Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1914-03-11
Ten Years of Farming in the
Tim bered Section of
Northern Minnesota
By A. J. MCGUIRE, Supt., North
Central Experiment Station.
The System of FARMING .

mental Station at Grand Rapids, my
chief aim has been to work out a sys-
TEN of farming that would be most
profitable and practical for the farm
ers of the timbered section. -. H.
We have found that dairy farming
for general conditions is, without any
question, the most profitable, and en-
tirely practical for the great majority
OF farmers. Hog raising, to limited
extent, and poultry raising can be car
rled on with dairying. Beef cattle and
sheep can be kept to advantage under
certain conditions, but the dairy COW
should be the foundation of agriculture
in the timbered section.
Crops to Grow.
We have found that oats, clover,
fodder corn, potatoes and rutabagas
are the most profitable field crops, for
general conditions. Any or all of the
field crops common to Minnesota can
be grown, but for the farm of 40 acres
or less under the plow, the crops men
toned will prove of the most advan-
tage as the principal field crops. In
certain locations and under certain
conditions farmers may specialize to
advantage in vegetables and small
fruits, but as yet the field for this is
limited.
Size of the Farm.
The necessity of clearing the land
compels small fields; but we have
found that in dairy farming, with the
right system of cropping, farmer can
succeed and make splendid income
with only Fl acres or less under the
pillow. For a man with little capital
and not much help in his family, who
is to begin farm in the timbered
section, 40 acres of good land is suffi-
Gent and it is generally a misfortune
for such man to purchase over 80
acres of unimproved land, because the
purchase of the land takes the capital
which is required to prepare and i'm
prove it for profitable production.
Large Yields and How They are Secured
When farm must be made to pay
from the crops of 20 or 80 acres, large
yields are necessary. The farms of
the timbered section have on an aver
age less than rs acres under the pillow.
The average yield of crops on the
Experimental Farm for 1912 and 1913
were as follows: Oats, IS bushels per
acre; wheat, 10 bushels; barley, 43
bushels; clover hay, AZ tons per acre,
two cuttings; fodder corn, 13 tons per
acre, green weight; potatoes, 1886
bushels per acre; roots, 10 tons per
acre. a.......
We have found that the largest
yields are secured by growing grain,
clover and cultivated crops in what is
known as three-year rotation.
In this rotation or system of crop
ping, one-third of the plow land of the
farm is grown to grain, one-third to
clover and one-third to some cultivated
crop. Grain is grown on the same
field but one year at time and is
then followed by clover. Glover is
grown but one year and then plowed
up and the field used for cultivated
crop such as corn, potatoes and other
roots These also are grown on the
same field but one year at time and
then followed by grain again. Thus
each field during the three years grows
but one crop of grain, one of clover
and one of some cultivated crop. This
rotation, however, will not prove prac-
teal for all conditions. A field that is
too low or too hilly or too stony could
not be worked in this way with profit
The frequent growing of clover adds
fertility to the soil, cultivated crop
on each field every third year helps to
keep out weeds and the yearly change
of crops lessons the loss from crop
diseases.
Land Must be MANFRED.