Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-04-07
Laying Out Too Much.

THE majority of farmers err in laying
out too much work to do. During the
early spring they strive to see how much
land they can get plowed In their eager
ness to get great number of acres turned
under, they are not at suitable pains to
have the plowing well done. They also
plow good deal of the land when it is al
together too wet to do good work. Land
plowed in this condition will require a
vast amount of labor to insure its prOduc-
ing even fair crops No amount of sub
sequcnt labor, however, can make up for
the damage done land by plowing it when
it was too wet.
Having turned over very large mum
Der of acres of land, there is hurry all the
year, and still the work is behind. There
is hurry in sowing the small grains, and
even then much seed is sown too late to
produce good crop. The land is indif-
ferently narrowed, and quite likely not
rolled at all. AS a natural consequence
the grain is hard to cut, and if the land
was seeded down to grass it will ever after
ward be difficult to cut and rake the crop
that grows upon it. Unless land can be
seeded down in proper manner, it
should not be seeded down at all.
Too much land was plowed for corn
anu lNSOihlhEiJ 10 SiCdN
during the planting season. The seed
was not evenly dropped or evenly GOV.
cred, and as a natural consequence the
corn comes up unevenly and remains un-
even till harvest time, when the ears are
found to be uneven both in size and in ma
turity. There was hurry all the time the
crop was tended. There was strife be-
tween the farmer and the weeds to see
which would keep ahead, and the weeds
fairly won the race. In the fall there is
less corn and that of poorer quality than
if smaller number of acres had been
planted
Young farmers especially are apt to
reckon up the number of acres they can
plow, plant, cultivate and harvest if there
are no drawbacks, and plow according
ly Now, there are always drawbacks.
In the first place there are rainy days, and
other days when the soil is too wet 10 be
properly worked. AS the seasons go
there will be on an average one rainy
day in a week, or one day in which cul-
tivating and hoeing cannot be done. An
allowance must be made for these days.
Otherwise all the cultivated crops cannot
be properly cultivated
Then an allowance must be made for
times when the team will not be in a
condition to work, when the driver will
be sick, when business will call the farm
er away, when implements will be out
of order, and when accidents OF various
kinds will occur. Counting these all up,
1t will be found that the estimate made on
the suppositiOn that the days are all TO be
fair, the hands and horses all to be well,
and the implements in good running or
der, is altogether too large. In truth, il
must be reduced about one-half.
The great majority of farmers will ac-
knowledge at the last end of the year that
they undertook too much at the first end.
They generally find that they broke con-
siderable green sward that would have
produced more had it been left in grass.
They also find that the largest crop pro-
duced on the farm was weeds. These
grew because an attempt was made to cul-
tivate more land than the farmer was able
to attend to. The farmer whose finest crop
was weeds last year should seed down
land rather than break up more.-Ohica-
90 Times.