Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1879 — Treatment of Land. [ARTICLE]

Treatment of Land.

The question of a right treatment of land is one which should receive more attention frdm farmers than it does. For upon this depends, in a large measure, success in raising good crops. No land that Is ill-treatea ever yet produced well, no more than ill-treated stock will thrive, increase and be protitable. As the object in treating Ipnd well is keeping up its producing capacity, I would mention, tirst, as a means to this end, plowing it in the right stage. Land to be kept lively, should never, in any case, be plowed wet. If plowed in this condition it will become cloddy and divested of much of its lifegiving properties. Especially will this bo the case if dry weather follows. The right stage at which to plow land is when it is sufficiently dry to crumble up nicely when turned over. ' Again, land should not only not be plowed when wet, but should not be 1 disturbed in any way, either by wagoning over it or allowing stock to run upon it when in this condition. Far better had the farmer lay idle from his plowing for a few days, and in the case of his stock, provide himself with sufficient rufifness in the fall so as to be prepared to remove them from the fields when wdt weather prevails. Next, as an essential means of keeping up the producing capacity oi the land, is that of interchange of crops and manuring. No land, however rich and produetive it may be, will remain so, that is successively run in the same crop. To rightly keep up land, crops should be frequently changed, while all the worn-out portions should receive as much fertilizing material as is possible to place upon them. How much might this latter means be enlarged ana applied if farmers would only taxe the time to do so. But the argument of most farmers is, it is impossible to make a general use of manures as the area requiring it far exceeds the supply on hand. True, the supply is often less than what is really needed, but use what is, and observe this rule in its application: Go as far as possible with each year's supply to give a good coating. Next year begin where you left off the previous year, rad apply in the same way. Keep up this plan and you will be surprised to see in three or four years how much land you will have manured, while you will be doubly compensated in the large yield of the land thus treated. There are other methods of keeping up land that might be very profitably applied. But none of these methods would we be willing to substitute for manuring, but would rather couple them with it. If this was more generally practiced by farmers, what a different aspect would the farming interest present in the way of good crops. Many farmers complain that their land is bewming unproductive and refuses to yield even a comfortable living. Why this complaintP Is it not because’ they have neglected to properly care for it? Nature is not so rich in itself but what a constant drain upon it, without some source of renewal, will divest it of its life-giving properties. Just so has it been with many farmers. They have been robbing their land and otherwise imposing upon it, until it refuses to do the work which Nature has allotted it.

There are many reasons why farmers should give more attention to the treatment of their. land. One is that much of our Western lands are, from a long period of cultivation, becoming old ana worn, and require to be renewed, while in”aU the first settled sections of the West population has become very dense, which has brought farming lands into smaller tracts, Another reason is, we have reached a period of great financial embarrassment in onr country’s hisftSrv, in consequence of which farm products of all kinds have become very low, even so low that little more than a comfortable living can be made by the greatest industry. These things and many others should lead farmers to place their lands in that stage of production in which the greatest possible yields can be obtained. This will create larger incomes from the farming interest and assist largely in correcting the evils which the present hard times have brought about. No farnter that treats his land well and is truly diligent and painstaking in all things ever need complain.. A comfortable living he can generally make, and in prosperous times accumulate. His farm once paid for, even though it be small, properly managed and kept up, is a mine in itself from which he can always dig the precious metal. But that this happy condition may always characterize the farmer, every source of care and renewal possible must be bestowed orchis land. This is a matter of the very first importance. The few rewards of good yields and fair proto/hat are made without this attention are invariably ijrade from land in its fresh or original state, and never in any case from land that has been long cultivated. — Cor. Prairie Farmer.

—The late Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck, of Kingston, N. Y., had a most remarkable voice, the qualities of which a biographer in the Kingston Freeman mentions in these words: “A most eloquent speaker, with a noble presence, and a voice remarkable for its purity, its penetration and its musical tone, ?Mr. Hasbrouok was one of the chosen -speakers to impress upon "an audience the truth of the great convictions and party questions of the day. He has been known to address thou-> sands of people, often in the open air. and yet without an effort make himself; heard distinctly and effectively over the large assembly.” •***’" ••***•. A V krmont man has advertised a card in the paper m hisitown whioh reads: ** Some people have the vulgar calling me Bill; that is not my name, ,nor any part of it. My name’is 1 William Palmer. 1 forgive all past offenses, but if any person ever calls me Bill after the publication of this letter, 1 shall take it as a downright insult, and just as much of an insultas though he bad called me by any other hateful name that is not my own." A BUSSRto to humanity to what Dr Bull’* Gough Syrup can well be termed, ( for It has done more good already than any other aedldnei. '