Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-03-19
Agrienltmral department
Farm Improvement.

Below is an abstract of the lee
ture on F'The philosophy of farm
improvements, recently delivered by
Hon. F. d. Douglass of Whiting in
| the farmers course at the state uni
versity, Burlington: 'Most of us,
he said, can remember the time when
we secuted the idea that philosophy
and farm ne would go we'll together.
But we are now coming to believe
that successful farming calls for
brains as well as muscle. We must
know the reason of things, the why's
and wherefores. What system of
farming shall we adopt in this Cham
plain valley? The productiveness
of our soil is unexcelled. But what
are the facts in the case? Real es-
tate is very low and many farms are
sold to-day for about what the i'm
provements cost. There is no good
reason for this state of things. We
ought to get out of the old ruts.
We want system that will keep our
young men. We can revolutionize
farming without much expense. Let
us consider what are the conditions of
success. The feeding and produc-
ing qualities of this soil can be me-
chanically changed, so that the roots
will go deeper and drought and frost
will not damage the crops. The pillow
must be freely used, so as to stir up
the hard and compact soil. The plant
food, too, must be increased, and
how is this to be done? BY less
waste of manure. The selection of
crops is an important point and one
to which little attention is usually
paid. We should select crops that
will change the mechanical quality
of the soil; that have greatest feed
ing qualities, that draw the deepest
from the soil and that bring the best
returns by the ton, or those of
rank habit of growth. Glover is
good to renovate old fields. The
manurial value Of ton of clover is
SS.76 when compared with the av-
erage cost of fertilizers. Two tons
to the acre amount to $17.52 worth
of plant food. If, as claimed, the
roots are worth as much more, we
have S35.04 worth of plant food.
The feeding value of clover is $3.50
per ton, or $27.1O per acre, with two
tons to the acre, which is to be add
ed to the manurial value as plant
food. Every crop, as well as clover,
has a manurial value and the cheap
est way for the Vermont farmer is
to raise his own fertilizer. Feeding
for manure is an important element
of success and one that has often
been overlooked. Stock should be
fed literally up to the point where
overlooking begins. The pillow
should be the basis of improvement
on all farms. 1t is sometimes best
to raise crops that are theoretically
distasteful. The manurial value of
cotton seed meal is $28.04, and of
ton of corn but $6.04. We must
make the farm self-sustaining, but
there may be exceptional times when
it is best to buy, but whatever is
bought should be in the shape of
stock food. Plant food is our stock
in trade. Gather, save and finally
apply it. The first condition of sue
cess is intelligence. A herd of dairy
COWS by the exercise of intellect on
the part of the owner can be brought
up to a point of excellence where
each cow will produce 800 pounds of
butter annually. If it costs $40 a
year to keep a COW, which is an av-
erage amount, 800 pounds of butter
will cost the farmer at the rate of
Is cents a pound; 200 pounds will
cost at the rate of 20 cents. But
with the cost of keeping the cow
brought down to S25, as it should
be, butter will cost the maker but
s cents a pound. The sour milk
and manure will pay for the labor,
and with butter sold al 20 to % cents
a pound it is an easy matter to figure
up the profit. But with a cow pro-
ducing only $50 pounds of butter it
is just as easy to figure up the loss.
Farming can he made a pleasant
as we'll as an Intellectual calling and
the two qualities go hand in hand.
When this is done the price of land
will rise, the farmers themselves will
be financially prosperous, farming
will be an eleva ing and moral pur-
suit and our boys will stay in this
grand Champlain valley instead of
going West as they are now doing"