Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1879 — Treatment of Land. [ARTICLE]

Treatment of Land.

The question of a right treatment of land |s one which should receive more attention from farmers than it does. For upon this depends, in a large measure, success in raising good crops. No land that Is ill-treated ever yet produced well, no more than ill-treated stock will thrive, increase and be profitable. As the object in treating land well is keeping up its producing capacity, I would mention, first, 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 be 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* disturbed in auy 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 ruffness in the fall so as to be prepared to remove them from the fields when wet weather prevails. Next, as an essential means of .keeping up the producing capacity of the land, is that of interchange of crops and manuring. No land, however rich and productive 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 and applied if farmers would only take 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, and 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' becoming unproductive and refuses to yield even a comfortable living. Why this complaint? 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 all 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 our country’s history, 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 farmer 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 limes 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 on his land. This is a matter of the very first importance. The few rewards of good yields and fair profits that are made without this attention are invariably made 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. Hasbrouck 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 thousands of people, often in the open air. and yet without an effort make himself heard distinctly and effectively over the large assembly.” A Vermont man has advertised a card in the paper in his town which reads; " Some people have the Vulgar habit of calling me Bill; that is not my name, nor any part of it. My name is William Palmer. 1 forgive all past offenses, but if any person ever calls me Bill after the publication of this letter, I shall take it as a downright insult, and fast as much of an insult as though he had called me by any other hateful name that is not my own.”A autssnra to humanity to what Dr Bull’s Onngh gyrap. can well ba termed, for It has ione more good already than’any uttfST m*d trine , —l-