A CORN-BELT FARMING SYSTEM. / 



after the season for field work opens. The fall litters should be far- 

 rowed about September 1, as this is another time of year when 

 work would not be pressing. 



It will be seen that this S3^stem of managing a farm is capable of 

 great possibilities in extending the area that one man can handle. 

 For small farms it probably has less value ; but it fits well into any 

 scheme of farming medium and large acreages. It is especially 

 suited to farms on which the labor conditions are difficult to meet 

 and to farms that a.re in a low state of fertility. The method of 

 disposing of half the corn and all the rye is such that it builds up the 

 soil rapidly, and the labor saved in allowing the hogs to harvest 

 these crops and a great part of the clover is a very important advan- 

 tage over the ordinary system. 



THE RYE CROP. 



One of the very distinctive features of this farm system is the rye 

 crop and the part it plays in the general details of management. 

 There is no other crop that will fit in so well as rye and none that 

 will take its place in carrying out this system in its most desirable 

 form in the corn belt. In the first place it is a fall grain, which is 

 absolutely necessary in order to get the most desirable distribution 

 of labor. Wheat might fill this requirement, but there are many 

 features about wheat that make it very much less desirable for this 

 purpose than rye. Wheat is less certain to yield a good crop, and 

 rye can be sown much later in the fall, if necessary, with greater 

 assurance of success. Wheat can be hogged down in small acreages 

 as well as rye, provided it is eaten quickly, before it has time to waste. 

 The straw of wheat will break near the ground and allow the grain 

 to lie flat on the ground, whereas rye straw breaks higher up and near 

 the heads and thus keeps the grain off the soil, preventing it from 

 rotting before the hogs have had time to gather it. When allowed 

 to stand after it is ripe, wheat will shatter out, while rye will be re- 

 tained in the heads until very late in the fall or early winter. 



There is some objection to rye when used as outlined in this system 

 in the dry regions of the West, on account of the grain remaining so 

 hard that the hogs will not eat it, and, therefore, wheat for such sec- 

 tions is more desirable for hogging down than rye. But in the corn 

 belt there is no trouble of this kind, provided tlje rye crop is allowed 

 to stand in the field unmolested for a period -of two weeks after it is 

 ripe. When this is done, the beards lose their sharpness, the grain 

 softens and becomes more palatable, and the hogs waste no time in 

 taking hold of their new feed. This wait of two weeks is absolutely 

 necessary, or there will be great disappointment in the hogging down 

 of rye. Many have condemned the practice merely because this pre- 

 caution was not observed. Another mistake that is often made is to 

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