Oakes Republican., 1899-07-14

Some Up-to-Date Hints About Cul-
tivation of the Soil and Yields
Observation-Disclosures viticulture and
Horticulture
Farming Without Stock Exhaustive.
A. c. True. director of the Minnesota
Experiment Station, says:
When the lands are grazed by sheep
and cattle the soil fertility is drawn
upon to the extent of the nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, and potash required
to build the blood, bone, and tissue Of
the animal body. This is considerable
In the case of growing animals, but in
significant in case of animals which
nave made their growth Especially of
bone) and are simply maintained or
fattened on the pasture. If, however.
concentrated feeds are used in addition
10 pasture, and the manure produced
returned to the land, there is an ac-
tual gain in fertility of the land. 1t
Will thus be seen that exclusive grain
farming or continuous culture of
single crop has much greater ten
dency to impoverish the soil than stock
raising or combined grain and stock
raising. A comparison of the amount
OF plant food removed from the soil
and the amount capable of being re-
turned to it under different systems of
husbandry has been made by the Min
nesota Experiment Station. The sys-
TENS taken into consideration were all
| grain f9 inc v,,iv nd
eral farming, mixed potato and general
farming, stock farming, and dairy
farming, examples being selected which
represented the different systems. In
each case the farm is considered to
contain 16O acres.
In the example of all-grain farming
selected no stock was kept and no fer,
the small amount of fertilizing mate
rial which necessarily accumulated was
disregarded, and the grain was all sold
from the farm. The entire farm of 100
acres was under cultivation. The crops
raised were 100 acres of wheat, 40
acres of barley, and 20 acres of oats,
yielding Is, 40 and SO bushels per acre,
respectively. 1t is calculated that the
fertility removed from such farm in
the grain and straw of one years crops
amounted to 2,460 pounds phosphoric
acid, 1920 pounds potash, and $500
pounds nitrogen. This does not include
the fertility removed by the weeds,
which often is very large, and the
amount of nitrogen lost from the soil
through teaching and the decomposi-
t1on of humus.
lected for study, Is acres were sown
to oats, 20 to barley, 10 to corn, to
peas, and l acre each to potatoes and
millet. The remainder of the farm was
in meadow and pasture. The stock
kept in this case comprised 10 beef
cattle, and 10 dairy cows, 10 horses, S
steers, 10 head of young stock, 80
sheep, and 20 hogs. Five steers of L.
900 ponds each, 5 head of young stock,
5 horses, 10 hogs of $50 pounds each,
and 1,50O pounds of butter were sold
from the farm. All the crops grown,
including 40 tons of timothy and 80
tons of clover, were consumed on the
farm. Eighteen tons of food material
and cords of wood were purchased
and consumed, besides the crops pro.
duced. Under these conditions there
was approximately gain OF :35 pounds
of phosphoric acid, and a loss of so
pounds of potash, and 1893 pounds of
nitrogen. The loss of nitrogen was
more than balanced by the gain due to
the clover crop, so that on the whole
there was practically no loss of fer
tility from the farm. '''
In the example given of a; dairy farm,
30 COWS, head of young stock, a
horses, and 20 pigs constituted the
stock kept on the farm. The crops
raised were 10 acres of wheat, 20 of
oats, 10 of corn, z of rye. of oats for
hay, acres each of roots and peas,
1 each of millet and potatoes; 25 tons
of both clover and timothy were pro-
duced, and the remainder of the farm
was mainly in pasture. Sixteen pigs of
$50 pounds each and head of young
stock, 5000 pounds of butter, and all
the wheat and rye produced were sold
from the farm, while the rest of the
products were consumed as feed and 80
per cent returned to the soil as fertil-
izer. Ten tons of feed and S cords of
wood were purchased and consumed in
addition to what was produced on the
farm. The figures given for dairy
farming show gain of 76 pounds of
phosphoric acid and loss of IS
pounds potash, and 500 pounds nitro
gen. The loss of nitrogen, however,
is again more than Offset by the gain
through the clover crop, so that there
is practically no loss of fertility in