Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-01-06
Agricultural.


New IGhr IhoukuH'
It is not by any means too late to take goo,
heed of the very sensible suggestions which
the New England Farmer offers under thi
heading In beginning a new year, like be
ginning anything else there is nothing lik
beginning right. As the agricultural yea
will commence now in a few weeks, the short
time remaining before the days begin t.
lengthen, should be devoted in part at leas
to maturing well laid plans for future opera
tons We often sec writers Of agriculture
literature advising farmers to plant little
more this year than they did last year. Corn
is becoming a valuable crop, the price is high
in market, so the farmer is advised to put in O
large field. Potatoes are also selling unusual.
ly well, probably because there are so many
who have been discouraged by the beetles,
and so we are advised to put in large fields Of
potatoes.
Beans are selling, too, lat rates almost un-
heard Of, and SO beans must be a good crop
to enlarge on. Now this is all well enough,
provided farmers can follow such advice con-
sistently. There is little risk of raising too
much, but there may be too large an area
planted. While we would urge all farmers to
endeavor to make as full use of their capital
as possible, we would caution them against
spreading it out over too large a surface.
The indications are that at the beginning
of the next agricultural year, there will be q
small stock of produce left from last years
harvest to be carried over. The past season.
as a whole, has not been favorable to laying
up a surplus for coming years. The prospect
therefore, is good one for the farmer, but
it will not do to depend wholly upon larger
areas for increased yields, certainly not for
satisfactory profits New England does not
produce one-half that she might, but it does
not follow that planting double the acreage
would double the crop. On the contrary, we
doubt if it is advisable at the present time to
depend for increased production upon in
creased areas. Not half the cultivated land
in New England is in fit state to cultivate
with satisfactory profit 1t is often too wet,
and is covered by rocks, which seriously in
terfere with profitable cultivation. A well
drained field, cleared of surface rocks and cob
BILE stones, which throw out the pillow and in
terfere with all thorough cultivation, car be
worked at half the expense required for till
ing wet stony land, while the crops on the
former are not only much larger, but the
profit derived from working such soil is many
times doubled. There are some lands so
stony that they would not be worth the cost
of reclaiming them. Such land should be let
alone, or encouraged to grow forest trees. If
VIC were asked to lay plans for one-half the
farmers in New England, we should say first
sell part of your land or turn it out to pasture,
or the production of wood An oldrun out pas
ture that is both wet und rocky, may often be
given up to nature, and much Of the rocky
tillage land had better be set apart as pasture,
until such time as it can be made fit for Gull
tivation.
We would begin near the buildings and
make pretty thorough work. so far as the i'm
provements are carried on. One acre near
the stables, cleared of rocks and drained of
surplus water, SO that it can be plowed early
and late, is worth more than ten acres of wet,
rocky land, half mile away. It often costs
half the value of stable manure to haul it to
the fields where it is to be used especially is
this the case where the land lies so as to re-
quire carting up steep hillsdes. To avoid
losses by such carriage, the manure should be
applied as near where it is made as practical
BILE; then if it is found desirable to cultivate
more land than can be manfred well with
stable manure, and within reasonable distance
of the stable, let it be dressed with concen-
trated fertilizers, which can be carried at one
tenth the expense. 1t fertilizers are to be
bought, now is the time to study up the mat
ter, so far as it can be done, by reading the
circulars of manufacturers and tine reports of
inspectors. The time has come, when farm
ers, to be successful, must understand good
deal more than they have, concerning the
laws of plant nutriment, and also of animal
feeding.
When buying fertilizers, sec that the per.
centage of the different valuable elements
they contain is given in plain English, and
then order those brands which figure up the
greatest value for the price asked, always re-
Wondering to allow for freight charges.
Between several of the well known fertiliz-
crs in market, it may often be advisable to
select that brand which can be freighted at
the lowest cost. A farmer living SO near
bone mill, tish-scrap factory, or abattoir, that
he can team the product direct to his land,
ought to be able to use fertilizers freely
enough to raise good crops on all the land he
cultivates. In purchasing cattle foods, too
study should be made of the matter of feed
ing, so that just those foods most needed by
the stock shall be secured, not forgetting that
there is manurial as well as a feeding value
to cattle foods.
1t is good time at the beginning of a new
year to settle up all accounts with neighbors.
Accounts are sometimes allowed to run along.
trusting to memory wholly or in part, till
neither party can be sure of accuracy, and
then there is more or less embarrassment if
not i'll feeling. 'Short settlements make long
friends, is an old saying but a true one, aud
is as applicable to the newspaper account as
to that of the shoemaker, blacksmith or gro
Ger. Although this is the best time in the
whole year to lay plans and decide upon the
best course to pursue, the best plans will not
be worth cent unless executed. Real work
must follow head work, action follow design.
There will be enough to do on the farm of
every live farmer to keep the muscles from
getting too soft, but we will let each reader
be his own judge this month as to what most
needs doing on his own farm.
Why So Many Farmers Are Poor.
IL would probably be incorrect to say that
the impecuniosity and chronic hard-up-nesg
OF so many farmers is due to any single cause