Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1921-12-08
FARMERS CAN LEARN
MUCH BY STUDYING
NEIGHDORING FARMS
By J. c. McAmis, Ag-onomy Specialist,
Division of Extension, University
of Tennessee.
Some of The Things That Indicate Tine
Success Or Failure of Any Farm
Operations Pointed Out.

Every farmer has an, opportunity T
learn much about the management o
his own farm by the careful study o
the operations of neighboring farms
In general most farmers do talk farm
Ing to their neighbors, and if they arr
the right kind of neighbers they &c
many helpful suggestions. However
it will be worth While for most farmer;
TO go about this matter with a little
more patience and system. 1t is of al
most as great Importance TO study
thoroughly poorly managed farms ~
II is to study well managed farms
Certainly it is essential in every case
to keep in mind the controlling factors
and to weigh carefully their relative
Importance in the success or failure
of the farm under study.
While one may be a truck farm ana
another a general farm, the points of
judgment would be the same, except
that,the different points may be given
more weight in one case than in the
other.
Some of the general things that in
dictate the success or failure Of any
farm operations are: The quality of
the farm business, the organization OF
the farm as a whole, the size of the
business and the system Of marketing
Each point should be studied, begin
ming first with the quality of the bus
mess as it is affected by crop yields,
returns per head of livestock, quality
of the products and use of labor of
men and teams.
QUALITY OF THE FARM BUSINESS
: The quality of the farm business is
determined by crop yields per acre,
live stock returns; the quality of pro-
ducts produced; and utilization of the
labor of both men and teams.
Almost any successful farmer is
growing One-fourth to oGe-third more
crops per acre than his neighbors, be
cause of the manurial treatments of
the land such as the use of lime, ph0s-
plate, legume crops, stable and green
manures. knowing the treatments III
these respects you could predict In
Tennessee about what the crop yields |
would be without seeing the crop or
having record. If the farm is hill |
farm one would be fairly safe in pre- !
dieting good yields if the soil has not ,
been allowed to wash away. An ex-
animation Of the corn field will show
at once whether best use is being made
of the soil by a high yielding variety.
In the same way that crop yields in.
1uence profits so do returns per heal
Of the two will depend upon the PEI
cent of farm receipts from each. One
may be fairly safe, though not abs0-
utely SO, in jcdging on these points:
Whether a purebred sire is in use;
whether animals are properly and
fed, as judged by sucn /,
points as pasture for hogs, silage for
larry COWS, etc. keeping of records,
uch rs dates of breeding, milk yields,
tic.
lie returns IlOlll Dbill lIC Ni'l1S | F,
nd livestock will be somewhat in
luenced by the quality of the products,
n two apparently similarly managed !
arms.
The labor of men and teams is the
lOst expensive single item in the cost y
f the production of crops for market
r for feed Therefore the quality "
f the business is in direct proportion "
, the efficiency in use of men AMI
cams. This can be estimated by the q
lumber of days OF productive labor u
n item which VIII be hard to obtain "
on most farms. Some 10
cams work One-thrd of the time, W
bile others work two-thirds or
ore. The number Of acres of titled !.
'ops per man and team to the F"
oughtful farmer would indicate the
me thing. A man and team should
indie about fifty cultivated acres
wear or better. TlE distribution of
bor throughout the season can be
en- mt a glance ut the rotation and .,
versity of enterprises, and their y, :"
injection one with the other. :,
lother signboard on every farm Is 81
e implement shed, which tell some. >,
lat whether the farmer is substitute ~
2 horse labor for man labor and :,
W much horse power he is able To y
[ with each man. The layout of the ="
rm. such rs arrangement of the -
Ids. their distance from the build.
rs, etc. may be a prime reason for g..
, success of one farm as compared -,
IN another because II controls ex- 49,