The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1899-03-23

RcnoTRtlnG C Rundown Farm
1 want to tell you, readers, what
would try to do with slcli a farm I'll
had or could borrow o little capital.
says W. ]. in Hoard's Dairyman. l
would first repair the barn so as to
make the stable warm, and make tight
floor and gutter, and save all the liquid
manure; then 1 would build a silo. In
a word, l would try to work into a
more intensive system Of farming, and
my main crops would be ensilage corn
u clover. There is but little profit in
dairy farming in these times Of intense
competition, without a good equipment
Of buildings and implements. The
farmer without these, especially in win
ter dairying, cannot compete with the
farmer who has warm and convenient
barns and feeds silage and clover hay.
Such a change in the method OF
farming as I would try to bring about,
would require a few years to get It well
established. l would begin by blowing
all the ground that | could cover with
manure for corn. / would not use COM
mercial fertilizers for corn, except a
little drilled in with the corn planter.
/ would not try to do without at least
a one-horse corn planter, and | would
plant the largest variety of corn that
would mature ears in my locality. |
would plant it thinly in drills three
feet apart, and give it frequent Guilt
walton until the last of July, then just
before the last cultivation 1 would
SOW crimson clover between the rows
of corn and take my chances of its liv-
ing through the winter. If it win
tered well, it would be a very cheap
source of plant food; If it did not, the
clover roots in the ground would prob
ably pay the cost of seeding. l would
cut the corr when the ears were in the
milk stage of growth and put it in the
silo, and feed the ensilage to my stock
during the winter, and so would be
able to winter a larger stock of cattle
and make more manure for using the
next year. The neXt spring | would
SOW the ground which had been plant
ed to corn the preceding year, to oats
or spring wheat and seed it to clover.
would cut about two crops of clover,
and then plant the ground again to
corn. When / got settled on his ro-
tation of crops | would use the greater
part of the manure for top dressing the
clover seeding, for with the plant food
which the clover roots and stubble
would supply the soil, l could grow my
enSilage corn with little manure if l
used fertilizer in the drills. 1 would
expect in four or five years to double
the number of my live stock, SO would
have more manure with which to grow
my crops. In this way ] would try to
build up the farm, and | am satisfied
1 could do it because of my own ex-
perience in improving a worn out farm.
In ensilagc and clover farming there
are some valuable points we should
take into consideration. The clover
not only furnishes plant food to the
soil that helps to grow the corn, but
when clover hay is fed to cattle it helps
to balance the ensilage ration, supply
ing the protein which is deficient in
the ensilage. My point is that it is
not advisable to feed 10 grain with en-
silage and clover, but that they make a
ration SO we'll balanced that one may
feed less grain. To what extent intens-
i've dairy farming can be probably car
ried, depends on the condition of the
farm. If a part of the farm was rough
and hilly, 1 would pasture it, but if the
whole farm was easily tillable, I would
try to work into the plan of partial
soiling; i. e., 1 would give only a small
acreage to pasture, perhaps enough to
feed the COWS about two months in
the year, then l would supplement it
with such Soiling crops as oats and
peas, millet or corn fodder, later in the
summer. A farm of 100 acres is more
than enough for one man to work, and
to make such a farm keep 80 to 40
cows would be the end toward which |
would work. Success in dairy farm
ing, as in other occupations depends
on the man. The man must first know
how to plan, then he must have the
ability and energy to work GU his
plans; he must use all the helps to a
knowledge of better methods, as the
dairy and agricultural journals. He
must not be easily discouraged, but
must keep working and pushing, and
sometime he will "get there"