Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1888-02-18


The Impression is still rife that
farming don't pay" Farmers bows
think so. and farms are left TO be car
rled on by rheumatic labor OF TO pass
INTO other hands at lower prices. Farm
labor Is yearly becoming more scarce
ana unsatisfactory. Old, deserted
farms are multiplying. fields once fair
" fertile are turned to grazing or
growing pines and birches. On farms
where large stocks OF cattle were kept,
withln the memory of the writer, now
there are only one or two cows and a
morse. The average price for such
farms fifty years ago was soto $50 per
acre; now 1t is only Sl5 to 800, build.
ings included. We would like TO emu
merate some OF the causes that have
caused this depreciation of country re "a;
estate.yiz., u long series of Farm
Leaks
AS manure and its right application
ls the base OF all successful farming it
Is leak TO allow the winters accumu-
iatlon (horse manure especially to lay
IN big heap and fire fang. sending off
all It's ammonia In the air. II is a leak to
pitch out the manure against the side
OF the barn, to be bleached and burned
by the early spring sun and rain. when
u should be housed in barn cellar.
IL ls leak not TO use absorbents in the
cattle stables TO catch and hold the
liquid manure, the most valuable am
m0nical and heterogeneous part. but to
let II run through the cracks of the
hoor, never to be reached again. 1t is
leak to let the cattle lay in the open
barnyard In summer, causing the ma
nure to be nearly worthless. It is a
leak to suffer manure TO be wasted in
any form and buy commercial fertiliz-
ers. because they ARE more easily APP
piled. 1t is leak TO oyerstock pas
lures 10 gain few dollars from stock
taken In. giving poor satisfaction, half
starving the farmers own stock and
feeding the pastures so close as to ex-
haust the soil and bring up an newt
able growth of lamb poison, pitch
pines, or something worse. II is a
monstrous leak to Craze the moving
helds and rob the grass roots of their
natural protection from drought and
FROST and the manure that the rot
ted nftermeath will annually create
Tor the grass corp. II is a leak to
spread winter manure oh the snow to
be leached into the hollows and starye
the hills. losing the nitrogen by expos
nre 10 the elements. II is a leak to
plow manure in deep on sod ground
Tor corn where the roots cannot reach
1 as theg seldom run more than four
inches deep. and spread out on the
surface. il Is leak not to pillow two
Or three inches deeper on subtle ground
20 gradually deepen the soil and make
last longer for grass II is leak to
attempt 10 harrow manure in deep on
The surface Of sod land, or 10 pillow il or
narrow it in at all. on wet land that is
lot drained. II is leak TO rake corn
stubs of stubble and haul them into the
'oad instead OF into the hog yard 10
'0i, and make manure OF the best quail.
~. II is leak 10 sell hay at the barn
,Or $40 ton when a ton of hay takes
over SIG worth Of chemicals ont OF the
sol (tf chemists make no mistake in
,ryiRg 20 tell the truth). II is a leak
ior the farmer to team wood every win
.er for lumber spectators at going
wages. and run all the manure of the
arm into the highway. which is worse
han selling hay. Lastly It is leak to
land-hoe crops. when they can be
lorse-hoed by the horse hoes of the
present day equally as well. if not bet
er. at one-eighth Of the expense. -
Net0 England Farmer.