The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-10-09


time the balance of his corn land was
broken or its condition at time O.
planting. If one portion was ploweG
IN July and had the benefit of the fall
and winter rains and frosts, even il
exposed for two months to the bak-
ing influence of the sun, l would ex
poet 1t to produce q better crop than
the same land plowed in January Oh
February, when it would be in a rough
unpulverized condition, and unfit tc
Withstand the long, dry spring and
II MIR. McIlroy's good crop was made
on July broken land and his failure on
the same quality of land broken in
october, then his experience would
score: Perhaps Mr. McIlroy will give
us information on that point.
He says,"I think the heat of our long
dry summers are to us what the SHOWS
OF the North are to the farmers in
that zone-the poor mans manure"
mat Is very pretty theory, but as
IL Goes not square with scientific facts,
1t must be taken cum grano sails.
Inc poor man who depends upon
the fertilizing agency of our summer
neat and drouth will die poor man.
IL Is well known that heat and light
exert no fertilizing influence on plant
lie. though they are indispensable
10 it.
Even the rains, SHOWS and frosts of
winter, so beneficial to the soil, add
very little to its fertility. Their &C
ton is mechanical, rather than ma
mural, and it is their mechanical effect
on the soil that we appreciate when,
IN the time of spring planting, we
find the clods have been pulverized
and the soil rendered loose and friable.
Land plowed in October gets the
benefit of all the winter rain and
frost quite as much as that plowed in
July, and retains this nitrogen buried
In the crop of grass or weeds which
IN that month cover our black prairie
soils, while it escapes the parching,
humus destroying rays of a midsum-
mer sun.
While l do not approve of the
principle involved in the proposed
scheme for establishing government
storehouses and advancing national
funds on formers'-or any other-pro-
duce, l heartily endorse the senti
ment OF Texas Farm and Ranch when
it says:
The discussion OF the sub. treasury
bill, although it may operate as set
back to the farmers movement, will
result in good at last. 1t will open
the eyes of the government to the
fact that the farmers want something
that has been del led them, and that
they are intent on having it.
1t has already turned light of 49,.
0OO candle power on the fact that the
features of this bill, which has been
denounced as fatally unconstitutional,
have been the settled policy OF the
government for many years; that
when the question is as to lending
money national banks, whisky rings
or fair associations, the constitution is
not invoked in opposition-only when
a proposition is made in a similar
manner to accommodate farmers.
Recently when the bankers of Wall
street were threatened with little
financial inconvenience, the whole
power OF the government was invoked
to aid them and no question
of constitutionality was raised.
The secretary of the treasury found
no constitutional obstacle in the way
of donating several millions of the
public money to this purpose upon the
prete1t OF paying interest upon bonds
for year in advance.
The banks and spectators must be
helped when in need.
The constitution looms up only
when farmers call for fair play.
sILos AS FEED SAVERS.
The value OF the silo as q means of
getting the most feed out of a crop
has long been demonstrated and ad :
mitted by all who have investigated
the matter. Its value was never more
apparent than it is today. The failure
of the oat crop and the shortage in
corn have given dairymen and stock
feeders hint that they must prepare
themselves against a recurrence of
the evil.
The chief value of the corn crop
this year has been in the fodder, but it
has only been where silos are used
that full advantage could be taken of
it. Without silo the greater proper
ton of the stalks are wasted, as the
butts contain four or five times as
much feed as the tops.
About one half of the dry
matter in the corn crop
including stalks and husks, lies in the
ear and about one-ftth in the cob.
The usual method is to save onlv
the top leaving the most valuable por-
ton of the stalk on the ground. With
a silo every portion of the plant can
be saved. An investigation made by
the Pennsylvania experiment station
shows that 20 per cent of dry or feed
ing matter is gained by allowing the
crop to mature.
The difficulty in saving corn stalks
in Texas without silo lies in the
work involved coming into competi.