Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-05-17
SOCKS ON RAISING AND FEEDING
FORAGE Crops.
PIONEERS OF THE soILING SYSTEM
PREPARING LAND FOR PEAS AND
OATS. sPoiLISG A YOUNG MANS AIR
CASTLE.


PREPARING LAND FOR PEAS AND
OATS. sPoiLISG A YOUNG MANS AIR
CASTLE.
A reader Asks me TO name the best
book on soiling cattle and the raising Of
forage crops. There are two small
volumes on the subject, one by Josiah
Quincy, written In part In The year 1919.
and publish~d In tho Massachusetts
Agricultural Journal of July, 1850. II
gives arguments In favor Of sssll-fssdins
dairy coss drawn iron shs exverisncv
of Europeaa farmers. together With the
r~sslts of his oxn exvsrim~nts on his
fsrm In Quincy daring the three years
previous. A second part wss prepared
more than thirty years later. These pa
pers e.m~ cat In boob form ia lsss, and
~cre followed by sccond edition COT
tanning msmsir prepared BY Eimand
Quincy of DedhAm, uho uas The Arst
0~n 10 call my attention % the economy
of th~ soilins system. The yolame also
contained 40 agricultural .ddress deliv-
er~d by Mr.. Quincy In Brightoa at one
of the esritrst cattle shows heid In the
state. These
sxvxRAL PAPKks
together make q book Of 11l pages, and
for many years wss the oaly authority
eu the .unjccf.
In lsss, Mr.. Frank 5. Peer Of East
Palmyra. y. u, psblishsd . small
volume Ia which he gives his own ex-
p~rience with that Of many others sho
have pr~cticed soiiing as . system.
Both books are valuable for the hints
given Of an intensive system OF farming,
the one by Mr.. Peer being more up 70
date and including Instructions for build.
ing silos and rsisiog and feeding ensi-
lase. The subject Of raising and feeding
forage crops 10 cattle 10 too narrow for
making large book, as no set rules can
be given that will be applicable TO all
farmers. A young man right from an
Agricultural college came 70 me one day
with paper on which
HE HAD FIGURED OUT
Just how much money he was going TO
make on . fifty-scre farm keeping nfty
COWS, by the soiling system. His cows
were all to yield the full amount that
the best animals have been known 10
produce, and each acre was TO produce
from two to three crops year, and he
showed me to dot just how many
pounds Of protein. carbohydrates and
fat each crop would contain per scre,
and how much milk would result from
its consumption by the cows. Hls bot
tom line gave figures that would allow
him to hire all his work done, while he
and his young wife would spend their
time riding out and visiting friends,
reading stories and books and papers on
the pleasures aud beauties Of country
farm life. When he had shown me all
the figures and asked what thought OF
them, l asked him how much he had al
lowed for bad weather, droughts and
sickness In his herds, unfalthful
or inefficient helpg He hadn't thought TO
allow snything for such drawbacks,
wasn't intending to have any.
WAS sorry to spoil his air-castle, but
IL did not take long to do II, and ex-
pect he has had reason since to thank
me for saving him from q greater loss
and disappointment. know many sue
cessful farmers, hut among them all |
do not know Of one who is sure that he
will mansge his business In all regards
next year exactly as he did last year.
The
NEW DISCOVERIES
being made at the experiment stations,
the new forage plants introduced from
other countries, aud the changes In the
demands Of the market, keep one con-
ST. utly on the alert for any new idea OF
value in relation TO ones business. Mr..
Quincy depended chiefly on grass, oats,
barley and corn for his green crops. He
kept IS COWS on his fifty acres OF cultivst-
ed land, raising forage enough from II to
carry his herd well through the summer
v ith some over TO be dried for winter.
Since his day the silo has been introduc-
ed which Is great help to many farmers,
the value OF peas and clover s better
understood and improved implements OF
tiilsge and harvesting have made nu-
merous changes in methods desirable. Mr..
Quincy MAS the pioneer, and for long
while stood almost alone as an advocate
Of the system; but IL has extended not
only over New England with Its small
farms, but has been adopted to con-
siderable extent xt the west where farm
ing Is done on larger scale.
PEAS AND OATS.
The same reader says he is In doubt rs
10 the best way to get In his peas and
oats. He has proposed to manure the
land with twelve TO fifteen cords OF green
stable manure ploughed In this spring,
but reading that the peas should also be
covered with u plough, he doubts II he
can bury the manure so nicely at the
first ploughing that IL will not be
brought TO the surface again at the sec
ond ploughiug, or at least making It
difficult covering the oats week later
with q harrow, ~ Is recommended by the
advocates of the peas and oat crop. do
not know how the trouble can be best
gotten over this year II stable manure Is
to be used as stated, but know that the
next time | would certainly apply the
manure in the fall, and work II into the
soil with some form Of disc harrow, 60
ing over the land several times, few
dsys apart, so that the manure, by spring
would be SO mixed up with the soil and
rotted down that IL would not In the
least interfere with the plough or other
implement Of tillsge. The manure Will
not waste by such previous application,
the ground will be In the best possible
condition for the crop - early In The
spring as one will care 20 put it in, much
better than II carted over In spring
Peas and oats both do far better when
got 10 early, ~ they both Ike . cool
climate. Late Data rust, and late peas
are apt To mildew. Ii takes = little cal
cul.tion TO arrange for manuring In the
fall. but once get started that way, AND
IL IL easy enough afterwards. A large
portion OF my land Was prepared 10 that
way every yesr.-New England Farmer