Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1904-12-10
Two Ideas of Farming.

OpPOSile lO0dS OF farming On0 Is 10
farm on the extensive scale. The 9th
er is to farm on the intensive scale
The western idea of farming is to
own great tracts of land, and this idea
becomes more extensive as one goes
west. Even in Western Canada a
farmer thinks himself poor unless he
owns several sections of land. The
idea is one that had it's birth in the
days when land was cheap. 1t has
lived on in spite of the changed con
dltlons. In the day of cheap land
the great farm was a necessity, as
intensive operations were not pos
s1ble. Labor was scarce and live
stock abundant, and the animals could
De made to do most of the gathering
OF the crops, eating them as they
gathered them
With the increase of population the
interests of the country lie in the
possession of small farms Reduce
the size of the farms and young men
Will lind it possible to purchase them.
AT present prices it is practically i'm
possible for young man to buy a
1arm OF average size. The old proc
esses of thin farming still remain on
the big farms and are likely to remain
as the price of land goes up, on ac-
count of the ever-increasing price OF
labor.
In the eastern part of the country
the intensive farming idea is in the
ascendency. As a result the farms
are largely owned without MORTGAGES
The intensive idea is making itself
felt to some extent in the West, but ii
is yet slight, except near the great
cities, where farming takes on the
character more of gardening Could
we but induce the men that own more
land than they can cultivate to sell
what they have little use for the ben
eft would be threefold: The man that
sold the land would be benefited
the landless man that purchased il
would be benefited; and the genera
public would be benefited
We are coming to the time wher
our farmers will realize the fact thai
1t is possible to farm downwards as
well as laterally. They will find thai
1t is not necessary to pay taxes ON {
thousand acres of land farmed three
inches deep when they can get the
same results from five hundred acres
farmed six inches deep. They viii
also find that smaller farms mean 6
better social condition of the people
Hairy Vetch.
one OF the best cover crops knowr
is hairy vetch. 1t has, however, beer
little used on account of the higl
price of the seed, much of which hat
to be imported from abroad. There
seems no satisfactory reason, however
why this seed should not be raised
on this side of the water in suficienI
quantities to supply all demands The
Ontario station imported seed from
Germany, and, sown in the fall. i
produced the next year SO bushels O.
seed. Seed produced from this cro1
was sown side by side with new sect
from Germany and gave a yield O.
3.4. bushels above that of the German
seed. AS the price of seed is five
dollars per bushel, this was a fairl,
good return for the acre planted tt
vetch. OF course the price can bt
reduced by a number of farmers grow
ing the seed, but even then the re
turns will be better than from some
of the cereals.
For sweet potatoes the GROUND
should be plowed shallow. There
should be a hard bottom under the
ridges in which the sweet potato tn
bers grow, that the tubers NAV grow
short and stout