Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-07-06

traced 10 ueptn OF over Tour feet below
the surface. 1t also gathers large pro-
portion of its sustenance from the atmos-
phere, and thus 1t collects from above,
and from the subsoil below the feeding
ground of all other farm crops, very
large proportion of those valuable ele-
ments of which 1t is composed and which
peculiarly adapt it to the production of
both plant and animal food. What is
true of clover is true of all farm crops.
only in less degree. All crops are
gatherers of plant food. They create
nothing, but could all of the fertilizing
elements thus gathered on the farms of
Champlain Valley in time past have been
saved and applied and reapplied during
the 100 years of the occupancy of the
farms, they would now rival the deltas
of the Nile in productveness.
But" says one, show is this? Can
you feed your crops to stock and make
them available for fertilization alsoY I
answer yes, practically. 1t is true, that
when fed to growing and fattening stock.
there is slight loss when the stock is
sold from the farm. But it practically
retards but slightly the work of fertiliza-
ton. Both science and observation tell
us that animals extract but a small per-
centage of the food which they consume.
1t is only the amount represented by
their increased weight, dairy or other
products, for which they are kept. An
average, mature OK. while fattening. ex-
tracts but five per cent. of the plant food
from the stock food which he consumes.
Growing animals retain somewhat more.
A dairy COW, while giving full flow of
milk, extracts 20 per cent. But if the
milk of the COW is converted into butter,
and all of the skim milk and butter milk
are retained upon the farm, and returned
to the soil, there is no loss of fertility.
Butter has little or no manurial value, as
its constituents, if pure, all come from
the atmosphere. 1t is largely composed
OF carbon, of which the atmosphere con-
tains an abundant supply, in the form of
carbonic acid gas.
have given the above illustrations of
the practical effect of vegetable growth,
in the gathering of fertilizing elements,
for the purpose of showing the IMPROVE
dence and waste of that farm practice
which results in deterioration. The farm
er is constantly gathering the materials
for fertilization in every crop which he
grows. Each succeeding crop contains
more plant food than it takes from the
soil. The larger the crop, the more plant
food produced and returned to the soil,
the larger the succeeding crop, other con-
ditions being the same.
By a proper selection of crops, the
gathering in process, of which have
spoken in connection with clover. NAV be
greatly accelerated or retarded. In other
words, the principles which govern cor
rect farm-practice may be regarded or
disregarded, and success or failure will
in this, as in other business matters, fol-
low their legitimate cause.
One of the most serious effects in our
farm practice is found in the failure to
improve those opportunities for the pro-
duction of fertilzing material which ma
ture has provided for those who will i'm
prove them. In our selections of crops
with reference to this matter we cannot
be guided by the number of tons pro-
duced. For example, a ton of clover hay
or peas contains nearly twice the value
of plant food found in ton of timothy,
yet the former are less eXhaustng to the
soil. The manurial value of ton of
wheat bran is more than twice as great
as that of a ton of corn meal.
In the selection of crops with reference
to fertilization, we find field for i'm
provement which we cannot afford to
overlook, yet it has been thus far practi-
cally ignored in the agriculture of this
section. In my next article shall speak
of stock-feeding as a source of fertility.