. U. Lash ♦ Moberly G. H. Leach MaryviUe List of Officers. 5 Geo. W. Leber Pacific W. J. Lopp. ■ ' Warsaw R. B. Love Springfield J, H. McEIroy Grant City J. H. McLevey Warrensburg E. P. Maitland LaPlata W. E. Martin Perry Boyd Miller California David G. Moberly St. Joseph, Seventh and Sylvania Sts. R. C. Moore Kansas City, 1336 E. 15th St. A. J. Munn Fayette Olin T. Murphy Kahoka Walter N. Neil Lancaster F. W. O'Brien Hannibal E. E. Peacock. Fairfax Aug. Pittman Troy R. P. Poage Shelbina Jno. W. Riley Wright City Walter N. Russell West Plains F. W. Rutherford MaysviUe D. E. Sawyer Sikeston H. J. Sebaugh Farmington C. N. Scott Mound City J. H. Scott Princeton Jno. R. Seipel '. Poplar Bluff Samuel Sheldon Trenton A. E. Shikles Dearborn J. H. Slater Richmond Thos. M. Smiley Liberty L. C. Smith Hamilton Stanley Smith Columbia W. C. Sorber St. Louis, 2300 Salisbury St. T. N. Spencer Rich Hill F. M. Starr Odessa Oscar Stewart Paris C. A. Treadway Canton H. C. Tuck Morrisville Harry C. Utley Bolivar A. E. Van Antwerp Brookfield H. P. Waddle Osceola E. B. Ward • Fulton H. C. Ward Perry W. B. Welch Marshall T. E. White Sedalia Arthur E. Wilson Weaubleau H. H. Wolf Mexico F. A. Wolfe Linneus ASSOCIATE ORGANIZATIONS. MISSOURI CORN GROWERS' A'SSOCIATION. President — F. H. Crowell, Butler. Vice-President — O. J. White, Fairfax. Secretary-Treasurer — C. B. Hutchison, Columbia. District Vice-President — W. H. Brown, Clarksville. District Vice-President — Sanford Mc. Smith, Reeds. District Vice-President — M. McCauley, Doniphan. District Vice-President — Christ. Ohlendorf, Boonville. MISSOURI FARM MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. President — R. S. Harriman, Pilot Grove. Vice-President — T. C. Cochran, Lockwood. Secretary-Treasurer — Don G. Magruder, Columbia. Advisory Board — D. H. Doane, Columbia; F. B. Mumford, Columbia; Dr. W. P. Dysart, Columbia. ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI COUNTY FAIRS. President — J. Allen Prewett, Independence. Secretary — E. A. Trowbridge, Columbia. Treasurer — B. E. Hatton, Columbia. MISSOURI CATTLE FEEDERS' ASSOCIATION. President— S. P. Houston, Malta Bend. Vice-President— Stone W. McClure, LaMonte. Vice-President— M. T. Gill, Perry. Secretary-Treasurer — H. O. Allison, Columbia. MISSOURI HIGHWAY ENGINEERS' ASSOCIATION. (Meeting held at Cape Girardeau.) President — F. W. Latimer, Marshall. Vice-President — L. D. Williams, Macon. Secretary — J. M. Clack, Nevada. Treasurer — P. S. Quinn, Columbia. (6) Associate Organizations. 7 MISSOURI HOME MAKERS' CONFERENCE. President — Miss Alice E. Kinney, New Franklin. Vice-President — Mrs. W. C. Hutchison, Jamesport. Secretary — Miss Pearle Mitchell, Rocheport. Executive Board— Mrs. N. H. Gentry, Sedalia; Mrs. F. B. Mumford, Co- lumbia; Mrs. H. C. Harvey, Kirksville. MISSOURI WOMEN FARMERS' CLUB. President — Miss Pearle Mitchell, Rocheport. Secretary-Treasurer — Miss Alice E. Kinney, New Franklin. Executive Board — Mrs. R. B. D. Simonson, Jefferson City; Mrs. Cora F. Shewell, Shewell Station; Mrs. C. A. Cook, Centerview. MISSOURI SHEEP BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION. (Meeting held at Sedalia.) President — John A. Rankin, Tarkio. Vice-President — William Sweeney, Chilhowee. Secretary-Treasurer — M. V. Carroll, Sedalia. Directors — R. B. Noel, Monticello; T. J. Burrus, Prairie Home; S. E. Haseltine, Springfield; A. T. Grimes, Greenwood; J. W. Elliott, Polo; Harry Nance, Pattonsburg. MISSOURI STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. President — P. P. Lewis, Crescent. Vice-President — Rudolph Miller, Macon. Second Vice-President — Chas. Busch, Washington. Secretary — Dr. W. P. Cutler, Columbia. Treasurer — I. T. Van Note, Columbia. MISSOURI DRAFT HORSE BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION. President — J. F. Roelofson, Maryville. Vice-President — Chas. Holland, Springfield. Secretary-Treasurer — E. A. Trowbridge, Columbia. OTHER ASSOCIATIONS. The following associations either did not elect officers or failed to hold meetings during the 191 1 Farmers' Week. Missouri Swine Growers' and Breeders' Association, Missouri Saddle Horse Breeders' Association, Missouri Jersey Breeders' Association, Improved Live Stock Breeders' Association. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. state Board of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary, ) Columbia, Mo., March 20, 1911. j" To Honorable Herbert S. Hadley, Governor of Missouri : Sir — I have the honor to transmit to you a report of the State Board of Agriculture for the year 1910, including the work of the State Veterinarian, State Highway Engineer, State Dairy Commissioner and State Apiary Inspector. Very truly yours, T. C. Wilson, Secretary. (8) L18R NEW VO- TABLE OF CONTENTS. botanic Annual Meeting — Pages Minutes 11-17 Report of Secretary • 18-22 Secretary's Financial Statement 23-37 Treasurer's Report 38-40 Report of State Highway Engineer 41-52 Report of State Veterinarian 53-60 Report of Apiary Inspector 61-64 Report of Dairy Commissioner 65-70 Farmers' Weelv — Papers and Addresses 71-315 Miscellaneous — Our Oat Crop, How Increased 316-320 Road Demonstrations 321-335 Testing Farm Seeds 336-390 The Quail, the Farmers' Friend 390-395 Beauties of Ha-Ha-Tonka 395-404 Observations on Missouri Agriculture 405-410 Live Stoclv Markets of Year 1910 410-413 Special Trains in Agricultural Work 413-423 Missouri Farm Facts and Rural Problems 424-454 Missouri State Fair. . 454-457 Missouri Crop Review for 1910 458-471 Missouii Live Stock , 472-479 Veterinarian's Tabulated Reports 480-492 Index 493 (9) > ANNUAL MEETING. MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS. state Board of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary, } Columbia, Mo., January 10, 1911. j The Board met on the above date and was called to order by Presi- dent Nelson. Tlie following members answered to the roll call : Messrs. Mumford, Newlon, Hutchison, Sly, Sampson, Munson, Gentry, Dall- meyer, Householder, Lewis, AVilkinson, Swink, Young, Smith and Nelson. Absent, Messrs. Hadley, Evans, Thompson and Colman. The reading of the minutes of the last annual meeting was dis- pensed with, and the minutes shown in the 42nd annual report were approved. The Secretary's report was then read, and, on motion duly made and carried, the report was accepted and ordered printed. Dr. D. F. Luckey, State Veterinarian, then read his report for the year of 1910 and, on motion of Judge Wilkinson, the report was accepted and ordered printed. After some discussion of the quarantine regulations it was ordered that a committee be appointed and known as the Committee on Quar- antine Regulations. The President then appointed Messrs. Gentry, Dallmeyer and Smith as such committee. The hog cholera question was then taken up and, after considerable discussion, Messrs. Young, Sly and Newlon were appointed as a Com- mittee on Hog Cholera, with power to act. Mr. Curtis Hill then presented his report as State Highway Engi- neer for the year 1910, and, on motion by Mr. Lewis, the report was accepted and ordered printed. Dr. W. P. Cutler then read his report, as Dairy Commissioner for the year 1910, and, on motion of Mr. Smith, the report was accepted and ordered printed. Mr. M. E. Darby, State Apiary Inspector, made a verbal report, his written report having been lost en route, and was granted the privi- lege of submitting his written report to the Secretary later and having the same printed. (11) 12 Missouri Agricultural Report. Mr. Lewis of the Committee on Agricultural College then read the following report of the committee, and, on motion duly made and car- ried, the report was accepted and ordered printed : Report of Committee on Agricultural College. The special committee of the Board provided for by the laws of Mis- souri have made a careful investigation of the progress and needs of this Institution and submit the following report: Your committee has found all the affairs of the College of Agriculture and Experiment Station in most excellent condition. There has been a very large increase in the enrollment of students in all departments of the Col- lege of Agriculture. The enrollment in the College of Agriculture during the current session to date has reached 652. This is an increase of over 25 per cent in the enrollment of students over last year. This very large increase in the enrollment has taxed the facilities of the college laboratories, class rooms and equipment to the utmost. The facilities for instruction in such practical subjects as live stock judging and dairying husbandry have already been overtaxed, and a few students have been unable to secure in- struction in these subjects because of lack of equipment. This is a situa- tion which the Legislature of the State should correct immediately. The instruction and investigation carried on in the College of Agri- culture is fundamentally important to the future growth and progress of Missouri, and the State cannot afford to deny instruction to all young men applying for admission to the College of Agriculture. A record of the work of the College of Agriculture during the past year shows that the institution is becoming more and more valuable to the farmers of the State. In no previous year has the College undertaken so much co- operative instructional and investigational work directly with the farmers in the various sections of Missouri. The College of Agriculture during the past year has achieved a notable victory by winning the live stock judging contest at the International Live Stock Show at Chicago. In this contest nine institutions competed. Mis- souri not only won by a margin of 250 points, but also had the unusual dis- tinction of having the four highest men in the contest. We also commend the work of the College of Agriculture in developing the champion dairy cow of the world. The record of Missouri Chief Jose- phine, owned and developed by the Department of Dairy Husbandry, has been of great value in developing confidence in the m-inds of the farmers of Missouri in the practical character of the instruction of the College. Men from the College of Agriculture have delivered 460 public addresses- in almost every section of the State. More than 500,000 people attended the meetings addressed by the men from the College of Agriculture. In eleven days' time five men from the College of Agriculture talked to 28,000 people from special trains provided by the Frisco, Burlington and Sante Fe railroads. Two niglit schools of Agriculture were held — one in St. Louis, the other in Kansas City. More than 2,500 people were enrolled for regular instruction in these tv/o schools. Expert judges from the Department of Animal Husbandry were sent to 42 county fairs in Missouri during the season of 1910. Requests for expert judges from the College of Agriculture were received from over 50 county fair associations in Missouri. This work is particularly useful in standard- izing the live stock types of the State and in demonstrating the efficiency of Minutes of Proceedings. 13 improved live stock. In doing this judging work 14 men worked a total of III days and judged 7,852 animals. 304,000 people attended these fairs. The Department of Agronomy supplied expert judges for 67 corn shows in the State. This work required 77 days. There were 7,216 exhibits and 254,000 people attending these shows. In 1910, 3,000 Missouri boys and young men enrolled in corn growing contests under the direction of the College of Agriculture. Full information for planting, cultivating and harvesting v/ere furnished by the College. More than 100 of these boys later attended the Short Winter Course at Columbia. The first Farmers' Short Course ever given by the Missouri College of Agriculture was held during Farmers' Week in December, 1909. More than 600 persons enrolled for systematic instruct- tion in Agriculture. During the same time a boys' short course in grain and live stock judging was conducted. Thirty-one boys were enrolled in this course. Each summer from June to August the College of Agriculture offers special courses to teachers with a view to preparing them to teach Agriculture in the rural and high schools of Missouri. More than 150 teachers were en- rolled in these courses in 1910. We congratulate the College of Agriculture upon the work accomplished and commend the purpose of the institution in carrying the results of its inves- tigation directly to the farmers in various parts of the State. In our judgment the most important division in the College of Agriculture is the Agricultural Experiment Station. The Experiment Station is the creator of new knowledge. It investigates fundamental problems and is of the utmost importance in the development of Agriculture as a vocation and of Agricultural instruction. The Missouri Experiment Station is successfully conducting investigations in Animal Nutrition, Dairy Husbandry, Veterinary Science, Horticulture, En- tomology, Farm Management and in Agricultural Chemistry. The results of investigations are published in bulletins which are widely distributed in the State. During the past year the Experiment Station has published 21 bulletins and circulars of information. Some of the more important lines of work which have been directly con- cerned with the agricultural activities of Missouri farmers are the following: During the past year the Agricultural Experiment Station has inocu- lated more than 40,000 hogs with hog cholera serum. From 80 to 85 per cent of these animals have been saved. By this means alone more than $500,000 has been added to the wealth of Missouri. The appropriation of $10,000 made by the Missouri Legislature was insufficient to meet the de- mands of farmers for hog cholera serum. In order to supply serum to those making application it was necessary for the College of Agriculture to charge 75 per cent of the cost of production. We approve this plan and recommend that hereafter the serum be sold to farmers at cost, thus relieving the Legislature of further appropriations for this work. The work of making an agricultural soil survey of Missouri has been carried forward with a vigor during the year. The importance of this work and efficiency with which it has been conducted in Missouri has induced the United States Department of Agriculture to cooperate in carrying forward this important investigation. Six bulletins have already been published on the re- sults of the soil survey work in the State. Careful and detailed surveys of in- dividual counties are now being made, and this work, when completed, will be of the greatest economic benefit to Missouri. In 1910 there were 66 men in 105 counties cooperating with tlie central 14 , Missouri Agricultural Report. Experiment Station at Columbia in experiments to determine the best methods of farming. In carrying forward this work 3,000 different packages of seeds were used and more than 20,000 pounds of fertilizer. These cooperative ex- periments include investigations in soils, farm crops, fruit growing, dairy and animal husbandry. In one year's time men in the College of Agriculture have received and answered 40,000 letters and post cards. In most cases personal replies have been made to definite questions in regard to agriculture. The correspondence of men in the College of Agriculture has doubled in the past twelve months. The College established a department of Farm Management in June, 1910. This committee especially commends the establishment of this new and prac- tical department, and believes that the work of this department will be most important in applying the work of the College directly to the farm problems of Missouri. We also note with approval the establishment of a new department of Forestry. The Forestry resources of Missouri have been too long neglected and the University has acted wisely in establishing this new department for the promotion of this important work. Your committee finds in every department an increased activity of the College of Agriculture and Experiment Station, larger plans, increased enroll- ment of students, greater demands upon the time and services of men, and a greater demand on the part of farmers for the solution of the farm problems of the State and for information on all agricultural subjects. We strongly recommend, therefore, that the Board of Agriculture use its influence with the Legislature to increase the appropriations available for the work of the Col- lege of Agriculture. The crowded condition of the class rooms and labora- tories makes it imperative that more room be provided at an early date. The greatly increased enrollment in the Short Course makes it necessary to pro- vide larger appropriations for the development of this w^ork, otherwise Mis- souri boys must be denied instruction in Agricultural work. With the full ap- proval of this committee the following appropriations, which, in our judgment, ought to be made available by the Legislature now in session in Jefferson City, are recommended: Addition to Horticultural building $60,000 Building for Agricultural Chemistry 60,000 Dairy barn 20,000 Live Stock Judging Pavilion 25,000 Completion of Veterinary .building S-Ooo Soil Survey 15.00a Outlying Experiments 20,ooj The Experiment Station 25,000 Two Year Short Winter Course iS.ooo Laboratories and Equipment, College of Agriculture 15,000 Poultry Department 5.000 Agricultural Library 3,ooo Animal Husbandry, including purchase of live stock 15.000 Dairy Husbandry 5,000 Total $288,000 Respectfully submitted, W. R. WILKINSON, PHILANDER P. LEWIS, GEO. H. SLY. Minutes of Proceedings. 15 On motion of Mr. Dallmeyer, it was ordered that 1,000 copies of the Agricultural College Eeport be printed and distributed to the members of the Legislature and other State officers and members of the Board. The organization of a State Association of County Fairs was then discussed and several bills were suggested for the consideration of the present Legislature. On motion of Mr. Sly, it was ordered that all bills on the subject of County Fairs be referred to the Legislative Committee with full power to act. A letter was read from Mr. Babb of Kirkwood asking for authority to remove a certain class of hogs from the St. Louis stock yards to his feedings pens, and, on motion of Dean Mumford, the whole matter was referred to Dr. Luckey. REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE. The Auditing Committee reported as follows : To the Board of Agriculture: We, the undersigned members of the committee appointed by the President to examine the financial state- ments of the Secretary and Treasurer, and to inspect the warrants drawn by the Executive Committee, have examined the same and find that the books of the Secretary agree with the financial statement submitted, and the same agrees with the report of the Treasurer of the Board. The following warrants, which had been issued at the last annual statement, but had not been presented for payment, we find have since been paid: EXPENSE OF MEMBERS FUND. No. 785 $8.50 OFFICE EXPENSE FUND. No. 783 $14.13 STATE VETERINARY FUND. No. 2363 $67.90 No. 2364 20.27 No. 2366 20.88 The following warrants, for which corresponding vouchers are on file with the Secretary, 'have not been presented to the Treasurer for payment : EXTENSION FUND. • No. 58 $23.08 No. 63.. 44.20 16 Missouri Agricultural Report. "When these warrants have been presented to and paid by the Treasurer, there will be an exact agreement in balances. Respectfully submitted, "W. C. Hutchison, Chas. Householder, Committee. Upon motion, report was adopted and committee excused. ELECTION OF 0:p^FICERS. Mr. Hutchison was nominated for the office of President, and on motion of Judge Wilkinson, the rules were suspended and Mr. W. C. Hutchison was elected President. Mr. P. P. Lewis was then placed in nomination for Vice-President, and, on motion of Mr. Smith, the rules were suspended and Mr. Lewis was elected Vice-President. On motion of Judge Wilkerson, and seconded by Mr. Gentry, the rules were suspended and T. C. Wilson was elected Secretary. On motion of Judge Wilkinson, seconded by Mr. Lewis, Mr. W. L. Nelson was elected Assistant Secretary. On motion of Mr. Young, seconded by Mr. Sly, Mr. W. A. Bright was elected as Treasurer. On motion duly made and carried, Mr. M. E. Darby was elected to the office of Apiary Inspector for two years from January 1st, 1911. On motion of Judge Wilkinson, the Executive Committee was made up of the President, Vice-President, Dean F. B. Mumford, Chas. House- holder, Fred T. Munson and E. L. Newlon. On motion duly made and carried, it was ordered that the Secre- tary furnish the Board members with the minutes of committee meet- ings. Dr. Luckey made a report on the quarantine regulations and recom- mended certain changes and a new proclamation be issued by the Gov- ernor. On motion of Mr. Lewis, supported by Mr. Newlon, it was so ordered. On motion of Mr. Lewis, seconded by Mr. Dallmeyer, the Com- mittee on Hog Cholera was given time to thoroughly investigate the situation, and were authorized to go to any place to ascertain the true conditions and to report during the sitting of the present Legislature. On motion duly made and carried, the Executive Committee was authorized to act for the full Board in all questions requiring attention before a full board meeting could be had. On motion of Mr. Lewis, it was ordered that Hog Cholera serum Minutes of Proceedings. 17 he manufactured by the College of Agriculture, as in the past, and dis- tributed and sold to farmers at cost. On motion of Mr. Sly, supported by Mr. Gentry, it was ordered that Mr. S. M. Jordan's salary be made $2,400.00 a year, beginning January 1st, 1911, on the condition of a satisfactory increase in the appropriations for Farmers' Institutes. On motion of Mr. Dallmeyer, supported by Mr. Lewis, the Presi- dent was authorized to arrange the Legislative Committee to suit his wishes. W. A. Dallmeyer, W. R. Wilkinson, A. T. Nelson, P. P. Lewis, S. Mc. Smith and Dean F. B. Mumford were named as members of the Legislative Committee. There being no further business, the Board adjourned. Respectfully submitted, T. C. Wilson. Secretarv. A-2 18 Missouri Agricultural Report. REPORT OF SECRETARY. Gentlemen of tlie Board of Agriculture : The year 1910 has gone into history and the 45th year of your existence has closed. We are met today in, the 46th annual session to review the work of the past year and to consider ways and means for carrying on the work of the Board during 1911. I shall not attempt to speak of the work done by your Board in the past nor the great good resulting therefrom. Rather would J direct your attention to the work that is before us, and in all confidence let me hope that your efforts in the future will be crowned with even greater success and more bene- ficial results than those of the past. At your last annual meeting you were called on to accept the resignation of your seoretary who had served you ably for eight years. You also at that same meeting elected me to fill the office made vacant by the resignation of Mr. Ellis. I took charge of this office on March 2, 1910, and have rendered to the Board the best service of which I am capable. In every department, and from every assistant and every employee, I have had the most loyal support, and the year has closed with perfect harmony and good feeling. The results of the year's work have not been all that we hoped for, yet we can show very decided and gratifying results in most of the work. FARIWERS' INSTITUTE WORK. The Farmers' Institute work has been especially active and the only limitation on the extent of this work has been that of human endurance. Our men have been worked to the limit of their physical capacity. The time was when we had to ask for a hearing or an opportunity to present new ideas. But it is not that way now. We no longer have to beg for a hearing, but we have great difficulty in getting enough good men to supply demands on us for speakers. On one day in November we had twelve institutes in as many different places in ^Missouri and two other places were disappointed that day because we could not supply speakers. During the year the Board has put on some 300 institutes with an estimated attendance of something like 40,000. AVe have great need of more men who are especially equipped for the various lines licpoil of Secrctarij. 10 o£ the ))usiness of agriculture. AVe especially need a broad-minded and well trained live stock man who can talk the live stock business and who can judge all kinds of stock. This Board ought to secure appropri- ation to employ such a man all the year. When not employed at county fairs awarding premiums on live stock exhibits he could do institute work, and at other times he might gather and prepare for the printer valuable information on breeding, caring for and feeding the different kinds of stock After all that may be said of colleges and experiments (and I value them as highly as any one can), there is no knowledge, no instruction, that comes to the average farmer with the emphasis and force of conviction as the brief, clear cut narration of one's own experi- ence and observation. There is another feature of the institute work to which I wish to direct your attention. There is a growing demand for Women Institute workers, and I believe that we should ask for an appropriation for that work so as to separate that expense from the Farmers' Institute Fund. ]\Iiss Ilena Bailey has done a great work in 1910 and has often devoted her time that was much needed in other ways, and yet we were not able to fill all the calls, and many farmers' wives and daughters have been disappointed. PUBIJCATIONS. During the year 1010 twelve copies of the monthly bulletin were issued, as follows : Boys' Corn Growing Contests. Home Makers' Conference. Corn Growing in Alissouri. Ornamental Planting for the Farm Home. Concrete on the Farm. Report of Highway Engineers' Convention. Revised Laws of ^Missouri Relating to Agriculture. Steps in Agriculture. Butchering Hogs on the Farm. First Prize Five-Acre Farm Plan. "Two Poplars" — A Five-Acre Farm Plan. Crop Review for 1010. So great has been the demand for these bulletins that the supply of nearly every issue has been insufficient to meet the call for them. In addition to these bulletins the board has issued a booklet, "A Billion Berries," which is one of a series of beautifully illustrated monographs. 20 Missniifi A auditoi'ium. In this connection I also wish to speak of a bill that \vill come Ix'fore you for consideration. It is an act designed to regulate Mud improve the county fairs and make them educational as they should l)e. It does not propose to prohibit county fairs being held as they have been, but by "moral 'suasion" and some small aid from the State it is hoped to bring all the countv and district fairs into one familv, with a uni- Bcpoil (if Sccnldrij. 21 form classification of exhibits, a uniform system of judging and the sup- pression of all gambling and degrading practices. Such a bill has been proposed and will be submitted to this Board for their most careful consideration. Another bill that will probably come up for action at the present session is a pure seed law. I have taken the trouble to collect the laws now in force in the various states and have them here for your use. I respectfully suggest that a committee of three or more members be appointed to examine these laws and report to the Board during this week. I also have a copy of a bill which I consider worthy of your care- ful attention, and will turn it over to your committee as soon as it is wanted. Your recommendation in this matter Avill have much weight in shaping public opinion and will help in the passage of the bill. I cannot refrain from calling your attention to the inadeciuate ap- propriations for the ever-increasing demands on this Board. When called on by the State Auditor for an estimate of what would be needed in the various departments under your control and not having time to consult the Executive Committee or any members of the Committee or Board, I gave the Auditor an approximate estimate of the needs for this biennial period. The estimate shows an increase over the last appropriation, the major part of which is in the annual report fund. This fund is entirely insufficient. We attempted to print and distribute 10,000 copies each of the 41st and 42nd reports witli tlic .^8,000. 00 in this fund, and by reason of the increased cost of paper and labor. and tlie increase in the number of pages our funds were exhausted before the books could be distributed. The value placed on this work by the reading public is shown by the urgent appeals coming to tliis office for the 42nd report. While we could print but 10,000 copies with the funds given us, we have calls for over 22,000 copies now, and almost every mail brings one or more re- quests for the book. Among the many bills before the last Legislature that failed of passage, I wish to mention one wliich provided for the collection and publication of farm statistics. It is believed that the failure of the past Legislature to provide the legal machinery for this much needed work was not due to any lack of merit in the plan, biit to political or personal reasons. Be this as it may, T am impressed with the importance of this work, and the public demand for reliable statistics on farm products is such that I deem it my duty to ask youi- consideration of the question. In order that these several legislative questions may receive the atten- 22 Missunri Aijficull itrul lu ptui. tion their importance may justify, I respectfully suggest this question be referred to your legislative committee with power to act for the full Board. I have gathered some information on this subject of statistics that will be turned over to the committee as soon as it is needed. As Dr. D. F. Luckey, State Veterinarian; Mr. Curtis Hill, State Highway Engineer; Dr. W. P. Cutler, State Dairy Commissioner, and Mr. M. E. Darby, State Apiary Inspector, will each submit a separate report for their respective departments, 1 will not give any extended notice of them here. Respectfully submitted, T. C. Wilson, Secretarv. Report of Secretary. 23 SECRETARY'S FINANCIAL STATEMENT. To the Board of Agriculture : I beg to submit the following exhibit of tlie financial transactions of the Board for the year beginning December 28, 1909, and ending January 9, 1911, which shows the balances on hand at the beginning of the year, the requisitions drawn on State Auditor, warrants drawn on W. A. Bright, treasurer of the Board, balances in the treasury of the Board, and the balances in the different funds remaining in the State Treasury : PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF ANNUAL REPORT FUND. Date. War. No. Name. Dr. Cr. 1910. .Jan. 27. " 27. Mar. 2. " 2 . ■■ 30. " 30. " 30. " 30. Apr. 30 . " 30. " 30. " 30. " 30. May 25. " 25. " 25. " 31. " 31. " 31. June 30. .July 30 . Sept. 1 . 