Elements of farm practice

Preface

This book has been prepared primarily for use in rural schools and for elementary classes in other schools, wherever it is desirable to study the plain and practical problems of the farm and home in their relation to daily life.

The book deals largely with common farm practices, rather than with scientific principles. It is intended to throw some light upon and add interest to the things that are done on the farm from day to day. We feel that, if pupils can be interested and enabled to use the farms and the farm homes as laboratories in which to observe and apply the things learned at school, a great step will have been made toward bringing the school in close touch with the home life of the pupils.

A study of agriculture in the rural schools elevates, in the minds of the farm youth, the calling of agriculture. A rather close study of a few farm problems impresses one with the great amount of knowledge and skill required to operate a farm successfully; and must convince one that a farm, rightly managed, affords as much opportunity for development as a professional or business career.

We do not suggest that the topics shall necessarily be taken up in the order presented, but that each teacher begin with that portion of the book dealing with the particular phase of farm work that is being done on the home farms of the pupils at the time the lesson is given.

Each section is a complete reading lesson, followed by questions, examples, and exercises, which relate to the lesson. The questions may be answered orally or in the form of a language paper. The examples will enforce some of the main facts taught in the text. The exercises will require study and observation of local activities and will help to connect up the lesson with the practical things in the community. This manner of presenting the various subjects was chosen so that the study of agriculture might replace a part of the regular reading, language and arithmetic lessons, and thus allow a study of agriculture without shortening the time of, or crowding out, any other subject.

Many of the complex problems encountered in the management of the farm are discussed here with a view to simplifying them, so that any one may easily understand the principles involved. It may even prove valuable to farm managers, by enabling them to put into practice some of the better methods of soil and live stock management, and to see clearly the aspects of farming as a business.

The idea of preparing these lessons originated with Mr. D. A. Wallace, editor of The Farmer, and we gratefully acknowledge his suggestions.

We have freely used many of the agricultural books and bulletins in the library at the Minnesota Agricultural College, and have obtained much valuable information therefrom.

Nearly all photographs used were made by Mr. H. D. Ayer, and the drawings were made by Mr. C. H. Welch and Mr. G. F. Krogh.

University Farm, St. Paul, Minn., December, 1918.

A. D. WILSON E. W. WILSON

Contents

Chapter Page

I Soils 9

Origin, Classification, Sources of Plant Food, Available Plant P'ood.

Chapter I

Soil, from the standpoint of the farmer, is that portion of the earth's surface in which plants grow. It is composed of small particles of rock, as grains of clay and sand, and decayed and decaying plants.

Origin. — We are told that at one time, many, many years ago, the earth's surface was all solid rock, and that the wind and water and frost have been able to break off little pieces of rock to make soil. These little pieces of rock are called clay when very fine, sand when a little coarser than clay, and gravel when quite coarse. In the mountains, or where there are very large stones or boulders,

Figure 1. — The action of vegetation, water and the weather gradually causes the disintegration of solid rock.

large cracks will be seen in the rocks. These cracks are made by frost, by alternate expansion and contraction caused by heat and cooling, or by the force of growing roots. When these cracks are formed little particles of rock are broken off. A strong wind will blow these particles about over the rocks, make them finer and wear off other particles. Rain and water running over the rocks do the same thing. The wind and water tend to gather the soil particles into crevices in the rock and other sheltered places. When several of these little particles fv «>y>j firm

Y.

Figure 2. — Soil well filled with Inimiia.

have been gathered in one place, there is the beginning of a little patch of soil. When this little patch of soil becomes moist from rain or melting snow, and the warm sun shines on it, some kind of a plant, like moss, will start to grow. At first these little patches are very small and plants can grow only a very little while. When the plants die they are added to the soil. Then other small pieces of rock are added and still other plants grow and die and are added to the little patch of soil. This has been going on for many thousands of years, so that nearly the whole surface of the earth is covered with soil.

Parts of Soil. — All soils are then composed of two parts, the part made up of little particles of rock that we call sand or clay or gravel, and the part made up of decayed or decaying plants. This part is called organic matter, vegetable matter or humus. Wherever crops are to grow it is necessary that the soil have both particles of rock and vegetable matter. In a sand pit there is no vegetable matter in the soil and plants grow very poorly or not at all. In an old drained lake-bed, where the soil is made up almost entirely of vegetable matter (peat), crops do not grow well. In farming it is very important that there be a proper combination of these two parts. The part made up of particles of rock is called mineral matter. The part made up of dead and partly decayed plants is called organic matter. Plants contain both mineral and organic matter. Questions:

1. What is soil?

2. How has soil gradually been formed from solid rock?

3. What are the two important parts of soil? Arithmetic:

1. If there are 2 lbs. of ash in 100 lbs. of dry vegetable matter, how many lbs. of ash in one ton (2,000 lbs.) of vegetable matter?

