Elementary agriculture of Tennessee, with practical artithmetic

Preface

As the population of our country increases, it is fast becoming evident that two things must be done : poorer soil must be cultivated, and what is already under cultivation must be made to produce more. In either case more thoughtful methods in agriculture are absolutely essential. The farmer of to-morrow, who is to-day the farmer's boy, must know how to farm better than his father does. In order to do this, he must acquire a more or less complete knowledge of the sciences on which agriculture is based.

The farmer of the future must be able to read farm papers understandingly, or better still, he should be trained for his life work in some agricultural school as doctors, lawyers and teachers are now trained. It is the purpose of this book to give to the farmer's child, who studies it, a start in such necessary knowledge. The language used is plain and simple, and may be readily understood by any bright boy or girl of twelve years of age. All scientific terms are defined in a simple way whenever it has been necessary to introduce them.

Each chapter is followed by a set of practical farm problems to be used as exercises for the arithmetic class. These problems have a definite relation to the subject matter which they follow, as well as a close relation to farm life. Wherever appropriate at the close of a chapter some experimental studies are added. It is believed that the working out of these, exercises will enable the farmer's children to solve ordinary practical problems arising on

PREFACE

the farm, and prepare for the more complex ones of experimental agriculture.

It is hoped that the careful study of this book will lead to a deeper interest in farm life, and to a more careful and systematic study of the soils, crops, feeds, fertilizers, and the like, by the children in the rural schools and perhaps, incidentally, by the farmers themselves.

It is a wholesome indication of the trend of educational thought, that the legislatures of several states have made compulsory the study of agriculture in the district schools.

We trust that this little book, by combining the subjects of arithmetic and agriculture, will be of material assistance to teachers in their efforts to do effective work in both branches. H. & H.

Preface To Tennessee Edition

In adapting this text for use in the public schools of Tennessee I have endeavored to retain its numerous excellent features, making only such changes and additions as differences in soil and kinds of crops render necessary. But several chapters have been rewritten, and two wholly new chapters have been added. The Bulletins of the University of Tennessee have been listed and the score cards used here have been substituted for those in the first edition.

Thanks are due the Tennessee Experiment Station for the use of cuts, to the Agricultural Department of the

University for the use of score cards, and to Professors H. A. Morgan and C. A. Mooers for helpful criticism.

Charles A. Keffer.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, June, 1909.

Contents

Chapter Page

-I. THE THREE KINGDOMS 9

II. THE GEOWTH OF PLANTS 15

Chapter I The Three Kingdoms

What Agriciiltiire Means. — The word agriculture is derived from the two Latin words agcr, meaning field, and cultiira, meaning tillage or cultivation, and hence the word should mean tilling the field ; but, like many other words, it has come to have a larger meaning than it had originally, and to-day the word agriculture includes all the work of the farm — the care of all kinds of live stock as well as the care of all kinds of crops and of the soil in which they grow.

The Farm Cycle. — The soil, plants, and animals are dependent one upon the other for their improvement, and even for keeping them in their present condition. Every farmer wants to grow the best crops possible, and to do this he must keep his land fertile. Poor soil will not produce good crops, because every plant must have food, the same as every boy, and an important part of the food of plants comes from the soil. So the farmer feeds his plants when he puts manure or fertilizer on the land. The plants thus draw their nourishment from the soil. The animals, in their turn, live on plants. Horses and cattle and hogs eat grain, cotton-seed meal, grass, hay, and fodder, and they grow on these just as the plants grow on the food they find in the soil and the air.

Now, everywhere in the world there is decay going on. Plants that have been fed by the soil, left to themselves, die and decay, a part of them passes into the air, and a part returns to the soil again, making it richer. The animals which have fed on other plants, use a part of what they eat in energy or work, and another part in maintaining their bodies; the re-

HOW THE THREE KINGDOMS ARE RELATED.

mainder of the food returns to the soil as manure, and in time the animals die, and their bodies slowly decay and a part of them returns to the soil, the same as in the case of plants.

All these products of life, decaying leaves, twigs, fruits, weeds, corn and cotton stalks, trees, and the manure of animals as well as the bodies of all the animals that die, in time pass into the soil or the air. Such as remain in the soil become again food for

THE THREE KINGDOMS II

plants, and these again become food for animals. Thus we see that nothing is lost in nature, but everything moves in a circle, from soil to plant, from plant to animal, from plant and animal to soil again. The remains of plants and animals are called organic matter, to distinguish them from matter derived w^hoUy from minerals.

