Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-02-12
SUCCESSFUL INSTITUTE


eiatsd by Farmsrs Present.
RIVERSIDE, Feb. l1.-(Special.) )-The
disagreeable snow storm of Saturday inter.
fered quite seriously with the complete
success Of the Farmers Institute at River.
side on that day, and yet the meeting was a
most interesting one and the day sessions
were attended by an audience of about one
hundred. The convention was presided
over by F. H. Mooers, Esq, of Pittston,
member of the State Board of Agriculture
for Kennebec county. 1t was a great
disappointment to the audience that Secre-
tary McKeeu and Maj. Henry E. Alvord of
Washington, D. c., were not present
during the day. These gentlemen attended
Farmers Institute at Rockland on Fri
day, and supposed railroad connections
could be made Friday evening that would
enable them to reach Riverside Saturday
forenoon; but such proved not the case and
hence the people present were deprived of
the pleasure of hearing them. Yet not
withstanding this good programme was
carried out to the pleasure and edifcation
Of all present.
Prof. w. H. Jordan, director of the Maine
Experiment station. His general subject
was Balanced Rations for Stock" which
was illustrated by four or five large charts
or tables of figures, which were suspended
in full view of the audience, and which
aided greatly in impressing the facts of his
lecture upon those who listened to him.
These charts showed the amount of plant
food contained in one years crops on
fairly good average farm in the State OF
Maine; the plant food in the dairy; the
plant food in the pig pen, and the general
balance sheet of the plant food for the
year. After an introduction, in which
Prof. Jordan made happy allusion to the
higher education of farmers for this busi-
ness now, over that of few years ago, he
said that from statistics collected by Carroll
d. Wright it was stated that in 1892 there
were sold in the United States ,750 900 tons
of commercial fertilizers, for which the
farmers paid $51 100000. So far
as the sales in Maine are con-
cerned it is only q careful estimate
which places the amount at $1,000, 900
worth annually. which they pay for volun-
tarily. Plants must have good food. The
people can be fooled with oleomargarine in
place of butter, but the farmer cannot fool
the plant. Still, there are many elements
that plants require which the farmer does
not have to buy, certain elements, water,
air, iron and many chemical salts which ex-
ist free in the great laboratory of nature.
There are three elements, however, which
the plant must have-nitrogen, phosph0ric
acid and potash. and this is why the phos-
phate beds of Florida and South Carolina,
the islands of the Pacific and the mines of
Germany, are hunted over for phosphate
rock, guano and potash salts, in order that
the commercial fertilizers may be furnished
with these elements. When farmers pur-
chase these fertilizers they buy . large
amount of stuff which they do not want, in
order to get the three valuable
ingredients which they do want.
Hence the farmer should give more
attention to the home resources of the farm
for manurial agents and their saving, har-
vesting and rightly using-to which points
his lecture was mainly devoted. In ex-
planning them he described the charts of
figures before alluded to, which represented
1.-The ideal farm" This farm cuts fifty
tons of hay annually, it raised fifty tons Of
corn silage, $50 bushels of oats, five tons
of oat straw, and 166 bushels of potatoes.
1t kept herd of fifteen cows, sixteen pigs
and q pair of horses. 1t has q sil0, for
whoever neglects the silo, said Prof. Jor-
dan, neglects one of the means of improv-
ing agriculture. In the crops raised on this
"ideal farm there were obtained $35S
worth of nitrogen; $3.50 worth of phos-
phoric acid, and $103.50 worth of potash.
The cows are pastured for one hundred
dsys, and kept up for the remainder of the
year. They are fed twenty tons of hay,
the horses require four tons, and there are
26 tons sold with which to purchase the extra
provender to make up the balance ration,
viz -four tons of cotton seed meal two tons of
wheat bran and four tons of corn meal.
This food with the 20 tons of hay give the
farmer in the manure 1898 pounds of nitro
gen 1858 pounds of phosphoric acid and l240
pounds of potash. Cows which come in
fresh in the fall, said the speaker. will give
from 500 to 1000 pounds more milk than
those which come in fresh in the spring
time. In feeding these cows there is an
actual loss Of ouly per cent. OF nitrogen, 8
per cent. of phosphoric acid and per cent.
Of potash in the food materials consumed.
The pigs require 60. 900 pounds Of skim milk
and l4,600 pounds of corn meal, and will
return in their manure 602 pounds Of nitro
gen, 228 pounds of phosphoric acid and l6l
pounds of potash. Now when the manure
from all these sources is sound, and not
allowed to be washed down the hill or lost
under the barn floor the farmer will have to
buy but little commercial fertilizer to main
tain the fertility of his farm.
Why, some farmers actually lose
enough manure each year to pay