The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1853-08-17
IN ADVANCE
MUM B ER gS
IMtultnral.
Is sioth indulgence It's toll,
Enervates man and damns the soil.
Young.
Farmers, do not Turn Your Stock
Upon Your Fields.

1t has been very common practice
among the farmers Of this State, after
gathering the crops from their fields, to
turn their stock upon them and let them
eat the stalks and vines. There has in
our opinion been nothing that has SO much
conduced to the general exhaustion of our
Lands, as this practice, although we have
been very of'en told by farmers that they
regarded 1t as farm economy. All writers
upon Agricultural Chemistry readily ad-
init that the stalks and vines of plants
must be left upon the field, in order that
10y their decomposition they may return
to the soil the elements for the reproduc-
ton of succeeding crops. The various
| plants we cultivate are composed of ele-
ments, part of which are mineral and
part vegetable, and the mineral must ne
cessariIy be afforded to the plant by the
soil. Now, it is not.yery plain to be seen,
that if year after year these mineral ele-
ments are taken away from the soil, with
out leaving any means for re-supply,
that in few years the soil in which thew
once existed will be deficient in themi A
very large quantity, it is true, are carried
away in the CROP but if in addition to
this, the stalk and vine are consumed by
stock, from what source can the soil OBJ
tain them again, unless they be supplied
in the form of manure? Our readers will
recolect that in the last number of our
paper we answered question submitted
by farmer from Greene county, in which
we ventured TO account for the failure Of
the pea crop upon land that formerly was.
well adapted to the cultivation of the pea.
This exhaustion had no doubt been caused
10y this very practice Of turning stock up
on the fields in the fall, as farmers say, ato
eat the peas, and thereby save them from
wasting" In the vine or stalk of the pea
Is contained 27 per cent, of the carbonate
OF lime and these being consumed year
after year by cattle, horses and hogs, il is
but reaSo liable to suppose that the land
would fail to produce the pea luxuriantly.
The exhaustion Of land by this Epractice
cannot be perceived very ready in the be-
| ginning, and hence the continuation of II:
but every farmer may rest assured that he
Is sustaining very great damage by con-
tinuing the practice. Let us now look in
to the saving that is so generally believed
to be caused by turning stock upon the
fields. Practical demonstration has prov
ed the fact. that by giving proper atten-
ton to any kind of stock in the way of
furnishing materials for making and saw
ing manure, that the food consumed will
be paid for in the return made by the ma
nure TO the land. If this be true, and we
do not doubt it in the least, the practice
OF suffering stock to run at large upon
fields must be bad one indeed. Il ia
true that hogs turned upon field in the
fall upon which peas have been sown,
will become fat; but the manure from
them may be said to be almost lost for It
is deposited in every direction and upon
the surface Of the land, and volatile pro-
perties, 10y far the most important are
scattered "to the four winds" Aswe said
before, the hog improves at the expense of
the land, which is greatly injured, and
without the application Of manure, will
fail to produce. II the hog were kept up
in a close pen, and the proper attention
paid to the collecting of materials for max,
ing manure, the land might be much inn
proved by the application of this manure,
and not as in the other case, at the ex.
pense of the hog. The farmer would find
it much to his interest to keep eyery kind
of stock from his fields, and thereby leave
upon them the materials for the repro
ducton of other crops Farmers Jour
nat