Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1920-01-29

ID :! !: 8 !: s.: IS: !: !: !: !. !" !: !. ! !: !: !: !: !: ! !: !: !: :: Is: !: !: !: !: !: !: :: !: 3; !: =; :: !: !: !
- JRING the past two years the methoas
of production and conservation EN-
ployed by the farmers of this country
have advanced 20 years of peace times.
N Prior to 1914, and even up to the DEC
k- ~Iaration of war by the United States
a there were farmers In every comnunl-
SEE ty who were not interested in county
- agents, farmers Institutes. the agri-
cultural colleges, or the United States department
of agriculture. But when war was declared anu
Uncle Sam asked the farmers to grow more fooo-
stuffs of every kind. those who had before assumed
an attitude of Indifference responded to the call.
Throughout the nation these farmers. with a spirit
of patriotism and an additional inducement OF talr
prices and an assurance of reasonable ,compensa-
ton for their expenditures, called upon the fed
eral department and other agencies that could
give them information. The attitude as well as
the spirit of the farmers changed from peace-time
to wartime farming.
Improved methods and practices adopted and
now being applied have come to stay. In future
farming methods there should be little question as
to the practice of the man who has treated his oats
for smut and has increased his yield the man who
has applied fertilizer to his wheat and has in
creased his crops five to ten bushels an acre; the
man who has sought Information on the feeding of
cattle and has found that by adding protein to the
ration he can produce a pound of beef with nine
pounds of corn where the old ration required ID
pounds Of grain the man who was encouraged to
build a silo through which he is able to feed q
carload of cattle with the crops from 16 acres Of
land when before it required % acres. Men who
nave learned these lessons, have seen the result,
and have profted by them, are not going back to
old-time methods. Farmers are reaching out in a
broader way for additional aid.
Last fall farmers planted 100000 acres of
wheat, and while the early prospective yield was
reduced to some extent by reason of adverse
weather and insect enemies, a crop of approx
mateIy a billion bushels is the result. This huge
crop is the direct result of the good methods of
farming that were employed in the fall of 1918.
There were more tons of fertilizer applied to this
wheat than during any previous year. There was
more early blowing. There was better cultivation.
There was better selection of varieties and better
treatment of the seed. There was more top-dress-
ing of the crop with straw and manure than ever
was known in any other year. Part of the crop
was due to favorable weather in some localities,
some just to plain luck, but the big results
achieved in the wheat fields all over the country
was due to the improved methods employed by
farmers.
There is large and sufficient evidence to show
that agriculture has made a rapid, sure, and sub
stantial advance. If that is true, then agriculture
will not readily revert.
At no time has the farmer been called upon to
give greater attention to the business side of his
m
operations. In this day of high-priced land, labor,
seed, fertilizer, machinery, and other materials
and equipment, careful attention must be given to
economical production. Industrial plants have
found it necessary to introduce the cost-accounting
system in order that the cost of each part manu-.
factured may be determined. In the same way
farmers must conduct their business and know
more definitely the desirable and profitable lines Of
production.
Not every farmer has it within his power to In
crease his acreage, but he can very materially In
crease his income by judiciously increasing the
size Of his business. There is one way Of doing
this that seems to be open to farmers in prac
tlcally all parts Of the country. The simplest ant
surest way for the land-ocked farmer to maxi
moro money Is to produce more and better live
stock. There is but limited opportunity for ex
pansion in the production Of the intensively grown
erops. hut there Is great opportunity for expansion