The Exeter Advocate, 1919-11-27, Page 6dedi
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Add re ^icommuoications to Agronomist, 7a Adelaide St, West Toronto
Farm 'Management Factors in, The .road:' He was right, The oat crop
Celt of Crop Production. was very light and when he expected
The cost of production of farm a yield of sixty bushels he got less
crops ,is determined by a group of than half that amount. % It seemed
factors which depend on the ability •like a losing proposition but he was'
of the farmer as a manager to organ,- thinking in terms of growing oats!
ize in such a manner that the crops only. Had he been thinking an termse.
are produced with a minimum of labor of his whole rotation or the wholei
and expense. These factor are: farm business his remark might well;
X- Arrangement of Fields. It is not have been, "Of course, oats have been
always possible to have the field ar- •a poor crop this year but our corie
rangement of the faxen exactly as one crop has offset this so that on the
w! hes. There may be some natural average we `have a normal yield. We
formation thattneceesitates an ar can't do away u':ith the oats entirely.
rangement far from the ideal but this They serve as a god crop to balance!
condition can often be improved to the rotation and we needboth the
the extent that working the farm is grain and straw for the stock. There
much more efficient and easier. is little else for us to do just at the
An ideal arrangement would include season that we are working on the
the -following features: All fields eas- oats so we are getting some returns
ily accessible he the buildings, rest for the time when otherwise our team
angles in the lanes or driveways might be idle. The machinery neces-
where turning with heavy loads would Bary for the crop is just the same as,
be necessary, and as little land as we use for the ntheat and barley, so!
possible taken up in lanes and divi- the oats het» to lower the overhead on
sion lines., Withthis arrangement g
enent
we that.After
r all
,
we should not ot be
dis
-
cart save tills by shorter trips to the eouragad because
of a poor yield once
barn, draw larger loads by avoiding in a while, the yield this year is the;:
short turns, utilize all the land forlowest it has been in tweiuue years and
crops that is possible, and eliminate only twice in the las, fifty years has/
waste places that harbor weeds and , the average been so low."
plant diseases, i Such a remark would have been;
2. Size and Shape of Fields, The; evident proof that the young man was!
shape of the fields is equally import-; applying the pri::cip les of good man -i
ant. Rectangular fields with square; agement to his farm operation, con
corners are the cheapest to handle.' sidering each crop in its proper rebel
Uniform shape and size of fields perh tion to the other crops and the farm!
mit efficient use of large team units business as a whole.
and modern machinery. Large fields!
decrease the cost of every operation, Buying Pure -Bred Pi
llets,
and also cost very much less to fence.' A poultryman recently told me that
If possible it is advisable to have the, he figured an pure-bred pullets being
number of fields the same as the num-; w girth at least seventy-five to one hun-!
ber of years necessary to complete a: dred per cent, mare for breeding pur-1
cycle of the rotation. For example, for poses than for market- The may be!
a rotation of corn, oats and parley,l, true but there is a grea,. variation in'
wheat and clover, requiring lour rears rhe value of pure-bred pullets and the
for a single field to pxaduee all thoset birds are not of much value as breed -
crops. an .ideal arrangement would be eat just because they are pure-bred.'
to have four uniform fields or, if very It is fundamental that the birds be
large, eight. pure-bred es a foundation. Then their
n. Rotations. The rotation deter- value is built up according to their
mines to a large extent the distribu- other characteristics.
ton of labor on the crops. If the One reason that some farmers are
proper crops are chosen there is a prejudiced against pure-bred poultry.
sequence of operation throughout the ,is due to some poor quality pure-breds
season. This enables us to care for the they Ilene ,seen, Some farmers who
crops with a minimum amount of have culled their grade stock for years
labor at any one time. Since labor Is and kept only the best will never cull U
from forty to fifty per cent of the the pure -'bred birds but keep them a11.o
A pure-bred flock should receive at
culling and birds of inferior vigor
sold on the market. Such birds are not
i
' entire expense .of growing a crop,
economy in this respect influences
cost of production„ .A. properly plan-
ned rotation will also keep the land in worth seventy-five per cent. more than•
the best of condition and larger yields .scrub stock just because they are
will be secured from a given amount pure dared.
of money and energy expended. When buying pure-bred pullets we
4. Efficient Use of Labor. The effi- figure the value of thebirds by the
eient use of labor is the most import- birds themselves. Some pullets are a
ant of all the factors limiting the ;