The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-02-25

smaller farms ana a more lntelll-
GENERALIZATION of the soil are to be
the rule intthe, future. lSr Is L..
Many men who can manage, q
small business profitably5eannot be
nearly SO successful in conducting
operationson a much larger scale.
When,a Small farmer takes more
land under his cafeihe, has increased
both his expenses and his anxieties,
and his profits have been in many
cases reduced, kY s'st g l.ar,.l !.
The, farmers Hands are bard
enough, gHeaven knows, but there
is not enough thought, study, read
J ing; not enough mind brains, intel
lect used in the farming business 7
Let the discouraged farmer under
stand that the difficulty to be re-
moved before he can prosper is his
own lack of intelligent study of his
own situation, and how to get out Of
it. There Is such a thing as rut Of
dull Indifference. -
"A ,thohsand bushels of corn, when
thoroughly dried, lose ll5 bushels
,intweight by evaporation, and that
which would have brought so cents
must now bring 81 Add to this in
terest and insurance, and it is hasdl
to See a profit inany ease where "a
farmer holds his grain for a rise in
the market-w which rise often does
not come. ~ e1, ,s..t..
How best to keep seed potatoes
from fall to planting timeis not an
easy problem. Probably it is best
to Keep themi in the cetler until De-
cember, and then bury them in ricks
under a covering of straw and earth,
After tile ground is~frozensa few
inches put on another cover of straw
to keep the sun,from thawing, them
out. and second coating of earth is
also helpful; but when the pile is a
large one this calls for good deal
of labor. ,o
While times are hard and money
scarce the farmer should do just as
other business men have done-cur-
tail operations, and thereby reduce
expenses. Confine the cultivation
to. a smaller area, and, by SO doing
get larger crop an acre at less ex-
pense. Nh ~
III the soil be very rich, corn
ground, we'll prepared in. the spring
makes an excellent bed for potato
culture. The vegetable matter has
had the advantages of one years de.
cay, together with the action of the
corn roots and the tillage and the
second blowing. Corn is about the
only field crop we can venture tC
use between fresh sod and pota
toes.
Instead OF manuring poor clay
land heavily with nitrate of soda Of
sulphate of ammonia, we can grow
beans and clover and rely upor
them to extract from the air wha
we would otherwise have to apply
at considerable expense in dressings
of these fertilizers. improvement
will follow even the first crop o
beans, and often wheat can be sowI
the next year.
That any crop may be grown yea
after year on the same soil, provid
ed sufficient manure has been added
without danger of exhaustion, hal
been amply proved in the Rotham
sted trials; all that is required il
that the tenant keep the land from
weeds and apply full and adequat,
compensation in the shape of man
ure for crops removed.
The object in draining is not to ge
the water off the land, but to caus
it to pass through the land, that tn
soil may have opportunity of catch
ing hold of and retaining what fer
tilizing constituents the water con
tains. Channels are left through
which air is enabled to pass and &C
upon the vegetable matter in tn
soil and render it available,