Norwich bulletin., 1913-03-15
TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR THE FARMER

(Written Specially For The Bulletin-)
 Did you ever hear of the Ten Com mandments of Farming?
 Perhaps you have your own, made up from your own experience. and proved by repeated tests. In that case, I've got nothing to say.
 But there are a lot of farmers who do their farming tby guess and by gosh,' as they say up in Maine.
 It may be added that this sort usual Iy do their guessing in the spring and summer and their cussing when they come to harvest.
 It was rather for the behoof of this kind that the late Dr. Knapp of the cooperative demonstration bureau in the department of agriculture. made up his famous Ten Commandments of Farming. Perhaps you may have them; if you haven't, you may be interested. It should be said, in self a practical. dirt-digging farmer; that he was called to the department work because of his eminent success at his own; and that, in travelling all over the country. he came to have a broader view of the general conditions of real farming than almost any oth- CT man in the country.
 Here is his agricultural DecaIogue:
 ''1 Prepare deep and thoroughly pull verized seed bed, we'll drained; break in the fall to the depth of 8, 10 or 12 inches according to the soil with i'm plements that will not bring the sub soil to the surface. (The foregoing Gepths should be reached gradually.) I
 "2 Use seed of the best variety, in telligently selected and carefully srored.
 8 Use intensive tillage during the growing period of the crops.
 '5 Secure a high content of humus in the soil by the use of legumes; commercial fertilizers.
 H6 Carry out a systematic crop rota- ton with winter cover crop on Southern farms.
 'T Accomplish more work in a day by using more horse power and better implements.
 "S Increase the farm stock to the extent of utilizing all the waste prod Acts and the idle lands of the farm.
 "9 Produce all the food required for the men and animals on the farm.
 "10 Keep an account of each farm product, in order to know from which 4he gain or loss arises
 New l know the general methods of working their farms followed by about lhiTty or forty farmers. Some better ihan others, but that number at least, with some degree of understanding.
 And l can't at this minute recall a single one who keeps all these ten fommandments;- any nIne or fight or seven of them. Some obey H Which others ignore; some tryito mind most of them but get tired out be- lore they've fairly begun.
 The one which there is the widss. attempt to obey is No. 6. All but about three of the farmers 1 know try to carry out some sort ot rotation But when you come to specify ''sys- tematic' rotation, I feel doubts There are rotations and rota tions. Mighty few that I know of could properly be called systematic" They are more accurately described as happen chance-y.'
 The one which not a single farmer i of my personal acquaintance oheys l
 To tell the truth, in the way it ;s put, it would be a pretty hard one to l carry out, literally. Most men want 1 tea or coffee or sugar or salt q good | many farmers find It wise to feed their | stock cottonseed meal. I very much ! doubt if any farmer in Connecticut i could produce on his farm coffee. tea, | sugar salt and cottonseed meal Let's ! amend the thing so S to read:
 Produce all the food required for i men and animals on the farm which ! the climate will permit and which YOU | can raise cheaper than you can buy" 1
 imagine some of you chuckiino when you read that. and thinking thai I've taken all the teeth out of that No. g. With labor as scarce and dear as | now, there seems to be a good many things whicbl it costs the Eastern | farmer more to raise than he can buy them for. I remember one day in panic times old Daniel Hawkins say ing to neighbor: Why I could bnv my potatoes and corn cheaper'n I can raise emf l only had the rnonev.''
 think you'll see the point If | you've been farming a good many r years and trying to sell your produce f l m sure you'll see it. It won't need | diagram nor foot notes to make it E plain. I
 Really, this ninth comm ndrnent !; seems to me about the most import h ant, not to say vital of the whole lot
 A farmers business is to raise ] things. The farm is the place to raise