Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-06-16
The Farmers Laboratory.

The coming farmer has got to be a
scientific man, and the sooner the mat
ter is squarely faced the better for him
and all his folks. The capabilities Of
soil are as important as the capabilities
of the teams selected to work them; and
the farmer who is good Judge of hors e.
flesh, and poor judge or no Judge at
all of his land, is in sorry predica-
ment. There are many farmers who
cannot read or write, who have never
heard discussion on soils, who know
nothing about phosphates, nitrogen or
potash; but nevertheless have never yet
failed to work any land which has been
put into their care with perfect success.
Notwithstanding their want of educa-
ton they have been close observers,
with good memory, and have stored
away in the recesses of their brain,
never to be put into words, but only to
be brought out in their own practice, a
fund of useful knowledge as profound
as the most learned professor ever
dreamed of.
These men are scientific farmers in
the true sense of the term; yet they
cannot express themselves by any mode,
only by example. Precept is beyond
their powers. They never could be-
come teachers because it would take
lifetime to show what they know, and
their pupils would be superannuated be-
fore they were ready to graduate.
These home made scientific farmers
have no apparatus to perform such ex-
periments as terra culture calls for; no
chemicals with which to test the many
fallaces laid before the rural public
but only a few little grains of common
sense which in pure soil would grow
such terribly sound crop of experience.
And here lies their safety: they do
not know enough to be misled by any of
the many plausible theories offered
them; they cannot understand them,
and their brain remains unmuddled.
Blessed be ignorance when so eminent
ly useful.
There is class of farmers coming to
the front, however, who are possessed
with the desire for knowledge, who have
learned that in this year, 1881, "knowl-
edge is power" These men have not
the technical knowledge to enable them
to use philosophical apparatus, or to
Gull samples, or to create combinations
from the constituents of the soil on their
farms, and are thus held back from
much practical knowledge absolutely
necessary to their prosperity. To this
class wish to offer few ideas, which,
if pursued, will prove extremely inter-
esting as well as profitable.
Soils are extremely various, ranging
from clay so pure as to make the best of
brick down to sand SO pure as to travel
to and fro with every wind. Every kind
of soil when acted upon by water (rain)
acts as filter. Clay allows but little of
the mineral components to pass, while
sand suffers all to descend to a certain
depth. The various mixtures of clay
and sand, the basis of all soils, arrest the
fertilizing properties of liquids accord
ing as the proportion of each predomi-
mates.
Here we have the secret of profitable
manuring. A clay soil will retain the
fertilizing principles near the surface,
and short or surface-rooted plants will
find their food there when they need it.
A sandy soil allows the strength of ma
nure to wash deeper, consequently deep
rooted plants must be placed there. The
exact place of retardation of the strength
of a manure in any given soil, then, is
matter of great Importance.
Without this knowledge crops may be
put in so contrary to their requirements
as to cause general failure over the
whole farm; while with it, by mere
shifting to congenial fields, every crop
would have been successful. Cor. Ger
71a1,ltOac,z TeleQrdDh.