Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1869-10-07
farmers 1epartulfllt.
Does 1t Pay the Farmer to In
vest Surplus Capital on His
Farm?

vest surplus ooPasaA
Farm?
To tie Editor Of the csne'"''aH 0a
zette.
Allow me to make few remafAs
on the above subject.
No investment that tie farmer
c.n make paws better than to invest a
reasonable amount of his surplus on
his farm, in buildings, to house and
store his hay and grain; draining, if
his lands are wet land nearly all
CLAW land should be drained; saving
and utilizing manures, and building
sheds to keep manures from wasting
by rains.
1. DoEs IT Par TO BUILD Coon
BAREs?-Most assuredly. By hav-
ing a good barn, the farmer can
house and secure his grain, as soon
after cutting as 1t goes through q par
tial sweat, saving it from loss and
damage by rains. He is indepen-
dent Of the itinerant threshing ma
chine man, who holds that farmer in
his power who leaves his grain stand
in the shock until threshing. It is
not an unusual thing to see grain, in
shock, that has grown four or five in
ches. A farmer with all his grain
housed, is safe. He can, if neces-
sary, thresh his crop out in winter,
and feed his straw to stock, or bale
it; as straw, of late years, sells very
well in the markets. Straw saved
from the weather is much better as
feed, and it of course sells better;
therefore, barn will pay by saving,
first the grain, and also the straw. /
threshed last season six hundred
bushels of grain, all the straw of
which I housed in the same barn
that I threshed the wheat out of,
without putting it out Of doors ex-
cept a stack of straw that put out
to make room to commence with.
The straw from the above 600 bush
els of grain I sold for 1907 gross,
and had over zoe wagon loads of
manure, all that / could make prof
liable use of. This season / have
considerable more straw in my barn
and twice as much out of doors.
The straw of this year and last will
pay me all my barn cost, of hired la
bor and material. How would l
have saved that straw had | no barn?
My barn is valuable to me also in en-
abling me to take care of tools, wag
ons, machinery, ETC., which would
otherwise be exposed to the weather.
Many farmers have in five years lost
more than would build them a good
barn, in destruction to tools and ma
chinery alone. 1t cannot be too
strongly recommended to farmers to
take all possible care of the trolling
stock" of a farm. Besides saving
the cest of procuring new supply of
tools and machinery every few years,
the farmer who takes care of his
farming machinery can do more and
better work with good, well kept tools,
than with rusty, half rotten ma
chinery.
2. DOES IT PAY TO DRA1N2-If the
land is any way inclined to hold wa
ter as much as three days after a
"long wet SPELL" it will pay to drain
it. No land should remain too wet
to plow longer than three days; and
twenty four hours is as long as 1
wish to wait, or ever have to. But all
lands are not alike; judicious sys-
tenn of drainage, however, would
make them nearly so. Many far
mers complain that it costs too much
to drain. admit it costs something,
but does it not cost more not to draine
Any farmer with moderate income
and little energy can spend at least
$50 yearly in material and labor for
draining, and never miss it either;
and after five years of such an ex-
pertinent be will be sorry he did not
spend 800 yearly. Go slow; do not
get excited and overdo yourself in
draining and quit in disgust Drain
ing all that is necessary can not be
done in day; it takes years of pa
tience and labor. I think it was
John Johnston, of Geneva, N. Y,
who spent about twenty years in
draining his land to make it produce
to his notion, but he succeeded.
3. DOES IT PAY TO SAVE MANUREs?
in the first place / would ask,
what are manures on wet lands? and |
what use have farmers for an in
creased yield of crops without good
barns to save them in? 1 am per-
suaded that manures should be kept
dry, or at least not too wet, until ap-
piled to the land. Many thousand
dollars worth of manures are annu-
ally allowed by farmers to run to
waste; the very essence of many far
mers' manure heaps are thus lost. A |
few days labor in building cheap
sheds to cover manure heaps would |
add largely to the income of the
farm. Farmers that are determined
can save much more manure than
they would at first believe possible.
Hen house manures are often thrown
away-not considered worth saving.
1t is a great mistake, as any one will
see who will give it a trial. l have
used it for several years on carly
corn, potatoes and on my garden,
and find it very valuable. Last
spring l tried it on field potatoes,
and l am well convinced that it was
labor well spent. Applying one to
two ounces to the hill on potatoes or
corn, of dry hen manure, will con-
vince any farmer of its value. A
word to the wise, &c.
In conclusion let me urge farmers
to build good barns, underdrain their
lands, and make and apply all the
manures that it is possible. Manures
make on good (dry) lands, good
crOns. fill pood harms ond II