Life on the farm

Preface

Life on the farm now is not what it used to be. The general development of the age accounts for this. Each year adds something new to the agricultural field, and not infrequently are these new things so complex in their nature that the broadest scientific knowledge is required for their interpretation and use. There is probably no other industry in which so many branches of science enter as farming; nearly the whole list can be used in some way or other.

This volume is designed, primarily, as a reader, or text-book, in rural schools of agricultural regions; but we think it could be used with profit in both village and city schools. Pupils can learn to read by reading about real things which are in close touch with their daily lives, and which they wish to remember, as well by reading about remote, fictitious things which they can not and do not care to remember. First-hand knowledge should be learned before any other. The things to be studied on a farm are full of interest, beauty, and utility. Where is a field more varied and vital than the one

4 PREFACE.

which includes soil, air, light, heat, plants, germs, insects, birds, and domestic animals?

Our aim has been to treat the subjects scientifically, but with as few needless technicalities as possible.

Acknowledgment is due to Prof. Lewis W. Colwell, principal of the Linne Grammar School, Chicago, Illinois, for his suggestions in the first reading of the manuscript; to Prof. Alden S. Rinker, for the use of three photographs; and to Mr. C. W. Mogg, for the use of three photographs. Much help has also been derived from the farmers in and around Linn, Illinois, with whom we spend two or three months each summer. They have been untiring in their efforts to explain and demonstrate practical farm work. Especial gratitude is due to Mr. William F. Corrie, a boy companion in farm life and work, and who still is ever ready to explain how wealth can be secured from wornout land, and how a successful, happy life can be found on a farm.

If this volume helps, only in a small way, to explain some of the general principles of agriculture, to lend an interest to the appreciation and the enjoyment of nature, and to elevate the dignity and nobility of farm life, we shall feel well repaid for the labor of its preparation.

Hiram H. Shepard.

Chicago Normal School, October, 1901.

Table Of Contents

Preface

CHAPTER I— THE SOIL. How Soil is Formed

Water Transports Soil ....

Effects of Soil Erosion on the Surface of

the Earth

Surface Tension, Evaporation, Gravity . How Water in the Soil Feeds Plants . When and How Plowing Benefits Soil . The Use of Soil Air . ' . ...

Why Cultivation Benefits Crops Sources and Uses of Soil Heat Chemical Composition and Kinds of Soil Work of Crayfish, Ants, Rodents, Angle

worms, etc. .

23 26 27 29

34 39

CHAPTER II— PLANTS. Soil the Ideal Home for Plants ... 4 2

How Plants are Distributed over the Earth 43~44

The Struggle of Plants for Existence . . 45

Simple and Complex Plants . . . . 47

Organs and Functions of Plants ... 51

Why Plants Have so Many Roots and Leaves 53

Some Interesting Facts about Leaves . . 55~S9

Contents

Where Leaves Get Their Material Arrangement, Number, and Forms of Leaves What Plants do with Their Food .

The Importance of Perfect Seeds . Individual Plants, Their Growth and Uses (Indian Corn, Potatoes, Beans, Peas)

62-67

CHAPTER III— TREES. The Study of Trees of Great Importance . 85

How Trees Benefit Life .... 87

Planting and Cultivating Groves ... 88

Trees Afford Beauty and Shelter Birds . 89

Characteristics and Uses of Individual Trees 92-103 (Elm, Maple, Oak, Cottonwood, Poplar, Hickory)

CHAPTER IV— INSECTS. The Four Periods in Insect Life

What Insects Eat During These Stages .

Intelligence Displayed by Insects in Secur

ing Food, etc.

How Insects Aid in Plant Life Insect Enemies ....

