Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 23, No. 3, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 1913 Page: 4 of 16
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T IIE O K L A II O.M A V A K M K I?
June 1. 1913.
Oklahoma Farmer
LJSHED UNI-MONTHLY
gmtmt torkx. kak <.rrn!m: «>ki.a .. t<> ..i, ,.t
Wf.i«*n • « ii.itiun. «ti«>n« re in ti ti*; to«aOi cri{)tiotii or advertising
in.ty i*> iul(irei «d.
.lUrillK CAI-rt.K, PublUlirr.
M. L. CROWTHER, General Manager.
E. V. HART MAN. Editor.
i Department K<litur«.
Farm Fables, Tom McNeal •
Oklahoma Farm Note#. A. Bolleul>A'ah.
i .um • -t;- Jam* - \ \\ ti
The Fat in Home, Vn*. Ali< « L
i. Henderson.
Veterinary Ad\ ie «. i r. 1.
. L. Lewi*.
i iiini hi i:,,
, Knit. White.
. ...
A Bollenbach
Mint Irma Mathews
Dr. I- L. Lin la
I'rof O. O. < hur-'hill
I'rof. N O. Hooth
Prof. W. A. Linkiater
. Alice L
Lilituiial Contributors.
l*i' * l'ott-4*
1 : Jl. A . I l! t«*!i i :l<l<:l
I'rut. 4 h Sa 111•' • ii
Mix* Henrietta K« lshom
Prof. H. t\ Pittuck
Prof. <' K. Francis, Chemist
Henderson. Roosevelt, Okla.
.1 ames A. Wilson.
Director Experiment Station A. & M. College.
John W. Wilkinson. ^
Sui ervisor AtfiCultural Club- A. X M. College
Entered a> second elm natter April 23, 1913 <t t: •« i - gtoffice
at Topeka, Kan., under the act of Congress of Mar. J, lfTU.
SI HSCKIPTION KA I LS.
line Year .... 50c Three Wars. $1.00
Subscriptions {Ay&bls in advance. Paper will i
when time expires. In ordering the (taper changed from one
postoftire to another, subscribers should always k'ive the name
(if the old as well as the new postotlice.
v I \ J RT1SING i: \H V
Heeiits per aisti line* Published 1st and 10th oi the month
No liquor nor medical advertising accented. By me<
advertising is understood the offer of medicine for internal
human use.
OI K \I>V1;KTI8FMKNT8 <.l IKANTEEI).
The Oklahoma Farmer does not aceept false or fraudulent
advertising < r other advertising of objectionable nature. Every
advertisment in its columns is prinfed with full confidence in
the character and reliability of the advertiser and the trntii of
the representations made Readers "t the Oklahoma Parnier
will confer a favor if they will promptly report any failure on
the part « t' an advertiser to make good any representation
contained iti an oklahoma Farmer advertisement.
JUNE 1, 1913
A NEW SERVICE.
One of the most important bureaus of Uncle
Sam's agricultural department is the rural organiza-
tion service, now being organized by our secretary
of agriculture, David F. Houston. This new depart-
ment idea Secretary Houston brought with him
when he took charge of the agricultural work of our
government at Washington. The rural organization
service will be an important factor in our national
life. President Wilson is deeply interested in the
lino of work and has given Secretary Houston his
approval of the plan.
One of flu purposes of this service.is to attack
the high cost of living and experts will go to the
farm, where the necessities of life are produced. No
doubt tlie main factor in the ever increasing cost of
living is the fact that production has not kept pace
with our fast growing demands. Then, too, the in-
tention of the new service is to make our farms and
farm life more attractive and congenial and that in-
cludes better schools, larger dissemination of agri-
cultural education, better roads, more intelligent
farming, better conditions of marketing, a bringing
together of producer and consumer, in fact, a better-
ment for the farm folks in every line of their busi-
ness and social activity. And all this is a study
and a big enough job for the whole federal depart- •
Hunt to exhaust its full poKCr upon.
All the subjects with which the bureau will have
to deal are of vital importance to the farmers of
Oklahoma. Success in this work would mean as
increased production from the farm and thus bring
down the cost of living Our maximum of produc-
tion has been hardly hinted at here in Oklahoma
yet, but when we practice diversity of crops, better
tillage, maintain our soils' fertility and grow crops
best calculated for our state's soil and climate, then
and only then will we have arrived at a place where
we will not need the encouragement and service of
this new government department.
PRESIDENT WILSON'S WAY.
President Wilson has made a start and in a way
that has won for him millions of friends and. too.
aftiong those who did not give liini their support at
the polls. His loyalty and steadfastness of purpose
and his independent course, regardless of any man
or set of men. has won for liini the general com-
mendation of the great common people.
