Smyrna times., 1912-02-21
FARMERS LISTEN TO LIVE
DISCUSSION ON METHODS
All-DAY INSTITUTE HELD AT
OPERA HOUSE FRIDAY LAST
Secretary Wesley Webb of the State
Board of Agriculture Brings Fine
Talent Here.-Good Attendance

NAS'iN OOOQ ATTenOanCH
Smyrna farmers turned out in
considerable numbers Friday to the
all-day session held by the the Kent
County Farmers Institute. Secre-
tary Wesley Webb, of the State
Board of Agriculture, had the
program in charge, which held the
closest attention of all. The Insti-
tute opened at ten o'clock on Friday
morning with an address by DR.. C.
W. Brodhead, of Montrose, Pa, on
the improvement of the farm horse
by breeding. DR.. Brodhead de-
seribed the different breeds and
types of horses and advised farmers
to use pure bred sires like the
Percheron, Clydesdale, Shires and
Belgian, with whatever kind of
mares he may have on the place,
and in few generations he will be
able to breed up to a general pur-
pose horse that will weigh from
1900 to 1900 pounds. admirably
adapted to all kinds of farm work
and if offered for sale would bring
extra good prices. The speaker
cited an instance of lot of small
mares that were brought into Penn
sylvania, near his home, some
twenty or twenty-five years ago.
They were of very little use as farm
animals, but were bred to Percherons
= and now the fourth or fifth genera
tion consists of a lot of as fine
horses for general purposes as can
be found anywhere. If it is decided
to breed Percherons, the practice
should be to continue to use sires of
this breed, and not change to any
other, and the same is true of
whatever breed may be selected.
DR.. Brodhead also advised the
farmers to raise more mules, using
for this purpose broken down mares
that can be bought cheaply in the
city, for the mule will not inherit
ringbone. SPAWN, heaves and such
defects from its dam. He stated
that from a wide acquaintance with
conditions in different parts of the
United States he knew of no place
that was better for raising mules
and horses than this Penins ula, as
we are able to produce a great vari-
ETY. of grain, grasses and other
forage plants.
Building up and Fertilizing the Soil
Professor w. r. Beatty of the
United States Department of Agri-
culture gave an interesting talk on
Building Up Soil' leading up to
his talks to be given in the after
noon on growing sweet and white
potatoes. Professor Beattie said
that the man who makes one acre
produce as much as two acres did
before is a public benefaetor. He
would first drain the land by laying
tiles. The lateral drains. the
tiles should not be less than two
inches in side diameter, and the
mains should be from four inches to
six inches, or even larger. The
next point is to maintain the vege-
table matter in the soil. This used
to be done by putting on stable
manure, practice that should be
increased to tho greatest possible
extent. The chemical composition
of manure shows that it contains
plant food to the value of 1925 or
$3.50, but with the vegetable mat
ter contained in it, it may be
worth as much as $4 per ton. The
same result can be secured by
growing leguminous crops and
turning them under. Crimson
clover, COW peas and soy beans are
the most valuable plants for this
purpose. In case it is not con-
venient TO use these, rye can be
sown late in the fall and will help
improve the soil. especially if
little acid phosphate and potash and
lime are used with the rye. If the
land is very poor, the turning under
of this rye may be followed by a
crop of cowpeas in the summer. A
short course of such treatment will
give life to almost any soil. Pro-
fessor Beattie named instances
where poor soil has in a short
time been brought up to yield fifty
and sixty bushels of shelled corn
per acre. No land should be allow
ed to stand bare during the winter,
for every farmer is able to keep it
covered with rye or winter oats, or
wheat or crimson clover. If these
crops are sufficiently large in the
spring. they can be cut for hay in
stead of being plowed under. The
next point in Professor Battles
plan was to use lime, not too ex-
travagantly, but persistently on all
kinds OF soil, as it helps to make
availahlo tha nlanf fond ana ewoaf.