Daily Republican., 1886-06-01
MAINTAINING FERTILITY.
OloVer Flowed Under, or BurDed, Bet.
ter than Buying Fertilizers or stAbI.
Manure.

| Glover PiOwed Under, or turned. Ret.
ter than Buying Fertilizers or stabI.
Manure.
1t is now about ten years since be-
gan experimenting with commercial
fertilizers, and | can give no more in.
telllgent estimate Of their value on my
soil than when ] begun, unless it is to
say that as rule they do not pay, and
in the future--unlcss in small way.
as an experiment. shall not use
them. In all my use of the different
brands of superphosphate have never
seen an addition to the crop which was
sufficient to pay for the fertilizer, but
once bone meal gave large increase
OF wheat. Why we cannot obtain
uniform results from commercial fer
| tllizers l am not prepared to say; but
the fact remains and is sufficient TO
deter me from using them. | always
know what result to expect from good
stable manure, and can never produce
on the farm so much as | would gladly
use; but at the prevailing prices Of
grain | cannot afford to buy this. for
at the nearest point at which can get
1t Is two miles, where it will cost me
70 cents load, and four loads is a good
days work. Sixteen loads to the acre
would not be heavy dressing, and
this would cost $12 in cash and as
much more in labor If SO per day be
charged for man and team. Suppose
should undertake to do this once in
four years, it will add SO an acre per
annum to the cost OF my crop, which
| means ~ cents bushel to corn at
fifty bushels per acre; or % cents a
bushel to wheat at twenty -four bushels
per acre.
On land valued at S75 per acre, and
this addition for fertilizers, how am
to compete with the cheap fertile prai.
ries but a few hours west OF me by
rail? Must then allow my land TO
run down and become unproductiye,
because it costs SO much to buy ma
nure? ] think not; and an experience
of over twenty years on my farm
shows me that the farm itself will fur.
nish all the fertilizers necessary to keep
it at high state of productiveness and
that clover seed is the only fertilizer
O. / need to buy, and that | can grow
if wish to. My general plan OF man
agement is this; l have seeded down
in bluegrass for permanent pasture
enough of my land which is rolling
and least suitable for cultivation to
enable me TO raise stock to consume
the hay and corn fodder and work the
straw into the compost heap. The re-
mainder OF my land, sixty five acres
in all, in one inclosure, and no stock
is ever turned on it, either summer or,
winter. On this we follow u rotation
which brings it all into clover at leas.
every third year. About one-third of
it is sown in wheat each year, and
clover is always sown with the wheat
A few acres are sOwn to oats each
spring; some five to eight acres plant
ed to potatoes; five to ten kept in timo-
thy for meadow, and the remainder is
planted to corn.
The larger part of the clover does
not stand to make n crop at all, but as
it is not pastured after the harvest
we get in all favorable autumns AS
heavy a growth as is usual in June,
and then this is plowed down late in
the fall or early the following spring.
On the poorer part of the land we al
low the clover to stand and cut the
first crop for hay and either pillow
under the second growth or cut it for
seed, but on twenty-five acres of myI
best land have grown crop of grain
or potatoes each year for twenty years
and have plowed down ten acres OF
clover grown in the fall as stated !
above. | call this raising three crops
in two years, and consider the clover :
crop thus grown nearly as valuable as
the grain crops | conclude after care
tul comparison with manure that this I
all-grown crop of clover is worth as
much TO the land as twelve loads of !.
manure per acre, which would cost
me in cash and labor SIS, and with
this no expense except for seed and
sowing, which rarely exceeds 81 an !
acre and sometimes falls below Is !
cents. There is one point in my prac-
tice which presume will be criticised /;
by many of my readers. | burn off
the clover if not plowed under in the !
TALL. | have experimental in this mat +,
ter until | feel well assured that this is |
the best.
We lose no organic matter by the
burning, and l think the rains of win
ter have washed most of the nitrogen
into the soil, ana find the mechanical !
condition of the soil much the best
where the clover is burned. | prefer
to burn early when the land lis frozen
and then the fine coat of leaves that /,
has been washed into the soil does not |
burn but only the coarse stalks. The /
ash makes fertilizer that is powerful |
and acts quickly in giving the young
plants start. In 1856, when | had
crop which threshed thirty three bush
els to the acre and was cut with a
cradle which necessarily left a very
heavy stubble on the ground, wished
to put the field in wheat again but;
found it impossible to pillow the stub
BILE under and so fired it. About half
the field burned over, but in places
where the stubble was lighter it was
not burned. In two weeks after the
wheat came up one could stand at the
side OF the field and tell to a fo0tI
where the stubble had been burned by
the rank growth and good color of the
plant. In another case field of clo-
yer had been allowed to grow all the
season to pillow under, but altar worry
ing half day the owner gave it upl
and applied the torch. The result was
a yield of so bushels of wheat to the
acre, which is the heaviest yield l
ever heard Of in our country. Ini
another article will tell how | reduce
the Straw to manure and how l apply
it.