I don't look for any made to order panics, or other
frisks of the powerful interests which have long
ruled and dominated us, for the reason that the
great common 'people are at last awake and have
their eyes open to all this a nil will not tolerate it
longer. Evidently IVsident Wilsbn is going tc see
to it that the majority of the people of our land
shall l>o benefited by his administration rather than
a few. This man i- guing to get n s,|M;lrP ,]r>l| an,j
give one. For his cabinet he ha-* picked young mm,
but men of experience and known ability and proven
worth. The public has coiiilidet.ce in ('resident Wil-
son and his cabinet and with the sentiment of our
people back of these leaders something worth while
■ .hi be expected. He is going .it things iu^in honest,
straightforward? frank waj. yel regardless of any
party line-, and there - i deteiiuin.it on "M the part
• m the people to see to it that he i .iflorded every
chance to make good. " ' •
n ¥
FARM LOANS IN EUROPE.
• •
\\ bile Kinope is a good distance removed irom
< •klahoma, jieverthele-s it will lie of interest to note
what our brother farmer over there is able to do in
the way of making loans. A committee from the
United States is in that country for the purpose of
studying farm credits, wifli ,i view of using the
knowledge thus gained to dtvin • method that can
be used here to help our farmers to obtain loans at
' OK i .lies (i| ill ki . -t.
No doubt the committee will find that in sonic of
the European countries lik( Swit/'-rl. ml. the farm r
has no trouble to borrow money, of the mortgage
banks which e^ist in many of the districts, or can-
ton-. One advantage for the Swiss farmer in placing
a loan with the state mortgage bank is that he is re-
icved of the necessity of repaying the principal of
his mortgage in one payment, and lie ij thus largely
relieved from the danger of foreclosure. Instead, he
is required each year in addition to his 4'/a per cent
interest, to pay 1 per o nt as amortization. After
tie first payment lie uV s 1 per , < nt li-s than the
amount borrowed and -o on each succeeding year.
I nder this plan the farmer pays back his loan by
degrees without being burdened with one large pay-
ment at the end of the last year as is ordinarily the
case.
' * *
CHEAPER MONEY.
If there is any one single thing that will place the
Oklahoma farmer in a better position to use the nat-
ural advantages which our state possesses and to
cause farming interests to go forward by leaps and
bounds, that one thing is a cheaper rate of interest
than that which is now obtainable. It is a wonder
to me that our farmers have done as well as they
have in view of the fact that a high and excessive
rate of interest has been charged as a rule.
No man feels disposed to go in debt for brood
mares, milch cows or stock of any sort when he
knows tull well the rate of interest he will be asked
to pay in case he decides to make the investment.
The wise man, under these conditions, will make no
investment unless he can get money at least within
the bounds of the law of our state and on favorable
terms that will allow for himself a reasonable profit
for the risk and' his labor. As a rule Oklahoma
farmers'need more brood mares, milch cows and hogs
and until they get them our agriculture will remain
in a rut and no rapid advancement will be made,
but rather a hand to mouth cropper system will pre-
vail largely.
The cropper farmer is not the man who is sur-
rounded by a good drove of cattle and Tiog.- and he
is always the first to cry hard times and the first
really to seriously feel it because his mainstay is
cut short and he has nothing to fall back on—all the
roughness is worth little on account of lack of -tock
to convert it into milk, butter or meat. However,
a" great many of our farmers who have drifted into
the class of the cropper, are there not from choice
but from necessity. A good many are renters and
as they have nothing more tangible to offer in. the
way of security for a loan than chattels they are
the hardest hit when they desire to make a loan,
and precious few men care to invest in livestock if
they have to do so on borrowed funds which cost
them from 20 to 50 per cent.
There is nothing so important for our farms in
Oklahoma right now as more milch cows, stock cftt-
tlc and hogs, and if our money lenders wish to be a
real, practical and abiding help to Oklahoma's agri-
cultural prosperity, they will sec to it that every
capable, honest and industrious farmer is given a
fair chance to get on the right road to prosperity
by the. livestock route, which after all is the sane,
practical and scientific farm method.
* *
GETTING TOGETHER.
In southwest Kansas and northwest Oklahoma is
a section of country especially adapted for the
growth of broomeorn and on account of the dry cli-
mate. the brush can be cured properly. It is one of
the main money crops of that slction and should the
price in one season present, to these Western farm-
ers a good profit on tiieir crop, the next year is
bound to see a largely increased acreage, which often
results in a price at the other extreme. If these
broomeorn farmers were sure of a fair price for
their brush each year they could make some money
on each crop, but that steady market is what thev
haven't got. . '
. I think the idea of a co-operative broom manu-
factory or a dozen of them is a move in the right
direction. 1 believe much of our high cost of livTn"
comes about by sending the raw material a thou-
sand miles or more to ! ;_ manufactured, after which
the finished article is hauled an e<jjual distance again
to the user, which is expensive and adds materially
to the *eost nt things. I understand tliese co-opera-
tive broom factories can make brooms and sell them
at a price which will eive the grower possibly $100
pel ton for his brush, which price, if sure every year,
would ipak' this crop exceed in profit most any
other crop he could grow. It is quite plain that
somebody besides the grower is reaping the profits
which, rightfully beloji,.. "partly at least, to the
farmer. At one time choice brush sold for $200 per
l,uii. lhat "was, 1 think, less than two years ago.