Means for Destroying Insects Some Common Insect Pests Life-History of the House Fly Weevils, How and Where They Work Granary Weevil, Grain Moth, Indian Meal

Moth

Operations of the Hessian Fly Bugs in General, the Squash Bug How to Keep Out Insects

104 105-107

108-115

109-112

"5

117-119

122-123 124 126

123-128

CONTENTS. 7

PAGE

CHAPTER V— BIRDS. Purposes of Birds in the Cycle of Life . . 130

What Birds Feed upon I 3 I

Relation of the Food of Birds to Farming

and Gardening J 34

Why Birds Should be Protected . . 134 136-133 Pleasure from the Beauty and the Cheerful

Songs of Birds l 3%

Individual Birds— The Useful Woodpecker . 139 Why the Swallow Should be Protected . 141-143 The Meadow Lark, Its Food, Its Cheerful

Song J 44

Unwise Destruction of Quails and Sparrows 147 The Owl, the House Wren, Robins Bluebirds, Bobolinks . . . . I33> x 48, 15° ^ CHAPTER VI— BACTERIA.

What Bacteria Are l S l

The Three Classes — Useful, Harmful,

neither Useful nor Harmful . . . 151

Shapes of Bacteria, How They Grow . . 152

Conditions of Life and Active Existence / 154 How Bacteria Preserve Life and Make Soils

Fertile J S5

Why Heat and Moisture Injure Grain and

Hay l 5%

Causes of Decay in Fruits, Vegetables and

Meats *5 8

How Food may be Preserved .... 160 Sources of Milk Contamination ... 161 Bacteria Beneficial in Butter and Cheese- Making l &4

How Bacteria Change Cider to Vinegar . 165

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

A Beautiful Farm Scene Fron.

Soil-Building in the Forest 10

Soil-Building in the Swamp 12

Soil -Wearing Along the Roadside 15

Soil-Wearing Along the Brook 17

Where the Soil is Well Cultivated 30

Red Clover, Timothy, Oats and Wheat 45

An Autumn Corn Field . . . .46

Hay Cutting and Stacking . . . 4S

Hay Stacks 51

In the Wheat Field 57

Leaves and Blossoms 64

Threshing Wheat 67

Measuring Wheat at the Thrasher 71

Corn Growing 74

Cutting Corn with a Machine 76

Southern Pines 86

Cottonwood Tree 90

The Elm and the Box Elder . 93

Cabbage Butterfly, Caterpillar and Chrysalis .... 105

Cecropia Moth 107

How Insects Carry Pollen in

Woolly Aphis of the Apple 121

Squash vine Borer 127

The Kingfisher 130

The Woodpecker ......... 132

The Screech Owl . .- . 135

The Bobolink 137

The Bluebird 144

The Robin 149

T JFE ON THE FARM

Chapter I. The Soil

How soil is formed. Relation of water to soil. Water both destructive and useful. Movement of water in the soil. Where the water goes. Retention of soil water. When plowing benefits soil. Soil air. Why cultivation is beneficial. Effect of air pressure. Soil temperature. Relation of heat to soil. Chemical composition and kinds of soil. Elements composing the soil. Relation of earthworms and other small animals to soil fertility.

The soil is the source from which many useful things come. Wheat, from which bread is made, comes directly from the soil; and most of the meat we eat was once in the form of grain or hay, and this grows directly from the soil. The same may be said of the different kinds of cloth, leather, carpets, lumber, and a host of other useful things.

Soil is composed of decayed rocks, and of the remains of plants and animals. It has been forming for thousands of years, and the same work is going on to-day.

Roots of plants, from the tiny weed that grows by the roadside to the forest tree, have the power of penetrating the earth in such a way as to break

LIFE ON THE FARM.

up the rocks and make them fit food for plants. This is done in several ways. Growing roots have great power of expansion, so much so that when they enter the cracks of rocks, or grow between rock layers, they crowd these segments apart and

SOIL-BUILDING IN THE FOREST.

break the rocks to pieces. Then again, the roots of plants have little glands in them. These send out acids which have the power of dissolving rocks and small pieces of earth. In this way plants are enabled to take earthy material into the structure of their bodies as food. When they die and decay, this is left as food for other plants. The gray ash left after plants are burned, is the earthy matter.

