Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Jeannie Howse and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
The First Book of Farming
[Illustration: THE FARM EQUIPMENT--PLANTS, SOILS, ANIMALS, TOOLS,
BUILDINGS.]
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
1905, by
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
PUBLISHED MARCH, 1905
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y.
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.
GLENNDALE,
Prince George Co., Maryland,
_January_ 21, 1905.
CONTENTS
PART I
GENERAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING PLANT CULTURE
Chapter Page
I.--INTRODUCTION TO PLANTS 3
II.--ROOTS 9
Uses of roots to plants 9
Habit of growth of roots 11
Conditions necessary for root growth 20
III.--SOILS 23
Relation of soil to plants 23
Classification of soils 26
How were soils made? 30
Soil texture 37
IV.--RELATION OF SOILS TO WATER 39
Importance of water to plants 39
Sources of soil water 40
Attitude of soils toward water:
Percolation
Absorption from below
Power to hold water 40
The effect of working soils when wet 45
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
Chapter Page
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 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
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The farm equipment--plants, soils, animals, tools,
buildings _Frontispiece_
Figure Facing Page
1. Specimen plants for study 6
2. The first effort of a sprouting seed 7
3. Germinating seeds with roots 7
4. To show that plant roots take water from the soil 10
5. To show that plant roots take food from the soil 10
6. A radish root, from which the stored food has been
used to help produce a crop of seeds 11
7. A sweet-potato root producing new plants 11
8. Sweet-potato roots 14
9. Soy-bean roots 15
10. A plow stopped in the furrow, to show what it does to
the roots of plants when used for after-cultivation 18
11. A corn-plant ten days after planting the seed 19
12. To show where growth in length of the root takes place 22
13. Radish seeds sprouted on dark cloth 22
14. To show how water gets into the roots of plants 23
15. To show osmose 23
16. To show that roots need air 26
17. 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. 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. 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
PART I
General Principles Underlying Plant Culture
THE FIRST BOOK OF FARMING
PART I
_General Principles Underlying Plant Culture_
CHAPTER I
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--SPECIMEN PLANTS FOR STUDY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.
The first effort of a sprouting seed is to send a root down into the
soil.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.
Germinating seeds produce roots before they send a shoot up into the
air.]
Which part of any or all of these farm plants is of greatest
importance to the plant itself?
I am sure that you will agree that the root is the part most important
to the plant itself, for if any part of a plant be separated from the
root, that part ceases growth and will soon die, unless it is able to
put out new roots. But the root from which the plant was cut will
generally send up new shoots, unless it has nearly completed its life
work. When a slip or cutting is placed in water or in moist sand it
makes a root before it continues much in growth. When a seed is
planted its first effort is to send a rootlet down into the soil.
Experiment to see if this is true by planting slips of willow, or
geranium, or by planting corn or beans in a glass tumbler of soil, or
in a box having a glass side, placing the seeds close to the glass;
then watch and see what the seed does. Figs. 2 and 3.
Which of the parts of the plant is of greatest importance to the
farmer or any plant grower, or to which part of a plant should the
plant grower give his best attention? You will probably mention
different parts of the different plants in answering this question.
For instance, some will say, "The seed is the most important part of
the wheat plant to the farmer, for that is what the wheat is grown
for." "The fruit is the most important part of the apple plant for the
same reason." "The leaves and grain of the corn, the leaves of the
cabbage, are the important parts of these plants and should have the
best attention of the grower, because they are the parts for which he
grows the plants." But you must remember that all of these parts are
dependent on the root for life and growth, as was brought out in the
answer to the last question, and that if the farmer or plant grower
desires a fine crop of leaves, stems, flowers, fruit or seeds, he must
give his very best attention to the root. Judging from the poor way in
which many farmers and plant growers prepare the soil for the plants
they raise, and the poor way they care for the soil during the growth
of the plants, they evidently think least of, and give least attention
to, the roots of the plants.
Then, in studying our plants, which part shall we study first? Why,
the roots, of course: To find out what they do for the plant, how they
do this work, and what conditions are necessary for them to grow and
to do their work well.