Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-03-02
Farm Leaks.

The impression is still rife that
farming don't pay" Farmers boys
think so. and farms are left to be car
ried on by rheumatic labor or to pass
into other hands at lower prices. Farm
labor is yearly becoming more scarce
and unsatisfactory. Old. deserted
farms are multiplying, fields once fair
ly fertile are turned to grazing or
growing pines and birches. On farms
where large stocks of cattle were kept.
within the memory of the writer, now
there are only one or two cows and a
horse. The average price for such
! farms fifty years ago was soto $50 per
acre; now it is only Sl5 to S20. build
ings included. We would like to emu
merate some Of the causes that have
caused this depreciation of country real
estate-viz., a long series Of Farm
Leaks"
As manure and its right application
is the base Of all successful farming it
is a leak to allow the winters accumu-
lation (horse manure especially to lay
in a big heap and fire fang. sending off
III 10 aihillOuld III luC dlls IL 10 II ltdh 10
pitch out the against the side
of the barn. to be bleached and burnei
by the early spring sun and rain when
1t should be housed in a barn cellar.
1t is a leak not to use absorbents in the
cattle stables TO catch and hold the
liquid manure, the most valuable am
monical and heterogeneous part. but to
let it run through the cracks Of the
floor, never TO be reached again. 1t is
n leak to let the cattle lay in the open
barnyard in summer, causing the ma
nure to be nearly worthless. 1t is a
leak to suffer manure to be wasted in
any form and buy commercial fertile u
ers. because they are more easily ap-
piled. Ii is a leak to overstock pas
lures TO gain a few dollars from stock
taken in. giving poor sat sfaction. half
starving the farmers own stock and
feeding the pastures so close as to OK
haust the soil and bring up an newt
able growth of lamb poison, pitch
pines, or something worse. 1t is q
monstrous leak TO Craze the moving
fields and rob the grass roots of their
natural protection from drought and
frost, and the manure that the rot
tCu uitcl iutdiH VIII create
for the grass corp. 1t is a leak to
spread winter manure oh the snow TO
be leached into the hollows and starve
the hills, losing the nitrogen by expos
ure TO the elements. Ii is a leak to
pillow manure in deep on sod ground
for corn where the roots cannot reach
II as thew seldom run more than four
inches deep. and spread out on the
surface II is n leak not to pillow two
or three inches deeper on subtle ground
to gradually deepen the soil and make
1t last longer for grass. 1t s a leak to
attempt TO harrow manure in deep on
the surface of sod land. or TO pillow it or
harrow it in at all. on wet land that is
not drained. 1t is a leak to rake corn
stubs of stubble and haul them into the
road instead OF INTO the hog yard To
rot, and make manure OF the best quail.
itv. 1t IS a leak 10 sell hay at the barn
for SO a ton when a ton of hay takes
over $40 worth of chemicals out of the
sol Of chemists make no mistake in
trying to tell the truth). 1t is a leak
for the farmer to team wood every win
ter for lumber spectators at going
wages, and run all the manure off the
farm into the highway. which is worse
than sell nc hay. Lastly il is a leak to
hand-hoe crops. when they can be
horse-hoed by the horse hoes of the
present day equally as we'll, if not bet
ter. at one-eighth of the expense. -
NeW England Farmer.