Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1879-04-09
and FlREsIDE,



1t il coming to be better understood
that success in farming depends far
more upon how much one gets per acre
than upon the number Of acres he
cultivates. fla mans time, teams,
seed, implements, etc.. are worth or
cost 5e0a year TO cultivate fifty acres,
and the crops produced, whatever they
may be, are equivalent to IL bushels Of
wheat per acre, worth on an average 81
per bushel, he has just 800 left for
interest of the land. taxes, etc. If the
crops equal Is bushels Of wheat per
acre, he has $3.50 surplus for land, etc.
II they are equal 10 % bushels OF wheat
per acre, he has $500 surplus: if 25
bushels OF per acre he has s750. The
same rule holds good for 100 acres, or
any other area. The great question
then is, how to increase the yield per
acre, with only the same cost for labor,
teams, implements. and seed.
AS TO FERTILIZERS AND THEN
ACTION.
Omltting the question Of drainage,
and OF green manures, and supposing
the land in proper dryness and tllth,
there IS no doubt that a sufficient
ofthe right kind Of manures or fertilizers
will secure this to IS bushels per acre
increase.
Recent observations, careful expert
ments, and extensive chemical lnvesti-
cations, show that our cultivated crops
need for their best growth the presence
of several substances. Three or four
are seldom abundant in soils, or are
largely available in but few, and are
rapidly exhausted by the removal of
crops. Two of these, for example,
Phosphoric Acid and Nitrogen, are
indispensable as plant-food. Potash is
also needed as food, and to develop and
prepare other food. Lime acts like
potash in feeding or preparing food for
plants.
THE MOST VALUABLE CONSTITUENTS
OF SOILS AND MANURE.
Of these four substances, Nitrogen,
Potash, Lime, and Phosphoric Acid
some soils and crops want one, some
want two. and some want three, if not
ali Of them. Good Barn yard Manure
invariably contains all of them. So
long as one can get enough Of good
barn yard manure. chesply enough. and
near enough to the felis, tina: is all
that is neeled. With it. if the other
conditions. of the soil. its dryness and
filth or mechanical condition. be right.
we can raise our crops from an eQuiva-
lent If IL bushels OF wheat to 90. Or .
ur more bushels per acre.
But unl-ss it be ON farms manly
used in stock-raising. there is far from
enough good yard-manure to secure
the higher profits. And just here
another question comes in. If a soil
lacks potash only. small quantity o.
this in the form Of potash salts. or of
ashes may be as useful IA thousands Of
pounds Of vard-manure containing only
the same amount Of potash. In that
case we could buy and apply the I.otasH
more cheaply than we could haul and
apply the manure to cost nothing. |,
the soil lacks only pho~phoric aci for
certain crop. bag Of superpho-phaie
or d ssolyed homes will supply moro of
il than several tons nf vard-manure. II
than. we can ascertain Just what a field
lacks, We may find it very profitable to
buy the special fertilizer the soil wants.
and use the yard-uanure on such fields
as need all it contains, or on those
heavy soils where its loosening effect
will be most useful, and where little
hauling Is required.
WHAT OUR SOILS NEED.
But soils are SO variable, even on the
same farm, that it is next TO impossible
to say, without actual trial, that for a
particular crop this soil wants potash,
that one wants phosphate, this one
wants nitrogen. that one wonts nlasfer