3. 3. " 12. 1. 1. 4. 29. 29. Oct. 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 By E. A. Remley To requisition By Pacific E.xpress Co E. A. Remley Pacific E.xpress Co Newman Hdw . Co E. A. Remley To requisition By Barnes-Crosby Co Pacific Express Co Libby & Williams Paper Co.. . . E. A Remley : American E.xpress Co Barnes-Crosby Co E. A. Remley To requisition By Statesman Pub. Co American Express Co Pacific Express Co E. A. Remley To requisition By E. A. Remley H. L. Wilson E. A. Remley E. A. Remley By American Express Co Pacific Express Co H. L. Wilson To requisition To warrant 1257 on Farmers' Inst. fund By error .•SIOO.OO 100.00 100.00 100 . 00 40.33 490.99 $931.32 $48.00 6.72 45.28 3.51 1.30 10.00 5.75 1.08 41.25 20.00 4.35 12.68 20.00 32.50 5.35 4.05 8.70 100.00 28.73 200 . 00 200 . 00 75.12 39.34 17.52 .09 $931.32 24 Missouri AgricuUural Report. FARMERS' INSTITUTE FUND. Date. War. No. Name. Dr. Cr. 1909. Dec 28 To balance Bv E. A. Remley $957.42 29. . . 1177 1178 1179 1180 1181 1182 1183 1184 1185 1186 1187 1188 1189 1190 1191 1192 1193 1194 1195 .S15.00 29. . . A. J. McDowell 36.23 29 J. C. Whitten. . 39 10 29. . . Geo. W. Williams 22 32 29. . . C. O, Raine 125 20 29 . . C. A. Willson : 30 72 29 D. H. Doane .' 31 90 29 W. A. Bright 20 00 29 C. M. Long 105 59 29. . . D. Ward King 10.00 " 29. . . S. M. Jordan 190.33 29. . . C. D. Lyon 183 36 29 . . M. P. Miller 81.92 29 E. A. Remley 16 00 29 Ilena Bailey 65 43 29 D. H. Doane 79 86 29. . . Mo. Corn Growers' Assoc 190.00 29. . . T. S. Gordon 2.00 29 Edna D. Day 100.00 29 . To requisition 1 , 000 . 00 " 29... 1196 1197 1198 1199 1200 1 1201 1 1202 1203 1204 1205 ! 1206 1207 1208 By G. I. Christie 37 . 09 1910. Jan. 27. . . J. N. Mitchell S.OO 27. . . D. R. Scott 7.00 27... Verne Hyde 8.50 27. . F. B. Ragsdale. . . ' 7 00 " 27 J. B. Rector. . . 15 00 " 27... Statesman Pub. Co 9.00 " 27.. W. W. Marple 47.90 27. . Barnes-Crosby Co 6.00 " 27... F. H HiUman 36.81 " 27... C. B. Hutchison 7.84 " 27... E. A. Remley 15.00 27. . . S. M. Jordan 166.66 " 27... To requisition 500 . 00 Feb. 8 . ; 1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 By R. D. Calkins 82.20 8. C. M. Long 76.30 " ■ 8. . . Ilena Bailey 25.32 Mar. 2. . . E. A. Remley 20.00 2. . . E. A. Trowbridge 22.70 2. . . Geo. B. EUis 23 . 75 2. . . C. A. Willson 24.90 2 . . Allen Music Co ... .... 4.00 2 . C. B. Hutchison. . 9.35 2 Curtis Hill ... . 18.42 2. . . Edna D. Day 3.52 " 2. . . C. M. Long 156.44 2. . . W. L. Howard 25.25 2... Ilena Bailev 77.55 2. . S. M. Jordan 308.57 20.57 2. . . W. H. Chandler " 2 To requisition 500.00 30 1225 1226 1227 By Geo. W. WiUiams . 32.25 " 30... S. M. Jordan 242.64 " 30... E. A. Remley 10.00 " 30... To requisition 200 . 00 Apr. 30. . . 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 By S. M. Jordan 217.98 30 . . Geo. B. Ellis 5.55 8.23 55 . 95 10.00 30. . M. F. Miller 30 Ilena Bailey " 30... E. A. Remley. Report of Secretary. 25 FARMERS' INSTITUTE FUND— Continued. Date. War. No. 1910. April 30. . . 1233 30. . . May 25. . . 1234 " 25... 1235 25 " 31 . 1236 June 30. . . 1237 " 30... 1238 " 30. . . jLily 30... 1239 " 30... 1240 " 30... 1241 " 30... 1242 30 Aug. 8... 1243 " 16... 1244 Sept. 1 . . . 1245 1 . . . 1246 " 1 3. . . 1247. . Oct. 1... 1248 " 1 '* 17 1249 " 17. 1250 17. 1251 17. . . 1252 " 18... 1253 " 18... 1254 " 29... 1255 " 29... 1256 " 29... •' 29... 1257 " 29... 1258 " 29. . . 1259 " 29... 1260 " 29... 1261 Nov 21. . . 1262 " 21... 1263 " 21... 1264 " 30... 1265 " 30... 1266 '• 30... 1267 30. . . Dec. 4... 1268 4... 1269 31 .Jan. 9. . . Name. Dr Cr. By H. E. McNatt To requisition By S. M. .Jordan E. A. Remlcy To requisition By Buxton & Slvinner Sta. Co. S. M. Jordan H. E. McNatt To requisition By S. M. Jordan T. C. Wilson W. L. Nelson Statesman Pub. Co To requisition By Columbia, Mo., Herald . . . E. A. Remley S. M. Jordan Statesman Pub. Co To requisition By C. B. Hutcliison S. M. Jordan To requisition By Columbia Herald C. F. Ernst T. C. Wilson Libby & Williams Paper Co. J. W. Butler Paper Co E. A. Remley Columbia Tele. Co Pacific Express Co To requisition By distribution annual report. American Express Co H. L. Wilson Columbia Herald E. A. Remley J. W. Butler Paper Co American Yorkshire Club . . . Scurlock Co E. A. Remley Columbia Tele. Co American Express Co To requisition By Univ. Co-op. Store E. A. Remley To requisition By balance $300 . 00 300 . 00 200 . 00 200.00 300 . 00 500 . 00 500 . 00 700.00 591.21 1,748.63 $13.67 , 199.48 15.00 1.07 210.80 12.50 170.59 3.93 29.80 25.00 12.00 40.00 219.70 12.50 10.57 275.91 14.50 3.30 2.32 9.00 75.30 300 . 00 9.10 4.05 490.99 6.78 35.32 12.50 40.00 4.24 1.00 22.28 40.00 7.80 26.73 6.70 134.88 1,051.12 $6 , 748 . 63 26 Missouri Agriciill iiral Repovl. MONTHLY CROP REPORT FUND. Date War. No. 1909. Dec. 28. . . . 29 551 " 29 552 " 29 553 " 29 554 ti 29 555 ti 29. . . . " 29 556 1910. Jan. 27 557 " 27 558 " 27 559 " 27 560 " 27 561 " 27 562 " 27 563 tt 27 564 " 27 565 " 27 566 " 27 * Feb. 8 567 ** 8 568 " 8. . . . 569 Mar. 2 . . . . 570 •' 2 571 " 2. . . . 572 *' 2. . . . 573 '* 2. . . . 574 " 2 575 " 2. . . . 576 " • 2. . . . " 2. . . . 677 ' ' 2 . . . . 578 " 2. . . . 579 " 21 580 " 30 581 " 30 582 '• 30 583 " 30 584 " 30 585 " 30. . . . t ( 30 586 Apr. 20. . . . 587 " 30 588 «' 30 ... . May 25 589 " 25 590 It 25 591 (( 25. . . . 592 tt 25 ... . " 21 593 Sept. 3 594 " 3 595 Oct. 1 1. . . . 596 (( 17 29 597 •< 29 598 Nov. 21 599 Jan. 9 Name. By overdraft Statesman Pub Co. W. A. Bright R. P. Scurlock. . . . E. A. Remley E. A. Remley To requisition By B. A. Remley. . . . H. O. Morarvitz J. N. Mitchell W. G. Shockley Statesman Pub. Co libby & Williams Co. . . Scurlock Transfer Co . . . Beulah Wright Smith Premier Co Statesman Pub. Co E. A. Remley To requisition By American Express Co. . E. A. Remley Sciu-lock Transfer Co . . . Smith Premier Co P. ]\I. Ludwick J. W. Butler Paper Co . . E. S. Remley Barnes-Crosby Co Pacific Express Co Scurlock Transfer Co . . . To requisition By Scurlock Transfer Co . . E. A. Remley American Express Co . . . E. A. Remley The Fruit Grower Barnes-Crosby Co E. A. Remley Statesman Pub. Co E. W. Stephens Pub. Co. To requisition By American Express Co. . E. A. Remley E. A. Remley To requisition By Barnes-Crosby Co E. A. Remley Scurlock Transfer Co . . . E. A. Remley To Requisition By Statesman Pub. Co. . . . E. A. Remley Columbia Herald E. A. Remley To requisition By Columbia Herald To requisition By E. A. Remley Smith Premier Co By balance Dr. Cr. .f 100. 00 200.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 20 41 520.41 .S26.34 3.50 20.00 6.01 15.00 8.00 4.30 4.50 9.00 4.20 12.50 20.32 1.24 12.90 2.45 23 . 00 30.00 7.35 3.20 2.32 7.77 17.25 11.96 15.00 30.57 3.83 1.31 1.92 2.35 8.76 30.00 30.00 9.42 40.00 3.00 13.00 .70 30.00 35.00 74.16 5.85 8.41 40.00 47.25 5.90 3.50 11.75 3.50 30.00 15.25 66.87 ;820.41 Report of Secretary. 27 STATE HIGHWAY ENGINEER FUND. Date War. No. Name. Dr. Cr. 1909. Dec. 28. . . " 29... 219 " 29... 220 " 29... 221 " 29... 222 " 29... 223 29 . . . 224 " 29... 225 " 29... 226 " 29... 227 " 29... 228 " 29... Jan. 27... 229 " 27... 230 " 27... 231 " 27... 232 " 27... 233 " 27... 234 •' 27... 235 " 27... 236 " 27... 237 27. . . Mar. 2... 238 2... 239 ' 2. . . 240 " 2 . . . 241 2... 242 " 2. . . 243 2. . . 244 2... 245 2... 246 " 2 " 33... 247 " 30... 248 " 30... 249 " 30... 250 " 30... 251 " 30... 252 " 30... < Apr. 30.../ 253 " 30 254 " 30... 255 " 30... 256 " 30.... 257 " 30... May 3. . . . 258 " 25 259 •' 25... ' 260 " 25... 261 " 25... 262 " 25 263 " 25.... " 28 264 " 28... 265 ! 266 " 31 i 267 • " 31 268 June 30. . . . 269 " 30 270 " 30 271 " 30 272 " 30 273 To balance By F .J. K==rsting J. .S. Craigo W. A. Bright L. Riick«^rt Etta Gilbert Curtis Hill Kueffel & Esser Co L. V. Davis E. A. Remley E. A. Remley To requisilion By Statesman Pub Co Etta Gilbert L. Ruckert & Co Troxell Robinson Co Columbia Herald Curtis Hil! F. J. Kersting Columbia Tele. Co E A. Remley To requisition By Etta Gilbert E. A. Remley F. J. Kersting Curtis Hill VV. H. Pike Missouri Bridge & Iron Co. 1;. Ruckert & Co Columbia Tele. Co Statesman Pub. Co To requisition By Curtis Hill F. J. Kersting Columbia Tele. Co Etta Gilbert L. Ruckert & Co E. A. Remley To requisition By Columbia Tele. Co Curtis Hill F. J. Kersting . , Etta Gilbert L. Ruckert & Co . To requisition By Western Paper Bo.x Co. . . Curtis Hill L. Ruckert & Co E. A. Remley F. J Kersting Etta Gilbert To requisition By L. Ruckert & Co Barnes-Crosby Co Canceled. Statesman Pub. Co Columbia Tele. Co Curtis Hill P. J. Kersting L. Ruckert & Co Barnes-Crosby Co Vallye Boyce $540.53 500 . 00 500 . 00 500 . 00 800 . 00 .300 . 00 400 . 00 S173.50 12.00 20.00 2.03 25.00 276.23 27.65 23.50 16.00 15.00 36.50 25.00 3.98 13.50 108.75 222.05 178.90 1.90 15.00 25.00 15.00 237.12 295.33 32.50 4.80 3.84 3.00 10.00 273 . 30 196.90 1.25 25.00 .81 15.00 1.90 221.94 150.60 25.00 13.58 13.25 233.67 1.37 15.00 196.90 25.00 3 22 7.50 54.50 1.25 252.01 181.80 7.21 8.30 25.00 28 Missouri A•..' ■.,-'»^>.^ ;- -.'t {.'' W \^B t^if*^'^ti-\t<. 'Ql- ■- /. ■■■>■■ :^ ■ H W-. -r f^ • ■ :m -i^ • _ '_ - ■ _ ■ - ' ' ■■** 1 Mr. Martin standing in I'li.s corn field wliiili lias withstood seven weeks of droulli. Opposite is anotlier field in which the same kind of seed was planted at the same time, but the cultivation was different. ups and downs of the extensive farming system. I learned that the large farmer has not much time to observe. Land that is today selling for from $100 to $150 an acre was worth from $25 to $40 when I came here. The crops are not much better on some farms. The reason for this is in farming too much land. The land doesn't pay a i)rofit as it should on $100 land. It was all right to farm the land when it was worth $25 to $40. In years past the improved machinery has proven itself very valuable in the raising of all kinds of crops. It enables a man to go over a larger piece of land than in former years, but this doesn't always make the land any better. Average ('i'()])s have never paid in the past, they do not pay at present, noi- will tliey in the future. Some farmers place no A'alue upon their own time. The man that runs a factory does Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 87 differently. It is not the number of acres and average crops that make the money. It is the proper care those acres are receiving and at the right time. That is where the small farmer has the advantage over the large farmer. Hired labor is getting more scarce every year. Six counties in the First Congressional district of Southeastern Nebraska lost very heavily in population tlie last few years. My own county lost over 1,200. What is the cause? ]\Iy own neighborhood tells the story. "We have read and have been told of people leaving the farm in years past on account of poor schools in the country, poor roads, lack of churches, and many other causes. Make the country attractive, it was said, and even the city bred people would turn to the country. Of late years we have received rural free mail delivery and telephone service. What is the cause of the people leaving my neighborhood and selling their 40 and 80-acre farms? I never heard them complain about the poor roads, schools or churches. They pull up their stakes and move on to cheaper land. The big fellows have been l)uying out the little fellows. Land was the safest place to invest their money and churches, schools and roads were not always considered. Land was what they wanted; each one wanted a little more. As those little farmers moving away, the hired help getting scarcer, land owners moving to town, the land getting in the hands of renters — forty-six per cent of the land in Southeastern Nebraska is in rented farms, 90 per cent on a one-year lease. This is a bad system. The landlord lives in town with the excuse of educating his children and claims that country schools are not what they should be. I would rather see some of those landlords out in the country wearing out their lives than rusting out in town. That brings up the question of landlord and renters which we had on the program at our State Meeting during Farmers' Week last winter at Lincoln, Nebraska. The landlords were well represented and made their pleas and told how tliey were getting along with their renters and what the renters should do. I was called upon to give my opinion, and told them I had nothing to say that would be in favor of a landlord. I rented for three years and was not encouraged any longer to be a renter, so I bought a home for myself in order that I might live independently under my own "vine and fig tree," and I would encourage every renter to do likewise. Again, we have no back history to draw from to offer a remedy that would work out satisfactorily for both parties. Our country life prophets should "bring forward a different remedy in order to keep the people on our ricli corn belt land. A remedy must be brought that will cause a breaking down of land holding, now too large, so' that there may be provided more homes in the country for farmers, and young 88 Missouri Agricultural Report. and old must be more broadly educated as to how to till the soil to get more out of an acre by additional labor. Working out a number of years among farmers, I began renting 80 acres for $250 cash rent, boarded with the landlord on the same farm, and made enough ahead after my expenses were paid to spend three months in school during the winter. In the spring I went back to Switzerland and invested my earnings in three small plats of land and farmed intensively one season with good success. Next season I came back again to Kansas, where a friend rented me 120 acres of land, giv- ing half in grain, he reserving stalk field and straw. I sold the oats from 12 acres at 12 cents per bushel and had $10 left after all expenses were paid. The corn brought 17 cents a bushel. In those two years I ac- cumulated $275, and was ready then to leave the place because one of his sons wanted it. The best I could find was 80 acres to rent at $225 cash in advance, and the landlord wanted to live in the same house. Well, I drove 18 miles to see the 80 acres. I found 20 acres of unim- proved land in Pawnee, Nebraska. This 20 acres was originally sold off from a farm because of its extreme roughness and undesirableness for American agriculture, as it was coal land. When the coal was worked out it was an undesirable piece of property and was sold to me by the owner for $12.50 per acre when land adjoining sold for from $70 to $80. Half of the land was covered witli small trees and hazelbrush, with a small branch running across it. One bank of the stream was a high, steep bluff with limestone cropping. This rough land did not look rough to me after having been brought up in a mountainous country like Switzerland. A small cottage was built on the hill side. It was not large at first, being 12 by 16 feet, but it was a happy home to start with. As soon as I moved in I lost no time in clearing up some of the brush land and planted three acres in potatoes. They brought $339, besides a crop of corn between the rows. While I was grubbing out the trees and getting the land ready for crops I was studying the crops I would grow and the home market. All that was suitable for tillage was made fertile by hundreds of loads of manure drawn from a small town near by. The crops consisted of potatoes, onions, small fruits, pears and peaches. Poultry was also added to the farm and kept in yards some of the time during the growing season. One team was kept, two cows, and a few hogs sold each year. When I bought the place I was the laughing stock of the average people. They would say, "What is that man going to do on that piece of land — he will starve to death." When I was grubbing out those hazelbrush in order to plant some profitable crops in their place, I was called "Hazelbrush Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 89 Martin." My early training I had received at home among the rocks and bluffs to find a living out of those old hillsides where the Romans used to farm 2,000 years ago, became very helpful to me to turn this 20 acres into a profitable home. The more the people talked about it the harder I worked and made it what it is today, and it is not finished yet, for "Home is what we make it." No man need to be ashamed to start low. There is always plenty of room on top. Before rural life can be held in the highest honor, farmers and their children must be more broadly educated. Labor, no matter what or where it is, must be held in honor. The hoe in the field and the family garden, the shovel on the highway, the rake and the harrow in the field are all implements of honorable and profitable industry. The impression that working in the soil on the farm is degrading, and that it is more honorable to live in the Pear orchard at blooming time on tlie 20-acre farm. city and find employment is a wrong doctrine to preach on the farm. Young men and old men, get your feet upon the soil instead of on a wood- en floor in shops, and draw from the soil not only wealth but health, and the joy of the earth, not only a living but life. Earth is your mother ; honor her that your days may be long in this great land of ours. To make a small farm profitable a man has got to have a good knowledge of the soil and plant in that soil what is best adapted to it, that which brings you the most dollars and cents and rolis the ground least of its fertility. The more intensive the system of farming carried on the more necessary the experience becomes. I have received many letters 90 Missouri Agricultural Eeport. from men in all walks of life, and the tone of their letters tells me that the hunger for land and a self-supy)orting home is inherent in every right-minded man, and that the natural place for men to live is in the country. City life at its best is an artificial one. The farmer certainly, has the best of it. He may work hard some of the time, but it brings direct returns. "With the right kind of manage- ment, the small farmer doesn't depend entirely on the butcher and the baker and the groceryman for the necessities of life. He can produce an abundance of vegetables and fruit, and he can have eggs and poultry the year around without considering those things a luxury, A few hogs keep him supplied with lard and pork. The orchards will supply him with apples of many varieties, summer, fall and winter. Pumpkins, squashes, piles of i)otatoes and turnips may be stored in the cellar for winter use and buried out doors for spring use. Then the housewife has her rows of jars of jellies and preserves, and no one needs to worry about fruit the long winter days. Compare this country life with the city man's side; I mean the laboring man, tlie man who works for wages. We all know prosperous times make high prices. He pays enough for all he receives. In times of strikes and business depression he has noth- ing to fall back on. On the other hand, the man who has a farm, even of small acres, has something back of him when all other support fails. Let me tell you what can be done on one acre of vegetables on a small farm in Southeastern Nebraska. I want to say at the same time no man can tell the limit of what one acre of land can do if it is handled rightly and there is a market for it and transportation Is reasonable. The garden and the poultry yard are the two places on the average farm and even on many city lots where the table may be supplied without going to the stores and hand out the hard cash for a second class article. This year, owing to the dry spring, early garden stuff was a rare thing on many family tables. My first planting of garden seeds began by the first week of IVIarch. It Avas all fall plowed ground. In the past seven years manure was hauled upon it and it was made as rich as possible. The weeds were kept down every year. Before planting any seed this ground was disked and harrowed with a brush harrow. With my drill I can plant any kind of garden seed in a short time, having a wheel at the back of the drill that presses the soil down on the seed. To grow more than one crop on the same piece of ground in one season, I plant two or three different kinds of seed in tlie same row on the same day. With lettuce I mix parsley ; the next row lettuce with carrots ; next lettuce with rutabagas ; next, lettuce with early turnips. Radishes and parsnips were put in Fanners' Week in Agricultural College. 91 another row ; early table beets with parsnips in the next row ; onion seed were drilled in 14 inches apart at the rate of four pounds of seed to the acre for large onions. Owing to the early planting and the working of the soil the seed came up quickly. I stirred the soil often between the rows. Radishes and lettuce began to be large enough to use by April 21, and to sell on the market. "We fed lettuce to our young poultry and chickens, which were kept in yards. The latter part of May early turnips went to market and tomato seeds were dropped in their places. Cucumbers and melons also work well. The carrots grow faster sown with lettuce than when sown alone. Table beets were ready with the early turnips to market. The parsnips sown with beets were as large as when sown alone and often better. ]\Iy early peas sown in March, Vegetable growing on Mx-. Martin's? 20-acre farm. 16 inches in the rows, were ready for use by June 5. Then the early potatoes and peas were ready to market. Where the peas grew turnip seed was sown, and later on I planted it to popcorn in the row. I plant onion seeds in March, and by the first of June I plant pop- corn with the onions every sixth row. By the first of August those onions are ripe and are ready to pull, and they can be pulled and cured partly shaded. Then by the middle of August the popcorn is ripe, the onions and the corn are removed, and the land sown to late turnips for winter use. "While with rainfall the last two crops are cheap ones, they are extras for the season. After the crops are removed the ground shoidd l)e fall-plowed to allow the frost to pulverize it. At the same time we nuist not forget to feed the soil. Last spring 50 bushels of 92 Missouri Agricultural Report. chicken manure was put on one-fourth of an acre — that will be plenty to grow any kind of vegetables for the next two years. Potatoes were also planted on the hill side, beginning on the tenth of March. They froze down during the cold snap after being up. I gave them good care after the freeze and they came right on again. Among the trees in the orchards, where smudge piles were burning all night, the trees got through all right. I planted popcorn between the rows. From the second to the fifteenth of June, for two weeks, I market early potatoes at 3I/2 cents per pound. Among the rest of the potatoes German millet was sown before the last time of plowing. The latter part of May we got good rains. After the millet got up both crops got along well. By the 10th of July the potato was made and the millet was ready to cut August 15th and taken off the ground. The potatoes were harvested after the millet was removed. The ground was double disked and ready to be sown to alfalfa by September 1. Those potatoes came in com- petition in state and interstate shows and were winners wherever they went. Last season I conducted a variety "race" of 18 varieties, early and late potatoes, with two applications of nitrate of soda. A ten days' to two weeks' earlier market in potatoes. at 31/2 cents per pound is a good investment. I find nitrate of soda benefits all crops, but it does not pay to use it on all crops. Its cost makes it unprofitable on cheap crops. Such crops as early potatoes, turnips, table beets and tomatoes, to be profitable, must be forced as much as possible to get them in the early market when the prices are high, and $5 spent in nitrate of soda makes from .1^20 to $30 profit, and it takes no more labor nor land. To my mind, the most unfavorable seasons are the most educating ones and the most profitable ones for the small farmer, provided he doesn't keep his eggs all in one basket. To secure the best results the small farmer must diversify his crops. He nuist have an income from a variety of crops, because a single crop may fail in some years to meet a good market. Growing many crops of fruit, vegetables, grain and grasses he must have a broader knowledge in the management of all soils and have no waste spot on his farm. While the small farmer successfully solves the problems on his own farm his experience becomes broader, naturally makes him a broader man, and as he broadens he takes his children into partnership in the work and they become broader in doing common, useful work that will be a great advantage to them in their future life. The one crop system with no rotation is Ii;irinrul \o the extensive farmer, but all the more so for the intensive farmer. Tlie more intensive the system the more necessary experience becomes. The getting of this Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 93 experience comes from doing the work ourselves every day in the field, orchard or garden. To my mind, no book nor paper can l)c written on farming that will answer for all soils and sections in all seasons. No two sections, soils nor seasons are alike. The dry years and dry spells will return after the wet seasons. This has been true through all ages and will be in the future. The longer you and I stay on the farms which we call our homes tlie better for the farm and future generations. I know by experience that plenty of manure worked into soil and the most complete system of cultivation make an almost complete protec- tion against ordinary drought. I will admit the seasons have much to do in the making of all our crops, but in some cases the farmer has certain control over elements such as water, air and heat. Of late years w^e are beginning to realize that if the soil is cultivated carefully and intensively it will hold water within itself and carries a storage reservoir underneath the growing plants. After a heavy rain the atmosphere will drink up the moisture from the soil unless we prevent it by the means that we call a soil blanket or mulch. That is true also in the irrigated region. . The successful irrigator believes in cultivation, and will get along with less water and often better results. I do believe the last ten years the wet seasons have done more harm to the average farmer's cornfield than the drought. The dry years are always the most i^rofitable ones for the small farmer ; for the large farmer, the most disastrous ones. No one need to think tliat the profit comes from the land in a dry season to the cultivator without steady work. No owner of land, unless others require it to live upon, can make money by neglecting it. The cultivator and the hoe in the hand of a scientific farmer will bring as good and better results in providing moisture for the growing plants as can be had from a ditch in the hand of an ignorant farmer. Not every one will succeed in farm- ing if taken up from a labor side. He ought to know the whys and wherefores, the causes and effects. There is no use in blaming people for not leaving the cities to go to the farms: 1st, some of them don't know enough to go ; 2nd, they don't know enough to make a living if they did go; 3rd, some of them don't know enough to enjoy it; 4th, many of them have not the capital. We must teach them first. Where children are taught what to do with the earth and how to do it, it is worth whole shelves of books. To my mind, there is no scarcity of land to feed the nation and its people, even at the wasteful rate. The saying that there are too many mouths to be fed by the w^orld's supply is the kind of gospel spread by the speculator and the monopolist. The yielding capacity of our land 94 Missouri Agricullural Report. iu this great com belt lias never ])een tested l)y the jixcrage farmer. Someone has said that we liave no soil that is really hari-cn or worthless to the man who knows how to bring the soil and the right plant together. I have made many travels in this country in all directions, and have been back to my native land three times, taking different routes through Germany and France. They have no barren acres. Every foot is pro- ducing something. The average farmer of the corn belt is working hard and depriving himself of needed rest. "Why? He wishes to raise more corn to buy more land. In this circle he moves on until the Almighty stops his hoggish proceedings. It looks more like speculation than farming. The last census is an eye opener to the people in this ' rich corn belt land. Where is this kind of farming or speculation lead- ing to? It operates today against keeping the boys in the country. They have not got money enough to buy large farms. The boy wants to start in where "the old man" leaves off. Absorbing farms into still larger farms causes the loss of population in rural districts. ]\Iany are learning that the small farm near the town is the money maker, but in some towns it may be overdone unless there are some factories. To make small farms pay the producer and consumer must not be too far apart, or the transportation rates will eat up the profit. Many have to take up renting, moving one year after another under one^year leases, and specu- lating ideas. ]Many are driven to the large cities. They lack the faculty to gral) and save. I do believe this country is long and broad enough that no man, if educated in the right direction, need to be driven to the city. I admit the country has to furnish some new blood to the town or the town would rot and die. The greatest good that can be done today is to teach the average boy the greatest possible profit on the least number of acres in which a family could be supported in comfort. I believe the size of the farm where that can be done depends altogether upon conditions and personality. I have often been asked why others cannot make a living on 20 acres the same as I. Again, I have often been asked how much money I make. They say tell that to the people and it will have the greatest influence to bring them out to the land. I ask that they pardon me, but I don't wish to raise a crop of 20-acre fools. I am telling what has been done and what can be done again, but it does not follow that every man can or feels like doing it. The com- mon view that too many people have is that the farm of smaller size is rather a hard place to make a living, and should be gotten rid of as soon as anything easier comes along. My experience has been that if a man can take up a worthless tract of land, unfit for anything in the eye of the average man, and turn it Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 95 from a wilderness into a profitable home, his knowledge will increase from practical work and the world will beat a path to liis door, and he will be well rewarded for the effort put forth. Three years after I settled down on this tract of land, planting out fruit trees, small fruits and vegetables, the loads of products I marketed in 1901, the driest year we had, opened peoples' eyes and showed wliat could be done. Some farmers made the remark, "You make more off this blame place than we do on our large farms. ' ' Every load of potatoes brought from $40 to $52 cash. Seven hundred and twenty bushels of potatoes were harvested from 5 acres, and they sold at $1.00 and up. The yield was 142 bushels per acre. They made me Partial view of Agricultural Exhibit made by Mr. Martin. $110 net profit. I was asked to make my first display at the county fair — the fast horse and the products from the 20-acre farm took all the money in sight. During the same year I was. called upon to serve on the home program of our farmers' institute and tell about the possi- bilities of the small farm. I had everything on paper. When I was ready to give my paper I laid it on the table and did not use it because I had it written in German and I talked to the people as I would talk to my neigh- bors when they asked me how I raised potatoes. A few days afterwards I was called upon hy Professor Burnett, Superintendent of Farmers' Institute, to spend some time that winter in farmers ' institute work. It took me two hours to answer the letter in the English language. I had 96 Missouri Agricultural Report. jin old newspaper to guide nie in answering the letter. The next thing the newspaper men began to bother mo for small articles — they always made them twice as large as I wrote them in order to fill space. After the day's work was done I spent many hours after supper reading and studying the English language. It was harder work than digging out stumps in hazelbrush. But I find that a man can learn almost anything if he makes up his mind to do it. A man ought to try to take hold of every opportunity offered him and try to make good. In 1905 I was asked, through the County Agricultural Society of Pawnee county, to represent the county farm products on state and interstate expositions without any aid from the county. The first two attempts I made were not a financial success. The small farm I had back of me held me even. I began to study what to do. I could get no aid to carry on the work. Instead, I drove all over the country to collect my specimens so as to get a thorough representation. I have had to change my operation of farming the last three years. A different system had to be studied and laid out. I can always find something to do on my farm in selecting the seed, planting the seed, collecting and storing seed for future use and in preparing exhibits. Every year competition is getting stronger in the markets and every- where in exhibits. No man can stay in the race of exhibiting agricultural products unless he keeps his soil fertile and in the highest state of culti- vation and takes care of his seed. The most unfavorable seasons are the most educating ones. Good, fertile soil and good care will make up for many shortcomings of seasons. There are many enemies to our crops after the seed is planted in the ground ; they work under the ground and above it. Rotation and spraying are not always remedies for those enemies. Every insect has its natural enemy and also its favorite plants. Each man has got to be his own experimenter on his own farm, and as a result of his experimenting he will become more successful from year to year and his farm will become better. I have kept a record of the income and expenses on crops grown each year — the number of bushels of each, what they sold for, how the money was invested. Farmers' Bulletin No. 325, "Small Farms in the Corn Belt," will give complete statements for each year for a period of ten years. Potatoes and small fruits were my best money-making crops. The average yield of potatoes per acre from 1897 to 1907 was 147 bushels. The average price per bushel was 66V2 cents. The cost of production of 147 bushels was $32.70. In ten years I sold 7,791 bushels of potatoes. Farmers' Week in Agricultural- College. 