Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-11-18
Making Manure on the Farm.

| sources [Or manure, ZOE, alJIlOuSn, neal
cities, the wise farmer avalls himself of
| whatever waste matter he can get that
is convertible into manure, the crops
there cultivated are generally of an ex-
hausting nature, and fully sufficient to
carry off the extra fertility SO added.
But only a comparatively small number
Of farms are situated near enough to
cities SO that their owners can avail
themselves of this source Of increasing
the crops, and therefore the great num-
| Der are obliged to fall back upon the
resources of the farm itself. -
1t is al English maxim that I" q good
farm is like good joint of meat, that
! only requires basting with it's own drip
| ping" Translated, it means that good
soil contains within itself all the re-
sources of increased fertility. It is true
the joint of meat must have been first
made good; and so must the farm. Man
must feed the animal to get the good
joint; nature originally fed the soil
ready for man.
How many who thavee opened new
farms on virgin soils have LETT them as
good as they found them? The history
of all countries answers, Very few.
| Man first impoverishes and then, by the
most laborious and costly means, refer
tilizes the worn soil. How quickly the
| farmers of the West are bringing their
| lands to that state when this refertiliza-
tion will be the all-important question,
the decreased and constantly decreas-
ing averages of grain per acre Will
tell. We do not mean by this, that the
time has yet come in the West when it
has become imperatively necessary that
an elaborate system of making manure
and compost should be followed, al
though it might easily be demonstrated
that in many sections such a course
would be profitable. Nevertheless, the
time has come when it will pay q heavy
interest on the investment to save care
fully and give back to the soil what
ever manure is made from the feeding
of animals; and this brings us to the
point we wished to make.
The growing Of clover and the grasses
lies at the foundation of profitable
farming throughout the temperate zone.
These furnish the cheapest food for
stock of every kind, exclusively so in
summer, and are the main dependence
of stock animals In winter. No crop is
SO constant In growth, early and late,
under all kinds of treatment; no other
crop is SO we'll adapted to variety of
soils, wet OF dry, heavy or light; none
other furnishes so great a burthen to
| the soil III its tops and roots for blowing
under, or the decomposition of which
will better support successive crops of
other growths; none SO ameliorates the
soil and renders it capable of furnishing
the best conditions for promoting the
best results from such crops as are
grown for sale.
Again, he who raises plenty of grass,
has resources for the feeding of stock
and for making large quantities of
manure. In the summer the manure is
dropped where the animals feed. Plow-
ing under the sward produces large
crops of corn and other grain, to be sold
or fed to stock. If fed as it should be,
| it gives an increased amount Of the
richest manure, for it must be remem
bered that the value of manure is just In
| proportion to the value of the feed con-
sumed by the animal. IT the animal be
fed straw only, the manure is but the
refuse OF straw, as the animals SO fed
are but the skeletons of their type; and
| the farmer who feeds his farm from the
manure Of lll-kept stock, is sure to have
2 soil producing more straw than grain.
High feeding makes high manuring
| possible, high manurmg makes fat land,
and fat land makes rich farmers.
In this we do not propose to overturn
the generally recognized systems of
| feeding in the West. If we were at
present engaged in fattening cattle in
Central Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and
other sections of the great corn zone of
the West, we should follow, in meas
ure, the usual plan of feeding cattle in
the fields in good weather, and allowino
swine to CLEAN the droppings Thus,
scarcely anything is lost; and, provided
the animals are kept secure from storms,
there is no questioning the economy of
the method, when corn is cheap and
labor scarce and high. The question of
how to feed, every farmer must decide
for himself, and this every practical,
thoughtful man will do. The man who
makes grain farming his exclusive
business, with a view to selling the
grain and burning the straw Or feeding
it to cattle, always ends In impoverish-
ing his farm and ultimately himself; he
is drawing constantly upon his princi-
pal. The first few years, it is true, this
must often be done. IF followed up, it
must ultimately end in disaster. And
yet, how many men in the west think
this the perfection of farming.
We might go on and fill pages in
showing the various resources that
might become available on any farm in
the making OF manure the inexhausti-
bic beds Of muck everywhere found,
peat, the scrapings of bitches, ashes,
lime and plaster; the liquid manure Of
stock, really the most valuable, and
usually entirely lost; the slors of the
kitchen and the water used in washing
the contents of privies, accommodations Of
bones, waste animal and other matter
that litter yards, befoul store rooms or
decay In cellars, giving rise to miasma
that often ends in disease and death to
the possessors and their families. The
Western Rural has hitherto spoken upon