As with most things in nature, there is a constant and ceaseless change of activity in the process of soil-building. Plant food, stored in the soil during one season, is partly washed away by rains, partly taken up by plants, and partly left over for future years. This work goes on year in and year out, and must continue to do so as long as we exist upon the earth, for it is the great storehouse from which alone food for plants and animals may be drawn.

RELATION OF WATER TO SOIL.

Scattered through the air in all places, and at all times, are countless numbers of very fine dust particles. They are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, yet their presence in the air is probably one of the causes of the blueness of the sky. Every gust of wind catches them up and bears them away high over our heads and over the tops of trees and mountains. The heavier particles fall again when the air becomes still, but the finer and lighter ones float in the air a very long time. This is true not only of fine bits of wood, paper, and such light material, but of rocks, and the heavy metals. When anything is powdered fine enough, each particle has so much surface exposed to the air, compared with its volume, that it will float as lightly as a feather.

LIFE ON THE FARM.

Men who have made a careful study of rain say that these fine dust particles in the air have the power of attracting water vapor. When these little dust particles have gathered a thick film of water around themselves, they become so heavy that they can no longer float, and so fall to the earth as

SOIL-BUILDING IN THE SWAMP.

drops of rain. They grow larger and larger as they fall, till, on striking the ground, the surface of a pond, or the leaves of plants, they are no longer fine particles of mist, but drops of water large enough to be seen and felt.

Rain, in falling, not only carries down with it these particles of dust around which it clings, but acids, which help to dissolve the rocks. Rock thus dissolved is caught in the soil to remain as plant food; or is borne away into streams, and thence to the sea. Here some of it is taken up by such animals as oysters and corals. They are thus enabled to secrete the hard outer skeletons of their bodies. Some of it finds its way down through the earth to the permanent water layers, or veins, from whence we get it as the hard water of wells and springs.

Carbonic acid is brought down by every rain. It is constantly poured into the air from the chimneys of houses and factories, and from the lungs of animals. It has the power, when mixed with water, of dissolving limestone. Many caves in Kentucky and Indiana have been formed by this action. Water bearing this acid in solution has trickled down into the crevices of the limestone deposits of those regions and gradually eaten out cavities so large that people can walk into some of them for miles.

Rain, then, not only falls upon the earth to make it productive, but it also washes the air clean of its impurities, making it wholesome and pure for us to breathe. The atmosphere of cities has more impurities in it than that of the country. For this reason the free, open country is a more healthful place for dwelling.

WATER BOTH DESTRUCTIVE AND USEFUL.

Water is destructive as well as useful. Evidence of this can be seen after every heavy rain in the amount of earth washed down from the steep, unprotected hillsides. Similar action takes place on the more level ground, especially when it is not protected by plant growth, and even then some is washed away. Some of the soil washed away by the water is carried only a few feet, and settles down of its own weight if the water flows slowly or spreads out into shallow pools. Some is carried many rods, sometimes settling down and spreading out in a thin layer over a large piece of low land. The finest soil is carried into the rivers and finally reaches the sea. More than a hundred million tons are thus carried annually by the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

There is a difference between water wearing land away and dissolving it away. Soil worn away makes water muddy, but the water may hold, in addition, dissolved matter which is not seen. Muddy water soon becomes clear when not in motion; but after it becomes perfectly clear, it nearly always contains other earthy matter which will not settle, regardless of the length of time that it remains quiet. This dissolved matter, however, can be obtained by evaporating the water.

The washing away of soil by the action of water

THE SOIL.

can scarcely be overestimated. One can see the effects of it by the roadside, beside the small rivulets and streams, in the garden and yard, and in the fields. It is the force that cuts down the hills and spreads them out into level plains.

SOIL-WEARING ALONG THE ROADSIDE.

