Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-03-19
SUCCESSFUL FARMING.
The Question of Success in Agriculture Is
Question of Manure.


Question of Manure.
The farmer who has learned how and
with what materials to feed his land in
order to keep it at high standard of
productiveness. has found the key not
only to his individual success, but also
to social progress and great national
prosperity. Such a position is a proud
one and well worthy to excite the am
bition of the best blood of the land.
The hopes of the human race-its fr,-
ture continuance and glory, or deterior-
alton and extinction (hOwever hetero-
dox), depends upon this issue. Coun-
tries that have been devoured by gem
erations of the past, present to-day the
melancholy proof of the statement. We
may, therefore. assert that except fu-
ture generations learn to fertilize the
soil and restore what they take away,
..they shall all likewise perish There
is no escape from this conclusion,
whether we treat it lightly Or serious
lv. Like the locusts of Egypt, we are
now devouring this goodly land, and,
while we are full of it's fatness, in the
plenitude and Joy of our strength we
swell out with pride and laugh to scorn
the idea of calamity; but the impover-
ishment of a country creeps on with the
certainty of fate; nor does the past fur
nish us with any example of a nation
aroused to sense of the danger suifi-
GENTLY strong to counterfeit the ten
dency to depletion and ruin. Only in
modern times, under the light of sci
ence, do men begin to look at the root
of this question and endeavor to repair
the waste which has destroyed or rem
dered effete SO many nations of the
earth. The whole superstructure OF
society and government, with all their
ramificat ons, machinery and accumu-
latons of wealth, rest upon the single
industry of agriculture, whether that
be scientific, enlightened and vigor-
GUS; or whether it be barbarous. blum
dering and weak, keeping alive the ma
ton but furnishing no materials for
progress and advancement.
If this is q truth it is one of the very
first Importance to all orders of men,
and whatever may be our pursuits our
first duty and great anxiety should be
for the welfare of our National agricul-
ture that the people may be fed. And
the supplies are not to be diminished,
but increased in proportion to popu-
lation. But what if period ar
riyes, as in France at this mo-
ment, that wealth can not be acquired
in the pursuit of agriculture? That
eight or ten years of scientific economi-
cal management and industry, even
with large capital fails to return re-
muncrative profits on the invest
ment? If such a condition could be
announced of American agriculture
to-day it would create universal alarm
and considerations; and yet we are
in the same direction with all the
glorious advantages OF a new CONT
nent before us Our forests are rapid
ly disappearing, millions of acres of
the best lands in the country when first
settled are WORN out and lie idle; our
rivers, once navigable, are turning
into shoals, with the soil we have
permitted to be carried away with the
| rains, and the earth is bald, barren
| and deserted i'm many sections where
once pOpulous and wealthy. To cap
the climax the trades, though de-
| pendent upon agriculture. are sap
| ping the foundation upon which they
rest. They do not mean to do it. but
| the fact remains all the same, as the
outgrowth of the desperate speed now
| universally made to get rich. The
vi lHC 4dI LII ~ lHtO StOCkS
and bonds. into public works,
| into useless taxation to support
useless offices. into worthless works in
rivers and harbors. and to magnify the
pride and pomp of towns and cities,
while the country which surrounds
them sinks into poverty and wretehed-
| ness. In the desperate struggle the
farmer has no time to study science. no
time to contemplate his future oondi-
| ton. His sole concern is how he shall
live to-day, and all resources are taxed
| to the utmost and his land hurriedly
| drained of its strength in the hope of
| finding more when it ceases to yield.
OF course there are exceptions to the
| rule and some are found availing them
selves of the advantages of modern ina
provements and profiting by the dis
coveries of science; but the masses are
still unawakened to the danger of
drawing continually upon the fertility
of the land without adequate returns
for the Improvement of the soil. Nei-
ther is it sufficient to rely on barnyard
or compost manure for long series of
years. These are valuable and ought
by no means to be neglected; but they
furnish the vegetable elements mostly,
when the mineral may need replenish-
ing as well.-Sarannah (GG.l Neacs.