Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-12-23
Farmers Institute.

lain's paper on ''mixed farming from
last Thursdays HERALD:
Now you will readily understand that
| do not believe in that sort of mixed
farming. Still / do believe thoroughly
in the right kind of mixed farming as
against Maroon specially farming; and
would lay down these four guiding prin-
ciples:
list. Successful farming must combine
or ''mix" crop raising with animal in
dustry in order to keep up the soils fer
tility.
Rotation of crops and order of work
should be so arranged as to furnish the
farm force steady and renumerative
work nearly or quite the whole year
around.
Sd The farming should not be so
mixed as to multiply fields, fences, and
the kinds of machinery necessary for
profitable work, or SO as to waste the
time in changing from this to that, or in
puttering with small non-paying jobs.
4th. The farmer should make his
money on has farm, IN legitimate farm
ing, and not in outside work or specu-
lation.
First, then, successful farming must
be mired so far as to combine crop rails
ing with some form of animal industry
Our domestic animals are the heaven APP
pointed means of keeping up the soils
fertility. do not believe it can be long
kept up without them. / have tried to
explain this in my lecture on manures.
These animals if good individuals of
good breeds, have the power of taking
from our grass and grain crops their feed
pdlne or money Cdtue for our pockets,
and leaving in their weddings almost
their entire manure value for our fields
Speciality farming without fair proper
ton of live stock kept and their manure
wisely saved has, after time, invari-
ably exhausted the soil or brought dis
aster of some kind. Witness the cotton
fields of the South, the peach lands of
Michigan, the potato lands of Lake
County, Ohio, and the wheat lands of
the Genessee Valley, N. Y, where the
farmers that trusted TO clover alone
without much live stock were driven out
of their specialties by diminishing re-
turns.
One of the most successful potato
growers in the country MANFRED heavily
up to three years ago, i. e., the immedi-
ate effects continued till then. In 1881,
1882, and 1883 he had 474 acres of pota-
toes which yielded about 10,704 bushels
of potatoes or 225 bushels per acre. In
1SS4-5-6 he raised few more acres,
but kept almost no live stock and trusted
mainly to clover for manure, and his
average yield per acre for these three
years has shrunk nearly half. But the
weather was on the whole and on the
average as favorable for potatoes the
last three years as the first three, as
shown by The fact that the average yield
for his own state was 4.1-l0ths bushels
larger and in his own county was but
five bushels less the last three years than
the first three.
can see no possible explanation ex-
cept the almost entire discontinuance
of the use of manure the last three years
under continual cropping of over one
half his arabic land in potatoes. While
he MANFRED heavily he had big crops
When he stopped manuring his yields
fell off nearly one-half. / have never
known case where potatoes (of all
crops) were successfully raised repeat
edly on the same land even with Occa-
sional rests of year or two with wheat
and clover, unless large quantities of
stable or yard manure were applied,
either furnished by live stock kept on
the place, or drawn from neighboring
city or village. In the lecture on the
Value and Management of Manures
have given other striking illustrations of
the great value of regular old-fashioned
barnyard manure. / repeat then my
| first proposition that we must mix
stock keeping with crop raising in order
to maintain the fertility of our soil
| Second; rotation of crops and order of
work should be SO arranged as to fur
nish the farm force with steady and re-
numerative work nearly or quite the
year round. This seems impossible with
any mere crop speciality, even where it
| includes two or three crops but no live
stock. The Dakota speciality, wheat
farming, gives employment only about
six or seven months in the year, and po-
tatoes. wheat and clover as a speciality
| without live stock will give employment
| for only seven or eight months. But
| the farmer must find employment the
year round on his farm, and it can be
done where live stock are kept. For
example, my own farm of 126 acres has
good maple sugar camp of 1900 trees,
including one-half rented trees, Is acres
of orchard just come to good bearing
condition, and about 65 acres of land
nearly all tile drained and suitable for
rotation of crops, and the rest rather
rough pasture land, including the sugar
grove. If were farming it now myself
| with one or two sons my plan would be
as follows, which is in the main my plan
now, working it as do, absent from it
most of the time, through hired fore
man: From November l to April L,
much of the time would be given in the
warm-bank barn to care of winter dairy,
selling milk or butter, or cream in the
neighboring city, feeding well and high,
saving all manure, solid and liquid, with
great care and drawing it upon the snow
or frozen ground to the field to be all
ready to be plowed under for spring
crops. Wisconsin practice might need
to be different, owing to inability to raise
winter wheat, and the common custom
of fall blowing for spring crops. From
February Is or March to April Is, de-
voted chiefly to making and shipping to
first-class customers strictly first-class
maple syrup in sealed packages, with
brand of maker on each package. This
is an exceedingly profitable branch of
my farming, yielding over 1850 one
year and often over $500 with little real
out-go, and no manure required or feed
except to the teams and men. After
April 18th the pruning of the orchard
and the planting of ten acres or so of
early potatoes and ten acres of Hunga-
rian grass late in May and of three or
four acres of sowed corn for dairy. Po-
tatoes planted with Aspinwall planter
and dug with McCallum digger. Care
of potatoes and sowed corn would occu-
py the time until the cutting of the 20
acres of clover and timothy hay about
July l, then the cutting of twenty acres
of wheat, threshing wheat, digging and
marketing potatoes, cutting Hungarian
grass for hay, preparing wheat ground
and sowing 20 acres of wheat to be
seeded in spring to clover and timothy
mixed. Wheat sowed about September
10. Then finish marketing potatoes, if
not finished, and pick, pack and market
winter apples. Then fall work, build
ing. fencing and repairing old sheds, ETC..