Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-05-16
FARM AND FlREslDE.
- u..as@a6Ns II sy
- 2 1a zs
Coo d Seed, the Preliminary to Success.

The requisites for a good farmer, are
opportunity and intelligence. 1t is not
fertile lands, only, which bring pros
perity,- although such are Desirable
but it is the man who cultlvates them
who news from nature the forms in fur.
therance of his desires. As his desires
are high, so will his results be. Neither
fertility, nor cultivation alone will bring
large crops but the union of these and
other conditions which are under the
farmers control. 1t may be easier for
one man to raise hundreda bush
els of corn from his field, than for
another man to raise fifty. We see this
all about us. The average corn yields
Of Massachusetts. for example, are
about as large per acre as those of
Illinois, with its fertile soil. The results
gained on one farm are usually larger or
smaller than those of the adjoining
farm, and each farmer, we must sup
pose, has equal facilities for the raising
of his crop. 1t is the study into these
differences which is to develop the
reasons, which, once appreciated. will
tend toward the obtaining Of larger or
more gainful harvests. If We
look to the gardener for instruction, we
find him always excelling the farmer in
the size and quality Of crops; and, if we
seek into his methods, we find good seed
at the foundation. Peter Henderson
offered $4,000 pound for cabbage
seed, which he knew was what he
wanted. and yet he could readily pur-
chase seed at the stores for but frac-
ton Of this amount. He knew that he
would get his profit from the high priced
seed, but was skeptical about the seed
whose history he did not know, and the
result, as given by him, showed the
wisdom of his course.
Now there are two ways of writing
for the farmer. The one, and the more
common way, is to continually recon-
mend the farmer to buy---as if heavy
purchasing was at the foundation of
successful farming. The Scientific Far
mer, however, adopts the plan OF recon-
mending the farmer to be careful of his
outgoes, and not to purchase unless he
can distinctly figure GU. profit by so
doing. Indeed, it seems to us that
many farmers are extravagant in their
purchase ofwhat they do not absolutely
require, and the same farmers are
equally extrav agant in purchasing at a
low price articles which they do require
but require of a better quality than
they. are willing to pay for.
Good seed is at the foundation of sue
ossstul farming, and when the farmer
requires to purchase seed, he must be
sure and get the best-what difference to
hum whether he pays double or treble
price he pays fol- good article which
he could purchase an ordtncry article for?
The increase Of crop will more than
make mp the difference. no matter what
price he pays for his seed. provided the
seed comes up to expectation. In the
cultivation of the crops, saving NAV
be made by the use OF the best imple-
ments, yet this saving is but "a fraction
OF the value of the crop. Manure may
be made, or fertilizer purchased. and
spread on the land wisely or layishly,
and the increase Of the crop, above a
certain point, will not be in cores
pondence with the outlay, unless the
plant is Of the variety and of the kind
adapted to the purpose. Indeed, with
poor seed, the farmer enters upon his
spring work over-weighted, and what
wonder than if his harvests are OBJ
tanned through tribulations, and fall far
short of his anticipatiens?
One farmer plants cabbage for the
market, and wonders that they do not
head and mature as early as do those of
a neighbor. He plants wisely, hoes
ndustriously, and yet his returns are
unsatisfactory. The neighbor does no
more, and yet he markets an early and
large crop, because he, not being penny
wise and pound-foolish-or, perhaps,
being taught by wisdom or experience,
has procured the proper seed. Two ad-
joining farmers cultivate an acre Of
corn, for the purposes of exhibition and
competition at fair; both manure far
ia excess of the requirements of thei1
land; both keep their land open and
free from weeds, and yet the crop Of one
is far in excess Of the other. Whence
the difference? Why, you doubter, il
was in the seed-the one variety being
more prolific or less fertile than the
other. We have case in point where
two varieties of corn were sown, both
varieties looking equally well on the
ear, and yet possessing different his
tory: one which as the results proved
was the better variety, on two plots (:
and 81 of a field MANFRED alike, The
cropping and yield of which in the pas
had been satisfactorily uniform /; The
other on the remainder of the fielt
(plet y. The results were as below:
PER ACRE
Plot No manure. Yield at the rate of 6sA bush
Plot 2 "a cords manure per acre. no ."
Which is equivalent to saying tab
the seed made the difference between
Plots and 3, or l333 bushels the ma
nure the difference between Plot ant
2, or Az bushels and the seed the diff
ference between Plots 2 and 3, or 81
bushels. On this field, therefore, W.
observe the influence of the seed to b
much greater than that of the manure
Let US advise, then. the progressive
farmer to be very careful in the selec
ton of the seed which he is to plant thi
cpri,,o of tho hac4 of sood bo ,,lo n q,