King of Three Kingdoms. — The farmer bases all his work on this round of life. He is king of three kingdoms, and when he neglects any one of them, mineral (soil), vegetable (crops), or animal (live stock), he is sure to fail wholly or in part; for each is dependent on the other.

This idea may be new to most of us. There are very few farmers anywhere who take equally good care of all three kingdoms, but if you will ask your father about it I think he will agree with me, and tell you that the very best farmer he knows has good live stock, good crops, and good land.

Needed Changes. — In the South we have neglected the animal kingdom, and our land has suffered. Commercial fertilizers may supply as much or even more plant food than barnyard manure, but they do not have as good an effect on the soil in other ways. A good way to prevent the washing of sloping fields, which in many places has made the land useless for farming, is to change the system employed, making live stock the selling product of the farm, instead of grain or cotton. Where only plant products are produced one kingdom is wholly neglected, and we must keep all three kingdoms working together for us if we would become the best of farmers.

What Farmers Should Know. — The care of three kingdoms is a great work, and to do it well one should understand the nature of each. Agriculture means much more than cultivating the soil ; for the soil is only a part of one of the three kingdoms of the farmer. The soil is by far the most important part of the mineral kingdom, but to know all about it one must know about the rock of which it was made, and many other things, too difficult for the beginner to understand.

The farmer needs to know how plants do their work, and how they get their food from the soil. He must understand what conditions are best for the growing plants, and how best to supply these conditions. He must know, too, how to treat the plants so as to make of them the best food for his animals. For example, if you want to use cowpeas for hay, do you harvest them at the same time you would if you wanted nothing but the seed ? Is clover cut at the same stage for hay and for seed? Is corn for ensilage grown in the same way as corn for grain? The answers to these questions indicate that the way in which a crop should be handled depends on the use to be made of it.

There are a great many families of plants and of animals that are not of use to the farmer. It is not necessary for the farmer's boy to know all about llamas because the people of the Andes Mountains use them as we use horses; but every member of the animal kingdom has some relation to the plant and the min-

THE THREE KINGDOMS 13

eral kingdoms, and knowledge of all helps us to better understand the particular plants and animals with which the farmer works. It is not only the useful plants and animals and the fertile soils we should study : the farmer must know both useful and harmful insects; he must study weeds if he would learn how to protect useful plants from them. He should know what birds help him by destroying harmful insects, and what birds harm him by destroying his grain. When you think about it, do you not see the relation between soil and plants, plants and animals, plants, animals and soil ? Do you not see that the changes move in a circle and that the good farmer is the king of three kingdoms?

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CHAPTER 11.

THE GROWTH OF PLANTS.

What Makes Plants Grow. — If you were asked, "What makes a pig grow?" you would reply, ''Milk, grass, corn, etc.," but if you were asked, "What makes a plant grow?" would you answer so readily, "The food which it consumes?" But this is precisely what you should reply. Plants, like animals, must have food and drink, and like animals, they perish without them. At some later time, we shall tell you what these foods are, in such a way that you will readily recognize them at sight. For the present, however, we shall observe the way in which plants grow and find out, if possible, the source from which they get their first food.

The little pig, or lamb, or calf lives and grows upon the milk of its mother until it is large enough to search for its own food. It then begins to use the same food as the larger animals of its kind. Now, from what source does the little plant get its first food?

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How Plants Store Food. — If you will carefully remove the skin from a bean that has been soaked over night, and then separate it into two parts, you will discover two tiny leaves near one end, between the two halves of the bean. Extending in the opposite direction is a tiny stem and root. This little plant is called the germ or embryo, and it is this germ which

A BEAN PLANT.

A DICOTYLEDON.

A SPLIT BEAN.

E — Embryo.

C — Cotyledon.

A CORN PLANT.

A MONOCOTYLEDON later develops into a full grown plant. The two halves of the bean serve as a storehouse for food, and are called cotyledons. If a kernel of corn is taken instead, and examined in the same way, the same kind of little plant will be found. Instead of two leaves pointing upward, as in the bean, but one will be found in the corn. The peanut will be found to resemble the bean in this respect; wheat and rye resemble the corn.

