The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1874-01-02
Farm, Garden and Orchard.
By an old Agricultural Editor.


MASuRiNG.--A WORD To FARMERS.
Many Of our farmers in the "Bluc
Grass" region. if not all Of them, rely
upon the richness and depth Of their soil
to afford them abundant crops without
the addition of manure. This is fatal
mistake, and you will find it so in the
course Of few years. The farmer who
runs his land, year after year, in grain,
without giving it manure Of some good
kind. will find that his land is going down
hill all the time. Thousands Of loads
Of excellent manure are wasted, which,
if applied to soil from year to year as Il
accumulated, would keep your fields in
good heart, and productive. ! venture
to assert that around the barn.yard of
two-thirds OF our farmers, enough ma
nure could he gathered every Fall and
Winter to make rich over twenty acres
Of land Yet this Is allowed to 60 to
waste. The rains come aud the snow
mclts. The heat Of the sun evaporates
the very essence Of the manure, and the
horses, cattle, sheep. hogs, etc., tramp
knee deep in the sluicy mire of your
barn-yard. | have often seen a pile Of
chfb-manure, which had been accumula-
ting for many years, lie at the very
door of welltodo farmers, and never a
load was hauled upon the field or garden.
On one occasion, | asked the privilege
OF hauling away few loads to scatter
over my own garden. The answer came,
Certainly, sir, haul all you want. !
would he glad to have any one remove
that huge pile of chip-manure.' And
that terrible pile" had the man known
it, was worth to him fifty cents load.
On another occasion, | saw large lot
Of stable manure around the barn Of a
man. who had two or three idle tea ms.
Ii was well-rotted. | asked him to per-
nit me to haul few loads for an aspar-
agus bed. The reply was. take IT all
if YOU want it, for am anxious to have
nv barn lots cleaned out" To him this
manure was worth many dollars, but he
did not seem to realize the fact. On an
other occasion, | actually knew a man
who owned a rundown farm Of over 200
acres, and who hired two wagons from
the neighboring village, at SO 80 per
day, to haul away over 100 loads of barn
yard manure. into a sink near by, in or
der to fill it up and stop a gully. ]
asked him why he did not have it scat
tered on his fields, and he said it would
take too much time, and be could not
afford to hire the wagons to do it. Was
he not fit subject for an insane asylum!
When will farmers and gardeners
learn that in order to keep up the fe:iil-
ity of their soil, they must place upon
the surface at lea., rs much rs they take
from the bottom? If you draw from n
vessel all the time, and put nothing in it,
of course it will soon be emptied. so,
if you draw crops from your lands, in
8 order to keep up its life and heart, You
must feed it. Not more certainly will
your fields become non-pruduclive, II you
fail TO feed them, than your barns become
empty if you fail to supply them. If
the sun-broNEed tillcr Of the soil is the
the life of our nation, il behooves
Us to urge him on to higher and grander
efforts of husbandry. A small farm well
, cultivated will produce far more than
twice the number Of acres badly tended.
= Better, far better, give ample and intel
/ ligent cultivation to fifty acres, than to
f be content with merely skimming over
! four or five times rs much. The honest
, and industrious farmer who looks from
his humble cabin home, over 100 acres
{ of well-cultivated fields, can rest assured
: that his bank account will, at the end Of
r each year, show greater balance in his
: favor than that OF Inc owner uf farm
| of 500 acrcf, who has stood idly ~ aud
seen il go 20 waste.