Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-06-01
Farm, Garden, Kitchen and Shop,

sail exists that our system OF agriculture
is exhaustive, and that we are day by day
selling off the very life blood of our farms.
We are aware that this is not popular
theme, nor is the statement kindly recelv-
ed; yet il seems 10 be the imperious hty
Ofthe agricultural Journalist to keep the
fact before the people, unpleasant as 1t
may be 70 him or them.
We have all through Vermont, farmers
who, though they are adding to the area Of
their tllage lands, fail to keep up their
stock 20 the standard of former days. That
they are getting more dollars and cents Oft
their farms, may be, and probably is true
and this is Just exactly what is deluding
them into the belief that they are growing
rich and perhaps improving their estate
A virgin soil, and especially one upon
which forest growth has been burned of,
leaving the surface covered with wood ash
es, has generally all the elements necessa-
~ for plant food in a highly assimmilable
condition but some of these are only in
limited supply, and since this is notan age
Of miracles, it can hardly be expected that
we draw uponany source ofsupply without
limit, unless some provision is made for
keeping up the supply.
Hon. Geo. Geddes, the veteran farmer Of
y
to- have constantly improved his farm, or
at least a portion Of it, by no other appli-
cation than that Of gypsum, clover seed,
and the sleeps foot Gypsum is not a
plant food" and is not to be classed am
ong manurcs. and OF itself does not restore
anything to the soil, but is chiefly valuable
H. am absorbent Of gases from the atmos-
phcre. The long tap root of the clover
he.
the food of which the surface soil has been
previously exhausted and, when it comes
to die in the ground, il deposits near the
surface certain elements that it has drawn
up from below, but does not really restore
anything to the soil as whole Instead
of being a manure of itself, it simply chan
yes the location of certain manurial ele-
mcuts, and brings them within reach of
other plants not 50 far reaching But Mr..
Gcddes takes oft a hay crop, crop of corn,
and one of wheat, and only leaves in the
soil the decayiug roots, and the drOppings
of his sheep while feeding of a single sea-
sons growth. And can it be, as he as
,ume-, that he is not in any sense,
OF to any degree, exhausting the re-
sources of his soil? That the particular
parcel Of land subjected to this treatment
will eventually fail, is inevitable, although
il does not show any indication of giving
out Land long treated in this manner be
comes "cloyer sick, prevalent disease il
the wheat regions of western New York
resulting from exhaustion OfthOse elements
that sustain the clover plant.
One of the evil results Of our eXhaustiv,
farming is the prevalent mania for change.
Not one farm in hundred hardly one il
81. 4 . !,
original owners. To make the most off
farm for the time being and sell out, is tn
highest aspiration of most farmers and a
result, our farms are becoming enlarge
and our population reduced, Il political eyi
greatly to be deprecated, since it is wei
established maxim in political econOm
that the real wealth Of the state lies in
productive population.
IL is, then, the duty OF the state, ~ we
a~ of the individual farmers, TO grappi
with this monStrous evil Bountie~ to SUI
cr--tul experimenters, analyses OF tcrtiIi
zur-, and the diffusion of information upo
tAi, subject, are as clearly dutic- OF tn
state as any other.
For the individual farmer, who Woul
keep his farm i'm condition. but one sourc
remains, and that is for him to restore {
his soil all the elements of growth that h
removes in his crops and it is as clcarl
his duty and his interest to economize a
the manuriM agencies-the food for Ia
land to economic i'm thematter OfioO
for his family or animals. The waste pli
c,- such as the swamp, the peat bog, tn
old hedge row, and the road side, must b
laid under contribution and yield thei
proportion. Oil cake and grain for wintC
feeding animals afford large returns in m;
nure.
1t is a principle in nature that nothin
j, lost, whatever changes itundergOes OF
butter and cheese, and beef and pork, an
wheat and corn though carried to the CT
les to feed thethousands of nOn-producc
there, and thence through the city Sewe
into the sea, comes back 70 us in thousar
forms for our use, and Of these we may II
fail to secure a goodly portion to repla
that carried away.
Of all commercial manures, the most Vi
liable are the products Of the sea. II
great standard fertilizer is Peruvian guam
the eXcrement of sea birds deposited {
islands in the Pacific Ocean where IA
rarely ifever falls; artificial guanos, ma
from fish ohal, and other substances, a
recommended as almost as good Us t
the sea coast sea weeds are much used, b
they will not bear transportation into t
interior OF superphosphates and 9th
manufactured manures, there Is almost
endless variety, but the great trouble Wi
them is that there is no reliance to be pie
ed upon them. 1t is lamentable fact, ii
a great majority Of all the manufacture
fertilizers in the market do not give sat
faction to the purchasers, and are not wi
they are recommended to be. They {
generally sold on the recommendation
chemists who have Analysed and tarm
who have tested specimens; but withC
any guarantee that the article sold is Of t
same composition as that analysed a
tested, and in far too many cases an ana
sis or test would show it to be quite ano
er article. The people are credulous a
easily duped once or twice, when they
faces like flint against everything that
any manner resembles the cheat; and Il
will not see any good in a genuine arti
after having once suffered from the col
tericit, and thus q second evil results, el
greater than the first.
These phosphate manures the peo
must have, and the state ought to prot
them from fraud by providing that M
should be sold without an analysis &
guarantee that it is rs recommended.
would not be understood rs saying t
there are no reliable manures in the ma
ct, but we do say that there are many t
are comparatively worthless and who
unreliable, and it is a waste of money
buy them at any price. 1t will never
however, to get behind the fraud and
nothing. With such information as
may get we must move forward in the Ii
ter, prudently, on small scale perh;
butnone the less determinedly.-Fre II
How TO JUDGEA HORsE.-A write
the Country Gentleman offers the foil
ing rs evidence: at the color be light
rel or chestnut, his feet, legs and face wi
these are the marks Of kindness. II h
broad and full between the eyes, he
be depended upon as horse of good Sc
and capable of being trained TO anyth
As respects the horse, the more kindly
treat them the better you will be tre
i'm return. Nor will horse of this desc
ton stand whip ifwell fed. If you v
safe horse, avoid one that is dish ia
He may be so far gentle as not to Sc
but he will have too much 90 aheadin
to be safe with everybody. If you wa
fool, but horse of great bottom, get
bay with not a white hair about him.
his face is little dished so much the W,
Let no man ride such horse that is
an expert rider-they are always tr