The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-25
WHAT < MODEL FARM IS.
There Should He One Hn Every AEFIcuI-
 turHI C0unty Of The United states. To,so. H4(ti,s i0CsoverfYmpftt Model

There shOHIa He One EH Every AErIcuI
 ttrHI County Of The United states. James J. Tflll's "GoverhmeHt Mode | Farms" in the December Century. For less than single item/in man!
 of the annual appropriation bills. l model farm, conducted as practica | object lesson in tho best methods o tilling the soil and it's most profitable
 uses, might be established in ever! agricultural county in the United States It Is worth considering wheth
 CT this work should not be undertaken either by the several State government! or by the national government, or by | the two cOnjolntly.
 A model farm is simply a farm con 1 forming in size, in treatment of tho soil. in assignment to different crops and their rotation, and in methods Ol culture to the most approved practice that actual experience and scientific investigation of agriculture all over the world have fixed. It focuses upon one plot of ground. within the personal observation of each farming communi- ty, the accumulated Knowledge of one
 of the oldest occupations, which must
 now become more highly specialized
 It is a working model for common in-
 struction.
 SuCn n IFbuti idA LII HnOutu ilOl tOH- tain more than thirty or forty acres This area would bS ample for working purposes. It would also prove the eco homie advantage of the small well titled farm over a larger holding, to which equal care could not be given. Labor can be utilized more effectively and the yield per acre increased without any decline in fertility.
 On such farm five tracts might be set off for crops in due rotation The order of hay. pasture, Noats, corn and wheat has been found an excellent one The five tracts would be as- signed to these five crops respectively. with regular annual rotation, so that each field should grow all the differ- ent crops In their turn. Such alterna- ton. even without other aid, has been found so congenial to the soil as to give crops greatly exceeding those obtained by the usual method in this country, of sowing the same land 10 the same thing year after year. Actual trial at experiment stations, under conditions that any farmer may reproduce, shows an average product over d series of years. nearly twice as great the aver age product of the general farming area under private cultivation
 The remainder, aside from the space occupied by farm buildings and yards, could be divided Into smaller lots of from an acre upward, to be devoted, ac- cording to need and use, to pasturage and to rye. barley. potatoes, fodder corn. and garden and forage plants A malicious system of rotation on these lessor areas also will show greatly productive power may be increased and at how hiaha level it may be kept. Such farm will carry some cattle hogs and poultry. together with the horses required for working it. A care ful utilization of manure will supply most of the fertilizer needed. One valuable lesson taught by the model farm must he the importance of en- rlching the soil with live stock or pro- cured from without. The farmer has to guard against the impairment of his working capital, which is the land, as carefully as the merchant or manufac' turer must guard against the wasting of his