Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1859-09-16


that is in high cultivation, and is judiciously
cropped, can be kept at a high mark of fertil-
/ ity with case, as compared with making ex-
hausted land fertile The very luxuriance of
the crops gives back a large mass OF roots
and stems to the soil. Especially is this the
case when grass sward has been allowed to
form; so that in breaking the sod for a new
rotation of crops, we eau turn under many
tons per acre Of matter fertilizing TO the land,
contained in the roots and stems Of the sward
Then, too. land in high condition is much
less injuriously affected by uniavorable pecu-
larities OF the season, as TO drouth or mois-
ture, cold or heat. than il it were in poor
tilth, and indeed is in a good degree indepen-
dent of these pecuiaries. In any season. IL
will pay larger profit in proportion to what
has been expended to obtain the crop, than
can be derived from exhausted land.
In feeding ont the grain crops pretty freely
on the farm there will be some years whom
the growth of stock, the meats. the wool, the
dairy products. &c, into which the grain has
been converted. will sell high enough to pay
considerably more per bushel for the grain
than it would have brought had it been sold
off the farm other years the grain may per-
haps bring a greater immediate income if
and considering the steady improvement of
the farm, where the crops are expended upon
il. there will be more profit in feeding out
the grain than in selling it off. In period.
say Of twelve or twenty years, | am inclined
to think that sevonty-fvo cents per bushel
realized for corn, for instance, fed out on the
farm, and the manure returned to the land, is
as good as one dollar per bushel, realized by
sending it off to market for cash, and the
farm robbed of an equivalent in manure for
the corn thus sold Off
Take, for instance, the whole amount or
number of bushels of grain of any kind pro-
duced on an acre Of land, or on the farm, and
place IT in pile together. 1t makes only
small heap, even though the yield per acre
be very large one. Yet that heap, small as
it is, contains large per cent. Of the very es-
sence of the fertility Of the soil that produced
it, and has taxed the land far more than If it
had only produced the stalk and leaf of the
plant, or in other words, forage crop Of any
kind. This grain, fed out with the hay and
other crops, adds wonderfully TO the activity
and fertilizing power of the farm yard manure
and greatly quickens the soil to renewed ef-
forts at production. Then. again. by feeding
out the grain with the forage crops, and thus
making mannre abounding in gases and salts,
you may compost with much larger proper
tions of muck, turf, the rich soil washed into
hollow places, or other materials gathered up
about the farm to swell the manure heap, and
have them all decomposed and sweetened
and prepared to become the food of plants,
than you could properly use if the cattle-drop-
pings were alone composed of the more life
less and inactive elements derived from the
hay, straw and other forage.
Mr.. Coke, the Earl of Leicester once said,
g the more meat poor land farmer sent to
Smithfeld, the more grain he would be ena-
bled to sell per acre at Mark Lane. Convert
plenty Of corn and cake into meat; for the
value of farm-yard manure is in proportion to
what it is made Of If the cattle eat straw
alone, the dung is straw alone, the cattle are
straw, the farm is straw. and the farmer is
straw--and they are all straw together
Not long ago, | had four cows come up to
the stable in the fall, which | thought might
yield good supply of milk during the win
ter if well fed. | also had four other ami
mails, cows and heiiers, which we're not ox-
pected to give much milk till the following
grass season The first four were tied in the
stable side by side. and received each, in ad
dtion to hay and stalks, four quarts of small
potatoes each morning, and two quarts of
corn and oat meal each evening through the
winter. As was expected, they gave a good
mess of milk, and came out well in the spring.
The manure of these four cows was thrown
out of stable window, under the cattle shed
by itself The other four animals were tied
in the same stable, next to the first four, and
received only hay and corn-fodder. Their
manure was thrown ont by ITSELF at the next
stable window, and under the same shed, so
that the two heaps lay side by side. The
heap made by the four cows that were daily
messed with potatoes and meal, kept hot and
oking all winter, and was wholly free from
frost. The heap made by the other animals
that had only hay and stalks, showed no
signs of fermentation, and was somewhat
frozen. Observing this difference from time
to time. curiosity prompted me in the spring
to apply these two heaps of manure separate
ly, but in equal quantities, side by side, on a
piece of corn ground. The superiority of the
corn crop, where the manure from the messed
cattle was applied, over that where the other
heap was spread, was quite apparen. and
striking; and called my attention more par
ticularly than it was ever before directed, to
the importance of feeding out our best or
richest products, if we would have the best
kind of manure for our lands and large crops
from them.
| might here go on to show that the hay
produced by the farm, fed out upon it, and
say, seven or eight dollars per ton realized
for the same, and the manure given back to
the land, would generally, in term of years,
be as valuable thus disposed Of as though it .
were carried off to market and sold for twelve
dollars per ton, and the land not compensat-
ed by an equivalent Of manure, Also, how
the feeding of potatoes, carrots and other
root crops adds to the quantity and quality
of the manure, and the profit of keeping
stock. But these matters would form anoth-
er branch of the general subject, the treat
ment of which would make this communica-
tion too long.
1t may be proper to briefly indicate some of
the ways in which the grain crops may be .
pro6tably fed out upon the farm, though |
can no more than briefly mention them at
this time.
1t is generally good farming to keep at
least a few cows, for their dairy products,
and in connection with them, about an equal
number Of spring pigs of good breed, feed
ing the skim milk, &c. o. the dairy to the
pigs together with the grain. When the
pork brings seven cents per pound and corn
one dollar per bushel, have found it better \