American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-11-11

shall run the dairy on a more methodical system
Of cost accounting. When the oldest girl gets back
from college, where she goes next year. we shall
be about ready for her to keep a set Of books that
ought to show the cost of production and spot the
loafers in the herd. But I'll tell you Mrs. Saunders
can come about as near doing that offhand as
anybody you ever saw.
"of course, I shall always have beef cattle:
the place is big enough, but the number will be
cut down to a carload or two a year.
sell between $500 and $500 worth Of Duroc-
Jersey hogs a year. They usually weigh, dressed
up to 200 pounds, and bring ten cents in Lynch
burg, Roanoke, and Bedford. They have the run Of
an old orchard that is divided into several lots,
with rye, rape, clover, peas and sorghum sown
in them at different times. Those, the skim milk
and some corn to finish them, make a coed share
Of the income profit"
The farm includes eighty acres of corn, forty Of
wheat, ten Of alfalfa, thirty of clover, twenty Of
ccw peas, two hundred and fifty of bluegrass
sod and a hundred and fifty of timber. 1t is curl
GUS that nearly all the land is a red stiff clay.
SO many feet deep that the subsoil would not
seem to matter much. / don't believe It does.
When grown up in briars and bush and eroded
1t is the sorriest. most hopeless-looking sight this
side OF an alkali desert; the red gullies look like
open wounds.
But a thirty acre field of 1t is growing a crop
of corn which certainly looked. when I was there.
like seventy five. possibly eighty. bushels to the
acre. Next to 1t is a ten acre field OF alfalfa that
will produce more than three tons to the acre.
"The history of that field is unusual" said Mr..
Saunders. ] turned under q grass sod and put
1t In corn, then In wheat, with a ton of ground
limestone, timothy and clover and a bit Of al
falfa. The hay was cut two years, then put In
corn with crimson clover and a small amount
of alfalfa mixed with 1t. The next spring there
was a perfect stand of clover, which was cut for
hay in June. Cowpeas were put in at once and
cut late In September-a regular jungle. More
ground limestone was put on and alfalfa was
sow in October. There was practically no WIN
ter until February and March, when one freeze
after another simply heaved II out Of the ground,
running the entire crop. In April l prepared the
land thoroughly and resceded 1t to alfalfa. In
June l got a fair cutting; late in July a fine one
and in September a light one-in all, two tons
an acre"
This red clay is what some people call "strong
land" possibly because 1t has been used TO grow
a long, dark, heavy shipping tobacco. Requiring
a lot of fertilizer, 1t is a mighty poor crop, consid-
ering others that can be raised on this land with
lime, phosphates and legumes. The surface of
the clay dries hard very quickly, and the secret
of getting a big crop of corn on 1t lies In go
ing over 1t with a cultiyator soon after a rain"
This is the mere sketch of two persons and the
evolution they have wrought on a farm that used
to be run according to the ring around the rosy
formula. They now sell nothing from the place
for sh-tha is no money crop-except hogs, cat
tie and cream. They have never bought a pound
of lard, an egg, or a whisp OF hay.
ut is So much less work, more profitable and
pleasanter than the old way" said Mr.. Saunders
as we drove to town. "As one of the county SUI
pervisors, l go about some. But l do not hesitate
to leave the place, as Mrs. Saunders is as capable
as any man l ever saw. Most Of her friends are
In town, the children's too. It's only a twenty
minute drive, and they take advantage OF It."
is your place for sale" ! asked.
mot for any price / am likely to be offered for
IT," was the emphatic reply.
you have come a long way without having had
a dollar to start with. But 1t seems to me that the
biggest asset you and this farm have had is Mrs. s.
How about it?"
Il reckon you would figure It that way" he
laughed. 81 know I've never had any doubt about
that."-Harry Snowden Stabler in The Country
Gentleman.