The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1893-07-13

lions, thousands or pounds OF the most
!. valuable materials are allowed to go to
waste each year for the lack of that
care and knowledge so necessary to pre-
serve, uninlured. the different elements
of plant food. Most farmers consider
these matters too small to require much
| thought or attention, but it is the neg
iect of these small leaks on the farm
which causes heavy vutlays OF time and
money, when the farmer can i'll afford
to pay either. For instance, how many
farmers who read this article realize
that the elements of fertility in the
urine OF stock contain just as much
| plant food as the most solid excremen?
mention this because, on most farms,
there is absolutely no provision made
for absorbing and holding these valua-
bic materials. We cannot adequately
calculate the waste on this one item.
Again, many farmers who keep their
stables well supplied with absorbents,
! In the way of leaves or straw, together
with dry dirt, muck or land plaster, yet
lose much in the process of fermenta-
tion-the ammonia being allowed to es-
cape-and the materials which they
| have collected at considerable outlay of
time and labor, become valueless, ex-
cept as mulch on worn land, or to be
piowed under to prevent the land from
running together. A little more atten-
ton just at the fermentilE period, to
see that the pile was kept moist and not
allowed to decompose too rapidly would
have.insured fine supply of perfect
plant food. On the other hand, too
much moisture delays this process of
fermentation, which we have been try
ing to advance.
Ano%ho~ ;x.oo.lo-A
making manure is the. quality and
| character, as we'll as the quantity of
food supplied to the animals. The
richest manures will be furnished by
such highly concentrated food as cotton
seed meal and llnseed meal. Next
come peas, beans and clover; then the
grains, and lastly the roots. One fact
! is patent, that is that there can be no
more fertilizing materials in the cxcre-
ments than were present in the food.
Therefore from poor food we can only
expect poor quality of manure. The
urine contains most of the nitrogen and
nearly all the potash. How important,
then, to preserve its elements, and see
that they 60 back on our lands. Another
source from which good supply of the
best fertilizing material can be realized
is the trash pen, into which all the
waste from the house and yard should
be thrown-the leaves from the yard,
the Stops from the house, anything that
will contribute to swell the final result;
and it is surprising how much can be
gathered in this way. But to be sue,
| cessful in this, as in everything else,
requires daily care and attention. Very
little permanent good can be accom-
pl1shed by spasmodic effort. Care to-
day, neglect tomorrow, will blast and
ruin most enterprises, and farming is
| no exception.
Whenever you can spare the time
| from your crops, haul the manure out
| and broadcast it on your land. If in
the summer, sow peas ON this, and
when they are matured turn them I'M
der; if in the fall or spring, sow small
grain with clover. Building up our
lands gradually but permanently should
be our aim, and it is only by the appli-
| cation of the home made manures, sup
plenented with phosphates, on which
| clover, peas and rye are sown. that we
can reasonably hope for success. APP
| plying few hundred pounds of highly
| available, prepared fertilizer, directly
under the plants, which food is often
exhausted before the plants attain ma
| turlty, can, In no sense, be said to re-
store fertility or permanently improve
our lands. We can't continue to talk,
small amount from given quantity
of anything tor an indefinite period, and
expect to retain the original quantity.
{ And yet this is just what we are doing
with our lands. There is only so much
deposited there at the start; we take
this off, year after year in our different
crops, and while the rain and the at
mosphere return small quantity, and
we supply some by artificial means, the
whole is not usually enough to keep up
even a fair condition for plant food.
Approaching the many advantages
which we enjoy in soil. climate and
! water, let us begin now to shape our
farm policy on the building up and i'm
proving plan. Let each idea be direct
| ed to the best means of obtaining these
results. 1t has taken years of mistaken
farm policy to bring us to our present
condition; it will require time and
| heavy expenditure of thought, muscle
and money to put us back where we
started, and in the struggle, this ques-
ton of proper methods of manuring
plays an important part. To deal with
it in an intelligent and practical man
ner is one of the absorbing needs of the
times, and to meet it successfully should
be our daily study. r. T. NEsBrTT,
In Southern Cultivator for July.