The Natchitoches enterprise. (Natchitoches, La.) 1888-1965, 1913-02-27

Up-to-date Farming on the Easterly
Farm, Jackson County, III,

otHt, SuSNSOu ~Ouutys "S
We may not go SO much on
hard work down here" said II.
G.. Easterly of jackson county,
Illinois, recently, but | guess we
enjoy life about as we'll as people
anywhere"
The person who could not en-
JOY a visit to the Easterly home
would be indeed hard to suit. The
editor was fed on fried spring
chicken three times a day while
he was there, and it naturally fol-
lows that he left with a good deal
of reluctance.
There are two distinct type of
soil in this countryside bottom
land, which is frequently too wet
for best results, and the hill land,
which is low in nitrogen and or
ganic matter and washes badly.
Mr.. Easterly's rotation on the
hills is wheat, clover, timothy and
cowpeas. By growing a legume
crop every other year he expects
to build up the soil in nitrogen.
The cowpeas are, for the most
part, cut for hay and fed on the
place. A good deal of the clover
is left on the ground. For the
bottom land Mr.. EasterIy is plan
ring to use a rotation of two
years corn, followed by two years
of timothy and clover. The clo-
vera mixture of red alslke and
sweet, together with a little timo-
thy will be sown in the fall after
the corn is cut. The crop the next
year will be mostly clover while
the second year timothy will pre-
dominate. These grass crops will
be pastured lightly, and what the
stock do not eat will be left on
the land.
An object that Mr.. Easterlv had
in mind in planning these rotations
was the reduction of labor, as
farm help here, like anywhere
else, is hard to get.
HOGS BRING EASY MONEY.
''The easiest money on the farm
according to my experience, is
that brought in by the hogs" Mr..
Easterly says.
He finds that plenty of good
pastures in the summer and corn
and cowpeas in the winter will
produce pork very economically.
So far he has never been bother
ed with the hog cholera, due
doubtless to the fact that pasture,
balanced ration and sanitary
quarters keep the hogs in the best
of health.
So far Mr.. EasterIv has not
pastured his hogs very much on
alicia, but he plans to do so in the
future. This year he cut three
tons of alicia hay per acre, from
five acres. The fourth cutting was
badly infested with crab grass,
which is one of the enemies of al
fefa, in this section. Even at that
however, there is money In alicia,
and Mr.. Easterly is proving his
belief in it by sowing ten acres
more this fall.
Next to hogs Mr.. Easterly's
principal livestock crop is Jersey
heifers. He buys them up when
they are calves, and keeps them
until they are ready to freshen the
first or second time. At this time
they are usually in good demand
at prices that pay we'll for the cost
of developing them Mr.. Easterly
has been something of a horse
raiser in the past, but he is letting
up on that little in the fear that
the tractor business is going to
lessen the demand for horses.
Mr.. Easterally call his place
1.-THE Cedars," with good reason
for the 26O acre farm is almost
surrounded by thrifty young cedar
trees. In most cases they are
made to take the place Of fence
posts, strip of wood or tin be-
hind the wires being used to pre-
vent them from growing into the
trees. When Mr.. Easterly was
a director of the state farmers in
stitute a number of wears ago his
attention was attracted by the
name of the town where he was
to speak, spelled out in concrete
letters alongside the depot. He
went home and labeled his front