CHAPTER V 



CROP MANAGEMENT 



OW TO ORGANIZE A FARM BUSINESS so that it shall be profitable and otherwise satis- 

 factory is the fundamental problem in agriculture. It is to be feared that in the past 

 generation we have placed relatively too much emphasis on information ; and, in fact, 

 this danger has not yet passed. This is a consequence of the remarkable discoveries of 

 recent years and the rapid diffusion of facts. The best farmer is not the one who knows 

 the most " science," but the one who is best able to organize the facts and the business 

 into a harmonious system or 

 . plan. The principles that un- 

 derlie such organization are 

 now beginning to be apprehended, and we 

 think we see the possibilities of a sound 

 '\ farm philosophy, with wise generalizations 

 from the mass of rapidly accumulating facts and 

 practices. Farm management will be a fertile subject 

 for writers in the years to come. 



The basis of farm organization is the cropping 

 plan or the crop management. On this project or 

 scheme rests the maintenance of fertility and conse- 

 quently of productiveness, the subsistence of live- 

 stock, the economy of labor, the type of business. 

 The crop management must be considered in reference 

 to the entire layout and design of the farm enterprise. 

 In the article following this Editorial it is so dis- 

 cussed in the approximate proportion that the author 

 thinks it should hold. The article covers some of the ground that is specialized in Vol. I, but what 

 repetition there is will distinguish the points that probably need special emphasis. 



The rotation of crops. 



Crop management is a scheme, not a lot of practices. 

 An important part of it is the rotating or alternating of 

 crops on given areas. This phase of the subject may now 

 be given a general treatment, inasmuch as it is not fully 

 treated as to underlying reasons in other articles. 



All crop management, and crop rotation in particular, 

 has been greatly changed by the introduction of machin- 

 ery. Larger areas of cereal crops can now be grown 

 because of the use of the self-binder as compared with the 

 cradle and sickle. Larger areas can also be handled in 

 intertilled crops, and those that require much heavy labor 

 in the harvesting. Pictures of some of the old American 

 tools will contrast this fact (Pigs. 104 to 119) by suggest- 

 ing some of the kinds of devices that were formerly in use 

 and the former state of invention in farm machinery. 



On the other hand, the present scarcity of acceptable 

 farm labor is tending to reduce the area of crops that 

 require much care. Wherever grass is a foundation crop, 

 the tendency is to grow less of the tilled crops. 



Fig. 104. Crop labor, as often perfonned in Europe. 

 Drawn from life, in Bavaria. 



Fig. 105. Grain sickle, once used 

 in New En^and. The sickle 

 from which this illustration 

 is made was purchased in 

 1835 by a man, who is still on 

 the farm, when he was 15 

 years old. With it he reaped 

 many acres of rye. When he 

 was 17, he was reaping rye on 

 a mountain side and laid the 

 sickle down by a iire; the 

 handle was burned off. The 

 length of the blade from top 

 of shank to tip, following the 

 curve, is 26V^ inches, great- 

 est width %-inch. A cross- 

 section is shown at e. The 

 . owner of this sickle has lived 

 in three eras of harvesting 

 devices: The hand sickle: the 

 grain cradle: the reaper and 

 binder. In this period, crop 

 management has undergone 

 a complete change. 



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