Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1889-08-15
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Cultivatins Small Areas.

The general desire to cultivate as
much land as possible has prevented
the thorough tillage of the. soil in
many respects; but the labor usually
bestowed on large fields would be
more renumerative ifapplied to small
or tracts. 1t often happens that in the
attempt to work over large surface the
blowing, narrowing and seeding are
not performed in a manner to secure
the best results in termination and
growth. 1t is known that a larger
amount of produce can be raised on a
garden plot, in proportion to space,
than in the fields, which is not due so
much to the rich soil of the garden as
to the excellent cultivation. The
seed-bed of a garden is made as fine as
possible, the manure used is we'll de-
composed, and the grass and weeds
are kept down from the start.
The same attention that is given to
the garden may be applied to the fields,
but more labor will, OF course, be re-
uuired. 1t Is in the proper use OF
labor mot land) that farmers derive
their profits. They value their fields
as the source from whence comes the
wealth, when in reality the soil should
of that which is to be changed in char
acter and rendered marketable. 1t is
by labor that the soil is made to yield
generous crops, but that labor may be
misapplied or wasted. A farmer may
work industriously to secure a crop
from twenty acres planted in corn,
though larger yield may be secured
on ten acres with the aid of fertilizers
and the same labor that was used on
the twenty. The larger the yield on
any given space the lower the cost
propprtionately of the crop. A crop
can not be valued according 10 the
space it occupied, but in proportion to
the cost of production, and the first
item to be considered is the rental, or
INTEREST," on the value of the land.
1t is contented that sometimes cir
cumstances prevent the restriction Of
the Labor to small fields, as the yield
would be sufficient with some crops,
but the aim in such cases should be to
occupy the ground with those crops
which permit OF thorough cultivation,
as the bestowed of the labor, if done
intelhgently, is equivalent to certain
amount of capital. and will get its re-
ward when the crop is marketed.
What is intended here is to impress
upon the farmer the Importance Of
more thorough tiIIage. But few fields
have the seed-bcds nude as fine as a
garden, and yet the preparation of the
soil before the seed is sown is moro
important than any other duty con-
nected with growing Il crop. Labor is
often supposed to be saved by not
using the cultivator uutil compelled
by the rank growth OF grass and
weeds, and the harvesting is often
postponed to as late period as posi-
BILE, owing to too much land being Gull
tivated.
No farmer should cultivate more
land than he can we'll attend to. There
is nothing gained by distributing the
labor and manure. Everything in the
way of thorough cultivation should
be removed, and every yard of
distance saved in travelling over the
ground to grow a crop, by concentrat-
ing the labor, lessons the cost. Small
areas may be made profitable and re-
munerative, and, in proportion to cap
ital and labor required, give good re-
turns to the farmer when large fields
can only be cultivated at Il loss
Practical Farmer.