97 The gross income was Cost of production (counting clearing and fertility) . Net profit Plowing one acre for potatoes Harrowing one acre for potatoes Eight bushels of seed Planting, cutting and dropping Cultivating seven times Hoeing and pulling weeds Digging and sorting Marketing Interest on land : . . . . Total . $5 , 042 . 00 2,483.12 2 , 559 . 00 1.50 .30 6.00 2.00 2.40 1.00 7.50 6.00 6.00 $32.70 Small fruit sold from the farm in ten years 420 crates of berries. Average price received $1 . 65 per crate. Total amount received for small fruit. . . Total amount received for pears Premiums received on fruit Sold show fruit at St. Louis Exposition . Gross income $693 . 00 429.00 92.50 62.50 $1,329.00 I started on the farm like other young men must start, with little money or property: Team, one cow and chickens . Household goods Cash Tools bought since on the farm Building material, house and barn Household goods bought since on the farm. Paid for nursery stock Garden seed Clover, alfalfa, grass seeds Fences Well, windmill and irrigation plant Spent in traveling For insurance Paid in bills Taxes Mortgage paid off Paid interest Paid for horses Total investment. Potatoes and small fruits. $140.00 100.00 275.00 505 . 50 703 . 50 212.50 540.50 52.50 46.80 46.90 180.00 794.00 23.00 162,00 72.30 150.00 64.00 215.00 $4,751.10 3 , 888 . 00 I was twice offered $100 per acre for my farm and refused it. T let well enough alone. Nebraska is good enough to farm and live in. The winnings during the last three years in growing crops for expositions amount to $2,850. As I come to close, let us commence to farm the old farm as if she were for future generations. IMaintain the fertility and teach the boys how to farm smaller numbers of acres. We ought to make our farms 98 Missouri Agricultural Report. ready for our children's children, and we ought not to sell our homes because we are offered .$100 or $150. Those homes, if they are really prepared for our children, are of more value than money. Any farm can be made profitable so that tlie average boy can see the profit, and when they get a direct answer from the growing crops many more will stay on the farm because they can see their way out and their future before them. I know by practical work and experience that this is yet the poor man's country if he will take advantage of the resources which are so abundant. Go where you will, the small farmer has given char- acter to agriculture everywhere and at all times. He cultivates a smaller number of acres, raises all kinds of crops, improves his home, plants trees, and loves to work, and that is what brings the results. I wish I could impress upon every young man what opportunities are before him on the farm in this rich com belt land of the mighty Middle West, the bread basket of the nation. The spot where every national question should be solved is on the broad and small farms of the Middle West. CO-OPERATION. (E. N. Plank, Decatur, Arkansas, at Missouri Farmers' Week.) I have lived for the past fourteen years on a farm. I took a tract of upland timber containing but 25 acres of cleared land and have practically made my farm out of timber land. I have raised cat- tle, horses, sheep, hogs, poultry, and have grown wheat, oats, corn, rye and other crops, starting with a small acreage of apples, strawberries and peaches, and I have grown all these, so that I have been able to ship them in car lots. I mention this to show you that I have passed through the experience of E N PldHlc every farmer who has started at the bottom floor. I have known the time when a silver dollar looked larger than a wagon wheel. I have known the time when the distance between them was months and months. I have seen the time when I did not know where I was going to get the money to buy seed and trees or to pay my help. So I have passed through all the experiences of those who started with a small beginning and have worked up. Mucli of my success in later years has been brought about by co- operation. I want to say to you farmers that our calling is one of the greatest callings on earth, because we clothe and feed the world, and we, Farmers' Week in AgruiiJhiral (UilUge. 99 who ought to be the most independent people on the earth, are the slaves to all other classes. Imagine, if you will, two great balls rolling slowly down the planes of time, and a single file of farmers passing between those two gigantic balls, one man coming out witli eyebrows seared, one with a finger broken, one with a toe oK — that is today the condi- tion of the farmers of America. Upon one side you have the trusts and upon the other you have the labor organizations, and you who produce the food and raiment for these classes are the slaves and the servants of these other two. And why is it ? It is simply because you pass between these two great forces single file. Were you organized, as is every other calling, were you banded together, were you marching like an army in solid phalanx, you would not be ground, as you aue, between these op- posing classes. It is because you are disbanded, attempting to combat all sorts of organizations single-handed. There is just simply oue method whereby the farmer is going to be lifted out of his present condition, and that is through co-operation. You see combination on every hand. Let us suppose the combined forces of several foreign nations were to declare war against the United States, and our president should issue a call for a million men and he should say to them, "Take your arms and go out and battle against the enemy." •What would be the result? You would be annihilated.' In a business sense the farmer is annihilated today. Like a beggar he takes his wares to tlie market and asks, "What will you give?" And like a beggar he goes to buy and asks, "What will you take?" You who produce the breadstuff of the world, wdiy don 't you produce it, why don 't you sell it, as does the man who sells you a keg of nails or a roll of wire, or as does any manufacturer ? They consider the interest on the investment— the in- surance, the taxes, the labor, the salaries, the losses, and then fix a price. When you produce a bushel of wheat, a bushel of corn, a pound of beef or pork, do you go about it in an intelligent way and say, my land is of such a value, I must have interest on my investment, my labor is worth so much a day, there are taxes, wear and tear on machinery and use of horses to be considered, and then do you put a price upon that wheat or that beef as you should, and get it ? No ; you allow a lot of specula- tors to fix a price on these commodities. You could stop them speculat- ing as well as fixing the price if you would. But you do not hang together; you don't vote together or you would fill your legislative halls with farmers. Why don't you have a Parcels Post, Bank Guarantee Law, Postal Savings Banks and Free Trade? Because you think it is better to be independent and a slave rather than to fight for your own personal interests and vote for them. All these things you can have. 100 Mlssiniri AgriniJl lira] L'rpnrl. Tliey are yoiii-s foi- llic askiiiji'. No one is to Itl.-iiiic bill yoursell', and no one is e\'ei- iioinji;' to give tlieiii to \'ou. \\\' have had a eomniission appointed ))y the President of the United States to investigate country life, to investigate country schools, and what did they find? Inadequate schools, ])oor roads, i)oor sanitary conditions and little done to furnish recreation and other amusements. Go to tlie city, visit the man that handles your commodities. He will meet you with an automobile, take you about and show you the sights. Can you meet liim witli an automobile when he comes to your home? Possibly some of you can, but very few. When a farmer gets an auto- mobile the fact is written up in the paper, is considered something won- derful. Now the farmer is the one who ought to have the automobile; the banker has it for pleasure, the farmer needs it for business. There is just one method, and one alone, by which the farmers can accomplish the ends he should accomplish and give to himself and his children the ])lessings of life to whicli they are entitled, and that is by co-operating. The farmer's first imperative need and duty is co-opera- tion in marketing his products in order that he may get a liviijg price for 'what he produces. At Voltaire, N. D., there is a farmers' organiza- tion having its own l)uilding in which to transact business and to hold the meetings. The farmers meet in an upper room and the basement is fitted up for children to spend the evening while their parents are en- gaged in the upper room. They have their grain elevator, insurance, and telephone companies which are managed at Crosby. I don't think there is anything more necessary than to have a nice place fitted up where the farmers can hold their meetings. You pay out more in the State of jMissouri for tobacco and liquor than you would to Iniild in every township in the State a consolidated school house with a large hall that might be used as a place where you could gather for recreation and to transact your business. We read a great deal in the papers today a])out tlie depopulation of the rural districts. Can we blame the people for leaving the country? Go out here eight or ten miles from the railroad, and what opportunity have you there for young people to have a decent good time ? We hear a great deal in the cities about young people going astray. The same thing is going on in the country only we don't hear so much about it, and what are you, as farmers, doing toward protecting your children and your neigh])or's children? What are you doing towards making the farm life pleasant? Has you school iiouse a i)iano, a play ground, and a croquet or tennis grounds? I want to say to you, gentlemen, that the perpetuity of this Union does not depend upon our glorious Consti- Farmers' Week in Agricultural Colhyc. 101 tiition oT whit'li Gladstone said of its writing that "the finger of God was tliere, " and of whie-h Napoleon said it was the greatest document ever penned by man; but it does depend upon the intelligence and the sobriety of the great mass of the people. I want to say further that our greatest interest does not lie in these great and glorious institutions like you have in Columbia so much as in these rural schools where the great mass of people graduate, 1)ut where you will find neglect. Here is where you want to concentrate you interests. Here lie the hopes of America's future. Not that I do not believe in these great institutions for higher education. I do believe in them. I believe, like Emerson, that we should hitch our wagons to the stars. We should have something to make our young people ambitious, some guiding stars and some light houses. AV(" must first improve the district schools so that life in the country will afford more advantages to the young. This can l)e brought aliout by farmers working together and voting together for a single aim. I want to allude now to some co-operative schemes. Those with which I am most familiar were not brought out by our heads, ])ut by our necessities. We are engaged largely in growing fruit and we have gone in to growing strawberries on a large scale. AVhen this industry was in its infancy the farmer took his berries to town and sold them to a dealer or shipped them by express to some city. As the industry de- veloped the nearby cities had more than they could handle and we were compelled to organize and load these berries into refrigerator cars, so that in the place of being confined to two or three local markets the whole United States was open to us. Our cars of berries today go east to Buffalo, north to Canada, west to Denver. Now, because we raise this commodity on so large a scale we buy our crates together in car lots, have our shipping shed and selling organization. When the berries are ripe the grower takes them to the manager of the association, gets his receipt for them and goes home. The manager loacLs the l)erries into cars and sells them or consigns them to points throughout the country. As this industry developed in various towns in our section, we found that two or three towns were trying to sell or to consign to the same market, and then was organized what is known as the Ozark Fruit Growers' Association. That organization sells for the various local associations in Southwest JMissouri and Northwest Arkansas, so that the local association is now simply an organization for buying crates and for packing, grading and loading the fruit. Now, what has this co- operation done ? It has developed that industry perhaps 50 fold until it is now file greatest in our coinninnity ; it has also estnl)lished a better 102 Mis.stjtin Agricull iiral h'cpoii. pack — results which could not have beeu accomplished except through co-operation. I handled last fall 44 cars of peaclics. If I had attempted to sell those peaches myself I would have neglected the picking and worked myself to death. I gave my personal attention, together with two as- sistants, to packing the fruit. Three of us stood there superintending the packing all tlie time. I turned the selling of it over to the Ozark Fruit Growers' Association and, after paying them a commission, I am satisfied I received more for them than though 1 had sold them myself. Every car was sold on track at satisfactory prices. This is just simply one wa}^ in which farmers can combine. We haA^e in our section a Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, whereby we get insurance at cost and pay only where there is a loss. We have our own telephone system. Four years ago I paid two dollars a mouth for a telephone; now I pay 25 cents a month and have better service and over more territory. These are tilings you can all have, and many more if you want. It may be more difficult to handle corn and wheat and cattle and hogs along the line of co-operation, but it is feasible. You must simply co-operate in a. locality on raising a certain thing. If you are in a good corn producing section you know you should not sell corn. You are impoverishing your land. Yon should sell hogs. Organize a swine growers' association. Have a selling agent, and as fast as you get a car-load ship it out. AVhen there is a ])rother hard up for money, lend him some until his hogs are ready to be marketed. In Gentry, Arkansas, the Fruit Growers' Association has a canning factory, and when the fruit will not do to ship it is turned over to the canner. They can cull apples, peaches and also can tomatoes. They also have an evaporator. They have a manager who sells all the fruit grown by the mem])ers. If you are in a section adapted to raising sheep, organize for the purpose. Improve your grade of sheep and sell your lambs and wool together. The same way with the wheat section or the growing of any other crop. You will never accomplish the results .you should ac- complish until you do it through organization. Can you think of a single article that you buy that does not come to you through an organization having fixed prices? AVhy is it you are a])le to stand against such a formidable array of organizations and trusts? It is be- cause you work fourteen to sixteen hours a day. You work your chil- dren who should be in school, and your wives work. If you were limited to ten hours a dny you could not stand what you mtc stMuding today. I am speaking of our average farmer. Now 1 presume 1 see before me Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 103 au uiidienee of representative farmers — farmers who have become in a measure aristocratic in their ways. You should go to your homes and act as a guiding star in your eonnnunity, urging the farmers to join together and work liand in hand for the betterment of their conditions, and when you have co-operated I see before you a bright and goklen future when you shall reap a just reward for your labor. OUR DUTY TO THE STATE AND HER PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. (Geo. B. Ellis, managing editor, Missouri Farmer and Breeder.) We Missourians take pride in the wonderful al)undance and variety of the natural resources of our State, and are too much given to boasting about what God has done for us without thinking about what we can or should do to improve on nature. We sometimes boast that we could build a Chinese wall around our State and shut out the products of all the rest of the world, and that we could pro- duce everything necessary for feeding and clothing several times our present population. This is true, Geo. B. Ellis. ]jut liow nuich is it to our credit if we fail to develop our natural resources to the highest possibility ? We owe it to Missouri as individuals and collectively in our various organized bodies to give her a name for high quality in everything we produce for the market. We claim that we have a greater numl^er of apple trees planted in Mis- souri than has any other state in the Union. But what about the apples? At Christmas time, when I wanted a box of really fine apples to distribute the force in our printing office, I had to buy Washington apples because I could not find any first-class Missouri apples on the Columbia market. At my l:)oarding house I am served most every morn- ing for breakfast with an orange from California, although I would much prefer a nicely leaked apple from some Missouri orchard. If our orchardists did their duty to themselves and to their State, not only Mis- souri breakfast tables would be supplied with home-grown apples, but tlie Missouri brand would be called for by every other state and country in the world. I would appeal to our State Board of Horticulture and to the Horticultural Department of the State University, to our Fruit Experiment Station at Mountain Grove, and to every individual horti- culturist present to make such an organized effort that scale and blight, frost and codling moth and every other enemy of the fruit business in 104 Missouri Agricultiiral lieport. this State may be subdued and Missouri may become better known to the civilized world because of the quality and quantity of her fruit. 1 have never had the opportunity to travel in Europe, but I have been told by many good men who liave been there that IMissouri's blue- grass grows as luxuriant as does that of Great Britain, and that our alfalfa, where it has proper attention, excels that of France, but these and other European countries are known the world over for the magnif- icent breeds of live stock they have produced. Our climate is just as favorable for the highest development of great races of horses, of cattle, of sheep^ and of hogs as it is in any of these countries ; our advantages for producing the grain to feed them is superior, far superior to any of them, l)ut we must acknowledge that we have l)ut one breed of animals and that is a hybrid — tlie Slissouri mule — that carries our name into all parts of the world. IMust we admit that our breeders of live stock are not equal to the task of developing as fine animals here as the farmers of Great Britian, France and Germany are producing? You, gentlemen of the Improved Live Stock Association of jMissouri, can put the j\Iis- souri stamp on animals bred in this State, and which shall be good enough to win honors in any country in the world, and you owe it to the State to do it. I repeat we can do these things, and we must do them or acknowledge that we are out-classed by the farmers of other countries. More than ten years ago tlie State Veterinarian sounded a warning to our cattle breeders that their business was in great danger of serious loss from the importation of cattle affected with tuberculosis. The State Board of Agriculture, the guardian of the farmers' interests, promptly put an emljargo on the bringing into this State of tuberculous cattle, but immediately a strong protest went up from the very men who would have been benefited most, and the Board was compelled to rescind their order. It took the breeders eight years to find out their mistake, and the result is that tuberculosis has now such a hold on the live stock business of this State that it will take liundreds of thousands of dollars to eradicate it. It is our duty to take a broader view of these questions and look farther into the future, and when necessary sacrifice our own selfish interests for the public good. We can set the pace for the live stock breeders of otlier states to follow or we can trail along behind. It is by our own efforts we select our places in the procession. It is the duty of the members of our State Dairy Association and every dairyman in the State to emulate the example set ])y tlie Dairy Department of our State University. From New York to San Francisco the wonderful performances of a ^lissouri cow have l)een proclaimed with large headlines in oui- l)iggest dnilies and some of our greatest Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 105 magazines. Tt is uot so much tlie fact that we have a l-ow claiming the world's championship that has claimed the attention of millions of readers, l)ut it is because we have the men who have the brains to breed, feed and develop an animal machine capable of such great work. Tt is the duty of the State Dairymen's Association to push the organization into every county of the State and increase the butter production so that not only our own markets will be entirely supplied with our products, but the quality will be so good that "iMissouri Creamery" v/ill be in demand in every city of the country. The same well directed in- telligent effort that made ^lissouri Chief Josephine the world's champion will make the State of IMissouri the greatest dairy State in the Union. Our greatest duty and the last one I will take time to mention, is to give IMissouri a first-class system of public roads. No State can be- come great, no people can reach a desirable position of material or intellectual progress without a system of improved highways. The life of the country church, the development of the rural school, the prosperitj' of the farmer, and the betterment of country life all depend largely upon tliis line of public improvement. Missouri ought to spend for permanent road improvement $5,000,000 annually for the next twenty years, and it can be done if we will without any great burden on the taxpayers. Not a dollar of this money would necessarily leave the State, and in the short time of two decades vv6 could have the best and most attractive environment for country homes of any one of the United States. The second part of my subject is to deal with ''our duty to our State institutions." It is not my purpose to speak of any of the State institutions except those organized in the interest of agriculture, but what I say of these might be said of all institutions of the State. No good citizen can fail to take a pride and give support by voice and vote to every State institution, whether reformatory, charitable or educa- tional. I am not an advocate of high taxes but I am in favor of neces- sary taxes, and from what I have already said you will understand what 1 mean by necessary taxes. If the people of this State will take as keen and unselfish an interest in all public questions as they should, taxes can be collected and expended in such an equitable manner that we will find the system profitable rather than burdensome. Our State boards directing organized agriculture in this State have been compelled to get along as best they could with al)Out money enough to pay office expenses. The farming industry of Missouri represents hundreds of millions of capital, but our Legislature has lieen so generous (?) that it has given the Board of Agriculture but little more support foi- its development lOG Missouri Agricultural Report. work than has beeu given our State Fish Commission — a relatively unimportant line of work. Subordinate clerks in many of our State departments receive more salary than do the principal officers of the; Boards of Agriculture and Horticulture. Farmers themselves are to blame for tliis condition, and it is their duty to demand better things and larger support. The loss to Missouri farmers in one year from two animal diseases, both of which are preventable, if it could be saved, would pay the entire expenses of the Board of Agriculture and the Agricultural College for the next ten years.' It is not enough tliat we create these official positions, but we must give them intelligent and adequate support if we expect efficient service. What is ^100,000 ex- pense for the Board of Agriculture when we compare that amount of money with the increased production of crops that will result from the teachings of the Board through our farmers' institute meetings. Tlu; better quality of seed corn used last year by thousands of Missouri corn growers, as a result of corn shows held by the Board of Agriculture and the Agricultural College, increased the yield of corn enough to pay for the entire equipment of the State University. The Agricultural College of Missouri will be just as good and no better than the farmers want it. The State of Missouri and her institutions will never rise above our ideals and our support. THE FARMERS' INSTITUTE WORK. (S. M. Jordan, Farmers' Institute Director, Board of AgricuUure. ) I want to tell you something about the institute work that lias been carried on in this State. From the first of July to the middle of September we planned perhaps about two-thirds of the work that was called for. Since tlie middle of September the requests that have come in have not been responded to in more than one-half the cases. Since the first of July I liave visited 66 institutes and there have been 60 institutes held that I have not attended, making 126 in all. At the 60 meetings I did not S. Mi. Jordan. attend there were 13,085 people, and at the 66 in- stitutes where I lectured tlie attendance amounted to 27,145 i^eople. Now this is an estimate of tlio actual number who attempted to listen. At a great many of the picnics and gatherings of that nature perhaps a few hundred or several thousand were able to hear. At Chautauqua Farmers' Week in AgricuJlund (hdlcge. 