Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-03-29
WASTE In EARNING.
Wealth From the Soil Which Has Been
Thrown Away In the Past.


Thrown Away In the Past.
When nature is prodigal, man is
wasteful. Waste has been the rule IN
American agriculture. Accumulated
mold Of ages of vegetation was offered
at $I.25 per acre. Afterward it was
given away, subject to official fees for
perfecting a title, both to natives and
immigrants. With land free to all, there
was prodigality of fertility and econ
omy of labor. Thus in primitive agri-
culture, rotation. cultivation, diversifi-
cation, were all sacrificed, and fertility
was transmitted into net cash. Because
wheat could be grown without cultiva-
ton Oh the broken sod, and because 1t
was always a cash crop, little else was
grown, and because there was so much
of it and so few farm animals the straw,
which is worth as much in England as
the whole crop here, was burned to get
rid Of it, and because of this repeating
of a crop without cultivation weeds
the rate Of yield until at last, because
of extension of wheat area beyond the
needs of consumption, price was re-
duced and profits destroyed. Thus ma
ture, which cannot be trifled with safe
". has been avenged, and the wheat
grower is muddled in trying to lay the
blame upon the currency, the tariff or
ANYTHING rather than his own unecO-
nomical and wasteful practice.
The same abandon attended early eff
forts in animal industry. Unimproved
breeds were kept four years or more on
lush grass in summer, in the lee Of
haystack in winter, fattening at one sea-
son and existing at another, favOring the
production of fat and lean in layers, to
be sold at low prices to unsatiSfied con-
sumers. The first butter dairies-for
instance, Pratt in New York-required
40 pounds of milk to make one pound
of butter He, by selection and care. re-
duced the requirement almost one-half,
and now some Jerseys produce a pound
of butter for 10 pounds Of milk. The
"hogging down" of corn in feeding cat
tie and hogs was another wasteful pro-
cedure in primitive farming.
1t was the same with cotton. The
seed was wasted or only used for ma
nure. Sometimes stock was killed by
being gorged over pile of seed, but
systematic feeding was unknown. Now
$40, 900, 900, more or less, represents the
oil of the seed, which was wasted if ap
piled to the soil, and almost as much
more should be got from feeding the
cake, with incidental foods to constitute
a suitable ration and costing almost
nothing In this way all the valuable
elements of the seed are returned to the
soil, with additional manurial value Of
other feeding material Pork, if not
beef, can be produced in the mild eli
mate Of the south with cottonseed cake,
cowpeas and other fall and winter grow
ing forage plants even cheaper than the
central west.
In wooded sections the first and lar
gest opportunity for waste was found in
the wanton destruction of wood and tim
Der, and it was improved until large
areas have become deserts. In every ru-
raj industry exploitation has been deple
tion and destruction.
When fax became an auxiliary or
successor to wheat a million of acres
went into cultivation for seed, and the
straw was thrown away, though coarse
fiber worth 800 per ton had been made
of the straw as it lies from the mower,
while by slight change Of method of
culture and treatment, as is done in
Europe, far more valuable fiber can be
produced. Flaxgrowers will say it can
not be done, because they do not know
how and will not learn. but it has been
done and is done successfully and uni
formly in other fax growing countries.
Prairie Farmer.