Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-12-23
The Farmers Problem Solved.
ny REV. BENJAMIN DODGE.

q
\ of the Eastern States has been, and is.
"Hov shall | get more manureg | cannot
raise crop without it. "lf purchase
| patent fertilizers. or guano. or stable ma
nure, can't ge, my money back. What
shall do?" Twill venture my judgment as
to the best thing any eastern farmer has
done. or can do. II is TO manufacture all
| his fertilizers at home, TO purchase not one
1 pound. | know this remark will appear a
| little rough to the manufacturers Of Patent
1 Fertilizers" as by these they are getting
rich ou, Of farmers. bs, they will have no
| great reason to fear lest they lose patronage,
for be the plan ever so good and practicable
which ! am abou, 10 propose, there is no
grca, danger Of its general adoption. for the
world among farmers moves slowly. 1t is
| quite hard for them to change the old sys-
TEN, be it good or bad. DO not toss this
paper aside my fellow farmer, and take it for
| granted that do not understand what arm
talking about. DO you ask. ''how shall
J manufacture IfTklliktTN NHINCltHN EtF ItiN
farm ?" In the first place will suggest how
| YOU cannot do it. You caAnOt with any
slip-shod management, Not bv permitting
| the drainage of barn and sink to run to
waste You cannot unless YOU have a
| method. a regular system Of accumuiditny.
and adhere closely to il from year to year.
I Without this it is vain 20 hope for success
| in anything, BraR mus, be used among
/ farmers. as merchants, physicians. ana law
| yers use it in their business. My obser'a-
| ton tells me that not one farmer in twenty
| in New England adopts a systematic method
| Of manufacturing dressing for his land,
7 while nj the same time more depends on this
than any other in producing crops in the
/ Eastern States which will pay, Pass
I through all our farming towns and YOU find
men depending almost wholly ON their hay,
[ and patent fertilizers for their dressing from
one year to another. 4 few loads Of muck
NAV possibly be added. drawn directly from
the sour swamp TO the COW yard, without
uFSt utlhE sHcttsutu pN hit anu SUNSHINE
on some dry knoll for six months or a year
| might say that this practice has been ad-
hered 10 20 long that the grooves in the
ruts have worn deep. and it is difficult 10
get out Of them. Although farmers as a
class are excellent citizens, and are the pride
Of this land, yet they are the most opinion
tt g E,.r,s
litilc more about farming than nyhody else,
or at least he feel, that he does, when possi-
bly il may not BE- 20. This feeling Is bar
to success. l. prevents Advancement in the
business of farming, for when person gets
to the top round Of the ladder, he goes no
higher; but only stands and surveys and
laughs At those who are toiing below. Il
is no marvel that farmers purchase so large
a proportion Of their corn, and that their
boys do not take to farming when they see
how hard their fathers work, how little they
ralse, and what discouraged faces they wear.
At single place in this town which Is
purely agricultural, the sale Of corn in the
war l'4F. y ~ tt4tft -NAA AAipAHA4lt tANA4tAS.
and this year /, has been thirty-two thou
sand. besides large amount of shorts,
fine feed and cotton seed meal. All this,
bought with farmers money and consumed
among them, within the radius Of ten miles.
While ,hi, is only one place of sale among
many within these limits. | start this
thought as sHgyesttre. and which may lead
men perhaps 10 purchase a small account
book and keep debt and credit OF their farm
operations.
Do you say. Go on and tell u, how TO
manufacture manure in large quantities.
The answer IN a nutshell, IS thus, do Il rih
hogs. Ever since they fell in with ths demons
and went down into the deep. their strong
propensity has been 10 plunge and wallow,
and ii they can't find anything else to pitch
into, they will reyel in filth. | think | am
correct in saving that hogs are the best
machines invented vet with which to enrich
the farm, and to make money from il. Every
hog with fair share of swinish disposition
aud good sized snout, properly educated.
will make a capital manufacturer of ferti-
lizers. Every man have yet known to try
this machine, where conditions were all right.
has made complete success of ii, and |
am acquainted with quite number. mean
Just this. Let every farmer in the first place
make up his mind that he will make little
sacrifice, or OUTLAY on the start, 10 get ready
for manufacturing dressing for his farm on
large scale If he is so dependent on ma
nure for good crop as he always pleads
that he is, then it will pay to invest some
work and a little money to get ready to
bring that crop. The conditions for success
as | view them are these. If you have
barn cellar, take little pains as you do with
your house cellar to make it frost proof.
Then arrange your pig pens under the cattle
stalls, and divide them of, eight feet by ten
into each pen put two pigs. In the driest
time in the fall haul in large lot of muck
which has been previously taken from the
swamp, and exposed at least six months Ia
thus sweetened, and air Stacked. Stack this
muck close TO the pens, and give it to the
hogs during the winter as fast as they can
fertilize it; throwing cheap salt broadcast
over the pens from time to time. But saws
one, Il have no muck then take the very
best, and finest soil you can find, coarse
gravelly soil is not fit If you cannot get
this soil elsewhere set apart half acre of
your field, and by the time you use all of
that, you will have dispensed with the idea
of buying corn. Haul in this soil as you
did the muck with the exception that it
needs no sweetenng, though the dryer it is
when carted to the cellar the better. Take |
it off down to the subsoil and if you go two
feet in depth, the half acre will make an
enormous amount of dressing when ferti-
lized and pulverized by the hogs. If you
have no barn cellar, cast about, and see if
you have steep bank near by, or grade