The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-09-30
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Value of Covered Manure.


Value of Covered Manure,
at various times we have pointed out
to our readers the profits resulting from
covering manure, instead of allowing it
to get soaked by the rains or dried by
the sun, as is generally done. We have
given this advice from what we have ac-
tually seen. When rough sheds have
been built to cover the manure heap the
crops fertilized by this pile have in
creased in productiveness sufficient to
pay for the shed covering the first year.
We never have seen any exact figures of
the proportionate value of covered and
uncovered manures, that we remember,
until the following, which we find by
Lord Kincaid, q Scotch landowner and
farmer. They present the best state
ment possible, we think, of the advan-
tages of the plan:
-Four acres of good soil were meas
ured, two of them were manured with
ordinary barnyard manure and two with
an equal quantity of manure from the
covered shed. The whole was planted
with potatoes. The products of each
acre were as follows
Potatoes treated with barnyard ma
nure:
One acre produced two hundred and
seventy two bushels.
One acre produced two hundred and
ninety two bushels.
Potatoes manured from covered sheds !:
One acre produced four hundred and
forty-two bushels.
One acre produced four hundred and
seventy one bushels.
The next year the land was sown with
wheat, when the crop was as follows
Wheat on land treated with barnyard
manure
One acre produced, forty-one bushels,
eighteen pounds (of sixty-one pounds
per busheD.
One acre produced forty-two bushels,
thirty-eight pounds (of sixty-one pounds
per busheD.
Wheat on manured land from covered
sheds:
One acre produced ffty-five bushels,
five pounds (of sixty-one pounds per
busheD.
One acre produced fifty-three bushels,
forty-seven pounds (of sixty-one pounds
per busheD.
The straw also yielded one-third more
upon the land fertilized with the ma
nure from the covered sheds than upon
that to which the ordinary manure was
applied. .-Ne,U York Independent.
Profitable Crops.
A large number of letters reach us
from farmers who inquire what crops we
would recommend to be raised upon
certain parcels of land, with view OF
getting from them the largest cash re.
turns. These are very difficult questions
to answer in fact, any answer must be
to large extent empirical, and the
opinion Enthusiastically, as there are
conditions to be taken into account, OF
which we can have no knowledge. The
nature of the land is to be considered
its fertility, its situation, its nearness tc
market, etc. Unless land is put up in
good tilth, no crop can be raised with
profit. A hundred times have we said
to farmers, cultivate less land, and put
every rod of that which is cultivated in
to high condition. 1t is an axiom il
successful farming that one acre must be
made to give returns equal to four undel
the old system of New England farming
Make one acre give you eighty or one
hundred bushels of corn, or thirty-fi
bushels of wheat, the same of rye, OF
three tons of hay, and then you are OF
the road to successful farming. Yoy
cannot afford to drudge away upon you
land which gives you but one third o
these results. We have one measured
acre of land which for twelve years W,
have studied carefully, and kept an ac
count of the expenses and value of crops
and It has afforded us much instruction
Last year the acre gave us thirty-fvt
bushels of summer rye and about two
tons OF straw. The rye we sold the
present spring for $1.25 per bushel, ant
the straw had cash value of So per ton
the cash value of the crop was therefore
S93.75, and from this we deduct the ex
penses as far as they can be fairly esti
mated, about S2S, we have q clear prof
of more than S55 from the acre of land
Now, if q farmer has ten or twent,
acres under cultivation, giving like re
suits, they afford him fair income, anC
with the return from other farm depart
ments, the business of farming does no
appear pocuniarily bad. Tie truth is
farming must be studied and wei
considered it must be we'll conducted
as a merchant conducts his business
with intelligence, forethought and gooC
SOiuhlOIl SClioCs Il loOh upOi
their land as merchant does upon hi
merchandise, and the question to b
pondered is How can L make it pa,
me the best proft2 Farming-that is
the right kind of farming-is goot
business ; we insist upon it, it is goo
business for q man to follow-BOsto
Journal Of Chemistry.
Wheat WeeyiIs and Moth,
After wheat is thrashed and put ava,
in the bins it is not safe from the attack
of insects. Perhaps the most commo
and destructive kind in this country
the red grain weevil. 1t is a small beetl
of pitchy red color, and attacks whea
after it is stored, eating out the inside @
the kernel hence it is not easily de
tected except by handling the grain O
submitting it to slight pressure, til
shell readily breaking when touched
This weevil is sometimes exceedingl
numerous about old barns in the Middl
States, and considerable care is necessar
TO preserve seed wheat in good condition
for sowing. Infested barns should b
well cleansed every season before neV
grain is put in, even to fumigating witt
burning sulphur, as we'll as dusting tn
cracks about the bins with the sam
cY,hctonOa