107 assemblies the attendance sometimes readied from 800 to 3,000 people. At the 66 institutes I visited I delivered 121 lectures to 27,145 people, making an average of 220 at each meeting. I visited 52 corn shows during the fall and judged at 50 of them. I have traveled somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand miles to do the work. Since we have been able to respond in only about one-half of the cases where meetings w^ere called for, we believe it ought to set the people of Missouri to thinking. Now, I don't often make political speeches, Init you can call a part of my speech tonight political if you want to; but 1 will say to you that a part of it will be such that the politicians dare not make. I am not hunting for any office and I am certain that no office is hunting for me, so I am going to say what 1 believe to be true. I am going to hew as near to the line as I know liow and let the chips fall wliere tlicy may. I am going to say to you that I believe Missouri is practicing a false economy — a dangerously false economy. The political speech I am going to make now is to say I don't be- lieve Missouri people are paying enough taxes — in other words, we are not getting into our public treasury as much revenue as we ought to have there. 1 will say to you that if you want to go to a town that is a live town you cannot go and not help pay the price. If you want to go to a town with a low tax rate you will go to a dead one every time. You sliow me a county with a low tax rate and I will show you a county that if it has a court house at all it is a disgrace to the community. You show me a state with an extremely low tax rate and I will show you a state with public highways of which the people ought to be ashamed. Now I know of states that I believe are paying too much taxes. Per- liaps not that, but the money is not economically administered. Mis- souri is getting more for every dollar she spends than any state in the Union, but we are not spending enough. I don't know what I am ac- complishing for the State of Missouri, but in the work I am doing thou- sands upon thousands are listening to what I have to say. Thousands are requesting me to come and talk to them about the farm. But if 1 eould be the means of adding one grain of corn to every ear in a Mis- souri corn crop I wonder if I would earn my pay. If I could be th" means of adding one grain to every ear, ■ and the corn was worth 50 cents a bushel, it would hire your "Missouri Corn Man" at the present rate for just forty-five years (But I am not going to Ix' on the jol) that long.) Then su[)[K)se you could liave in addition to a corn man a dairyman, an orchard man, a i)oultry man, and a live stock man — in other w"vds, have five men who travel constantly over the State doing 108 Missouri Agricull lira! Report. work such as 1 am trying to do. If all could accomplish tlie equivalent of niy adding one grain to each ear, you could hire all five of them for nine years. As it is we can scarcely employ one man. Now the people have said that tliey want this work, and if you want it you must provide for taking care of it, that's all. We are practicing an economy that might he illustrated by the case of two farmers — the farmer on one side of the road is farming economically (?). He doesn 't spend any money keeping up his fences ; he doesn 't l)uild sheds for his machinery, if he has any ; he handles scrub stock because he can buy it more cheaply; he doesn't paint his barn nor grease his plow. The farmer on the opposite side of the road is farming extravagantly ( ?) — he spends a little money in keeping up fences; he cuts the weeds from his fence corners, if he has any weeds there; he builds a shed for his machinery ; he handles pure bred stock because it is more profitable ; he paints his barn and greases his ])low\ Which economy should j\Iis- souri practice? I am too much afraid we are practicing the economy of the former. We are buying good machinery and leaving it out in the field to rust. So by spending a little more money than we are today, it becomes a matter of economy for the people, I wonder how many peo- ple are aware of what Missouri Institutes are costing them. Should the farm owners of the State pay the whole bill it would cost each one of them less than a two cent postage stamp. Since, however, the farm owners do not pay to exceed forty per cent of the taxes, their share has been less tlian eight-tenths of one cent. I am fully convinced that if the farmers were aware of how little this work is costing them they would certainly see to it that the institutes are taken care of in a more sub- stantial manner. Why should we spend more money to put this work among the people? I nnist say to you that the specialist who is solving the farm problems today has only one line of work to look after. I am giving my attention to two iiro])lems — the corn and the soil. One man in this institution is giving his life to the problems of fruit culture and another is building up the greatest dairy herd the sun shines on — each one giving liis thought to a single proposition. The farmer on his lands has all of these problems to handle, all of these problems to solve, and I say to you that one life is too short to solve them all, and that farmer is wise who comes to this gathering where all these problems are talked over and discussed. Joe Wing said that the first farmers' institute ever held was where two farmers leaned across the fence and talked to one another and l)otli learned something. The cry of "Back to the Lnnd" is doing two tilings — -one benciieial, Farrnri's' ^yrrl■ in Agricultural College. 109 tlie other questionable. Tluil t-i-y lias been attracting the attention of the business world to farm conditions, which is highly profitable, and it has caused a backward movement of people who have been off of the farm for a number of years — and the results of this are questionable. Men who have attained the age of 45 or 50 go back to the land, and in three eases out of five they prove sad disappointments. When a man has attained that age he may make a mistake when he goes l)ack to the farm. Now there is only one way to solve this problem, ladies and gentlemen. There is one great cause that is taking our boys and girls away from the farm, and that is because we have educated them away from the farm. There is only one way to get them back to the farm, and that is to educate them back, and this great institution that belongs to you is accomplishing that work at a wonderfully rapid rate. The men that are being sent out over the country carry the University to the people, and the people come here to the University, so that thousands upon thousands of people are receiving that instruction — "Back to the Land. ' ' We find this work must be done, however, not among the older people. We will never make scientific farmers out of the grown-ups. We can help them a great deal, but if you are going to make scientific farmers you must begin with the Ijoys and girls, and if we must begin with the boy and the girl their training must start in the country school room, must it not? If this training must go to the people we must come in contact with them before we can train them, and we cannot come in contact with them unless you suppl.y the means. The stories of the farm, while they are simple, almost every one of them, have remained through all these ages unseen and unrecognized. We are finding some new story of the soil from time to time. Just now comes along one from England. I don't know what there may be in it, but they are telling us of an animal that is in the soil. They are telling us our soil is filled full of these animals, and that they are eating the bacteria of the soil. They are destroying the bad bacteria of the soil as well as the good bacteria, and no soil can be fertile that is not suf- ficiently supplied with bacteria. If they would only eat the bacteria of typhoid fever and tuberculosis and such as that, we would feel all right and friendly to them, but when they consume the bacteria that make our crops grow we are a little less friendly. Now, they tell lis that heat and sunshine are the only things that will destroy those little ani- mals. They say that is the reason that after a drought we always have a heavy crop. The same conditions would, to a large degree, destroy the bacteria of the soil that destroy the little animals, but not to so great a degree. 1 10 Missouri Agricultural Report. Again, in irrigated districts, a large part of the year that land lies dry in the hot sunshine, and we know it is true that the irrigated lands in comparatively fertile soil seem to produce much heavier crops than the non-irrigated lands. Now then, the stories of the soil are simple, hut we have passed over them through all these ages. Ages ago a little story began telling itself under the lid of a tea kettle, but no one heard until Watt dis covered the power of the steam that has revolutionized the industries of the world. There is, however, another story that yet remains unsolved. It is with us with our first heart-beat and will be with us until the last spark of life — that something that puts the brown into the stem and the green into the leaf, that something that out of the air, the earth and the water builds up the blood that builds the bone and muscle, and the brain that iniles the world, that mysterious something that men call life. While it is with us always and will be, the mystery is yet unsolved. There are some little stories, however, about the farm that are as fascinating as any other story. When we see a man passing along the street wear- ing a faded coat of blue, and we see that one sleeve contains no arm, we would like to ask him how it happened. When we go into the great penal institutions of the country where are people from all walks of life, the visit loses much of its interest because we cannot get the story of the inmates who are there. So it is that if we could recognize the fact that there is a story told by the soil to the eye that sees, a story told by the trees to the eye that sees, a story told by the plant to the trained eye, they become fascinating to the investigator. What story would be suggested to you provided you were passing along the road about the middle of October and on one side you find the trees are still loaded with green leaves, on the other side the leaves have disappeared. I wonder to how many farm people it tells the story of what that man has been growing in that orchard. To the one that knows, the story is told just as plainly as if it were on the printed page — which of these orchards would be likely to produce the most and the best fruit. It tells the story to the man that knows. We are sometimes asked whether the University will make chemical analyses of various soils. It takes a good deal of time and expense, but the trained eye, when it sees a grow- ing crop and sees the crop harvested, knows more what the soil needs than is possible for the chemist to tell. The trained eye tells of the available fertility in the soil, while the chemist could not determine its availability, as local conditions, such as heat, moisture, etc., must be considered. Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. Ill The main thing I want to say to you in closing is that we liave welcomed you here in order that you could have a good time, hut if that were all, our efforts would he in vain. We ha^'e welcomed you to our city hecause we like to have you among us, but if that were all. our efforts would be in vain. We have invited you that you may carry back a story. We have invited you to come and to get your co-operation to put this great work of training the boys and the girls to see the beauties of their farm work. There are men here tonight who perhaps twenty -five years ago bought a farm and went in debt for it. Farmers of the past have gone in debt for their farms. You are going in debt for them today and in the future will still go in debt for them, and perhaps twenty-five years after you bought the farm at $25 an acre you lifted the mortgage, and if you can recall the day when you paid that last note of the mortgage? I say to you that that was one of the greatest days of your life — the day when you looked out over your broad acres which you had paid for by hard toil from morning until night and realized they were yours. But what are you going to take for your farm today? You are going to ask, perhaps, from three to four times $25 and hand it down to that boy in a half worn-out condition, perhaps worth not three- fourts as much as it was twenty -five years, ago, and 1 am saying that any man who is not making his soil better by the methods he is using upon his farm is farming wrong. Now that bright boy of yours who is more than life to you is going to buy this farm and pay from $75 to $100 an acre, and how, under the shining sun, is he going to pay for that farm if he farms the way we have been farming in the past ? But perhaps he is not going to farm that way. ' There is about as much improvement today in the methods of farming over twenty-five years ago as is in the method of digging ditches over twenty-five years ago. We are coming together to talk things over. You are leaving your homes and coming here to see the results of the problems we are working out. You are coming to hear the story and carry it back home. You are trying to learn something new, recognizing, the fact, however, that there is something yet to know. In our institutes we find a great many people who do not attend, some of whom will stand on the corner of the street and make fun of what I have to say when they don't know what I have to say. They call me a book farmer, and I say that any man today who is not at least something of a book farmer doesn't know how little he knows. And do you know that if we were all like that fellow, who would not cross the street to go to an institute meeting, or would not pay 15 cents to come to this meeting, the man who ol)jects to 112 Missrniri Arjrintlhn-a^ Report. the new idea, we would still be plowing the ground with a crooked stick. We would be like the poor benighted Hindoo : "Poor benighted Hindoo, He does the best he 'kindoo,' He sticks to his caste from first to last, And for trousers makes his 'skindoo. ' " Now that boy who has bought a farm and paid from $50 to $75 an acre — it may be your boy upon whom you expect to lean in your de- clining years. He goes into debt for the farm. His shoulders are broad, his intellect is bright, his mind is alert. As the years go by he pays off a few of the mortgage notes, but after a w^hile his strength is passing with the years, and finally the payments fail. Then your heart will ache when the sheriff reads the execution that must close your boy out of his home and he must become a day laborer, a renter on these fair farms of ours. Now, it is poor economy to allow a condition to obtain that is going to make more renters in our country. IMissouri is rich so long as her soil is rich, but w'hen her soil is depleted by poor methods ]\Iissouri is poor indeed. And many farmers of the State of IMissouri are doing all they can to destroy this great gift that God has given us. No man has a right to destroy, to hand down this possession in a poorer condition than when it was given to him, and I say when he does that he is committing a crime against himself, a crime against the IN tost High, a crime against our children and the generations yet unborn. No man has a right to do that. And so we ask you to put your shoulders to the wheel at your end of the line and w-e will do our part here, and we will solve this greatest of all problems. The boys are going to wdn the game. The boys win the games after all. I say the boys have won the big battles of the world. If you go to our national cemetery and read the line on the head-stones you wall find it was the boy who went to the front and bared his breast to the enemy's bullet and received it. If you will read the ages as recorded there you wdll find that the soldiers were boys. But I say the boys need your help, and if you wall give it the boys — I say the boys — will win. Now the issue is clearly drawn. The proposition is up to you. Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 113 THE DESTINY OF THE MISSOURI HEN AND WHAT HER FU- TURE MEANS TO THE STATE. (James E. Rice, Professor of Poultry Husbandry, in New York State College of Agri- culture at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Address delivered during Farmers' Week, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.) The three great controlling factors in successful poultry husbandry are the environment, the man and the hen. The Missouri hen, so far as I know, is no better and no worse than any other hen. The ]\Iissouri soil and climate are, without doubt, favorable and better than are to be found in many states, but no better than in some states. The Missouri people, judged ])y their history and enterprise, will measure up favorably with prof. J. E. Rice. ^j^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ Therefore, what the Missouri hen of the future will be will depend upon two great controlling factors — first, the environment, which in- cludes the soil, food and climate, and the second, the people — their in- telligence, enterprise and education. In the long run, the soil, food and climatic conditions determine the development of plants, animals and man. Eventually man reacts upon the soil and it in turn reacts upon the man. But in the last analysis the soil and climate win. Favorable climatic conditions, good markets or other commercial advantages, however, may join forces with the man, in which event, by virtue of economical production and high prices, the man may be able to overcome the natural difficulties in environmental conditions. But what has all this to do with the Missouri hen ? Just this ! The Missouri hen is what you men and women in Missouri make her. If she fails to measure up in size, vigor, prolificacy and in numbers and profit making power, the fault will not be the soil, the climate or markets nor the native ability of the people. These are already fixed and favorable. But it will be determined largely by your attitude toward the develop- ment of the great poultry industry in your State. In other words, the history of the IMissouri hen, like the history of the Illinois hen, the California hen or the New York state hen, is yet to be made. What she is today in this State and what she will be in any state, rests with the A-S 114 Missouri Agricultural Report. people of the State. How well we feed lier, liow intelligently we breed lier, how appropriately we lionse her and how successfully we hatch and rear her young will determine her standing among the hens of the world. In other words, the destiny of the Missouri hen or any other hen rests primarily upon the education and the enterprise of her keeper. In other words, what we know about successful poultry husbandry and how well we apply our knowledge, the other conditions being equal, will decide whether the Missouri hen is to be superior or inferior to other hens. The responsibility is upon the°people, not upon the hens. What, then, are we going to do about it? Is the Missouri hen destined to be any better than are other hens? Education is the key note to the situation. It is the determining factor. Other things being equal, the State or nation that is best educated will win out in competi- tion with the world. The answer, therefore, is to educate the people in the science and the art of poultry husbandry. The people cannot be left to educate themselves. The State and the Nation must take the initiative. Man cannot "Lift himself by his boot straps." The govern- ment which represents all the people must boost. There are at least eighteen reasons, all good arguments, why the State should develop its poultry industries. Briefly these will be pre- sented. First — Poultry husbandry is one of the largest of the agricultural industries. Its size and importance command attention and deserve consideration. The value of the poultry products on the farms, based on the census of 1900, is undoubtedly in excess of $500,000,000 a year, and in villages and cities at least $15,000,000 more. In 1900 it is esti- mated that more than 1,000,000,000 dozen eggs were produced. It is estimated that one egg per day and five fowls per year are consumed by each inhabitant. On this basis it would require over two and one- half billion eggs to supply our present population. Poultry husbandry contributes an important part to the agricul- tural wealth of the country. Over 16 per cent of annual products, ac- cording to the census of 1900, was poultry and eggs. Of the 5,730,000 farmers in the United States in 1900, 5,000,000 of them kept poultry. Or, in other words, 80 per cent. Second — Poultry husbandry is concerned in the production of human food of great economical importance to tlie entire people, and because of this fact whatever aids in improving the quality or increas- ing the quantity of poultry products will directly aid in the problem of feeding the race and keeping it strong and efficient. Third — Poultry luisbandry is one of the great branches of agricul- Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 115 tui'c which is a hjisie industry upon which all others rest. When agri- culture prospers, so do the manufacturing industries, the arts, the pro- fessions and trades. The farmer not only feeds the world but contributes raw materials for manufacture and commerce. Eggs, poultry and feath- ers are important agricultural commodities. Fourth — Poultry husbandry is a profit making manufacturing enter- prise. It is an axiomatic statement that anything that develops a more healtliful and profitable business occupation in a community should be encouraged. Poultry is such an occupation. It is in a very important sense a manufacturing business. The fowls manufacture the raw ma- terial, the food, into a finished product, the egg. Therefore the establish- ment of a profitable poultry enterprise should be welcomed and en- couraged in a community. A successful poultryman should have a seat in the City Board of Trade along with other manufacturers and good business men. The day is not far distant, indeed it is already here, when Chambers of Commerce will include in their membership the prosperous, up-to-date farmers for miles around. The success of the city man is largely dependent upon the countryman. Their interests are mutual. Each needs the other. Each should help the other. It is worthy of note that the city people are among the warmest supporters of appropriations for agricultural education. They do not look upon State aid for agriculture as paternalism. They know that in due time they will reap their own reward in more and better food to eat, larger orders for goods and more business which will come from the farmer who pros- pers. Fifth — Poultry husbandry is a live stock industry and as such is superior to many other types of agriculture in conserving the natural resources of the land, the humus, and the fertility. At least one-fifth of the value of the food of the hen remains upon the farm as fertilizer. There are presumably not less than 30,000,000 hens in Missouri. If so, they consume annually approximately $30,000,000 worth of food, the manurial value of which would be about $6,000,000. This, if properly handled and applied, would be an important agricultural resource saved to the State, which, if sold from the State in the raw material, the grain and green food, would have depleted the soil to that extent. Poultry husbandry, when properly conducted, may be made a soil-building and not a soil depleting agricultural industry. It is on a par with every live stock industry and, should be encouraged. "Keep fertility within the State" is a motto that could well be framed and hung in every agricultural college and legislative chamber. Sixth — The State should encourage the production of those products 116 Missouri Agricultural Report. for which its soil, climate and markets are l)est adapted. Missouri' is especially well suited to tlie raising of poultry, hence this industry should be encouraged. One of tlie great developments in the evolution of modem agriculture is the gradual adaptation of agricultural industries best suited to the conditions — the soil, climate and markets. In the beginning we first had grazing, then grain growing, then intensive live stock feeding for meat, then animal productions — milk, eggs, etc., the concentrated, finished, high priced products, and also fruit, vegetables, flowers and manufactured farm products — butter and cheese, etc. In the last epoch the tendency at first was for everyone to try to grow every- thing. Then came tlie other extreme, namely, specialized farming, where only one crop was grown. Gradually the pendulum is swinging backward and farmers and economists are learning that a rational type of agri- culture must comprehend a well organized system of mixed farming in which live stock plays an important part. Poultry husbandry adapts itself well to other types of farming, and on this account should be seri- ously considered and heartily supported by the State. Seventh — It is a sound principle in agricultural economics that a state should produce within its own borders all the products to supply its own people, provided they can be produced more profitably at home than they can be grown and delivered from abroad. Hence, Missouri should rejoice not only in her natural agricultural resources, but also in the large, accessible and rapidly growing markets within her borders. Home consumption and home production keep money circulating within the borders of the State. Eighth — A state should encourage the production of products best adapted to export trade. Missouri has not yet passed the state where consumption has caught up with production. Missouri not only does not import, but is a large exporter of poultry products. It therefore becomes an economic question of great importance to export these prod- ucts that will pay the largest profit, ship easiest and impoverish the soil least. Poultry and poultry products, because they are concentrated, high-priced and require skill in production, are among the best if not the best to produce for export from the State. It is a matter of grave concern to the State, as it is to the individual or nation, whether it is sending into other states or countries dollars to buy the product of the skill and labor of others or whether it is receiving from other states or countries the results of their skill and labor and giving in return money which might appropriately have been earned and kept by persons within the State or country. In other words, it makes a large difference whether we are taking a dollar out of our pocket Farmers' Week in Agrivullural C(jll(:(je. 117 to make a purchase or whether we are putting a dollar into our pocket as a result of a sale. Ninth — Poultry products possess intrinsic merit as human food. They are not merely considered as luxuries, but are necessaries in feeding the human race. Eggs and poultry, the same as beef, wheat and corn, are staple food products. The business that has to do with the produc- tion of human necessities possesses stability. Moreover, eggs and poultry possess added qualities of digestibility and attractiveness which place them in a special class with milk among the few articles which especially tickle the palate of man, and which invalids can only use. Because of this great commercial value of poultry and eggs as as a human food, a state is especially justified in fostering the development of the poultry industry. Tenth — State aid to develop the poultry industry is not paternalism. By helping the poultrymen to grow more and better poultry every other industry, profession and trade is helped. They are all to a large ex- tent dependent upon the farmer. Eleventh — It is the duty of the State to try to prevent financial loss and to help make every legitimate business prosper. By educating the poultrymen how- to keep poultry more profitably and thus prevent loss, the State is practicing the sound policy of considering education as a form of insurance and thus is doing what every great business concern would do to guard against loss and waste. The underwriters inspect elevators and safety fire appliances and the efficiency of fire departments. States supervise banks to insure efficiency and guard against loss. Why, then, should not the State safeguard its agricultural interests against waste and unprofitableness in management? The best investment for an individual or a corporation or a state to make is in education which will insure efficiency. Money spent for education should be looked upon by an individual or by a state or a nation as paying the premium on an insurance policy with annual benefits and dividends to be derived im- mediately and to continue through life. Twelfth — It requires special training and education to meet competi- tion between men, states and nations. That man or nation will mn out in the long run, other things being equal, who is best educated. If Illi- nois educates her poultrymen so that they produce a better quality of poultry, breed more intelligently, feed more successfully, build poultry houses more economically and rear more skillfully and market more ex- tensively, the Illinois poultrymen will be selling pure-bred eggs and stock to the people of Missouri for breeding and egg production and pos- sibly also for consumption, unless Missouri gives her poultrymen an equal opportunity for education. 118 Missuuri AgrivuU nral Repurt. In this competitiou for the markets of the world, like all competi- tions in the great battle of life, the fittest survive. Fittest is frequently determined by education. The trend of the battle in each state will be de- termined eventually by the educational policy of the State. The victory will gradually but surely go to the State, other things being equal, that most wisely and most liberally educates her farmers. Thirteenth — ]\Ioney expended by the State to educate farmers to a better knowledge of the best methods of handling poultry is a good busi- ness investment. It will pay splendid interest on the investment. A state could well afford to borrow money to educate her people. For ex- ample, if by better methods of feeding, breeding, housing and the rearing of poultry the 30,000,000 hens in this State should be induced to lay one more egg each per year, and these eggs should sell for two cents apiece, Wiis would increase the gross income $60,000 per year. If, then, to this the poultrymen, by better methods, should be able to decrease the cost of producing poultry one-fourth cent per pound, this would mean a sav- ing of one cent per four-pound fowl, or .