The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-12-14
AGRICULTURE.

AGRICULTURE.
The farmer depends upon other coun-
tries largely for sweetening for his tea
and coffee, for his spices and some other
condiments, but with these exceptions
how little is the farmer dependent upon
any source exterior to the farm for his
table supplies. The winter kept vegeta-
bles, the fresh products of the garden
from early spring to frost, the berries,
the fruits. the products of the hennery
and the dairy and the flesh from his own
stall fed steers, make bill of fare most
complete.
Because of the worlds open markets
local supply or demand cuts but little
figure, and the produces must look
away beyond his own dooryard. The
time was when the question of selling
ones corn or feeding it to fattening
stock was determined by the conditions
in ones own country, while now it de-
ponds upon the fullness of the crops a
thousand miles away or upon the &C
tions of Nations law makers.
A sod does not rot as fast as crop
needs the food it contains, unless it is
turned under a considerable time before
planting. Even when a clover sod is
turned under in the fall particles of veg
etable matter are often found when the
crop is harvested. We want the largest
possible amount of soluble matter in
the soil while the crop is growing, and
this is usually gained by early blowing
Today the farmer contracts the acre
age of his grain crops, spreads out his
fields to grass and covers them over
with good stock; he feeds his grain on
the farm where it is raised, sends moth
ing off the land but the finished product,
and secures to himself the best form of
rotation of crops. The more distant
from the general market the more ur-
gent is the necessity for adopting this
mode Of agriculture.
Many Of the Western farming popu-
lation have not yet got hold of the key
to success. The farmer of that region
must understand that from this time on
he must build up the fertility of his soil
as fast as he tears it down, and instead
of piling cheap grains upon an overdone
market, with large transportation
charges to climb over, he must feed it
out to good stock as intelligently as he
knows how.
Gather no seeds but the fairest and
most perfect specimens Procure those
of melons and squashes before frost
comes, but let them ripen further in
their cases; of beets, cabbage and tur
nips save only those growing on the lead
ing stems. Too warm place will des-
troy the germinative power Of most
seeds, but they should always be kept
dry, and freezing is ruinous in most
cases.
Fall plowed land may suffer some
from the winters drenching rains, and
yet it may be wise to endure this loss.
Fall blowing permits early planting. and
it will not do to pillow in spring until the
earth crumbles we'll, lest it become
cloddy and lifeless. Unbroken land
dries more slowly, too. The teams are
more fitted to do the breaking up in the
autumn, for in the spring they are soft
from disuse. The best reason of all is
that clay lands get the benefit of the pull
verifying action of the frost, and tillage
becomes easier all the year.
How can it be other than an import
ant matter that fields lying open to the
damaging influences of heat after har-
vest should be plowed and sown to some
crop. either temporary or permanent, for
pasture or for fertilizer? Why should
the farmer leave his fields to grow up
with weeds to cover the ground and
ripen, and furnish their seed to infest
that farm for years to come?