The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-02
z REPLANNlNGFOR
PROFIT
progressive Farnfer.)

ments and giving courses in farm man
agement. and usually suggestions car
| be obtained from these sources relat-
i've to the general management OF the
farnl-nOt necessarily detailed dlrec-
tions for farming, for it would be as
difficult to tell q man how to farm as
it is to tell him a comprehensive plan
for managing his farm, corresponding
in a way to the plan furnished by tn
architect to a builder.
Farm Plans Must Be Based OH Aver.
age Conditions.
1T is often said hat a farm canno'
be planned as other kinds of business
are; that the ViciSSitudeS Of weather
the visitations of insect pests or plan
diseases, the low prices hat may pre-
vail when the farmer has to sell, anC
| other unforeseen circumstances may
interfere to make all farm plans al
most worthless from a practical stand
point.
This is often quite true with refer
ence to plans made for a particular
year. But when the plans are baseC
on average conditions for a long series
of years, then the objections do not
hold. For while we cannot tell Wha1
may happen during any particula
season, we can ~foretell with consider
able accuracy what the average cond1-
tions viii be over a series, say, Of tel
years. The whole business Of lnsur-
nee is based on the reliability OF
averages. It cannot be foretold just
who out Of a thousand persons Will die
next year. but it can be stated with
much certainty about how many per-
sons out OF the thousand will die
Plans for the farm, likewise, re
present and be based On average con
ditiOns and not on Singl years. Tne
farm plan must be made for a period
Of years and not for q single year.
How earns Are Replanned by the
Office of Farm Management.
The United States Department OF
Agriculture is in almost daily receipt
of letters to the following effect: The
writer owns a farm. The farm is not
paying. Can the Department suggest
a kind Of farming that will pay?
This correspondent is usually refer
red to this Office of Farm Management
of the Bureau Of Plant Industry fol
reply. It is to show how the Office
of Farm Management handles such
problems as these, and thus to indi-
cate to the farmer the capabilities OF
a farm when r~eplanned for profit ana
how he may go about replanning his
own farm that this bulletin Is written.
General Consideration in Replannine
the Farm.
Among the first things essential to
know in replanning a farm is what can
reasonably be expected from the farm
If properly handled. Judgment or
this point Will be considerably in
fIuenced by what is being done by
good farmers on similar land else
where like conditions.
The usua rop gToW in the Vicin,
ity and the usual rotation on most o.
the farms Of the neighborhood are
corn and pats. But very little hay is
raised, Notwithstanding both Glove
and timothy do well. nor is much stocl
fed. some colts are raised, hut mos
Of the grain is sold direct TO the ele.
Vator.
In the early days. when the lan(
was new. corn yielded IS to 80 bushels
per acre, and oats 40 bushels, and thi.
type of farming-corn in rotation witt
oats-Was very profitable. At thu
present time on similar land and with
in 10 miles of the farm in question
one extensive farmer has been able tx
maintain the average yield Of hOtl
corn and oats for "a period Of sixteer
years at 40 bushel per acre. Ever
on this farm scarcely Is per cent o
the area is yearly planted to clover
and no commercial fertilizer and prac
tically no stable n is used.
With Il proper system of rotation
the Introduction of clover into the
farming scheme, and the use of com
~paratively small quantities of con
mercial fertilizers where b~arnyart
manure is not available, it should b.
easily possible to max the aveTagt
yields Of corn on this farm 60 to Z,
bushels per acre and OF oats 40 to 4;
bushels.
This estimate is based on the fac
that in a ~thirty-year rotation expert
ment at the University Of Illinois. the
yield of corn in a rotation of corn
oats, and clover has averaged 5S bu
shells per acre. and when treated Wit
lime and DhospnorOus in addition 70
thirteen years the average yield o
corn per acre has been 90 bushels. Gu
first thought, therefore, in ~replannini
this farm IS to introduce clover int