The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-04-28
SCIENCE OF FARMING.
HOW AGRICULTURE GAN yE MADH
TO PAY HANDSOMELY.
What Care and intelligence Can ACCOM-
piish-The immensely OF the Waste
From Unscientiic Methods-Conssrv
ing Forces OF Production.

A recent prize offered by an Eastern
horticultural society for the largest money
product from given area of small fruits
was awarded to a strawberry grower whose
sales from two acres amounted to more
than Sl,700; and Mr.. T. p. Roe, in Play
and Iroft IN My Gdrd,n, has told us how
he secured gross return OF slightly more
than 81, 900 from the same amount Of land.
In the report OF the last annual meeting OF
the New Jersey Horticultural Society, the
following are given as some OF the yields
obtained by its members, although the
season had been uniformly bad" Early
cabbage had produced S435 per acre; early
tomatoes, $685. per acre; asparagus, four
acres returned 5000; seven acres, $1,000
four acres, 5000 per acre, and some in
stances as high as $500 per acre.
Mr.. Peter Henderson tells OF an aspara-
gus grower near Atlanta whose crop gave
Tor three successive years net profit OF
81, 800 per acre; and as instancing depar-
lures from old methods, cites the case of
farmer residing near Rochester "who half
dozen years ago timidly made the at
tempt OF growing a haf-acre OF his fifty
acre tarm in vegetables for a village mar
ket. His venture was so successful that
he gradually increased his area, so that he
now uses thirty OF his fifty acres mostly in
growing cabbages for the Rochester mar
ket. He further informed me TINT
the net profit from the cabbage
garden last year was 80, 500, or a little over
5000 per acre, and that il was not very
good year for cabbages at that" And for
the encouragement OF those not ito the
manor born" the same authoritygives the
following case rs being within his personal
observation: "a college bred man Of /
twenty-eight, failing in health from Office
work, purchased farm OF sixty acres at
Northport, Long Island. The second year
he tried q few acres in vegetables and
small fruits, which he found sale
for in the village OF Northport at
most satisfactory prices. / was on
his farm in the summer OF
1883, and must say that for man who
had got his knowledge almost wholly from
books, his venture looked MS il II would be
a complete success" In the dairy region
Of Southern Central New York, where the
writer's boyhood was passed, and where
the chief agricultural attractions consist OF
gently undulating landscape and some
most enticng trout streams, the general
farming community have found themselves
compelled TO live rather close to the
bone" A rise or fall OF a hali-cent per
| quart in the wholesale milk market OF New
York City may be sufficient 10 turn the
balance from one side 10 the other Of their
profit and loss account Yet among their
number is Princeton alumnus the record
OF whose work have recently seen, who,
by the application Of agricultural science
10 the growing OF crops, the manufacture
OF ensilage, and the feeding Of stock, is en-
abled 10 pursue the even tenor OF his
way" which is 10 harvest an annual profit
many times in excess Of the average three
and one-half per cent OF his State.
Tho average yield OF wheat in the
United States is about twelve bushels per
acre. IL is commonly sown with drill.
which deposits the seed in rows eight
inches apart; eight rows are commonly
planted at each turn; an average OF one
and a half bushels OF seed is used per
acre: one man with team will plant
eight acres per day, and this being don5
In September. the field has no further at
tention until the reaper is put 10 the fol-
lowing July TO gather whatever harvest
Providence has seen fl TO send as a re-
ward for the negligence Of the husband
man.
| tTol. DlOuuls OF tue AoloTNuO AEflCul-
tural College, having first made an elabor-
ate study OF the habits and needs OF tho
wheat plant, conducted series OF experi-
menis In its cultivation with the following
results:
First, no planted upon an exact square
acre seven and onehali pounds OF hand.
picked wheat In rows Of eighteen inches
apart, and at harvest threshed out sixty
seven bushels; again, upon one-iourth OF
an acre he planted thirty-two ounces OF Sc
lccted seed, aud the product was eighteen
bushels; and again, upon seyenty-six
square feet he planted seventy-six kernels
OF extra fine seed, weighing forty.dye
grains, and the product was ten and one
half pounds. or nearly at the rate OF 100
bushels per acre.
These results are more remarkable in
the excessive yield from given area than
in regard to the yield from given portion
OF seed. Agricultural discussion too often
directs attention 10 result without suili-
GENTLY analysing the means by which IL is
obtained. A pertinent feature Of these ex-
pcrimcnts Is the saving Of an amount OF
seed which, averaged upon the entire
grain acreage, would add annually vast
sum to the wealth OF the Nation.
II We should throw into the sea an-
nually 5O,OOO,OO0 bushels OF wheat and q
proportionate amount OF tho other cereals.
the world would cry out at our IMPROVE.
1ence. Yet II Professor Blount's conclu-|
sions are corrcct-and they are supported
by much collateral eyldcncc--we bury this
amount In the ground where II is not only
thrown away. but where Il actually de-
creascs the resultant crop.
Tho economic results that would follow
II We should be able 10 increase our pro-
duction even approximately 10 the above
ratio are too far-feaching for the scope of
this article. Our ability TO feed an almost
limiilcss increase oil population would be as-
sured. ltmay be that over production would
rccoil upon ourselves, bat We have already
successfully encountered the lowest wheat
markets OF the globe, and a. increased pro-
duciion would mean decreased cost, We
might eventually be able 10 make good our
boast Of feeding tho world"
With population increasing at the ratio
Of IS per cent with every decade, Il Is
} hardly probable that our production latter
the iinal occupation Of ali the lands) will
nj the best moro than keep pace with lis
needs As before suggested, a most pro-
grcssiye development wall be required II
We even accomplish that
Farmers generally will say that the ro-
suits secured by the above experiments arc
not aitainablc upon any extended scale:
probably not, 10 the average farmer; hav-
ing 10 much land TO till, he must still SOW
his eight acres per day. II may occasions