Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1872-03-15
FARM AND FlRESIDE.

How TO IMPROVE A FARM.--A contribn-
tor says MANY of our fan mers spend money
freely 10 purchase of special manures-gu
ano, superphosphates, bone dust, gypsum =.
etc., aud usually find. Or think they do.
that they realize a profit by it. do MOI
wish to say one word to discourage them
from a continuance of the practice; but |
would advise them to be a little more care
full in their experiments and statistics. II
a farmer puts a hundred dollars worth of
either of those special manu7es. or any 9TH
err manures that drain his pocket Of the dol
lars, he should be able to ascertain that be
gets his money back with a profit on it of
at least twenty per cent. to pay for his Ia
Dor and risks. He can only ascertain this
by cultivating a measured part Of the same
field without manure of any kind, giving it
the same care and attention as the portion
MANFRED. After he shall have done this
and measured or weighed the crops, a little
arithmetic will bring out all the facts there
should be no guess work or hope so about
it.
If a merchant invests a portion of his cap
ital in any description Of goods, he will
AuOW WHICH, tuCSC SOOOo Il olcpOSOQ vi.
whether he has gsined or lost by the opera
ton if the Spectator has been unsuccess-
full, he will seek some other investment for
his capital. To be successful farmer it
requires as much 'shrewdness as that of a mer-
chant or any other pursuit in life. Now,
brother farmers, alle% me here to be a little
critical. You will acknowledge that there.
is no manure that you can buy that gives
such satisfactory results as the manure made
10 your own barn-yards. Will it always
bring the answer-wet season or dry season?
Yes, then, why do you not make more of it
or, why do you not take better care of what
YOU do make? I have seen some of your
manure heaps levelled out to a feather edge,
which edges should have been shoveled up
into a compact heap, so as to expose as
small a surface as possible to rain and sun
shine. These remarks will apply as we'll to
your milking and feeding yards as to the
main manure heap.
Collect all the vegetable matter from every
nook and corner of the farm that your stock
will not eat, and incorporate it with the ma
nure heap, or with swamp lime and gypsum
from a compost heap, collect leaves from the
woods, which contain more potash than
many Of the phosphates in the market
Fork over this compost heap once or twice
in the course of a year, and top dress your
grass land with it. Leave a strip across the
field not so top dressed, and if ''book farm
ing will not satisfy you, you will begin to
learn by example"
To do this work will require labor, and
labor costs money. Labor is always worth
money when well directed and properly ap-
piled. By pursuing this course you accom-
pGsh two purposcs-you improve the APP
pearance as well as enrich the farm. L
would direct 0tAe..;e~-G ~-.- W II aAinS Unu
saving all the manure that can be made by
collecting and applying to the manure or
compost heap every spear of vegetation that
is grown on the farm. This you soon will find
will pay. Then buy as much of the fertili-
zers as may prove themselves to be pro6ta-
BILE by the tests above named.
The introduction Of so much labor-saving
machinery into the farming system is, [
fear, making our farmers a little lazy, and
they would rather take q hundred dollars
out of their pockets to buy fertilizers than
do the extra work Of collecting the material
and making compost, as they consider this
a little out OF the regular routine OF farm
ing but they may as we'll hire labor to do
this and secure the profit to themselves, as
to send their money abroad and give the
profits to others; this, too, will keep the la
boring men in their own neighborhood /; a
class that ought to be encouraged by con-
slant and we'll paid employment; produc-
tive labor being the foundation Of national
success. Flowing down red clover is one
of the cheapest and quickest methods of i'm
proving farm land. This plan cannot be
too often nor strongly urged o the farming
community. I have tried and seen it tried
by others often, and always with success
The best time to do this is when in full
bloom, and the seed about commencing to
form. Not ouly the green crop plowed un-
der, but the roots enrich and mellow the
soil, putting it in good condition for the re-
ception Of any crop.
NF--xa r.-.-- na.- .lon~ "a