2. If there is j-i lb. of vegetable matter in 10 lbs. of soil, how many pounds of vegetable matter in 100 lbs. of soil?

3. How many pounds of vegetable matter or manure would be required to cover 12 acres, if six tons were applied to each acre?

CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS

In the study of soils one finds that there are many different kinds. To enable us to talk and write about soils, and to understand what is meant, it is necessary to classify soils so that everyone will know what is meant when a certain kind of soil is named. The most common names applied to soils are gravel, sand, loam, clay and peat.

Gravel is the coarse part of the soil. The particles may vary in size from that of kernels of wheat to stones as large as hen's eggs. Such soil is not as a rule productive. The particles are so coarse that they hold very little moisture or plant food. Soil containing a large percentage of gravel is called very poor or very light.

Sand is the name applied to soil with particles much finer than gravel but still comparatively coarse. The particles may be as large as grains of common granulated sugar or cornmeal. Sandy soil is much more productive than gravelly soils. The particles being finer, they hold moisture better and usually contain more available plant food.

Clay is the name applied to the very fine particles of soil. Clay is often as fine or finer than wheat flour. Generally clay soils are the most productive soils, Ijecause the grains are very, very fine. A given quantity of clay will hold much more water than the same quantity of sand or gravel. Clay soil is very sticky when wet, while sandy soil is not.

Loam is a name applied to soil that has a liberal amount of vegetable matter mixed with either sand or clay or both. If a soil has a very large proportion of clay, it is called a clayey loam. Nearly all the soils have a mixture of sand with clay, but the proportion of each naturally varies. On this account there are all kinds of mixtures, varying from nearly all sand and very little clay, to nearly all clay and very little sand.

Sandy Soils. — Soils containing a large percentage of sand are known as sandy soils, or sandy loam soils. They do not hold as much moisture as clay soils. Such soils, therefore, warm up more quickly in the spring than do clay soils, and crops grow more quickly. If it does not rain for several days or weeks, crops on such soils are likely to be injured for lack of moisture. Sandy soils contain less plant food than clay soils and give it up more readily. On this account clay soils are regarded as better; but, if sandy soils are well handled, they produce good crops and are more easily plowed and cared for than clay soils.

Clay Soils. — Soils containing a large percentage of clay are known as clay soils, or as clay loam soils. Because the particles of clay are very small, there is more surface exposed in a given amount of clay soil than in the same amount of sandy soil. Soil holds water on the surface of the particles, on which account a clay soil holds much more water than a sandy soil. The fact that a soil with fine particles has more surface exposed than soil with coarser particles is illustrated by an apple. The surface of a whole apple is represented by the peeling. If the apple is quartered, or cut into many pieces, each cut increases the exposed surface of the apple by the two newly cut surfaces. The apple is no larger. The exposed surface represented by the peeling is the same. If a grain of sand is pulverized to form many particles of clay, the amount of surface will be greatly increased. Because clay holds moisture better, it warms up more slowly in the spring. Crops start more slowly, but are much less likely to be injured by drouth. Questions:

1. What do you understand by the terms, gravel, sand, clay?

2. Tell the difference between a sandy loam, and a clay loam.

3. Explain why clay soil holds moisture better than sandy soil. Arithmetic :

1. If a cubic foot of sandy soil weighs 90 lbs. and holds 17% of its weight of water, how many pounds of water will it hold?

2. If a cubic foot of clay soil weighs 75 lbs. and holds 30% of its weight of water, how many pounds of water will it hold?

SOURCES OF PLANT FOOD

Plant Food in the Air. — Plants as well as animals must have food; and it is as important to know what plants need and how to supply their needs as it is to know how to feed animals properly.

The greater portion of the plant food comes from the air rather than from the soil. All those substances in a plant called carbohydrates as starch, sugar and fibrous tissue, are made entirely from carbon dioxide gas and water. The plant takes in carl)on dioxide from the air, through its leaves, and water from the soil, through its roots. When the water and the carbon dioxide are brought together in the leaves of the plant, and the sun shines on the leaves, the sun and the green coloring matter (the chlorophyll) in the leaves cause the water and the carbon dioxide to unite. The oxygen and hydrogen in the water unite with the carbon in the carbon dioxide. These three elements form starch. The oxygen in the carbon dioxide is liberated and given off to the air. In this way plants purify the air for animals to breathe and animals exhale air containing carbon dioxide, which furnishes food for plants. Some of the starch formed in a plant is slightly modified during the growth of the plant and forms fibrous tissue and sugar. Examine kernels of wheat and corn and a potato to see what a very large part is starch. The white part of them all is very largely starch. It is seen that by far the greater portion of our common plants does not come from the soil, as is usually supposed, but is formed from the poisonous gas, carbon dioxide, from the air, and water from the soil.