WHY PLANTS GROW II

ClassiUcatvon of Plants. — In the spring, as soon as the young plants begin to come up, go out into the garden and field and notice how many leaves are first seen from the seed. In one list write the names of all plants showing but a single leaf or sprout, and name that list monocotyledons. In another list write the names of all plants showing a pair of first leaves and call these plants dicotyledons, and you will have begun the systematic study of botany. If you are interested, you will not wait for spring, but will want to begin now, which you may do by planting all kinds of seeds grown on the farm in sawdust in an old pan kept in a light, warm place. You can then examine these seeds from day to day and watch their growth.

Germination. — If you keep these seeds wet they will grow well for a few days, and then they will wither and die. Now, why is this? Because the little plantlet lives on the food contained in the seed until this food is all used up, and the plant has attained sufficient size and strength to get its food from the soil. But it cannot get srtfficient food from the sawdust, and of course it starves to death, just as a little pig would starve if it were not given sufficient food.

Why Plants Store Up Food. — When asked why plants store up so much food matter in seeds we usually answer, "To furnish food for animals and men." Nothing could be further from the truth. Nature intended this food matter, not for man, but for the little plantlets, found in the seeds, to use for their own growth until they are large enough to get it for themselves directly from the soil. Make this experiment : From soaked beans or kernels of corn, cut away about two-thirds of this food matter, being

very careful not to injure the embryos, and watch the sprouting of what remains.

These sprouts will wither and die much sooner than those from perfect seeds, because not enough nourishment is left to supply them with food until they are large enough to get it from the soil. This should teach us that we cannot be too careful in the selection of large, well developed seeds if we wish strong, healthy plants and, consequently, good crops.

Every farmer's child must have noticed how potatoes shrivel up when they sprout in the cellar. This is due to the fact that the young sprout uses up a part of the potato as food for its own growth.

Necessity of Moisture, Heat, Air, and Light. — But there are other things necessary for the growth of plants. Grain rarely grows in the bin or stack, and if it does, you will say that it is because the grain is too wet. Moisture, then, is another requisite for plant growth. But even wet grain fails to grow in the winter time because heat is necessary. Neither

Drawing from life, showing effect of cutting away a portion of the cotyledons on the growth of the plant. The same results will be obtained by using small and large seeds. Try it.

WHY PLANTS GROW 13

will crops grow in ground covered with water, because all growing plants must have air, and much water keeps the air out of the soil. There is still another requisite to plant growth, and that is light. No plant grows well in dense shade, and without sunlight plants alwa3^s have a yellow and sickly appearance.

Summary. — Good seeds and proper conditions of soil, moisture, air, heat and light are essential to plant growth, and a part of the study of agriculture consists in determining just how to control these conditions. *'What?" you ask, ''Can the farmer control the amount of heat, air and moisture in the soil?" He can, and it is the purpose of this little book to teach the farmer's children how it may be done.

A good bulletin on the subject treated in this chapter may be had free on application to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, or to your Senator or Representative in Congress.

Write for Farmers' Bulletin, No. iii. — The Farmer's Interest in Good Seed.

Experimental Study of Seeds.

1. Place a folded newspaper in the bottom of a cigar box, a crayon box, or on a plate ; moisten with water, and place another folded newspaper over the first one. Between the papers place one hundred of the seeds to be tested, and set aside in a warm place for a few days. Keep the paper moist but not wet. At the end of a week the number of sprouted seeds represents the percentage of good seeds.

2. Select ten very small seeds and an equal number of very large seeds of the same kind, and plant them at equal distances in parallel rows in the same box. Note which make the most rapid and vigorous growth during the first week; the second week; the third week.

3. Select seeds from a supply that has been previously tested and found to be good. Place a dozen of these seeds on paper in each of three dishes. Cover the seeds in the first dish with water and keep them completely covered. In the second dish keep the seeds half covered with water. In the third dish keep the paper on which the seeds are placed always moist, but do not allow water to stand around the seeds. Which seeds germinate most rapidly? Why? What finally happens to the seeds immersed in water? Explain.

4. Plant some seeds in moist soil and others in the same kind of soil kept very wet. Note the difference in germination and growth. Explain.

5. Start some beans growing well in each of two boxes side by side on the window sill ; then cover one lot with another box or a paper cone. At the end of a week remove the cover and note the effect that absence of light has had on the growth and appearance of the plants.

6. Provide for the growth of seedlings against glass. This may be done by planting seeds in a glass jar, a tumbler, or even in an old crayon box set on end, the other end removed, and a piece of glass put in the place of the cover. By pressing the seeds close against the glass their germination and growth can be easily observed from day to day.

WHY PLANTS GROW 21

Table I.

TalDle showing legal weight per bushel of farm products in Tennessee:

Wheat 60 lbs. Buckwheat 50 lbs.

