The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1888-12-08
METHOD IN FARMING.

b&ry Co Agricultural success
! Why do we farms We farm, first,
to make living for ourselves and
famiiiesS secondly, to furnish food for
the livestock that works the place,
and thirdly, to furnish money to pay
taxes, to pay wages, and to furnish
comforts for our families, We can not
farm successfully without we have
all these three objects in view at the
same time, and keep them well in
mind, too. We may liten successful
farming to a threshing machine-it
may be the very best of its kind; yet
without the power to drive it, the men
to work it, and the wheat to thrash. it
is comparatively worthless,
So it is in farming, The farmer
must have this three-fold object in
view, and divide off his farm to suit
these requirements. The most sue
cessful farming, therefore, is mixed
farming, and whilst special farming
may pay now and then quite largely
it is but seldom, and then only in the
hands of a man especially skilled in
the business, Corn, oats, wheat and
grass, potatoes, garden vegetables (tor
the family, pasture for the cattle,
and, if near a good market, or if the
farmer is skilled in raising and
handling some special crop, it may be
followed, though not to the exclusion
of the food crops.
Some farm writer's who have only in
theory farmed, and who have never
been called upon to work in the hot
sun all day wedding the long rows of
vegetables, or setting out cabbage or
tomato plants in the rain. advise the
planting of special crops, basing the
proceeds of what can be raised upon
one acre by what they produce under
exceptional circumstances on a few
rods of ground. Such writings do
great harm, and oftentimes to those
very ones least able to stand It. In
my judgment, nj one should attempt
in any way to mislead by writing an
untruthful statement, or in concealing
the evil and praising only the good in
farming.
The truth is, to farm successfully re-
quires brains, and more now than ever
before. We should each year expert
ment with some crop as to soil, fertil-
izer used, the cultivation of the crop
and the kind of seed used. If this was
done zach year and careful and ac-
account kept a history of the
farm could be obtained which would
be of great value to each farmer.
Now, let me illustrate: Some years
ago put in two acres in wheat, and,
not having manure, was advised to use
bone dust, which / did at the rate OF
four hundred pounds per acre.
1t was put in most carefully, and |
fully counted on a splendid crop. The
following spring was exceedingly dry,
and the bone did more harm than
good, as the crop was hardly worth
harvesting. | thought 1 was cheated, /
and told the agent so, but as he was a
man in good standing, and stated posi-
lively that the bone was pure, l waited
another year and noted results. The
following year, and for several years
afterwards, that little piece yielded |
the heaviest crops of the best hay.
The fault lay in myself. in not putting
part bone and part manure, as the two
combined would have met any emer-
gency.
Again, on my upland clay loan !
find small quantity of superphos-
phate-two hundred pounds per acre
along with half the quantity of ma
nure, will most invariably give me a
good crop of wheat and a good stand |
Of grass, and the grass will yield well |
for several years. But on the lowlands |
Of black, mucky character, super
even in large quantities, with
or without, have not give one
ota in return for the outlay. can only
account for this fact that there is some |
Ingredient lacking, either in the soil |
IT in the phosphate. which renders it
But 1 would be very |
FOOLISH on this account to denounce
commercial fertilizers as useless. as
ar as their use may be for my black
soils.
The same may be said about the
growing of all our farm crops. For
Instance, if we do not use manure. in a
ew years we can most plainly see the
ack of it, not only in our crops, but in
he mechanical condition of the soil as
veil, and the plowman will tell you
whilst turning over the furrow. your
and wants manure"
Straw is said by chemists to be
.lmost worthless to use as manure. and
lot to pay for the hauling and spread
ng on the fields. Yet know by nv
'wn experience, and the practical ex-
of our best and most
uccessful farmers, that it is worth
or this very purpose at least 81, and
ONE say SO per ton. In fact, each
arm is a study in itself, and the farmer
must give il his most serious thought
nd be guided not by what his neigh
or says or by what the agent says
bout the sworn statements of his fer
ilizers, but by the practical tests from
is own fields.
As farm values are rather low in
rice, and the means:of transportation
ave SO rapidly extended, both by land