Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1913-11-19
INTENSIVE VS.. EXTENSIVE
FARMING.

ANNAf eIf'AA" =" w n I"'nN'"A ~ AHA
minds Of some people as to whether in
tcnsiye or extensive farming is better
for the individual farmer the community
and the country at large
BY intensive farming is meant taking
a few acres and by thorough premra6
and cultivation OF soil prodSss larger
crops and more than one ~ 9r year
on the same land.
BY extensive iarminsE meant cul.
tiyating large numbclSof acnss with a
smaller working force, which necessarily
means less thorough preparation of tho
soil and cultivation OF crops aud less
OF the trucking crops.
Many OF the people Of Tennessee have
been trying the extensive system with
the result Of washed and rundown land
Improbable crops, with less peward for
their labor each succeeding year.
The experience OF so many ought 10
convince us that the extensive system
OF farming in Tennessee is not what We
want.
BY farming on the intensive plan We
are simply developing the soil to nearer
the extent Of its possibility for develop,
ment, and no system OF farming is going
TO succeed that does not plan to return
/ plant food TO the soil in some form to
replace that taken out in the growing
OF crops.
Now / think II would be better for
the farmers of Tennessee to cultivate
fewer acres per laborer, and cultivate
them better, with very few exceptions
Comparatively Speaking, we have just
been scratching the soil, doing the thing.
that would cause it to lose more plant
TODD froll the washing rains than iroa
the crops grown on the land. This cal
be prevented by deep blowing and turn
ling under vegetable matter, and, in do
ing that, making available plant foo,
now lying dormant and unavailable il
the hard pan and subsoil that should b
available for growing crops.
The truck farmer is generally nel
some town or city where he can bur
bainyard manure to keep food in his roll
He naturally does not rquire a larg
acreage.
The general farmer and live stool
raised requires more land, that he ma,
have pasture, meadows for hay and field
for his corn, wheat, oats, peas, barley
etc. With the right kind of a rotatio
he can have al, and that portion he Gu
tivates should not be greater acreag
than he can thoroughly prepare and Gu
tivate at the right time and in the righ
way.
If our farm lands in Tennessee wer
divided into smaller farms and cultivate
as they should be, they would accommC
date and profiIably employ farmin
population eight times the popuatio
now on them, and the production woul
be more than eight times what it no,
is. Mr., Business Man, Mr.. Banker, MAJ
ufacturer and Professional Man, don
b you think your business would be MOI
profitable if your patronage by the a,
ricultural classs was increased MOI
than eight times its present volume.
, Brother Farmer, don't you think 20
! could have better roads, better school
| better churches and better communitit
, TO live in if the farms were reduced
size and their producing capacity il
/ creased.
r When we appreciate the fact that "
, can have our soils ten, twelve or eve
= eighteen inches deep by simply breakr
/, up the subsoil and getting mixed wit
: it vegetable matter to separate the Sc
, particles, making it porous so that Il
3 water, air and frost can penetrate
a and make the plant food that has bee
l locked up available we will realize tn;
we have increased the producing capacit
: OF our farms several times; that we ca
8 sell off three-fourths of the acreage
l our farms and still have greater or,
producing capacity than when farmii
p the larger area with haphazard method
We want to get in the habit of pili
up our acres instead of spreading the
= out There is more money in it, mo
s satisfaction in it and possibilities f
/, better advantages in every way.