Plant Food in the Soil. — A small portion of every plant comes from the plant food in the soil. A fairly good idea of the proportion of any plant that is taken from

Ti -1 • 1 J • 1 1 1 • xu 1 A Figure 3. — The ap-

the soil IS obtamed by burnmg the plant, proximate composition The ashes remaining represent nearly the llz]{^ll^,^ I^thl'gtufen whole amount that came from the soil, are composed of min-

mi • ,• l^ 1 n- iiii erals taken from the sou.

This portion, though small, is absolutely The rest is composed of necessary for plant growth. One may ^r;.\°^d'^wS ^'""^ *^' Hken the plant food taken from the soil to salt eaten by animals. It furnishes a very small part of the food required, but is absolutely necessary. Hence the importance of having a fertile soil that will furnish these substances as needed by the growing crop.

Plants are able to get food from the soil only when it is in a soluble form — that is, when the plant food will dissolve in water as sugar dissolves in tea.

Soluble Plant Food. — When a soil contains plentj^ of soluble plant food it is said to be fertile. When plant food becomes soluble in the soil it is dissolved in the soil water. This water containing the plant food, surrounds the fine roots and root hairs of the plant, and passes through

their thin walls just as nourishment enters the blood vessels in the animal body. In this way plants get their food, soluble organic matter and soluble mineral matter,

Figure 4. — A diagram showing the compos- from the Soil. They take t^ono^a potato. From Minnesota Bulletin -^ ^^^ pj^^^ ^^^^ ^j^j^ large quantities of water. The water is given off from the leaves into the air, leaving the plant food taken from the soil in the plant. To show plainly that liquid passes up through the stem of a plant and into the leaves, set a branch from a house plant into a bottle of red ink or colored liquid, and watch results. It is seen that large amounts of water are needed by growing plants. Scientists have shown that to produce one pound of dry product, as hay or corn fodder, a plant takes from the soil and gives off to the air from 200 to 500 pounds of water.

Since plants use water from which to make starch and other similar substances, as well as large quantities to take up the other plant food, it is very necessary that they be supplied with sufficient water at all times.

Soil Moisture. — There is in most places enough moisture from rainfall or irrigation to produce good crops, but it is not always available at the right time; and often, during the growing season, there may be a shortage for several weeks. Unless land is in good condition to hold moisture, and well cultivated to prevent evaporation from the surface, it may become too dry, and then the plants will not grow well or may die. Farmers can avoid this difficulty largely bj^ keeping vegetable matter in the soil, which holds moisture like a sponge; and by thorough cultivation of the surface, which prevents, to a large extent, the loss of soil water by evaporation. By cultivation the soil is loosened at the surface and the water in the ground cannot rise readily by capillarity, because it is separated from the sun and wind by this layer of loose soil.

It is in such times that the skillful farmer, or the man who knows best how to handle his soil, can get good crops, when farmers who do not know or care, but just "trust to luck," fail.

Questions:

1. Of what substances are plants largely composed?

2. Tell how these substances are converted into plant tissue.

3. From what source does a plant get a small but essential portion of its food?

1. How many pounds of wheat are produced on an acre yielding 20 bus.? (A bu. of wheat weighs 60 lbs.)

ELEMENTR OF FARM PRACTICE

2. How many pounds of corn are produced on an acre yielding 40 bus.? (A bu. of shelled com weighs 56 lbs.)

3. How many pounds of potatoes are produced on an acre yielding 150 bu.? (A bu. of potatoes weighs 60 lbs.)

AVAILABLE PLANT FOOD

Amount of Plant Food. — Most soils contain enough plant food to grow crops for many years, several hundred perhaps, but this plant food is not present in the soil in a soluble form and it is well it is not. If it were soluble it would be dissolved by the water during a heavy ram, and as the water flowed off over tlie fields and into the river it would carry with it the plant food, thus leaving the soil unproductive. This may be better understood if one takes two glasses of water, puts a spoonful of sand into one and a spoonful of sugar into the other, and stirs. Then carefully pour the water out of both glasses. The sugar being soluble has been dissolved and will pass out

Fifiure 5. — (1) A piece of sod showing the grass roots. (2) A lump of earth taken from a field that has grown corn continuously for fourteen years and which ia badly depleted of vegetable matter.

of the glass with the water. The sand is not soluble and will remain in the glass.

