The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-01-25
BRAIN WORK ON THE FARM.


both climate and general conditions.
The kind of management that will
suit one section of the country is not
so apt to suit another. If the farmer
is wise he combines crop-raising and
soil-improving. In other words, he
rotates crops in such. a way that one
will practically prepare and provide
food for a succeeding one. 1t is a
fact that leguminous crop had bet
ter be followed by grain root crop
leaves the ground in 6rst-clas condi-
tion for corn or beans, and so on.
The appearance of weeds is dan
ger signal that must be taken care of
at once. This is especially so when
there is an inclination for them to
predominant in the meadow or pas
thre field. The best remedy is to
promptly put in crops that will re-
quire considerable cultivation. In
case the opportunity for getting the
field in a crop has passed, then the
weeds should be cut two or three
times during the growing season to
prevent their,,maturing seeds.
Different other plans are followed {:
One is to plow in the fall, In time. to
prepare the ground thoroughly for
grain.sowing. Anotheris to plow the
weed infested field at once andsow with
buckwheat, and when it blooms plow
it under and sow on the plowed ground
IS bushels oflime. Another way to
manage such fields is to p1ow and har-
row them. Whenever it is noticed
that the weeds appear, harrow thor
oughly during the middle of hot,
sunny day. These harrowings must
be repeated during hot, dry days as
often as the growth of weeds warrant.
Millions of weed seeds will in this
way be destroyed that in another
season would have been troublesome.
Especially during dry season pas
ture lands are often cropped so close
that nothing remains that is apparent
ly growing, excepting the weeds,
which the stock will not eat. If the
warning is not at once needed the
weeds will flourish and mature seed,
and the pasture field will eventually
become unsightly and comparatively
worthless.
1t is always profitable to do all farm
work thoroughly. Timely attention
pays in every branch. Delay In at
tending to small matters when first
needed adds to the cost when it does
receive the required attention.
Hurried work is not always the
best done, but there are times when
1t seems necessary to do considerable
hustling in order to get the work done
in time. The aim, however, should
be to do the work as thoroughly as
possible, and with the most haste con-
sistent with good work. At no time
is poor work more plainly exempli6ed
than at the harvest time. An indif-
feresstiy pfowsd eoFD6e1din IN the spring
will produce an inferior crop, and it
will be still furthur decreased In both
quality and quantity if the cultivation
has been indifferent-the rank weeds
will be good evidence of slothful
methods.
A case In point is given in an arti-
Gle written several years ago by an
authority in which it was said /: "The
farmer who cultivates more land than
he can properly attend to makes a
serious mistake, as does the farmer
who uses on 40 acres of corn the
amount of fertilizer he should put on
20 acres. In the latter case, if the 20
acres had received the amount of fer
tilizer used on the 40 acres and the
time spent in cultivating it, the crop
of corn would be fully as great In
Weld and far superior in quality, and
the stalks fully the equal in value for
fodder.
The farmer who raises $50 bushels
of potatoes on an acre raises them at
a much less cost per bushel than does
the farmer who raises IS or 100 BUSH
els per acre. Method and manage
ment are mainly what make the great
difference. One farmer may raise
40 bushels of wheat per acre, and the
adjoining farm less than 20 bushels.
There is no apparent difference in the
soils on the two farms. The contrast
In Yields is merely the contrast in
methods and difference in quality OF
seed used.