St. Landry democrat., 1882-07-15
The Relation of Water to the Farm.

The value of water is not fully ap-
preciated upon the farm till there is a
drought. Lands where, from climatic
influences, the clouds rarely give out
moisture which reaches the earth, are
worthless for crop growing or stock
raising. To make lands, located in
such region, of any value, it is neces-
sary to sink deep wells, or otherwise to
irrigate. To live for season or two
upon land so situated, is to be led to APP
preciatc fully the value Of such natural
water supply upon the farm as was
described in the Journal during the
past winter. So far as the aid required
Of water in crop growing is concerned,
filthy water is popularity supposed to be
more valuable than pure spring water.
This belief holds good with water
that has filtered through the barn yard
at any rate, through the average barn
yard-for this too often contains a
deposit of riches, which the land round
about is suffering for need of. If the
seepings from this store during each
shower, can get to the crop of grass or
grain near by, it will give a good ac-
count of itself, and will pay some
portion of the interest which
the accumulation in the barn-yard
should yield. But the filthy water
which comes from clay gully will
scarcely add value to the soil over which
it may flow, except by performing the
same service that pure spring water can
do as well, viz, through its power to
dissolve in the soil the ingredients
which make crops grow.
Water is an excellent friend to the
shiftless farmer who is negligent in the
matter of hauling and distributing his
manure where needed. That it is a
friend, there can be no question, pro-
vided he has built his stable and stable
yards upon knoll, from which drain
age can 60 in every direction where
needed to reach the field and grass
lands. The water carries off the nitro
geneous elements, the potash, soda and
phosphate salts. items of small mo-
ment, so far as the bulk of the manure
pile is concerned, as the proprietor of
the barn-yard would not at the end Of
the year perceive that anything was
missing from the pile. However, if the
drainage led straight out upon his
meadow, he would realize the value of
these, and find that he could cut four
tons Of meadow hay where. but for the
silent abstraction from the manure pile,
he would not have cut more than half
the amount
In hauling manure which has not
parted with any of it's water, upon
distant field, it is hardly realized that in
each load of a ton pitched on the wag-
on, hauled, and again pitched off, there
is fifteen hundred-weigh of water.
Therefore it would not be surprising if
the farmer who moves his stable to
save the labor of hauling away the ma
nure pile should, under the knowledge
OF the above fact, be quite ready to de-
fend himself in his practice. Yet the
pile of stable manure, containing, as it
does, so large an amount Of water, val
ueless in that position because soon
evaporated when spread upon the sur
face, nevertheless contains salts of
higher value to growing crops than any
other known fertilizer whatever. 1t is
believed that the passage of excrement
through the bodies Of animals, becom-
ing mixed as it does with mucus and
other secretions, is rendered of more
value as food for plants than any prep
aration of artificial manure. Even SUI
contains one-sixth of its
weight in the form of water. Hence,
in buying ton of this at given price
say $60-S10 is paid for the water
contained in it.-Nation0l Live Stock
Journal.