The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-07
FARM AND
GARDEN@
INTERESTS
The Farm I'm September.

Philadelphia Record.
The winter season is one in which no
crops are cultivated, and it is also a period
of the year when the farmer is supposed
TO ave but little to do on the farm. 1t
is we'll, however, that the farmer can al
ways find opportunities for applying work,
and more especially so when the farm is
well supplied with stock. There is also
preparation to be made for supplying crops
with plant food in the spring. The buying
of fertilizers is a cash outlay and If any
portion of this expense can be reduced by
applying labor in winter to the utilization
of substances that can be converted into
manure there is a gain to the farmer, which
he secures at a time when nothing can be
taken from the farm. Farmers are alive
to the fact tina all refuse matter should
be converted into manure, and the barnyard
is regarded as a very valuable source for
supplying the crops, but many of them do
not preserve their manure properly, and
do not reduce the ingredients of the ma
nure heap to a fine condition. The care
of stock alone is not the principal work,
but the care of the manure, for, while the
farmer will necessarily be compelled to
give his attention to the animals which
come daily under his observation, he is
frequently negligent of the fact that he Is
losing much of the valuable constituents
or the manure heap.
Absorbent materials not only add to the
value OF the manure, but serve TO prevent
loss. When straw or stalks are thrown
into the barnyard they increase the bulk
of the manure, but they are worth but
little as plant food. They absorb the liquids
of the heap, however, and in that manner
prevent loss. Their value to the farmer
depends upon their capacity OF absorption.
When whole stalks are thrown into the
barnyard TO be trampled by cattle quite a
period of time elapses before they are
broken TO pieces sufficiently to be of real
service as absorbents; in fact, each stalk
is covered with a hard and impervious
coating of silica, which for a time protects
it against decay, and in the meantime the
rains and melting SHOWS carry of the
liquids which contain the soluble plant
food. Straw n stalks are thrown into
the barnyard to save labor, and because
1t is easy to dispose OF such material, but
the manure heap must be considered as a
plant-food factory, where the supply or
nourishment for the spring crops must be
secured; hence, If the coarse materials are
not reduced to a fine condition all the
labor of winter Will be wasted. IL not APP
piled so as to secure the best results, and
it must not be overlooked that the cost of
the future crop may be reduced by the
work of preparing the manure in winter.
With the improvements that have been
made in feed cutters and grinding mills it
is now possible for the farmer to prepare
the food for his stock at but a small cost
for so doing, and the fodder shredder.
which converts the whole stalk into shreds,
will make 1t easier for the farmer to pre-
serve his manure. One of the heavy eX-
penses on farms is that OF handling and
spreading coarse manure. 1t Is not only
difficult to handle while being loaded, but
it is also spread unevenly. III all the ma
terials are cut up for the animals, or before
being cast on the manure, heap, even the
gain as food will not be greater than the
increased capacity for absorbing the liquids,
and If all the materials that reached the
manure heap were fine, not only could they
be loaded and spread with a saving of la
Dor, but such materials would add to the
value of the manure by being decomposed
while serving as absorbents. The fine ma
nure which has been protected from loss by
teaching, and which contains the valuable
plant food of the liquids as well as the
pay the farmer for the labor of caring for
the heap. 1t is in the decomposition OF the
manure that the plant food is made soluble,
and when applied to the soil in the spring
is ready for the crops, permitting the plants
to start off in growth early, the farmer
receiving the benefit of his manure the first
year, whereas If the manure is coarse and
not decomposed it may remain in the soil a
year before becoming plant food, and in
that condition is just so much capital tenn
porarily out of use.
AS heat is produced from the food, it is
apparent that the warmer the animal is
kept in winter the less food is required To
supply its wants As the winter Is an ex.
~
the outdoor work being suspended. there
is no better assistant for that purpose
than dry quarters. Before the animal can
lay on fat the ordinary demands for the
heat Of the body must be provided, and
during very severe and cold seasons the
animals cannot even appropriate sufficient
food to create the necessary heat to sus-
tain life when exposed without shelter
Every pound of flesh lost must be renewed,
and every day that an animal is fed with.
out gaining in flesh is so much time lost
that cannot be regained. Shelter, then, is
economical, in enabling the animals moi
only to supply themselves with heat, blu
to store on fat; and it represents just SC
plete the building for the purposes intende
the better, and the more comfortable the
animals the faster they will increase In
weight. One should not wait until the
season becomes cold before erecting the
shelter, as a good start in the fall will ma.
terially assist the animals to enter the
winter full of vigor and we'll prepared tt
endure the cold, provided they are properly
cared for. AS the cattle will gain from
good shelter, SO will the pigs and sheep
which also should be kept warm. Even tn,
poultry will lay in winter if kept warm and
comfortable.