The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1921-01-22
To the Edi,o, OF the sun,

IA reply to Mr.. Gustavus ODER,
Jr's discussion IN your ISSUE OF Jan.
Il. h, il secl.s 10 he the duty o.
solne PRACTICAL farmer TO correct the
lnajoiity OF his sca,emenls. He de-
cl&res, first that the open winter is
God send to the farmer. tie
should have said the open winter rs
a God send to the poor and un-em-
/ ployed people of the city who have
not the money to buy the neces-
sarics of life such as fuel. clothing
and groceries, have 200 acres in
wheat which l claim the open winter
is against | would prefer the
ground frozen from January LIST to
March 1st. covered with six inches
of snow. rather than the open win
ter with $l295.67 invested in fer
1ilizer under the wheat.
Should the unreasonable weather
| last two more weeks we are almost
sure to have a failure in our fruit
crop and a bountiful crop Of insects
and worms to destroy our crops.
/ Last year farm products were cut IN
price below cost of production and
millions OF dollars worth of truck,
! such as cabbage, WatermelOnS, to-
! matoeS sweet potatoes and great
many other products rotten m the
fields, the price not beng sufficient
to pay for gathering and freight /
! loaded a car of fine WatermelOns,
about 900 about 80 lbs. average ana
was offered $500 for the car. and
the agent told me if did not sell
would have to put up $40 per car to
guarantee freight charges. One OF
my neighb0rs showed me a bill from
( MS commission merchant for freight.
| had two car loads of Watermelons
that | clipped from the vines and
hired men to pile in the field that
were not hauled. l paid SIS per ton
for the fertilizer and put 100 loads
/ of stable manure on the held to grow
them. One of my neighbors, who
lives about seven miles from the
canning factory, had II acres of as
fine tomatoes rs ever grew ana never
picked a tomato as the price at the
factory would rot pay for picking
and hauling yet Mr.. ODER says
cheaper crops and happier farmers,
He should have said cheaper phos-
phate and happier farmers.
He says me farmer has been al
work almost without interruption
since April; don't you think he is
G titled to a vacation during Janu-
arv and February If the Howard
| County farmer has been ploWing
| ever since he returned from the cleo
ten, November End, when aid he
| haul in his last load Of corn~ as
| November is the month we husk anc
house our corn and the first week
! in December to cut, haul and saw our
! winter wood. w inter pLo"lus
might be beneficial in some sections
ana to- some land but is detrimental
ITO others. In this section 1t would
| be a disadvantage to pillow our light
and sandy land as the high winds
anu heavy rams would remove mos
Of the soil. 1 would prefer to ploW
IN July and SOW COW peas to turn
unuer for wheat, or Winter Netch
and Crimson clover for cover crop
Tor winter. The hay can be harvest
ed by the middle of May and you
can turn the stubble under ano
gov luore per acre than you can
! Nth 200 OF 500 lbs. of the best fer
,ilIzer.
The maintenance expense is very
.Auch less than the writer thinks fol
i January and February as the farm
+ and his FAMILY do the chores anC
he horses are led but little gram
| at this season but plenty Of rough
age.
If the open weather continues fol
.wo o. three more weeks instead Oh
he cost or production oeing cut from
| oAe half to tWO-Lhlrds, as Mr.. OOei
suggests, you wifi find the crops WI
be cut from one-half to two-thirds
Our spring ploWlng is the easles
work we have to do. One man ant
a pair of horses wilt plow siXt!
acres in thirty days. but we prefe
to wait ard cut our hay crop O
Crimson Glover and Vetch to fec
our horses while the Howard Count.
farmer is Furnishing himself and hi
horses plowing.
The writer says that the farmer /
going to buy supplies cheaper. Doe
this include the phosphate? RocI
and potash, 1875 mixture, that l haV
bought as low as STA could not b
! bought last fall for less than $4'
and all other grades in proportion
Last July one OF my best hands wen
to Baltimore TO work in a rert1IlZe
factory at IS per day and whel
bought my fertilizer the So pc
day was added to the cost. Ii IN
seeing of my two hundred acres o
| wheat had been on the same bas1
| the yield would not be enough t
paw the labor leaving me debt O
Al $4,000 for seed wheat and phosphate
I The serious problem with GU
farms is, not blowing, but VIVA
crops to plant in the land after it
plowed, in order to get a fair pro
/ fit. We farmers can accomplis
more by letting our horses ana gu
plough shares rest during tn
months of January and February an
4 devoting our spare time to organic
ing farmers associations IN ever
district of every county of ever
state. It was through the lnttuenc
Of the National Farmers Associatio
that the Fordney bill was passe'
over our Presidents head.
l have been informed that tn
American Agricultural Chemical Co
fixes prices on phosphate. On
thing | do know and that is they al
AVE practically the same price.
1 note that Mr.. Gustavus Ober, Jr
II
,ilizer Association, has just returne
I from a conference with Secretary o
Agriculture Meredith. l think
would be to the advantage or GU
: farmers if the vice-presldent OF tn
National Farmers would have a con
terence with Mr.. Meredith and sc
where the price fixing is made AM
what salaries and profits We farm
rs are paying.
The United States has only SIX pc
ent of the population of the work.
nd only seven per cent of the Iant
! &ld yet we produce twenty-four pc
cnt of the worlds wheat supply am
xty per cent OF all the cotton ant
venty five per cent of all the corn
Wenty-seven per cent of the cattle
4 o,',y per cent of all the hogs an,
~enty-fve per cent of all the dair.
oducts Does our government ex
ect we farmers TO produce for les
Il