Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1878-10-30

profitable and certain path to com
petence and comfort in your old
age. Give up politics and hold on
to your religion. Don't run for of
fee, but go often to church. 1t is
one of the greatest nuisances OF
our system of government that SO
many good farmers are spoiled to
make the poorest kind of office
holders. When you see farm
err holding office, you will find his
farm mortgaged, his wife splitting
wood, and his children barefoot.
Allure all these things. Look
well to your homes, churches and
school houses. See to your schools.
Listen well to your preacher, and
pillow deep. Let one crop follow on
another and apply fertilizers in
such manner as to preserve and
increase the richness of the soil.
Devote most land to those grains
and vegetables to which the eli
mate and yonr soil are best adapt
ed. Yet neglect not others. Gull
tivate some of each. In the most
favored lands, there will be an oc-
casional failure Of some particular
grains.
If the whole farm is occupied
with wheat, for instance, and it
chance to fail, it brings embarass-
ment and difficulty. If variety
Of grains and vegetables are sown
and planted portion Of them are
sure to succeed.
Cultivate well the field you plant
or sow. Half cultivated land is n
miserable farming and short sight
ed policy. Plow deep and often.
On shallow plowed land roots
of the plants are unable to pene-
trate deep; they spread upon the
surface,-the rain water runs off
quickly and the surface becomes
dry and parched when there is a
dry season, and the plant is stunted
and withered. If there are long
and heavy rains, the water fails to
penetrate below the plowed soil,
and stands upon, covers up, and
Injuries the roots of the plant. The
same field with deep blowing
would produce in a wet season, be-
cause the water would penetrate
below the plants roots and rest up
On the unmoved soil, and it would
also yield in a dry season, because,
he little rain that falls, instead
If passing off in currents, would
penetrate and dampen the ground
is deep as it had been moved.
The sun would not evaporate it as
rapidly as when it lays near
the surface and was more accessa-
BILE to its rays. The roots
Of the plant will penetrate deeper,
and discover for themselves each
resovoir Of moisture; loosened
earth also gathers moisture from
the atmosphere when there are no
rains,-while the closely packed,
ground fails to obtain
any.
This is accomplished in this man
ner: At high temperature there
is much moisture in the air which
fills all the little crevices in the
loosened earth of deeply plowed |
fields as the sun goes down the
earth becomes chilled and the
vapor in the crevices of the loos-
ened soil is condensed into water,
and this secretly supplies food for
the roots of plants, promoting the
rapid maturity of the iipening
crops, as the heat of the harvest
time comes on. So nature, guided
by the hand of industry, meets the
emergency, stimulating the product
Of the field of the thrifty, while the
same natural laws OF heat and
moisture will wither and dry out
the crops upon the half plowed,
half cultivated fields of the care
less and indifferent. Since the more
fully discovered operations of the
principles, the blowing Of fall
wheat in the spring Of the year has
become quite common recently,
and several of the best writer's and
practical farmers in this State allege
that it will add 20 to 25 per cent to
the yield. Deep and thorough
blowing is therefore hest in all sea-
sons under all circumstances. To-
telligence becomes useless without
its thorough application by the
diligent hand of the husbandman,
Nature yields her rich treasures
only where the intelligent mind
aud trainers hand of rural industry
grasps the plow. Then arain ma