American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-07-30
Stock AMI the Soil.

In some of the older portions of the
country there is a strange belief that
live stock exhaust the soil, and the re-
suit is that few cattle or any other kind
of stock is kept. We can now think of
good sized farms in the States of New
York and Pennsylvania on which are
kept three or four COWS. a single pair of
horses, and no other live stock what
ever. As usual thing the farms are
constantly running down, or if any are
kept up it is done by an Improbable
OUTLAY for artificial fertilizers, the place
of which would be more than filled by
the stable and barnyard, if proper
system of keeping stock on the farm
was adopted. At this late day when
the reverse of the doctrine that stock
will impoverish land has been SO often
and so widely demonstrated, the advo-
cacy of it shows a Iamentable falling
behind in the rapid march of intelli-
gent agriculture. We are not even
placed under the necessity of going
out of our own county or State to learn
the falsity of such position. Some
of the most exhausted farms in this
country have gradually improved under
stock grazing until there are no better
acres in all our rich territory. Some
times. however, men refuse to sec
any merit in anything at home,
looking always away from home,
and learning what they do learn
from the successes of those in other
lands. Some people seem to think that
anything that bears the name of Euro
pean success is better and more reliable
than anything of home triumph can
possibly be. Such people can happily
be provided with brilliant illustrations
of our position in this matter in the sue
cess of agriculture and keeping stock
combined in England and Germany. In
England the live stock interest has
vastly increased during the last half
century, and her yield of wheat has
nearly doubled-that is, doubled per
acre. Ii we were to accept the position
of those who allege that stock is a
detriment to the soil, there has not
been day for indeed the last hundred
years that the ruin of English soil by
this time would not have been predict
ed. But, although devoting her atten-
ton to the breeding and feeding of
stock to degree and with a success
that has given an impetus to the bust
ness wherever stock can be profitably
raised, her land has gradually improv-
ed, until her acres bloom with fertili-
ty never before Known. A similar re-
suit is found in Germany. While the
German farmers have been constantly
increasing their meat production, the
soil has been continually yieldin larger
of the sugar beet, which is grown to
such a large extent in that country.
And this result will follow the keeping
of stock upon any land. If the tillers
of the poor land in America would in
crease their herds and flocks double or
thrce-fold, they would double the yield
of their land.
Whileit is not probable that this false
idea prevails to any great xtent in our
Western country, it is 4 TACT that many
of our farmers keep too little stock, and
are thus standing in their own light
with full knowledge that they are do
ing so. The natural richness of our
soil has, of course, much to do with
this, and while we continue our present
largely prevailing policy of farming the
land to death, the utility of stock rs a
means of fertilizing will not be appreci-
ated to the extent that it deserves.
When our soil becomes exhausted there
can be no doubt that the intelligence OF
the Western farmer will readily lead
him to recognize the worth of stock in
this repect. But is it not an inexcusa-
bly, blind policy to throw away all the
profit which comes of stock raising, and
TO injure the land besides, just because
the soil will now produce n handsome
crop? Is it not the policy that kills the
goose that lays the golden egg West
erH RUrai.