The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-11
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INTERPRETATIONS BUREAU
By FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, d. c.
THE OLD FARM COMES BACK,

THE OLD FARM COMES BACK.
Washington, D. c., Oct 11-Hon-
orable c. B. Slemp, who is the only
Republican member of congress from
the state of Virginia, has become an
ardent partisan of those scientific
methods of farming which the de-
partment of agriculture is striving to
esta blish in all parts of the country.
Mr. Slemp has doubtless always
been a PARTISAN of science and pro-
gress in farming, but he now has .
brand new enthusiasm on the subject
derived from a little experiment or
his own. The materials of the ex-
pertinent were an old Virginia farm
that hadn't paid since long before
the war, an ambitious young friend
who wanted to be farmer. but didn't
know how, and an expert in the de-
partment of agriculture The results
of the experiment are embodied in
letter from the young friend, which
Mr.. Slemp is showing to all and sun
dry, and which is the basis of this
story. The significance of the ex-
pertinent is that there are thousands
of farms in Virginia and other states,
just like this one, which have not paid
a hundred dollars a year for over a
century, but which the magic wand of
method could transform, as it did this
one, into paying properties.
The farm in question is located in
Lee county. Virginia, and has been
in the possession of Mr.. Slemp's fam
lily for a hundred years. It consists
of good bit of pasture, ten acres of
woodland, fifteen or twenty acres of
really good soil, and a good many
more acres that are worn out by long
and UNMARRIED cultivation. There are
seventy acres in all and they are
worth perhaps $50 an acre. The 9TH
er assets consist of a little farm ma
chinery, a team, and an old family
=, h.
enterprising young man into a deliv-
cry wagon.
Custom of the Country.
When this young friend first took
hold of the property he was filled with
ami ition and farming methods of his
1oretathers He carefully fertilized a
part or the land and planted it in
wheat. The rest he planted in corn.
This was all according to the custom
of the country. In due course they did
grow in a moderate and somewhat
hesltating way. He reaped just enough
wheat to pay for the fertilizer, and Just
enough corn to feed the team, leaving
him where he was when he started
minus what II cost him to live
AT this desperate juncture the ex-
pert from Washington, whose name is
withheld, steps upon the scene. At the
request of Mr.. Slemp he goes over that
farm with the young man as an expert
diagnostician goes over the anatomy
of patient. He points out that none
of this soil is fit for raising wheat
but that certain part of it is capable
OF producing a fine crop of potatoes,
and that corn can be raised on an
other patch of the soil. He empha
sizes the need for a garden, from
which fresh vegeta bles can be gath
cred for summer use, and the residue
canned and picked for the winter. In
this connection he also points out to
Nl,OI
splendid market for produce in the
mines, which employ hundreds of men
and are only six miles away on a fine
macadam road
This market, he adds. makes IT a
matter of the utmost expediency to
raise chickens. as there is a ready
market for both broilers and eggs. But
no feed must be purchased for these
fowls, or they will eat up the profit.
Sunflowers must be planted. They
grow easily and sunflower seed is an
ideal chicken feed. crop of sor-
once The seeds will add to the sup
ply of chicken feed, and the cane will
do for fodder.
For WOrnOut Lands.
AS for the rest of the land, which is
WORKOUT and will not produce enough
grain to pay for seed and fertilizer, it
must be planted in cowpeas; for these
| legumes are nitrogen fixing" and will
restore the soil to its fertility. What
is to be done with the cowpeas after
they are raised? Two brood sowS must
be purchased. There are a couple of
sunny knobs in the south end of the
farm which are serving no purpose
whatever. They will make an IDEAL
summer hog pasture and the cowpeas
will supply the winter feed. Hogs,
| remember, are selling at fabulous
prices.
The eye of this expert overlooks
nothing. Down in the pasture there
are about ten volunteer apple trees
which means trees planted by the
birds and raised by the grace of God.
They had a good crop of not very
| high grade apples upon them. Some
of these apples must be canned and
| the rest made into ,ider. Nothing
must be wasted; the time of the farm
er and the resources of the farm must
both be utilized in the highest possible
| degree. Even those patches of wild
| plum in the meadow with their heavy
crop of tart red fruit must be used.
| Canned they will be worth dollars.
! The young man was not too old to
| learn, nor too diScOura aged to try
\ again. He had energy and executive
ability, and he proceeded to execute
| the instructions of the expert from
| Washington. He planted those crops
| exactly as per diagnosis. He got two
| brood sowS, some chickens and fif-
teen dollar incubator. He converted
| the family car-'v-all into a delivery
wagon. He bought some waste lumber
, from a sawmill and built a barn. In
| fact he did all the expert had advised
and more too. There is nothing, alb
soulte1y nothing, to add to this story
| except the letter from the young man.
Read it and be tempted to buy farm
of your own:
He and MaRtha Were Busy.
Well, 1 guess you will be surprised
to hear from me We have been
awfully busy this year and I feel good
4 to think that 1 am getting a start.
Martha and I have II gallons OF
kkraut, SO gallons of beans, 90 pint
glasses of jelly, 40 cans of tomatoes
so cans of corn, so cans of beans, IS
cans of pickles, 35 cans of sweet
pickles. 2 cans of plums, IS cans OF
berries. We expect to have IS cans