Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-07-31
JOHNSBURY, FRIDAY, JULY 81. 1874.

content ourselves with our plain wagons and
often the farm wagon with old Bob aud
Dick harnessed thereto, and good servants
VIC find them. SO with our land, we have
got to use the farm team, so to speak, to
help us out Of our difficulty, for when we
estimate the expense of undertaking we
find our purses will not allow us TO do it,
although it might pay us back with interest
eventually. l have found that by working
an open drain at the base of the hill, paral.
lei thereto, adjoining our fats, get rid Of
the surface water in such manner that il
leaves the land below the ditch comparative
ly dry, and the superabundant water not be-
ing allowed to flow over the surface and re.
main thereon, in the winter the frost peno.
trates the soil so deep that II loosens the
subsol 20 it will become of sufficient porosi.
ty to absorb the water falling thereon dur
ing our rains and retain it for plant thirst
during midsummer. The water being dis
posed OF. what next2 We must manure
But now can we get manure enough2 Now
right here is the great key to successful
farming manure we must have. There is
no commercial manure that | know of that
we can use to much advantage on such land
Gypsum, so valuable on some soils, is
worthless on our fat lands, and lime is not
much better as there is so little silex for il
to dissolve and prepare for plant food. Now
nature 10 growing a crop draws heavily
from the air, whose treasures are inexhaust-
ible, especially in such crops as have good
deal OF leaf, like the clover and pea fami-
lies hence if VIC could allow such crops all
to go back to the land as in nature, we
should get great help for the next crop, and
the land would continue TO grow more pro-
ductive year after year. But we have
to utilize some portion Of the crops for other
purposes aud put back the remaining por-
tion. recommend grain-growing to en-.
rich the soil. And now every one is ready
to exclaim, That will never do, as it will
surely run out any farm. Well, speak Of
what | believe | know. do not take
everybody's say so, unless can see good
reason therefor. will give my reasons for
gEain.growiDg. And | will lay down my
first proposition that one ton OF hay is not
worth as much for manure as a ton Of straw,
and to get the straw we must raise the
grain here my scientific friend disputes my
theory that straw is more valuable than hay
for manure and gives the result of an analy-
sis and shows the hay far richer in plant
food than the straw. He may be correct,
and undoubtedly is, but he uses the chem
lists crucibIe for his analysis, while we use
very different apparatus. We feed out
ton Of hay and get little moro than one load
Of manure, as wo require cur stock to eat it
all but not so with straw, as we allow
great portion of it to be trampled under
foot as, shedding, either in yard or stable,
and thus it absorbs large quantities of the
liquid manure that is so rich in the ingre-
dients Of which our plants are great con-
sumers, and some persons clam, aud think
justly, that the liquid manure from our
farm stock is Of more manurial value than
the solid portion. For proof take the thick
tufts Of grass in your meadows or pastures
aud examine the surface Of the land under
them, and Instead Of finding any of the
solid manure voided by cattle, you will find
it was liquid manure that caused the rank
growth, as none Of the mold from solid
manure ran be found on such spots. There.
fore the straw manure with its absorbed
liquid manure in addition to the solid ma
nure therein will make several loads, aud
nearly as valuable, load for load, as the
hay manure, and especially il the grain
from the straw is fed with it, and little gram
with straw is equivalent to hay for feeding
stock, hence it pays to feed grain. A few
years ago had occasion to visit the north
ern part of New York State after cattle,
and while there | staid over night with
farmer of much reputed worth, who had
lot Of such cattle as | was in want of, and
finding him very communicative in regard
to himcslf, being what we should call some.
thing of brag, took the liberty to inter.
view him. lie informed me he got his first
start by working by the month in this coun-
ty, then went home, married, and purchased
farm 8 or 10 miles from large village,
running in debt heavily for it, but the farm
was so run down he got it at such reduced
price that he thought ii bargain. He
found good market for hay in the village,
and TO help him to meet his payments he
began selling hay. That was wrong, | think
| hear you say, but wait for the sequel.
lie found herdsgrass hay sold the best, so
he went to raising it, and to got the market
hay he had to restock his land every few
years thus he raised large quantities of
grain, and continued the practice Of selling
hay, and he said that was the principal crop
from which he had made his money. He
said by feeding the straw to young cattle he
got manure enough to keep his land in heart
Here was a Canadian who could neither
read nor write, who had acquired his wealth
in less years than he had thousands, and in
the mean time reared a large family, the
oldest of which had entered profession
and others fitted for almost any sphere in
life, and all of this accomplished by selling
hay, and his farm having improved all the
time until it was in the best productive state
think of any farm ever saw for one 80
large.
Now the second point in our manure ques-
ton How shall we apply it Only
short time since one of our New England
college presidents was heard to say, "you
might as we'll hang beef steak around a
mans neck and call it his dinner, as to
spread manure on top OF the land and call
it manuring the land" | would say, you
might as well put beef steak in the bot
tom Of his boot and because u small quanti-
~ Of the juice of the meat would be alb.
sorbed through the pores Of the skin, aud
in small manner help TO nourish the
decayng tissues, call it his breakfast, as to
put manure at the bottom Of the iurrow and
call it manuring the land. Because some
of our plants send long tap roots down to
the subsoi for drink, as plants are at times
very thirsty, many argue that they are in
pursuit of food. If they will examine the
roots of plants or trees they will find these
doep-penetrating roots almost void of feed
ing radicles, but near the surface you will
find the ground filled with them. You will
observe by mulching your fruit trees that
these feeders will grow higher aud higher
every year as the surface is raised by the
mulch, until you got them above the natural
surfaeo raveIlin0 in tho rich atoraa thav fad