It takes hold of everything it can grasp and carries it from one place to another. A strip of plowed soil several inches deep may be washed by a heavy rain to a lower level on the opposite side of a wide field, or even into an

1G LIFE ON THE FARM.

adjoining field. There is not so much loss, though, if nothing more disturbs it; but when nothing hinders, and the swiftly-flowing torrent carries it into the rivers, and thence to the sea, then the loss, so far as the present is concerned, is complete. Those having hilly or rolling land should cultivate it so as to prevent washing away as much as possible.

Stems, roots, branches, and leaves of plants, — especially the roots, — help to hold the soil against the erosive action of water. Grass is especially good on ordinary ground, and trees for steep hills. All hills that wash away so much that they become barren in most places, should be planted with trees so as to stop the wearing. The trees would also be a great benefit in many other ways besides their value as timber (which would result after a number of years). Soil which unavoidably washes from cultivated fields can be caught and held on the lower ground by keeping the lower ground planted in grass of some kind. This not only tends to level up the hilly fields, but the soil thus made is of the best quality, being deep, rich, and in many cases almost inexhaustible. The writer has just visited a large field which is covered with a layer of soil, averaging about two feet in depth, washed down from the higher land above it. The crops of wheat, oats, clover, and corn now growing on it surpass those of any of the adjoining fields.

THE SOIL.

ONE NIGHT S RAIN-STORM.

It is both interesting and instructive to walk out after a heavy summer's rain and see the small, muddy rivulets running in almost every direction, following wagon ruts in the open roads, plow-fur-

SOIL-WEARING ALONG THE BROOK.

rows in the fields, and mole-tunnels everywhere. Last night's heavy rain washed from about an acre of newly plowed ground fully a ton of soil, which settled by the roadside at the corner of the field,

It reminds one of the delta of the Nile or the Mississippi. Farther down the road are hundreds of tongues of sediment a few inches wide and several feet long. They have left little gullies from which the earth has been washed. The main ditch, which receives all this water, from both east and west, is about six feet deep and ten feet wide. The muddy water is rushing wildly down its channel this morning, and will be in the Wabash before many hours. In some places the banks are so low that some of the water flowed out into the open fields and there, becoming quiet, left a thin sediment of fine mud. A wide board, which happened to be lying in a pasture close by, was covered with a sediment of soil about half an inch thick. The force of gravity impels the water onward to the larger streams, and draws it down into the earth, but at the same time it is pulling still harder on every particle of the heavier earth and brings it to rest whenever the water slackens its speed.

Not only is the earth from the cultivated fields and the open roads thus torn loose and carried away, but the banks and beds of the small streams themselves lose their share. During some rainy seasons, this amounts to nearly a foot each month. A small elm tree which stood in firm soil a month ago on the bank of the ditch just mentioned, was so undermined by the action of last night's freshet that only a few roots on one side are holding it to the soft mud. It is not able to stand erect any longer, but will soon lose its entire hold/and drift down the current to lodge against some neighbor's cross fence. In a similar manner full grown trees have been dug out and can be seen floating down our large rivers in times of high water.

MOVEMENTS OF WATER IN THE SOIL.

On dipping a marble, a pebble, or a pencil in water it will be seen, on taking it out, that a thin film of water adheres to it. A dry pebble, touched against the one already wet, will take part of the water film away from the first one; and a third, touched against the second, will do likewise; and so on, each taking a part of the water and holding it to itself. A force within the earth, called gravity, pulls everything downward; but each little grain of soil has a power within itself which acts against gravity, and keeps a part of the rain falling upon the earth from escaping too fast. This power that pebbles, grains of sand, particles of fine earth, and a great many other things have of drawing a film of water around themselves is called surface tension, or capillarity. It is a force just as truly as gravity is, and plays a very important part in agriculture.

