The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-02-19
CAMPBELL BROWN. Spring Hill, Tenn.

potato-bug, if the application is made
while the bugs are yet young and
tender. 1t is one of the things that
NAV be used freely without danger,
and its use will grow upon one a.
they see by practice the many ways
in which it may prove of value.
There seems to be no occupation i'll
life wherein men are so generally
averse to paying out money Cor it,
equivalent) for benefits which they
expect to receive as in farming, and
especially in relation to feeding the
land in order that it may produce
more abundantly. Take green
manurin, for instance. If a man
4ows a crop for this purpose, half the
time when it is grown he changes
his mind and harvests and sells it,
and this notwithstanding the fact
that unless stock feeding cutters large
ly into his system of operations green
manuring must be his main depend
ence for continued prosperity. The
tact is we do not begin to make use OF
| this means for supplying fertility as
we should, nor as much as we would
il we could bring ourselves to pursue
"a more Opeu-hauded policy with our
lands. We might often put in Il
catch crop of oats, rye or turnips
where the land is now left bare for
months, and by turning them under
put solid capital in our bank that will
pay good dividends in future years.
The general farmer is always on the
safe side In green manuring, although
he may be also a stock keeper, for, II
he grows and harvests crops with the
purpose of feeding them out and re-
turning the manure IL the land, the
chances are that his appliances for
| 10 GA inaH too q T..
that not half of it gets where 1t is
needed. TN turning under green
crop there is no opportunity for the
escape of the valuable elements
The crop decOmpOses in the ground
which it is intended to enrich, and
enters then and there upon its work.
The question of proper ration H.
cattle feeding resolves itself right
down to this: That the best ration
is the one that is cheapest and that
will serve the special or general pur-
pose for which each one Is feeding
The range in this respect is so wide
and is 50 largely governed by the To-
cation and conditions of each indi-
viduaI that there is no use for dog
matte assertion that any one thing II
positively the best. The only practi-
cal way To get at it IL to consider
what is the cheapest with you, at the
time, and make this he basis. When
wheat is low bran is often the cheap
est thing we can use, but when 1t is
high it must be fed with great dis
erection in order to give profit.
Corn or oats may sometimes be
cheaper, and if much stock is being
fed it will pay to watch and follow
the fluctuations of the market and
vary your feeding as prices indicate
that YOU can use this or that to the
best advantage. 1t hardly pays to
make up your mind that you must
have certain thing and stick to that
without regard to price, for the same
elements are always to be had in some
other form. Wheat bran, cut oats
aud clover hay make good comOi-
nation for flesh production, and one
that can almost always be- used with
profit. A slight addition of oil cake
will make this ration still more etfec-
tive. Corn is more heating and fat
teniug than bran, and, in spite OF all
that is said against it, is very excel
lent cattle food. 1t is best fed as
meal, or at least crushed, because the
smooth, tlinty outer coatings OF the
grain do not offer ready access to
the gastric juices. Thus u large
portion OF the whole grain passes out
wholly unaffected by the digestive
BIOCSSH9 anu 10 O NCohu AOSS' ~ hNOA
ordinary circumstances cooking,
which is sometimes advised for the
purpose OF making the grain more
digestible, is hardly profitable. 1t
depends very much upon the facili-
ties that you have for doing it and the
cost of labor aud fuel; but there is
economy in at least crushing it, and
it should, of course, be fed with liberal
qualities of hay, straw or fodder. The
7 4. a.,
digestive apparatus or all rumlnants
require an abundance of roughnes in
order to promote healthy action, no
matter how well they may be fed
otherwise. SO long as corn remains
our handiest and most general grain
it must enter more largely into our
feeding than any thing else, only we
must exert ourselves more than we
have been doing TO feed it to the best
| advantage. Every thing that If
grown-graius, roots, forage plants,
etc.-all nave claims to be considered
in planning to feed, and under differ
ent conditions all can be used to ad-
vantage and with economy. 1t must
| be largely a condition of locality and
what can be grown most cheaply.
| Sorghum is one of the fodder plants
that might we'll have more attention,
a. it is eaten readily by almost all
stock, has great fattening qualities,
| and is especially valuable for increas-
| ing the flow of milk with dairy cows
Roots also might have more attention
in many localities, aud, in fact farm
ers everywhere should be continually
| on the outlook to see what can Dt
grown and used to best advantage in
maintaing stOck-that most important
Of all adjuucts TO profitable agricul-
! tura. j. X. r.