Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1892 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Bow to Frotnrv* the Fortuity of tho Land —Symptoms of Lump Jaw—Oil Meat tor Stock— simple Method*ot Grafting— Household and KitchenMaintaining tho Farm'* Fetdllty.

IT has always seemed to me, says a writer in the Practical Farmer, that k the farmers of \ the, Un i ted \ States used less jp;] reason in their I treatment of the A soil, than in any m other thing they 29 do. Few, in--■j deed, are the farmers who will work a horse for C any length of K time without Riving it som-e-

thing to eat. That man who would expect a cow to supply his family with milk and butter, without allowing her to have access to a pasture or feeding her, would be considered a fit subject for a lunatic asylum. No one cares to try the experiment of fattening hogs or cattle without food of any kind, except air and water. Yet these unreasonable actions would not be anything more or less than what is practiced by many, very many farmers in regard to their land. Year after year, immense crops of corn, wheat, hay, etc.., have 1)6611 placed on it to compensate for the plant food carried off. In other words we allow Mother Earth, from whom all the wealth of the Nation must come, only air and water as food. All do not do this, but the practice is common all over the Union, and those who follow it are more numerous than those who do Dot. Probably the cause of this deplorable condition of affairs can be traced back to -the days when the white population of the country was confined to the eastern tier of States. Then it was easier and cheaper to move to the boundless West and settle new land there than to maintain the fertility of that already settled. But now all this is changed, and we are compelled to turn our attention to Improving the soil already in cultivation for many years. First on the list of soil-restoratives is found stable and barn-yard manure. In the North, where manure sheds and covered barn-yards preserve the elements of fertility contained in it, and in the South, where the milder winters allow open stables to be constructed, from which the manure is seldom removed until Is is scattered on the fields, apd which preserve to a great extent the good qualities of it, stable manure gives more satisfactory results than any other fertilizing material But It is a question whether, where the manure is thrown from the stables out under the eaves and allowed to leach, there until it is hauled away, the benefits derived from its use are such as will pay for the labor of drawing it out. When properly cared for, barn-yard manure will always prove satisfactory, aud the only thing that can make its use unprofitable is improper care. Yet care for it as we may, the fact still remains that the supply of barn-yard manure Is totally inadequate to meet the demands of our farmers for fertilizers, and necessity causes other means of supplying plantfood to be considered. This has led to the manufacture and use of an immense quantity of commercial or chemical fertilizers. Some of the best farmers condemn ip unmeasured terms the use of these, while others, who are equally as successful in their farming operations, advocate them. With me. they have always given very good results when used on wheat or grass, but not when used on corn or oats. Last year on thin soil, wheat to which 150 pounds of raw bone meal was applied, yielded four times as much to the acre, as it did when none was applied. This certainly paid us well for the use of the bone meal. But there can be no doubt that on many farms and in many localities, commercial fertilizers do not pay. So we are compelled to seek further yet for an ideal method of restoring fertility to worn lands. Pleading guilty to the charge of being a “clover crank,” I think in the growing of clover this may be found. Go where wc may and we will find nine out of ten clovergrowing farmers to be prosperous. Clover seems to possess to a remarkable degree the power of making those who grow it, happy and contented. As hay, it has few equals and no superior. A clover pasture is excellent. Turned under when green or dry, it will raise the productiveness of a farm faster than anything else. lam convinced that the best use we here can make of ham-yard and commercial manures, is to aid in securing a good stand of elover and grass, depending upon them to bring up the fertility, of the land.