The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-01-16
Farm, Garden, and Household,
From the New England Farmer.
Theory and Practice of Farming.

70 accomplish in half an hour. What |
~sv Will be calculated for the meridian of
Concord, hut with slight variation may,
Ike the almanac he adapted to other lati
taies. My attempt will be to embody in
compact form such suggestions as would
make to man who was about to pe9lh
farming in Concord
First. No profit is made, except upon
large crouS. and this implies thorough cul-
tvatiou. with high manuring. Labor Is so
sxneuSiye that we cannot afford to eXpend
If without fair prospect of large returns,
ond If costs nearly as much labor to culti-
vate an acre yielding halt a crop, indeed
tcosts more in the long run, to keep down
weeds on apoOrlY cultivated field than on one
carefully titled. 1t is true, though not new,
that We cultivate too much land. The want
Of manure limits the extent OF our opera
lions. and the problem is to apply the man
ure We can make or procure to the quantity
nj land most profitable. Limiting our labor
aui manure to the extent of land that we
eau thoroughly manage, we must thorough
iY drain, pulverize, clean and till. Drain
age on all soils where water is within two
leet Of the surface in any part of the grow
ing season, is essential. On many farms in
concord, 500 expended in drainage would
add $500 value to the farm, and the eXpen-
iture would return in cash in two years.
In fiat, river town, like ours, every wet
spot near our dwellings, cured by drainage,
T. gain in our ohauces for exemption from
tVphoid fevers ard rheumatism. The Board
~ Health assure US that typhods prevail
more in the rural districts than in the
towns, and that they as well as consump-
Won are often induced by soil moisture, and
A half-draiued soil il far worse than soil
wet all the year.
Then we must thoroughly plough, har
row. cultivate and weed the field l believe
in deep ploughDg in all the land worth our
cultivation. | never knew man who did
not advocate deep cultivation in gardens,
however thin he kept the soil of his fields,
and our culture should approach to garden
.ulture, to be profitable.
To cultivate thoroughly, we need good
implements, and such laying out of our
telds that the horse may perform most OF
the work | can raise ten bushels of roots
nv field culture for less labor than / can
rajse one hushel by hand culture.
Every farmer should own all the common
taols No one can afford to borrow ploughs,
ynltivators or small tools, however good
neighbors he NAV have. The time it takes
90 borrow and return them, and the waiting
tlr them when IN use, costs far more than
Tie price of the tools. Land is cheap with
as, and it is often economical to leave head
llnds in grass to turn upon, especially in
small fruit culture and the culture of tender
vegetables which are injured by breeding.
was taught that this was slovenlv farm
ing, but leave unpoughed headlands even
iu my potato fields.
Secondly. Let us see what are paving
-rops. We often hear this question dis
Dussed in our club, as if any crop is a pay
.ug crop that costs less than it is worth. |
can raise corn at fifty cents bushel, it is
said, and it is worth seventy-fve, and so it
pays This is not the whole truth, though
I'D d sense it is true Your farm is worth
say $4,000. You have manure for ten acres
pf corn and nothing else on your hoed land,
and raise 400 bushels which cost you $500,
and it Is worth $500. And you have 500
clean profit, which will about pay the taxes.
That is not paying crop, because not
crop that, in connection with your grass
aud grain crop, can give you a fair living.
Il is not paying crop, because not the
trop that pays best, and because in that
crop you cannot compete with the great
West We should raise the crops most
profitable and not cumber our farms with
crops that yield small returns. In my
opinion we cannot afford to raise wheat or
corn or oats, for the grain. | doubt whether
rye should not be added to the list of ex-
empts, although rye Is a convenient and
profitable crop, considering the high price
OF straw | am not sure that we do not
lose more than the value of the crop, in the
exhaustion OF the land and being sooner
compelled to plough it again. For fodder,
corn and oats and milet and rye are no
doubt profitable to the milk producer Cat
tie-raising is out of the question, because
we DO better with mich cows, purchased
when grown. Sheep might be profitable
on some farms, were it not for the cost of
fencing anew, our walls and rail fences be-
ing worthless against sheep. Apple or
chards lave been profitable, but their day
Is past, that is, the day for planting them
anew. Though in one sense they may pay,
we can do better with land good enough
for ali orchard.
Mix has hitherto been profitable pro-
Duct. The present reduced winter price is
too low, and it is pretty clear that 1t must
he raised whenever the producer has fair
chance to get his milk to market So long
as the railroads will carry milk for nobody
but one contractor, the farmer will be
cheated 10 enrich monopoly. A great
proportion of the milk is sold in Boston at
Did prices,-nine cents quart this winter,
while we receive reduced price. This
'ondition of things cannot last, and some
DAY not far distant, milk will sell for what
II is worth. The farmers Of Concord re-
ceiye about $l25,000 year for milk, and
the amount could be doubled in two years,
with fair play on the part Of the railroads,
The contractors, like other men, will make
all the profit they can, and at present they
control the price of milk.
As branch of husbandry conveniently
connected with the culture of small fruits
and market stuff, milk raising has thus far
been profitable, and until manure can be
supplied in some way not yet practicable,
must continue to be practiced. There is
no doubt however, that in raising milk we
shall soon he in competition with farmers
whose hay is worth but half as much as
ours, iuasmuch as there is no difficulty In
carrying milk 100 or even 200 miles on rail
road trains properly arranged and run in
the night
Raising cattle and horses and wool and
tending dry stock is so much easier than
the care of milch cows, especially in win
Ter. that farmers in the interior are slow to
20 into the business, and the profit of but
1er-making and cheese making in factories
j. so close upon that of marketing milk,
that We shall probably continue the busi-
ness for many years longer.
The culture of small fruits, and of aspar-
agus and market vegetables is, no doubt, at
present our best business, combined with
Embarrassing. These crops return very
little to the farm, and yet require heavy
manuring, and manure, we say, we cannot
buy and must make it by the cows. One
fact in this connection must not be over
looked, namely, that we expend very
large part of our labor and manure too, in
supporting the cows. On most farms we
consume all our hay, with green and dry
corn fodder, oats and milet, and large
amount of grain to feed the cows. To raise
all this fodder, costs valuable labor and ex-
pensive implements, much ploughing, har-
rowing, seeding, and rolling; much now
ing, raking and hauling of fodder and roots
some pay for grain third or half of what
the milk brings in. But it is said we get
back for our milk fair market price for
the products consumed by the cows. That
statement may be literally true, and yet
mllk-ralsing may not be profitable, that is
to say, not the most profitable thing to
practice. For instance, an acre of fodder
corn and an acre of mangel wurtzels may
cost you little labor and would sell for
very little money, and having raised them,
they are worth nothing but to feed to the
cows. But had you no cows to feed, your
two acres with the same manure and no