The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-01-15
ENTRIES TO STAKES CLOSE FEBRUARY !.

prices, gave the meal q f6rtlllZlng
value of $21 per ton, or just the price
at which ii can be bought in car lots
but it has been demonstrated that
not more than one-third of the fer
tilizing value of the meal is lost in
feeding, provided the manure is care
fully saved and properly handled to
avoid waste. Thus, if the meal is
used first as feeding stuff and the
residue applied to the land, the cost
of the fertilizer is reduced by what
ever value the stock may gain from
the feeding. Thus it incontestHbly
offers q cheaper source of fertility
than does any of the strictly com
mercial fertilizers. In field expert
ment a heavy application of the
meal was found to produce a marked
increase Of crops, yet not 50 great as
to warrant using the meal directly
for that purpose. There is no doubt,
however, that it would have gwen q
profit if its feeding value had been
first awaited of.
A correspondent has asked us as to
the relative advantage of sowing
clover in the fall or in the spring,
that he is aware that usual practice
favors the latter season, but desiring
to know the reason for it. Where the
land is subject to successive freezing
and thawing during the winter and
spring, clover is very liable to heave
out from the ground entirely, and so
be winter killed. 1t is more apt to
do this when the growth is small and
the roots short. An old clover field,
with long, firmly established roots,
will resist this action much better.
Glover sown in the fall can make at
the best only small growth before
wi hnnRn
great power of resistance, and the
majority Of the young plants will
probably be lying dead on top OF the
ground before spring If the seed is
sOwn early in the fall in order to
make the needed growth before win
ter, the chances are that it may en-
counter q drouth that would be
equally disastrous. About the only
chance for success in fall sowing
would be to SOW early, on rich,
mellow soil, containing abundant
moisture, and to have a mild, even
winter follow. AS these conditions
can not be insured, we advise against
the experiment. In spring sowing
we are reasonably sure of sufficient
moisture, and, the season being IA
vOrable to termination and growth,
the chances of failure are reduced to
the minimum.
The business of fruit growing is one
of the most attractive lines of work
connected with our agriculture, and
so much is said aud written about the
profits realized in it that many are
tempted from other lines of work
every year to engage in this. 1t Is
needless to say that very many fail to
realize their expectations, as will al
ways be the case where men go into
any new business without looking
carefully into all sides of it. Begin
ners in fruit culture must remember
that only one side of the story is COM
monty told. We hear of the men
who make a success, but not of the
failures. We say this not to dis
courage any man who may have an
inclination toward that line of work,
but merely to caution them to study
it very carefully before venturing
deeply. 1t is rather slow work get
ting started in fruit culture, and de-
mands some capital. There will be
many unexpected drafts on the
pocket before the returns begin to
come in. Then, the fruit growing de-
mands ability OF different sort from
that required in the ordinary opera
tiOns of the farm. 1t is not 80 much
the ability to work hard, although
there Is plenty of work to be done, as
it is to keep at it constantly. Every
portion of the fruit farm must be
kept under the most constant super
vision, or something will be sure to
go wrong. There are more diseases
and enemies to contend with than is
the case with farm crops. and one
must study continually in order to
know how to detect these and combat
them in time. The fruit grower, too,
must be more of a merchant, better
with business methods, in
order that he may market his, crops
to the best advantage. DispOsing OF
a drove of hundred hogs or of
thousand bushels of wheat is a much
simpler thing than to market the
crops from five acres of strawberries,
ten acres of peaches, or from twenty
acre apple orchard. It ia true that
we d06Hot see many extensive fruit
growers but that are making money,
more money at least than could be
made from the same number of acres
in ordinary farm crops. These are
the men who have staid in, have been
suited to their business, have fol- |
lowed it with intelligence, and have |
made q success. How many have
failed and dropped out of the ranks
for each one of these we have no
means of knowing. The best advice |
we can offer beginner is to COM
mence on a small scale, to make haste |
slowly, and to find whether he is |
to the business before going |
so far that he can not back out with |
out serious harm. J. r. E.