Peas 60 lbs. Oats 32 lbs.

Beans 60 lbs. Clover Seed 60 lbs.

Irish Potatoes 60 lbs. Cotton Seed 28 lbs.

Sweet Potatoes 50 lbs. Millet 50 lbs.

Onions 56 lbs. Orchard Grass Seed. ... 14 lbs.

Corn (shelled) 56 lbs. Peanuts 23 lbs.

Corn in ear, shucked 70 lbs. Red Top Grass Seed. . . .14 lbs.

Rye 56 lbs. Timothy Grass Seed. . . .45 lbs.

Barley 48 lbs. Italian Rye Grass Seed. . 20 lbs.

Handy Values.

A bushel requires about 134 cubic feet of space.

A bushel of corn in the ear requires about 2 cubic feet of space.

A barrel of water requires about 4 cubic feet of space.

A ton of hay fills about 512 cubic feet of space, or 8x8x8 cubic feet.

A cubic foot of water weighs (ilVz pounds.

Note I : All the above should be memorized.

Note II : Pupils should also memorize table of avoirdupois weight, dry measure, liquid measure, long measure, square measure, and cubic measure, with all the necessary abbreviations.

Problems.

1. How many pounds of wheat are grown on an acre yielding 25 bushels?

2. How many pounds are grown on eight acres at the same rate? How many tons?

3. How many square rods in an acre ? How many pounds would that be per square rod ?

4. What is the value per acre of the above at 80c per bushel?

5. At the same rate what is the value of all the wheat grown on a piece of land containing 240 square rods?

6. At 90c per bushel what is the value of the wheat grown on an acre if the yield is 20 bushels?

7. Which is the more valuable, the crop in problem 4 or that in problem 6?

8. If 20 bushels of 90c wheat can be grown on an acre, how many pounds is that per acre? What is the price per pound ? How many pounds are grown on a square rod? What is the value of the wheat grown on a square rod?

9. At the same rate and price, what is the value of the wheat grown on a piece of ground 14 rods wide and 20 rods long?

10. How many acres in a field 40 rods long and 24 rods wide?

11. If a man can plow 2 acres per day, how long will it take him to plow the above field? What will it cost at $2 per day?

12. What will be the cost of plowing a 40 acre field at the same rate?

13. If a man and team can seed 8 acres per day how long will it take to seed a 40 acre field? What will it cost at $2 per day?

14. At 50c per acre w'hat will be the cost of cutting this crop?

WHY PLANTS GROW 17

15. It will cost about $0.25 per acre to stack the grain. Find the cost of stacking.

16. What is the threshing bill at 2 cents per bushel? Find the entire cost of the crop.

17. If the yield has been 20 bushels per acre, worth 90 cents per bushel, how much has the farmer made over and above the entire cost of labor?

18. How much has he made if the crop has yielded 25 bushels per acre, worth $0.80 per bushel ?

19. Have any items of the cost of producing this wheat been omitted? If so, what? Should we allow for them? Let us do so and find the result.

20. With a crop of 50 bushels of shelled corn per acre, worth $0.40 per bushel, work the same series of problems, omitting such as do not apply to corn raising.

To the Teacher : The above list of problems is intended to suggest others. Ask the pupils to find the current prices of corn, oats, barley, hay, etc. What is considered a good crop per acre of each of these? Then estimate the cost of labor. Have them furnish all the necessary data. This they can get from home. Make up a list of problems similar to the above from data furnished by the pupils. Let one pupil furnish data for one set of problems, another pupil furnish data for another set, and so on. Pass the honors around. You should have both parents and pupils interested before you have progressed far with this work. Observe this policy throughout the course of instruction in this branch. It will be observed that there is a logical order in arrangement of the problems ; in many cases the conditions necessary for the solution of a problem are found in one preceding it.

Chapter II The Plant And Water

Kinds of Plant Foods. — We have already seen that the seed furnishes the food for the httle plantlet until it is large enough to get food from the soil, in much the same way that the mother cow furnishes milk for her calf until the calf is large enough to find its own food. If asked, ''What are the foods which a cow eats?" you would probably answer, ''Grass, hay, straw, oats, bran, etc." Not many of us could answer so readily if asked to give a list of plant foods. There are but a dozen of them, and half of these are nearly as well known to you as cattle foods. The most familiar are : water, lime, iron oxide,"^ soda.t ammonia, and sand.l The other six are : magnesia, potash, carbon dioxide, and three acids, viz. : phosphoric, hydrochloric, and sulphuric.

