Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-11-22
STRAW, WEEDS AND srUBBLE.

| What use shall we make of these waste
| products of the farm, and how shall W,
manage them to get the most good at least
cost from them2 The profits of the farm
are not large and we cannot afford to lei
| anything 90 TO loss. If we can by care
full saving of all vegetable matter increase
the manure pile SO as to transfer a few
acres from the Improbable to the profita-
BILE side OF the ledger, it is our privilege
and duty to do so. The worst possible
use farmer can make of straw is not to
use 1t at all, and strange as it may seem,
there are thousand of farmers who do
this very thing. They thresh in some re-
mote corner and leave the straw on the
ground. / have often counted from five
to eight of these straw stacks on a single
farm, says writer in the Philadelphia
Press, each containing one years crop of
straw. Good, bright wheat or Oat straw
has considerably more than half the feed
ing value of an average hay, and either
horses or cattle may be wintered in good
condition with no other rough feed, with
a moderate increase of the grain ration.
It is best that this increase shall be of
bran, oats and oil meal rather than corn.
| have neighbOrs who bore auger holes in
the floor of their horse stall to allow the
urine to run through, and yet leave stacks
of old straw in the fields I do not only
bed literally in the stable, but cover my
barnyard so that it is never muddy and
no liquid runs from it. Weeds, corn
stalks, potato vines, clover straw, ETC.,
are all packed into the barnyard. We
have just cut and raked up all our wheat
stubble for this purpose. From part of
the field we got full two horse load to
the acre. Eight acres of our wheat that
had been sown to timothy had made quite
growth, and as the spring was very dry
the clover was poor. Consequently fox
tail and ragwecd made a vigorous start,
but we moved it early and there will not
be foul seed on the field, while the
weeds and stubbles will help to keep
the barnyard clean and save the urine.
The last week in August [ visited neigh
Dor who is a successful wheat grower and
found him spreading straw on a field
which was plOwed and narrowed ready
for the drill. He burns this straw and
tells me that many years experience
shows him that it pays as we'll as to ma
nure an equal area. His land is strong
and rich in humus, and while this with
out doubt is good practice for him on
thin land it will probably pay better to
pillow under straw than to burn it. |
would always, however, if possible, burn
stubble on fields where there has been
chinch bugs. 1t is we'll on such fields to
set the machine to cut high so as to leave
enough stubble to burn readily. [ have
seen excellent effects from burning stub
bic on land to be plowed for wheat, the
wheat in a few weeks after it came up
showing to foot where the stubble had
been burned by it's strong growth and
healthy color.
1t is Il fact, perhaps not known to all,
that one pound of the urine Of a horse
has a fertilizing power equal to six
pounds Of the droppings, and the only
way we are likely to save this is by free
use of absOrbents. With good manage
ment every farm will furnish enough Of
these, and it is wise to make tight stable
floors and bed freely. Even cOrnstalks
make an excellent absorbent and will
decay more quickly than straw. If cut to
lengths Of from six inches to a foot they
make excellent bedding for horses. They
crush easily, and the pith of the stalk
takes up the liquid better than straw. l
scatter the waste of twenty acres of corn
fodder over my small barnyard each win
ter to be tramped and mixed with the
straw and manure. By April 1st the
manure is in good shape for Speeding,
and only very close inspection would dis
cover Il cOrnstalk in it.