The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-01-16


creases fertility or only makes it NOR
easily available for present crops
Years hence this will be an interestin,
question, but for a long time to com
all that farmers need ask is how to max
the soil produce maximum crops o
grain and grass. Whoever does thi
need not fear that the large crops viii
not sell for enough to supply the vast,
of fertility which they cause. WheI
this time comes, as it never will, M
skill in farming can make the business
profitable. In other words, the meu
who supply the world with bread will
only partly earn their own, and must
make up the deficiency by exhaustino
their capital, The bare statement OF
such position carries with it the best
refutation of its fallacy. Looking at
the condition of farming through a
period of twenty-five years, 1 find that
wherever good farming has been prac-
ticed there has been decided increase
in fertility, that larger crops are grown
than ten or twenty years ago, and that
good farmers are yearly becoming less
and less dependent on the season for
profitable results. Most of this i'm
provement is due to the Use of clover
other influences have helped, but with
out clover all the manuring ind nnder-
draining that have been expended on
land would only suffice to maintain fer
tlllty, without perceptible improvement.
The best mode of utilizing clover be-
comes therefore the central question in
agricultural improvement. Whether it
shall be ploughed under, pastured or
mown whether it shall be turned under
the year after being sown, or left to per-
feet its seed ; whether it shall be sOwn
alone, or with some some small grain
crop; these are questions affecting vitally
the prosperity of the farming popula-
ton. The farmers Of western New York.
having long been foremost in wheat pro.
duction, easily learned to use clover as
its best auxiliary. With the PROCESS of
years they have learned experimentally
the best modes of using clover Forty
years ago ploughing under clover when
In full blossom was the standard method.
Wheat then was the staple crop, and al
most the only one which sold for money.
A few cows to supply the family with
milk and butter; hogs enough to fill
the pork barrel and pay the taxes, and
horses to work the farm, were almost
the only stock kept ON some of the
largest and most successful wheat farms.
The manure to make the wheat crop
was furnished almost exclusively by the
clover ploughed under the previous sea-
son. Since the introduction of mixed
husbandry this system has been greatly
changed. More stock is kept more re-
lance is placed ON manure artificial
fertilizers are more largely used each
year, and there is comparatively little
summer following and plowing under
of clover.
There can be no doubt that this sys-
tenn of mixed farming is more profitable,
not only IN the money value of crops
sold, but vastly more so in the fertility
OF the soil. There is greater certainty,
also, for the farmer. He does not have
all his eggs in one basket, and bad
season does not leave him with receipts
running far behind his inevitable ex-
penses. The weather that is bad for
one crop is favorable for others, and he
has always reasonable certainty of
having something to sell. OF late years
shrewd farmers have learned to carry
the system of mixed husbandry a step
further, and add clover seed to their list
OF available crops. Eight or ten to fifty
or seventy-five bushels of clover seed
as grown on many farms every year. are
q valuable addition to the farm receipts
Tor the year. The money thus secured
is made quite as easily as any which the
farmer receives, and believe it is made
not only without injury but with positive
benefit to the soil, at least 10 its produc-
tive capacity. The farmers who grow
clover seed are the men who become
rich, for every year their fields become
more fertile. The shade which the clo-
-ver leaves during the heats of summer
furnish to the ground increases the
nitrogen which it holds, while the clover
roots perform the equally beneficial
operation OF permeating the subsoil and
bringing up the unavailable fertility
rom beneath and making it available.
These advantages are, to some extent,
incident to the use of clover in any way.
But the farmer who grows clover seed
shades and mulches his soil more per-
lectly, and secures a stronger and deeper
growth of root than if the plant is pas
tnred or is ploughed under at any earlier
period. There is u further and very
important advantage in growing clover
seed. He who has seed to buy sows
sparingly. He who grows it can afford
e SOW literally. Not less than one peck
per acre should be sown. After few
years growing of clover seed, the ground
vii be filed with the seed, which will
spring mp in after years as they are
turned to the surface. Two years ago,
one OF my neighbOrs ploughed a field in
me fall, after taking off clover seed
crop. Barley was sown in the spring.
and good crop, about thirty bushels
per acre, was grown. The field was then
pioughed and sown with wheat, and
though the farmer did not SOW quart
of clover seed, he has as good a "catch "
as any one could wish. Enough seed
was wasted to seed the ground, and, as
the field was only lightly cultivated in
the spring for barley, the seed was never
lnrned up until ploughed for wheat. 1
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