Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1871-03-17
Farmers Column.
Live thoughts on Igricu5t'1Gk Not
tiers solicited.
Agricultural Education.
Read Ivy Il. u. Spear before thu Farmers Mass
Meeting, March 6th, 1871.

Meeting, March Sth, 1871
[CONCLUDED J
At the present time agriculture
ellers but few pleasures, and only
small Profits to the ordinary farmer;
and, until it shall become more
thoroughly understood and held in
higher estimation, more will engage
i'm it from necessity than choice, and
our children will bc allured from
homo 10y the brighter prospects Of
fered by other pursuits. What shall
We learn? How shall we learn ?
We should understand the principles
of growth in plants and trees, the
nature OF the different constituent
parts Of the soil, that the food which
one plant requires may not he adapt
ell TO the wants of others, the rules
by which the best breeders Of the
domestic animals are guided, and the
necessity of performing all our ope-
rations on the farm intelligently and
systematically. 1t is not necessary
that farmers who have families de-
pending upon them for support,
should become practical bOtanists or
chemists and it is not expected that
they will go around with crucibles
and retorts, to analyze the different
soils; but they can procure simple
works Oh chemistry, on drainage,
etc, which will enable them to till
the soil intelligently aud successful
ly. BY carefully reading a work on
agricultural chemistry, they will
learn that the different soils are
chiefly composed of organic matter:
lime, potash, silica, iron, magnesia,
soda, ammonia and carbonic, sulphur
ic and phosphoric acids. They will
learn, also, that plants are mainly
composed of the same substances as
soils; artl that these substanC es eX.
lists in different proportions in the
different soils; aud, also, in different
proportions in the different kinds of
plants. BY simple rules and expert
memts on the farm, they will be en-
abled TO determine whether soil Is
we'll supplied with potash, or lime,
or whether it is deficient in these or
other elements of plant food. And
when we have determined that soil
is deficient in lime, potash, or soda,
would know at once that it would
be useless TO plant in it vegetable
whose principal food was lime, pot
ash, or soda. A soil may be well
supplied with food which is suited TO
the wants of many kinds of plants,
or it may be suited TO the wants of
only q few kinds. When we have
determined that n soil Is deficient in
some important kind of plant food,
It will become necessary to UNDER
stand the nature or elements Of the
different kinds of manure, because it
would be useless to apply lime, or
soda where neither was required
are useless until they become dis
solved, or in liquid condition. And
by little study, We will learn that
certain kinds Of plant food are not
soluble in water, but that they can
he dissolved by acids. These acids
exist in all soils which are adapted
TO agriculture, but they can not per-
form their work without the aid of
heat and air. Therefore, thorough
drainage Is necessary, and we will
readily preccivG thenecessity of keep
ing the soil in an OpeB, porous con-
ditiOn by cultivation. Plants do not
receive all their food from the soil ;
but portion Of it, such as carbonic
acid, etc, from the atmospheric
Here we can see the reason why
worn out soils can be reclaimed by
Iest, and without the application of
inanures. As we have remarked be-
fore, that element or part of the soil
which is the chief food of one species
of plants, may not be the chief food
of another. Then, if we should con-
tinue TO sow wheat upon the same
field from year to year, could we
expect any other result than that the
phosphate OF lime and other SUBJ
stances in the soil which are special
Iy adapted TO the wants of the wheat
plant would soon become exhausted.
But if we would follow the first crop
of wheat with corn, grass or potatoes,
which would require more of other
kinds of food, We would give nature
time to restore to the soil, by absorb
ton from the atmosphere, plant food
similar to that which had been fur
nished by the soil to feed the wheat
plants; hence the necessity for a 70.
tation in crops. Nature never plants
special crops in the forest, on the
prairies, or by the road side. BY ex-
ample, and by her deposition and
ability TO restore lost properties to
the soil, she warns US not TO make q
speciality of wheat, cats, ect., to the
exclusion of other crops. The en-
riching properties of manures are
readily lost by evaporation, and if
We should hoard the contents OF our
barn yards ever so carefully, they
would be inadequate to the wants of
the soil. 1t is Lot necessary that we
should lay our old fields to rest; but
we must avoid succession OF special
crops and grow more clover or other
plants, to be used as green manules.
and no other plant which we can
grow on our praries has the ability to
absorb from the atmosphere, or bring
up from the sub soil, such vast quan>
titles of suitable food for other plants
US clover. When We shall have
learned how to prepare tie soil that
1t may yield the largest crops, we
should ascertain what is the propcr
depth In the soil 10 plant; and what
are the best conditions for the most
healthy termination of the different
kinds of seeds? We should also UNI
derstand the work which the differ
ent parts of plants perform in pro.
ducing food from the soil and atnlos-
phere, aud the natural habits of the
different species of plants, that we
NAV know how to cultivate them TO
produce the best results. At the
present time, farmers are guided
more by chance or convenience in
planting their seeds and I'm cultivat-
ing their crops, than by nature or by
rules that have been established by
experience; and the general average
crops throughout the country proves
that We are neither apprentices nor
master farmers. That the average
quality of the domestic animals bred
and grown throughout the country
II inferior, everyone will admit. We
breed and grow them for profit, and
If poor animals will pay, certainly
good ones would pay better. Bat, for
want of time, we will simply ask the
Question: Why do We continue to
breed and grow inferior animals p
Is II ignorance or negligence which
causes US to disregard the rules by
which the most successful breeders
are guided? Money appears to be
the great object of our lives, and, if
We would succeed, we must learn to
sell more and buy less. Let us have
more luxuries and all the necessaries
OF life, but let us produce them upon
the farm. Let Us give more atten-
ton toeXperiments in growing plants
and breeding the domestic animals.
Let US organize more Farmers Clubs,
that we may more readily give or ex-
change the results of our experi-
nents. Let Us 10 longer refuse to