The First Book of Farming

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The
First Book of Farming

By

CHARLES L. GOODRICH

Farmer

Expert in the Bureau of Plant Industry,
United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

Illustrated

GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1923

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Copyright 1905, by
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
Published March, 1905

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y.

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PREFACE

The most successful farmers of the present day are those who work in harmony with the forces and laws of nature which control the growth and development of plants and animals. These men have gained their knowledge of those laws and forces by careful observation, experiment and study.

This book is a result of the author's search for these facts and truths as a student and farmer and his endeavor as a teacher to present them in a simple manner to others.

The object in presenting the book to the general public is the hope that it may be of assistance to farmers, students and teachers, in their search for the fundamental truths and principles of farming.

In the first part of the book an attempt has been made to select the most important and fundamental truths and principles underlying all agriculture and to present them in the order of their importance, beginning with the most important.

An endeavor has been made to present these truths to the reader and student in a simple and interesting manner. As far as possible each advance step is based on a previously stated fact or truth. A number of side truths are introduced at various places.

A number of simple experiments have been introduced into the text in the belief that they will make the work more interesting to the general reader, and will aid the student in learning to make simple investigations for himself.

The author recommends all who use the book to perform the experiments and to make the observations, and so come actively in touch with the work.

The observations begin on the farm. The author considers the plant the central and all-important factor or agent on the farm.

The root is regarded as the most important part of the plant to itself, and consequently to the plant grower.

The general truths or principles which state the conditions necessary for the growth and development of plant roots are regarded as the foundation truths or fundamental principles of all agriculture. These truths are as follows:

The roots of farm plants need for their best growth and development:

• A firm, mellow soil.
• A moist soil.
• A ventilated soil.
• A warm soil.
• A soil supplied with plant food.

The first two chapters lead the reader quickly through logical reasoning to these fundamental truths, on which the remainder of the work is based.

A study of soils is made in connection with the root studies, as the two are so closely related.

After the study of roots and soils the other parts of the plant are considered in the order of their importance to the farmer or plant grower. The aim is always to get at fundamental facts and principles underlying all agricultural and horticultural practice.

The author regards the conditions necessary to root growth and development as the important factor constituting soil fertility, and in the last ten chapters takes up the discussion of certain farm operations and practices and their effects on these necessary conditions, and consequently their effect on the fertility of the soil.

The author extends gratitude to all who have in any way assisted in the preparation of this book, whether through advice, preparation of the text, preparation of the illustrations, or any other way in which he has received assistance.

C.L. GOODRICH.

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CONTENTS

PART I

General Principles Underlying Plant Culture

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@16900@[email protected]#CHAPTER_V" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">V. Forms of Soil Water 48       Free water 48       Capillary water 49       Film water 50 VI. Loss of Soil Water             By surface wash             By percolation and leaching             By evaporation             By transpiration             How to check these losses 53 VII. Soil Temperature 57       How soils are warmed 58       How soils lose heat         How to check loss of heat 59       Conditions which influence soil temperature 60       Value of organic matter 61 VIII. Plant Food in the Soil 63 IX. Seeds 70       Conditions necessary for sprouting 70       Seed testing 75       How the seeds come up 77       Use of cotyledons and endosperm 79 X. Seed Planting 81       Depth of planting:             Operation of planting             Planting machines 81       Seed classification 85       Transplanting 87 XI. Spading and Plowing 90       Spading the soil 90       Plowing 91       Why we spade and plow 91       Parts of a plow 92       Characteristics of a good plow 95       The furrow slice 96       How deep to plow 96       "Breaking out the middles" 97       Ridging the land 98       Time to plow 98       Bare fallow 100 XII. Harrowing and Rolling 101       Harrowing:             Why we harrow             Time to harrow 101       Types of harrows 102       Rolling 106 XIII. Leaves 108       Facts about leaves 108       The uses of leaves to plants:             Transpiration             Starch making             Digestion of food         Conditions necessary for leaf work 109       How the work of leaves is interfered with 115 XIV. Stems 120       What are stems for? 120       How the work of the stem may be interfered with 126 XV. Flowers 128       Function of flowers 128       Parts of flowers 129       Functions of the parts:             Cross pollination 130       Value of a knowledge of the flowers 134       Fruit 136

