Mexico Missouri message., 1911-02-02
FARM TALK.
Questions Discussed at the Insti.
tute Here Monday.
JoRDoN. THE CORN MAN.
The Care of the Soil Is the Great
Pressing Issue.

The Farmers Institute gather
ing at the Mexico High School
building last Monday was the best
in attendance and interest of any
like gathering ever held here.
There were some features we
never noticed in such gathering
in this county before-more of the
younger farmers present, boys
and young men, and there were
more who used their note books,
taking down the ideas presented
It shows there is an awakened in
terest in agriculture in this
county. "The Back to the Farm
idea is a popular slogan.
Three of the most popular in
structors in the Department OF
Agriculture of the State Uni
versity were with us-S. NJ. Jor-
don, who talked about soil and
corn; A. r. Trowbridge, on live
stock, and j. G. Whitten on horti-
culture.
Jordon, the corn man, is live
wire. On the care of the soil he
was very pointed and declared
that the sheriff, sooner or later,
will get any man who is continual
ly taking away from his soil and
never paying anything back. 1t is
robbery and robbery always has
its penalty. We may cultivate a.
does the Hindoo-plow with a
stick-and who for clothes makes
his skin do, but if you take from
your land you must pay back in
some way, either by fertilizers OF
rotation of crops or both, or in tho
end your land will fail in produc-
ton. When you sell ton Of corn
you take about $l5 in fertility
from the soil, but ton of fat
whether hog, sheep or steer Fat
only takes about As cents of fer
tility from the land. We mus
learn and realize these things.
j. G.. Whitten's talk on hort
culture was very much enjoyed
He talked on pruning, how tC
prune so as to encourage the peacl
and apple tree to go to sleep laSel
in the fall and sleep later in th'
spring, that the buds may not ope,
too early in the spring and thu
may be caught by the frost. Th'
best way to trim tree is to leal,
an "open head. " the branche
dished outward like the sides of
bowl, so as to admit plenty of sun
shine. This wall make healthie
fruit and tend to prevent rust.
Mr.. Trowbridge thought Mis-
souri, needs to raise better liz
stock as an asset to her farl
values and permanent pro;
perity. One interesting observa
tion here: Farm animals are tn
only machines which have bee
found able to manufacture a maj
ketable product out of parts @
the atmosphere and water. 1t ha
been found that crops fed to liv
stock on the farm and the manuI
returned to the land, leaves col
siderably more than one-half {
the fertility in the soil which ws
taken out by the crop. We ca
look at our own state, see thos
sections which have prospered an
are known as the prosperous an
best sections of the state. an
there we find the most live stoc
We find the land there in bett,
condition, the people more pro
porous and more contented vii
their lot in life and with the
homes than they are in section
where live stock farming is Il
exception rather than the rule. +"
We come back again to s.
Jordon, "The Missouri CO.
Man" We want our readers
get as much as possible of VIII
he said about this great standa
crop of Missouri.
We are tempted here to reve
10 what an English writer has sa
about the discovery of corn
maize. in the new Western worI
lie says it was discovered here
Iel5 and was used among t
natives as food in various form
FIRST. by roasting it on the g
when in the milk state. Anoth