Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1892-08-25
Sending Our Farms East

ILtSl,
LOO much can not be said to the
tan trs o. The west about keeping up
dne fertility of their farms. The aban.
uonea farms of New England. the
swung distress OF the farmer every
where who has wasted the eneroies ~
ms iarm, are all examples of shaTn inn
port 10 point the lesson. A weILvrr;t-
zen statement of the situation from q
western standpoint is found in the fol-
owing from L. G. Bennett in the
creamery and Dairy. 1t g straight
70 Ihe mark, and well would il he for
Us an IL we learn to obey the princi-
pies here brought out:
Sending our farms east is ;pst vbo.
western farmers are DOING tn
aairyman is the least guiltv of all amS
oin reverse the process; he can pile
:" Slhe other fellows farm right on top
vi ms save money while doing it, and
add to his possessions at the same
time. The conditions are these.
rants feed in part upon the atmos-
Phere n in part upon the soil. When
a plant is taken Off the farm the nor
tion OF that plant which came from the
SOIL Is lost. In selling 500 worth of
wheat S4S worth Of farm fertility goes
Win IT, hguring wheat and fertility at
'heir average market values. When
we sell S2)) worth of beef we part with
" worth of fertility. With som
worth of pork we throw in sl2 worth
OF fertility. With a horse SELLING at
S2O0 we lose only 81 worth of fertility
ana when we ship S2J) worth of good
puttsr we ship with it but 25 cents
worth of fertility, for the fat of butter
comes from the air, and only the little
caselne In it Cess than l per cent?
from the soil. But if we sell
eheese or whole milk instead of but
ter, the case is very different. In that
case all the caseine of the milk leaves
the farm, and the loss in fertility flor
caselne is heterogeneous and comes from
the soll) is nearly 100 times greater.
Eastern farmers buy bones bv the
carload, gathered up on the western
plains, for use as fertilizers. They
buy cur thin steers so they will not
have to grow bones at the expense Of
their farms fertility, and buy our corn
10 fatten them. In this way they save
d S22 worth of fertility (or the most
OF lt( represented in the bones and
lean meat, add the fat of the corn and
sell the beef at a gain of fertility to the
farm which comes by increased manure
heaps.
Our dairymen who sell only the but
ter fat and feed the skim milk. lose but
an insignificant mount of fertility,
and using clover in rotation Ga plant
which has the power of appropriating
some fertility from the air) keeps good
the stock of soil fertility. More than
this is a point we especially
desire to make PROMINENTLY buying
bran and feeding his COWS he adds fer
tillty to his soil at the expense of the
fellow who raised the wheat. Nearly
all the nitrogen of wheat is found in
the bran and shorts. The ~wheat-rais-
er's farm is steadily leaving him in the
coating of the wheat kernels. Now,
the dairyman who buys this bran BUYS
the cream of the wheat-raiser's land,
and if he sells only butter fat, this fer
tile part of the wheat-grower's farm
remains oil the dairyman's farm.
D~airying has a four-fold advantage
other branches of farming. 1t
brings spot cash; it yields more money
from the feed consumed; It saves the
natural fertility of the farm; it makes
increased fertility easy.