Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-01-17
Grafton Industrial Association.

attendance from all parts of the town
Several important subjects were discussed
in the Ladies department with zeal and
ability, but as their Secretary failed to
take notes we are unable to give the
world the benefit of their views.
Several gentlemen spoke upon the sub
ject of manures and their application as
follows:
Mr., G. S. WHITE said every farmers
success depends in a great degree upon
his knowledge and skill in preparing and
Applying fertilizers to the soil, most of
which in Vermont has become so much
exhausted that very little can be raised
without them. No one can long succeed
in farming who depends upon the manure
that naturally accumulates about his
barn. Artificial fertilizers must be lib
orally appliedor our farms will constant
| ly deteriorate; and how most successfully
to manufacture them can only be solved
by constant study and repeated expert
ments. Muck, which is abundant in this
section can be used with great profit.
! This should be placed in heaps, literally
| deposited in~barn and hog-yards, fire.
quently overhauled and exposed to the
air and mixed with manure. This pro
cess before spreading it upon land or mix
ing it with the soil greatly increases its
value.
Stables should be Uttered with brakes
and leaves, and when they are not to be
had in sufficient quantity, dry saw-dust
can be used to advantage. 1t is an ex-
cellent absorbant and takes up the liquid
in stables, which is of great value and
otherwise would be lost. No farmer
should keep hog twelve months with
out his manufacturing ten cart loads of
good manure. This he will not fail to
do If provided with the proper material.
The proper application of manure de-
ponds entirely upon the quality and con-
dition of the soil. Wet land should be
| top-dressed, or if mixed with soil kept
near the surface, but ON dry land it should
be covered to prevent its drying up.
MIR. j. ID. PErTENGILL said the soil of
too many farms in Vermont was becom-
ing exhausted. The abundant crops that
formerly rewarded the labor of the hus-
bandman are rarely to be seen. Many
farms that once produced we'll and were
cultivated with profit are now turned out
for sheep-pastures, and it requires Meth
er philosopher or a prophet to explain
the cause. From the soil is annually
taken all it will yield, while fertilizers
are 50 sparingly applied it is robbed of
the elements essential to produce the
growth of vegetation. No practice is
more unwise or Improbable. No. labor
is better rewarded than that iudieiously
employed in enriching the soil. Artif-
cial fertilizers must be used, and we have
abundant material for their production.
Muck, brakes and leaves should be mix
ed with barn-yard manure in large guam
titles. Turf thoroughly dried is a good
absorbant and when placed so as to alb
sorb the liquids in stables and barn
yards, becomes valuable fertilizer. Mr..
L. experimental with super phosphate of
lime on 200 hills of potatoes, with the
following results, using one tablespoon
full to each hill at each application. On
the first 100 hills he applied it at plant
ing and dug from them l bush. 19 dts.
large and 6 qts. small. On the second
100 hills he applied at planting and hoe
ing, the yield of which was 2 bush. 12
cts. large, OTIS. small, On the third 100
hills he used nothing and the yield was
10 qts. large and OTIS. small.
Mr.. F. DANIELS said there was moth
ing cultivated that better paid the labor
and expense than fruit trees. He could
make an apple tree live and bear fruit
an hundred years by judicious pruning,
removing the rough dead bark and pro-
perry manuring. In 1853 he purchased
an old orchard, in its condition at the s
time of purchase, worthless. He expend- /
ed SO in pruning and grating and for
the last six years it had yielded ON an
average 500 worth of fruit annually. |
In the fall of 1865 he selected four apple
trees six inches in diameter, grated to
which had never borne but a
few apples. Around each he dug 4
trench eight feet in diameter, dug to the I
roots. In each trench he put one bushel
Of ashes, filled them with chip manure. {
then placed around them quantity of In
rotten wood In the fall of 1866. he Y
gathered from each tree one bushel of
baldwins, the next fall one barrel. not !
Baldwin trees very seldom I
bear two years in succession. IL
Mr.. +. L. EPSON said he had never
'arted but small quantity of muck, it
too much labor. His effort had
been to save. the manure that was made.
md make proper application of it. As
many farms suffer for the want of what :
: wasted ono banne4.l III