ON THE EXPERIMENTAL FARM
The purpose most eagerly sought by the Agricultural Department of
the Tuskegee Institute is to demonstrate to the farmers of Alabama,
first of all, that with right methods their acres can be made to
yield unfailing profit, and that they can win in the fight against
the deadly mortgage system. In many of the Western and Northwestern
States cheese-making has led the one-crop, wheat-growing farmers to
independence. The South has felt that this industry was beyond its
reach, and has set small store by the dairy business. At Tuskegee, not
only has it been demonstrated that cows can be made to yield from 50 to
150 per cent. on the money invested, but also that every farmer can, at
moderate cost, make his own cheese, with a good supply for the market.
Not long ago, the graduate of the Institute who is directly in charge
of the cheese and butter departments, sent to my home specimens of six
kinds of cheese made at the school--Tuskegee Cream, Philadelphia Cream
Cheese, Neufchatel, Cottage, Club-house, and Cheddar. These were as
fine grades of cheese as can be found in any other creamery.
To find out what corn, grasses, pease, millet, etc., are best suited to
the Southern climate and soil is the work of several years of earnest
labour. At present experiments are in progress with ten varieties of
corn, with vetch, clovers, cassava, sugar beet, Cuban sugar cane, eight
kinds of millet, the Persian and Arabian beans, and many other food and
forage plants. Fifty-five acres of peach orchard are sowed in pease,
besides three hundred acres of corn land utilised for this second or
auxiliary crop. The vegetable garden covers fifty acres, and there is
hardly a day when this garden fails to help pay the table expenses of
the school.
Stock raising is carried on more extensively each year. To get the best
hog, sheep, cow, and horse for this region of the country is the chief
aim. We cannot quit cotton, but we must raise our stock and our meat.
The hen and the bee are great wealth-producers, but not more than one
in three hundred Macon County families raise bees, and few of them give
any special care to poultry. Therefore the school trustees spend a
large sum of money each year in teaching the practical lessons of these
industries.
[Illustration: CULTIVATING A PATCH OF CASSAVA ON THE AGRICULTURAL
EXPERIMENT PLOT]
Statistical data show that the average yield of cotton per acre
throughout the South is 190 pounds, an astonishingly low figure, and,
except when high prices rule, below the paying point. Every acre of
cotton in the South can and should be made to produce 500 pounds
of lint. Should the cotton grower add the trifling increase of five
pounds of lint an acre, it would mean for the Cotton States a total
increase of 240,000 bales, based on the crop reports for 1902, with a
value of nearly $15,000,000, according to the prices realised on the
crop of 1903. The experimental station at Tuskegee has appreciated the
tremendous possibilities pictured by such statements as these, and
the Director, Mr. Carver, has demonstrated the value of scientific
cultivation, by raising nearly 500 pounds of cotton on one acre of
poor Alabama land. In addition he has taken up the problem of crossing
varieties of cotton to increase the quality of the uplands staple.
These experiments have been promisingly successful, and already a
hybrid cotton has been grown which is vastly superior to that commonly
raised in Alabama. In other words, Tuskegee is teaching the farmers how
to raise a better grade of cotton and more of it, without increasing
the acreage planted.
The subject of soil improvement through natural agencies has been one
of much concern to both ancient and modern agriculturists. The ancient
Egyptian knew that if he let his land lie idle--"rested," as he termed
it--he was able to produce a much better crop, and that crop would be
in quantity and quality, all other things being equal, proportionate to
the length of time this land had been rested.
At a later period the fertilising value of the legumes (pod-bearing
plants) was recognised. But as the population of the world increased
and civilisation advanced, it became more imperative that all farming
operations should be more intensive and less extensive. Each decade
saw the progressive farmer on his journey of progress correcting many
mistakes of the past. He then began to see that it was quite possible
and practicable to keep his ground covered with some crop; and the
soil also became richer and more fertile every year--by reason of this
constant tillage--than was possible under the old method of letting the
land lie fallow for a few years. As science shed light upon his art,
he learned that the crop-yielding capacity of a soil was increased by
rotating or changing his farm crops every year upon land not occupied
by such crops the year previous.
For seven years Tuskegee has made the subject of crop rotation a
special study, and submits the plan illustrated by the accompanying
chart as the most simple and satisfactory. This chart and data were
worked out by the Director of the Agricultural Department. It was hoped
that the experiment would shed some light on the following pertinent
questions:
(a) Is it possible to build up the poor upland soils of Alabama?
(b) Can injurious washing away of the soil by rains be overcome?
(c) Are not the fertilisers necessary for the production of a crop on
such land far beyond the reach of the average farmer?
(d) Granting it can be built up and made productive, will it not take
an average life-time?
[Illustration: Plan of planting]
(e) Will it pay to purchase such land?
(f) State the smallest amount of such land the farmer should buy
expecting to make a living off it.
The plan for rotation as outlined is for a farm of forty acres, but is
perfectly applicable to one of any size, even down to a garden patch.
