Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-07-06
farm Copies.
PLANT FOOD.
HON. r. D. DOUGLAS FIFTH ARTICLE IN
RUTLAND HERALD.


The feature of Western Vermont farm
ing which most astonishes agriculturists
from those sections where crop produc-
ton has been made leading speciality in
farm practice, is the prodigal waste of
manures. Said A. w. Cheever to the
writer, while riding along the highway
in one of our best townships, and observ-
ing, in repeated instances, where stable
manures were being washed by water
from the caves, A." Your Vermont farmers
waste enough to make our Massachusetts
farmers rich.''
"There is no doubt of it," replied,
" for it makes us poor"
Waste is the rule with us, and not the
exception; waste in plant food when pro-
duced, and waste in the opportunities for
producing it.
One of the first conditions of success
full farming is the provision of convenient
and effective appliances for saving both
the solid and liquid manures produced
upon the farm, and for returning them to
the soil at the proper season.
Plant food holds the same relation to
agriculture that bank stock does to the
business of the banker, or the merchants
stock in trade does to his business. The
bank stock of the banker, the goods on
which the merchant makes his profits, the
plant food with which the farmer grows
his crops, are each in their respective de-
partments foundations, without which
success is impossible. Tine more pos
sessed and employed, the greater the fl
nancial returns. The farmer can no bet
ter afford to waste his plant food than
can the banker his bank stock. The loss
of either implies bankruptcy, while their
accumulation is the evidence of financial
success. TO waste the liquid manure of
stock farm is equivalent to the waste of
half of the accumulations of our stock
in trade.
The farmer, to succeed, must have two
objects in farming. He must not only
raise good crops, but he should also pre-
duce an abundant supply of material
with which to grow succeeding crops
Like the merchant and the banker, his
stock in trade and his productive capital
should be annually increased. With skill
and energy, he can avail himself of i'm.
portant natural aids in his work. Among
this class are those which come to the as
sistance of all farmers, whether intelli
gent and enterprising or not.
Every soil has a capacity for crop-pro
duction peculiar to itself 1t will pro
duce indefinitely certain amount, with
out the application of artificial fertilza
ton, even when the annual vegetable
growth is removed. This supply comes
from the disintegration of the soil, ant
consequent liberation of portion of TIT
plant food which it naturally contains
1t is also supplied by deposits from thu
atmosphere, through the agency of rail
and melting snow. The leaves of vegeta
ton, also, gather large supplies from tn
same source; but these supplies, though
materially aiding in the work of renova
ton, are utterly inadequate to the produc
ton of large crops, and cannot be reieC
upon for maintaining the fertility of thu
soil where any portion of the plan
growth is removed. These natural sources
are the chief dependence of those farm
ers who sell their hay or other crops
There will be a gradual increase in fer
tility from these sources where the plan
growth is retained upon the soil. W.
have examples of this in the Western
prairies, where, by the accumulations o.
ages. great fertility has been developed
But as the time allotted to man on eartf
is limited. he cannot afford to wait fol
this natural process to accomplish the
work of renovation. We must assist ma
ture. and she will more etfectually assist
us. Nature, indeed, will do the work
but we must so arrange the conditions
that she can work rapidly and well.
The late Harry Lewis, who made sp;
cialty of the production of cider vinega
Tor market, Wuen dskeu IL TIC liduuiaC
tured vinegar, replied that he did not, bu
added, "The Lord makes the vinegar an,
| do the chores This reply of the witty
philosopher carries an important lessor
with it. Nature is the active agent in tn
production of crops; we, her assistants
We must provide the germs of thos'
plants which will accomplish the obiec
sought much more efiectually than spon
taneous production.
The stock farmer, as a rule, SHOULD
grow and gather his own plant food. Ill
can do it much more cheaply, if he will
than he can purchase it. He should max
his farm self-sustaining in this, as in 9th
er farm products. He has an endless va
riety of opportunities, which he SHOULD
learn to recognize and improve. Let
consider some of them.
If we purchase 10 pounds OF larg
Northern clover seed, and, after properl
preparing the land, SOW it upon an aer