Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1877-04-05
Farm, House and Garden.

Farm, House and Garden.
How 70 Save mad Keep Manure.
There is no question more frequent
ly or seriously considered by the farm
er than how he shall get, keep and
spend an adequate supply of manure;
nor is there anything about the farm
which is of greater Importance to its
successful management than the ma.
nure heap. There are few farmers
nowleft whoipretend to ignore this feed
for the land; and few localities, even
in the newer Western States, where
manure is thought to be a nuisance.
We have gradually come to the inevita-
BILE final end of our "virgin FARMS" and
have now either to save what is left
of their wonderful natural fertility, or
to restore them slowly and laborious-
ly to a profitable condition. We have
reached the end of our tether, and are
obliged to confess that we have tres
passed over the line which bounds the
territory of the locust, or have i'm
proved the face Of the country so much
that, the protecting timber being re
moved, the water supply is becoming
precarious, and springs, brooks, and riv.
ers no longer flow as they did hereto.
fore. To some extent the tide of emf.
grafton, which has flowed westward so
many years is now eddying or even ebb.
ing, and the cheap, worn lands of the
East are finding purchasers, who under.
take to bring them back to their former
condition.
At the same time Eastern farmers
are discovering more and more Ger.
tainly that they must increase their
crops, and make one acre produce as
much as two have heretofore done.
The only way in which either of these
classes can succeed is by keeping suffi.
cient stock to manure their farms lib.
orally; to feed those animals so skill.
fully and we'll that they shall pay for
their feed with profit, and in addition
leave a supply of rich manure, with
which the soil can be kept in a pro-
ductive state, and to save and use the
manure with such care that no particle
Of it be lost. It is not every farmer
who can procure all the manure he
needs; but very many can save what
they have with far greater economy
than they now do; and this, although
it may seem question secondary to
that of getting manure, is really of
primary Importance; for by using
what one has to better purpose he
opens a way to increase his supply
We have found this to ba the case in
our own experience, and by strict at
tention to saving and preserving every
particle of manure in its best condition
we have succeeded in so charging our
supply of fodder that the number of
stock that could be fed was largely in.
creased each year, and very soon it
was necessary to go out and buy ami
mails to consume the surplus. To bring
a farm into improved condition there
is no cheaper or more effective method
than this.
The ordinary management of manure
in open barn-yards, where it is wash
ed by rains, dried by the suns scorch-
ing heat, and wasted by every wind
that blows, is the worst that is posi-
BILE. In this way half or more of the
value Of the manure is lost. By figur-
ing up what it would cost to purchase
quantity of manure equal to what is
thus lost, the costliness of this com.
mon method would be discovered, and
the question how much could be af-
forded to take care of the manure!
would be settled. When properly lit.
tered, one COW or OK will make ton
of manure every month, if the liquid
as we'll as the solid portion is saved.
Ten head would thus make 120 tons, or
sixty-two-horse wagon loads, in year.
! A pair of horses will make as much
manure as one cow, or twelve tons in
the year. A hundred sheep if yarded
every night and we'll Uttered, will
make one hundred tons of manure in
the year, and ten pigs will work up a
wagon load in a month, if supplied
with sufficient coarse material. The
stock of l00.acre farm, which should
consist of at least ten COWS, ten head
of steers, heifers, and calves, a pair of
horses, 100 sheep, and ten pigs, would
then make, in the aggreg ste. 3l6 tons
of manure every year, or sufficient to
give twelve tons per acre every fourth
year. If this were well cared for il
would be, in effect,equal to double the
quantityj..of ordinary yard manure;
and if plenty of swamp muck could be
procured, at least six hundred tons OF
the best manure could be made upon q
lOO.acre farm. If this were the rule
instead of rare exception, or only :
possibility, what a change would ap
pear upon the face Of the country an(
what an addition would be made to tn
nation.
Bringing Up Worn Farm.
Prof. Kendzie, of the Michigan Agri
cultural College, in an able address de
livered before the Michigan Farmers
Institute, lately held, concludes as fol
Ows:
believe the easiest and cheapes
way to bring up worn-down farm i
by green manuring. Suppose you
farm is too poor for clover, and gras
makes only a feeble growth; put on i