Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-11-15

WALKS AND TALKS on THE FARM.

WALKS AND TALKS ON THE FARM
The time has arrived in our agrieuhnre'
however, when we must bestow more care
and labor, in feeding stock, and enriehlug
our land. / think farmers are becoming con-
yinced Of this. High prices are great in
centiye to improvement We can all see
that if our farms were in condition, we would
make money. / was on a farm, the other
day, where the wheat crop went 37l bushels
per acre, and being very clean and nice, was
all sold to the neighbors for seed, at ST.
per bushel Most of US, on land naturally
lust as good, only raise Is bushels per acre
and that not of the best quality. IN ride OF
some twenty-five miles, through two OF the
best towns in this county, in search OF some
good seed wheat, this was the only wheat |
found that was clean u may be that did
not happen to fall in with the right men. 0ne
farmer, who has always been noted for careful
culture, and who, I was told, would have
clean seed if it was 10 be found, had wheat
no better than my own. have bad such
dirty wheat" he said, and de- mol doubt it,
for, on going to the barn, where be had been
cleaning some thirty or forty bushels for seed,
there we're lying on the floor FIVE or six bush
els of stricken grains and foul stuff that bad
been cleaned out This was on one OF the
best wheat farms in the State Unfortunate
" such cases are not rare. Where one farm
has improved during the past FIVE years, ten
have run down. Uncertainty in regard to
future prices, and the scarcity aud ineficincy
of Isborers are among the chief causes of this
deplorable state Of affairs. did not see dur
ing the whole ride single clean piece Of corn.
Most of the corn was cut up, and in every
case the rows could be traced by weeds run
ming to seed, and not unfrequenty the whole
land was covered with weeds from six inches
to three feet in height. In dry season, like
the present, tits not easy to understands how
land could get so foul, where even nothing
more than ordinary cultivation is employed.
Next spring, this land will be sown with bar
ley, followed by wheat in the fall Is it TO be
wondered at that clean wheat is so scarce =?
Many farmers plow their land twice for wheat
after the barley is of, aud harrow, roll and
cultivate their land very nicely, in order to
get it clean and mellow. But this does com
paratiyely little good. The time to clean land
for wheat is while it Is in corn. If it cannot
be made throughly clean with one corn crop
plant it two years in succession, and cultivate
it every week or ten days from the time the
rows can be traced till the corn is set. You
will then have clean wheat.
There are two objects in working land.
First, to kill weeds, and second, to enrich it
by promoting decomposition, and rendering
it capable of absorbing ammonia from the at
mosphere. These chemical changes require
time. If you have two heaps of manure piled
up last spring, and one heap has been turned
over three times during four or five months
and the other has not been turned at all. the
one would be well rotted, and in fine eondi
ton 10 put on the land, while theother would
most likely be lumpy, with some parts heated
too much, and others not fermented at all.
Now then, if you should make q spasmodic
effort to get this last heap into good condition,
and should turn it over few days before you
wished to use it, three times or even six times
do you suppose the heap would be as fine, and
as well rotted, and as rich as the other? So
far as enriching the land is concerned, stir
ring it over three or four times in as many
days, does comparatively little good. Such
treatment may be necessary to get the land
ready for the seed, but by doing the work all
at one time, you lose one of the chief advant-
ages Of working the land. It should be under
stood that decomposition or oxidation in the
soil or in a manure heap is kind of slow
combustion, Now, any good housewife who
bakes in an old-fashioned brick oven proceed,
in strict accordance with scientific principles
She turns the Ere from one side in the over
TO the other, and thus exposes the blacl
embers to the air, and when they are al
aglow, she exposes another portion. If sh,
should neglect to do this till the bread was al
ready, and then should knock the fire bacl
and forth half adozen times in as many minutes
she would exhibit no more sense than hei
husband, who is, with plows, harrows, ant
cultiyators, trying TO get his land ready fo
wheat in hurry. In heating the oven, th,
FIRE heats the opposite side from that or
which the wood is placed, and so in the fel
the effect of working the land is not felt whol
ly on the first crop, but on those which fol
low. Cultivating corn benefits the crop. Thi
is not all; its effects win be felt for two O
three years.
The Doctor says, he never knew man t,
sell his farm who did not regret it, Thi