The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-06-27
HOW Rich Land shouId BE.

This is a common question, and it
means much more than is usually sup
posed. The answer is clear; Land should
be just rich enough to grow the best
crops. What is over this is loss in the
interest and in the manurial properties
that escape, as nitrogen, the best of
them, will. There may therefore be too
much fertility. But some crops require
more than others, like corn, the grasses,
and forage crops in general. Not so with
the grains, which may be too stout, so
AZ to lodge or grow, as they are apt to,
more straw in proportion than berry.
\ ct the grains (wheat in particularly will
bear considerable northumberland
more than they get. After learning, by
test, what kind of manure the land
wants, and the manure of the farm usually
answers the purposs-the application be-
comes only a matter of quantity, and
the gauge may be maintained by proper
rotation, using, if enough can be made
(Which can with proper management,
only farmyard manure, and what the
farm furnishes in sod, green crops, etc.
It thus becomes an easy matter to push
the crops as desired. The question arises,
to what extent they shall be pushed, and
not leave TO large q surplus in the land.
AS | said before, Just enough to grow
the. best crops, as land may be too rich
or too poor 10 realize profits. This always
leaves a portion in the soil, enough to
give the necessary balance and texture.
This is not a very large amount. For
instance, a poor soil that barely pays
EXPENSES, given good coat of manure,
properly applied, so that the top ground
where the roots are gets the benefit Of it,
will pay all expenses, including the
manure, with something over besides,
depending on how cheap the manure was
obtained, while the land has still some
lett of the application, which is the
commencement of the improvement,
making, with the same amount of man
ure in the second crop, a better yield,
with still further improvement in the
land. Here is profit from the crop, and
increased value of the land. At this
rate it does not take many years to bring
mp the land to high state of fertility.
But is this advisable? Evidently not, as
il leaves too much unused enrichment in
the sell. The course is to manure
enough to grow the most profitable
crops, and no mere. This is economy.
1t still ke ps the soil in good mechani-
cal condition, with small waste of the
nitrates, the crop taking up what is
needed, leaving to the soil its share,
kept up, ut exceeded, by what excess
in application is demanded to supply the
waste. Ia this way less manure and
more benefit will result.
It is q fine way of farming, bringing
up the land with comparatively little
outlay, and at the same time realizing
large yields with increased profit through
the economical use of the manure. The
poorest land thus becomes an object OF
r. = IL
waiting our New England farms, with
their admirable markets for all kinds oil
produce, and adapted TO mixed husband
~. With the advantage derived from
keeping manure at the ~ rface, 80 as "a
get its full benefit before it disappears
in the depth of the soil, sud get it at
once, realizing thus an additional saving,
with corresponding reduction in the
expense of manure (amount) OF manure
and the labor in handling il; a new era il
farming has dawned which is slowly but
surely revolutionizing the old wasteful
method of burying beyond resurrection
Itnow only needs care in saving anc
properly applying. But much-indeed
ali@is depending upon the manner il
which this is done. To put the manure
in heaps, and leave it there for a time, il
q tWotOld lOss-a loss of labor and the
strength OF the manure-and II lett Tor 8
long time, the loss of manure will b'
great, and its strength will be unevenly
distributed, some places, where the
heaps we're getting too much, the res
not enough. Let it be remembered tina
Il is manure, the coarse material of thu
farm, on which the profit of the farm de
pends, and that it accordingly require
careful management, so as to avoiC
waste, not only in the stable and arounC
the barn (using absorbents and protec
tionl, but on the field, in the application
and the amount given.-CoWntry Gentle
man.