The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1923-10-25
Farm Notes
BF z 3. Ferris

TIE rsry best pzr1 q TIA field made
Z. he rate q . e0a per ARE
Ills hoEeTer- was Ehere tne stand
Wa perfsct ard zhere III grOEth
RID bsen ussxln1zE1- An aeczr1-s
record was keys q IKE cost of
yu.ttzg ttis sorgEzr- wne1 gToEn-
5n.o -he sIJo- While I. grew more
thar tn feet high II the best places
i wzs Cur Ink 70 harvest II be-
fore zny 81 tbe cane blew down and
when ali the cutting eOzld De done
n -he fed with : corn harvester
1hieh greatly ret1esd the expense Of
harvesting over what It might have
been II this sorghum had been blown
atout By the wind as 90 frequently
happens All labor for hands, horses,
gasoline and Oh used IN the tractors,
zere charged 10 this silage, but ~e
I'D not charge wear and tear or
rental on the machinery itself
A finally completed, We stored
90 Tors Of siIzge On 100 ron siso
and charged against II 1882 for
the cost Of cutting, hauling and
placing In silo, or al the rate q
placing in silo. or al the rate u
about s1.s0 per ton Of silage. The
lab0r used was paid 20 cents per
hour for common labor up 10 s.
TER day for skilled labor. The
bulk Of this labor was from college
students who worked At odd times
q they could leave their classes. OF
course they were unskilled and the
cost might nave been reduced some
II labor trained for the work at
hand had been available. However,
we have no criticism 10 make about
the way the boys worked, for they
did as well as any labor could nave
done under the circumstances.
A number OF years ago We super
intended the filling Of siio with
sorghum silage On the Eastman Gard
Ter farm near Laurel. and there kept
q record Of the cost and found that
It pat - tons Of sorghum silage
into The silo the cost was s83.33. or
At the rate II s1.35 per ton. This,
however. was at time when COM
mon labor was paid IS cents per
day and $500 day was charged
for skilled labor, while greases and
= sere much cheaner than the
prevailing prices now. No harvester
was Used for cutting the sorghum
a. Laurel and this was done with
corn knives handled by individual
laborors. II a harvester had been
used at Laurel the expense would
have been considerably less and Z
would have been considerably more
here if the sorghum mad been cut
by hand.
A good many people doubt the
advisability Of the use OF silo II
South Mississippi and in our ex
perience in Pearl River County We
have seen a number OF silos built
and never filled more than one OF
two times. We do not consider
that this is any reason why 1t l;
not advisable to use the silo be
cause so few Of the people we have
seen try them were really in earnest
about keeping up dairy work. They
went into it largely as a fad ant
when they found it was no gentle
mans job they got out OF it as
gracefully as they could, finding
easier ways to make a living. W.
have no criticism to offer for this
we all make our living the easiest
way possible and it was to the
credit Of other men that they hac
the ability and opportunity TO &c
better.
Our people, however, have seer
spoiled when it comes 10 doing the
hard work Of the farm. Necessity
has not vet driven them to 1t anc
NAV not for few years to come
but we feel certain tht when We dc
not have virgin timber to fall back
on some Of us may have to do thC
work of the farm, and when this
is true we feel that dairying vii
be among the best of these lines ant
that our people will then follow il
and perhaps use silage.
. 1t is true that first c'ass nay
, crops are good substitutes for sil-
age and if lespedeza would do every
. wear what it has done in 1923 oul
farmers might get the bulk OF the
! roughage for cattle from this great
. crop, but we cannot expect it to
do so well during dry seasons, noi
does it stimulate the flow of milk
TO the extent that succulent silige
will do. This silage takes the
place of green grass to an extent
and we all kno wthe wonderful IN
Thence of these succulent materials