River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-11-05
How to succeed.


The Country Gentleman offers its
readers some very pertinent and val
liable suggestions on the all-important
question. how to succeed on the farm.
The farmer who is determined to sue
coed, it says, will place on his list of in
dispensable requirements the following
operations: /. The erection Insufficient
fences to give him possession and con-
troll of every field. 2. Thorough or suf-
ficient understanding for the use and
control of at least three feet of the soil
beneath the surface. 3. The adoption
of such a rotation as will give an in
crease of each successive kind of crop,
and decrease and determination to
such weeds as have obtained possession.
f. Saving all the manure made on the
farm with no waste, and its application
at the best time and in the best man
ner possible 5. Providing tools for a
most thorough pulverizatiOn of the soil
for all crops. These five operations lie
at the foundation of good farming.
There are many other provisions OF
much importance in addition to these,
which should not be overlooked, such
as the saving of labor, selection of seeds,
providing the best animals, shelter for
tools. shelter for animals, testing com
mercial Fertilizers, and many other
operations which will suggest them
selves to the owner while in the midst
of his work.
In providing sufficient fences for the
farm. the importance must occur to
every one, of laying out the fields so
that they may be easily accessible, and
so that the least amount of fencing ma
terial may be needed; at the same time,
where soils and surfaces vary, to in
clude those of similar character within
the same Enclosure; and it may be best
in many cases to make the fields oblOng
instead of square, that the plOughing
NAV be done with less turning at the
ends. In this connection, good farm
roads or lanes will be obviously quite
important, as they must be travelled
many times year in bringing in heavy
crops, or with loads OF manure to the
fields. Sometimes q few hours work
in dwelling Instructions, filling ruts or
other depressions, drawing on a few
loads of gravel, embanking, or provid-
inc side bitches, may have all this la
Dor many times repaid in a single year
in drawing in heavy loads of hay and
grain. or in drawing out hundreds of
loads of manure. The farmer would
do well to look over his domain. and
see what improvements he may make
in the disposition Of his fields, or in the
finish of his farm roads.
The advantages of thorough under
draining are so well understood that
but little need be said on the subject.
We have putin many miles of tile, and
in no instance more than three years
were required to repay the expense in
the increase of the crops. A young
farmer who was in debt for his farm,
told us that he found he could not pay
the mortgage till he borrowed money
to drain it. He is now 4 successful
cultiyator. and few of his neighborS
equal him in the heavy return from his
land.
Rotation has one peculiar advantage
it requires no outlay of money-its
only expenditure is in thought. A con-
tinued succession of the same crop may
exhaust a field, or give only half the
returns from an equal amount of hard
work. There is no easier way to keep
the land tree from weeds as by a we'll
devised rotation-in which hOed crops
are followed with sown crops, and
soWn crops with grass, and so on in
definitely. Old pastures or meadows
badly infested with thistles, ox-eye
daisy, mIlk-weeds and wild carrots, by
a thoroughly treated crop of corn or
potatoes, a completely pulverized soil
to precede wheat, and a dense growth
of clover, have been etfectually cleared
of these intruders; add in every case
their growth has been greatly reduced.
The value of manure is universally
admitted in some form or another. bur
the great majority of farmers waste q
large portion of the amount which
might be manufactured on their farms.
1t washes away for the lack of absor-
bents; the liquid portions most com
monty all escape. Quite frequently the
farmer wastes more than half of what
he retains by bad application. 1T is
scattered in humps; it is applied at the
wrong time; it is not broken fine and
well intermixad with the soil; and many
lose at least three-fourths of all they
might secure first and last by saving
and proper use.
After bringing the farm into fine
condition by undertaking and manur-
ING. success after all will depend great
" on the additional requisite of thor
ouph pulverization of the soil to pre-
cede the planting and sowing of crops,
A complete intermiXture of the ingredi-
ents which compose the soil, instead of
leaving all in crude Jumps, will make
vast difference in what grows upon 1t.