Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-08-05
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BARNYARD vs.. CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS
The liquid excretions of animals are the most
valuable products as fertilizers, and should
be saved with the greatest care. They con-
tain the mineral salts which have been thrown
off in the system and are rich in nitrogen
and ammonia. A cord of muck or loan satu-
rated with urine is worth more than the same
amount of ordinary manure as fertilizer on
a sandy soil.
The value of barnyard manure as COM
pared with other fertilizers depends very
much on what is required of fertilizer. On
soil rich in most Of the elements of plant
food, deficiency of one or two elements
might be more economically treated with
special fertilizer. Much can be said in
favor of both barnyard and mineral fertilizers.
Circumstances must control the value of both.
Without regard to the cost of either, barn.
yard manure is, beyond all question, as rule
the best fertilizer that we can use; but when
we take into consideration the cost of both,
and the expense ofapplying barnyard manure,
it may not always be of the greatest value
There is no doubt but that special fertilizers
for special crops are better than barnyard
manure in many cases unless there is lack
of organic matter in the SOIL. And again,
for quick results, chemical manures are often
far preferable to stable manures. Both have
their advantages and both can be used
with profit, and should be acceptable to the
farmer in order that he may more perfectly
control the growth and development Of his
crops as he may wish, and that he may have
more perfectly at his command the stores of
plant food which he possesses in his soil. But
| if he can have only one class of manures,
then barnyard must stand prominent in its
advantages over any other, as it contains all
the elements of plant food in some degree,
and possesses all the chemical physical prop
critics of organic manure.
THE TURNIP CRoP.-There is no crop that
the farmer puts in the ground that pays him
better than the turnip. We are aware that
with some persons it is looked upon as Of lit.
tie account; but it has never received the
consideration to which it is really entitled ;
and those who turn up their noses at it are not
genuine farmers. 1t is a crop, moreover, that
is put in at a time when the hurrying work OF
the season is over when it occupies ground
that has been already used for something else.
The cultivation, also, say of from one to two
acres of turnips, involves omparatively lit.
tie labor. The CROP too, is harvested in No.
vember, when there is almost no other labor
on the farm to interfere with it.
As to the variety of seed to SOW we believe
there is no turnip equal to the Purpletop
A top dressing of bone manure is almost in.
dispensable to an abundant crop. For an
early crop take the Early Flat Dutch and
SOW broadcast, and now is the time. The Pur.
pie Top is best for theregular farm crop. This
should be sowed in drills thirty inches apart,
and when the turnips are the size of a hicko.
ry nut thin out to eight or ten inches apart
in the row. They seldom fail in afording a
satisfactory crop. The crop can be put in the
first half of August. Where land is little
short, SOW among the corn at the last working.
They will not interfere in the least with that
crop, generally, and very little when tits har.
vested.
Be sure always to procure seed from an es.
tablished seed house of reputation, and use
that grown here instead of in Europe, if you
wish the best and safest article. Germantown
Telegraph.
Corn FoDDER.-This is most excellent
forage crop, and can be put in at any time
up to the 1st of August. For milk cows,
cattle and sheep, it is excellent, and every
farmer should provide liberal supply. 1t
is a paying crop in the abundance of its
yield and the superior quality of the feed it
produces. All kinds of stock are fond of it
when properly cured. 1t can be raised at
small expense Of labor, and requires but
little care to save In view Of the attention
being given to ensilage, it would be we'll for
farmers to raise crop Of fodder corn, and
test for themselves this new system.
The best plan for its production is to SOW
in drills about two and half feet apart, and
run the cultivator through two or three
times during its growth. If rot used for
enslage, it can be easily cured for winter
use Ivmakes an excellent forti6cation for
stock that may be caught short of forage in
a hard winter No farmer should be without
liberal supply Off,
CHICKENS FRI TO EAT.-Don't imagine
that it makes no difference how your chickens
have been brought up. Don't suppose that
they will be good anyhow. Chickens have
been carefully dressed, deliciously stuffed, and
yet they we're not fit to eat. There was fla
vor about them that no soda rinsing could
cleanse and no seasoning conceal. These
were chickens that had picked up their living
around pig sites and other unclean places
A chicken may be spoiled in dressing it to
cook. If killed with full crop, and allow
ed to lie for hours before it is "drawn," or
relieved of its internal organs, it gets an
unpleasant favor. Fowls should be caught
and shut up without food for twelve hours
or more before they are beheaded. Then
the crop and intestines will be empty, and
the task of picking and dressing it will be
greatly lessened Old fowls are not neces
sarily tough-only cook them long enough.
They are more tender twenty-four hours after
they are killed than if eaten Immediately.
To RESTORE Worn Landry actual
experience 1 find that plowiug in green crops
and we'll regulated rotation of crops is the
surest and cheapest way to improve worn
out land, always taking care when sowing
any kind of crops, whether small grain, peas
or clover, to plow the land deep. 1t is not
expected that farmer will take his whole
farm through this process at one time, but
he may use the best of it for corn or cotton
while he improves part of it, and change it
about, so that in a few years he may improve
it all. All land cultivated in corn should be
sowed in peas at the last blowing of corn. No
land should be cultivated in cotton more
than once without changing to another crop