Milford chronicle., 1907-03-01
WHAT A MODEL FARM IS.
Why There Should be One in Every Agri-
cultural County Of the United States.

CULTURAL OVuut! Vi tMo Uultou otdtVS'
For less than a single item in many OF
the annual appropriation bills, model
farm, conducted as a practical object
lesson in the best methods OF tilling the
soil and its most profitable uses, might
be established in every agricultural
county in the United States. 1t is worth
considering whether this work should
not be undertaken either by the several
State governments or by the National
government, or by the two conformity.
A model farm is simply a farm con-
forming in size, in treatment Of the soil,
in assignment to different crops and
their rotation, and in methods Of culture
to the most approved practice that ac-
tual experience and scientific investi-
CATION Of agriculture all over the world
have fixed. 1t focuses upon one plot of
glound, within the personal observation
of each farming community, the ac-
cumulated knowledge of one Of the old
est occupations, which must now be-
come more highly specialized. 1t is
working model for common instruction.
Such model farm should not con-
tain more than thirty or forty acres.
This area would be ample for working
purposes. 1t would also prove the eco
nomic advantage ofthe small well-tilled
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, oats, corn and
wheat has been found an excellent one.
The five tracts would be assigned to
these five crops respectively, with regu-
lar annual rotation, so that each field
should grow all the different crops in
their turn. such alteration, even with
out other aid, has been found so con-
genial to the soil as to give crops greatly
exceeding those obtained by the usual
method in this country, Of sowing the
same land to the same thing year after
year. Actual trial at experiment sta
tions, under conditions that any farmer
may reproduce, shows an average pro
duct, over a series OF years, nearly twice
as great as the average product Of the
general farming area under private cul.
tivation.
The remainder, aside from the space
occupied by farm buildings and yards,
could be divided into smaller plots of
from an acre upward, to be devoted,
according to need and use, to pasturage
and to rye. barley, potatoes, fodder,
corn, and garden and forage plants. A
judiciOus system of rotation Of these
lesser areas also will show how greatly
productive power may be increased
and at how high 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 val
liable lesson taught by the model farm
must be the importance Of enriching
the soil with fertilizing material either
supplied by live stock or procured from
without. The farmer has to guard
against the impairment Of his working
capital, which is the land, as carefully
as the merchant or manufacturer must
guard against the wasting Of his
James J. Hill in Century.