Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-02-14
ORLEANS FAR MERS
INSTITUTE GAVE GOOD
DAY PROGRAM
S. C. ROBINSON, INSTRUCTOR,
SAYS TILE DRAIN LENGTH
EMS GROWING SEASON

last Thursday goodly number of
people turned out to the farmers in
stitute held at Orleans. Dinner was
served at noon and the busy farm
ers went almost Immediately to their
program work. Because of the cold
and the drifted condition of the roads
the evening session was not held.
The program of the institute opened
at ten o'clock in the morning with
an address, Sweet Glover, Alfalfa
and Soy Beans" by S. c.. Robinson
of Burt, Michigan. Mr.. Robinson
soon had the unanimous good will of
his farmer friends and let in a most
interesting discussion.
In the afternoon the program open
ed with q question box. In the alb
sence of J. M. York, who was to have
led, Jerry Spaulding took charge of
the work. Several topics of real in
terest to every farmer were discussed.
One of the leading topics brought up
in the question box was the proper
kind of potatoes to plant to increase
yield. The person asking the ques-
ton submitted a sample slightly
larger than a walnut and asked as to
its appropriateness. Mr.. Robinson
advocated hill selection of seed. By
this he meant selecting potatoes from
hills that were we'll matured, had a
large number of even-sized potatoes
and not too large. He said if the
sample came from a hill containing
two or three big potatoes and a few
little ones, it would not be good. Such
seed would decrease the yield. If it
came from hill of medium-sized po-
tatoes and grew near the outside of
the hill it might be diseased and
hence would produce an unmarked
able crop.
Mrs. Mabel Palmer gave a nice
piano solo and was heartily cheered.
At the suggestion of Mr.. Robinson,
who was on the program for a talk
of Farming" +. Flanagan, who was
slated to discuss the subject, was ask
ed to lead in the treatment of the
topic. Mr.. Flanagan brought out
many useful thoughts and made some
valuable suggestions. He advanced
as one of the big drawbacks to farm
ing the fact that individuals could not
control the weather. Some times
they get too much rain, and some
times too little. The past year it was
both. Mr. Flanagan advocated a
good-sized dairy herd on every farm,
at least as many cows as the farm
could support. One of his reasons
for urging dairy herd was that the
proceeds can be depended upon to
come in regularly. The young man
can rely upon the receipts coming in
to help him in his struggle to acquire
necessary machinery and equipment
for running a farm. Then, too, the
Io.. hn W
of the soil.
Following the opening of the topic
by Mr.. Flanagan, Mr.. Robinson began
to analyze some of the situations. Af-
ter asking as to the necessity of
draining in this territory and the
possibilities of draining by natural
outlets, he claimed that control of
the weather was largely matter of
drainage. "Tile drainage lengthens
the season of growing" he said, "and
hence it is a most useful adjunct to
any farm. This brings the soil to
the proper state to permit plant
growth. No plant can grow when it
has too much water nor when too dry.
The soil must have plenty of capil-
larity. That is the soil must be loose
enough to enable water to come up
from below and supply the roots of
loose or capillarity will be broken.
common lamp wick as an example. It
brings oil to the flame constantly.
But if you cut the wick and insert a
piece of very loose cloth the oil will
not come beyond the break. A towel
thrown into a basin of water with
one end hanging over illustrates what
| mean too. 1t will soon drain the
basin dry. Yes, and / will give an
other illustration. Suppose | have a
bottle of shot. | pour the bottle full
of water. The loose water is called
free water. Now pour out all the
water / can. You will note that
around each shot is held a small par
ticle of water. This water will grad
ually come to the top Of the bottle,
by passing from one shot to another,
and will finally evaporate. Now you
want your soil under growing crops
just loose enough to permit the wa
ter from below to come up and supply
the rots Of the growing plants. Then
you want it so loose on top, that is, a
duts mulch, so that the water will not
come to the surface and evaporate,
causing drouth."
"Plowing under heavy litter with
out working the ground down thor
oughly will cause a strata to loose
material that destroys capillarity.
Some farmers leave their land so
loose under the plowed surface that
gopher can run clear around the
field in the opening. Then weeds are
the best pumps you can get to draw
the water out of the ground. Get rid
of the weeds"
. Mr.. Robinson also discussed the
treatment for wire worms, the value
of crows, oxwabble, treatment of
seeds for smut, other diseases, etc.
He enlarged on the best seeds to use
and how to know when you are get
ting good seed.
As the evening session was not
held Mr.. Robinson took the floor after
farm. labor problem: He claimed il