SPECIAL FARM TOPICS 255 



is 8 pounds of pure clover seed per acre (though 1 to 2 quarts of 

 timothy seed may be added) ; hauls material and builds fences free 

 of expense to the estate, and applies the whitewash and paint fur- 

 nished by the estate. 



While the owner supplies all the buildings necessary for a gen- 

 eral farm, he does not provide buildings which would be of use 

 primarily for the tenant. Thus, if the tenant wanted to engage 

 especially in dairying, the owner would derive no direct financial 

 benefit from the industry and hence the tenant would have to put 

 up, out of his own resources, such extra buildings as he might need. 



In the division of returns the owner gets half of all the wheat, 

 oats, and corn grown on the place, delivered free by the tenant at the 

 elevator or nearest market. The tenant gets the remaining half of 

 the oats, wheat, and corn, and in addition he has all of the hay and 

 pasture, all the cornstalks, and all the straw for his stock. In case, 

 however, any hay, straw, or stover is sold off the place the owner 

 gets half the proceeds. In addition to this, the tenant is permitted 

 to pasture a small flock of sheep on the wheat fields when the ground 

 is frozen, from December to the last of March. This is of no advan- 

 tage to the owner, but is of distinct advantage to the tenant. 



It is a wise landowner who looks beyond a particular year to the 

 future welfare and productiveness of the farm and makes terms with 

 the tenant which tend to return to the soil each year a reasonable 

 Droportion of the plant food and humus removed and at the same 

 time allows the tenant as large a measure of independence as possi- 

 ble. The simple provision requiring the tenant to pay the landlord 

 half of all the money received for roughage sold off the farm, but 

 require nothing if the roughage is fed to stock or left on the place, 

 leaves the matter open to the discretion of the tenant, but inevitably 

 tends, nevertheless, to the maintenance of a large number of stock 

 on the place and the consequent production of a large supply of 

 manure for the continued renewal of the productiveness of the soil. 



It is now seen why the five-field system is a little more in favor 

 with the tenant than the four-field system, since it gives him more 

 pasture and hay, all of which he may have for feeding to stock. In 

 this the tenant gets both the food value and the manurial value of 

 the forage grown, while the owner gets only half of the increased 

 grain yields obtained as a result of applying the manure produced 

 by feeding this roughage on the place. 



Live-Stock Management. In a system of farming such as is 

 practiced on these farms, where the tenants are generally free to 

 follow their own course in all matters except as to the cropping sys- 

 tem, there is bound to be a wide variation in the management of live 

 stock. Some of the tenants are inclined toward dairying, others 

 toward the keeping of beef cattle, some toward the maintenance of 

 as much stock as possible, even to the extent of purchasing consider- 

 able feed, while others keep as little stock as they think will economi- 

 cally consume the roughage raised. 



On one of the farms, consisting of about 275 acres, which 

 seemed to be typical of the average, there were kept about 9 head of 



