The Prescott daily news. (Prescott, Ark.) 1907-1941, 1914-01-14
WEEKLY LETTER OF
JOHN II. PAGE
Commissioner of Mines. Manufac-
lures, and Agriculture

This is the most important period
OF the year to the farmer. The cot
tor is about out of the field, the corn
has been gathered and cribbed, and
the farmer can now devote his time
to repairing the houses, barns, out
bitches, resetting the fences, taking
IN new land and preparing for the
crop of 1914. Many little things will
be found to do on the farm in getting
ready for the new crop. The land
should be prepared for the plow, and
as much as possible should be broken
during this month. The night are still
long, and the enterprising, thrifty
farmer will take advantage of them
to do some reading, thinking and plan
ming for the coming season. The
thinking and planning period is an
important one.
In planning your farm operations
do not overlook the pastures and the
hay and forage crops. First take into
account the stock you have on hand
and expect to raise this year. Plan
to provide them good pasturage if
you can. 1t pays to keep plenty of
cows and hogs. Successful farming
always embraces the COW and the hog
The COWS provide milk and butter for
the table, and the calves you raise
are worth good money in the fall, and
will make you more money if you keep
them through the next winter. If
you should have a surplus of milk,
you can convert it into butter, and sell
the butter and feed the buttermilk
to the pigs. A good clover pasture
or bermuda pasture should be kept
for the cows and hogs, and another
for the calves. If the cows are kept
in lot at night and the manure gath
cred and put in pen, that will pay
good rent on the pasture, for you will
need it on the land. The manure
dropped by the cow if gathered in this
way will be worth from two to three
dollars month. You can pasture
from three to five head of cattle per
acre on a good pasture, so you see
the manure will more than pay the
rent of the land. The manure of the
hog is also valuable, more so in pro-
portion to live weight than that of the
COW.
In planning your crop provide first
of all to raise plenty of feed for all
the stock, and some to spare. If you
have too much you can always sell 1t
at a good price, or buy more stock to
eat it. The saddest thing on the farm
is when the farmer finds it necessary
to either buy feed for some of his
stock or sell the stock. If sold 1T is
apt to be at sacrifice. If kept, the
stock are sparingly fed, and loss
follows that way. SO first provide
yourself with plenty of good stock,
and then provide plenty of feed for
them. In planning for your crop
weigh we'll the amount of labor and
teams you will have available. Cal
culate carefully the amount of labor
of men and beast necessary to well
cultivate every acre. Do not calculate
on hiring extra labor or teams in a
pinch. You cannot tell what will
cause the pinch to come, and 1T may
come at the same time with all the
others and you may not be able to
hire the extra labor and teams. Then
YOUR crop will get in the grass and
suffer, and you will loose. 1t is a
wise thing to calculate carefully, and
the reduce it to ten per cent to take
care of sickness that may occur, the
death of horse, a rainy season, or
other misfortunes that may be unfore-
seen. They nearly always occur, and
it is we'll to prepare for them in ad-
vance.
When the pigs get couple or three
weeks old have them vaccinated
against cholera 1t won't cost much,
and it may be the means of saving
your meat this fall. Write to the
State Veterinarian, DR.. R. M. Cow,
Fayetteville. He will explain 1t to