Only a very small amount of soluble plant food is needed to grow a crop; but while the amount is small, it is absolutely necessary to have enough of it to supply the plants.

How Plant Food Is Made Soluble. — There are many different ways of making the insoluble plant food in the soil soluble. These are Nature's ways, and the change takes place naturally in soils under favorable conditions. But farmers can do a great many things to assist Nature in this work.

One very important condition of soil, which favors making plant food soluble, is to keep the soil well supplied with vegetable matter as it was when the farmer first broke up the virgin sod. Get a small piece of sod from a new piece of breaking, and a handful of soil from an old field that has grown nothing but corn or grain for a great many years. Notice that the first is tough and is held together by many fine roots interwoven among the soil grains. The handful of earth from the old field contains little except the particles of soil.

The plant roots, as well as other parts of plants found in soil, are called vegetable matter. When this vegetable matter is partly decomposed, it is called humus.

Decay of Vegetable Matter. — When the weather is warm and the soil moist, the vegetable matter in the soil begins to decay. The vegetable matter is composed of plants, and is made up of the things that growing plants need for food. When the vegetable matter decays, the substances of which it is composed are set free or liberated, thus making plant food soluble. The vegetable matter decaying in the soil not only liberates tl^ plant food of which it is composed, but aids very much in making some of the insoluble plant foods in the mineral particles of soil soluble. It also aids by making the soil warmer, as heat is given off by a decomposing manure pile, and by giving off an acid, called an organic acid, because it is formed from organic matter. This acid acts on the soil grains and dissolves a small amount of mineral matter off their surfaces.

Plant food is thus made soluble much more rapidly in a soil that contains a good supply of vegetable matter, as new sod land, than in an old soil from which much of the vegetable matter has been used.

Many soils that have produced grain and corn a great many years without the addition of manure have become nearly depleted of vegetable matter; and, while they usually contain plenty of plant food, it is in an insoluble form and plants cannot make use of it.

Adding Vegetable Matter. — A farmer can add vegetable matter to his soil by growing on it once in every few years such crops as clover, timothy and other grass crops. These crops grow more than one year and consequently have a large root system. These roots add a large supply of vegetable matter; so several crops of corn or grain can be grown successfully following a crop of grass. The application of barnyard manure is another way by which the farmer can put vegetable matter in the soil and thereby increase its producing power.

Questions:

1. What do you understand by the term vegetable matter in the soil?

2. In what way does vegetable matter assist in making plant food soluble?

3. In what ways may a farmer add vegetable matter to the soil? Arithmetic:

]. How many lbs. of water in 20 bus. of wheat? (Note: There are 12 lbs. of water in 100 lbs. of wheat.) ?:. If 70% of wheat is starch, how many lbs. of starch in 20 bus.? 3. It requires 500 lbs. of water to produce one pound of hay. How much water is required to produce a ton of hay?

1. If possible, find some large rocks and note the cracks in them, and the little depressions where there is a small accumulation of soil. Note the growth of moss or other forms of plant life. Write out a description of what you have seen.

2. Burn some dry plants and note that a small part of them is left. We call it ashes. It is mineral matter. The part that disappears in the burning process as smoke and gas is the vegetable matter.

3. Get samples of gravel, sand and clay. Put a very small amount of each on a piece of white paper. Notice how they look and feel.

Chapter II Tillage Objects Of Plowing

Plowing Not Monotonous.— Did you ever wonder as you watched men plowing, why they were doing it? Or did you ever think that plowing must be very monotonous work — going forth and back, forth and back, across the field day after day? Plowing is not unpleasant work. In fact, most men like to plow. It is a quiet, peaceful work, and after the rush and anxiety of harvest time, it really seems restful. It is certainly not monotonous work, if one knows why one is plowing, and how and when to plow.

Plowing Mellows the Soil. — One of the chief reasons for plowing is to stir the soil and make it loose and mellow, so the air can circulate through it, and so the moisture can settle down into it. When the soil has settled all summer and had the heavy rains beating on it, it becomes

Figure 6. Good plowing done with a breaker.

ELEME^'TS OF FARM PRACTICE packed and hard, and must be loosened to prepare it for a new crop, if we desire to meet the conditions of nature.

Plowing saves moisture for the next crop. When the ground is packed, as it is when the crops are removed in the fall, it is so hard that when it rains much of the water runs off over the surface instead of settling down into the soil. Plowing overcomes this difficulty, and by loosening the surface, any moisture that may be in the subsoil (the soil below the plowed furrow) is retained, because this water cannot readily pass up through the loose plowed soil. If the ground were not plowed, the soil moisture would rise to the surface by capillarity, just as oil rises in a lampwick, and when it got near the surface the sun and wind would evaporate it.

