The Young Farmer: Some Things He Should Know Part 9

The Illinois station has prepared a set of estimates upon the cost of producing an acre of maize, showing variations in cost due to differences in yield. In these estimates, instead of making a charge for the actual cost of manure or fertilizer applied, an estimate is made of the value of the plant food removed.

COST OF PRODUCING ONE ACRE OF MAIZE IN ILLINOIS AS MODIFIED BY YIELD.

Yield Yield Yield Yield 50 bu. 75 bu. 100 bu. 35 bu.

Disking $0.40 $0.40 $0.40 $0.40 Plowing 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Preparation .75 .75 .75 .75 Planting .15 .15 .15 .15 Seed .35 .35 .35 .35 Cultivation 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Plant food 1.02 1.53 2.04 .71 Husking 1.25 1.87 2.50 .88 Marketing 1.00 1.50 2.00 .70 ----- ----- ------ ----- Cost per acre $6.92 $8.55 $10.19 $5.94 Cost per bushel .14 .11 .10 .17

The average yield per acre in Illinois for 12 years preceding date of this estimate was 35 bushels per acre; the average price per bushel during the same period was 32 cents.

LABOR COST OF PRODUCING A BUSHEL OF GRAIN

Not counting rent of land or interest on capital invested in equipment, nor depreciation of soil fertility, it has been shown that under favorable conditions, the labor cost of growing and harvesting an acre of wheat or oats may be as low as $4.50, and that of maize as low as $5 per acre. a.s.suming the average labor cost of producing an acre of wheat or oats at $5.50 and of maize at $6 per acre, and taking the average yields per acre for a series of years to be 13.8 for wheat, 30.9 bushels for oats and 24.9 bushels for maize, the average labor cost per bushel will be: Wheat, 40 cents; oats, 17-1/2 cents; and maize, 28 cents.

The data given in this chapter are to be accepted as suggestive rather than as determinative. The chief purpose in presenting them is to place before the young farmer an appreciation of some of the problems involved in the production of the chief and basic agricultural commodities. The young farmer's success will be modified by the role which they occupy in his farming system and by his ability to adjust them to the economic conditions in which he may find himself placed. A thorough understanding of the principle underlying the data submitted will go far toward enabling him to make this adjustment, although none of the ill.u.s.trations given may have been obtained under conditions identical to his own.

CHAPTER XIV

THE PLACE OF INTENSIVE FARMING

The doctrine of the survival of the most fit applies equally to the field of biology and to the field of economics. The general introduction of vegetables and fruits into the human dietary has, by banishing the loathsome diseases of the Middle Ages, greatly increased human efficiency. It follows that those peoples or nations who employ vegetables and fruits in abundance, other things being equal, will be most fit to survive and must outstrip others less fortunately situated.

We may for this reason alone look forward to the increasing importance of vegetable growing and fruit raising; but there is a more obvious and perhaps more direct reason. There is in the production of vegetables, at least, a method of satisfying the dietetic needs of an increasing population. The employment of a part of the area now in cereals and forage crops for the production of potatoes, cabbages, legumes, roots and tomatoes is one of the most ready means of increasing the food supply. Whether such subst.i.tution will be advantageous to the human race depends, however, not so much upon the food returns from a given area of land as upon the products from a given amount or unit of labor.

KINDS OF HORTICULTURE

In that form of intensive agriculture to which is given the designation horticulture, there may be recognized several more or less distinct divisions, as fruit growing, market gardening, truck farming and floriculture. Each has its own special problems, based upon conditions of culture and market. While, as in all cla.s.sifications, there is more or less overlapping, the tendency is for them to become more and more distinct. The market gardener is the producer of vegetables for a local market, while the truck farmer produces similar products for a larger or wider distribution. The former grows a great variety of products, disposing of them in relatively small quant.i.ty, not infrequently directly to the consumer. The latter raises a few highly specialized crops which he sells in gross, usually through a commission merchant.

Truck farming has developed since 1860, in consequence of the growth of large cities, which require enormous supplies of vegetables of fairly uniform quality, and on account of the continuous demand for fresh vegetables as nearly as possible throughout the year. Watermelons and sweet potatoes can be raised in the southern states and laid down in New York City or Boston more cheaply than they can be raised in the suburbs of these cities, and, what is equally important, they will be of superior quality.

The extension of railway facilities, the introduction of refrigerator cars and the building of cold storage plants has made it possible to grow in one climate products to be consumed in another. Cold storage has enabled the fruit growers of California to supply the eastern markets with peaches and other fresh fruit. Chicago, to give only one example, begins to receive strawberries, cabbages and tomatoes from the sh.o.r.es of the Gulf of Mexico early in the year and continues to receive these products, until finally they are being shipped late in the summer from the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior. It is estimated that the change of locality from which these products come, travels northward at the rate of from 13 to 15 miles a day.

