Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-02-08

How TO Enrich Dairy Farms.
SEVERAL plans by which to enrich
dairy farms suggest themselves. First.
( BY artificial manures, such as bone-dust
and nitrate of soda. In some circum-
stances these manures might be used with
| profit. Where genuine bonedust can be
| obtained for S25 per ton, and nitrate of
| soda for 81 TO cents per pound, we
| should not hesitate to use them extensive
ly, at the rate say of 500 pounds of the
former and 200 pounds of the latter
/ to the acre. On many fields such an ap-
| plication would double the grass crop at
! once
Second. Keep larger stock of cows,
| and buy more or less bran and grain to
supplement the home grown feed. This
would increase the quantity and quality
of the manure and speedily augment the
| productiveness of the farm.
Third. When any portion of the farm
| is low and wet, drain it. Such land almost
invariably contains large amount of
| latent plant food. Draining, by removing
the s!agnant water and letting in the air,
| renders this plantfood available, and fire.
quently makes this low land the most
productive and profitable portion of the
farm. And the increased grass so OBJ
| tanned enables us TO keep more stock and
make more manure
Fourth. Many dairy farms are so stu
ated that little labor will enable us To
irrigatc several acres of grass land. Many
people have an idea that irrigation is only
useful during dry, hot weather. On the
contrary, il is OF more benefit early In
the spring than at any other time. And
Il, 60 1l,yb hnt
sands of small streams which now use
lessly run down our hill-sides when the
snow melts in the spring, would be
damned up and caused TO flow in thin
sheet over acres Of the adjoining grass
land. We have in mind an instance
where eight acres Of land were SO irri-
gated at merely nominal expense and
the produce of the land much more than
doubled. This increased produce enabled
the farmer to keep more stock and make
more manure without increasing the size
of the farm.
Fifth When there is bed Of muck on
or near the farm it can generally be used
to great advantage, either applied alone
or cOmposted with manure or ashes and
lime. Many Of our mucks contain, when
air-dried more than twice as much nitro
gen as the best barn.yard manure.
Sixth. We must develop the latent
plant food in the soil by tillagc, Ivy plow-
ing, cultiyating, and otherwise exposing
the soil to the action of the atmosphere.
We are aware that many dairymen are
opposed 10 breaking up their old pastures,
and we certainly would not recommend
any dairyman who has one of these rich
old pastures TO pillow it. But are there
not portions of the farm-used for mead
ows, etc where good summer-fallow,
or thoroughly cultivated corn crop,
would do good By cleaning the land and
developing the latent plantfoody What
the dairyman wants is more food and
more manure Judicious tillage on "A
portion Of his land will certainly give
him more food, and if none of it is sold,
its consumption will give him more ma
nure. On a diary farm of one hundred
acres twenty-five acres might be left in
permanent pasture, and the remaining
seventy-fivc acres might be brosght more
or less under the plow-say fifteen acres
of corn, fifteen acres Of oats, seeded with
clover and timothy, fifteen acres OF clover,
mown twice, fifteen acres clover and tim
othy, and fifteen acres Of timothy for hay
or pasture. The next year break up and
plant corn again. If this is too
much corn, part of the field might
be sown with peas, and after the peas
were harvested the land might be plowed
twice, thoroughly cultivated, and got into
fine condition, and then seeded with tim
othy in September. There can be no
doubt that far greater amount OF produce
may be raised in this way than by keep
ing the land wholly in grass. The corn
stalks and straw with a portion of clover
hay and little grain would form much
more economical winter feed than hay
alone. The manure, too, would be richer,
and we should make more OF it.
The permanent pasture should receive
a top-dressing of wellrotted manure every
three or four years, or more frequently, II
il could be spared A dairy farm worked
in this way ought TO be self-sustaining. 1t
should get richer instead Of poorer. But
al first it would be great help to top.
dress the pasture with bone-dust and
nitrate of soda. All the manure made on
the farm might then be used for corn.
This, with good cultivation, would insure
a large yield, and the land would be in
capital order for seeding down. The time
has come when we must obtain larger
produce per acre if we expect TO get an
adequate compensation for our labor and
capital. -UedrM md Home.