In order that our efforts might be guided with the greatest degree of
intelligence, the soil was analysed and found to be seriously deficient
in three very important elements of plant food, and in the order named:
Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. In addition to this, it was
practically devoid of humus (vegetable matter), and otherwise was in as
bad a physical condition as chemical. Our first efforts were directed
toward correcting the physical condition by deep plowing, rebuilding
terraces and filling in washes. This being done, we are now ready to
make definite plans for planting our forty-acre farm. In a farm this
size we find it is wise to set aside four acres to be used as indicated:
(1) One acre for the house, lawn, flower garden, nut and ornamental
trees. (2) One acre for the garden, orchard and small fruits. Upon
this all the vegetables of various kinds, peaches, pears, plums, figs,
strawberries, blackberries, grapes, etc., should be raised, not simply
to supply the needs of the family, but there should be a surplus to
market. (3) One acre for the barn, poultry house, pigsties, and other
necessary out-buildings. (4) One acre for a good pasture where cows,
horses, hogs, and stock of various kinds might be turned in from time
to time. The remaining thirty-six acres should be planted as follows:
First year, sixteen acres of cowpease, eight acres of cotton, two
acres of ribbon cane, three acres of corn, one acre of sorghum, one
acre of peanuts, three acres of sweet potatoes, one acre of teosinte (a
green fodder plant), one acre of pumpkins, cushaws, squash, etc.
The second year it will be observed that the peas change places with
the cotton, corn, ribbon cane, sorghum, teosinte, pumpkins and sweet
potatoes, except in a few instances--and these are where the soil
was: (a) Naturally poor, as indicated by the acre where peanuts and
cowpease follow each other the first and second years in order to
better fit the land physically and chemically to produce an exhaustive
crop like cotton; (b) Sweet potatoes following cotton and ribbon cane.
Here bottom land is represented, and is, therefore, quite fertile.
The fertilisers necessary to produce a good crop of sugar cane and
cotton were quite sufficient to produce a good crop of potatoes with
but little additional fertiliser. (c) In this we have a different
condition--that of neglected bottom soil, deficient mainly in nitrogen.
Here the pea is planted the first year to restore the nitrogen; and
this is followed by teosinte and sorghum in one instance and pumpkins
and ribbon cane in another; the physical condition of the soil being
best suited to these particular crops. With the few exceptions
mentioned, the third year is identical with the first.
_Such a system of rotation has enabled us in seven years to make a net
profit of $96.22 from one acre of this land, when in the beginning we
lost $2.40 per acre._
In 1897, cowpease were planted, using $5 worth of kainite and acid
phosphate per acre--mixing them together and putting in the drill. The
seed, preparation of the land, planting, harvesting the light crop of
vines, etc., amounted to $6.50, making a total of $11.50. The crop sold
for $9.10, leaving us $2.40 behind.
In 1898, this same acre was planted in sweet potatoes and fertilised
with $5 worth of kainite and acid phosphate, the same as recommended
for the pease. The after-operation cost $6. Fifty-five bushels of
marketable potatoes were harvested and sold for 60c per bushel,
equalling $33, and leaving a net balance of $22 on the acre.
In 1899, cowpease were again planted and fertilised exactly the same
as in 1897. The returns were fifteen bushels of pease, at 55 cents per
bushel, equalling $8.25; also one and one-half tons of cured hay, worth
$22.50, giving a total of $30.75. Less the cost--$11.50--equals $19.25
gain.
In 1900, it was planted in sorghum cane, fertilised with $5 worth of
kainite and acid phosphate, plus fifteen one-horse wagon-loads of swamp
muck and decayed forest leaves, at a cost of $3.75; plus the cost of
harvesting, etc., $4.25, making a total of $13. Seven tons of hay were
harvested and sold green for $5 a ton, leaving a gain of $22.
In 1901, cowpease were planted and fertilised exactly the same as for
the sorghum. Twenty-five bushels of pease were harvested, worth $13.75;
two tons of cured hay worth $28, making a total of $41.75; less the
cost, equals $28.75 gain.
In 1902, it was planted in garden truck--cabbage, onions, beets,
squash, tomatoes, melons, beans, turnips, mustard, kale, kohl rabi,
rutabagas, etc. Fertilised the same as for sorghum and pease, except
half of the swamp muck was replaced by stable manure. The total
operations cost $21; the entire crop sold for $60, leaving a gain of
$39.
In 1903, it was again planted in cowpease. Fertilised the same as for
the garden. Twenty-seven bushels of pease were harvested, worth $14.85,
and three tons of cured hay worth $43, equalling $56.85. Less the cost,
gives us a gain of $43.85 per acre.
In this same year, a portion of this field, subject to the same
rotation, was planted in white potatoes, using the same amount of
muck, kainite and phosphate, at a total cost of $9. Eighty bushels of
potatoes were harvested and sold for $1 per bushel, equalling $80.
Before the potatoes were dug, cowpease were planted between the rows
and yielded $25.22 worth of peas and hay, giving a clear profit of
$96.22 per acre.
Another acre subjected to the same treatment was planted in early corn
and followed by sweet potatoes, at a cost of $16. It gave a crop as
follows: $44.60 in corn and fodder, one hundred and five bushels of
marketable potatoes, and $4.05 worth of hay; making in all $111.65.
Less $16.90, gives a profit of $94.75.
It is important to note that the data for 1903 represent only one-half
of the crop, as the land is now in grain and will be harvested in time
for the next crop, or grazed, which, of course, will give a net balance
according to the yield of this grain or its value in grazing. We think,
therefore, that the foregoing facts answer quite conclusively all the
questions in the affirmative, and that it is wise for the Southern
farmer to purchase a home even of two acres.