PART II

Soil Fertility As Affected By Farm Operations And Farm Practices

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@16900@[email protected]#CHAPTER_XVI" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">XVI. A Fertile Soil 141       Physical properties:             Power to absorb and hold water             Power of ventilation             Power to absorb and hold heat 142       Biological properties 143           Nitrogen-fixing germs 144           Nitrifying germs 145           Denitrifying germs 147       Chemical properties:             Nitrogen in the soil             Phosphoric acid in the soil             Potash in the soil             Lime in the soil             Great importance of physical properties 147       Maintenance of fertility 150 XVII. Soil Water 151       Importance of soil water 151       Necessity of soil water 151       Sources and forms of soil water 153       Too much water 154       Not enough water 154       Loss of soil water 155       How some farm operations influence soil water 156       Hoeing, raking, harrowing and cultivating 158       Manures and soil water 159           Methods of cropping and soil water 159           Selection of crops with reference to soil water 160 XVIII. The After-cultivation of Crops 164       Loss of water by evaporation 164       Loss of water through weeds 165       Saving the water 165       Time to cultivate 166       Tools for after-cultivation 167       Hilling and ridging 169 XIX. Farm Manures 171       The functions of manures and fertilizers 171       Classification 171       Importance of farm manures 172       Barn or stable manure 173       Loss of value 173       Checking the losses 176       Applying the manure to the soil 177       Proper condition of manure when applied 179       Composts 181 XX. Farm Manures, Concluded 183       Green-crop manures:             Functions 183           Benefits 185       Character of best plants for green-crop manuring 185       The time for green-manure crops 186       Leguminous green-manure crops 186       Non-leguminous green-manure plants 191 XXI. Commercial Fertilizers 192       The raw materials 192       Sources of nitrogen 193       Sources of phosphoric acid 195       Sources of potash 199       Sources of lime 200 XXII. Commercial Fertilizers, Continued 202       Mixed fertilizers:             What they are             Many brands             Safeguard for the farmer             Low grade materials             Inflating the guarantee 202       Valuation 205       Low grade mixtures 207       Buy on the plant food basis 209 XXIII. Commercial Fertilizers, Concluded

class="tdr">211       Home mixing of fertilizers 211           Kind and amount to buy 212           The crop 213           The soil 215           The system of farming 215       Testing the soil 215 XXIV. Rotation of Crops 219       Systems of cropping 219           The one crop system 221           Rotation of crops 224       Benefits derived from rotation of crops 230       The typical rotation 231       Conditions which modify the rotation 232       General rules 233       Length of rotation 233 XXV. Farm Drainage 235       How surplus water affects fertility 235       Indications of a need of drainage 235       Drains:             Surface drains             Open ditch drains             Covered drains or under drains 236       Influence of covered drains on fertility 237       Location of drains:             Grade             Tile drains 238   Glossary 241

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@16900@[email protected]#fig_17" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">Comparison of fresh and boiled water 26 18. Comparison of moist sand and puddled clay 27 19. Comparing soils 32 20. Water-test of soils 33 21. To show what becomes of the water taken from the soil by roots 40 22. Percolation experiment. To show the relative powers of soils to take in water falling on the surface 41 23. Bottles used in place of the lamp chimneys in Figs. 22 and 24 44 24. Capillarity of soils. To show the relative powers of soils to take water from below 44 25. Water-absorbing and water-holding powers of soils 45 26. Capillary tubes. To show how water rises in small tubes or is drawn into small spaces 48 27. Capillary plates 48 28. A cone of soil to show capillarity 49 29. To show the relative amounts of film-moisture held by coarse and fine soils 49 30. To show the effect of a soil mulch 56 31. Soil temperature experiment 57 32. Charts showing average temperature of a set of dry and wet soils during a period of five days 60 33. To show the value of organic matter 61 34. Soy-bean roots, showing nodules or tubercles 64 35. Garden-pea roots, showing tubercles or nodules 65 36. To show that seeds need water for germination 72 37. To show that seeds need air for germination 72 38. To show that seeds need air for germination 73 39. A seed-tester: two plates and a moist cloth 80 40. A seed-tester: a plaster cast with cavities in the surface for small seeds 80 41. Germinating corn-kernel and bean 81 42. To show how the bean-plant gets up 82 43. To show how the corn-plant gets out of the soil 82 44. To show the use of cotyledons 83 45. To show the use of the kernel to the young corn-plant 86 46.

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@16900@[email protected]#fig_46" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">To show how deeply seeds should be planted 87 47. Operations of seed-planting 88 48. A collection of planting machines 89 49. Spading-fork and spade 92 50. A wood beam-plow 93 51. A slip-nose share and a slip-nose 96 52. A straight knife coulter 96 53. An iron beam-plow with rolling coulter and double clevis 96 54. A rolling cutter-harrow 97 55. Spring-toothed harrows 97 56. Spike-toothed harrows 104 57. A coulter-toothed harrow 104 58. A plank harrow 105 59. To show transpiration 108 60. Amount of transpiration 109 61. To show that growing leaves contain starch 114 62. To show that starch disappears from the leaf when the plant is placed in the dark 114 63. To show that sunlight is necessary for starch-making by leaves 115 64. To show that chlorophyl is necessary for starch formation in the leaf 115 65. To show the giving off of gas by leaves, and that sunlight is necessary for it 118 66. Seedling radishes reaching for light 119 67. Elm leaves injured by the "imported elm-tree leaf-beetle," a chewing insect 119 68. A horse-chestnut stem, showing leaves, buds, and scars, where last year's leaves dropped off 128 69. An underground stem. Buds show distinctly 129 70. Flower of cherry 130 71. Flower of apple 130 72. Pistil and stamen of flowering raspberry 131 73. Flower of buttercup 131 74. A magnolia flower showing central column of pistils and stamens 134 75. Flowers of squash 135 76.

