The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-03-25
out once or twice a week, hauling direct

out once or twice week, hauling direct
to the field and spreading it. A third
way is to have manure shed and mix
the manure of all the stock, allowing
the brood stock and sows upon it, to
keep it tramped fairly to prevent fer
mentation. Then when hauling out to
the field, spread it as you go. Where
it is to be supplied for hoed crop
it may be scattered say this winter or
meadow land to be used for pasture this
summer. Then pillow the meadow in the
fall and prepare for the corn crop in the
spring.
| Sometimes it will be advisable to use
| the manure when fine enough) on the
grain crop when small in the spring
where it will help to prevent the land
from baking and retain good deal OF
| moisture, and if grass seeds have been
sown, it will be great help to the
young plants.
The way to get the most benefit from
manure as a fertilizer, is to keep it as
near the surface of the ground as pos
sible.
Farm yard manure is great benefit
1 to the soil in a mechanical way. 1t adds
humus or decayed vegetable matter to
the soil which adds to the water and
plant foodholding power of the SOIL 1t
helps on the work of unlocking the lazy
plant food 1t ties light soils together
and loosens heavy soils. Then let us
have more manure to grow more crops
to feed more stock, to make more money.
An address on Fertility" was de-
livered by A. w. Litchard of New York.
Among all the important questions re-
lating to agriculture, there is none that
| can approximate the question of fer
tility.
They tell us that all prosperity ema-
mates with the farmer. When farmers
prosper, all are happy, but when they
fail, all fail.
Let us remember that back of the mer-
chant, the manufacturer and the farmer
, is the fountain, not only of all material
wealth, but of all life animate and in
animate, is fertility.
Some one has said that the greatest
command God ever gave, was when he
said "let grass grow" They tell us
that some fourteen different elements
enter into the life and growth of the
plant But be this as it may we will
! only discuss lin the brief time allowed
u.s. the three essential elements that en-
ter into plant growth as far as the
practical farmer is concerned namely
prosphoric acid, potash and nitrogen
two mineral, one vegetable. What do
we mean by soil only pulverized rock
When we say rich or productive soil, we
mean soil that has the ability to pro-
duce plant or crops.
The time was when all soils were un-
productive; but as time went on, vege-
tation in the form of grasses and for
ests, etc, began to grow and fall back
upon the soil, and gradually the mineral
elements through the influence of heat
and moisture became unlocked and
brought into position where the plants
could ffd upon them And this process
went on and on for ages, until now we
have the deep rich soil of your prairies
and river bottoms.
While the two mineral elements l
have mentioned are essential to
successful farming, yet the great fac
tor which should receive our constant
attention, is the humus or vegetable ele-
ment. And if we look well to this ele
ment and furnish plenty of well rotted
vegetable material, under. through and
proper cultivation, our success in grow
irg large crops will be in the main as
sured.
In my home state, New York, as
we'll as many others in the
east, have seen farms that have
been so depleted in fertility, that they
will rot sell for what the buildings are
worth. And to lesser extent this is
true of all sections of our country where
farming has been conducted for any
length of time; yes, even the rich fer
tile fields of Kansas, and Iowa are Civ
ing substantial evidence that this is
the case.
There are three ways-or rather only
three that / will mention-of running
down and robbing a farm of its fertili-
ity, namely, by working, by cropping
and by letting the land lie idle and I'M
covered
Take land that is rolling and hilly the
question of washing becomes a serious
one The water holds the vegetable ele-
ments in solution, while the mineral ele
ments sink to the bottom and as a con-
sequence the most valuable plant food is
carried away by the wash.
Constant cropping continually taking
off and putting nothing back-which is
the case with too many farmers all over
the country, must of necessity result in
utter failure.
Leaving the land lie idle and bare
of the covering of some kind of crop