The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-07-29
Agriculture.

Under proper management there
is no such thing as over cropping.
The soil was made to feed the
world for all time. With proper
supplies and proper tillage there
will be never ending production.
Ii You live distance from the
butcher, you can keep fresh meat
nicely for week or two by putting
it into buttermilk or other sour
milk and placing in cool cellar.
Crimson clover has hardly given
the satisfaction hoped for. 1t is but
an annual, and when it is cut in the
bloom will not grow again. 1t
should be sown in the autumn.
No other mechanic than the
farmer would use his implements a
whole year without sharpening
them. The better the condition in
which our tools are kept the less
will be the effort on the part of the
teams, and on the part of the work.
man, also.
If potatoes, having on them scabs,
are fed to stock, they will pretty
surely transmit the disease to the
fields through the manure, notwith-
standing the processes of digestion.
We should stamp out every evidence
of disease upon the farm. Care
should be used in feeding any refuse
crops.
Salt is essential to plant life, and
there is no plant which does not
contain the compound parts of salt,
chlorine and sodium. Salt is es-
sential to plant life, also, and
animals procure it by feeding upon
plants. Before plant will grow it
must have supply of every ele-
ment upon which it feeds. The
sowing of barrel or two of salt an
acre will always show to advantage
in grass crop, and oats and barley
are almost equally benefited there
by.
Burning a field of weeds does not
only destroy the seeds which have
already ripened and fallen and are
protected by a good covering, which
prevents the fire reaching them, but
much valuable vegetable decaying
matter, which should be left to en-
rich the soil, is destroyed. 1t is
much better to put a chain to the
pillow and drag these weeds under,
where they will serve double pur-
pose.
An early start is not always good
start. Better plant crop week
late than to have it come two weeks
late from an improper seed bed
There must be preparation il there
is to be satisfactory growth.
EXactness and carefulness are GER
tainly a part of husbandry, and
they soon become a pleasure. We
should not be content to sell the
products of field without knowing
what they cost-in seed, manure
and labor.
Lime is preventative and a
check for mildew upon cucumber
and potato vines, and lime water is
a destroyer of insects upon them,
if applied early. In either case
they should be used about once a
week.
Do not stay in the ruts, for there
is much which is new and much
which is safe and better. There is
progress in the science of farming
and prosperity in the calling of the
farmer. Mental labor is doing
much Of that which has been wholly
manual, and there is consequently
more general intelligence.
A community in which there are
windmills is always thrifty one.
There is no driving of the stock to
the river in dry times. The stock
should have good, fresh water the
year around, and the farmer with
the windmill knows he has provided
for it. Therefore, where we find
the windmills we usually find the
best stock, the best barns and the
best farmers.
1t is not we'll to put the young
boys to steady and severe farm
labor. Study to run some specially
which will give them light employ
ment, in which they can take some
pleasure. They can handle crops
of tobacco or vegetables-crops
which require constant diligence,
but bring greater profits than field
OF grain. Such work as this can be
done by the lads as well as by higher
priced help.
A covering of rye on hilly lands is
valuable, and will repay the cost
merely in holding the soil and its
elements in their place. The fer
tilizing constituents of the soil are