Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1874 — Cleanliness in Farming. [ARTICLE]

Cleanliness in Farming.

A sloven is never a good farmer. No i matter how industrious he may be, or saving of time and money, if a due regard is not paid to cleanliness very great success will never crown his efforts. We, of course, do not allude to the person ot the farmer, for that is his own business; whether he ever takes a bath or combs his hair is nothing to us, nor does it concern the principles we wish to inculcate or the errors we would warn him against at this time. But clean farming is the great leature in successful farming, and the man who neglects to keep his fence corners clesi or weeds is . off the track, and the .j sooner he gets on again the better. It may be asked what have a few dead or live weeds in out-of-the-way places to j do with good crops, or what does it matter if there are heaps of old brush, straw, ‘ manure or rubbish lying undisturbed in 1 the back yards or fields? These do no harm, it is said, if let alone, and it will take time to remove or put them out of the way. Suppose these materials are not needed for manure or other purposes, are they really harmless? No; for it is in sucli rubbish heaps that hundreds of species pf noxious insects breed and come forth to attack the farmer’s fruits, flowers and grain. That great pest of corn and wheat in the Western States, the chinch bug, hibernates in winter in heaps of grass, weeds, and other rubbish, which is found in greater or less abundance about every farm; also our common souash bug, which preys upon various kinds of vines. Consequently the greater the amount of such rubbish about the farm the better the opportunities for the increase of these pests. The moths, which gre the parents of the cotton and corn worm, also live through the winter under leaves, grass and weeds, which, if burned late in the fall or early in spring, would destroy immense numbers of these destructive in sects. Knowing these facts, the importance of removing such rubbish and burning over all waste places must be apparent to every farmer, and this is but the first step in what 'tie would call cleanliness in farming. Old rubbish heaps of all kinds, including the undisturbed heaps of barnyard manure, are the breeding places of flies of various kinds which annoy us in our houses as well as the animals in the barn and fields. It is as important the barn, stable and all outbuildings should be thoroughly cleansed once or twice a year as it is to clean the dwell- i ing house. Measly pork is the! offspring of filthy hog-pens. Lice j on fowls, scab on sheep, scratches in horses, itch, and various kindred dis- j eases are sure indications of uncleanlincss. Then, again, there are frequently stag nant pools on the farm which are breeding places of mosquitoes as well as miasmatic diseases. These should either be drained or filled up, or in some manner kept clean and pure. If we visit the dwelling houses of ; many of our well to-do farmers we may | find the cellars fragrant with decaying j vegetables, the odors of which penetrate ' every part of the house, leaving the spores j of microscopic plants in every crack and ' corner from basement to garret. Perhaps the good housewife is -at the same time trying her best to make good, sweet butter, but fails on account of an impure atmosphere. It is well known to every chemist that butter is one of the most powerful absorbents of flavors given off by other substances; hence the often-re-peated advice to keep milk, cream, and butter in clean, sweet rooms. These are but a few of the many reasons which we might urge in favor of cleanliness about the farm, so far as it relates to filth that must necessarily accumulate in greater or. leas quafitities unless put out of the way. In the same category, although not as important on account of health, but equally so for profit, we might place the purity of seeds sown upon the farm. Clean seed wheat, rye, oats and other j grain are seldom too highly valued, even by the most careful farmer.' It is a waste of time to cultivate weeds and foul seed, to be afterward separated from the grain and thrown sway. The honest miller is . - ' -A ■ . Wu . y. ,

often blamed for too great shrinkage in the grain taken to the mill, when the fault waa riot his, but of the one who furnished the grist containing too large a proportion of weed seeds and smut These remarks do not apply to one portion of the country more than to another; for the cotton planter at the South as well as the farmer at the North la far too negligent in thia matter, and a little more cleaning up, both indoors and out, would benefit themselves and their neighbors as well as all animals in their care. As the frosts leave, begin to clean up, for it is a habit worth cultivating, as well by the poorest farmer as the richj est. —New York Sun. i