Mexico weekly ledger., 1914-11-12

Washington, d. c., Nov. 10.-A sys
tenn of farm management by which
one man with a little occasional help
from outside can do all the work on a
100-acre farm, is recommended by the
United States Department of Agricul
ture for those farmers in the corn
belt States who are seriously handi-
capped by the scarcity of labor and
whose soil is suited to rye. Any kind
Of hired labor on the farm has now
become so costly, and efficient labor
so difficult to obtain, especially the
extra labor required at harvest time.
that in many sections of the country,
in the opinion of experts, this factor
will compel a radical reorganization
in farming practice, unless conditions
change in the near future.
In the corn-belt States a number of
farmers have already made some.
progress toward solving the labor
problem by compelling hogs to do
much of the work hitherto perform
ed by hired hands. The practice of
"hogging off" crops has long been
a familiar one, but it is only recently
that this has been extended and devel
oped in a scientific way. Under the
system discussed in detail in Farm
ers' Bulletin No. Ga, of Farming
Which Saves Harvest Labor by Hog
ging Down Crops" hogs perform a
large part of the harvesting, and the
crops are so arranged that one man
can do all the blowing, planting, and
cultivating necessary. With such a
method the hogs, of course, furnish
the principal cash income of the farm.
It's great advantage is that a larger
acreage can be covered effectively
without compelling the farmer to de-
pend on outside labor, which is al
ways difficult to obtain and frequent
ly unreliable.
Reduced to it's simplest terms, the
system consists of a four or f~ive-year
rotation of corn, rye and a mixture of
clover and timothy n OF two years.
For the purpose of ILLUSTRATION,
the following diagram of a farm laid
out on a five-year rotation, which is
the better where hay brings a fair
price, will be found useful
1t is desirable that the five fields
included in this scheme should be APP
proximately the same size. Assuming
that they are each 20 acres, n mar
should have comparatively little diff
ficulty throughout the greater part
of the year in doing all the work
that they require and in addition
caring for the live stock. In field No.
1 the first year corn is grown and
hogged off as soon as it is ripe
This is generally from September ]
to September 10. When the corn is
cultivated for the last time, it is us.
ually desirable to SOW soy beans OF
rape, in order that the hogs may
have pasturage while gathering the
corn, and also because such a croI
supplies valuable humus which car
be turned back into the soil. In The
following spring this field is prepar'
ed for second year corn and becomes
field No. 2 in the illustration.
Field No. 2 is, as we have seen
devoted to second year corn, which il
not hogged off but harvested b!
hand. Here rye is sown in the fall
Under favorable conditions this cal
be done while the corn is still stand
ing but if necessary, it is not to-
late after the corn has been cut ant
shocked. Rye may be sown mucl
later than wheat, and this is one o
its great advantages in a rotation
such as is now being described.
Field No. 8 is devoted to ry'
throughout the entire season. In tn
. spring it is pastured by the hog
:. as long as it is palatable, affordinI
excellent pasturage, especially TO
young hogs and brood sows. WheI
the rye becomes tough and the hog
cease to relish it, they should be re
moved and not returned to the fiel
until two weeks after the rye ma
: ripened. They should then be allow
ed to gather the entire crop and t
: Craze upon the young clover tina
; has come up with it.
Field No. a is devoted entirely t
hog pasture. When clover and tim
othy are planted together, the hog
49,