$300,000 per year. If, by better methods of breeding for constitutional vigor, better sanitation, more de- sirable poultry houses and better methods of rearing, the mortality in our mature flocks would be decreased two per cent, this would make a net saving of at least $300,000. All this is not only possible but prob- able, if the proper methods which are known at the present time, but which are not generally understood, should be practiced by a large pro- portion of the farmers and poultrymen throughout the country. It is within the province and power of every state to bring all this about. Is it worth while ? Fourteenth — Poultry husbandry should be given attention, because less has been done for it in proportion to its value than for any other agricultural industry. It is now a question of restitution for previous neglect on the part of the State. Ever since the agricultural colleges and experiment stations were founded the dairy, horticultural, crop growing and general live stock interests have been given serious and ex- tended attention, and as a result they have been vastly benefited. The poultry interests, because comparatively small in the value of individual holdings, though as large or larger in the aggregate value than many other branches of agriculture, have been overlooked and ignored, and as a result poultrymen have been seriously handicapped. The poultrymen, until very recently, have been obliged to hol)ble blunderingly along in the darkness of ignorance, while the dairyman, horticulturist, gardnor, stock raiser and all have Ijeen working in the light of knowledge shed by experiment stations and agricultural colleges in every state in the Union. Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 119 The wonder is that poultry husbandry has survived the shock. Thou- sands of poultry failures throughout the length and breadth of the land are the grim, silent monuments that mark the progress of the industry during these many years in the bondage of ignorance. In the light of our present knowledge, recently acquired through poultry experiments conducted at the experiment stations, a large proportion of the failures could have been avoided. Proof of this will be given in the lantern slides which will follow. It is not our plea that less money should be given to other agricultural interests, but that more support should be and must be given to poultry husbandry. Fifteenth — The State, by liberal appropriations, can employ experts to conduct experiments to discover the truth, and then teach this knowl- edge to the people more economically than can each one learn the right way for himself in the expensive school of experience. Liberal appropriations for agricultural education are justifiable if for no other reason than on the ground of being good economics. It was infinitely cheapter, for example, for the state of Maine to pay a few thou- sand dollars to carry on experiments which resulted in emphasizing in an authoritative way the fact that hens could be kept more profitably in large flocks and could be fed more successfully by the hopper system of dry feeding; or for the New York Experiment Station to show that mineral matter was an indispensable factor in poultry feeding; or for Cornell Experiment Station to prove that chickens could be reared more successfully and with vastly less expense in large flocks of 250 to 300 in colony houses than in small flocks of 25 to 50 ; or for Connecticut to dis- cover the bacterism pylorum as a cause of one of the most dreaded poultry diseases known as white diarrhea in chickens; or for Rhode Island and the United States Department of Agriculture to discover the cause of the extensive scourge known as "black head" in turkeys; for West Virginia Experiment Station to prove the superiority of pure bred over mongrel poultry, or for the Canadian Experiment Stations to radi- cally increase the market quality of poultry through improved methods of breeding and fattening; for many other states and provinces to dis- cover and give to the world important truths which have revolutionized methods of modern poultry husbandly, yes, vastly cheaper than it would have been for thousands upon thousands of persons all over the world to have attempted to learn these things for themselves, most of which would have been impossible on the farm because of the lack of scientific training and facilities. Poultrymen cannot afford to experiment. The government should do that for them. It is the government's business, not the poultrymen 's. It is the government 's duty and privilege — a priv- 120 Missouri Agricultural Report. ilege to do for all what each cannot do for himself. This is a func- tion of government which should not be ignored nor slighted. The gov- ernment has been slow to recognize this fact as regards poultry hus- bandry. It is not yet too late to make amends. It should be done im- mediately. Will the government act ? "Will the poultry industry be safeguard- ed? That all depends upon the attitude of the poultrymen. If the government is "of the people, for the people and by the people," it naturally follows that the people should ask for what they want, and the government should grant the request. You poultrymen in Missouri have only yourselves to blame if poultry husbandry has not been given sufficient attention on the part of the Agricultural College and Experi- ment Station. The same may be said of poultrymen in New Jersey, Kansas, New York and every other state. Until recently we have not appealed to the legislatures or to the agricultural colleges and experi- ment stations for help either individually or collectively. We have been busily engaged gathering a few eggs while other agricultural interests have been, so so speak, "sawing wood." It is high time we cut a little sawdust ourselves. We should not and have not asked for more than the importance and the necessities of the poultry industry demand, but we want that much. We will not get it unless we go after it. Sixteenth — The money appropriated by the State and national gov- ernments' for agricultural education and experimentation should be expended equably and with due regard to the commercial importance of the great agricultural industries and to the number of persons concerned, and the immediate needs of the various divisions of agriculture, such as dairying, horticulture, crop growing, poultry husbandry, etc. The per- sons in authority in many colleges and experiment stations have seemed to entertain the thought that poultry husbandry was something outside of the realm of agriculture, and that hence nothing could be done in the matter of giving instruction or carrying on experiments in poultry hus- bandry without special appropriations from the State. Their argu- ments usually have been that they did not have money enough to meet the requirements of the departments already in existence. This is equiv- alent to saying that poultry husbandry is not worthy of recognition, or not having been recognized that it will not be necessary to give poultry husbandry support until the other departments "get their growth." Meanwhile increased appropriations are given each year to the depart- ments already established and poultrymen are told that they should go to the legislature to get the money to establish a department. However commendable and desirable it may be for the legislature to make special Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 121 appropriations for poultry husbandry, this is not necessarily the best plan by which to make a beginning. Reform should begin at home. The agricultural colleges and experiment stations should show their good in- tentions and their appreciation of the needs of poultry husbandry by making a start before getting special appropriations, even though the beginning be small. There is no question of doubt about the result, the effect would abundantly justify the experiment. It is the square thing to do. Seventeenth — The State should help in l)uilding up the poultry interests by assisting poultry organizations. Education in poultry hus- bandry, it should be clearly understood, does not refer alone to instruc- tion in agricultural colleges and experiment stations. The quality of in- struction that is being given in poultry husbandry in the agricultural colleges and the investigational work that is being done, the results of which are being published in bulletin form, is valuable and far reaching in its influence — far beyond our ability to estimate its worth in dollars and cents; but these, however, are only two among many effective methods of education. Poultry associations, through co-operation and united efforts, are powerful educational agencies in the development of a more profitable poultry husbandry. We must more and more look to these organizations to advance the cause of education. The poultry show is a valuable agency in popularizing the keeping of pure bred poultry and thus edu- cating the people to know good poultry when they see it. The poultry institute and the educational exhibits attract and instruct persons who could not otherwise be reached. Co-operative buying and selling, united action in expressing the will of the people before legislatures, board of trustees and directors of agricultural colleges and experiment stations are all to be commended and encouraged and should be supported. To do this every wide-awake poultryman who has a spark of pride in his occupation should be an active member (not a ''dead one") in a local, state and national poultry organization. We have in our American Poultry Association an effective instrument for progress. Whether or not it shall fulfill its mission will depend upon the attitude of the poultrymen of this country, who have at heart the upbuilding of our great poultry interests. Your are indeed fortunate in having an able and energetic repre- sentative in your State to look after your poultry interests. I refer to Mr. T. E. Quisenberry, Avho has tlie honor of representing your State in the executive committee of the American Poultry Association. The various correspondence and reading courses now being offered, although unable to provide the important practice work, are undoubtedly 122 Missouri Agricultural Report. valuable agencies for imparting information to a large number of per- sons who would not feel that they could leave home or assume the ex- pense of taking a full course or short course in college. The poultry and agricultural press is exerting a potent influence in improving the poultry practice of the country. Each year, more and more, as the readers demand it, the press is giving attention to matters of fundamental importance to those Avho are hungry and thirsty for in- formation. The agricultural colleges owe a great debt of gratitude to the press for the splendid service it has rendered in supporting the work of the poultry departments. They have been pioneers in the campaign of education. They have done much to shape public sentiment by print- ing the facts regarding the shortcomings as well as commending the successes of the poultry departments. Eighteenth — The State should develop its agricultural interests and the agricultural colleges, and the experiment stations should give atten- tion to the various branches of agriculture, with some regard to the comparative number of persons concerned. IMore persons are interested in poultry husbandry than in any other one branch of agriculture. It is largely because of this fact that Director L. H. Bailey of the New York State College of Agriculture, one of the best, if not the best friend the poultrymen have ever had, says that he would favor the establishment of poultry departments and provide for their active support if for no other reason than their great pedagogic value based on the fact that so many persons can be reached, as he expressed it, "in terms of their daily lives." The accuracy and force of this statement is abundantly proven at Cornell by the rapidity with which large editions of poultry bulletins are exhausted, for example, 30,000 copies are mailed within a few months, and by the rapid increase in the poultry correspondence, from a few hundred letters to over eight thousand letters per year, and by the large demand for instruction in poultry husbandry, which has increased in seven years from 27 to 174 students selecting Poultry Hus- bandry courses, and many students turned away because of lack of ac- commodations. Similar statements may be made with regard to the poultry department in many other states. This, then, is an abundant justification for the estal)lishment and support of poultry departments. In view of these facts is not poultrj^ husbandry entitled to fair con- sideration as a business and as a profession that will rank with other leading occupations, and as such is it not fair to ask for equable consider- ation as a subject to be taught and investigated in the agricultural col- leges and experiment stations? We are willing to let our case rest with that great important jury, that court of last resort, that jury that has settled so many questions and settled them right — the American people. Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 123 Missouri Farm Management Association. OFFICERS. President — R. S. Harriman, Pilot Grove. Vice-President — T. C. Cochran, Lockwood. Secretary-Treasurer — Don G. Magruder, Columbia. ADVISORY BOARD. D. H. Doane, Columbia; F. B. Mumford, Columbia; Dr. W. P. Dysart, Columbia. D. H. Doane. MISSOURI FARM MANAGEMENT. (D. H. Doane, in charge of Farm JVIanagement in Missouri.) During the early summer of 1906 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, through the Office of Farm Management, started farm management in- vestigation work in the State of Missouri, and from that ^late until the beginning of 1910 it was con- tinuously carried on. The purpose of the work was to study the results that the farmers had gathered from practical experiences, to determine, if possible, what the most successful methods and operations were that the farmers themselves had worked out; in short, to get right down to the practical facts as they existed on the farms in ]\Iissouri under all the varied conditions as they are found here. After spending about four years at this, the demon- stration work was started. This consisted of putting into practice the results of the investigations. Farmers who requested our assistance were visited and complete plans w^ere suggested to them for the carrying on of every detail of the farm operations. One year has passed since this latter phase of our work was started, and today we have some rather gratifying reports to make. From one farm, where a number of hundred head of hogs are fed annually, the report comes that by following one of our suggestions a car load of corn was saved on the summer feeding. From another farm in Franklin county a farmer says, "AVhen you found me I was ready to give up. I could not sec my way out. But, the last year has made a hole in the stone wall, and I now know that I am on my feet and success is sure to come. ' ' 124 Missouri Agricultural Report. On a little farm in the Ozarks that produced, tlie year we started the work, less than 10 bushels of corn, less than one-fourth of a ton of hay and about 15 bushels of potatoes per acre, yielded the next year over 40 bushels of corn, nearly 100 bushels of potatoes and about two tons of hay per acre. The farmer in question was a worker and fol- lowed our directions very carefully. He was not rich, in fact the year previous to the one just mentioned it was necessary to lose a hay crop on account of not being able to buy a mower or to borrow one at tlie particular time it was needed. You may ask how we got these rather remarkable results — for example, the corn crop. First, we put our corn on a field that had had cowpeas on it the year before, the first ever grown on the farm. We lap- disked the corn ground before we plowed. We prepared a seed bed that would have done for a garden. We paid $3.00 a bushel for the best seed we could buy, tested it carefully, and knew that 98 per cent of it would grow. Cultivation did not stop when we had to leave the field with the team, but continued with one horse. Cowpeas were planted in the corn with a hand planter, when the corn was about four to six inches high ; in fact, everything that we knew of, that would contribute to a successful yield of corn, was done for this crop. We applied some fertilizer, but in a way that we could get a check on the results from its use. Results on this little farm show conclusively that successful farm- ing does not consist of the doing of one thing Avell — for instance, the purchase of pure bred seed — but the doing of every farm operation in the best possible way known. Successful farming is everyday farming. The successful farmer is the one who spares no pains to get the best and do the best. He does not have "his wish-bone where his backbone ought to be." Business farming means head as well as back farming. We can tell to a penny what it cost us to produce every crop on this farm, and we know whicli ones paid us best, and from these figures we have a positive basis for our future operations. I am often asked how we ob- tained such results in one year, but if I answered, telling the real secret, it would be a story so long that few would read or care to listen, for the success of the crops in 1910 began with the work in the fall of 1909 and continued until the spring of 1911. It was the work done every day, it was the planning done every night, it was the result of tlie reading put into practice, it was business farming. We are sometimes asked, "How do you start the work on the farms of those who desire to receive your assistance ? " I can answer this ques- tion best by telling of our Missouri Farm Management Association. This organization was formed during Farmers' Week, 1910, at Columbia, Mo. Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 125 There were seventy-five charter ineniljcrs, and the resolutions adopted at that time express so well the object of the organization that they are given in full. MISSOURI FARM MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. Motto— Do. Object — Organization, co-operation, diversification, intensification. RESOLUTIONS. First— Be it resolved that we, the undersigned farmers and other men and women of the State of Missouri who are interested in the better- ment of Missouri Agriculture, do organize and band ourselves together for the purpose of extending the work in Farm Management in Mis- souri. It seems to us, under the present plan of operations, that there are not as many farmers coming in direct contact with this work as there should be, and it is our purpose to help extend directly the efforts of the working force of this Association. Seconel — "We further believe that the successful principles and practices of agriculture that have been found to be practical and profit- able, both by the use of experiments and the results obtained from farm- ers, should be demonstrated under a well-balanced and business-like farm plan, under farm conditions; for we believe that farming is a business that cannot reach its highest development unless business methods are used in its execution. Third — We further believe that the Office of Farm Management of the U. S. Department of Agriculture should, in the execution of its work, co-operate with the Agricultural Department of the University of Mis- souri, the Experiment Station and the INIissouri State Board of Agri- culture. Farm Management embodies the fundamental principles of agriculture for which the aforementioned institutions stand; each is to a greater or less degree dependent on the other for its greatest develop- ment and success, and all should, therefore, work together in a helpful and harmonious relation. Fourth — ^We believe that the prime work of Farm Management is to demonstrate and not experiment. That our measure of success is de- termined by the rapidity and permanency with which our farms are built up in fertility, and the net returns we receive after each year's operations. During the summer and fall of 1910 members of the Farm Manage- ment staff, both from the Government, and those employed by the College, visited between 40 and 50 members of the Association, and helped them 126 Missouri Agricultural Report. in a definite and concrete way in putting their farms on a business basis. In other words, the object of tliese visits was to help the farmers organize their farms. Soil treatment was suggested, a definite rotation of crops was outlined and complete details for the handling of all crops were mapped out, and the suggestions made were sent to the farmer in type- written form. It can be seen from this that the work had a decidedly practical value. It resulted in a direct financial benefit to the farmer as well as assisting him in building up the fertility of liis soil. It is little wonder, therefore, that it has grown to such proportions. At the beginning of this year, 1911, it was found necessary to charge a membership fee to the Association, and $1.00 assessment was levied. Today over 150 members have paid up their fees for 1911, and others are joining every day. RELATION OF THE ASSOCIATION TO THE FARM MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT. An everyday question that arises at this time is the relation between the Farm Management Department and the Association; it is simply this : They who are employed by the Government and by the State to carry on Farm Management work in Missouri are desirous of knowing those who are directly interested in the work. They have every desire to get in touch with men who want definite help in carrying on the work of their farms. In order to find these farmers, it was deemed desirable to form this Association, to be composed of those who really cared for help from the Department. So it came about that the Missouri Farm Management Association was formed, and in this way it can l)e deter- mined who the farmers are who are really in sympathy wdth our under- taking. It gives a definite concrete body of up-to-date farmers with which to carry on the work. By working with members of this Associa- tion, it is not necessary to spend any time with men who are just partial- ly interested in what is being done. When a man pays a dollar to be- come a member, and signs a statement to the effect that he is desirous of obtaining a definite plan for carrying on his work, it is reasonably cer- tain that he is the right kind. In short, the Association was formed for the purpose of combining and organizing those farmers in iMissouri who want help in farm management problems. This organization will ultimately carry on a great deal of co-operative work in the buying and selling of seeds, pure bred live stock, and supplies for the farmer. As soon as the organization becomes strong enougli, and its members have the products for sale, there is no reason why there cannot be a system of buying, selling and exchanging among the members that will l)e one of Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 127 the greatest factors entering into the economical operation of the farm. One may ask if by becoming a member it assures him a visit from some member of the Farm JManagement staff. The answer is, that it does not. It is the aim and purpose to visit, first, all the members of the Association who desire to have some one come to their farms to help them with their work, and after that others who desire help will be visited. The expenses in visiting a farmer and helping in planning the work are a great deal more than one dollar, so no one can possibly feel that the dollar entitles him to a visit. It is simply an indication that you are interested in the work and wish to get in touch with it. Some think it is necessary for us to turn upside down every practice and method that we find being followed when we reach the farm. This is very far from the truth. It is seldom that we make any sweeping changes — in fact we find that in 90 per cent of the cases we can ac- complish more by adjustment than by revolution. Here is a farmer growing crops that are giving very satisfactory yields, but he says to me ' ' I am not making money. ' ' Upon investigation we find that there is little we can do to improve his crop yields, but we find that his stock is being handled at a loss. He is putting good crops through poor stock. He is running efficient fuel through poor machinery. Our work in such a case simply consists in adjusting the running of the farm— namely, putting the successful crops through profitable stock, doing away with the worn-out and hard-running machinery and putting in a kind or quality that can be kept at a profit. Sell two of the boarder cows and buy one that will return a good income. Sell the old gelding and buy a mare that will raise a colt worth one-third to one-half of her purchase price at weaning time. This has been done. We are doing it now and intend to keep on doing it. These practices and ideas are not theoretical — they are being proven every day that our work is being followed. We could not help but feel good during Farmers' Week when one of our members said, "We received your letter notifying us that our annual fee to the Missouri Farm IManagement Association was due, and, after talking it over, my wife and I agreed that dollars were not very plenti- ful, but rather than give up the work we would pay a fee of one hundred dollars." These are the things that count. When you make farming more pleasant and at the same time more profitable, then it is that you have solved the real problem for the farmer. 128 Missouri Agricultural Report. MISSOURI FARM MANAGEMENT DEMONSTRATION MEETING. (D. H. Doane, in charg-e of Farm Management in Missouri.) I have been asked to write about the Demonstra- tion meeting we held last year, 1910, on our No. 4 farm. In looking over the notes concerning our re- sults and the reports about the meeting, I find that W. L. Nelson, Assistant Secretary of the State Board j'^^mm^\ of Agriculture, wiio was one of the speakers at the ^^4^Wx Ijl^ meeting and a veiy interested and attentive listener ^^^^'4 ^ ^^H during the whole day, has given the best report on ^ — ■^— ' the meeting that was written. Consequently, I am R. s. Harriman. taking the liberty of using his ideas, with a few ex- ceptions, and the adding of some results obtained since the meeting, as he expressed them for an article in the Breeders' Gazette of October 5, 1910. "The dream of a farmers' institute in the fields has finally been ful- filled. For several years we have had ' the college on wheels ; ' now we have the farmers' institute on legs. While the methods are close akin, the latter has a decided advantage, representing not only a movement toward the farm but actually on the farm and in the fields. "It was in Cooper county, Missouri, that the demonstration farm meeting took place on Thursday, September 15. It had been adver- tised as a demonstration farm meeting, inasmuch as the place was Mis- souri United States Demonstration Farm No. 4, owned and operated by R. S. Harriman, but it was frequently referred to as a ' Show Me ' farm- ers ' picnic and institute. Putting it thus in popular parlance seemed most appropriate, as the 'Show Me' State furnished both the location and the leaders for the first-of-the-kind institute on legs. ' ' Some seven or eight years ago a young man from Lawrence county, Missouri, proposed to those in authority in the Department of Agricul- ture to organize an office having for its object the study and adminis- tration of agriculture from the standpoint of the farmer. By this was meant so to train men that they might see the farm as a unit, rather than any one part of it. The horticulturist sees the apple tree, the dairyman the milch cow, and the agronomist the corn crop or soil, but all these the general farmer must see. The one who had this vision further said that, as the farmer has thousands of details to correlate and shape into farm plans, there was need of a man trained in this kind of work. From this came the Office of Farm Management, and at its head Farmers' Week in Agricullural College. 129 was placed the one who had eoiiceived the work and yiveii it form, uaine- ly, W. J. Spillmau, reared on Missouri soil and graduated from the Uni- versity of Missouri. It was soon seen that Prof. Spillman had touched the keynote and the work grew rapidly. This development brought about the present organization of the office. "The United States is divided into three sections, and one man, working under Prof. Spillman, is placed in charge of each and is held directly responsible for the w^ork of his section. C. Beaman Smith has charge of the northeast section, of which Missouri is a part. Each of the three national sections is subdivided, a state constituting a sub- division. The work in a state is in control of one man from the De- partment of Agriculture, who, if possible so to arrange, works in co- The dinner table spread for the noon meal by the farmers' wives, who helped in a most essential way with the success of the meeting. operation with the college of agriculture or experiment station of the State. Prof. D. H. Doane has charge of the farm management work in Missouri and is assisted by Don. G. Magruder and 0. R. Johnson. There are now four demonstration farms in Missouri. The owners of these farms are R. S. Harriman, Bunceton ; J. C. Smith, Conway, in the southern section of the State ; C. D. Simonson, Memphis, in the northern part, and C. M. Long, Columbia, in the central section. Missouri, with the first Farm Management Association, seems to be leading all other states in this movement. No small part of this success is due to the very generous co-operation between F. B. Mumford, Dean of the Missouri A-9 130 Missouri Agricultural Report. Agricultural College, and Prof. W. J. Spillman of the Department of Agriculture. "Early last spring the plan of farming to be used on Demonstra- tion Farm No. 4 was carefully laid out by Mr. Doane, and the details of all farm operations were considered. The farm was mapped, a soil treatment outlined, and a crop rotation established. Then the utiliza- tion of crops by stock was taken up, and assistance was even given in the buying and selling of all crops and. stock, every operation being carefully accounted for in a complete system of bookkeeping. It should be stated that Mr. Harrimau received no financial aid from ' Uncle Sam ' or the State of Missouri, so that his place is in no sense intended as a model farm. The improvements are not extensive. Even the old rail Three hundred farmers and their wives spent the forenoon in Nature's Auditorium, listening to Farm Management tallis and the plans that liad been made for the Demonstration Farm. fence, once so common in Missouri, is still in use, but about the farm, which includes both bottom and upland, there is an air of neatness, thrift and industry. One is impressed with thp fact that here is a home. "As success seemed to attend Mr. Harriman's work, it was decided to hold an all-day meeting — a picnic whose promoters had a purpose — right on the farm. The day came, so did the people — some 300 of them, men and women representing every section of the county in which the meeting was held, a dozen or more other counties and. five or six other states. It was a great gathering. As one looked into the faces of the thoughtful, intelligent men and women there he was impressed with the Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 131 fact that here were people eager to better understand and more fidly appreciate the problems, possibilities and pleasures of life on the farm. "First, attention was called to the needs and objects of such a meeting. It was pointed out that farming is a business demanding brains as well as brawn ; that farming today is a far more intricate proposition than in the time of our forefathers, when men could skim the cream off of one quarter-section, then move to another 160 acres; that changed location, not crop rotation, gave to the pioneer a land pro- ductive of plenty; that farming demands fitness, and that while almost any man 'may 'mine land,' no fool can farm it. One speaker declared that it is folly for the farmer to think about cultivating more land, when The afternoon was spent in examining tlie crops as, and where, tliey grew. Here the soy beans stood shoulder high, set from 100 to 2 00 pods, and had nodules on the roots as large as small peas. The soy bean has a feeding value equal to oil meal — home-gi'own protein. it is imi-)ossi])le for him to get sufficient help as it is. 