Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-12-08

be obiective points. Beyond one must
know how to market to make products
attractive. Looking for dollars simple
detail. become important. Clean, at
tractive packages and contents swell
revenue.
Speaking out Of nine years. experience
with ten acres. I would emphasize the
lessons forced in my own work. We
with what we might realize. 1t IL mighty
little. No man realizes the responsive
ness Of nature when given an intelligent
Invitation. Unless I am getting q bar
rel and . half Of apples per bearing tree.
80 bushels Of potatoes from every bushel
of seed. IL bushels Of corn for every
quart planted. and other crops in pro-
portion. something Is wrong with my
work, and it's up to me to find out and
correct the same. Breeders talk Of the
Of animals, and it is true.
let me emphasize the individuality Of
soils. This is no dead. inert matter. but
running over with life and activity II
we give 1t a chance. We plant $4,000
kernels Of corn per acre and are content
with $4,000 stalks. 1000 Of which are
barren. The skips constitute the costly
items In cropping.
My word to the buyer Of q tsn-acre
farm would be that If he loved fruit
work 90 set 200 apple trees. and go into
small fruit to the limit of the local de-
mand. Grows plums, they are profitable.
Grow the vegetables which sell to yield
a fair profit and let the other fellow
grow the rest. Idle land is an expensive
luxury. Aim at two crops from the en-
tire garden. Organize the fields in De-
cember, and save costly errors in May.
Rely on the cold frame to start all early
vegetables for transplanting. Prepare
the land for any crop. Deeper blowing,
more even burrows. thorough prepara-
ton. complete fertilizing. better culti-
walton and good seed are requisites ev-
erywhere. Put your main reliance on
good barn manure and use fertilizers to
supplement. Not how much will answer
but how much will pay. may well be the
motto. Get your soils into healthier
condition by use Of barn manure and
cover crops plowed under. Then friend
ly bacteria will multiply and the soil
will be alive for work.
Abundance Of clover speaks of soil VIZ
tality. If herdsgrass comes, suspect the
o'~AA AVA AAi'iO' GNU IL ISuIOp Ut June
grass, be sure that lime is needed. In.
dustrial complications point to restricted
farm acres under cultivation. Our motto
must be maximum production from min
imum acres. Instead of 100 bushels Of
shelled corn from two acres, we must
have 100 or more from one acre. I can
not afford to have weeds growing among
my crops. They cut down production
and eat up profits. There's no drudgery
to him who, looking for results, seeks
mastery over details. pity the man,
no matter where he tolls, who has not
before him continually the picture, in
the brain, of what he would do and what
ne would achieve I believe in the small
farm for the small family because 1t
forces a man to think and organize, to
do, to reach out. I believe that through
forced concentration upon restricted
acres the New England farmer is vet to
come to fuller realization of the DOS
sibilities centering in New England soil.
believe profoundly in the big farm for
the big farmer, the large family, the
abundant crew. but for the shut-in man.
IN town or city, who longs for Gods
fresh air and sunshine, and is ready to
do his part faithfully, I propose "the
little farm well titled and the little wife
well willed' as promising joy, satisfac-
ton and fulness Of life.