St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-04-29
FARMER ANDPLANTER.
FEEDING THE SOIL.

FEEDING THE SOIL.
The Farn Land Requires . Well
balanced Ration just N Much
as Does the Farm stock.
We hear much about the balanced
ration" for live stock, and let me say
right here, that 1.-THE science of feed
ing" as demonstrated and advocated
by our agricultural colleges and ex-
pertinent stations and accepted and
practiced by our most intelligent and
best informed flock masters has been
productive of benefits that can not be
estimated. If SO much can be accom-
plished in one branch of farming why
not pursue this science and seek it's
adoption to other departments? Let
us apply it to the foundation of hus-
bandry and in our study of economic
foods let us give our hungry and inn
poverished soils some needed and long
neglected balanced rations. This can
be done in SO many ways that shall
attempt to enumeratc few of them.
AS we of late are prone to use COM
mercial fertilizers as the chief agent
to respond to the direct requirements
of each crop, shall say but little on
this subject farther than that we
should seek something cheaper, and
at the same time more permanent in
its results. To increase and perma-
nently maintain the fertility of the
soil, it should be fed vegetable matter
and destroy as far as possible all noN-
ious weeds which SO abundan:ly grey
on the life-giving properties of sur
face soils.
In our locality clover is admitted by
all as the cheapest and at the same
adaptation as vegetable food for the
soil. Yea, some farmers have pinned
their faith to clover to the extent that
they will cut the first crop for hay.
then the second crop for seed, then
pasture it closely until winter, and
yet expect great results in added fer.
tility to the soil. To get the greatest
results from clover as \ fertilizer we
should clip the first crop in June ami
let it lay, and when the second growth
attains full bloom, or at least. before
it had passed out of it's green state.
the entire crop should be plowed un-
der and seeded to wheat. This would
give a crop of corn and two crops of
wheat in a four years rotation; or n
crop of corn, two crops of wheat and
q crop of hay and seed, or two crops
of corn and crop of wheat and one of
hay in a five years rotation, while you
were feeding tn: land Then we can
/, di largely to the manure of tin. BARN.
y'rd by using ali the straw possible.
a; bedding in the stables and in Gov
er;ng the feed lots witl the salne.
when fodder is fed oai .f d,ns. Tlr.
surplus straw of the finn s:.nul:l bc
ST: cad on the land intended for com
G.r ng the fall and early winter.
Another valuable helper towards
the fertility of soils is to
clip the weeds in the stubble fields
and pastures, and while in bloom, and
also destroy the seeds. All the mulch
we get on the fields in the late sum-
mer and the fall seasons acts as a
blanket through the winter, catches
nitrogen and hastens decay. and gives
ready and lasting returns in the way
of increase of yield. Mary ignorant
and improvident farmers used 10 pray
for heavy snowfalls in winter, as q su-
perstition has long existed that ''snow
is a poor mans manure" Now any
person knows that snow has
no fertilizing qualities, and that all the
benefits derived is through the packing
down of dead vegetable matter, such
as weeds, stubble and leaves where
they will more readily decay, catch
nitrogen from the air and prevent the
away and evaporation of fer
tilizing qualities of the soils.
There are thousands of farms where
the feed given the stock outside of the
barn is thrown in waste places that
never can be touched with the plow
and becomes an entire loss. ! know of
one barn in Boone county, KY, that is
built across a stream and the feed lot
Is steep, rocky hillside where all the
manure made on the farm finds its
way down the stream except what is
made in the fioored stables. While this
may be said to be an exceptional case,
there are many others very little bet
ter. We should make our feed lots on
tillable land and haul the litter in
excess of the needs of the land upon
i hich it is fed to other cultivated por-
lions of the farm.
One fall fed lis hogs on four-acre
lot that was badly worn and kept it as |
\ feed lot for over year. That was
Is years ago, and the lot to-day is |
one of the best portions of the farm. |
Eighteen months ago my father had |
i worn-out piece of land, heavily COW
cred with straw before breaking for
,orn in the spring, three men taking
forks and putting the straw in the |
further furrow as the breaking was
being done. This piece of land has
ranked as one of the most productive |
portions of the farm ever since.
For land that is badly worn COM
mercial fertilizer, in the absence of |
1ther manureS, is an absolute ncccs- |
sity. 1t should be used on wheat |
which is to be followed by clover in |
excess of what is needed for the |
wheat to the amount TO insure a good |
,rop of clover. But when we build |
up impoverished lands until we get a
rood crop of clover turned under and
/ sufficient amount of humus or veye-
able matter in the soils than we could
entirely dispense with commercial fer
.ilizers or use only limited amount
'or our grain crops.
As summary, let us clip our stub
Die to destroy weed seeds and leave
he aftermath to lay as n carpet to
protect he young grass, and quickly
,eturn to earth as a vegetable mould,