'What, then,' came the question, 'must be the solution of this perplexing problem? What, if not to increase the yield, thereby decreasing the cost? It will not come through added acres, but by added bushels, ' continued the speaker. 'The demand is not so much for larger farming as for better farming,' "One important object of the farm management movement was said to be to help the farmer know the cost and to reduce the cost. This thought ran through practically every talk. Among the speakers were : F. B. Mumford, Dean of the Missouri Agricultural College ; T. C. Wilson, Secretary of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture; W. L. Nelson, Assistant Secretary of the same Board ; J. A. Drake of the United States 132 Misso^iri Agricultural Report. UeparLmciit of AyriciilluiM; i'rol". 1). II. Doaue, U. S. llMrrinuiii and Miss llena Bailey, tlie latter of the State Board of Agriculture. Prof. Spillman, who had been expected, was ill at the time and un- able to be present. "At the noon hour a dinner, not only fit for kings but fit for farm- ers, was enjoyed, after which Mr. Doane explained the work of the farm, using large diagrams showing the different fields. One diagram showed the farm as it was when the work was started. The other showed how the farm had been re-planned, every bit of the ground utilized in some way and the fields so divided as to fit the rotations. The rotation scheme is for four fields of from twelve to fifteen acres each. Three The cowpea field caused no little comment, for here between three and four tons of hay was harvested per acre. It was cured and stacked in a curing i-ack, which makes it possible to stack the vines when green and thus save all the leaves. fields are used for a primary rotation and one field is subdivided into three equal parts, or three small fields used instead. ' ' The primary rotation on twelve-acre fields was as follows : First year, corn; cowpeas planted in one-half the corn and rape sown in the other half. Second year, oats, to be cut for hay or threshed, and clover sown in oats in spring. Third year, clover. ' ' Secondary rotation, fields four acres each : First year, corn ; cow peas hogged down. Second year, soy beans, rye pastured. Third year, rape pastured. It was explained that the rotation was not in ' full swing, ' as the work had not been carried on long enough to get each field to producing just the crop desired. ' ' At the conclusion of Mr. Doane 's talk, the trip over the farm was Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 133 commenced. It was an inspiring sight to see 150 farmers moving out into the fields. The first field visited was one that had been spring- sown to clover in April, 10 pounds per acre, without a nurse crop. The year before the field had been in corn and cowpeas, and the prepara- tion for the clover had all been made with a harrow. The excellence of the particular harrow used and the effect of the cowpeas on the soil made it possible to get almost a perfect seed bed. This field of clover was unusually fine. "The next field had produced a 50-bushel oat crop. The Texas Eed Rust Proof seed used had been treated in a 40 per cent formalin solution of one pint formalin and 45 gallons of water. As a result, Each crop and the treatment given each field was fully explained as they were passed over. An inviting place to rest called for a stop and a talk. "Yes, on the lower part of this field we grew Alsike Clover forty to fifty inches high, in places where it was so wet that previous to this year only slough grass would grow." there was not a head of smut or rust that could be found in the field, and the oats, fit for high-class seed, will command a price about double that received for oats at threshing time. After the oats were off cow- peas were drilled with a corn planter in the stubble, about 25 pounds per acre. These peas are to be turned under this fall. This field goes to corn next year. "Next came the field of soy beans. Here was the most remarkable crop of all. The soy beans, 25 pounds per acre, had been drilled with a corn planter June 22. Tlie last of May or early part of June would have been better. At tliis time they w'ere from about waist high to sliouldor liigli and \ory lioavily loaded with pods. Counting pods tliat 134 Missouri Agricultural Report. were just setting, it was found that a single average plant had from 100 to 230 pods on it, with from one to three beans in a pod. There were growing in this field several varieties, hut the one that was doing the best, and the one that was being grown as a field crop, was the Medium Yellow. The Hope and Austin varieties, however, gave promise of l^eing very productive and were more early-maturing than the Medium Yellow. "In one field was a wonderful growth of cowpeas and corn, a growth so dense that to walk through the field was out of the question. A small tract of low, wet ground had l)een made to yield good returns Cowpeas in corn. This catcli crop made for Mr. Harriniun about $1(10. UO Uiat lie had never previously made, by pasturing down the peas with western lambs. by seeding to alsike clover. The last field visited was one of three and one-half acres of rajie, supporting forty liead of 80-pound hogs that were getting two pounds of corn each per day. "Truly, it was a great agricultural 'field day.' As each field was reached, and while the actual crop or result was in plain view, stops were made and little institutes were held, detailed descriptions being Farmers' Weeh in Agricultural College. 135 given as to just how the field had been prepared, the kind and amount of seed sown, the date, method, how the crop had been treated or cared for, and in some instances the cost of the work and yields were given. After the reports for the year's work came in, in the fall, some re- sults about like this have shown up-: The fifty-bushel yield of oats sold for 60 cents to 80 cents per bushel for seed, and they were replaced for feed at 35 cents per bushel. The soy beans were used for winter hog feed in a very satisfactory way, as it eliminated the necessity of the purchase of any high priced pro- tein feed. The hogs that were pastured on the rape made a pound of gain with a pound of corn, thereby saving, under ordinary conditions, four pounds of corn on every pound of gain. The corn and cowpeas fields had western lamljs turned into them, with results about like this : September 26, purchased 140 lambs weighing 53 lbs. at $6.00 per cwt $445.00 Freight, commission, etc 36 . 00 Total cost on farm $481 . 00 Freight, commission, etc., in marketing 39.00 Total cost $520 . 00 Fifty-seven days after purchasing they were sold at an average weight of 71 lbs. at $6.40 630.00 One lamb died on the farm and there was a cut on a few at St. Louis. This shows that we had on a 53-day feeding operation $110.00 to pay for 70 bushels of corn (the estimated amount the lambs ate while in the fields), the cowpeas gathered from 10-15 acres of corn, interest on investment, labor, etc. To the practical farmer there need be no special emphasis laid on the importance or value of the pasturing down of the crops by hogs and lambs, as they were in these instances. This year the fields so treated will tell a tale of maintained and in some cases increased fertility, which will be shown in a financial way by the abundant har- vests of 1912. At the "round-up," following the completion of the trip over the farm, there was a kind of informal but enthusiastic "experience meet- ing, ' ' in which many told of how they had been impressed by the day 's work as developed in the first Demonstration Farm Meeting ever held, and how they felt about it. Then it was seen that good seed had fallen in fertile ground. The common thought was, why had not the plan of holding a farmers' institute, where the lectures might be illustrated, not with dull and often uninteresting maps and charts, but with living, growing things, been tried before. It seemed the natural, sensible, easy way. It was the Missouri way — the "show-me" way. It works! 136 Missouri Agricultural Report. SIZE OF FARMS FOR GENERAL FARMING. (G. F. Warren, Professor of Farm Management and Farm Crops, Cornell University. Address Delivered at Columbia During Missouri Farmers' Week.) One of the most striking results of the agricul- tural survey work which we have been doing in New York is the positive way in which the size of busi- ness has affected profits. In this work we have found the year's profits *on about 1,500 farms in two counties that are quite different in type, yet the con- elusions on nearly all points agree. The size of business is one of the most important factors for success in agriculture. This size is ap- proximately measured by the number of acres, when dealing with any given type of farming. There were some celery, lettuce and onion farms on muck land. Ten acres of such land represents as large a business as 100 acres of land devoted to general farming. The following results are for hay, grain, potato, stock and dairy farms : . Size of farm related to profits. — In Tompkins county the average owner, with less than 61 acres, made considerably less than hired men received. The average farmer with 61 to 100 acres made about the same as hired men. Those with over 100 acres averaged much better than farm wages. (Table 1.) G. F. Warren. TABLE 1. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO PROFITS. 586 FARMS IN TOMPKINS COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. Acres. Number of farms. Average size (acres.) Labor income. * 30 or less 30 108 214 143 57 34 21 49 83 124 177 261 $168 3 1 to 60 254 61 to 100 373 101 to 150 436 151-200 635 Over 200 946 Average 103 $415 *If a farmer's labor income is $500, it means that as a result of his year's work he has made 5 per cent interest on his capital and has cleared $500 above all farm expenses, besides having the use of a house and such farm produce as the farm furnished for consumption in the house. This figure can, therefore, be compared with wages paid to a hired man who is given a house, garden, etc. Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 137 The tenants on the larger farms also make considerably more than those on small farms. The size of farm does not seem to affect the land- lord's profit. Lojbor //7co/77(Z lOOO y y 800 ^ y 600 / y .,r} >/ / 1 n tor ■p^ 400 y Lii 200 ^ X /^ y O ^w ao /so /eo SCO 0/ze. of farm -Acres ^4-o sao Fig. 1.— The larger farms pay much better than the smaller ones. Table 2 shows similar results for Livingston county. Again the largest farms pay much better than the small ones. One might think that the farmers on the small farms could not own more land if they desired. But from table 2 it will be seen that no larger proportion of the small farms are mortgaged than of the large ones. Most of the farm- ers on the small farms could own more land if they wished to go in debt for it. TABLE 2. SIZE OF FARMS RELATED TO PROFITS, 293 FARMS IN LIVINGSTON COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. Acres No. farms. Avg. size, acres. Avg. labor, income. Mortgaged. No. Per cent. 30 or less 15 24 95 89 32 38 20 44 79 125 173 300 $64 307 376 650 997 1,104 4 9 35 36 9 13 27 31 to 50 38 51 to 100 39 101 to 150 40 151 to 200 31 Over 200 34 138 Missouri Agricultural Report. Tliere is much discussion about farms being too large. Many persons wlio are not engaged in farming and some farmers believe that smaller farms would be better. All the figures that we have secured from these two counties, as well as figures from 178 farms scattered about the State, indicate that the larger farms are more efficient. The fundamental cause for this change is the change from hand labor to the use of machinery. It seems, therefore, that larger farms are likely to be a permanent necessity so long as the present types of farming continue. Since more and more ' machinery is being used, it is to be expected that farms will continue to increase in size for some time. This does not mean that large "bonanza" farms are to develop. We have no figures for such farms, as none of them exist in these counties. The group of largest farms averages only 261 acres in Tompkins county and 300 acres in Livingston county. All the farms are the typical American "family-farm," on which the farmer and his family do the major part of the farm work. Even on the farms containing over 200 acres, tlie family does half of the farm work. These figures may, therefore, be taken as suggesting the most profitable size for a family farm. The larger farms seern to be better than the smaller ones for this purpose. These figures do not throw any light on the desirability of the very large farm on which the farmer is so busy managing that he does not do any manual labor. From observation, we are of the opinion that such farms have many serious obstacles in their way. They are not likely to be able to handle labor effectively. The farmer who works with his men and directs them as he works, and who treats his hired men as equals, has a great advantage. There can be no question but that the larger farms are paying better. But some persons may say that the difference is due not to the size of the farm, l)ut to the farmer, and that the better farmers live on the larger farms. If small farms are the best size, it would seem as if the more intelligent farmers would choose them. If the more intelli- gent men all choose large farms there must be some reason for it. Cer- tainly there must be some good farmers living on small farms. If the small farm offers the best opportunities, these farmers should be doing exceedingly well. Fanners' Wccl' in Agricultural College. 139 TABLE 3. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO PROFITS, TOMPKINS COUNTY. Per cent of the farmers Per cent of Acres. Number making labor the farmers - of farms. incomes of making labor less than incomes of $401. over $1,000. 30 or less 30 90 31 to 60 108 214 143 57 34 75 59 53 42 29 1 61 to 100 4 101 to 150 12 151 to 200 28 Over 200 . . 32 TABLE 4. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO TENANT'S LABOR INCOME AND LANDLORD'S PER CENT. 154 FARMS OPERATED BY TENANTS, TOMPKINS COUNTY. Acres. Number of farms. Tenant's labor income. Landlord's per cent. 100 or less* 58 64 21 11 $381 359 430 650 7.0 101 to 150 9.3 151 to 200 8.0 Over 200 7.0 *There were only eight farms of less than sixty-one acres, the group of 100 acres or less. These are all included with Of 138 farmers on farms of less than 61 acres, only 10 made a labor income as high as $600. Of 234 farmers with over 100 acres, 79 made over $600. Of 138 farmers on farms of less than 61 acres, only one man made a labor income of $1,000. Of 34 farmers on farms of over 200 acres, 11 made over $1,000 labor income. Why the largest farms are most profitable. — Small farms have many disadvantages. A large part of the farm work cannot be done econom- ically without at least two men. Many of the smaller farms do not have enough work to keep a hired man profitably employed. The cost of labor per acre is excessive on small farms, also the cost of horse labor. The cost of producing crops on the small farms is also increased because of the lack of machinery. Labor cost and size of farm. — The receipts per acre are more on small farms than on the larger ones, ])ut the single item of labor cost is so great tliat it more tlian offsets tlie difference in receipts. Other expenses are also more i>er acre on the small farms. 140 Missouri Agricultural Report. TABLE 5. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO RECEIPTS, EXPENSES AND FARMS OPERATED BY OWNERS, TOMPKINS COUNTY. LABOR. Acres. Average size (acres) . Receipts per acre. Labor cost per acre*. Receipts minus labor per acre. Other expenses and interest per acre. Net profit per acret. 30 or less 21 49 83 124 177 261 $26.14 14.24 12.49 11.56 10.89 10.93 $19.90 8.10 5^.60 4*54 3.92 3.33 $6.24 6.14 6.89 7.02 6.97 7.60 $13.76j loss S7.52 31 to 60 7.61 loss 1.47 61 to 100 6.32i gain .57 101 to 150 6.13 eain .89 151 to 200 5.22 5.22 gain 1 . 75 Over 200 gain 2 . 38 *Total amount paid for labor, value of board of labor, value of unpaid labor by members of the family, and the farmer's labor estimated at $326 for the year. tProflt after deducting expenses, interest on capital at 5%, and all labor as defined above- TABLE 6. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO LABOR. 586 FARMS IN TOMPKINS COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. Acres. Area farmed per $100 worth of labor.* 30 or less 5 acres. 31 to 60 12 acres. 61 to 100 18 acres. 101 to 150 22 acres. 151-200 26 acres. Over 200 30 acres. *Total labor cost includes wages paid, board of labor, value of unpaid labor by members of the family, and $326 for the labor of the farmer. If the farmer's labor is worth $326, which is the average value placed on it by the farmers in Tompkins county, then there is a net loss of $1.47 per acre on farms of 31-60 acres, and a gain on the larger farms. (Table 5.) The area that is farmed with. $100 worth of labor is six times as great on the largest farms as on the smallest (Table 6). Six times as much labor increases the receipts by only two and one-half times. With each group of farms the farmer's labor income is about twice the value of the labor that he directs, that is, twice the value of all labor 'except his own (Table 10). Number of horses and size of farm. — Tal)le 7 and figure 2. show how the number of horses increases with the size of farm. Colts are not included with horses. The figures are for horses old enough to work. The farms of less than 30 acres average 1.4 horses per fami. Three or four horses ai'e tlie smallest mnnber tliat ciiii ])o used efficiently witli Farmers' Weeh in Agricultural College. 141 inoclern inacliiiiery. The ianiis uL" 151 lo 2()() acres arc the smallest ones that have an average of four horses per farm. TABLE 7. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO HORSES. 586 FARMS IN TOMPKINS - COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. Acres. Average size (acres). Average number of horses. Acres per horse. 30 or less 21 49 83 124 177 261 1.4 2.3 2.8 3.4 4.3 5.3 15 31 to 60 21 61 to 100 30 101 to 150 37 151 to 200 41 Over 200 . . . 49 103 3.1 33 The figures of acres per horse are still more striking. The small farms have not enough liorses to make efficient teams, and yet they are over-supplied with horses compared with their area. On these farms there are only 15 acres per horse. On the largest farms one horse farms three times this area, with no resulting decrease in crop yields. When we consider the cost of keeping a horse, we see what a great advantage the larger farms have. The sul)stitution of horse power for man power is the most strik- ing feature of American agriculture. One horse properly directed can do the work of ten men. According to the United States census, the area farmed per man has increased one-third in the past twenty years. This increase has been due to the use of more horses per team. The area farmed per horse has not changed, but the farmer is using one- third more horses per man and has increased the acreage that he could farm in the same ratio. At the same time the crop yields of the country have increased. TABLE 8. SHOWING THE INCREASE IN AREA AND HORSES PER MALE WORKER, FROM THE UNITED STATES CENSUS. 1900. Average acres per male worker Average number horses per male work er Average number of acres per horse 31.0 2.3 13.5 The most striking examples of the use of four to six-horse teams is in the middle west. In some cases, as in Iowa and Missouri, this has resulted in a decrease in rur«,l population. At the same time, total pro- 142 Missouri Agricultural Report. duction has increased. One man is often farming as much land as two men farmed a few years ago and doing it better. Farm machinery and size of farm. — The value of farm machinery increases rapidly with the size of the farm. This value is only $341 for farms of 61-100 acres. These valuations are probably not half what new machinery would cost. Any one who has ever made a list of the necessary farm machinery will see at once how inadequately these small farms are equipped. Yet their machinery costs nearly twice as much per acre as that on the larger farms that have nearly three times as much machinery. Machinery can be used more effectively on large farms. One mower, one hay rake, one tedder, one hay loader, one corn harvester, one grain harvester, one grain drill, one manure spreader, one potato digger, one potato planter, can do their work on a 250-acre farm as readily as on a small farm. Few of the small farms have half of these tools. If a small farm does have nearly all the list, it cannot use O 4-0 80 /So /60 3/ze of /rirm - A ere s soo 9-^0 280 Fig. 1— The larger farms pay much better tlian the smaller ones. them enough to pay for the investment. The more efficient and numer- ous machines become, the larger our farms should be. It is interesting to notice how many of the tools are of very recent development. Al- most half of the value of farm machinery on a well-equipped farm is invested in machinery that has been perfected in the last few years. Farmers' Week in AgriculUiral College. 143 TABLE 9. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO MACHINERY AND TOOLS. 586 FARMS IN TOMPKINS COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. Acres. Average size (acres.) Value o machinery and tools. Acres farmed with $100 worth of machinery and tools. 30 or less 21 49 83 124 177 261 $125 243 341 495 592 914 17 31 to 60 20 61 to 100 24 101 to 150 25 151 to 200 30 Over 200 29 Average 103 $407 25 In each of the groups the farmer's labor income is almost the same as the value of his machinery. 144 Missouri Agricultural Report. H ;?; u> o o 02 I— I o K CO 00 10 O H O < OO O P Eh < so o Tillable acres per i-'HOtjicnco animal unit co^>0"oicio Acres per animal unit* Total labor ex- cept owners. . . . Unpaid labor ex- cept farmers. . . . Board of labor. . Paid for labor. . Expenses per acre Expenses. Receipts per acre. Receipts Value per acre. Capital Tillable area (acres) Average size (acres) Number of farms. < COCOOOOOt' T)Iiodt>o6od N iH CS N CO T)H m r-l N M "O i-ioioioc^O) MNiOiOOOOO e©r-IN'<#O00 lO(MN.iOt>M lOMtOCOi-it^ 03 00 (N C0 IN l^ rH lO ■* -^ •* ■* i-t CO •>t CO CO ic •* (N (M ro 10 t> c^ ■* rt< 05 1^ a CO rHIM-^lOQOOJ C0'o iOCOO-^03 00 m - - - - CO "H CO rH -"f -i i-l 03 CO •<*< t^ I-t M ■* 00 IN t^ CO i-liH(N OOOTt'COt^'* COOfHT^lOCO iHINiH CO CO m •* m OOOOOOOt^O IN IH CO CO 00 r-l CO t>. CO o -- O O o . ^OO'OOo .ScOrHrHc^g t; O O O C'^ O ■*:> +j +3 -M ^ O'-l'Hi-irf O COCOCOOior CO 00 oT ai u > < o o .2 o c« o -a u cd (0 A < « Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 145 Apparently the efficiency with which the labor of men, teams and tools can be used is the important factor in making the larger farms pay better. The results on tenant farms also agree with these conclusions. The tenant who furnishes labor finds the larger farms more profitable. The profits of the landlord who furnishes no labor seem to be little af- fected by the size of the farm. The same points are shown by studying table 11, for Livingston county. Men, horses and machinery are being much more efficiently used on the larger farms. In spite of the much larger acreage farmed per man and per horse on the larger farms, the crop yields are as good or better. TABLE 11. RELATION OF SIZE OF FARM TO OTHER FACTORS. 293 FARMS IN LIVINGSTON COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. Acres. No. farms. Average size acres. Acres per $100 of labor. Acres per horse. Acres per $100 of machinery. 30 or less 15 24 95 89 32 38 20 44 79 125 173 300 4.3 8.8 12.9 15.8 15.7 22.7 13.3 19.1 21.4 23.6 24.7 30.0 16 31 to 50 20 51 to 100 18 101 to 150 23 151 to 200 23 Over 200 35 Size of farm and profits related to distribution of capital. — The percentage distribution of capital is almost the same on each size of farm. The larger farms have a little larger proportion of their money invested in stock. The smaller ones have a little larger proportion in real estate. The land is worth more per acre on the smaller farms, but the amount invested in horses, machinery and other items is also more per acre, so that the percentage of the capital in each item is not much different from that on large farms. Some persons have thought that farmers would do better if they reduced the size of the farms and increased the equipment. They for- get that the equipment and teams will then not be used up to their ca- pacity. On the farms in these counties the per cent invested in equipment is slightly larger on large farms than on small ones. When we consider farms of any given size, the best paying ones have practically the same distribution of capital as the less profitable ones. Reducing the size of farm to increase equipment is not the way A-IO 146 Missouri Agricultural Beport. that the most successful farmers have followed. They have increased both the equipment and the size of farm. Of farms of a given area, the more profitable ones have the greater capital, but this is not all invested in equipment. The distribution of the capital is nearly the same as on the less profita])le farms. The addi- tional investment is uniformally distributed in more land and better equipment. Crop yields and size of farm. — The city man and the political economist at once ask wliat effect the larger farms have on the food production of the country. Apparently the crop yields are as good or a little better on the large farms than on the small ones. Certainly the small farms are not producing more per acre. In addition, much more of the food is consumed in tlie production, since more horses are kept per acre. The smaller farms seem to be too small for the best production from the standpoint of the city, as well as from the stand- point of the farmer. TABLE 12. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO CROP YIELDS. 586 FARMS IN TOMP- KINS COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. Acres. Average size (acres.) Yields per acre. Oats, Bu. Potatoes, Bu. Hay, tons. 30 or less 21 49 83 124 177 261 35 32 32 34 32 35 117 111 119 114 127 113 1.38 31 to 60 1.36 61 to 100 1.33 101 to 150 1.35 151 to 200 1.24 Over 200 1.24 TABLE 13. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO CROP YIELDS. INGSTON COUNTY. 293 FARMS IN LIV- Average size acres. Acres per animal unit. Yield per acre of: Acres. Wheat, bu. Oats, bu. Hay, tons. Potatoes, bu. Beans, bu. 30 or less 20 44 79 125 173 300 5.0 6.3 6.1 6.6 5.8 5.9 18 19 19 19 19 19 39 40 41 42 47 43 1.21 1.58 1.49 1.53 1.39 1.45 92 98 116 108 1 116 18 31 to 50 18 51 to 100 101 to 150 . 18 16 151 to 200 17 Over 200 15 General conclusions on the size of farm. — Many farmers have en- larged their farms by purchasing additional land. Many others might well follow their example. A considerable number of farmers are not Fmyners' Week in Agricultural College. 147 ill debt and some also have money available. These persons should study the question of how well their horses, machinery and labor are being used. If a farmer is able to manage horses and machinery to good advantage, it may pay him to go in debt for additional land. In considering this question we must also consider the probability of a continued increase in the use of machinery in the future that will give the larger farms a still greater advantage. Sometimes it is very difficult to purchase land that adjoins one's farm. The line fence is one of the greatest ol)stacles in the way of agriculture. The farms are not well laid out, and it is often impossible to purchase so as to make a farm of satisfactory area and shape. It will sometimes pay to sell and buy where a satisfactory area can be secured. Many owners have enlarged their acreage by renting additional land. Of the ow^ners for whom a labor income was calculated, 14 per cent also rented land. This, together with the consolidation of farms l\y purchase, shows how many men recognize the importance of in- creased acreage. Eighty-six farmers who rented additional land owned an average of 89 acres and rented an average of 51 acres. This gave them 35 acres more than the area operated by the average owner, who did not rent. Their average labor income was .$522, which is $115 more than the amount made by the average ow^ner who did not rent. This method of increasing the area seems to be a very satisfactory one for those with limited capital. After a few years it is often possible to purchase more land. TABLE 14. OWNERS RENTING ADDITIONAL LAND, TOMPKINS COUNTY. Owners operating their own farms only . Owners renting additional land Number of farms. 