The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-05-30
AGRICULTURE,

There is money in buying a poor farm
cheap and bringing it up" if man has
faculty toward that end; but the ma
jority will endeavor to crop their whole
area at once. while they and their farm
both grow poorer. 1t is far wiser for the
owner to endeavor but to produce sus-
tenance for himself and his stock, and
devote all other effort to the remaining
land.
One must have clean soil to avoid the
potato scab-either new soil or soil per-
fectly free from infection. Then soak
the seed tubers for two or three hours
iu solution Of corrosive sublimate, one
part to the thousand. 1t will be about
right il quarter of pound is put into
barrel of water.
When fed on ensilage animals lose
heat faster than when fed on dry food,
and it is, therefore, especially necessary
to keep them warm at such times. Ami
mails fed in cold barnyard or uncom-
Portable stable require at least one third
more food, and one third of the winters
feed makes large supply.
The plant food derived from the air is
constantly replaced by natural processes,
SO that this source of supply need not
concern US, as it is always adequate. In
the soil, however. the restoring of plant
food is very slow process, and is by no
means equal to the removal by the or
binary crops.
In planting the garden get the best of
everything. When the superior qualities
OF new variety has been tested do not
refuse it, and yet this does not mean
that it is wise to invest in everything
new in the seedsman's catalogue. We
are advancing in every line of horticul-
ture, and the improvement of our gar
den vegetables is no exception.
Thousands of acres have fed stock
upon the sweetest of grasses since the
settlement OF the country, and have
given them all the lime their bones
needed without any direct application
Of that article. 1t is never positively
necessary to use lime as manure. but
it is often cheaper way Of getting nj
trogen and PHOSPHORUS than to buy it
outright.
II you found that it paid you we'll to
manure certain piece of sluggish land
last year, suppose you try it again, even
if you have to buy much Of the supply
only double the application. The last
load of manure is the one which pays
best every time. Even inanimate nature
must be fed well to produce well.
Many farmer loses more than the
cost of an implement in single season
by doing without it. A hay crop may
be half spoiled for want of proper
horse rake. Many corn field bears
short crop because the planter did not
feed out we'll and regularly. Specialists
carry on their operations to the best
advantage because they are prepared
for them.
1t is all folly to put nothing but green
leaves and water in the silo. Let the
planting of ensilage corn be done as
early as possible, so as to give it chance
to mature. Plant varieties which grow
to medium size, six inches apart in the
row, and the rows three and half feet
apart, and you will get about all an acre
is capable Of yielding.
During the day the plant is gathering
nourishment from different sources. and
during the night this material is assimi
lated into plant life. 1t is curious fact
that plants grow much more in the
night than by day, as can be proved at
any time by measurement; but this
seems to be the rule with all life; even
children grow most by night.
Farming is more comprehensive
thing than merely looking after the
crop in hand. The relation of the crop
to the stored fertility in the land lie quite
as important question as the amount
Of that crop and its value in the market.
Plan for the crops, and look ahead to
the effect of such upon the field it occu-
pies.
If you have never grown a crop of
potatoes under extensive culture, make
special study of the subject, and de-
termine to grow good crop upon at
least an acre. Both the crop and the
experience will be profitable. 1t is not
easy to avoid profit when one grows
200 or more bushels to the acre.
Your wagon shows special results of
wear and tear during the past winter,
because in cold weather it is so easy to
neglect such things as greasing the
axles. Many little things are thus neg.
lected in winter, but the necessity for
them is as great as in warm weather
1t is we'll to endure little discomfort
and take care of ones possessions.
Plenty of clover will go long way
toward making farm profitable. Think
how many ways it can be utilized-for
pasture, for hay. for feeding the stock,
or feeding the land, sometimes serving
the double purpose of feeding the stock
and then going back to the soil in the
manurial product. Fear not raising too
much; it will always find market.