The Mena weekly star., 1913-10-16
5tIos in the O3arks

The necessity of improved meth ods in agriculture is never so ap-
 parent as when bountiful Nature fails for a season to supply all the needs of the farmer in weather
 conditions. Polk county has made great strides along these lines in the past few years, but has as yet failed 10 touch perhaps the great est saver of forage crops of all, the silo. By it's use tons upon tons of the choices feed that now goes ut
 terly to waste can be preserved and turned into ready money through feeding stock, and especially by building up the dairy business.
 The following bearing on this subject is from the Kansas City Star:
 The certainty of very short corn crop and doubtful prospects for fall pasturage of winter forage-condi- tions brought about by the drought will prove a very real, if well dis euised, blessing to the farmers of Southern Missouri. Months of blazing heat with no rain to revive the soaring vegetation, brought about an advance in agricultural methods that the colleges and farm experts had striVed for in vain ten years or more. The dry weather forced the Southern Missouri stock men to adopt the silO, that invalu- able, but heretofore scorned, ad- junct of modern farming.
 The farmer of the Ozark region and even farther north is inclined to adopt the let well enough alone" policy in his agricultural methods. Careless in the enjoyment of com .paratiVely mild climate, he depends on a long grazing season more con- fidently than does the stockman or dairyman in the northern states, and preparation for winter is a much less serious task than in less favored regions. Consequently he has been slow 10 take advantage of advanced methods in agriculture, content with a moderate return for his labors and sanguine of unfailing provision for his stock. The silO was almost unknown and hundreds of farmers in the southern half of Missouri never had seen one until two months ago.
 Last week traveller on train out of Springfield counted eleven silos from his car window in an hours run, and every one of the eleven were in course of construc- ton. They were of all varieties wood, metal and concrete and in several instances the trim lines of the new structures presented odd contrasts to adjacent farm homes built of logs. The mid climate of the Ozark country is responsible
 for carelessneSs in the building of shelter for man and beast, as well as for slipshod methods in farm ing, and the Southern Missouri
 farm buildings as a rule lack the
 substantial and well kept appear ance of similar structures in the northern part of the state or in Kansas.
 The best argument in favor of more advanced methods ever pre- sented to the Southern Missouri farmer was the drought this year" said a Webster county stockman last week. Dire necessity brought
 about a great awakening among a lot of Us that had been asleep for twenty years. and the chances are that we'll remain awake. Who knows? Maybe the adoption of the
 silo will be followed by other ad- vances in farming methods down
 here, such as intelligent rotation of
 crops, systematic fertilization and
 careful seed selection. Living has
 been too easy for the Ozark farmer, and he has lacked practical ex-
 amples of thrift and up-to-dat
 methods in his own neighborhood
 Maybe, when he sees some of the
 advantages in scientific farming and
 stock raising, he'll catch up with
 his more enterprising brothers in
 the North"