Milford chronicle., 1926-09-10

plan followed IN the mluule west
that the biggest farms pay the most
money in general results; that those
farms which operate under broad |
plan of intensive activity are the
best financial producers, are some |
of the very important and valuable |
details obtained from survey OF 90 |
typical farms in what is known as
the AIiddletOwn area. The facts OBJ ]
tanned in this survey made under the
direction of R. o. Bausman, county
agent for New Castle county, and as
sisted by the University of Delaware
extension service and the United
States Department of Agriculture,
and the county agents, has just be-
come public property.
1t was the idea of the survey made
more than a year ago, to determine
where farming methods could be inn
proved and establish, on an und1s-
puted foundation, what crops paid
best.
In the item dealing with the har-
yesting of corn, it was established by
experiments made in this state that
the old-time way and the method
which almost every farmer in Della
ware uses, the average cost OF the
man labor in harvesting field corn,
was $11.56 per acre. Compared with
this was the new way such as IS
used by the farmers in the corn belt
of the middle west, in which the ay-
erage cost of the man labor was
$3.50 per acre. In commenting on
the method used in Delaware and
that in the middle west, Mr.. Baus-
man said:
Field corn is a crop well adapted
to the soil type and climatic cond1-
tions of the MiddletOwn area. 1t IS
marketed largely through the farm
livestock, although a portion OF the
crop is sold. According to the sur
Yey, 10 per cent of the total farm re-
ceipts of the area in 1924 was from
the sale of field corn. The major
problem encountered in growing
field corn in this area was the high
cost of labor in harvesting the crop.
1t has previously been shown that
the cost of farm labor had increased
about one-third during the period OF
1914 to 1924, and that the cost OF a
farm practice in this area that is ex-
travagant in the use of labor, is the
method of harvesting field corn. This
method of harvesting corn was
adopted when labor was cheap and
plentiful, and has not been readjust-
ed to meet the existing conditions OF
the scarcity and high cost of farm
labor. Two demonstrations con-
Quoted by the extension service OF
the University of Delaware in 1925
showed that the average cost per
acre of man labor in harvesting held
corn. through the use of the present
method, was S11.56 but the average
cost per acre of man labor in har-
vesting field corn from the standing
stalks on two big farms in the West
was $3.50.
I'm recommending the harvesting
of field corn from the standing stalks
I appreciate that there are severa
factors entailed which are OF vita
importance in crop and livestock
MANAGEMENT in this area. The t1rs
Droblem encountered was, wha
roughages for the dairy herds woul(
replace corn fodder when the corr
is harvested from the STANDING
stalks? 1t is appreciated that tn
value of hay in the East is appre
ciably greater than in the Mlddl
West where this method of harvest
ing corn is in general use. IN
ouestion is. whether or not the tod
der had a value for dairy feed equa
to the difference in the cost OF har
vesting the crop by the two meth
DDS.
1T is a pertinent fact that the val
lie of the fodder for dairy feed wa
not lost when the crops on thes
two farms were harvested from Tn
standing stalks. AS soon as the cor
was husked the dairy herds had ac
cess to the stalks until about tn
first of January. With the exceptio
of the loss of some of the blades, tn
value of fodder as a dairy roughag
was conserved. Each of these farm
grew soy beans for a cash croI
When the soy beans were threshe
the straw was blown into the NOV
The additional cost of saving tn
bean straw was small. After tn
dairy herds had finished grazing tn
stalks. the feeding of soy bean
straw as coarse roughage was be
gun. These two farmers conslde
that soy bean straw was superior I
corn fodder as supplements
coarse roughage for dairy cattle.
obviously each herd was given
good quality hay in addition to eth
er the corn fodder or the soy bea
straw. These two farms effected ao
ditional economics in labor costs, l
avoiding hauling the corn fodder II
to the "cow pounds" and back int
the fields in the form of manure I'd
following spring. Mention has ne
been made of the better conserve
ton of fertility of the stalks.
"The second problem encountere
in harvesting field corn by the ne
method was, what crops would TO
low field corn in the rotation? OF
yiously, wheat could not follow tiel
corn in the rotation when the cor
was harvested from the stalks. IN
two farms carrying on these demon
strations supplanted the usual tiv'
year crop rotation with a four-yef
crop rotation. This rotation reduce
the acreage of wheat. The impo
tance of supplementing, and on SON
farms Of reducing the acreage
wheat by growing more of the be
ter paying cash crops, is apparen
According to crop rotation that
being carried out on these two farm
field corn was followed by SO
beans, tomatoes, and sugar corr
The seed bed for these crops wa
prepared by cutting up the stalH
with a disc harrow and ploWln
them under.