Plowing Destroys Weeds. — It is natural for all good

soils to be producing something at all times during the growing season. As soon as the crop is removed (and very often before) weeds begin to grow. If no precaution is taken, they will go to seed, and thus cause trouble later. Plowing stops their growth. It also turns up new soil to the light, and weed seeds which have been too deep in the soil to grow, are brought near the surface where they can grow. If the plowing is done in the fall these weeds start to grow, but do not have time to produce seed before they are

Figure 7. — First year clover growing in stub- killed by irOSt.

ble. Such a crop is better pasture than Plowing DeStTOyS In-

many cattle are furnished, and IS a benefit * iv^ »»"*& .^y^^i^vj^ **»

to the soil. It would be unwise to plow such SCCtS. jManymsectS, SUCll

a field early in the fall, if one has stock i ' j . 4.

that can use the feed. aS gl'aSS hopperS and CUtworms, are checked by plowing in the fall. The mature insects lay their eggs in the ground in the fall, and if the eggs are not disturbed, they hatch out the next spring, and it is the young from these eggs that do the damage. Fall plowing disturbs the eggs and many of them are destroyed.

Plowing Helps to Liberate Plant Food. — We learned in another lesson that plants require food in a soluble form; that is, food in such condition that it will dissolve in water. Plowing assists in making portions of the soil soluble, by pulverizing it, breaking up the soil particles, exposing new surfaces, and allowing the sun, wind and water to act on it more freely than they can act on unplowed land.

Plowing Covers Manure and Crop Residue. — It is generally regarded as good practice to haul manure directly from the barn to the field before it has rotted, as much of its value is saved in this way. If a rather heavy dressing is applied, it is troublesome in harrowing, sowing and cultivating, unless it is plowed under out of reach of the harrow and other tools, but still where the plant roots can reach it.

The plowing under of manure or vegetable matter saves much of its value from being lost in various ways as it would be if it were left exposed.

Questions:

1. Explain how plowing saves moisture.

2. In what two ways does plowing destroy weeds?

3. How does plowing destroy insects?

4. How does plowing assist in liberating plant food? Arithmetic:

1. A plow turns a furrow 14 inches wide. How many furrows must one plow to plow a strip 8 rods wide?

2. How far will a team travel in plowing with a single 14-in. plow a field 8 rods wide and 40 rods long?

3. How many acres of land in a field 8 rods by 40 rods?

TIME TO PLOW

Condition of Soil. — The greatest problem that a plowman has to solve, is to determine the proper time to plovv. Both the season of the year and the condition of the soil must be considered. If a heavj^ clayey soil is plowed when it is too wet, the lumps turned up become, when dry, hard clods, which it is very difficult to pulverize into a good seed bed. This is especially true if plowing is done in the spring. Plowing clayey land that is wet is not objectionable, however, if done in the fall and the field is not sown until spring, as the thawing and freezing during whiter aid in pulverizing any clods that may form. Light sandy or loam soil may be plowed when wet without any serious trouble.

Time of Year to Plow. — As a rule early fall plowing is preferable, as it allows the ground to become settled before the crop is sown, thus making it less likely to become too dry during the summer. Early fall plowing also destroys weeds by turning up new seeds, which start to grow in the

Figure 8. — Rape growing in a stubble field. Such a crop may be raised for fall feed at a very small cost per acre. Rape is excellent feed for any kind of stock but milch cows. One might be justified in neglecting to plow such a field early.

fall, and are soon killed by frost, while, if the same seeds were turned up late in the fall, the plants would grow in the spring and trouble the crops. Fall plowing also facilitates spring work, and, by leaving the soil exposed to the elements, aids in liberating plant food.

When Not to Plow in Early Fall. — If some catch crop is growing in the stubble field, as clover, rape or rye, that can be used to advantage for fall pasture, fall plowing — at least early fall plowing— is not always advisable. The green crop and pasturing will prevent largely the growth of weeds, and the green crop checks to some extent the loss of moisture. Thus at least two reasons for early plowing are removed. The green crop, whether plowed under or pastured off", would add considerable vegetable matter to the soil, which would be of more value to the next crop than the plant food that would be liberated by the early fall plowing. As the country becomes more thickly settled, and better methods of farming are practiced, farmers will have fewer fields lying idle during the fall. Many farmers now get from 50c to $4.00 worth of feed per acre from their fields after the main crop has been harvested. This income is almost entirely net profit, and cannot be overlooked as more intensive systems of farming are made necessary by higher priced land.