Plants and Water. — Now let us consider these plant foods. Every one knows that plants cannot live without water, but few persons stop to think of the enormous amount of water consumed daily by an acre of growing vegetation. You may make this experiment : Put exactly the same amount of water in each of two

* Iron-rust, t Ammonia contains the ekment nitrogen, t Silica.

THE PLANT AND THE WATER similar vessels — tumblers, glass fruit- jars or even old tin cans will answer. Pull up a thrifty bunch of clover and put its roots into one of these vessels of water. Stand both on a table or shelf side by side. In a few days you will notice that the water in the vessel containing the clover is disappearing much more rapidly than that in the other vessel. As soon as the clover begins to wilt take it out of the water and by

Relative amounts of water at the beginning of the experiment.

Relative amounts of water at the end of the experiment.

measuring compare what remains in the two vessels. Of course, both have lost by evaporation — that is, both have ''dried up," as we say — but, if the vessels are of the same size, there should be equal evaporation. Why, then, should not the remainders be equal? Because the clover plant has been using up water. The difference between what remains in the two cans represents the amount used by the clover plant.

Hozv Plants Use Water. — Plants make use of water in two ways. In the first place, they use it as food just the same as animals do. In the second place, a plant cannot eat solid food. It has neither mouth nor teeth and it must take in its food in liquid form through its roots. The sohd foods mentioned above dissolve in water — just as sugar dissolves in coffee — and in this dissolved condition they are easily taken in by the roots of the plant. Substances such as salt, that dissolve in water, are said to be soluable, and the plant fluid containing these dissolved substances is called sap. The solid food, with a portion of the water, is taken from the sap to be used in plant growth, and the remaining water is passed off to the air through little holes in the leaves. This is the reason why plants need so much water. Grain uses up hundreds of tons of water per acre during the growing season.

Moisture Can Be Regulated. — But you ask : ''Can the farmer regulate the amount of moisture in the soil? Does not that depend wholly upon rainfall?" No, it does not depend upon rainfall. If the ground is too wet, the farmer can drain it by ditching or tiling, and by careful cultivation he can keep the moisture in the soil in times of drought. Just how this is done is left for later discussion.

Experimental Study of Water in Plants.

1. Place a clean, dry glass vessel over a growing plant. A fruit-jar or a tumbler will do. In a few hours wdiat appears on the inner surface of the glass? Where does this moisture come from? How can you show that it does not come from the soil ?

2. Place a thrifty clover plant in a clean, dry glass jar and seal it tight. In a few hours what appears on

THE PLANT AND THE WATER 21

the inner surface of the bottle? Explain what you observe.

3. Place some cut flowers that have begun to wither in a vessel containing cold water, immersing all except the blossoms. Set in a cool place for several hours. What change occurred ? Explain.

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Fanners' Bulletins.

No. 46. — Irrigation in Humid Climates

No. 116. — Irrigation in Fruit Growing.

No. 138. — Irrigation in Field and Garden.

No. 158. — How to Build Small Irrigation Ditches.

Table II.

Table showing proportions of water in farm crops.

One bushel of root crops contains about 55 pounds of water.

One bushel of potatoes contains about 45 pounds of water.

One bushel of corn (dry, shelled) contains about 5 pounds of water.

One bushel of wheat contains about 6 pounds of water.

One bushel of oats contains about 3 pounds of water.

One ton of dry hay contains about 300 pounds of water.

One ton of green feed contains from 1,500 to 1,800 pounds of water.

Note: This represents only the water left in the plants and seeds as a part of them. By far the greater amount used by the plant passes off to the air through the pores in the leaves.

Problems.

I. If rain falls an inch deep on the level, how many cubic inches is that per square foot? Per square yard? Per square rod? How many cubic feet per square rod ? Per acre ?

2. About how many barrels of water fall on an acre with i inch rainfall?

3. How many tons will this water weigh?

4. The total rainfall during the year in Wisconsin is about four feet. What does the water weigh that falls during the year on a square yard of ground ? On a square rod ? How many tons to the acre ?

5. Suppose the plants use one-eighth of this, what is the weight of the water used by a square yard of vegetation? A square rod? An acre?

6. Suppose potatoes contain three-fourths of their weight of water. How many pounds of water in a bushel of potatoes ?

7. If 150 bushels per acre of potatoes is a good yield, how many pounds of water in the potatoes grown on an acre ?