IMPORTANT FACTORS IN INTENSIVE FARMING

In the neighborhood of large cities, notably in the environs of Paris, market gardeners often produce their vegetables in made soil. The local character of the soil under such conditions is a matter of comparative indifference, since a board floor would answer every requirement as a resting place for the artificial soil. The large expense in preparing and constantly renewing the seed bed is only economically possible, however, where proximity to a large city out-weighs all other considerations.

Ordinarily climatic and soil adaptation are prime factors in successful horticulture--much more than in any other branch of agriculture. Each fruit has a restricted climatic range, and in most cases the number of soil types on which a given fruit can be made a commercial success is likewise limited. Thus, in general, apples and pears require heavier soils than peaches. Success in commercial apple growing requires even greater discrimination, since different varieties of apples demand different soil conditions. Thus Baldwins are grown the most successfully where a northern climate is modified by proximity to the Great Lakes. Rhode Island Greenings will succeed on soils too heavy for many other varieties. The York Imperial has not yet achieved a great commercial success save on one type of soil. Some varieties of apples are much more restricted in their adaptation than others. Thus, while the King is quite restricted, the Ben Davis has a fairly wide cultural adaptation. No one should plant an orchard until he has made a thorough study of his soil and climatic conditions and has received the highest possible expert a.s.sistance in choosing the varieties best adapted to his conditions.

There is an increasing tendency to specialize in vegetable growing.

The production of celery, onions, muskmelons, watermelons, cabbages, cauliflowers, tomatoes and sweet corn, to mention only some of the most striking examples, are becoming more and more localized. Even where vegetables and flowers are grown under gla.s.s, not only is each house devoted to a single species, but, notably in the case of roses, growers are restricting themselves more and more to a few varieties.

This is due to the fact that it is impossible to give in one house, or even in one establishment, the special set of conditions required for the most economic development of each species or variety of plant, just as in the open air the natural conditions are best adapted to a limited number of horticultural products.

So much being admitted, it follows that it is folly to attempt to grow plants under unfavorable climatic and soil conditions when competing in the same market with those possessing favorable ones. It is true, of course, that where one man fails another often succeeds, but this is no reason why a man should apply his talents under unfavorable circ.u.mstances. In fact, one of the important attributes of most successful men is their ability to recognize and apply their energies under conditions which will give them the most effective return for a given effort. There is no virtue in unnecessary toil. Progress in any enterprise, as progress in the human race, can be accomplished only in reducing the amount of labor required to produce a desired result.

All this is axiomatic. The purpose of emphasizing it here is that it is fundamental to the success of those who attempt to produce horticultural products. The necessity for the emphasis lies in the fact that these factors are so often disregarded. They are of most vital importance to the man who attempts to raise tree fruits. A mistake in the planting of celery, cabbage, or onions may be rectified the following season, but if a mistake is made in planting tree fruits, it may, as in the case of apples, require ten or even 20 years to discover the error.

The growth in commercial orcharding is due in part to the need of special knowledge and facilities for combating fungous diseases and insect enemies and to the better markets which a large production of uniform quality makes possible. While these are extremely important considerations, there is a more fundamental reason, which may in the long run exercise an even more potent influence. The location of the ordinary family orchard, so called, has been determined in almost every instance by the location of the farm buildings. There is no necessary relation between a good site for a farm dwelling and a suitable location for an orchard. It happens, therefore, that family orchards, taken as a whole, are not grown under as favorable conditions as are commercial orchards. This is a sufficient reason in itself, even if the other reasons above mentioned did not exist, why the commercial orchard must, in time, supplant these accidental plantings.

ADVANTAGES OF HORTICULTURE

The advantages of this intensive form of agriculture as compared with the more extensive forms discussed in Chapter XII may be stated as follows:

(1) A large gross income per acre may be obtained. An investigation of truck farming made some years ago indicated a gross return per acre about 40 times as great as that obtained on an average from all forms of agriculture.

(2) There is a large opportunity for the use of skill in raising and preparing products for market and an equal opportunity for the exercise of judgment in choosing the best markets.

DISADVANTAGES OF HORTICULTURE

(1) It requires considerable capital, particularly for machinery and labor. In the investigation in truck farming above mentioned the capital per acre invested in land, buildings, implements and teams was eight times that in the more general forms of agriculture.

(2) The products are for the most part readily perishable, requiring special facilities if held for any length of time.

(3) Growing out of above-mentioned fact, the market is easily overstocked at any given point, and hence prices often fluctuate widely.

