DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 337 



the southern farmer, and covvpeas and clover and bluegrass more cheap- 

 ly than the northern farmer. No country on the face of the globe can 

 produce, so abundantly, a greater variety of grains and grasses, and 

 produce them more cheaply than the farmers of Missouri. All we need 

 then to succeed, and to succeed well, is to concentrate our efforts in the 

 right direction. 



But what has all this to do with the future of the dairy industry 

 in ^Missouri? Why, good feed and good cattle are the foundation of 

 the Hve stock industry, and the dairy industry is a very important part 

 of the live stock industry. What w^e want in ^Missouri is the highest 

 possible developement of the live stock industry and to have that we 

 must develop all its branches including the dairy industry. There should 

 be no war between the farmer who is producing beef and the one who 

 is in the dairy business ; there is room for both, and the man must be 

 governed by circumstances when he chooses between the two. 



What are some of the conditions in Missouri that should determine 

 which of these branches of the live stock industry a man should take 

 up? The average size farm according to the last census report was a 

 little less than one hundred and twenty acres. There are 154,952 farm- 

 ers in' this State each of whose farms contains less than loo acres of 

 land. The question arises how can the farmer manage to make the 

 most out of one hundred and twenty acres of good land, the average size 

 farm ? 



Let us see what he can do in the dairy business. Set aside fifty 

 acres for pasture which, if properly taken care of, should keep twenty- 

 five cows in summer; set ofl: ten acres for vegetables, fruits and build- 

 ings and you have left sixty acres for cultivation ; this may be divided 

 into three fields of tw^enty acres each and a crop rotation adapted to suit 

 the soil and local conditions. A rotation that might be profitably car- 

 ried out in many parts of this State would be corn, wheat, clover. The 

 corn cut and put in silo, the land sowed in wheat without rebreaking, 

 and wheat sowed in clover. The money obtained for the wheat and 

 clover seed crops should be put into other feeds and the benefits returned 

 to the land in the manure. Where clover does not do well then the 

 rotation might be as follows : Corn, wheat and cowpeas. Corn put in 

 silo same as before ; wheat sowed after corn, then after the wheat has 

 been harvested put the land in cowpeas getting a good crop of hay the 

 same year. Then without plowing put the land in wheat or rye for 

 pasture, pasture until middle of May then plow the w-heat down and sow 

 cowpeas again. This rotation will give in three years one crop of corn, 

 one of wheat, two of cowpeas, and green pasture from wheat or rye 



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