The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1914-09-18
arp OPPORTUNITY AND
VVN OUR RESPONSIBILITY


-. Now to Prepare for the Wars
O demand on Our Next Years Crop.
Rv Douglass Malcolm, Inter
national Harvester Company OF
America.
II ever America puts its hand to
80 oIow in its effort to feed the world
!. has assumed that responsibility
" Not since the narrowing days
fo1lowing our own strife of the sixties
I've the tillable acres of this coun-
49, faced such a possible drain upon
.he;r bountifulness. Without even
d;mly prophesying the duration of the
mar now raging, we are already as
sured of the fact that next year this
country will be the storehouse of the
World Every farmer, every tenant
and every share-worker will have his
nart to play in fulfilling this great re-
snonsibility. No matter how remote
his residence, he will hear Europe's
call for beef, bacon and bread, and on
the amount he has to sell will de-
mend not only his satisfaction of hav-
ing served his fellow men but the ad-
ditional satisfaction of having served
himself; for big crops, much stock,
many hogs next year will mean big
profits.
II is thus that the American farmer
begins his fall work with two strings
TO his bow. With one hand he is re-
scuing the perishing and with the
other, he is reaching out for tangible
encouragement toward bank ac-
count and better home.
Now is the Time To Start.
Now is his opportunity, and this
month is the time to lay his founda-
ton. There are two lines 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 no danger of
over-production for the crops sown
this fall. The man who has a big
yield will find a big market. But to
get this yield means better kind of
farming. Now would be a good time
to break away from some old-fash-
toned ideas about the moon; from
some other old-fashioned ways of
shallow blowing; and some old-fash-
toned carlesness in cultivating; 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:
"As the pressure for supplies be-
comes greater, it becomes more evil
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 a certain
area, 100 per cent was found to be
due to better blowing and narrowing,
SO per cent to better cultivation, and
the rest to better seed"
A lesson or two like that in every
community would soon work its way
into farm operation in such a way
that several costly practices sanction
ed by time and custom would become
in short time as historical as cradl-
ing wheat and threshing it with a
fail are now.
The great economic law which
makes a mans land profitable is not
so much the price he gets for his pro-
duce as it is the difference between
this price and the amount spent in
producing this produce. The above
experiment was apropos of the trac-
tor-a' mechanical way of blowing,
and of disking-a mechanical way of
massaging the land, so to speak, and
of drilling-a mechanical way of SOW
ing seed. In the cost of raising a
crop, just the same as in the cost of
making carpets, shoes or wagons,
hand-power and animal power cannot
compete with mechanical power. The
mechanically prepared seed bed no.
only costs less in its preparation hut
it gives forth more in its harvest.
War Will Make Horses too Costly to
Keep.
Oats and oil are in the throes of a
little war of their own just the same
as the human back once combatted
with the reaper knife. This strife is
fast becoming more acute because :Ee
already high price of horses is being
aqcentuated every day by the number
being sold out of the country for cav
airy mounts to be used abroad. Tho
drain upon the American horse sup
ply will soo1 be such that whereevcl
possible mechanical contrivances vii
be used to do their work. Were VIZ
to begin at orce, it will require five
years to replenlsh the drain whick til,
war has already made upon the hors'
supply of the world. The UniteC
States government department c
agriculture has estimated that it cost
SIS to $SO rar year to keep horse