Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-03-17

thing to eat. That man who would
expect COW to supply his family
with milk and butter, without allow
ing her to have access to pasture or
feeding her, would be considered a
1T subject for a lunatic asylum.
No one cares to try the experiment
of fattening hogs OF cattle without
food OF any kind, except air and
water. Yet these unreasonable ac-
tions would not be anything more or
less than what is practiced by many,
very many farmers in regard to their
land. Year after year, immense
crops Of corn, wheat, hay, ETC., have
been placed on 1T to compensate for
the plant food carried off. In other
words we allow Mother Earth, from
whom all the wealth of the Nation
must come, only air and water as
food. All do not do this, but the
practice is common all over the
Union, and those who follow it are
more numerous than those who do
not. Probably the cause of this de-
plorable condition of affairs can be
traced back to the days when the
white population of the country was
confined to the eastern tier of States.
Then 1t was easier and cheaper to
move to the boundless West and set
tie new land there than TO maintain
the fertility of that already settled.
But now all this is changed, and we
are compelled TO turn our attention
to improving the soil already In cul-
tivation for many years.
First on the list Of s6il-restoratives
is found stable and barn yard manure.
In the North, where manure sheds
and covered barn-yards preserve the
elements Of fertility contained in it,
and in the South, where the milder
winters allow open stables to be con-
structed, from which the manure is
seldom removed until IL is scattered
on the fields, and which preserve to a
great extent the good qualities of it,
stable manure gives more satisfactory
results than any other fertilizing
material But it is question
whether, where the manure is thrown
from the stables out under the caves
and allowed to leach there until it is
hauled away, the benefits derived
from its use are such as will pay for
the labor OF drawing 1t out. When
properly cared for, 'barn-yard manure
will always prove satisfactory, and
the only thing that can make its use
Improbable is improper care. Yet
care for it as we may, the fact still
remains that the supply of barn-yard
manure is totally inadequate to meet
the demands Of our farmers for fer
filters, and necessity causes other
means Of supplying plantfood to be
considered. This has led to the
manufacture and use of an immense
quantity of commercial or chemical
fertilizers. Some of the best farmers
condemn in unmeasured terms the
use of these, while others, who are
equally as successful in their farming
operations, advocate them. With me.
they have always given very good re-
suits when used on wheat or grass,
but not when used on corn or oats.
Last year on thin soil, wheat TO which
$50 pounds of raw bone meal was APP
piled, yielded four times as much to
the acre, as it did when none was APP
piled. This certainly paid us well for
the use OF the bone meal. But there
can be no doubt that on many farms
and in many localities, commercial
fertilizers do not pay. So we are
compelled to seek further yet for an
ideal method of restoring fertility to
worn lands. Pleading guilty to the
charge of being "clovey crank"
think in the growing of clover this
may be found. Gowhere VIC may and
we will find nine out of ten clover
growing farmers to be prosperous.
Clover seems to possess to a remarka-
BILE degree the power of making those
who grow it, happy and contented.
AS hay, it has few equals and no SUI
perior. A clover pasture is excellent.
Turned under when green or dry, it
will raise the productiveness of a
farm faster than anything else.
am convinced that the best use
we here can make of barn-yard and
commercial manures is to aid in Sc
curing good stand Of clover and
grass, depending upon Them to bring
up the Fertility OF the land.