The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-02-24

| per acre. The value of the product of
the three-ton acre is $50 Taking out
the mineral value, S15, and the cost of
harvesting, SO, leaves a net profit of
only 81. The first pays the interest on
a valuation of 5000 per acre and the
last on a valuation of S66. Let us
compute the results of raising corn un-
der similar conditions. Take one acre
in good condition. The hauling and
spreading manure would cost SO, plow-
ing, narrowing and seeding $4, cult
waiting SO, cutting so, hauling eighteen
tons of corn SO, cutting into silo s3,
cost oflabor S18 The value of eighteen
tons of corn at SO 33 per ton is $50 a.
Taking out the cost of labor and 1877
worth of manure would leave net profit
of $l4 "a. Take an acre in poor condi-
ton. The hauling and spreading ma
nure, blowing, narrowing, seeding,
cultivating and cutting would be the
same. Hauling ten tons would cost
$1.50, cutting into silo $3.50 and the
cost of labor SIS. The value of ten
tons of corn is S33 30 and taking out
the cost of labor and S15 worth of
manure leaves net profit of only $3.50
One acre giving profit equal to the
interest on valuation of $3.50, while
the profit of the other acre is the inter-
est on S55.
Another example: A dairy farmer
with herd of twenty-four cows. I'm
der old methods he made butter through
the summer, selling it for a very low
price. In winter his COWS were dry,
consuming two and one-half tons of
hay each, aggregating sixty tons, and
requiring sixty to eighty acres of
meadow land for its production. With
modern methods, sixteen acres of
meadow land well farmed will produce
their winter fodder. Ten acres of hay
will give thirty tons and six acres of
corn los tons. The daily winter ration
per COW should be hay twelve pounds,
silage thirty pounds, cottonseed meal
two pounds and wheat bran five pounds.
This will require thirty tons of hay and
eighty tons of corn, five tons of cotton
seed meal at S27, and seven and one
half tons of bran at S22, making the
cost of the purchased feeds $780, This
herd should make through the winter
eighteen pounds of butter per day, and
for 2lO days, or seven months, $3.50
pounds at twenty-five cents per pound
would be $945. Taking out $500 worth
of grain leaves S645 as the feeding
value of the products of sixteen acres,
an average of $40 81 per acre. Now if
this shows that farming on land in a
good state of fertility is remunerative,
it also shows that the farmer who is
content in taking meager crops from
rundown land is working his own farm
on shares, and getting but a small share
at that. Two crops year from the
same field should be the rule The
land should be always in a high state
of fertility and when it is once brought
to high state of productiveness, it
should be kept constantly at work, and
never become deficient in plant food.
AS to general farm management on a
rundown farm with the purpose to
bring it up to better condition,
would suggest the following method
Beginning April with a twenty. COW
dairy farm, buildings in fair condition
and making slight alterations and some
inexpensive repairs, we are ready to
proceed The pasture is large and fur
nishes passabe feed in the cary sum
mer. The meadow lands are we'll nigh
exhausted. A small portion near and
just below the barn gives fairly good
hay, but the greater portion yields
nothing but white top or native grass
and not much more than half a ton per
acre. In present condition the ia m
, wi scarcely carry ten cows. The iisl
thing to be considered is the corn crop.
For this field we will select that por-
, ton of the meadow land most feasible
, and bordering on the highway. Re-
, move the fence between the field and
, the road. With a reversible pillow begin
, at the road and pillow on the side of the
field. We want long rows and will GO
, the whole length and plow five acres.
, If we have plowed it we'll and the fur.
r rows are evenly laid we may omit the
, narrowing. otherwise the field should
be thoroughly narrowed before apply.
ing the manure. The most essential
, thing is to get it we'll MANFRED. Scrape
} the premises thoroughly, the barns
yards, under the barns and every nook
3 and corner. If there is no cellar under
, the stables take up the floor and take
A out the fertility that has been accumu
lating there for many years. Scrapt
8 the floor of the poultry house and take
3 the hen manure saved during the pre-
: vious winter, mixing it with earth O.
/ muck and plaster, composing it thor
' oughly. Make it a general " clearing
up time"
| There is fostering pool near tn,
= house where the slops have accumulate
/ from the sink spout. Clean this out
/ digging Geep to get all the fertile ant
g to rid the family of the danger of this
l poisonous mass, waiting to do its worl
= of death. Apply it all to the corn field
and if we have not succeeded in gettins
g over the whole field, get some manure
I somewhere else. Plant with machine
4 and use from $50 to 200 pounds of con
centrated fertilizer per acre. When tn,
2 corn is planted, pillow three acres more
t Pulverze this thoroughly and sow will
e oats and peas, with dressing of som,
) fertilizing material. Then pillow tw,
v acres more and SOW to buckwheat, will
e a light dressing of suitable fertilizer.
d Now while the crops are making thei
n growth with our constant care and at
:, tention we are anticipating the mex
h year. The cows are stabbed nights. Tn
j. manure of the horses. hogs and hens