18 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



Buildings. The buildings should be constructed from the point 

 of view of economy in expense and time and for convenience in uce. 

 The horse and cow barns should be so located as to prove economical 

 of time in getting to the fields. The wagon shed should be so con- 

 structed that the teams may be driven through the shed, saving time 

 and labor in pulling or pushing the wagons into place. 



Farm Plans. It is often said that a farm can not be planned 

 as other kinds of business are; that the vicissitudes of weather, the 

 visitations of insect pests or -plant diseases, the low prices that may 

 prevail when the farmer has to sell, and other unforeseen circum- 

 stances may interfere to make all farm plans almost worthless from 

 a practical standpoint. This is often quite true with reference to 

 plans made for a particular year. But when the plans are based 

 on average conditions for a long series of years, then the objections 

 do not hold. For while it cannot be told what may happen during 

 any particular season, it can be foretold with considerable accuracy 

 what the average conditions will be over a series, say, of ten years. 

 Plans for the farm must represent and be based on average condi- 

 tions and not on single years. The farm plan must be made for a 

 period of years and not for a single year. In replanning a farm 

 it is essential that a few fundamental points in farming be kept 

 constantly in mind: (1) The plan should provide a reasonable 

 reward for the labor and capital invested. (2) The fertility of the 

 farm should be maintained or increased. (3) The plan must be 

 suited to the capabilities of the owner for carrying it out. 



It is assumed that in order to replan a farm for profit it is 

 necessary to consider the capabilities of the farmer to put the new 

 plan into effect. This, in general, will render it necessary to recom- 

 bine the phases of farming with which he is already familiar or to 

 bring in new features which are not very dissimilar to the ones he 

 is already accustomed to. (F. B. 370 V; F. B. 432.) 



Cropping System. While the cropping system must depend 

 largely upon soil, climate and proximity to market, it should be 

 carefully planned so as to conserve the soil as much as possible. 

 Where cereals are the principal crops, a system found to work ad- 

 mirably embraces corn, wheat (two years), grass for hay, pasture 

 and corn. (F. B. 432.) A short system is of wheat, clover and 

 potatoes. This has several advantages. In the first place it is a 

 short rotation, each of the crops coming once in three years on the 

 same land. Then the potato crop is a strong money crop, the wheat 

 a fairly good one, and the clover an excellent crop for maintaining 

 fertility. Moreover, it is necessary to plow but once in three years. 

 Perhaps the greatest difficulty with this rotation is that in some 

 years the potato crop is so late in harvesting that it is not practicable 

 to get the wheat in early enough to get sufficient growth to carry it 

 safely through the winter, and the wheat crop is often light on this 

 account. The clover is sown in the wheat in the spring and covered 

 with a spike-tooth harrow. The first crop of clover is harvested and 

 fed to the work horses and the cows. The second crop is usually 

 mowed and left on the ground. This crop, together with the later 



