The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-12-04
5omre, farm and garden
Making Manure On the Farm.

cities, (the wise farmer avails himself Of
whatever waste matter he can get that
is convertible into manure), the crops
there cultivated are generally IF an ex-
hausting nature and fully sufficient to
carry off the extra fertility 50 added
But only a comparatively small number
of farms are situated near enough 10
cities so that their owners can aVaii
themselves Of this source Of increasing
the erops. and. therefore, the great NUM-
ber are obliged to fall back upon the Re
sources of the farm itself.
It is an English maxim that "A good
farm is like a good joint Of meat, that
only requires basting with its own drip
ping" Translated, il means that good
soil contains within itself all the re-
sources of increased fertility. 1t is true
the ioint.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 have opened new
farms on virgin soils have left them as
good as they found them, The history
of all countries answers, Very few
Man first imporishes and then. by the
most laborious and costly means, fertil-
ICES the worn soil How quickly the
farmers Of the West are bringing their
lands to that state when this refertiliZa-
ton will be the all-impOrtant question,
the decreased and constantly decreasing
averages of grain per acre will tell. We
do not mean by this that the time has
vet come in the West when it has become
imperatively necessary that an elaborate
system of making manure and compost
should be followed, although it might
easily be demonstrated that in many
sections such a course would be profit
able. Nevertheless, the time has come
when it will pay heavy interest on the
investment TO save carefully and give
back to the soil whatever 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 farm
ing 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 well adapted TO a variety of soils, wet
and dry, heavy or light; none other fur
nishes so great burthen to the soil in
It's tops and roots for plowing under, or
the decomposition of which will better
support successive crops of other
grogtlls: 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 ma
nure. 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 |
10 stock. If fed as it should be, it gives |
an increased amount of the richest ma
,,rro for - ,n,,c{ ba ra,uaY, barad +bo+ tho /
value of manure is just in proportion to
the value of the food consumed by the |
animal IL 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 types; and the farmer who feeds |
his farm from the manure of ill-kept |
stock is SIRE to have soil producing
more straw than grain. High feeding |
makes high manuring possible, high ma
nuring makes fat land, and fat land |
makes rich farmers.
In this we do not propose to overtun
the generally recognized systems of feed
ing in the West. II 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 measure, the usual
plan of feeding the cattle in the fields
in good weather, and allowing swine to
CLEAN the droppings. Thus scarcely
anything is lost, and, provided the ami
mails are kept secure rom 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,
man will naturally do. The
man who makes grain-farming his ezclu-
i've business with view to selling the
yrain and burning the straw or feedingit
% cattle always ends in impoverishing
lis farm and ultimately himself; he is
irawing constantly upon his principal
The first few years it is true this must
,ften be done. If followed up it must
end in disaster And yet
low may men in the West think this
he perfection Of farming!
We might go on and fill pages in show
ng the various resources that might be-
ONE available on any farm in the max
ng of manure-the inexhaustable beds
f muck everywhere found-peat, the
crapings of bitches, ashes, lime and
,laster; the liquid manure of stock,
eally the most valuable, and usually
ntirely lost; the slops of the kitchen
nd the water used in washing; the con-
ents of privies, aceumulations of bones
'aste animal and other matter that lit
er yards, befoul store-rooms or decay
ncellars, giving rise to miasma that often |
nds in disease and death to the possess
rs and their families. The Western Ru-
~ has heretofore spoken upon this sub f
Act and it is not now to more than call ?
ttention to it, with the especial object
pointing ont the Importance of grass '
5 a principal source of increased fertiIi- 3
: to already worn-out farms I
We acknowledge that ''all flesh is Q
rass;" let US all remember that all grass q
manure. Nature fertilizes the earth o
y the direct decay of vegetation. It's
he province of the good farmer while +
Gaping the reward of his well bestowed a
abor to see that the refuse of the farm, r
nan suE E..sN FILL - |