Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1922-04-23
CREAM CHECKS
BETTER Than
CREDIT AT BANK
Dairying Combined With
Truck, the Thing that Will
Pull Farmer Through
.tBY s. PAUL CowGILL. Proprietor La

(BY 8. PAUL COWGILL, Proprietor La
guna View Dairy Farm, San Bcnitol
Trucking in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley is gamble. Everyone who has
been in the Valley. and taken an inter-
est in farming has soon heen convinced
of tins fact. l.ut very few have though:
of working out a remedy. Very few
have so much as dreamed that il is
quite possible 10 make the game less
hazardous at the source.
The truck farmer needs a balance
wheel To carry them through the pc
riods when he gets next to nothing for
what he produces to the time when he
will hit il right There are a mum
ber Of thii gs that the truck farmer can
do To make his venture more stable.
The most promising of these is thai
be take up dairying.
Dairying in combination with a Val
ley truck farm. will see the trucker
who adapts has dairying "a his truck
ing operation through tight place. The
regular cream checks ar the returns
from butter will serve him better than
credit at the hank. because there il no
interest to pay. Then. too. the by
prcducts-thc skim milk and the man
bring in the real ana actual profit 70
the dairy.
Skim milk is essential for growing
calves and chickens. and barn yard NAH
ure is very essential to all soils. 10
matter how fertile. that are cropped rs
intensively as truck farm. With the
abundance of forage crops that can loo
grown under irrigation. and the cheap
labor AT hand there is very little need
of putting much of our high priced land
into permanent pasture. When the
winter truck crops have been harvested
the land can be devoted completely "a
the growing of forage .ropS Tor the
dairy. Cane is hcavy v.elder when
planted III rows and cultivated. II max
es the best of hay and enSilage. The
summer legumes will also furnish an cx-
cell.ni hay crop. If desired the second
crop can be plowed under 10 enrich the
soil. hut if possible IL is best 10 Craze
il off as il furnishes very valuable
grecu nitrogenous fed and over - per
cent Of the plant food is turned back q"
the soil.
When the truck farmer takes ul
dairyIng in the proper spirit he VIII ~
forced To lock ahead Ia tie welfare uf
his herd System AMI rotation VIII en-
ter into his scheme Of farming. lie Viii
not try continually a. follow = money
crop with another soil exhausting crop.
bur will grow lcgunes. which are 81
benefit to the soil. These lrguninonS
forage crops will he fed 10 his dairy
COWS. lie will stin further Enrich his
soil by spreading The manure made ~.
his herd on his farm.
Green manure as well ~ barnyard
manure is boon tn the truckers when
properly used. Before manr years til"
truck growers of the Valley will find
that the overtaxed and much irrigated
soils will 90 down rapidly III production
unless some form of manure or fcrtiliZ-
er i systematically and regularly re
turred Ia the soil.
In plowing under ieguminous crops
humus Il added to the soil IlumuS
gives the soil its life AMI water holding
capacity. \ soil may be rich in all the
essential mineral constituents but il
will produce very poor crops If u L.
lacking i'm humus. Ry actual test il
has been proven that the Valley soil
lacks about one-half of the organic mai
ter contaiLed in an average Iowa soil.
The virgin soil. Just after the brush has
been taken off of it. responds ahundani-
IL To cultivation. II is mellow and
loose "a the hand The long accumula
tion az the organic natter in :he sur
face soil and the continued growth of
Ieguminous trees. has accumulated a.
abundance Of available plant food.
Intensive cropping and irrigation soon
reduces the mellowness. The warm eli
mate and the drying winds soon deplcte
tContinued ON lage TwOl