The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-12-11

FINALS, the production
are carried off.
DsaVing all these materials, re-
sort should be made to commercial fer
tilizers. The latter contain nothing Of
value to thc.soil that is not found in
the materials we have named. a
good, complete commercial fertilizer
fnay he considered as stable manure
6OiIcd lOaUR, containing as it doe, the
very same ferliliZing elements, with
out tie excess of sand, clay and water
| that is always present, more or less, in
ordinary stable manure. Many per-
SONS are of the opinion that the use OF
commercial fertilizers is an unprolita-
ble and unwise innovation. We do
not propose to discuss the general pro-
lpositiOn-"Do commercial fertilizers
! pay the farmerm 1t is no doubt true
that some farmers fail to find any sub.
stantial profit i'm the use OF them and
| it is also true that the most skilful are
sometimes imposed upon, and some
times they themselves are at fault.
But the most convincing proof Of the
utility Of commercial fertilizers is the
continued and annually increasing
consumption of them. This cOntin-
ued reliance upon them must be the
result of a profitable experience. We
will add that those farmers who sue
ceed without fertilizers owe their sue
cess not to that fact, but to the exercise
of skill, economy and industry in all
the departments of farm operations.
They would probably be even more
successful if they would make jaGii-
cious use of commercial or concentrat-
Ell chemical fertilizers. 1t will he time
enough to elaborate these thoughts in
this line in the next number of THE
| CULTIVATION.
| STOCK FEEDING.
The question of stock-feeding is one
that is but little understood by the av-
erage farmer in it's scientific and eco
nomic aspects. The investigation OF
the composition and digestibility OF
the various food materials has received
much attention of late years, and our
stock of knowledge is being systema-
tized and greatly increased. Every
farmer knows that good sound mer-
chantable wheat is all excellent food
for q nlilch cow or any working anil
Lmai. in the sense that it will produce
milk and butter of the best quality,
but he also knows that it will not pay
to feed good wheat to cattle and horses,
because its peculiar adaptation as hu-
man food forbids its use as stock 1000.
The same principle holds good in
many other cases, some OF them recog-
niZed and understood by every farmer,
while others are only appreciated by
the scientific Investigator.
This subject is well treated as an ar
ticle on page $50 of our November Is
sue, by Prof. w. E. Stone, and we ask
our readers to refer to that article and
read it carefully. The article very OPP
portunely discusses the question of the
food value of cotton seed hulls, which
is attracting so much attention all over
the country. While admitting that
cotton seed hulls mixed in proper pro-
portions with cotton seed meal is theo-
retically and practically proper and
profitable food for the production of
milk and butter, he by no means en-
dorses the eXtrav CANT claims that
have been put forward in favor Of the
hulls. The butter and milk, the beef
and the muscular power to labor that
results from the use of the combIna
ton of hulls and meal are mainly due
to the meal and not the huls, which
are about as valuable as clean, dry oat
straw.
There is a very close correspondence,
if not identity, in the principles which
should guide us in, feeding stock and
in feeding crops. There is the same
danger in each of wasting one element
by Supplying it in excess, or Of de-
stroying the crop or the animal pro-
duct by withholding. Any farmer
who wishes to study the subject of
stock-feeding from scientific stand
point should get copy of Manual of
Cattle Feeding-Arnsby," published
by Orange Judd Company, New York,
price $3.50.
IN CONCLUSION.
We congratulate our readers and the
farmers generally Of the South on the
close of an unusually successful year.
We verify believe that the agriculture
of the country, and especially of the
South, is now entering upon a career
of prosperity. We have had a long
night of gloom and depression and al
most DESPAIR; but the light of q new