Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-08-16
DIVERSIFIED FARMING
The Only System of Agriculture Whi'
Pays In the Long Run.


Pays In the Long Run.
Whatever success may have attended
the efforts of those who have made
some particular line of farming spe-
cialty, it is found that, sooner or later.
such a system must be abandoned. At
one time, because of its Importance,
cotton was the principal crop of the
South-cotton was king-but the effect
upon the agriculture of that section
was not such a one as might have been
desired.
With regard to some portions of New
England, the same may be said of to-
bacco; when prices were high and
there was lively demand, in the Con-
necticut valley all other crops were
considered of secondary Importance as
compared with tobacco, and, as a re-
suit, the soil was injured to very
great degree by the unnatural demand
that was made upon it.
1t is quite natural, so long as there is
a demand for any particular crop at
good prices, to continue its cultivation
without giving a thought to the posi-
BILE consequences that may result in
the unbalancing of the natural ele-
ments of nutrition. Where the soil is
new, or has been subjected to cultiva-
ton for comparatively short time, as
is the case upon the Western prairies,
where there appears to be an almost
unlimited supply Of plant food, success
sive cultivation of the same crop may
be INDUCED in with less danger, but it
must be remembered that in the most
fertile soil there is healthy proper
ton of the elements of nutrition.
A soil may be possessed of an almost
exhaustless supply of nitrogen and
phosphoric acid, and yet be so deficient
in potash as to render the soil largely
unavailable; it is cultivation of crops
that draw heavily upon the soil for any
one important element of nutrition that
soon renders them poorly adapted to
the growth of any crop that requires a
free supply of the exhausted element.
1t is for this reason that many of the
most intelligent farmers believe that a
proper rotation OF crops is necessary
to maintain good healthy fertility OF
soils; this condition is of the utmost
Importance, not only in the production
of the then growing crop, but also for
the successful cultivation of future
crops. Not long since we noticed a
statement that farmer had been very
successful in producing crops by the
use of commercial fertilizers alone, and
so long as crops were cultivated and
the fertilizer was applied, every thing
was all right, but upon seeding to
grass there was a failure.
Now, it appears that crops can be
grown upon a soil for a number OF
years with very satisfactory results by
the use of commercial fertilizers, but
when it comes to seeding to grass there
is a failure to respond that is objection
able to every farmer.
1t is probable that rotation of crops,
pursued with intelligence, is much
more profitable to most farmers than
the attempt to succeed with one crop.
This, then, requires diversity, and af-
fords smaller chance for failure than
by any one-crop method. 1t is very
seldom that all crops should go beg
ging for market. and yet how often
is it the case that the abundance OF
some one crop renders it undesirable.
Eastern farmers have been, perhaps
from necessity, compelled to adopt a
system of farming adapted to the sur
face of the country, condition that has
has had its advantages as well as its
disadvantages, and to-day the average
New England farmer will be found
carrying on little of nearly every kind
of farm industry. In the first place he
has his variety of crops OF vegetables
and grains; while making no preten-
sious in the line of breeding, he will
raise his colts, his calves, his pigs, his
poultry, his bees and so on in the line
of live stock; then you will find him
engaged in growing fruit, fattening
beef and pork, and so on through the
the various directions of farm indus
try, and if he does not amass wealth,
he secures an honest living and saves
little for time of need. 1t may be
that great undertakings are more
likely to secure riches if that is the
chief end aimed at, but even then fail
l,ah 70
Contentment is point of much i'm
portance to the farmer, and in the
practice of that his mind must not be
turned to the rapid accumulations OF
manufacturing capitalists.-Wm. II.
YeOnanS, in N Y. Observer.