The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-01-20
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Stocks and Crops for Farms.

A Northern Farmer gives HE
opinion on this subject as follows: In
this paper much stress has been laid on
the necessity Of keeping heavy stock
constantly on the farm; yet some care
must be taken to prepare a proportion
ate amount of food, and to have it for
every season; otherwise, instead Of prof
it, the wears transactions will end in
loss. The farmer who is overstocked
is always in trouble; in spring he must
stock the pastures too early for the
want Of house food, and in autumn he
must permit the cattle to remain in the
fields until, through exposure to bad
weather and insufficiency Of food, they
become greatly reduced in condition.
If to avoid this he begins early on his
stock Of roots and hay, he is run out,
very probably in March, the very sea
son when the frightening day and the
chilly, cutting winds cause increased
consumption, and a struggle Of some
kind must be made to hold them over
on purchased food until something can
be picked up on the pastures. The full
supply OF food tells on every animal,
,ut, Of course, more noticeable on those
whose produce is being daily turned in
to cash. The widely distended bag OF
a well-fed cow as she comes from the
pasture to he MIXED, and the sense OF
relief which she Enthusiastically shows
when the process is completed, is both
a source OF qualification and of profit,
and is in wide contrast to the limp, halt
empty appearance Of the udder when
the cows are in bare pastures, and have
to roam about continually in quest OF
food.
No amount Of care or good manage
ment on the part Of mistress or maid
can make up for this oversight on the
part of the master, and when, on max
ing up the years receipts, he finds the
amount to be little over half what il
reasonably might have been. he can
only blame himself for his shortsight-
edness in keeping more cattle than the
food he had provided was able to sus'
tain. Breeding ewes tell also very for,
chilly 10y the return they give whether
they have been literally fed or not
any deficiency in food telling at once on
the milk, and the lamb, in consequence,
ceases to grow, and becomes stuntcd and
proftless.
Deep Tillaga aud Understanding.
Intelligent and Observing tiIlers OF
the soil in almost every section Of the
country where the drouth has prevailed
to any considerable extent during the
past season, have been strikingly i'm
pressed with the surprising advantage
to the growing crops arising from thor
ough drainage Of heavy soils in connec-
ton with tillage and abundant tertili-
cation Of the seed bed. When the
water line Of heavy soil that is dis
posed 10 be wet, is sunk by means of a
system of thorough understanding. say
thirty or more inches beneath the sur
face of the soil, if the seed bed is bro
ken up deep, the finely comminuted soil
will retain a much larger quantity OF
moisture in dry and hot weather, than
if there were no under-drains
As the soil is deepened by under
draining and deep ploughing, the ca
pacity to absorb moisture from the at
mosphere is greatly augmented. Hence,
in dry season, if the seed bed he bro
ken up deep, the roots of growing plants
spread further in every direction through
the soil; and as the mellow earth
will absorb a much larger quantity OF
moisture than if the entire stratum was
one solid mass, every growing plant is,
in a great measure, fortified against the
trying influences Of hot and dry weather
Undertaking and deep blowing, in
many instances, have been the means
of saving large crops from utter ruin by
protracted drouth. Hence, many farm
ers have been led to appreciate the ad.
vantages OF understanding and deep
tillage where the soil was heavy, as
they have often done before 1t will
pay well to under-drain wet land and to
pillow it deep, whether the growing sea
son is to be too wet or too dry.