The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-06-24
GROW A BIG CROP
WITH LESS LABOR
Federal Specialists Make Sug-
geStions on Economizing With
Man Power.
INCREASE CORN PRODUCTION
Tractors and Larger Implements VIII
Help Farmers-Machine Harvest
ers Rather Than Hand Cut
tiers Are Advisable.

Another big corn crop is needed
Last years planting of 120000.000
acres yielded the largest crop ever har-
vested, 100, 494,0 900 bushels. There
seems to be every reason to believe,
in the opinion of officials of the Unit
ed States department of agriculture,
that our own welfare and that of the
allies, as well as neutral nations, make
desirable an even greater production
of corn in 1918 on an acreage approx
mately equal to that planted in 1917.
Increased production may be accom-
plished in a number of ways, and in n
recent publication of the United States
department of agriculture, "The Agri-
cultural Situation for 1918: Part VIII,
Corn" specialists of the department
make suggestions regarding better
methods. The more extensive use OF
laborsaving Implements will make it
easier this year TO approximate the
mountaineering acreage of last year,
especially when employed in sections
where corn is now grown profitably
but on more limited scale than is
require large amount of man labor.
The more general use of recently
developed and improved tractors that
are adapted to the uses of the small
farm as well as the large farm would
| tend to increase the acreage and TO
| effect saving in labor. The use Of
| larger plows, harrowS and other instru-
| ments used in fitting the land would
| make 1t possible to accomplish more
work per man. Similarly the substitu-
| tion of two-row planters and two-row
| double cultivators in place of smaller
and less efficient implements would
| make it possible To do the same
| amount of work with less expenditure
| of labor.
Replant Missing Hills.
In some corn-growing sections 1t is
the practice to replant missing hills as
soon as the corn is up to stand
Frequently this is done by dropping
kernels by hand and covering with q
hoe. A labor-saving and quicker
method would be the use of small hand
planters. These could be used to adj
vantage for the first planting also il
sections where comparatively small
areas are planted and where it is al
present the custom to drop the corr
by hand and cover with the hoe.
1t is the practice in some localitie.
to plant much larger number o
, kernels than the number of stalk
/ desired and to thin to the desired
! stand when the corn plants are abou
7 six to eight inches TALL This metho,
may be satisfactory where plenty o
1, labor is available. but where it is de
sirable to economize labor 1t would b
! advisable to plant tested seed at abou
the same rate as the stand desired an
/ do no thinning.
|. A more general use of efficient hal
/ vesting machinery would permit
5 more economical use of labor. A cor
binder with an attachment for eleva'
!. ing the bundles of corn into a WACO
! should be used much more extens;vel
/ than 1t is for harvesting ensilage corr
There is also on the market machin
that converts the corn into ensilag
in the field, elevating it into wager
from which it is sucked or lifted int
the silo. The use of either of thes
: machines, especially the latter, woul
. do away with the necessity of muc
), laborious work.
: Work Done by Hand.
A large percentage of the cuttir
and shocking of corn is done by han
labor. In some sections, because I
unfavorable topography or 9TH
reasons, Il is not practicable to u:
machine cutters. However, the great
part of the corn that is now cut |
hand labor could be harvested
III Try The RefOrmer