The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1869-03-17
THE FARM.

farmers will admit that there are crops to
be grown which can be harvested at such
stage of their existence as to take very little
from the soil bat they do not care to study
this matter as of much Importance. -t..
The art of good farming is to grow as
much unexhausting produce possible, and
to manufacture all such produce into manure
for increasing the fertility of the soil con-
sequenty, the first thought should be
directed to the best crops for every season
of the year, and the second consideration
ought to be how to convert them into
fertilizing substances, so as to make money
by the operation; and this will result in OBJ
tanning a machinery called live stock,
which will turn all of the produce into u
solid and liquid matter best suited for the
purposes of fructitcation. -.-.
Following such system, the farmer, is
machinery, and his farm, will all thrive to-
gether; and he can look with pity on those
who exhaust their soil by letting the crops
go past the stage where nonexhaustion
ceases, and then sell off what has distracted
the heart from their land. 1t is the ripcning
of grass which injuries hay and soi.-Rural
Gentleman. ....
THE LABOR AND FooD QUESTION. The
lands Of the South are naturally as rich, in
the element of fertility, as those of the
North. We have as much rain, more sun
light and heat, and longer growing seasons.
We ought, therefore, it would seem, to be
able to raise as much food to the acre of
land, and to raise it as cheaply.. as the
Northern farmers. But 50 far from this, we
are buying flour, meal, corn, hay, meat, lard,
cheese, butter, potatoes, onions, etc., pro-
duced in the North, which have been
speculated upon two or three times, trans
ported thousand miles or more, and
which, in many instances, we have to
haul forty or fifty miles over most execrable
roads,
Farmers here are paying for labor every
cent they can afford, and yet they are pay
ing but little more than half the average
wages throughout the North and West Is
it not idle, then, 10 expect labor to come
South, where its price is much lower, and
the price of living much higher, than in the
sections mentioned Is there not danger
even of losing the labor we now have? con
Now, here is cluster of anomalies,
which it may profit us to ponder over
awhile. .ou uag .E
Southern farmers produce crops, for the
most part. requiring great deal of labor in
their cultivation and manipulation, and
partly on account of the nature of those
crops, make but little use of labor-saving
implements, while Northern farmers pro-
duce crops which, in the main, require COM
paratively little labor, and avail themselves
to a considerable extent of labor-saving i'm
plements.-Southerp Cultioator. .-r.,t
WHAT RAILROADS Do FOR FARMERS
To haul forty bushels of corn 90 miles on a
wagon costs, says the Agricuhurist, at least
S12 dollars for team, driver, and expenses.
A railroad would transport it for 81 at most.
Allowing an average Of forty bushels per
acre, the crop would he worth So more per
acre, or 8 per cent. on $780, As the relative
advantage is about the same for other crops,
1t is clear that a railroad passing through a
town would add 500 per acre to the value
of the farms. A town ten miles square con-
tains CA ,006 acres. An increase of 500 per
acre is equal to $6,4000O0, or enough to
build two hundred miles of railroad, even if
it cost $4,000 per mile But two hundred
miles of roads would extend through twenty
towns cf ten miles square, and cost but SO
per acre if taxed upon the land. These
figures are given merely as an illustration.
If the farmers had taxed themselves to build
all the railroads in this country, and give
them away to any companies that would
stock and run them, the present increased
value of their land would have well repaid
all the outlay. 4.t
CUT FEED FOR HoRsEs.-Not few
farmers Keep their horses on hay alone 1t
SC tharI Iaff, hoo,
to cut a portion of the hay, and add thereto
the worth of the remainder which they
would cut, i'll the shapcaof. cob-meal, or
what is better, u mixture of oats and corn.
Few horses feel entirely on hay, live to be
dozen years old without having a cough,
and no horse ;is as able or as willing to
work when stuffed with any fodder, as one
whose food is richer and of smaller bulk.
Besides, when eating dry hay, the horse
is inclined to drink beyond his need, and
beyond what is best for. him; so much so
that even rapid or common driving imme-
dately after is exceedingly injurious. tu
With good hay cutter and box, and
water near by. the trouble is little, and will
be repaid ten fold in the health and working
ability of the animal. boi9g.lo3 ad to'
ATTRACTION OF THE SOFIA naturally
rich soil is evidence that it is air-fed. Sand
will not attract or hold the ammonia of the
SHOWS and rains. A rich soil willard
hence the richness of the land is evidence
that it is fed Such soil, when exhausted
by cropping, may be rapidly restored Tex
cept the mineral elements), by constantly
stirring it. Like a sponge, it will absorb
and retain from the atmosphere. This is
Liebig's retentive soil. The principle is
that fertility attracts fertility. Especially
is this the case where sulphate of lime pre-