(4) The yield is also quite variable, this cla.s.s of products being especially influenced by seasonal conditions and particularly subject to insect attacks and fungous diseases. Since large capital is invested in labor, the horticulturist may be involved in financial ruin through causes which he is unable to control.

(5) The labor question, in certain forms of horticulture more than in others, involves difficulties, among which is need of large quant.i.ties of cheap labor for short periods of time.

CHAPTER XV

REASONS FOR ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Animal products in the United States nearly equal in value those of all other farm products. Those soil supplies which const.i.tute the food of domestic animals are not implied. Practically every farm in the United States keeps domestic animals, either for their labor or their products, and nearly every household in both city and country keeps one or more animals for companionship. The domestication of animals has been a prime factor in the civilization of the human race by furnishing man with motive force by which he has been able to increase his productive power; by giving him a larger, better and more regular food supply; and by furnishing the materials for clothing, making it possible for him to inhabit temperate and even arctic climates.

Animals have not been less important in advancing the spiritual welfare of the human race, by inculcating habits of regularity and kindliness, which the care of domestic animals imposes.

INCREASE IN ANIMAL PRODUCTION

During the last half century animals have not increased in numbers as rapidly as have the inhabitants, but the value of animals has increased much more rapidly. While a part of this increase in value is due perhaps to a greater cost of production, a couple of ill.u.s.trations will suffice to show that part of this increase in value has been due to increase in the individual merit of the animals. In 1850 sheep in this country produced 2.4 pounds of wool per fleece; in 1910 they produced 6.9 pounds per fleece. Thus, while in 50 years sheep have not quite doubled in numbers, the production of wool has increased more than five times. This is a striking example of the value of improvement in breeding, because the improvement in wool production is due to the influence of heredity in far greater degree than to the effect of improved feeding. Wool, like the hair on one's head, is not greatly influenced by the food supply, a.s.suming it to be reasonably ample. Beef cattle offer another ill.u.s.tration of the way in which animal products have been increased without increasing the number of animals. Formerly beef cattle were matured in their fourth and fifth years, or even their sixth year. They are now placed upon the market in their second and third years. If animals can be matured in their third instead of their fifth year, it is obvious that a much smaller number of animals must be kept upon the farm in order to provide an equal annual supply for slaughter.

The increase in the size of our horses and the increased production of b.u.t.ter fat per cow which have occurred in the past half century are hardly less important factors in increasing the value of domestic animals and their products.

THE FUTURE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS

One of the most striking features of recent progress in domestic animals is the large increase in the number of horses and the still greater increase in their value. There are those who have believed that the invention of many beneficent forms of mechanical power would in time, if not in the very near future, supplant the use of animals as a motive power. The fact seems to be, however, that they merely augment man's resources and increase his opportunities without lessening his need for animal power.

It appears reasonable to suppose that there will be witnessed in the United States a gradual shifting of live stock centers. During the past half century, the great central West has been noted for the production of live stock, particularly for beef, mutton and wool, as an incident of its pioneer development. Already the production of large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep has disappeared for the central West, and is now confined largely to Texas and the mountain states. The northeastern states are unrivaled in the production of gra.s.s, and have considerable areas less fitted for tillage than the prairie states. In time, therefore, the tendency will be for the regions best fitted to rear animals to increase their numbers of breeding animals. On the other hand, those states which produce grain in relatively large abundance may give more attention to fattening animals and to the production of dairy products which can be shipped long distances. As time advances, the history of other countries will doubtless be repeated. A greater distinction between the breeding and rearing of animals, and their fattening and preparation for market will occur.

ADVANTAGES OF KEEPING LIVE STOCK

Since animals occupy a place in practically all farm organizations, it is desirable to state briefly the advantages and disadvantages which may accrue to any individual enterprise. The most striking advantages affecting the farmer are:

(1) Animals make it possible to use land that would otherwise be wholly or partly unproductive. Hillsides and mountain slopes, soil too stony to cultivate, fields traversed by winding streams, and land partially covered with trees, are familiar examples. As previously mentioned, only about one-half the farm area in this country is improved land, and only two-thirds, even of the improved land, is in cultivated crops. The other third of the improved land and a considerable portion of that half of the farm area known as unimproved land are utilized as pasture for domestic animals.

(2) They make use of farm crops which would be entirely or partially wasted. Straw, the stalks of maize, clover and alfalfa hay and other leguminous forage crops would not have sufficient value to pay for raising if animals were not kept to convert them into useful products.

In fact, the usefulness of a given animal may be judged by the economy with which he converts these otherwise useless products into food or other materials for the use of man. The most profound studies are being made to determine the conditions under which this takes place.