The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1892-09-29
AGRICULTURAL.
SHORT CUTS.

for permanently improving our
highways.
A system of cropping on shares
is not usually a good one tor the
land. The tenants only interest is
to get as much from the soil as he
can.
A farmer ten miles from town,
on poor country road, is further
from market than if he were 200
miles away by rail.
1t you propose to practice level
cultivation OF potatoes next season,
drain your land properly first. 9th.
erwise the experiment may prove
very unsatisfactory.
Select the seed corn now for next
year, and put it where it will cure
out rapidly and become and remain
thoroughly dry.
Irrigation keeps plant food in so>
luton and uses it up more rapidly
than would otherwise be the case.
When you irrigate supply fertilizers
most abundantly.
Keep up your land as much as
possible by using animal manures
and green crops plowed under. 1t
is time enough after these have been
exhausted to resort to commercial
fertilizers.
In sowing grass and clover on
poor land do not be too stingy with
the seed. The poorer the land the
more seed will fail to terminate.
The low average CT our crops, as
shown by statisticians, suggests the
vast opportunity that exists for bet
ter and more profitable farming.
Why not take advantage of it?
One reason for the low average of
many crops is that we do not fight
insect enemies promptly enough.
There should be no delay in dealing
with them.
Growing for the home market
first is all right, but the American
farmer should remember that his
market is the whole world. Local
Pdemand should not be our entire
guide when planting.
1t is quite as important to harvest
and store the crops carefully as it il
to plant and cultivate properly
Some farmers seem to overlook this
fact.
The percentage of hay and grair
that is wasted because OF poorly con-
structed STACKS and leaky barn roofs
is unnecessarily large. Do you suf-
from these causes
Rats, mice, squirrels, weevils and
other insects destroy and damage
grain after it is in the bins and
cribs. These looses are preyentable.
The sold beaten track" is not the
one that will always lead us most
quickly, or even most surely, to
success in agriculture. New ideas
and new methods have come up in
every branch of farm practice dur
ing recent years, and many of them
have already been tried and found
good. A prejudice in favor OF old
ways should not keep one from be-
ing progressive. Read, study and
keep up with times.
Very many farms which are now
unprcductive, or barely paying ex>
penses, could be brought up to a
very profitable state of cultivation
merely by undertaking. Where
tiles are difficult to procure, or where
the expense is thought too great, an
excellent substitute may be made
with boards or stones. Good farm
ing is very often thrown away on
land that is too wet to produce good
crops, and before wasting more time
and strength in this way the land
itself should be put in proper .con>
dition.
Put some Of the surplus manure
on the meadows, hauling it out and
spreading evenly through the fall
and winter. Grass will run out
rapidly if not fed. 1t pays just as
we'll to fertiiize it as it does to fer
tilize grain. Some men neglect this
and then wonder that they get such