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@16900@[email protected]#fig_76" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">Flower of a lily 136 77. Bud and flower of jewel-weed or "touch-me-not" 137 78. Pistillate flower and perfect flower of strawberry 137 79. A crop of cowpeas 178 80. Red clover 179 81. Soy-beans in young orchard 182 82. A young alfalfa plant just coming into flower 183 83. Cross-sections of stone-drains 238 84. Cross-section of a pole-drain and of a tile-drain 238 85. A collection of drainage tools 239 86. A poorly laid tile-drain and a properly graded tile-drain 239

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Part I

General Principles Underlying Plant Culture

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THE FIRST BOOK OF FARMING

Part I

General Principles Underlying Plant Culture

CHAPTER IToC

Introduction to Plants

Our object in reading and studying this book is to find out some facts that will help those of us who are thinking of going into farming and gardening as a business or recreation to start right, and will also help those of us that are already in the business to make our farms and gardens more productive.

In order to make the book of greatest value to you, I would urge you not only to read and study it, but also to make the excursions suggested and to perform the experiments. In other words, it will be of much greater value to you if you will make the observations and investigations and find out for yourselves the important facts and principles rather than simply take statements of the book unquestioned.

A very good time to begin this work is during the latter part of the summer, when the summer crops are ripening and the fall and winter crops are starting into growth. So suppose we begin our study with a visit to some farm in early September, to bring to mind the many things a farmer works with, the many things he has to think about and know about.

As we approach the farm we will probably see first the farm-house surrounded by shade trees, perhaps elms or maples, with the barns and other buildings grouped nearby. As we pass up the front walk we notice more or less lawn of neatly clipped grass, with flower beds bordering the walk, or we may find a number of chickens occupying the front yard, and the flower beds, placed in red half-barrels, set upon short posts. In the flower beds we may find petunias, nasturtiums, geraniums, rose bushes and other flowering plants. Going around the house, we come upon the dairy, with its rack of cans and pans set out for the daily sunning and airing. Nearby is a well with its oaken bucket; at the barn we find the farmer, and he very kindly consents to go with us to answer questions. In the barn and sheds we find wagons, plows, harrows, seed drills, hoes, rakes, scythes and many other tools and machines. Passing on to the fields, we go through the vegetable garden, where are carrots, parsnips, cabbages, beets, celery, sage and many other vegetables and herbs.

On the right, we see a field of corn just ready to harvest, and beyond a field of potatoes. On the left is the orchard, and we are invited to refresh ourselves with juicy apples. In the field beyond the hired man is plowing with a fine team of horses. In the South we would find a field of cotton and one of sweet potatoes, and perhaps sugar cane or peanuts. We have not failed to notice the pig weeds in the corn field nor the rag weed in the wheat stubble, and many other weeds and grasses in the fence corners.

Perhaps we may meet the cows coming from pasture to the stable. All the way we have been trampling on something very important which we will notice on our way back. In this field we find a coarse sandy soil, in the next one a soil that is finer and stiffer. The plow is turning up a reddish soil. In the garden we find the soil quite dark in color.

But these are only a few of the things we have found. If you have used your notebook you will discover that you have long lists of objects which you have noticed, and these may be grouped under the following headings: Animals, Plants, Soils, Buildings, Tools, etc.

The farmer, then, in his work on the farm deals with certain agents, chief among which are Soils, Plants, Animals, Tools and Buildings. Other agents which assist or retard his work according to circumstances are the air, sunlight, heat, moisture, plant food, microscopic organisms called bacteria, etc. These agents are controlled in their relations to one another by certain forces which work according to certain laws and principles of nature. To work intelligently and to obtain the best results the farmer must become familiar with these agents and must work in harmony with the laws and principles which control them.

Let us take up the study of some of these groups of agents, beginning with the most important or central one on the farm.

Which do you think is the most important group? Some will say "tools." The majority will probably say, study the soil first, "because we must work the soil before we can grow good crops." Some few will mention "plants." This last is right. The farm animals are dependent on plants for food. We till or work the soil to produce plants. Plants are living, growing things,

and certain requirements or conditions are necessary for their growth and development; we cannot intelligently prepare the soil for plant growth until we know something about the work of plants and the conditions they need to do their work well.

For our first study of plants let us get together a number of farm and garden plants. Say, we have a corn plant, cotton, beet, turnip, carrot, onion, potato, grass, geranium, marigold, pigweed, thistle, or other farm or garden plants. In each case get the entire plant, with as much root as possible. Do these plants in any way resemble one another? All are green, all have roots, all have stems and leaves, some of them have flowers, fruit, and seeds, and the others in time will produce them.

Why does the farmer raise these plants? For food for man and animals; for clothing; for ornamental purposes; for pleasure, etc.