AGRONOMY SURVEYS 85 8. Good winter projects which may be either connected with or independent of some of the foregoing projects may consist of the management of the barnyard manure crop from a dairy or other barn. Comparisons of methods may be made in connection with the project. 9. Compare different varieties of the same crop with each other in field projects. 10. Compare different methods of curing certain hay crops. With clover or other crops which are cut several times, this project may run through an entire season, or longer. 11. Root crops may be stored by different methods after they have been produced during a season's project. 12. Certain crops, such as soybeans and cowpeas, may be compared with each other in yield of production and other points. Compare timothy and redtop. Compare red clover with alsike clover or with mammoth clover. 13. In pastures compare certain grasses and legume mixtures with others. Consider in this the amount of feed, permanency, palatability, effects on soil, influence of climate, and any other points. 14. Grow mangles and sugar beets and compare them in yield, cost of production, and feeding value. 15. Grow corn from seed selected from the crib in comparison with seed selected from the field. All methods used during the project should be otherwise alike. 16. While growing corn in any field project, comparisons may be made to demonstrate the effects of seed which is selected from good and from bad lots with reference to all of the points in the corn score card: good and bad tips; good and bad butts; large and small cobs; pure and mixed seed; long and short ears; mixed or uniform kernels on cobs; one or more ears to the stalk, etc. 17. Grow wheat by early and late planting to study the influence of the Hessian fly. 18. Grow cotton with and without the best methods of combating the boll weevil. 19. Grow flax chiefly for seed and chiefly for fiber, comparing the profits. 20. Grow small grains with and without sufficient soil cover to prevent winter blowing of soil. 21. Where possible, crops may be grown with and without irrigation to compare results in yields, cost, character of product, etc. 22. Compare results in depth of planting while growing Irish potatoes for a season. 23. Grow Irish potatoes by the level, high-ridging, and slight-ridging methods, comparing results. 24. Transplanting studies may be made in connection with projects that require transplanting, such as cabbage, tobacco, and sweet potatoes. If possible, compare hand and machine transplanting. Agronomy Surveys. To make complete community surveys of the whole field of agronomy would be very troublesome to the farmers answering the questions and would consume very much time on the part of the students and instructors. It is usually better to make surveys on limited topics. Some instructors have adopted the plan of using cards about 4 by 6 or 5 by 8 inches, which usually may be arranged in order of subjects and in alphabetical order. The questions of the survey are put on these cards with room left for the answers. The questions may be put on with the mineograph or the hectograph. The cards are sent home by the students and are returned the next day or very soon. The answering of the questions on one card will not be tiresome to either the student or the farmer. A number of surveys may be made along through the term, each one of which is intensive enough to give the information desired for class study. Unit Subjects for Agronomy Surveys. Early in the term a list of the surveys in agronomy which will likely be wanted may be planned and arranged in suitable order. The following list may be suggestive: Practice in green manuring and use Soilage and soiling crops. Alfalfa and special legumes. The clover group. Small grains. Pastures and hay crops. Weed troubles and noxious weeds. Field crop diseases and their control. Sorghums, kafir, and millet. Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes. Sample Outline for Small Agronomy Surveys. A suggestive outline is here given to be used or modified for any region where the survey is desired. These questions may be arranged on a card to suit its size and the space necessary for the answers. Suppose we are to study the subject of Irish potatoes. The answers to the following questions will be very helpful in the study: Use of Survey Returns.—When the cards containing the answers to these or any other agronomy survey are brought back to the school, some study will be required to make use of the information contained therein. If the number of cards returned runs into the hundreds, it may be necessary to tabulate the answers. A small table relating to the acres, yields, cost, and profit may be made and the information entered in the table independent of other details. Another table may be made which will include soil preparation, tillage, methods, and harvesting. Still another table may include the points related to fertilizers, rotation, etc. In case the number of cards returned is very few, not much larger than the number of pupils in the class, the work of adjusting the information is much easier. No tabulation is then necessary. The results regarding each of the points may be put on paper or cards. A heading of the subject or the question is written at the top of the card, and at the bottom are given the average or conelusions of the whole matter. The work of summarizing a survey may be done by members of the class, each part being assigned to