92 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



chicken manure was put on one-fourth of an acre — that will be plenty to 

 grow any kind of vegetables for the next two years. Potatoes were also 

 planted on the hill side, beginning on the tenth of March. They froze 

 down during the cold snap after being up. I gave them good care after 

 the freeze and they came right on again. Among the trees in the 

 orchards, where smudge piles were burning all night, the trees got through 

 all right. I planted popcorn between the rows. From the second to the 

 fifteenth of June, for two weeks, I market early potatoes at 3I/2 cents 

 per pound. Among the rest of the potatoes German millet was sown 

 before the last time of plowing. The latter part of May we got good 

 rains. After the millet got up both crops got along well. By the 

 10th of July the potato was made and the millet was ready to cut 

 August 15th and taken off the ground. The potatoes were harvested 

 after the millet was removed. The ground was double disked and ready 

 to be sown to alfalfa by September 1. Those potatoes came in com- 

 petition in state and interstate shows and were winners wherever they 

 went. Last season I conducted a variety "race" of 18 varieties, early 

 and late potatoes, with two applications of nitrate of soda. A ten days' 

 to two weeks' earlier market in potatoes. at 31/2 cents per pound is a 

 good investment. I find nitrate of soda benefits all crops, but it does 

 not pay to use it on all crops. Its cost makes it unprofitable on cheap 

 crops. Such crops as early potatoes, turnips, table beets and tomatoes, 

 to be profitable, must be forced as much as possible to get them in the 

 early market when the prices are high, and $5 spent in nitrate of soda 

 makes from .1^20 to $30 profit, and it takes no more labor nor land. 



To my mind, the most unfavorable seasons are the most educating 

 ones and the most profitable ones for the small farmer, provided he 

 doesn't keep his eggs all in one basket. To secure the best results the 

 small farmer must diversify his crops. He nuist have an income from 

 a variety of crops, because a single crop may fail in some years to meet 

 a good market. Growing many crops of fruit, vegetables, grain and 

 grasses he must have a broader knowledge in the management of all 

 soils and have no waste spot on his farm. While the small farmer 

 successfully solves the problems on his own farm his experience becomes 

 broader, naturally makes him a broader man, and as he broadens he takes 

 his children into partnership in the work and they become broader in 

 doing common, useful work that will be a great advantage to them in 

 their future life. 



The one crop system with no rotation is Ii;irinrul \o the extensive 

 farmer, but all the more so for the intensive farmer. Tlie more intensive 

 the system the more necessary experience becomes. The getting of this 



