The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1912-11-09
A Successful Farmer

~ the aouthWes', Whereon livegtocl
/ is the principal product, Is owned AM
managed by Mr.. j. r. Roberts nea
Medgord, Oklahoma.
Eighteen years ago Mr. Roberts sc
cured 100 acres Of land In the famoui
race for homes in the then Cherokee,
Strip, and shortly afterward moved
his family to the new home To us.
his own words: Il came to Oklahoma
with nothing but mortgage on 3
small farm in Kansas where hac
previously tried to farm, and what We
now have is largely the result Of oui
efforts since moving to our present
home The farm now contains S2G
acres and 20 acres additional il
owned which adjoins promising
townsite in that locality. The land
is smooth and level and principally
gray silt loan, medium in fertility
for that part Of the state This year
the land is cropped as follows. AL.
falfa, S5 acres; wheat. S5. oats, 49,;
katiri 30; and cowpeas, 40. In addi-
tion, about ten acres are reserved
for truck garden, orchard, and the
home grounds. The rest Of the farm
Is In pasture, the most Of which Is
Bermuda grass, ! wish to call special
attention to the acreages devoted to
kafr and eowpeas. Although both or
these crops are we'll adapted to this
section and never fail to make some
Kind Of crop, the farmers are prone
to neglect them in favor Of less GER
tain crops, such as corn, wheat, and
oats.
All Of the crops grown on this faVm
are fed to livestock, with tho excep-
tlon Of the wheat crop, and feed is
bought with the money received for
the wheat. It Is the owners proud
boast that he has never sold a bushel
OF grain, other than the wheat, from
his farm, and he says that the fertiI-
ity represented In the wheat sold has
been more than accounted for in the
feed that he has bought to take its
place. His only reason for growing
wheat is his belief tnat he can take
the money received fos the crop, and
buy more feed than he could raise on
the land occupied by the wheat.
To maintain the fertility Of this
farm, all Of the manure produced is
returned to the land. In addition, the
alfalfa and cowpea crops are grown
to restore the nitrogen of the soil and
to keep up the humus content illus
trative Of this, about seven years
ago, well set alfalfa sod was broken
up and put to crops. The effect the
first year was rather discouraging,
this probably being due to the poor
physical condition Of the soil the first
year after blowing The effect of the
alfalfa toward increasing the fertility
Of the soil was very noticeable, how
ever, after the first year and the ben
ehcial effect is still seen each year.
Mr. Roberts theory is that you can't
get something from nothing, and that
II we expect to get the same yield of
crops that we did when the land was
new, we must return something to the
soil IN the place Of what has been
removed The fact that the soil on
this farm is now producing Just as
good crops as it ever did, and that
ether farms in the same neighbor-
hood, but differently farmed, are not,
would seem to bear out this theory.
Only purebred livestock is kept.
These are Red Polled cattle, headed
by bull weighing 24OO pounds and
one Of the finest in the United States
Poland China hogs: standard bred
horses and mules; Barred Plymouth
Rock chickens; and recently or
ganized herd OF Percheron horses. It
Is the intention OF Mr.. Roberts to keep
only the best as he, like all other sue
cessful livestock breeders, has found
that It never pays to keep poor ami
mails.
The hogs are produced largely upon
pasture crops, the most important Of
which are alfalfa, cowpeas. wheat,
oats, sorghum, and bermuda grass.
Experience has shown that the old
time method OF producing a hog al
most. If not entirely, on grain, is not
profitable. and that those farmers who
follow the latter method cannot hope
10 compete with others who feed ac-
cording to the mdern standards. 4
little grain is fed in addition to the
green feed, as the hogs make faster
gains when a little grain is fed 10 bal
ance the ration Bermuda grass has
proved itself equal to alfalfa acre for
acre as a pasture crop for hogs. The
cowpeas are usually fed after being
cured as hay as the hogs seem to like
them better and make better gains
than when given the green plants.
The grain used in finishing the hogs
Tor market Is either kaar or corn.
A conservative estimate OF the pres.
snt financial standing OF this farmer Is
100000 the mosl of which has been
made on his farm during the past
eighteen years Mr.. Roberts may we'll
be termed business farmer. and his
success may be largely attributed to
the fact that he knows how to conduct
the operations Of his farm in a Bys-
sematic and buslness-llke way.