Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-08-09
wHEAT-TaRNIPs-MANUnE

nected as therein printed, but there
is a very close connection between
them;
MI. johnson GoOstree has sown large
field in turnips, and expects to make 5000
is good they win be for sale; il not, then he
has fine cattle enough 10 eat them, and Will
furnish good beef next spring. We spent a
pleasant day at Mr.. Goostree's last week.
He is no SLOUGH ofa farmer by any means,
but one who makes it pay. Everything ls
done in apple pie order; building, stock
CioOstree lives about four miles from town,
a splendid farm on Red river.
The wheat-sowfng season will soon be at
hand. and farmers ought to consider wei
whether il will pay to SOW poor land with
out ferfilizing. Under the common practice
il takes about eight bushels of wheat to pay
for seeding, harvesting, marketing, etc,
and This Is fully the average yield OF poor
land. Those who have experimental with
fertilizers estimate the increase at about ten
bushels per acre Messrs A. L. Whitaker =
Co advertise a good quality OF wheat fertil-
izer.
We commence with endorsing
Goostree and his farm, especially
Goostree. An old friendship and
alliance binds us together. Some
eighteen years ago, during the little
difficulty, Goostree and this editor
were in different departments of
the Confederate army, so called, he
on the commissary and we on the
medical staff. Those who were in
that service know, what no one out
side of it can appreciate, the yearn-
ing affection which existed between
those two departments. in the
cOmmissary department there was
always consolation for hungry
stomachs, and hunger was a chronic
affection in the G.. A.; and in the
medical department there was al
ways, or nearly always, a supply OF
those stimulating stores over which
Murphy doth not preside, but which
were in active demand during the
aforesaid difficulty. If this state
ment does not account to our read
ers for the profound sympathy be-
Z tween the two departments, they
must remain unenlightened; those
of them who were in the G. S. A.
will need no further explanation.
But not only have we an abiding
regard for Goostree, kept warm by
frequent "reminiscences of savory
dinners when dinners were scarce,
we have high appreciation of his
farm, which is as fine piece of Red
river bottom land as a good farmer
can desire now good farm de
serves a good farmer, and the two
have come together in this instance
Were we an Eastern sage our greet
inc to our friend would be, "may
your shadow never grow less" but
being a Western editor and no sage
we say instead, "may your acres
never grow poorer" and we fancy
we see the smile on GOOstree's face
as he laughs inwardly at the idea o.
his Red river farm becoming poor
but its time will come unless antici
pated with constant renovation
The richest land and the richest
estate must fail in the end if it Is
always giving out its wealth and
never receiving, always spending
and never earning, and it is in the
interest of that farm that we are
now writing.
Now our readers will suppose tina
we are going to urge our friend tt
go TO the store and buy the renova
tors described in paragraph No. :
Nothing of the sort. a good farm
managed by a good farmer Furnishes
its own renOVatOrs; it constantly
restores to the soil in the form o
manure what it extracts from it IL
the form of crops. Now this bringi
us to Goostree's turnips, and we say
to our friend, never mind what tht
demand for them or the price YOU
can get for them don't sell q single
turnip, but feed them to your stock
and if you have not stock enough
ret more, and then yOur turnip
will pay you a better price THAI
any this market will afford you, fO
YOU will get it in good beef ant
mutton and wool, and yOu will ge
it as a still more permanent prof
in the substance of the soil you own
Your farm will grow richer ever!
year instead of poorer, as it will i
you don't feed plenty of stock ant
utilize the manure resulting there
from.
''What can an old doctor know
about farming?" Goostree will b.
asking at this stage. Well, this OLE
doctor was raised ON an Englisl
farm where wheat and beef eattl
and sheep were the staple product
which made the profits; there ar
some things he learned then which
he has not forgotten, and one thini
which our readers need not forget i
that wheat and butchers meat ar
the very staples which are at thi
time pulling us out of our financial
troubles and giving us the advant
age in exchange over the Englisl
market. Now let us go a little wa.
into agricultural chemistry and Sc
how wheat and live stock help on
another.
A friend farming In District No
., whom we were lately visiting
told us that turnips are the mos
exhausting crop that can be raised
and that land which has produced
them requires more renovation
than any other. We have no doub
of it, and yet, on an English farm
wheat is the crop which always fol
lows turnips, and wheat is as mucl
the staple there as tobacco is here
Turnips are great borrowers from
the soil, and q friend who is Away
borrowing and never paying bacl
will break any man. What the.
borrow is carbonate of potash; the!
may be made to pay it back, anC
must be made to do so if they are t.
be cultivated with profit. Wheat
again, borrows lime and silica from
the soil (Silica is the material o