2S STATE BOARD Ot' AGRICULTURE. 



tion that the second crop of corn will be heavier than the first. In this 

 sj stem of farming we should contemplate raising our own stock, even to 

 horses. In the matter of raising cattle, we should contemplate raising 

 the calves on separated or skim milk. Turning butter fat in the shape 

 of whole milk, down the throat of a lusty growing calf is not to be com- 

 mended as an economical measure. It is not likely to injure the young 

 animal, but, like plowing under clover hay, it may be classed as extrav- 

 agant farming. The lacking fat in warm separated milk for a young calf 

 may be supplied by adding cooked flax seed meal, and older calves may 

 safely be fed whole grain so soon as they eat hay and ruminate. The 

 farm cows, therefore, should help out to a noticeable degree the farm in- 

 come by their work in the dairy. 



THE HOG IN MIXED FARMING 



should invariably be found. This animal is the natural farm gleaner. 

 He very successfully harvests the wastes of general farming. He suc- 

 cessfully gleans the grain fields and harvests the cull fruits. Stale gen- 

 eral supplies he removes from sight, and when his nose is ornamented 

 with a ring, he renders a fair account for his presence in a clover field. 



SHEEP SHOULD ALWAYS BE RECKONED 



among the very desirable farm stock. Weeds, briars and brush disap- 

 pear from the farm soon after the advent of the sheep. In fact the man 

 engaged in mixed farming, not having his eggs all in one basket, if he 

 falls usually lights on his feet. There are but few days in the year when 

 he has nothing to sell. In selling, however, it should be the aim to sell 

 the finished product. Make the stuff ripe. Sell a high class product. If 

 roughage is to be sold^ sell straw. Don't sell clover hay or corn stalks. 

 Should you desire to buy additional feed stuffs to help soil fertility, buy 

 wheat, bran, cotton-seed meal and oil cake. The man in mixed farming 

 may safely maintain a small orchard, and may profitably grow a few acres 

 of potatoes, or even sugar beets on the side. Many of this class of farm- 

 ers grow beans with satisfactory results. 



The farmer engaged in mixed husbandry may not produce such ex- 

 treme amounts as are shown in some cases by the specialist, but he can 

 with ease turn off a product of the highest quality from a commercial 

 standpoint, and at a minimum net cost of product to challenge competi- 

 tion. In the highly important item of maintaining soil fertility, no other 

 system is in the running with him. 



D-ISCUSSION. 



LED BY HON. PETER VOORHEIS, PONTIAC, OAKLAND COUNTY. 



Wft are not in farming for fun but for finance, and hence have adopted mixed 

 farming. Success depends on skill in management. If the details are properly 

 looked after, success is reasonably certain. 



Mr. Hinds does things on a large scale; this we all of us cannot do. We must 

 do things in a smaller way and get our funds from the carefully husbanded 

 products. 



One of the first lessons we must learn is to make our farms produce at a mini- 

 mum cost. The Rural New Yorker reports the experience of a farmer who was 



