The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-19
AGRICULTURE.
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Recent experiences have brought home
to the rank and file of farmers what had
been asserting itself in the minds of but
the few-that advance in practice which
preserves in the best form the straw and
the stalk which bears the grain which
has heretofore constituted virtually the
total value of the great field crops of tn
country.
When old grass lands are to be broken
up the blowing should be done in au-
tumn, in order that the vegetable mat
ters of the sod may undergo some de
composition in time to meet the wants
of the spring crop, and that the soil may
be exposed to the ameliorating influence
of the winter frosts,
There is continual advance in the ma
ture of methods which might be made
available for general use, but the actual
appropriation of these methods to their
own personal use by farmers in general
is matter of slow growth. 1t is we'll to
oo CONSERVATIVE Out WiOhS W DO Oils
fogyish.
1t is reported that a Russian now in
this country has said that capital is
ready to take up crop, caps, stalks, hulls,
seed, oil cake, and every thing belonging
to the sunfower as soon as it is ready
for the market. Why can not it be
made one of.our best paying crops? 1t
grows everywhere, and with half a
chance.
The impression is gaining that no
other plant will yield more fodder to the
acre or give food which can be fed with
more satisfaction to the stock than sorg-
hum. 1t is good with the seed on for
fattening horses, cattle, sheep or hogs.
Cut, handle and stack it much the same
as hay.
Every bushel of grain unnecessarily
fed to stock, whether it be to fatten or
to carry through the winter in good
shape, is wasted, and whenever fodder
crops can be used as feed for the ami
mails it should be done, as the grain can
be otherwise disposed of and an increase
made to the returns from the farm
Drainage is beneficial to most land to
draw off water from the lower soil and
admit the air, which increases the fertil-
ity. Such soil is always in better con-
dition, early or late, for blowing and for
plant growth. A good, long tile running
toward the barn can be tapped for a
tankIfor stock water, often, and give a
clear cool running stream all summer.
even when the fields are dry and dusty.
One secret of successful farming lies
in the ready anticipation of what each
seasons work is to demand of the far
mer, and it is in the doing of many
things out of season, as some short
sighted people would loook at it. Try to
transfer part of the spring work to the
fall and winter months.
Last years experience with the prepa-
ration and feeding of corn fodder is al
most worth the loss of last seasons corn
crop 1t ensures an abundance of sub
stantial rough food for the future to this
country. There is no reason why there
is not winters comfort and a winters
profit in the fodder of the worst corn
fields.
The successful farmer is the man who
has a good business education. He
uses business like methods in his daily
practice only by force of discipline ad-
ministered at some earlier period in his
life. The man who takes a course in
the modern business college goes out in
to the world with his eyes opened and
his wits quickened.
The subsoiling idea has brought new
converts this year by the heavy rainfall
in Kansas. Instead of the subsoiled
lands being washed away, the water
readily found the immense reservoir I'M
derneath, and the soil was not disturbed
in it's place; in fact, there was greater
loss to lands plowed in the usual way.
In wet soils the salts are washed be.
low the feeding range of our standard
crops; when they become dry again for
considerable period these salts are grad
ually worked to the surface. The green
fields of the West this spring were
striking evidence of the good effects of
last summers drouth. Long drouths
improve soil conditions.