(n today's Daily Uklahoiimn, May 14, it is quoted
at s7."i. $50 anS *411 per too. • In buying brooms no
one has noticed a proportionate falling off in price.
> *.
TWO KINDS OF BEEF.
At our big central markets for the sale of beef ani-
mals two opposite types of animals are on sale. One is
the big prime corn fed steer, always bringing the top
of the market and showing a Height somewhere
around 1,300 to 1,500 pounds, and right now at or
very near the S cent mark or better. Such an animal
is worth over .$100 to the seller and the buyers are
keen for them. The other class is known as "can-
ners."' Those who are partial to canned beef are
possibly familiar with the term. A "canner" is sel-
dom anything else but a poor thin animal and usu-
ally too old to feed well. That's why they are sent
tli "can'' route. If an animal would weigh -ay 000
pounds at the price paid for this class of stuff, it
would be worth about $10 or $17.
Oklahoma is bound to be a great livestock state,
its climate, fertile soil, ease of producing feed of all
kinds, is sure to torge it to the front. The men who
are growing wealthy hi the growing and feeding of
livestock, have no "canncrs" to sell, but rather the
best which the market demands.
* «•
GROWING SWEET CLOVER.
Most of our farmers from the North are familiar
with Sweet clover, where it grows luxuriantly along
the road side and waste places. There it is regarded
as a weed. Since clover, timothy and blue grass form
the main stay of those sections in the way of
grasses, little need was there to look into the "good
qualities of Sweet clover.
In the spring of 1011, I sowed a small plot with
this plant and although it was a very dry season I
procured a good stand and all season the clover
made a'growth that was a wonder to me. I sowed
part of it on purpose on the edge of a draw or ravine,
where the top soil had washed off, leaving the hard
sub-soil exposed. Even on this part the clover made
a very satisfactory growth. Through the first year
it was left to grow unmolested but in April 1912, I
began feeding it to six. shoats, which ate it well from
the -tart and nlade good growth during the three
months on this feed. Cattle and horses have to ac-
quire a taste for it but that doesn't take long.
To those who are not acquainted with Sweet or
Bokhara clover, I wish to say it is a biennial le-
guminous plant of tall growth. Its blossoms, which
usually appear the second year, are white and of
strong honey odor. If not'allowed to seed it will
die the second year.
It is not in the least aristocratic in its habits
but will thrive on exceedingly uninviting places and' •
possesses a wider adaptability in regard to soil and
climate than any other legume. It thrives on the
poorest, sandy soil and dry hillsides where no other
clover will grow. It certainly will withstand as much
drowth as alfalfa and make a good growth where
the latter would hardly make a start. It is one
of the firjt forage plants in spring that affords green
food to animals and the last one killed by frost! In
the dry mid-summer it is green when all other grass-
es are parched. • .
I believe the best time for sowing he seed is in
the fall yet it can be done in the spring with often
-atisfaetory results. One thing is quite essential and
that is a good solid seed bed, with just enough loose
soil on top to cover the seed. Sowing the seed in
fall without any effort at covering same will be found
to be iibout as good a plan to follow as any. In
doing this one would be following closely the nat-
ural habit of the plant if left to re-seed itself.
The plat I planted in 1011 made a big growth in
1012 and produced abundantly of seed, which of
course, fell on the ground and at this writing, April
10, I have a thick stand of 'the clover all over this
plat.
In Sweet clover the farmer has a legume of a three-
fold usefulness. First, it is a valuable pasture plant.
It grows very rapidly and as soon as three or four
inches tall, stock should be turned on, as tramping
the ground suits it, and it should never be allowed
to grow large as it soon becomes woody. If not
eaten too close to the ground, it will throw out a
fresh growth on all sides as fast as eaten and
will keep this up till frost. Second, those who
know say it is a great hay producer and while I never
liave tried it as hay, I see no reason why it
should not make a very superior feed in the dry
state. Third, it is a remarkable plant for its fer-
tilizing qualities and ranks the hignest of the le-
guminous crops in its ability to gather nitrogen
from the air and storing it in the soil for succeeding
crops, but it is different from other legumes in that
its root development is much larger. A field grow-'
ing Sweet clover has its soil filled f ill I of these
large fleshy roots and soon decaying after seed
maturing, add an immense amount of beneficial
humus to the soil, which could be obtained in no
other way only by much labor and expense.
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Hartman, E. V. Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 23, No. 3, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 1913, newspaper, June 1, 1913; Guthrie, Oklahoma and Topeka, Kansas. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc141190/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.