Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-06-25
AGRICULTURAL.


In these days of high prices for everything
Of q fertiiiing nature, knowledge of chem
istry sufficient to understand the nature and
equiyalency of various manures, seems to
be absolutely essential TO successful agricul-
ture. Where to get the elements of fertility
required by our land, at price that will pay
a profit, and the best profit, l. a knowledge
that is often invaluable How few farmers
are aware that ton of wheat bran contains
nearly a. much phosphorc acid a ton OF
an average superphosphate That knowl-
edge, derived from book that cost Us 81 so,
has been worth hundreds of dollars to Us.
The knowledge of the value of clover as an
enriching crop, and OF the power of plaster
TO grow clover has been worth hundreds
more. Yet lots of farmers will read this,
and pass over these true statements with III
credulty or indifference, because they lack
the knowledge which would enable them to
see their intrinsic probability, and induce
them to make the trials by which VIC learn
ed. and they may learn, that the scientific
theory Is abundantly borne out by expert
ence.
We have been forced by necessity TO make
use of artificial fertilizers on the little farm
VIC now occupy, because the crops We have
found most profitable produce little or no
manure. and but little could be bought
From almost entire barrenness We have
bought it to the ability of yielding three
tons of fine hay TO the acre, by the nearly
exclusive use Of ashes, bone, and the plOw-
ing in of green crops, chiefly clover. In the
work Of renovation We have made many mis-
takes, and wasted a good deal, 50 that we
feel sure that we could do it over again at
half the sum it has cCst US, Yet it has paid
profit every year, andt the experiment has
thoroughly convinced US that. with chemi-
cal fertilizers alone (meanlng by this, ashes,
bones and plaster) a farm may be pruhta5ly
raised to the highest fertility, and there
kept, while producing the heaviest crops,
year after year.
II W. had a rundown clay farm, our first
and great aim would be to drain it, But If
VIC could not afford to do that until we had
made ihc money TO do 1t with out Oi the
land, We should seek that end by growing
clover, peas, and other crops rich IN nitro
gen, feeding them out to improved stock,
and returning the manure, liquid and solid,
carefully cumpOsted with muck or vegetable
refuse. to the land. To get good clover
and peas, We should expect to find plaster
powerful assistant. If the land were very
Door, We should plOw in several crops of
buckwheat OF rye before seeding to clover.
We would feed wheat bran freely to our
stock as the cheapest why oil restoring phos-
phoric acid to the land through their ma
nure. and we would scrape together all the
bones we could find, burn and pulverizs
them. and compost them with tie horse ma
nure, wash-water and urine. as described by
us in an article published last winter. We
would sell nothing from the land that would
impair its fertility, unless we could get
money enough for it to buy an equal value
of manure, or fertilizers, with profit over.
Butter-making takes nothing from the land,
fat being entirely an atmospheric product,
condensed by plants in the form of starch,
sugar aud cellulose. and converted in the
animal into fat or hutter. Making butter,
or fattening stock, Is, therefore, the proper
business to be done upon farm 10 process
of restoration To grow grain and potatoes
for sale, on such farm. wonld be suicidal.
Il. S HoskinS an the Watchmdn