The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-09-24

four days and always be ahead in the
work OF cultivation. Then IL forced
to stay out of the field for a while on
account OF weather conditions he can
soon catch up with his work without
the need of hiring any labor because
he II working rapidly and hasn't so
much land to cover. IN dry weather
he Is able to give his crops frequent
cultivation and thus save all the mois-
ture possible. So. in the case of wet
weather he Is In much better position
TO control the grass and in the case
OF drouth he can give his crops the
best of attention. This assurance of
being able TO give the crops the proper
care makes Il wise for him to use fer
tillzers literally. Fertilizers certainly
will Increase yields and at a profit,
but unless there is insurance that
proper cultivation can be given a crop
80 that the grass will not use up the
fertilizer available for the crop, it may
not be wise TO use them. It Is plain
that the more expense that is put into
a crop the bigger will be the loss in
case OF crop failure. The idea in a
small farm is insurance against a
crop failure and insurance OF big
yields.
A farm OF 20 acres could be planned
as follows: For corn, velvet beans
and peanuts Z acres; for oats acres;
for sweet potatoes three-fourths of an
ecre; for cane II acre; for garden and
orchard acre; for hay acres (where
oats were grown; for chicken feed l
acre (where oats were grown; for
snap beans acres; for cucumbers or
cantaloupes 2 acres; and for tomatoes
acres. II is assumed that one milk
COW will be kept to provide milk for
the family. one brood SOW kept to sup
ply meat for the family and for sale,
and rs hens kept to furnish poultry
and eggs for the home and for sale.
AS the first II acres are given to crops
to support the family and livestock,
any change in crops will necessarily
have to come in the acres given to
truck crops. Here we have mentioned
beans, cucumbers, cantaloupes, and
tomatoes for the reason that the time
of harvesting these follows in the or
der i'm which they are named and
therefore so much labor will not be
needed at any one time as when the
whole acres are devoted to one crop.
BY the use Of 500 pounds of fertilizer
under the corn, 200 pounds under the
hay. and 1900 pounds under the garden
and truck crops, we feel sure that
average high yields can be obtained
and that we can safely expect 40
bushels of corn, one ton of hay and
200 crates of vegetables per acre.
Allowing enough of the different pro-
ducts for family use and support of
the livestock, there should be left for
sale something like SIPS of pork, 800
of poultry products, and $1,000 Of
truck crops, totalling about $1,400.
Deducting from this amount the cost
of seeds and fertilizers, which should
run around $500, we have $500 as the
cash returns for the years work on
20 acres Any family that has its fuel,
water, house rent, food and $500 in
cash for years work should be con-
sidered as doing well. Even if some
help has to be hired and the cash re-
turns reduced to $500, the showing is
not as bad as that made by many liv-
ing in the cities. At any rate the
farmer, who works only as mcuh land
as he can properly handle under adj
verse weather conditions and adopts
an intensive type of farming so as 20
push his land up to the highest yields.
will as rule come out ahead of the
Ione who undertakes a large acreage
of average grade land without the aid
Of fertilizer. He is in position to force
his crops and land to do their best
while the other is entirely dependent
on what the season and land will do of
their own accord.
VIM. A. SESSIONS, County Agent.
Why Women Leave the Farm
More young women than young men
are leaving the farm for the city, gov
eminent statistics show. In my esti-