THE CHEMA WA AMERICAN
21
AGRICULTURE FOR GRADES
O U T L IN E D B Y A L B E R T II. G IL L E T T , Teacher o f Agriculture
SA Y IN G TIIE ODDS A N D E N D S
IK saving of the odds and ends on a farm may seem a
trifling matter to the average Government employee
who has become accustomed to the sight of waste and
destruction. Ket an employee endeavor to practice
economy as it should be practiced in connection with
any private business and levity will be indulged in
relative to the efforts set forth in saving. This is the
he outline of a four year course in agriculture and is
considered the most important by the business farmer. Before launch
ing the subject, let us define it: The “ odds” are the portions that are
left after the bulk has been applied to its intended use. The “ ends”
are the remnants caused in a department’s productions. Therefore, in
dealing with the subject, “ Saving the Odds and Ends,” we will look to
all departments connected with the farm that the loss may be reduced
to a minimum.
A herd of swine are money-savers on a farm. What are the odds and
ends saved by being turned into pork? From the kitchen and dining
room come many pieces of food and food materials that must be disposed
of in some way. There are portions of the garden vegetables that are
cut away before sending them to the kitchen. The unused milk from
the dairy should not be thrown into the sewer, but added to the above
materials for the use of the swine herd. Be sure and keep a sufficient
number to consume all the surplus foods. Hogs, properly managed,
will bring in a profit that will seem like finding monev.
The fertility of the soil must not be lost sight of. All refuse that
will add humus to the soil must be saved and prepared for distribution
on the land at proper times. All lawn clippings, leaves from trees on
the lawn, and bits of sod that have been removed, should not be cast
away as garbage, but put with the manure heap to be carried to the
fields in the manure spreader. It may seem to be too much trouble to
separate the trash from the leaves, etc., but it is trouble that counts for
prosperity. There should be a compost heap where all coarse materials
from the garden and farm are placed for decay and then used on the
garden or fields.
The farm-yard manure must be spread upon the land as fast as pro-