529 86 Acres owned. 105 89 Acres rented. 51 Labor income. $407 522 Nineteen per cent of the tenants rent farms from more than one landlord. Some others rent two farms of oile landlord, so that over one-fifth of the tenants operate more than one farm. Some farmers are not able to direct their own labor or that of a hired man eff'ectively; probably the smaller the business the better for such persons. Some others do not wish to run a larger business be- cause they wish merely a small home and can live on the means they now have. These remarks ap]>ly to those who desire to run effective farms. 148 Missouri Agricultural Report. The larger area brings increased risk as well as increased opi)ortunity. Before buying more land one nuist consider his desires and his ability. Best size of farm. — For greatest efficiency, a farm should be large enough to fully employ at least two men the entire year. One man is at a great disadvantage in many farm operations, and in case of sick- ness or other emergencies the disadvantage is still greater. For general farming these figures show that a farm should con- tain at least 150 acres. The upper limit of area is" determined chiefly by the layout. With ideal conditions, with the buildings in the center of the farm, and with a public road running past the buildings, as high as 600 acres may be run from one center. With more than this area, the distance of the fields from the buildings is usually too great. It is not often that one can secure so large an area well located with respect to buildings. The most profitable general farms in Tompkins and Livingston counties contain about 200 to 300 acres of good land. THE MANAGEMENT OF CLOVER IN CORN BELT ROTATIONS. (J. A. Drake, office of Farm Management, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Mr. Drake was a Missouri Farmers' Week Spealier. ) Perhaps there is no section of the country where a permanent and well arranged rotation is of so great importance to the maintenance of the most profitable system of agriculture as in the corn belt section, of which a large part of Missouri forms an important part. In conneation with the kind of farming carried out on the better class of farms, the crops that are grown, and the live stock kept, such a rotation is well-nigh indispensable. The yields, by ordinary methods of farming, cannot well J. A. Drake. j^g ]^gp^ ^p^ much less increased, without it; and especially is it essential in the continuance of high yields of corn, per- haps the most imj^ortant and most valuable general farm crop that can be grown on the average farm. The disastrous effects of growing corn continuously on the same field for a period of years without some special arrangements for heavy manuring, growing rye, etc., is beginning to be quite well understood. Experiments have shown that a mere alternating of the crops, corn and oats, through a period of years will increase the yield of corn about one-half over that of one crop grown continuously through the same period, while the addition of clover, making a three- Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 149 year rotation, has been known to increase the yield to ahnost three times that of continuous one-crop culture. Not only is a rotation important in crop production on corn belt farms, but it is highly desirable in connection with keeping of most classes of live stock. Along with corn a certain amount of clover pasture and hay, or a substitute for them, must be furnished each year, and in no way can it be done with greater ease and with more certainty than to follow a regular rotation of which clover forms a part. A regular rotation, likewise, adds system to the management of the farm. It is known definitely what is to be done each year. Each field gets its certain crop or certain special treatment in fertilizers or manures at regular intervals. This makes it possible to estimate the number of live stock that can be kept each year, and the general returns that may reasonably be expected from the farm. Important as continued pursuance of a regular rotation is, no factor in it is so vital and gives so much trouble as the successful management of clover in the rotation. If there is a failure of this crop, then a profitable and suitable substitute must be found, or the whole field is left idle and the entire rotation deranged. It was because of this important relation which the management of clover bears to the rotations generally practiced and the ever-increas- ing difficulty that farmers in general are experiencing in growing clover successfully that a careful and systematic study of the farm practices relating thereto was undertaken. The problem has been an interesting one indeed, and has revealed a great many factors not at first suspected. Rotations including ivJieat. — Among the very common rotations found on the average farm of the section under consideration is one of wliich wheat forms a part. There has been for some time a ten- dency on the part of farmers to discontinue this crop wherever possible, but for the most part, even though it is considered uncertain and un- profitable, it is kept in the rotation because it is thought necessary or at least very desirable in getting a stand of clover. • Perhaps the most common of these rotations is that of corn, oats, wheat and clover. Another is that of corn, corn, wheat and clover. Again, another is corn, wheat and clover, this being only a three-year rotation. All of these find favor with individual farmers. It generally depends somewhat on local conditions as well as local customs as to which predominates. The first is the old rotation found on many gen- eral farms, while the second is found wliere it is desirable to produce more corn to feed a larger number of hogs. The third is a very useful 150^ Missouri Agricultural Report . rotation for building up a farm, especially' when used in connection with a thorough system of fertilizing and applying manures. In all of these rotations the clover is sown in the wheat. This is done at various times and in various ways. Every man has his own "best" time and method, by which he must proceed in order to be successful. Some sow their clover seed as early as February, while others wait until April with aj^parently equal success. There are still others who sow one-half of their seed early and the other half late and get very good results. Probably more farmers prefer to sow the seed rather early, either in February or March, being especially anxious to catch the ground in a "honey-combed" condition, or, if not in this shape, to sow on a light snow. There are many good features about this. The farmer usually gets the work done when otherwise not very busy. There is very little labor connected with. the seeding, and thus there is very little invested in the crop except the seed. And, if conditions are right and everything favorable, a fairly good "catch" of clover is usually secured, but at best there is much uncertainty and a great deal of the element of chance in the average method of seeding clover which ought to be eliminated if possible. When it is considered that for every other crop the farmer pre- pares a good seed bed, or at least he should, but that with clover sown in wheat it is nearly all haphazard and largely trusted to luck, we are at once impressed that a mere sowing of the seed on the wheat ground is not giving the clover a fair chance to grow and do its best. Especially does this practice become hazardous on lands that have been farmed for a number of years and have become exhausted in fertility and low in humus and vegetable matter. Under these conditions the soil becomes dead and lifeless, packs and bakes with dashing rains and sunshine, until it resembles a traveled road. There is little chance for the clover seed to become covered, or even if a foothold is secured, there is little hope of the young plants living. During the progress of these studies it has been quite evident that as soil conditions change our methods of seeding clover with wheat must be changed and made more thorough. However, it is not an easy matter to introduce radical changes in present methods, with an equal assurance that farmers in general will be more successful. Nor is it the purpose of this work to urge too great changes in these methods, but to call attention to other practices which will make them more reliable and success much more certain. narrowing the ivlieat. — In nearly every community where these studies have been carried on one or more farmers have usually been Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 151 found who make a practice of harrowing their wheat ground in the spring to insure a covering of the clover seed and hence a better stand. Some sow their clover seed and then harrow, while others har- row first and then sow the seed. Still others harrow, sow the seed and then harrow again to cover it. The question at once arises, will this harrowing injure the growing wheat? But the universal testimony of those who have tried it is that, especially during dry years, it is a great benefit to it. Wheat has been thoroughly harrowed as many as three times with good results. Again, will it injure the timothy sown the fall before! Some of the timothy tluis sown will be torn out, but enough will live through at least two liarrowings to give a sufficient stand of this crop. The clover is of so much more importance that it should have first consideration. The seeding of timothy can likewise be done in the spring with the clover. In seeding clover after this method there is but one rule as to the time of seeding — wait until the field is in good condition to harrow. Men who follow this method begin seeding at the earliest possible moment, but are in no hurry, even sowing as late as the first of May. It is well not to put it off until the wheat gets so high as to interfere with the harrow, but sowing any time before this, if the harrowing is well done, practically insures a good stand of clover, unless the spring is abnormally dry. A good sharp harrow should be used and it should be sufficiently weighted, if necessary, to do effective work. The greatest objection to this method is that the work must be done when the farmer is busy preparing ground for other crops, but in view of the great value of clover as a soil renewer and soil builder, together with its great importance in the rotation, this measure of un- certainty in securing a good stand cannot be urged too strongly on farmers for their careful consideration. At least this method should hold an important place as a supplement to those already in use. For instance, where it is the practice to sow seed early, and if for some reason, as it often happens, it is discovered later that there is a very inferior stand, then more seed should be sown and harrowing resorted to. No farmer who is keeping apace with his business can afford to let a single year pass with a failure to get a good stand of clover. Using a disk or shoe drill. — In some places men were found who were using their disk drills to great advantage in sowing clover in their wheat. A few shoe drills were also used with equally good re- sults. In using the drill for this purpose they sow the seed with the seeder, placing it in front of the grain box, or with the new type of drill they allow the seed to go down through the grain tubes and be 152 Missouri Agricultural Report. 'covered slightly. This is a very effective method of getting a fine stand of clover and it does the wheat little or no harm. There is a difference of opinion among farmers as to which way the drill should be driven when putting in the clover. Some say it should go the same way the Avheat is drilled, while others contend it should go across the wheat rows. Since both ways are quite generally practiced, it is very prob- able that either one will do very little damage to the wheat crop. Care should be taken not to force the drill int.o the ground too deep. All in all, the method seems to be a very comniendable one which should find a prominent place in general farm practice. Top dressing the wheat with manure. — Under normal conditions on farms where an abundance of manure is produced, rightly cared for and applied to the land at regular intervals, there is very little known about any difficulties in managing the clover crop successfully. No matter how the manure is applied, when, or to what crop, good stands are nearly always secured, which grow on to maturity without much attention or consideration on the part of the farmer; provided, of course, his soil conditions, such as drainage, lime content, etc., are otherwise favorable. Such is the case especially after several years of this kind of farming. It has been quite noticeable during these studies that on good live stock farms, where the manure was properly handled, and especially in dairy sections, very little was heard of so-called "clover sickness," poor stands, etc., whilQ on grain farms, where every- thing has been sold off for a number of years and wasteful methods of burning stalks and trash have been practiced, the failures have been numerous and the clover troubles are increasing at an alarming rate. This last condition exists in sections where they have formerly grown clover very successfully by their present methods of management. When the soil has become badly run down manure will doubtless do most good when applied as a top-dressing on the wheat in which the clover is to be sown. The effects of this have been noticed in a small way on nearly every farm. Most farmers have had the experi- ence of "doctoring up" a few of the poor knolls with a light top-dress- ing of manure, and upon going back the next year to observe, they have usually found that there was the best stand in the field and the best clover growing. This, too, occurs where there would otherwise have been scarcely a plant of clover, or very little at most without the top- dressing. Just such a condition as this is shown in the illustration on the next page (Figure 1). This illustration is a reproduction of a rather remarkable condition. It will be noted that the line between a very fine stand of clover and Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 153 no clover at all is very marked. This line is the boundary between manure and no manure. The seed, of course, was sown over the entire field alike. A much better growth of clover could not be secured under any circumstances than was found where the manure was spread ; where- as, where there was no manure, nothing existed but a very poor growth of timothy, a few stunted weeds, sorrel,*' and bare ground, the bare white ground predominating. Fig. 1 The eflfects of a light top dressing of manure. Where the manure was spread it was very noticeable that all of the sorrel had disappeared and nothing but clover grew. The clover had so thoroughly taken possession of the soil that the sorrel had been completely smothered out, proving that the smothering out process is one and possibly the only successful way of getting rid of sorrel. Anything that makes clover or other crops grow so thickly and so *It might be well to state that in some sections sorrel (Rumex Acetosella) is not common. It is found in great abundance, however, in the eastern and southern part of Ohio, and seems to be most abundant on soils of shale and sandstone origin. It is usually considered as indicating the lack of lime. This, however, should not be understood to mean that an application of lime will kill it, except as it might cause clover or other dense-growing crops to grow more vigorously and smother it out. It has been found growing vigorously in the edge of a pile of pulverized limestone. Sorrel should not be taken as an absolutely certain indication that an application of lime is entirely necessary for the growing of clover without some further investigation along this line by experimenting with lima itself. The ether factors, such as methods of seeding, applying manure, etc., which are being set forth in this circular, ought to be studied also in this connection. 154 Missouri Agricultural Report. vigorously that the sorrel cannot exist will kill it out. In this case the top-dressing of manure has accomplished this result completely by pro- ducing a perfect stand and maintaining it. To the right of the picture will be noted a narrow strip of clover which dwindles out to almost nothing. If the picture had been ex- tended a little further to the right it would have shown a narrow patch of clover which gradually disappears and which marks the path of the farmer as he was driving away from the scene of action, and some of the manure sifted down through the "dump boards" or rough wagon bed in which the manure had been hauled. As far as this sifting pro- Fig. 2. A covering of straw spread on wheat ground after seeding. Tlic purpose of this is to insure a stand of clover. cess continues the clover follows the path of the wagon, but as the manure gives out the clover entirely disappears. This very pronounced condition found on a poor knob of a run- down farm is an eloquent appeal for the continuance of live stock and more manure, better cared for and applied. One farmer was not far wrong in his answer to the question often used in making these studies, "Do you have any trouble in getting a stand of clover?" when he replied, ' ' Not since the manure spreader came on the farm. " It is need- less to say that he top-dressed all of his wheat ground carefully when- ever he expected to sow clover. It might be added that in general practice this is done immediately after the wheat is sown in the fall, or during the early part of the winter. Farmers' Weeh in Agricultural College. 155 Spreading stratv on ivJieat ground. — A very interesting and un- usual practice in connection with the management of clover in rotations, including wheat, is to spread straw evenly over the surface of the soil after the wheat is sown and before it comes up. In the absence of suit- able straw spreaders the farmers haul the straw out in small piles and spread it by hand. On the poorest spots whatever manure is available is used, but on the remainder of the field straw is spread with as much care as though the work is being done on strawberry beds. The preced- ing illustration gives an idea of such a coating of straw through which wheat has come up, as well as the appearance of a field in which this practice is carried on. This unique practice is found in a section where clover growing in a wheat rotation is a very uncertain undertaking indeed. In these localities the best farmers are resorting to this method as apparently the last extreme. This is necessary to grow clover and be at all suc- cessful. Those who consider this practice not worth while or too labori- ous have about quit trying to grow the crop at all, so numerous and constant have been their failures. The soils on which these conditions are found have been farmed for a great number of years with no thought or provision for keeping up the humus and decaying vegetable matter, and as a result, the surface has l^ecome so hard and lifeless that with- out some special provision like the covering of straw or manure the young clover plants cannot take root and maintain themselves sufficient- ly to give anything like a satisfactory stand. The photograph was taken about ]\Iay 1st, 'and wherever there was a slight covering of straw, some- thing to give some protection and hold the moisture slightly and prevent the ground from baking, there the young clover plants were to be found in great numbers and growing with great vigor. But where there was no straw and the soil was bare, in no case was clover found growing. On this farm the clover seed was sown at any time in March when it was thought that the conditions were right. No special attention was given. The seed Avas sown broadcast, as it is usually done by farmers. During the past summer the writer has had occasion to visit this farm again after a lapse of about three years, and better success with clover every successive year is reported. A failure has not been experienced for some twelve years. This is extremely interesting, as other farmers in that section have failed to get good stands unless it is by this method or by tlie scattering of manure, which is, of course, as good or better. Tliat this man is successful in growing clover by this method is shown by the accompanying photograph, Fig. 3, which was taken on adjoin- ing fields similarly treated the year before. 156 Missouri Agricultural Report. The practice of spreading straw in order to get a stand of clover is not so valuable as something to be recommended to farmers to practice, as it is in what it teaches. It may be objected at once that it is a mulch, and true, it is. It may also be objected that it is an expensive practice from a labor standpoint. "Whether this is true or not may be judged from the fact that the man and his hand were able to haul and spread the straw over three acres per day. If suitable straw spreaders were at hand this labor might be materially reduced, but as it is and under the conditions found it is time well spent. The practice, however, is worthy of very careful consideration and study. It is found on land where clover had once been grown without any difficulty whatever, but years of farming has brought the soil to that state where a mere thin scatter- Fig. 3. Stand of clover secured under very unfavorable conditions, by applying straw to the fleld as in figure 2. ing of straw on the surface will insure a perfect stand of clover, while without it, or some substitute like manure or the equivalent of trash, leaves, etc., clover cannot be grown. The natural drainage is good. Commercial fertilizers have been used abundantly for years, and there should evidently be no lack of the elements essential for plant growth. There is no lack of lime, the soil in fact being for the most part of limestone origin. But under these conditions it lacked what proved to be a most essential factor to success in clover production, namely, something that will have an effect probably similar to that of an abund- Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 157 aut supply of liumus and vegetable material incorporated in tlie soil. It is not the intention to advise this method of applying straw to wheat ground as a general practice, but merely to call attention to the wonder- ful effect it has had and to bring out the fact that to grow clover on such soils it is necessary to do something for it that will enliven it, cover more seed, prevent baking and cracking, and conserve the moisture. It might be well to add, also, that it suggests a much better means of disposing of straw and stalks than burning or selling them on the market, and it ought to give the average farmer a glimpse of the extreme value of the accumulation of any vegetable matter, such as straw, stalks, trash or leaves, especially on the surface of the soil, in connec- tion with getting a stand of clover. It would seem very probable from this that a condition might arise wherein the extreme lack of humus and organic matter is the principal and perhaps the only element of failure with the clover crop. How prevalent this condition is, investigations have not been carried far enough to say. But farmers, in limestone regions especially, may well consider the humus problem as one of their important factors in clover growing. The extremely unfavorable condition for young clover on a hard, compact, run-down soil is something that can not easily be over- estimated. The tendency has been in the past to ignore the great value of humus and organic matter in the production of profitable crops of any kind, and it is very probable that the increasing amount of clover failures on soils that have been farmed for a great many years is due to the gradual but certain exhaustion of humus and vegetable material, which constitutes one of the greatest factors of the soils' physical make-up. The adoption of better methods of farming and of rotations con- taining special features for supplying to the soil an abundance of humus-forming material would doubtless soon put an end to much of the failure with clover in a corn and wheat rotation over a large part of the section where such failures now occur. This, together with better and more careful methods of seeding, and a better preparation of the surface of the soil, which has already been discussed, seems especially advisable. The seed must be covered by one means or another, and the surface of the soil should be either thoroughly pulverized or have an abundance of humus or a temporary substitute for humus in the form of a rnulch or covering on the surface. Unless these conditions are sup- plied the young clover plants can not get a footliold and maintain themselves in their earlier stages of growth. If the surface of the soil is too hard and dries out too readily the young clover nearly all dies 158 Missouri Agricultural JReport. out before it gets even a fair start. This fact seemed to have been greatly overlooked by the great mass of farmers. The physical condi- tion of the soils on many farms is continually growing worse. They are becoming more lifeless and less friendly to young clover from year to year. Farmers are urged to consider its importance and to do all in tlieir power to correct the evil. The hard, cx)mpact condition of the surface soil in the spring, witli its tendency to bake and dry out, must be over- come. Supplying humus and vegetable material as rapidly as possible will accomplish this result. As this is done perhaps one of the most com- mon causes of clover failure will be removed. Until this is done there will be great need of pulverizing the surface and breaking up the sur- face crust by tlie use of some such implement as the harrow or drill. Rotations containing cowpeas and soybeans preceding wheat. — In the southern part of Ohio a very interesting practice was found. Some of the farmers have adopted rotations in which cowpeas or soybeans come in just l)efore the wheat crop. It is the usual practice to make the crop into hay in time to have the ground ready for fall seeding, but occasionally the entire crop of cowpeas or soybeans is rolled down and crossed with a disk in the preparation of the ground for wheat. By using a disk drill the wheat can be sown without any inconvenience because of the litter on the surface of the soil. The accumulation of eowpea and soybean vines on the surface of the ground serves as a mulch very much on the order of the straw just discussed, and is very helpful in getting a stand of clover. In fact, it only emphasizes again the great value of some accumulation of vegetable matter on the surface of the soil to keep it in better condition for the growing of the young clover plants. The nitrogen furnished by these crops is also a great stimulus to the wheat as well as the clover throughout its growth. The practice of turning the entire crop back to soil, however, is somewhat wasteful. If it could be so arranged as to have the peas and beans ripen early enough it would l)e better economy to gather them with hogs, thus allow- ing only the vines to fall back to the soil. This would accomplish the same results in reference to the stand of clover, besides getting the value of the crop in pork. Rotations including rye. — Rye is becoming more and more popular as a crop in the rotation in which clover is sown. It has some points of advantage over wheat in that it grows taller and less dense and does not shade the clover so much as wheat. The methods of seeding clover in rye are much the same as in wheat. The seed is sown in the spring by the usual methods. Harrowing the rye can l)e resorted to the same Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 159 as on the wheat crop. Farmers have also been found who use a disk drill and even a disk harrow in breaking up the surface of the soil so as to secure a covering for the seed when sown in the rye crop. The use of a disk harrow can be resorted to on rye, but it is rarely ever done in con- nection with wheat. Even with rye it should be set straight so as not to do much damage to the rye crop. If this is not thought desirable or possible the seed may be sown and hogs turned in for early spring pasture. The tramping of these animals over the field will plant much of the seed in the ground and make a good stand more certain. A top- dressing of manure or a covering of straw can be used with the rye the same as with wheat. The use of a good commercial fertilizer on rye, the same as on the wheat crop, will often prove very beneficial in secur- ing a good stand of clover, and in the absence of manure, the value of which has already been discussed, the use of a good commercial fertilizer is very commendable. This will often insure a good crop of clover where otherwise there would be a failure. The rotations followed, which include rye, are usually on the same general plan as those including wheat. These are usually corn, corn, rye and clover, or corn, rye and clover. Some of the potato growers have a rotation of potatoes, rye and clover, running it as a three-year rotation, while others run it as a two-year rotation, clipping the rye and clover about three times but taking no crop off. The next year, then, potatoes are planted after the clover has had time to make some growth in the spring, for what is called the late crop of potatoes. In a similar manner a two-year rotation of rye and potatoes can be prac- ticed, and the rye hogged down when ripe, the clover being sown in the rye in the spring and allowed to grow up before the ground is plowed for potatoes the next year. Rotation with oats. — Some farmers run a rotation in which oats is the only crop in which the clover is sown. Such rotations are usually corn, corn, oats and clover, or corn, oats and clover. With these rota- tions failures in securing stands of clover are rather numerous, but some men are quite successful in the management of the clover crop even under these circumstances. If a good stand of clover is particularly desired, one of the first things to be avoided is a very heavy seeding of oats. Lighter seeding will probably cut down the yield of oats somewhat, but the chances of a catch of clover will be very much greater. Not over a bushel and a half of oats per acre should be sown, whereas it is generally the custom to sow from two to two and a half bushels per acre. Oats at best is a bushy crop and produces a very dense shade under wliich the clover 160 Missouri Agricultural Report. is not likely to thrive. Then, too, when the oats crop is taken off the clover is exposed to the sun very suddenly, and sometimes damage is done in that way ; especially is this likely to happen where the shading has been very heavy. However, with proper methods of seeding and watching this one point, very satisfactory stands can quite frequently be secured in oats. Rolling the oat field after the clover seed has been sown is con- sidered by many farmers to be of great importance. This covers the seed just about deep enough and firms the surface of the soil in such a way as to insure a good moisture supply to the young plants. Some prepare the ground and sow the oats with a drill, and the clover with the grass seeding attachment, allowing the seed to fall back of the hoes or disks. The roller is then run over the field. Others sow the oats either with the drill or broadcast, using the roller to cover the seed. The bene- ficial effects of the roller on the clover is very marked where the soil is in fit condition for rolling. It usually insures a good stand which is quite uniform on the ground. Another very good method of seeding with oats is to sow in stalk ground and allow the stalks to remain on the surface of the soil. This, again, is only a repetition of, and brings again to our notice, the value of the accumulation on the surface of the soil of some protection in the form of vegetable matter, which will prevent the baking and drying out of the soil. In doing this the stalks are usually broken down and the ground disked, after which the oats are sown and disked in. If the stalks are not too large and are well cut up a disk drill can be used, but the former method is most generally practiced. The clover seed is sown after the seeding of the oats, and the roller in this case also should be used. This, together with the great protection which the stalks furnish, practically insures a good stand. A great many farmers have been visited during these investigations who follow this method exclusively and very rarely fail. The following illustration shows a field which has been sown after this method, although the rolling was omitted : In the field shown in the following illustration it was very noticeable that wherever there was, a slight accumulation of stalks or corn husks on the surface to hold the moisture and serve as a slight shade and pro- tection, the young clover was getting a much more vigorous start than it was in the open ground, where exposed to the full force of the wind and sunshine. The folly of raking and burning such litter, as is some- times done, should be at once apparent. Not only is it greatly needed in the soil, but as a surface protection for the clover crop its value can- not be too highly appreciated. The accumulation of litter in the way Farmers' WeeJx in Agricultural (Uillcge. 