Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1879-03-29
The NEW AGRICULTURE.
Or, J.. Il. Nichols Tells Us iu What 70
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not only in the scientific but in the
practical department o~fsgriCulture. His
celebrated " Barn Lecture delivered
in a bsJu) has had 8 wide circulation,
and has stirredup ideas that were now
TO many farmers. At q recent meeting
of the Massachusetts State Bosrd of Az
Iiculture he delivered a lecture on "Ihe
New Agriculture" We take some ex-
tracts from 3 rCpor; in the New England
Farmer:
In opening, the lecturer paid a just
tribute to the memory and labOrs OF Lie
big, the first successful practical agricul>
tural chemist, and the first to discover
that carbon comes to plants from tue
air, and who, also, cleared up the mys-
terry of the absorption Of nitrogen, He
next gave a condensed history of the
progress of agriculture in this city, quot
ing some amusing paragraphs from the
writings of Jared Elliott, who taught
that the best rules for governing the op
e~rations If the farm were to be found in
the Bible, and that ashes are a complete
fertilizer, but that the misery of it is
that they are too few for the farmers
wants.
The " New Agriculture" could count
but a little more tnsn thirty years, and
bears an even date with the new chemis
try. At present, agriculture a hardly
be called a science, but rather an indus
try. There is yet too much in dispute,
but with IL present light it is time that
some things should be settled so that
they shall stay settled Successful agri.
culture, like every other successful occu-
patton of man, requires brains, and the
one who uses his brains best will have
the best and largest crops, and will reap
the largest profits.
The special mission of the " New Agri.
culture is to teach farmers the best way
to gain the best results. The cultured
farmer will make good butter and raise
COED apples, both of which will find a
ready market at paying prices, while the
same crops grown, harvested and mars
keted in a careless manner, will bring
the ignorant and indOlent farmer little
or 10 profit on his labor. 1t is the best
fruit, the best butter, the best corn, the
best vinegar, sll put up in the best style,
which bring the highest prices, People,
as they become intelligent, find out that
coed food is worth paying for.
The follower of the New Agricul>
ture" finds that dirty boots in the milf
room are ont Of place, that mixing poor
hay or poor apples in lots designed for
marset, Injuries the sale OF the good pro.
duet more than the value of the poor.
A barrel OF apples worth two dollars may
be depreciated forty or fifty per cent. by
putting in q peck of interior fruit. Even
the metlod Of putting up has much to
do with the prices obtained for farm
products, Apples packed nicely will
bring fifty cents yer barrel more than
those which are tumbIed in any way.
The old agriculture did not know the
exact comparative value of iood, either
Tor animal or man. Chemistry had not
determined food values IS it has now
determined them. We have found ont
finally nat the heat OF tie animal comes
from the combustion Of the food we
give, and that IL Is poor economy to
keep our cattle out IN the cold winds in
winter, He bat kept his own COWS very
close during 3 tIial OF ten years, and
found that it psid, bu.A in flesh and
milk, 60 keep them under cover. Even
IN summer cows shrink in their milk
production a quart a day by standing q
short time in a lake of cold water. Ice
cold water to drink in winter, will causl
a ike falling oil in the yield.
Much has been learned concerning the
value OF animal manures, that was no.
known under the old agriculture. We
have learned now that the value OF
manure varies that manure made from
good hay is worth more than that made
rom the coarse grasses OF our bog
swsmps, and that all manure is better II
sept under cover than il left exposed to
the Influences of the weather. Chemis-
try also teaches that there is a feeding
value in corn Cobs equal to that of CON,
mon straw, but they must be ground
line, or their value is not retained by the
animal before they pass beyond the diges,
tive organs, The cobs contain q large
per cent. OF potash, and should not BE-
wasted or carried away from the farm
The potash taken up by the cobs of one
years corn crop in the United States
can not amount to less than 10, 000, OOO
pounds. 1t will be seen, therefore, that
it is poor economy to raise corn with q
large percentage of cob, when a variety
WIN a smaller cob would yield lust a.
much c0'n Chemistry has ais taught
that plant food is very abundant in
nature, outside Of animal dung. 1t also
teaches that the same food ted to differ.
ent animals will not return equal values
in the animal wastes, because the waste
is less in certain classes of animals than
10 others. Mich COWS take more out OF
their food than do idle, fat cattle.
The speaker had had a large expert,
enCe in the use of chemical fertilizers,
and deemed a word as to their use moi
out OF place. All concentrated manures
must be spread very evenly, as one would
SOW grass seed. They should also be
applied, especially the nitrates, in the
spring, just as the plant begins to use IN
fertility, while the more slowly acting
barn manure should be applied the fall
previous, that its plant food may have
time to become developed. Nitrate OF
coda, he thought, ought never to be ap-
piled alone, but in connection with
phosphates. Just why, he could not
tell, further than that practice seemed
to warrant such an application. The
reason that soil analyses had been of 80
little value to the farmer is because the
chemist cannot determine in what con.
ditions certain elements exist in the soil
Ii is not enough to simply know that
they are there, unless we know they ara
in an available form.