It will be found, however, that those same things which were covered with this thin film of water, will, if left exposed to free air for a short time, lose the water adhering to them and become perfectly dry. It is the air which takes the water away. The air has a power within itself of taking water away from things. This is called evaporation, because the water thus taken by the air can no longer be seen, but takes the form of an invisible vapor. The power of evaporation must, in one sense, be stronger than either surface tension or gravity. Surface tension pulls water away from gravity, yet the vaporizing power of air takes it away from both. These three forces acting together on water in the soil are the main ones with which the farmer has to deal. Surface tension and evaporation are not studied or understood so much as they should be in order to get the best results from the cultivation of the soil.

WHERE THE WATER GOES.

Water falling upon the earth either flows away or sinks down to be kept in store for plants. If the soil be already filled with water, most of it runs away; but when the earth is dry, and the rain does not fall too fast, nearly all of it is absorbed. During the winter season, when little evaporation takes place, on account of the low temperature of the air and the frozen condition of the soil, a great amount of water accumulates. Some of it is kept within a few feet of the surface and some sinks very deep, according to the nature of the soil below the top layer, that is, the subsoil. If the subsoil is of a loose, open nature, like sand or gravel, the water will sink through it very rapidly; but if it is a stiff clay, it will be retained for a very long time, generally till the next season's growth of plants can use it.

Dry ground which is wet, say four inches deep, by a rain of one day will be found to be wet six or eight inches by the next day. The grains of earth had so much water clinging to them that they could not hold it all firmly; so gravity and the surface tension of the grains below pulled some of it down still further. A limit, however, is soon reached, and that same water starts on an upward course, due to evaporation at the surface. The top layer of soil grains gives up its moisture to the air, while at the same time more is drawn by capillarity from the ones below, till all the water has passed back to the air whence it came.

Not all of the water held by soil escapes into the air if plants are growing there. They take it up with their roots wonderfully fast. If their roots do not go down to where all the water is, the surface tension of the soil-grains pulls it up to them, and this is the useful office of that wonderful force. A good example of surface tension can be seen along the margins of streams and other bodies of water. When the banks are dry, it will be noticed that the earth is wet several inches above the surface of the water. Posts and trees standing in the water are also moist above the water surface. The moisture is drawn upward just as the oil is drawn by a lamp wick.

Another important fact should be mentioned regarding the capillary movement of water in soil. Water is the greatest of solvents, that is, it dissolves more substances than any other. So, when water sinks into the earth, it dissolves out many of the ingredients of the soil, especially the plant foods, and these would be permanently lost were there no such power as surface tension to bring it back again in reach of the roots of plants. Every one knows, of course, that warm water has greater dissolving power than cold water; so, when the chilly winter rain fills the earth with stores of water, it does not carry down much dissolved material with it; but when summer comes, with its plants, and its thirsty, warm air to cause evaporation, that same water is drawn back to the surface, dissolving as it comes nutritious substances from the deeper soil and leaving them at the place most needed. Then, too, the warm, summer rains which dissolve so many rich substances of the top soil, find it laced and interlaced with the roots of growing plants to catch it before it can get away.

The soil, in its natural state, such as that of a forest, sees to it that all these forces are equally balanced, and tha't there is little waste; but, in the cultivated state, the conditions are so changed that the soil soon becomes poor if great care and wisdom are not exercised.

RETENTION OF SOIL WATER.

It is a fact that, during the average year, there is not enough water in the ground for the production of as large crops as it is possible for the soil to yield. It is important for the farmer to cultivate the soil so as to keep as much water as possible in store for plant growth. In many cases, the water is allowed to escape so rapidly that only a partial harvest is the result. It escapes from the soil in three ways: by soaking downward, by evaporation at the surface, and by being absorbed by the roots of plants. The last, however, is the most desirable, especially when a useful crop of plants is being grown. It is difficult to prevent the soaking downward; for, as has been said, it depends largely upon the nature of the subsoil. During most seasons there is not enough water in the soil for much soaking away to take place. Not all of the water falling upon the ground gets a chance to soak in. Often the field is left for the winter so smooth and compact that the rains and melted snows quickly run away.

WHEN PLOWING BENEFITS SOIL.

