FACTORS OF SUCCESSFUL FARMING NEAR MONETT, MO. 21 
of permanent pasture, 5 acres for roads and fences, 2 acres for yards 
and lots, and 10 acres for woods. If much of the farm is rough land, 
the area would have to be proportionately larger. 
Such a farm would be particularly advantageous for a farmer with 
one or two growing boys large enough to take part in the farm work ; 
also for the farmer who is growing old and is no longer able to make 
a full hand at the heavy work on the farm. With one dependable 
hand hired by the year and the use of four-horse implements as far 
as practicable, the hired man could do nearly all the field work of 
such a farm, leaving the owner to look after the live stock, the straw- 
berries, garden, and orchard, and to keep in repair the buildings, 
fences, implements, etc. The farm family could tend the poultry. 
Such a farm would have the equivalent of about eighteen 1,000- 
pound animals. These animals would produce approximately 180 
tons of manure in a year. The bulk and value of this manure could 
be increased greatly by the liberal use of straw as bedding. By 
proper management 100 tons of mixed manure and straw could be 
distributed on the fields every year. This would give an average of 
2 J tons for every acre of corn on the farm. Such use of the manure 
should have a very important influence in keeping up the fertility of 
the soil. 
The wheat straw produced on this farm should be returned to the 
land in some way. As much of it as possible should be used as bed- 
ding for the farm animals, and in this way be put into the manure. 
This gives a chance to rot the straw before it is put back on the 
land, a very important matter, since partially rotted straw is much 
better for the land than fresh straw. Such of it as can not be used 
in this way may be scattered directly on the fields. A very thin coat- 
ing of straw can be spread upon wheat during the winter. A better 
plan is to scatter straw in the fall of the year on land that is to be 
devoted to corn the next year and then disk it into the soil before 
winter sets in. 
Each field will be in wheat three times in succession, the first time 
following corn. After the third crop of wheat has been harvested 
from the field it would be a good plan to sow some crop immediately. 
It would not be necessary to plow for this crop, but it would be ad- 
visable to run a disk harrow over the land. The crop might consist 
of corn or sorghum sown thickly, or it might be cowpeas or soy 
beans. At some convenient time in the late summer or early winter 
this crop should be plowed under. It might be pastured for a while 
before plowing. By using all these means of adding humus-making 
material to the soil, and then by the use of such fertilizers for wheat 
as local experience has proved to be most profitable, the yields of 
corn and wheat might easily be raised considerably above the average 
for the region. 
