Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-11-27
Facts Our Great Need.
rom Colman's Rural World.

Facts Our Great Need.
From Colman's Rural World.
There never was time when the
agriculturist had SO much need of
facts, pertaining to his occupation as
he does at the present time. Not one
farmer in ten thousand can tell the
exact cost Of any one of the articles
he produces. The importance of
such knowledge can hardly be over
estimated. Without such knowledge
his statement that he is selling below
cost cannot be substantiated, and the
TRADE against monopolies, etc, is no
better than blindly beating the air.
Not only does the farmer need facts
relative to the cost Of production, but
there is Il great dearth of aggregated
facts, concerning the best methods of
producing large crops in the most
economical manner.
No matter what branch of farming
we take up, nor in what locality, adj
vice is abundant and cheap Of the
most unsatisfactory character; be-
cause the few individual opinions
that are available are not supported
by proper array of facts. Opinions
are so easily formed, and the pride of
opinion is so universal and so irresis-
table, that the simplest facts are alb
sorbcd and assimmilated to support
them. Most men seek for facts, not
merely as such, nor for their CONNER
cial value, but as props to sustain in
dividual opinion. Our success i'll
farming, in 4 busincss-likc manner,
depends to great extent upon facts
which have been determined by re-
pcated experiments. If farmers
would experiment more, and record
the methods pursued as well rs the
result, and then see that they were
published in the leading agricultural
papers printed in the same latitude,
or better, on the same isothcrmal
line, where the hygrometical condi-
ton of the atmosphere is the same, it
would be at least one step in the
right direction.
Neither farming, nor any kind of
business can be carried Oh successful
ly for any great length of time, with
out the proper application of princi-
pies founded upon facts, which are
the result of experience. Temporary
success may be the result of chance,
or favorable conditions Of soil and
climate, but the fact that the soil will
become unfertilc without manure and
a proper rotation Of crops, is equally
apparent The repetition of the same
questions in our agricultural papers
year after year, is an evidence that
the demand for facts concerning this
Or that crop, or mode of culture, or
method Of rotation, or value If the
various fertilizers, or the best time to
SOW grass, or clover seed is increas-
inc.
One cause for such a diversity Of
opinion among the many farmers
who have had years of experience
even, is, that having removed at
late period in life from one section Of
the country to another, they do not
know how to adapt the system of
farming to which they have been ac-
customed, to the change Of soil and
the difference in the climatic condi-
tons now surrounding them. How
unlike are the requirements for sue
ccssful farming IN the New England
States and Colorado, or in Minnesota
and Louisiana; and many farmer has
learned to his sorrow that facts at
his old home have proved fallacies in
his new one.
Facts in regard to certain things
pertaining to the culture of the soil
are as valuable for practical applica-
ton in one part of the country as an
other. For instance, "when domestic
animals have been picking and CLEAN
ing the scarce atoms of phosphate ma
terial in the grass for ages past, and
the frames of herd after herd have
been built up of those minute parti-
cles that form bone, the tiller of the
soil can scarcely make q mistake by
literally applying bone dust or bone
flour on his land. Stable manure
that is made by horses or cattle which
consume a generous amount Of meal
or grain, contains all the elements of
fertility that almost any soil requires;
yet it would be great mistake for
any farmer to apply straw manure
which yields but little beside carbon
accous material, to a mucky, peaty
soil, which requires inorganic miner
al matter such as lime, potash or soda
and phosphate of lime. When there
is already supply of sulphate of
lime in soil it would be unwise to ap.
ply gypsum. When the ground is
already SO rich that the crops fall
down, if the soil is not of a granite
character, the only fertilizer required
i'll many instances is potash or the sill
icatc OF lime. Such facts as the fore
going, which are Of universal appli-
cation, are Of permanent value, and
are just the thing the farmer needs to
guide him, in order that he may at
tain an enviable degree of prosperity.
Fine and Coarse Hay.