Experience has proved that plowing the ground late in the fall helps to catch and retain water. The plowing leaves the ground loose, rough, and open, so the winter snows and rains are caught and retained in the many small cavities due to the plowing. It is often in a better condition, too, for early spring working than ground not plowed in the fall, and an early and successful crop can be started under more favorable conditions than would otherwise be possible. When it is dry enough to work, a good harrowing generally will reduce it to a smooth mellow condition, giving it the power to retain the largest amount of heat and moisture.

It is a well known physical fact that the more surface a given quantity of matter presents to the air, the faster it will dry out, or allow evaporation to take place. So, when it is desired to retain as much water as possible in the soil, the surface should be left smooth and level. After the ground is plowed, but before the crop is planted, this is best done by harrowing it down to a moderately fine powder. With crops such as corn and potatoes, which require cultivation after being planted, cultivators should be used which leave the soil as level as possible. Rows of plants left in ridges, or hilled up, exposing so much surface to the air, thus allowing the moisture to escape by too rapid evaporation, generally suffer from lack of water. Some root crops, if the soil be of a close, heavy nature, require this kind of cultivation in order to get the soil loose enough for them to expand in, but care should be taken to prevent a complete drying out.

If the store of water which sinks into the ground during the winter is to be relied upon for the summer's crop, it is essential to plant as early as the weather will permit, so that none may be wasted by evaporation, or used up by weeds before the desired crop begins to grow. Early planting is generally best, for the roots of plants not only drink in their full share of water early in the season, but the ground is soon shaded by the growing leaves crowding out the weeds, which would claim a part of the soil nourishment. They also prevent early winds from drying the soil by not allowing them such free access to the surface, from which they take away the moisture very rapidly. All have noticed the drying effect of wind, even when the sun is not shining. It often does its work as rapidly during the night as during the day. A hedge-row, a fence, or even a strip of ground with a higher growth of plants, will so break the force of wind that little loss will result. Winds are beneficial in many ways, but a very mild one may do a vast amount of damage.

SOIL AIR.

Surrounding the entire earth is a layer of air many miles high. It is invisible and very light; yet, on account of its great volume, gravity exerts such a pull on it that it presses heavily, about fourteen pounds to the square-inch, everywhere upon the surface of the earth. It presses heaviest, of course, upon the lowest places. Air, which is so essential to plant and animal life, and to the formation of mineral compounds, is composed mainly of nitrogen and oxygen — about seventy-five per cent of nitrogen and twenty-five per cent of oxygen. It also contains small amounts of other elements and compounds which will not be spoken of here. Air is just as essential to soil as water is; and, although it cannot be seen entering and leaving, yet the soil breathes just as truly as plants and animals do. That soil does contain air may be found by filling any tall vessel with dry earth and pouring water on it. Bubbles will be seen to escape as the water sinks. The air which filled the spaces between the earth particles was replaced by the heavier water and escaped as bubbles at the surface.

The roots of most plants require air just as their leaves do; and if in any way they are deprived of the supply, the entire plant will die. When a field, with germinating seeds or a growing crop, is flooded for several days, great injury or total destruction will result. This is due to the water's shutting out the supply of air which is so essential to germinating seeds and growing roots. Seeds contain compounds of such a nature that oxygen is needed for their transformation before they can be used by the growing sprouts, and the air has to supply this needed element.

WHY CULTIVATION IS BENEFICIAL.

The rapidity of germination and growth depends to a large extent upon the quantity of air supplied to the soil. A loose, open soil allows air to enter it more freely than does one of a close texture; but most soils tend to pack and become less porous after the crop is planted. Some means, then, must be resorted to so that good soil-breathing may be restored. This is usually done, with crops which admit of it, by cultivation. In plowing the ground between the rows of plants, the broken-up and falling earth catches the air and drags it down into the resulting spaces. If the roots of the crop go deep into the earth, then the deeper the cultivation the better for rapid growth.