Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1917-05-03
WHAT TO PLANT TO HELP YOUR
COUNTRY.

Commissioner of Agriculture Z. S. Brig
ham spoke on Increase of Food PRODUCE
ton before the Franklin County Farm
Bureau. Said he in part:
The President has called attention to
the great shortage of food supplies and
has called upon the farmers of the Uni
ted states to omit no step that will in
crease the production of their land in
order that we may have food enough for
ourselves and the countries with which
we are cooperating in the prosecution of
the var The demand is imperative that
Vermont farmers heed this call and adopt
wise plans for this coming season. be-
cause any great increase in food produce
ton must be brought about by farmers
who have in their control the factors of
food productions: viz. land. Implements
horse power. seeds, fertilizer and knowl-
edge Sf how to employ these factors.
| vermont is pre-cminently a dairy and
livestock State. In 1916 our livestock av-
eraged 16 head per farm. including horses
cattle. sheep and swine. There is need
that this number should be increased in
the present emergency and plans should
be made to feed Them 1t has been our
custom to supplement home grown feeds
with purchased grain. In the census year
of 1900, S0.5 per cent. of our farms pur-
chased feed. The average grain bill per
farm was $3.50 and the total grain bill for
the farms of the State was A.75S703. A
comparison of the prices now obtaining
for oats. corn. bran, gluten and cotton
seed meal with the average prices of
these feeds for 1909 shows that the price
has increased SIG per cent. On this basis.
the amount of grain fed in 1909 would
cost 9O9S per farm with n total for the
State of S690,064. In the present emer-
gency. farms should be more nearly self
sustaining than they have ever been be-
fore. This may be accomplished by in
creasing the acreage and quality of the
corn crop, both for silage and grain. by
planning for increased acreages of Glow
ler, hay and by blowing up old meadows
and sowing them to barley and oats.
In addition there will probably be need
for all the cash crops we can grow. The
principal ones suited to the soil and elm
ate of Vermont are wheat potatoes and
beans.
THE failure of the winter wheat crop
WILL undoubtedly. make a great demand
for spring wheat Where seed can be OBJ.
tained. the growing wheat will probably
be profitable if enough is grown in a COM
munity to ship in carload lots.
Paintings of potatoes throughout the
country bid fair to be very largely in
creased. This crop, however, is very sus-
ceptble to disease and the yield will de-
pend upon the growing season. The high
cost of seed and labor will probably make
it unwise to plant potatoes on land I'M
suited to the crop and IL any but the best
methods of tillage and care are employ
led.
Field beans do we'll in most sections of
Vermont. are a very rich concentrated
food and any surplus may be shipped
abroad or stored for long period. Field
beans promise to be one of the best cash
Icrops of the season.
I'm order to increase production. farm
ers will need more capital with which
to finance their operations and more la
Dor to do the work.
Our banks should be liberal at this
time and grant credit facilities to all re-
liable farmers who can make good use of
increased capital.
THE labor situation, especially during
harvest. will probably be very acute and
all possible methods for saving labor
should be used. Employers of labor in
various lines of industry can do a great
service by releasing from their plants
during harvest men who have had ex-
perience in farming. This may be neces-
sary in order to harvest crops which we
do raise"