161 Fig. 4. Stalks on surface of field sown to oats and clover. of stalks, straw, manure, etc., on the surface of the soil in getting a stand of clover should be considered as something of vital importance by all farmers. Rotation of corn and clover only. — Only a few instances of corn and clover rotations have been encountered. These were usually corn, corn and clover, or two years of corn and two of clover. The clover in such rotations is either sown in the corn at the last cultivation or by itself in the spring without a nurse crop. Both of these methods have several objections for the use of the average farmer. The first one, seeding in the corn at the last cultivation, is under ordinary conditions very uncertain. However, on rich black soils, some farmers were found who, being especially careful to have their corn ground in "onion bed" condition at that time, were very successful, rarely ever missing a stand of clover. But on average clay upland soils and with the cultivation the average corn field receives, especially in a dry year, seeding in the corn is a very uncertain undertaking indeed. Such a method cannot be advised for the average farmer except as he experiments with it in a very small way and finds out what results he may expect. As for the second method of seeding in the spring without a nurse crop, in some sections they have found that it is a very certain method of getting a good stand of clover. However, it is not to be advised on fields which are badly infested Avith weeds, unless provisions are made A-ll i62 ■ Missouri Agricultural Uepori. for one clipping. If the conditions are favorable in this respect, and the seed is sown rather early in spring, even after one clipping, a good crop of hay or seed can usually be cut sometime during August or early September. If hay is cut and the crop not allowed to go to seed the field can be left in clover another year. Lime applied in ilie rotation. — Without the presence of a certain amount of lime in the soil, no matter what the rotation may be or how thorough the method of seeding, the clover crop will not do well. Most soils, however, in limestone and limestone-glaciated regions, usually have an abundance of this element to grow clover successfully. But again, there are other soils, such as are found in sandstone and shale regions, which were not abundantly supplied with lime in the beginning or in their virgin state. When such soils have been farmed for many years the numerous crops, and more particularly those of clover, have drawn heavily on this supply and in many instances have reduced it to the point where a full crop of clover cannot be grown. In extreme cases, even though manure be applied, it will produce perhaps only a half crop or less as compared with the same land on which lime is suj^plied with the manure, or preferably in advance of it. Nothing can take the place of lime in some form where lime is really needed, and there seems to be no way out of it but to apply the lime to the soil. This condition, however, may vary on different farms in the same community on the same soil formation, depending on the treatment given and the kind of farming carried on in the past. It is always well, there- fore, to make sure that this need is apparent, and the only test which a farmer should consult in this is to make an application of lime on small sections of a field at different rates (perhaps a half ton, a ton, and one and a half tons per acre) and see for himself whether it produces an increased growth. If ground limestone is used in place of lime the amounts should be doubled. If it gives results then it is safe to plan for further and more extensive applications to the rest of the area that is in a similar condition, at the rate indicated as necessary by the test. If, however, the results cannot be detected between the clover where the lime was applied and where it M^as not, even at the heaviest rate, it is fairly good evidence that it will not pay to use it. If it is found un- profitable it is poor business to use it, but if it is found that lime is really needed it is likewise very poor business not to use it, and its ap- plication should not be delayed. After the first preliminary experimenting with lime to ascertain its value, in general practice it is best to apply lime on the corn ground, whether the rotation is that with wheat, rye or oats for a nurse crop. Farmers^ Week in Agricultural College. 163 The same is true if tlie clover is soavii in the corn at the last cultivation or following corn the next spring without a nurse crop. When the lime is sown in the corn the cultivation of this crop stirs it into the soil in a very thorough manner, more so than would be the case if it were applied when the ground is being prepared for the wheat, rye or oats crop. Lime, however, can be applied at this time with good results, provided it is not convenient to do so on the ,corn ground. Value of clover in the rotations. — No rotation is complete without clover. It is the crop that supplies nitrogen to the soil, the most ex- pensive element when it is bougl-.t in the fertilizer sack. Clover brings up the mineral elements, phosphorous and potassium, from the sub-soil, and stores them in the large surface roots and crowns to be used later by other crops. It has been estimated that a good crop of clover on one acre has in its roots and tops elements of fertility equal to that con- tained in ten tons of manure, the roots alone containing about one-third to one-half of that amount. It is extremely important to keep the soil well supplied with humus and decaying vegetable material, and this tlie clover crop does by filling it with an immense root system. The value of this feature it is not an easy matter to estimate. Farmers in general are apt to continually underestimate the full significance and the extreme importance of this crop. However, its real and immediate value is so great, and its continued success means so much in keeping up the rotation, and the rotation so much toward keeping up a continuous and profitable system of farming, that every effort should be made and every means applied to make sure that each year there will be success in growing clover and maintaining the rotation as planned. SUMMARY, On the average farm success in maintaining a profitalile system of agriculture hinges very largely on keeping up a systematic rotation. No rotation is complete without clover or some legume as a substi- tute for it. Hence the importance of continuous success with clover. Continued success with this crop is a very broad problem. Failure may be due to one or more of a number of factors. Assuming that the land is well drained, and that a liberal amount of seed is to be sown, the following is of extreme importance : The method of seeding. — The seed must be covered ; the soil at seedtime must be in condition to insure this, aiid if not, the conditions are not favorable for germination and for the young clover plants tak- ing root. If the common method of sowing on "honeycombed" ground or on the snow, in winter grains, does not afford this covering, a seed 164 Missouri Agririil / iiraJ 1^( pari. 1)('(1 should lie pi'cpai'cd l)y the usf of ;i linrrow, disc di'ill or even a harrow. The seed will thus be covered and moisture conserved to in- sure further growth. It may he necessary under some conditions to sow clover in the spring without a nurse crop, and after a careful preparation of the seed bed. The top drcssi)i(j of maiiio-f. — Witli only the ordinary method of sowing clover on the frozen ground or on snow, even on some of the poor- est lands, a top dressing of manure will most generally insure a good stand. (See Figure ]..) On run-down lands, and where only a limited amount of manure is available, this is doubtless one of the best ways in which manure can b(^ utilized. A nndrh of sirnic. — (See Figure 2.) When sufficient manure is not available, a nuUch of straw will prove very effective. If there is a sligiit covering of straw, leaves, stalks or otluM- vegetable matter on the surface of the soil, it will usually insure a good stand of clover and maintain it throughout the season. Such a covering holds moisture, prevents undue baking and cracking of the soil and is a great protec- tion to the young clover crop. (See Figure 3.) Humus and vrgptnhle material in the soil. — The depletion of organic matter in the soil, and its inmiediate effects, is doubtless responsible for many of the increasing clover failures. In its absence the soil becomes compact and lifeless, crusts and cracks, and moisture escapes very rapidly, thus furnishing a very unfavorable condition for the growth of clover in its early stages. IMost soils when new, and as long as proper- ly handled thereafter, have an abundance of vegetable matter in them, and little difficidty is experienced in getting a stand of clover, but with years of continuous cropping this becomes used up and a change takes place in the soil, very largely due to this fact, which makes clover grow- ing more and more uncertain. A decided effort should be made to cor- rect this detieiency. Lime. — ]\lost soils have sufficient amounts of lime to insure a good growth of clover if other conditions are favorable, but some soils are naturally low in their lime content. On such soils many years of crop- ping sometimes reduces this lime to a point where a profitable crop of clover cannot be produced. Short cut methods of trying to find out whether lime is needed should be avoided by farmers in general. The surest and safest way for the average farmer to fiiul out whether his fields need lime is to apply lime to a small area and watch the results on the clover as compared with no lime. Sorrel should not be taken as a certain indication that lime is needed. It will grow in the presence of an abundance of lime. Applying lime will not kill it out, but a Fanner;^' Weel>' in Agricultural Coll eye. 163 rank growth of clover or some other similar crop will usually accomplish this. When a farmer begins to experience failure with clover, he should avoid jumping at conclusions and saying that any one factor is the cause. It is a broad field for him to think upon and to work out, and one indeed in which there are many factors to be considered. My own investigations so far may very probably have only touched a few of the most important of them. I am glad, however, for the opportunity of submitting these observations to the farmers of ^Missouri, in the hope that it may arouse a greater interest and more careful thought on their part, and thus develop on their own farms and under their own local conditions further solutions of the many problems in connection with this extremely important crop. I thank you for your kind attention. lUG. Missouri Agricultural iltporl. Missouri Cattle Feeders' Association. OFFICERS. President — S. P. Houston, iMalta Bend. Vice-President — S. W. McClure, Lamonte. Second Vice-President— M. T. McGill, Perry. Secretary-Treasurer — H. 0. Allison, Columbia. H. O. Allison. HISTORY OF CATTLE FEEDERS' ASSOCIATION. (H. O. Allison, Assistant Professor of Animal Husbandry, Agricultural College, Uni- versity of Missouri.) The Missouri Cattle Feeders' Association was organized in January, 1911, at a meeting of cattle feeders called by the College of Agriculture of the University of Missouri. The charter member- ship of the organization numbered fifty and repre- sented twenty-seven counties in the State. It is expected that a large number of feeders represent- ing the cattle feeding interests in all parts of the State will eventually become members. A constitution and by-laws were adopted which provide for a president, two vice-presidents and a secretary-treasurer, to be elected each year at the annual meet- ing. These officers constitute an executive committee, which has con- trol of all business of the Association, except when the Association is in session. A membership fee of one dollar ($1.00) per year, payable at each annual meeting to the secretary-treasurer, was agreed upon for the purpose of covering the incidental expenses of the organization. The purpose of the Association is to organize beef producers into a working body of men to represent this special phase of agricultural production. It is planned to hold at least one regular meeting each year, the program for which wall be provided by the executive com- mittee. Subjects of interest to cattle feeders will be discussed by the best authorities it is possible to obtain. Experiment Station work will be followed, particularly the cattle feeding tests conducted by the Experiment Station at the University of Missouri. Associated sub- jects, such as railroad transportation, markets and tariffs, will also Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 167 be included ; in fact, whatever is of common interest to the beef pro- ducers is within the scope of the Association. Special meetings may be called by the president whenever the con- ditions seem to justify it. An effort will also be made throughout the year to encourage co-operation among members and to keep in touch with the cattle feeding situation wdthin the State. BUYING, FEEDING AND SELLING THE STEER FOR PROFIT. (J. G. Imboden, Decatur, Illinois.) It is certainly gratifying to me to see such an audience of men interested in the agricultural and live stock industries of a great State. No matter how rich our farms may be we cannot continually crop them without exhausting the fertility of the soil, and if we hope to maintain the fertility or add to it we nuist handle live stock in connection with agriculture ; and while there may not always be a direct profit in dollars at the time, there is a profit that comes to us indirectly later in the maintained J. G. Imboden. increased fertility of our land. I am to have thirty minutes to consider the question of buying, feed- ing and selling the steer for profit — not a long time to buy, feed and sell a steer, but sometimes we feeders would be better off if we only owned a steer for thirty minutes, for unfortunately we own him too long in many cases. If I were to tell you that during the 25 years I have been feeding cattle I never bought a load of cattle too high, never fed any that did not make a satisfactory gain, and never marketed any on a mean market, ypu would know I was not telling the truth, or that I had handled very few cattle. My experience has been just the experi- ence of every feeder here who has been long in the business and of every feeder who will remain long in the business. I have bought cattle too high ; I have fed them where they did not make satisfactory gains, and I have marketed them on very mean markets. There is an element of chance in our feeding operations which we cannot escape, and if a man is not willing to take some risk he will never make a cattle feeder. And the question of feeding these cattle for profit is one that should greatly concern every man interested in the business. The older feeders, the men who have made much money in feeding cattle, are today practically out of the business, and the feeding operations on the farm are now con- ducted by their sous or tenants, but when the father or the landlord 168 Missouri Agricultural Report. advises his son or teiiaiits to feed eattle for profit he must remember that conditions have greatly changed since he made money in the business and the method that was practical and profitable years ago will not do today. When the average feeder, as is the fact today, must borrow money to buy his cattle and is struggling to pay for a farm and get out in - ,5 C2 Oj O -3 M -B ^ p3 o C iS o 00 to H to -a c 3 o a c OJ C5 o ^ O ? i- o c o <^ o o 73 Oil o o m c be ? ^ be =* J*. ;= O 9 c« c o 01 "i C3 OJ o ^ 00 n CI ^ of debt, the question of profit is one that greatly interests him ; and when I speak of profit I don't mean that profit that we sometimes think we get Avhen we top the market with a load or two of cattle, but that profit in dollars and cents that we greatly need in business. There is no feeder ^vho is quite smart enough to know when to feed cattle and when to stay Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 169 ,out and let the other fellow feed. I want to say to you that if yon are so situated that you can handle one, two or three loads of cattle a year I would advise you to continue in the business year after year, and in the end I think you will have a reasonable profit on the business enter- prise, and that is all we have a right to expect. There never was a time when business men were doing business on as small a margin as today. Large corporations are doing ])usiness on small margins. You say they are getting enormously rich — and that is true — but it is on the volume of business they do. Competition is close in nearly all lines and the per cent of profit is small, and for that reason 1 say feeders must expect m the future, as they have in the past, to do 1)usiness on a small margin. There are three interests that have a right to share a profit in this beef production; that is, the man who owns the cow that produces the calf, the man who carries the calf up to the time it is ready to go in th;^ feed lot, and the feeder that finishes and markets this steer, whether it be three months, six months or a year. We all agree that each party has a right to share a profit if there is one, but we all know that condi- tions during the last few years have been such that feeders have had to pay very high prices for their feeding cattle, and while the prices paid have been satisfactory to the grower, they have often been too high for the feeder to handle at a profit. On the other hand, if the feeder buys his steers from the grower at a price worth the money and will make a satisfactory profit to the feeder, the grower has often produced the steers at a loss; so that if every interest realizes a profit we all see that the profit to each interest must be small indeed. You ask for the solution, and I would say this : That just so far as it is practical and profital^le let every feeder be the breeder and grower of his cattle. There are a great many farms today that are almost barren. of cattle, where there could be a few cows kept every year and calves produced at a profit. Kansas City is the greatest feeder cattle market in the world. But did you ever consider how far on an average these stock and feeding cattle were shipped from their breeding ground to reach the Kansas City market. I had in the feed lot last summer, and showed the cattle at the International at Chicago, a load of cattle bought in Nevada last Janu- ary. They were six days getting to Denver and five days from Denver home — 1,800 miles. A neighbor of mine had 100 cattle on feed, bred in Idaho, and the question of the future supply of feeding cattle, even if we are willing to go the distance, is one that must interest every feeder. There is no question in my mind but what in the next year or two there is going to be a noticeable shortage in cattle. About three months ago I spent a couple of weeks in Texas. From my observation and the in- 170 Missouri Agric til ( ural Report. formation gained tliere, I learned that a great many of the small section men there — that is, men owning from three to five or ten sections of land — are entirely out of tlie cattle business, and the large ranchmen, with scarcely an exception, have reduced their breeding herds very materially in the last few years. The two weeks I was in Texas there were over 22,000 calves marketed on the Ft. Worth market, and if that doesn't mean a future shortage of cattle it seems very strange to me. The question of buying these steers, is one that interests every feeder here. I am often asked what kind of 'cattle I like to handle, and I invariably tell the feeders I like the color of a good steer. I like to feed and handle good ones, but when I am buying cattle to put in the feed lot I will buy most any kind if the seller will take my })rice. If I go to a seller who has a bunch of cattle of choice breeding and quality that just suits me, the seller has much to do in naming the price. If, on the other hand, yoii go to a seller who has some cattle to sell that do not suit you, that do not suit the owner, and that do not suit any other fel- low looking for cattle to put in the feed lot, you must remember then that the buyer has much to do in naming the price, and he can often buy at a price that will realize you a greater profit than if he had bought high class feeders at fancy prices. Now, don't understand me as advocat- ing the breeding, growing and feeding of common and mean cattle. It cannot profitably be done. But I am speaking from the standi)oint of a feeder and not from the standpoint of a breeder. Remember this one thing if you forget all else I say to you : If you are breeding your cat- tle or buying calves or yearlings, buy all the quality and breed all the quality you possibly can. If you nuist buy plain and common cattle, buy at a plain price, and buy cattle with age and turn on a short feed. I have bought cattle and put in the feed lot that cost me $5 a hundred. I have bought other cattle about the same weight at $3.50 a hundred and from that to $5 a hundred, and fed them together, and at market time there woidd be about 50 to 75 cents difference between them, going on the same market as finished beef. Remember, the quality of meat is something that is fed into the animal ; that is the quality that is demand- ed by the consumer. The conformation and type and breed character- istics must be bred into the animal ; that is the quality that is demanded by the consumer. But when we look at it from the standpoint of a feeder, he must remember that he must place his money in that steer which he thinks will realize him the greatest profit on the investment. The trouble the last few years has been that the margin has been too small between the cost of the feeder steer and the cost of the finished steer when it goes to market. And I don't see anything in the future Farmers' Week hi Agricultural College. 171 that will justify the feeder in ])elieving that the margin between the feeding steer and the finished steer is going to be any greater than in the past few years. The fact that these feeders are advancing every week is evidence that the feeders are going to pay extremely high prices in the next 30, 60 and 90 days. The average feeder does not get to exceed five pounds of gain from a bushel of corn consumed by his cattle during the winter feeding period. Corn through Central Illinois is now worth 40 cents a bushel, and it is probably about that price here in Missouri. Forty-cent corn means ."f^S.OO a hundred for the gain that the feeder is making on his cattle in the feed lot this winter, and the average feeder is not making it for any less than that. We must realize, then, that the gain that the steers make in the feed lot on corn is invariably made at a loss. It is rarely the case that we can sell a finished steer at a price that has made a profit on the gain that steer has made while in the feed lot on a full feed of corn. The question is then asked, how can feeders make money feeding cattle. If they make any money at all it is the advance they get on the original weight over cost price. To illustrate: A feeder buys a 1,000- pound steer at $5 a hundred. It costs him $50. He feeds that steer 60 bushels of corn at 40 cents a bushel — $24. The steer has cost him $74. At the end of that feeding period he has a 1,300-pound steer. He sells at $6 a hundred — $78. He has made a profit of $4 on the feeding operation. The 300 pounds gain that cost $24 he sold for $18 — a loss there of $6, but he had $1 a hundred advance on 1,000 pounds started with — $10, leaving a profit of $4 a head, and I will leave it to any feeder here if that is not a fair statement of conditions, and about all a feeder can hope to get under present conditions if feeders get $1 net advance over cost price for their fat steers. I think it is as much as they can reasonably expect on a feed period of from four to five months. The question of feeding these cattle after once procuring them is one that interests every feeder here, and we must remember that as the age of the animal increases the cost of beef production increases, and as the feeding period expands the cost of gain increases. Now, that does not necessarily prove that there is more profit in feeding a calf or a yearling than in feeding older cattle, but every feeder knows that every additional hundred pounds put on cattle has cost more than the hundred pounds put on previously. And the question of profitable feeding is one that interests us all. I am not going to talk to you about protein and carbohydrates and a balanced ration, but I will talk to you about corn, clover, hay, alfalfa, and such products as the farm will produce. I believe in making the 172 Missouri Agricul I ural 1\( porl. most possible out of what the farm produces or eaii be made to produce. We are extravagant feeders of corn and probably always will l)e through- out the corn belt. Corn is our greatest feed for beef production and always will be. And yet I think we are extravagant in the use of corn. I think we feed too much corn alone, to the exclusion of other products that might be fed profitably with the corn. 1 tliink shock corn is one of the best single feeds that can be given a steer, and it is the best single feed that can be fed throughout the feeding period. As a rule, I would say, it does not pay to grind corn for cattle, and yet I grind nearly 75 per cent of all the corn I feed, and for this reason: I have only a small farm — 100 acres — mostly in grass, and I buy practically all my feed. I grow a few acres of corn and put it in the shock. I find that by grinding corn, cob and all, and compelling the cattle to consume the cob with the corn, I save a great amount of roughness. Cattle will do very well on corn and cobmeal alone without other roughness, and I think for the first 30 to 60 days 100 pounds of corn and cobmeal is worth as much as 100 pounds of shelled corn. A little later the cob can be eliminated with profit. I have used a self-feeder for a number of years with very satis- factory results. On account of economy of labor 1 think the self-feeder can l)e used with profit. 1 would prefer, if it could be done, to feed cattle just what they would clean up regularly, but on account of saving of time an 1 labor I largely use the self-feeder and my cattle have done very well. I am feeding in connection with corn and cob meal either cotton seed meal or linseed meal. The cotton seed meal is stronger but not so safe as the other, especially with young cattle. Older cattle, that we expect to market in three to five months, we prefer to feed cotton seed meal, feeding from 3 to 5 pounds a day to the steer. I have soaked corn for cattle and I have cooked corn for them, and I believe to soak the corn has increased the value of it ten per cent. The cooking was not very satis- factory. I want to say here to feeders, that if your system of handling and feeding cattle has been profitable to you, if you have been getting satisfactory results for the amount of labor involved, money invested and feed consumed, I would not advise you to change your feeding operations on account of anything I may say; but if results have not been satis- factory to you, 1 think a gathering together of feeders like this can be of mutual benefit by exchanging ideas, one with the other. The question of marketing these cattle after once finished is a very important one. T think that when a feeder puts his cattle in the feed lot he should, considering the ({uality, age and flcsli of his cattle, the avail- able feed and his bank account, decide tlicn when those cattle should be Farmer.^;' WrrJ,- i)> AgriculfxraJ f'dJlrgr. 173 inarketed, and feed ac