Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1914-09-16
OUR OPPORTUNITY AND ..55 '
a. / OUR RESPONSIBILITY
Start Now to Prepare for the Wars
Demand on Our Next Years Crops.


(By Douglas Malcolm, International
Harvester Company of America.) /
If ever America puts it's hand to the |
plow in its. effort to feed the world, 1t
has assumed that responsibility now.
Not since the narrowing days follow
ing our own strife of the sixties have
the tillable acres of this country faced
such possible drain upon their boun-
tifulness. Without even dimly propll-
esying the duration of the war now
raging, we are already assured of the
fact that next year this country will
be the storehouse of the world. Ev-
cry farm owner, every tenant and ev-
cry share-worker will have his part to
play in fulfilling this great responsible
ity. No matter how remote his resi-
dence, he will hear Europe's call for
beef, bacon and bread, and on the
amount he has to sell will depend not
only his satisfaction of having served
his fellow men but the additional sat-
isfaction Of having served himself; for
big crops, much stock, many hogs next
year will mean big profits.
It is thus that the American farmer
begins his fall work with two strings
to his bow. With one hand he is res
cuing the perishing and with the 9th.
er, he is reaching out for tangible en-
couragement toward a bank account
and a better home.
Now is the Time to Start.
Now is the opportunity, and this
month is the time to lay his founda.
ton. There are two lines along which
he should plan his work, but only one
line along which he should work his
plan. First, he should utilize every
available part of his land and second,
he should strive to raise the average
yield of his farm per acre. There will
be no danger of over-production for
the crops sown this Fall. The man
who has big yield will find big
market. But to get this yield means
better kind of farming. Now would
be a good time to break away from
some old-fashioned ideas about the
moon; from some other old.fashione(l
ways Of shallow blowing; and some
old-fashioned carelessness in cultivat.
ing; and some old-fashioned theories
in regard to seeding. In those parts
of the country which do Fall blowing
and Fall seeding the way the seed bed
is made and the way the sowing is
done this Fall will determine the crop
per acre next year more than next
years rainfall, hot winds or frosts. In
an experiment not long ago described
by F. L. Peterson Of the University
Farm at Davis, California, he says:
GAS the pressure for supplies be-
comes greater, it becomes more evi
dent that the world cannot afford
large farms skinned over with care
less culture. In an actual experiment
a gain Of 200 per cent which was made
in the productiveness of certain
area, 100 per cent was found to be due
to better blowing and narrowing, 81
per cent to better cultivation, and the
rest to better seed"
IA lesson or two like that in every
community would soon work its way
into farm operation in such way thai
lseveral costly practices sanctioned by
time and custom would become in ;
short time as historical as grading
wheat and threshing it with fail are
hn 1orrr ,io1
makes a mans land profitable is no
so much the price he gets for his pro
duce as it is the difference between
this price and the amount spent in pro
ducing this produce. The above ex
pertinent was apropos Of the tractor
disking-a mechanical way of massag
ing the land, so to speak, and of drill
ing-a mechanical way of sowing tn,
seed. In the cost of raising crop
just the same as in the cost of makins
carpets, shoes or wagons, hand powe
and animal power cannot compete
with mechanical power. The mechan
ically prepared seed bed not only cost!
less in it's preparation but it give'
forth more in it's harvest.
The War Will Make Horses Too Cost
I ly to Keep.
Oats and oil are in the throes of ;
little war of their own just the same
as the human back once combatte;
with the reaper knife. This strife i
fast becoming more acute because tn
already high price of horses is beinl
I accumulated every day by the numbe
) being sold out of the country for cav
I airy mounts to be used abroad. TIL
) drain upon the American horse sup
I ply will soon be such that whereve
) possible mechanical contrivances will
I be used to do their work. Were we t.
) begin at once, it will require fiv
I years to replenish the drain which tn
) war has already made upon the hors
I supply of the world. The Unite'
) States Government Department Of Az
III ou1turo hoo octimnto6 fhof II cnst