The Columbus journal., 1892-10-19
A R AND HOUSEHOLD.
THE DIFFICULTY OF ExTEN-
=, SiVE FARMING.
small Matters Neglected-Sheep In the
Pastures-Do bees Make Honey
Points on Porkers a
Household Helps.
Waste OH large FARMS.

The measure of executive ability
and chpital that man a control
must decide how large 4 iartn he can
prroitably work. Every mar has his
limit. and attempting too much is the
cause OF more failures taaE e any
other that can be named. 1t is often
truly said that what is wasted on a
large farm will keep more than n
family. This is true even on what
slay be considered medium sized
farms if the waste of land - also
considered. Nowhere is the possible
productive capacity of soil reached.
Our nearest approaches to it are in
market gardens where men get not
mersly n living. hut gain wealth by
eultivatine: very small pieces of
grounj. Those who farm wholly
under glass make still more. says the
American Cultivator. They practi-
cally crsate a soil. and then cultivate
it in the most thorough manner.
But in ordinary farming the owner
OF a large farm is handicapped by
inability Nv make the best. use of all of
~ SAuSt LClcS vi G"O w tIlTcc
fields are brought up to a high state
Of cultivation. The rest is left in
grass or crops that need little labor
to produce what it will. Usually
this uncultivated part Of the farm in.
creases very slowly in fertility Or not
at all. as the remaining land takes the
manure made from feeding what it
produces. There is a common but
delusive bel:-f that land kept in grass.
and especially If pastured. must gain
in fertil ty. More often than not it
loses. Whatever of animal growth
Or product is sold from such land robs
it of mineral fertilizers. Before its
owner may be aware the grass fails.
and when plowed it takes lib
eral supplies of phosphate to
have it we'll seeded again.
The losses on large farms. however.
are often much more direct than this.
Under poor cultivation weeds increase.
and rs the fertility is lessened consid-
cradle portions are given up to weeds
This is worse than leaving the land
in grass. because the weeds return
nothing to the owner. while grass is
always worth something. On most
large farms there is more or less land
SO filled with weeds that it 70 longer
pays the labor required to cultivate
it. Sometimes it is seeded down in the
hope that grass and clover will crowd
out the weeds. But once seeded with
weed seeds it takes many years to
clean land 20 that it will pay for
profitable cultivation again.
The chief difficulty Of the extensive
farmer is that it is impossible to give
close attention to details OF farm
management. 1t is on these numer-
ous small matters. rather than on Il
few great matters. that success or
failure depends. This is especially
true in the close competition to which
farming is now subjected The fact
shat nature works with the farmer
does not count as it once did. There
was a time when what nature did
made every farmers work Il success.
Now nature does quite AS much as it
did. bat it requires that the
farmer intelligently cooperate with
nature to an extent never before
known. 1t is not enough that the
large farmer reduce his acreage.
What is rather needed is that he put
more skill and thought into the
management of what land he tills.