The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-01-27
q
SUCCESS r.
TWENTY ACRES
FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRl-
CULTURE GIVES UNUSUAL
CREDIT TO FARMER
RECEIVED $4,000 IN CASH PREMIUMS
He Says, 500 Acres Of Land is a Mis-
fortune and $40 a Calamity to the
Man Who Tries to Farm 1t.

The most successful farmer in the
United States" in the opinion of the
Department of Agriculture at Washing
ton, is a man in Nebraska, who farms
just twenty acres.
The phenomenal farming success Of
Arnold Martin reached the ears of the
Washington officials and an expert was
sent to investigate the methods used.
AS a result of the visit a bulletin was
issued which sums up the secret in the
following words:
Arnold Martin" says the govern
ment bulletin, lis a Swiss farmer of
Pawnee City, Pawnee County, Neb.,
who has demonstrated that it is not
necessary to have one hundred and
sixty acres to live. This has generally
been considered the least amount of
land a farmer should have; but this Ne
braskan has proved to the world that
he can provide for his family, and
save a snug sum besides, from twenty
acres. Mr.. Martin raises a certain
amount of fruit, but his principal crops
are the usual crops of the state.
"Mr. Martin came to America from
Switzerland without a penny some
twenty-one years ago. All he knew
was farming. He vent to work as a
To-., l,,l a,I =, @L.a> 49,
to save 1912. Then he started out for
himself. He found his twenty acres. 1t
was rocky and not worth farming, SO
the owners of surrounding farms said.
Martin paid only $3.50 an acre for it,
while decent land neal by was selling
from $50 to $75 an acre. The purchaser
paid 800 down and gave a mortgage
for the balance. The remainder of his
money he used to buy farm nipple
ment and live stock. Seven years
after Mr.. Martin purchased the little
farm he was out of debt, had a good
home, fine barns, cash in bank, and a
standing offer of 50, 500 for his twenty
acres.
His secret of success is that he does
not permit a foot of land to remain
idle, and two or three crops are raised
on every acre each year The intens-
i've methods pursued by him are of par
from spring until fall. At the last cul-
tivation of potatoes corn is planted be-
tween the rows. A full crop of pota-
toes and a fair crop of corn is produced
from the same ground. AS many as
seven hundred bushels of potatoes and
s%eventy-fve bushels of corr are produc-
ed from each acre planted in this way.
After the potatoes ripen, the corn
keeps the weeds down. BY the time
the corn needs the ground, the potatoes
are ripe and the corn is in the shock
before it is time to dig the potatoes.
Some parts of the potato patch are
sown with millet and sorghum just be-
fore the last cultivation. This makes
a good crop of feed and does not hurt
the potatoes. Squashes are sometimes
planted in the same way. The onion
patches grow corn and melons, which
are planted in rows between the
onions.
Part of the orchard is set with small
fruit and part is planted with potatoes
ond frt,oE Tn dru cno11C oil tho uyofor
that the windmill will pump is used
for irrigation, and it is here that the
intensive farming reaches it's height.
The water from the we'll flows directly
to the bitches as pumped. A little
manure is scattered in the bitches to
prevent washing. The orchard at one
time contained 900 pear, 200 cherry,
800 peach and a few apple trees. The
trees are planted in straight rows, and
between the trees are raspberry
bushes, tomatoes, cabbage and sweet
potatoes, with beets close by.
"a small field of two acres is kept
for annual crops. The slopes are rocky
in places and the soil is residual clay
loan formed from the w~eathering and
~disintegrating of the limestone which
underlies it. Mr.. Martin set eight
acres of this in orchard, n acre in
alfalfa, one in timothy and clover,
three in pasture and a little in annual
crops.
1.-THE best school for agriculture"
says Mr.. Martin, "is the small farm,
personally operated, where the boys