Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-04-27

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light and dark meat and stutfing.- Mary
j. Lincoln, in Good Housekeeping.
Sarm Copies.
CORN FODDER AND GLOVER.
Great interest is manifested in the corn
fodder and ensilage question at the pres
ent time. The amount that can be raised
to the acre, and its great value for win
ter feeding of dairy stock, alike commend
1t to general attention. The Institutes
held in various localities make this the
leading topic for discussion, and the col |
umns of the agricultural papers are filled
with facts and figures relative to the SUBJ
ject. In this state of things there is dan
ger that our old, long-tred, well-proved |
and equally valuable friend, the clover
plant, will be neglected. Among those
with whom l have conversed in relation
to farm management, very few have
grown sufficient clover to secure great
amount of profit, and still less number
have any correct idea of the compare
tive value Of the crop.
The net value of an acre of clover is as
much as that of an acre of corn fodder,
and as a rule, where much corn fodder
10 6AOWhs idi SC VI ClONCl
be raised. Let us compare the cost and
value of the two products. The average
acre of corn fodder will not be of great
er feeding value than five tons of timo-
thy hay. With hay at $40 per ton, an
acre of such fodder will be worth $50.
1t will cost about as follows:
Flowing, narrowing and drilling seed... $500
Cultivation of growing crop. .:.....:.... 100
or of
which is least expensive. ........ 400
Manure....... go. ............. ........ 1910
Total COST. Observation-Disclosures. $1,000
Net value. ......................S3O $4,000
If cut by hand, drawn to the barn
green, and cut into the silO, it will cost
several dollars more to the acre. 1t will
probably need more than $40 worth of
manure to insure full crop one year
with another.
The clover crop will cost.
Cutting twice, raking, drawing. etc..... 800
Total '''''''''''' en- .''''''''''''' '''' $3.50
First cutting, "a INSTRUMENTATION. $500
Second cutting, ton .................... 1000
Total s85 90
Net value per acre .................. $3.50
On corn land in this section the clover
crop may safely be estimated as above
for two years after seeding, and the soil
will be in better condition to produce a
crop of corn or potatoes when plOwed at
the end of that time than at its COM
mencement. The increase in fertility
will more than balance the difference in
net value. Some of our farmers can in
vestigate this subject, and put it to the
test of personal experience with great
profit to themselves. The feeding value
of clover is nearly double that of corn
fodder when fed green, and the relative
value is the same when dried.
a bit of farm and family history with
which am acquainted may prove inter-
esting to your readers, as bearing on the
value of clover and also on the small
farm question recently discussed in this
paper. A little more than fifty years
ago, a mechanic, the owner of small
farm in Jefferson county, n. V,
sold out and removed to OnOndaga cOun-
ty- The little capital that he possessed
was expended in part payment for 90
acre farm, with cheap buildings and poor
fences, and in need of understanding in
many places. His family consisted of an
aged mother, an invalid wife and seven
children all under sixteen years of age.
None of the family ever worked out for
wages, unless perhaps for short time to
accommodate a neighbor. The family
was supported, the debt paid, the farm
well fenced and under-drained where
needed, fine house and barn erected,
and the entire place brought into a high
state of fertility. His sons were assisted
in purchasing neighboring farms, and
several of his daughters established in
homes of their own. Later in life, the
old farmer had money at interest. All
this was realized from labor expended on
less than one hundred acres of land. If
the old gentleman had been Intercepted
as to his success, he would have answer
ed, sit is all owing to careful attention
to business, and clover" The farm pro-
ducts sold were wheat, barley, clover seed
and some butter and beef. Grain and
clover seed were the main crops, but Is
or 20 head of live stock, including horses,
were on the place when | visited him %
years ago. He told me that he had no
land but what was rich enough for an
onion bed, and the appearance of the
fields as we walked over them confirmed
his assertion.
Some of the fields most remote from
the barn had never received a load of man
ure, but had been brought to an excellent
state of fertility under his four-year rota-
ton, or, what he termed, "two years up
and two years down." The system was
about as follows: First year, clover sod
plowed and cropped with corn, potatoes
and oats; second year, wheat and barley
and seeded with peck of clover and a
peck of timothy seed to the acre; third
and fourth years, clover. One field of
clover was pastured until some time in
June, and afterward cut for the seed the
same year. The other field was cut for
hay and then pastured in the fall. Near
ly all the pasturing of the farm was done
ON the clover fields.
Under this system, his farm grew more
productive year by year. How long it
would have done so do not know. The
old gentleman and more than half his
family are dead, and the farm has passed
into other hands. 1t was on visiting that
farm that first realized the value of clio
yer, and what then learned is still
source of profit. With correct under