FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



the houses and allow the birds to pasture 

 it down. By moving the feed hoppers 

 furtlier into the rape every week or two 

 this practice is fairly satisfactory and, of 

 course, economical of labor. For men 

 with limited land it is not as good a prac- 

 tice as growing the rape in rows outside 

 the range and feeding it freshly cut each 

 day. How green feed is produced is not 

 of great consequence. The crux of the 

 matter is that chickens need abundant 

 green succulent feed and if they got it 

 and were raised on relatively clean land 

 with a fair degree of sanitation much of 

 our troubles of nutritional origin as 

 paralysis probably is, would be elimin- 

 ated. Furthermore, the pullets would go 

 into laying quarters in better health, 

 yellow legged, smooth feathered and in 

 shape to maintain egg production without 

 fear of fall colds and pox. 



— Wm. C. Monahan. 



WEED CONTROL MORE IMPORTANT 

 THAN SOIL MULCH 



Professor H. C. Thompson of the New 

 York Agricultural College has been con- 

 ducting experiments in cultivation for the 

 past six years. We quote: 



"There seems to be a common belief 

 among farmers and popular agricultural 

 writers that the main benefit derived 

 from cultivation is moisture conservation 

 through the maintenance of a .soil mulch. 

 Results of many experiments with corn 

 and a few with other crops fail to justify 

 this belief, but, on the other hand, show 

 quite clearly that weed control is the 

 main advantage derived from cultivation. 



In order to secure information on the 

 benefits derived from cultivation of 

 vegetables, experiments have been carried 

 on with beets, carrots, onions, cabbage, 

 celery, and tomatoes. The results show 

 that weed control was of vastly greater 

 importance than the maintenance of a 

 soil mulch. In order to determine the 

 value of the soil mulch one set of three 

 areas was cultivated once a week and a 

 corresponding set was not cultivated at 

 all but weeds were kept under control by 

 scraping the surface of the soil with a 

 sharp hoe when there was need for it. 

 To determine the effects of weeds on yield 

 and other factors, a set of three areas 

 of beets were allowed to grow up to 

 weeds. These plats were neither culti- 

 vated nor scraped. Weed areas were also 

 included in the planting of carrots in 

 1920. 



The effects of the soil mulch on yield 

 is shown in the comparison of the yields 

 of the cultivated and .scraped areas. 

 With carrots the average increase in 

 yield from cultivation, as compared to 

 scraping, was only 2.7 per cent. The in- 

 creases for cultivation of beets was 4.25 

 per cent; for onions 7.7 per cent; for 

 cabbage no increase; for celery 26.5 per 

 cent; and for tomatoes 1.6 and 1.1 per 



cent respectively for trained and un- 

 trained plants. The difference in yield 

 between the cultivated and .scraped areas 

 is not significant except in the case of 

 celery where the cultivation consistently 

 resulted in an increase in yield. 



When we consider the effects of weeds 

 on yield the story is different. The yield 

 of beets was increased 6.50 per cent by 

 keeping down the weeds, whereas it was 

 increased only 4.25 per cent by maintain- 

 ing a soil mulch. In 1920 the yield of 

 carrots on the cultivated and scraped 

 areas was nine times greater than on the 

 weed areas. 



During the past five years the moisture 

 content of the soil has been determined in 

 all of the areas to the depth of 30 inches 

 in 1921-1924 and to the depth of 18 inches 

 in 1925. The results of these determina- 

 tions indicate that the importance of the 

 soil mulch is conserving moisture has 

 been greatly overemphasized. Sometimes 

 the mulch conserved moisture and at 

 other times it did not. Even when the 

 moisture content for the season averaged 

 higher in the cultivated plats it did not 

 always follow that the yield was higher 

 than on the scraped plats. This might be 

 explained by the fact that cultivation 

 soon after a light rain may result in loss 

 of moisture due to breaking up and dry- 

 ing out of the surface before the water 

 has had a chance to penetrate much be- 

 low the depth cultivated. It would seem 

 wise to delay cultivating, after a light 

 rain (less than one-half inch) until the 

 moisture has had a chance to penetrate 

 below the surface two or three inches. 



One of the advantages often claimed 

 for the soil mulch is that it increases the 

 absorption and retention of heat. To 

 check this under our conditions, temper- 

 ature records were secured in 1923, 1924 

 and 1925 at the depths of 3 and 6 inches 

 in cultivated and scraped areas of beets 

 and in similar uncropped areas. 

 Throughout all three seasons the temper- 

 ature averaged higher in the scraped 

 plats at both depths. 



After studying the experimental re- 

 sults it seems safe to say that if sufficient 

 cultivation is given to keep the weeds un- 

 der control one need not worry much 

 about the soil mulch. The best time to 

 destroy weeds is before they have become 

 well established. During the latter part 

 of the growing season more harm than 

 good may be done by cultivation, especial- 

 ly if weeds are not troublesome. Cultiva- 

 tion when the plants are large and the 

 roots are well distributed results in the 

 destruction of many roots. DEEP CUL- 

 TIVATION IS ESPECIALLY HARM- 

 FUL at this time for the deeper the cul- 

 tivator goes the more roots are destroyed. 

 In addition to this the destruction of the 

 roots and the drying out of the soil, 

 makes it impossible for the plants to get 

 the nutrients from the cultivated sur- 

 face." 



POULTRY SUMMARY 



The following are the leading flocks in 

 egg production for April : 



REGARDING FARM TAXES 



Reports from many districts indicate 

 that local taxes continue to be a heavy 

 burden on agriculture. A recent study 

 of this subject by the Department of 

 Agricultural Economics at Cornell Uni- 

 versity, on farms in New York State 

 shows that farm taxes changed very little 

 from 1887 to 1910. Quoting from this 

 report they find that "Beginning in 1911 

 they have increased until 1924 and were 

 then about two and one-third times high- 

 er than in the years 1910 to 1914. Dur- 

 ing the war prices on farm products were 

 relatively higher than taxes. When 

 prices fell taxes continued to rise so that 

 in 1924 it was necessary for the farmer 

 to sell 81% more farm products than was 

 required before the war in order to pay 

 his taxes. 



Taxes paid by farmers are primarily 

 for schools and for wage payments for 

 various local services. Since the local 

 taxes are the primary taxes that farmers 

 pay, the assumption is often made that 

 Continued on page 10. column 1 



