Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-07-13
FARM AND FIRESIDE


what Have they Gainedi
The one strong argument in favor Of en-
igraling from New England TO the West
has always been erich land" The prairie
soils have been pronounced inexhaustibe.
Their fertility, it has been claimed, grows
no less by continued cropping. We, at the
East, or at least those Of us who have never
had the Western "fever," have been slow
to believe these statements. We have held
that natural laws are inflexible and I'M
changeable the world over, and that con-
slant subtraction will diminish a given
quantity. And now, after generation Of
cropping without returns, the Western peo-
pie themselves are beginning to see their
mistakes. A few of the writers at the ex-
treme border lines who have new land TO
sell, still sing the old tune, but the agricul-
tural papers in the older settled portions of
the West are about as earnest, in their ex-
hortatons to farmers TO save their manure
and to apply it to the land iudciously, as
any of their contemporaries here at the
East.
Here is an extract from an address re-
Gently delivered before the Illinois State
Dairyman's Association, by Mr.. John
Heating, and published in the Prairie Far
mer. 1t is a sample of much of the writing
of Western farmers at the present time.
1.-THE man who makes large quantity Of
rich manure and applies it properly, can
not and will not fail of being successful.
Per contra, the man who is careless on this
point, who feeds his cattle poor and INSULT
cient food, who allows his manure to be
swept away by the winters winds, and
dried up by the summers sun, though he
may rise early and labor assduously, is
destined to failure and disappointment
"Time was, and that but recently, when
this subject received very little serious con-
sideration from the majority Of the far
mers of Illinois. The doctrine was then
taught that the fertility OF our prairies was
inexhaustible, and that although in the
East manure was Indispensable TO a crop,
that in the West the happy farmer was
freed from this laborious and expensive ne
cessity. That time is past and past forever.
"In the production of barn-yard manure
it should be the aim OF every farmer to
make as much as possible. We want a
quantity of fertilzing substances to cover
our broad acres, and TO make recompense
TO our lands for the abundant crops they
bear u.s. This is one of the great difficult
ties with which we have to contend Our
farms are so large, and generally so INSULT
GENTLY stocked, that it is impossible for
most OF us to produce annually, anything
like the quantity of manure that we so ear
nestly desire to use. The first thing,
therefore, that we should do, is to stock
for boox i1x ha nil
port, or as we can afford TO buy, even if we
were obliged to buy some extra grain to
winter them. Having done this, we should
remember that it is not alone in bulk that
the value of manure consists. We should
remember that quality is even more i'm
portant than quantity. In order to get rich
manure it is necessary that we should feed
our cattle nutritious and abundant food,
and keep them in warm and comfortable
barns.
1.-THE richer the food we feed the better
will manure be, and the difference in value
load for load, between the droppings OF
half-starved and poorly kept animals, and
those of others who are generously fed and
warmly housed, is much greater than is
generally supposed. Corn-meal, oats and
bran, with good tame hay will make,
think, the best article that it is possible for
US TO get. l would here recommend the
use of straw or cut coIn-stalks for bedding
they will absorb the liquid manure which
would otherwise go to waste, and which is
very valuable. There is also this advantage
that where we pile our manure and use
much straw, there is no danger of losing
ammonia by fermentation the acids pro-
duced from the iermenting straw, will hold
all the ammonia found in the heap. What
we want is good manure, and the richer il
is and the bigger the pile the better.
''The next point is to properly care fol
our manure, and this is a point that need.
to be dwelt upon. This indeed may bC
said to be our weak spot. Many of us make
large quantities of rich manure, and ther
through carelessness suffer tito 60 to waste
Fortunes have been lost in this manner
fortunes are being lost by ii now; the rich
ness that would fill our corn-cribs will
grain, our barns with hay, our pockets will
greenbacks, is being swept into our river
or absorbed by the air. Our cattle shoulC
not be allowed TO range all over the farm il
winter. They should be kept, when out o
the barn, in a close yard, where there is al
abundant supply of good water, and wher,
all the coarse feed of the farm, which is no
fed in the barn, should be brought to them
This yard should not be exposed to run
ming water; and the manure, which viii
accumulate in ii, should at intervals bt
made into large piles, where it will fermen
and decompose, and become tit food TO
plants"
Now If manure is needed at tue West, a
at the East, if barn cellars must be dug fo
housing the manure, ii absorbents must b.
provided for saving the liquid excremenls
fall this must be hauled to the fields t,
raise crops which must be seut Thousand
miles to find market, are we not justified
in asking, "What have they gainedP" lie
them answer the question if they CAIN
f. Farmer.
af