The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1883-01-25
Facts for Farming.

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Experience teaches nae that
thorough culture of the soil pays in
nothing better than wheat raising.
The slipshod farmer never succeeds
at wheat. Occasionally the season
is propitious, his seed good, and by
scratching the ground a time or
two he does make a tolerable fair
crop in spite of himself, but such
farmers have never experienced the
pleasure of checking off thirty
bushels of wheat per acre, and rare
ly twenty even where their land is
of the best quality and well drained.
The great secret of wheat raising
may be summed up IN two words
thorough pulverization. Some argue
that cloddy ground feeds the wheat
and is therefore preferable. Such
men are content with from six to
ten bushels of wheat per acre. Their
bank account is not fed from their
wheat profit, but, if fed at all, the
susJenance comes from other crops.
1t is not uncommon to meet farm
er who is excellent in tobacco. corn.
potatoes, and all other crops of his
farm, and yet he is failure in rails
ing wheat. The explanation is to
be found in the fact that he has not
time, as he thinks, to harrow and
roll and cross-break and pulverize
thoroughly his ground.
The true farmer does not stop to
estimate the cost of improvement.
for his reason prompts him to be-
lleve that he cannot go wrong in en-
deavoring to improve. Every acre
of his farm is or should be cultiva-
ted to its greatest capacity, and his
soil never deteriorates in quality.
He rotates his crops with a view to
increased fertility, and he estimates
profits by the amount of expense en-
tailed in securing that profit. The
failure to realize immediate results
does not discourage him, for he
knows that through his judicious
SYSTEM of cultivation it is best de-
ferred for little longer. He farms
for profit and he spends for profit.
He knows nothing Of stinted econo-
my which saves to day and robs to-
morrow. The farm is his bank, his
workshop, and his occupation; no
stone being left unturned and no
portion being sighted at the cost
of another part. A good farm
means good stock. The razor
backed hog has no place on it, but
but must be superseded by the
thoroughbreds. The scraggy cattle
are seen no more, for the Short
horns, the Holsteins, the Jerseys, or
their grades occupy their places.
The thoroughbred, the Percheron,
the Clydesdale, and their get pillow
the field that formerly yielded to
the wind-broken horse, and the i'm
plements used are of the latest i'm
proved labor-saving patterns. All
this means capital and is expensive,
but when the fact is considered
that it costs no more to keep the
very best than the bad, and the ex-
pense means profit in the end, the
cost is not so formidable GAS it
seems. The manure heap is the
most important of ali. The good
farmer can be selected by the way
he keeps his manure. The manure
is the wealth, the bank on which
the check is drawn; it is therefore
very improvident to neglect it.
Drenching rains and scorching
suns carry upward and downward
the soluble and volatile constituents
of the unprotected heap, and often
bitches are dug to allow the black
liquid riches to pass off and they
are lost forever. But the good
farmer works differently, he makes
the manure fine, attends personally
to the process of decomposition, pro-
tects it from the weather, and en-
deavors to make it ready for food
for the crops when hauled to the
fields. Farming pays to good
farmers.
A few words more about manure.
Many southern farmers seem to re-
gard the saving of manure as some
thing unworthy their attention, not
because it would be unprofita bic,
but because it is considered a disa-
greeable and undignified employ
ment. Much money is often ex-
pended by them for commercial
when they have on
their own lands considerable guam
titles of fertilizing material which
is much better for their crops.
Southern farmers could add thou
sands of dollars to their wealth by
manure at home, which
would not cost a dollar in money,
nor require any thing, indeed, but
a little time and care. There is
little profit in paying out near
ly as much as crop Hill be worth
for manure TO produce it.