students working in pairs or other small groups. This work may be done during the regular study period for that subject. The value of the information gleaned from such a survey is very evident to students and instructors who have successfully conducted and digested an agronomy survey. Charts on Field Crops. By referring to Chapter XVI it will be seen that suggestions are given regarding the making and use of charts in the teaching of agriculture. In the subject of field crops a number of special charts should be prepared. One good series of charts to be made by the student or by the school would be outlines of the different subjects. Let a chart be made giving a syllabus of the study of wheat growing, another on oats, barley, rye, millets, common clover, other clovers, small legumes. winter legumes, alfalfa, sweet clover, cotton, corn production, corn seed selection, sorghums, sugar beets, mangles, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, timothy, pasture grasses, other grasses, etc. Another good series of charts could be made from small published charts showing the distribution of each of the crops. A chart showing comparative yields of field crops would be valuable. A composition chart showing the relative composition of each of the farm crops as feed crops could be easily made. Charts showing the relative production of each of the crops locally should be made. Take a single county, for example, and from surveys or from a census report show the relative production in bars of different length across the chart. Make graphs from the results of the local surveys. Some of these may show the relative cost of production of different crops. Others may show relative dates of planting. Others may show yields. Others may show cost of harvesting, or cost of cultivation, or cost of any other operation of importance. When these graphs are placed on permanent cloth charts, they become very valuable for ready reference. Charts showing different methods of treatment are easy to devise. Assign the task to students who have done tabulating or otherwise digested the results of local surveys. Suppose, for example, that the hilling of corn, or cotton, or some other crop is to be contrasted with level culture of the same crop. If the local survey or some one student's trial has shown a contrast in results under the two methods, let the matter be worked up into a chart giving the results of the two methods in figures, showing them in bars or in sectors of circles. Methods of growing crops with or without lime, with or without inoculation, with or without fertilizers, with or without certain special soil treatments, as rolling or extra disking, may be good subjects for charts. If the crop be a hay crop, relative sizes of stacks or of hay shocks may be shown on the chart. Conclusions at the bottom of each chart may be expressed in a line or two of wellchosen words. Other good subjects in agronomy for charts to be used in schools are composition of corn; structure of grains of wheat, barley, oats or rye; types of kernels of corn; types of heads of different varieties of wheat; heads of barley; methods of cutting potatoes; methods of tillage; types of tillage implements; cross sections showing structure of fanning mill, and cross section of threshing machine showing sources of waste. SKILL IN PLOWING 89 Alfalfa Chart.—If it be the desire of the class to make a chart on alfalfa growing, the following may be the chief lines of the chart: Select rich, well-drained soil. Keep free from weeds and weed seed. Sow at proper time. Use proper amount of seed. Inoculate naturally or artificially. Maintain field properly. Supply plenty of lime. Skills in Agronomy.2-Modern methods of teaching require that students become skilful in the chief operations which they are to perform in actual field work. Schools are rapidly getting away from teaching merely by theory. Practice must go with it. Some of the chief operations in field-crop production which require skill on the part of the operator are the following: Plowing, disking, drilling seeds, sowing seeds broadcast, sowing seeds with hand seeders, seed corn selection, cotton seed selection, selection of seed wheat, seed oats, seed barley, etc., harvesting, hay making, judging maturity, judging condition of soil, judging moisture requirements and conditions, estimating yields, judging products for market. Skill in Plowing.—This can best be taught by actual practice, but the student should consider a few things in advance: the adjustment of plows, the depth of plowing condition of soil, season, requirements of the crop to be grown next, etc. Let the student have practice in plowing under sod soils, as in plowing stubble land or green manure crops such as high weeds, rye, and clover. Plowing contests may be organized and the work of each student judged according to the following points: Uniformity of depth. Uniformity of width of furrow slice. Complete covering of material turned under. Ease and manner of operation. Perfect working of the plow, includ ing scouring of the moldboard. Rate of plowing and general ap pearance. These points and any others which may occur to the judges may be used in formulating a score card for plowing. Let all of the operators have conditions which are similar, or as nearly alike as possible. Instructors should judge the plowing done by students in their home projects. The score card will be useful for this purpose. 2 See also Chapter IV. |