The Republican journal., 1910-11-17
THOSE STONY FARMS.

AANAASsA WV
of stony farms scattered all over New
England? Start to pillow anywhere and
there is rattle of small stones upon the
mold board and now and then bang as
the plow strikes good sized rock that
brings the team to short stop. Right
there is an opportunity for the plowman
to stop and think it over.
1t is the same question that meets al
most every farm owner in this part OF
the country; for farm is a rarity that
does not contain some land where rocks
and stones are nuisance. What will
pay best to raise on this land? tits plain
the owner ca hardly compete with the
wide, level fields of the West in growing
the same crops, and if he can. he does so
at great disadvantage. Is there moth
ing he can raise on equal terms with
everybody else? The main disadvantage
is in the labor cost of cultivation. Yet
it will be argued that this extra cost
every year would more than offset the
interest on cost of level, free land. 1t
may be so; vet the farmer has this land
and intends to keep it. With what crops
will he be at least disadvantage?
Raise poultry, says one adviser. Here
is a product that can be raised on rocky
soil without much cultivation being done,
although even poultry must have good
pasturage and the land should at least be
in condition to raise grass, not covered
with useless wild growth. Among the
stony farms that pay well, those raising
poultry seem to be in the majority. One
other crop fiourishes pretty well along
with rocks and poultry-the apple or
chard, and there is no better location for
fowls than an orchard range. On some
of the stony farms there are old or
chards, and these may be pruned, mulch
ed, fortified and grated to put them
into profitable shape. Meanwhile young
orchards should be started as fast as
possible. With the young trees on rocky
land there is likely to be some difficulty
to secure rapid growth. They should be
cultivated at least few feet around the
trees, and the poultry should not be so
ing the earth away from the young t,ees.
Some would try the mulch system. If
the soil is good, the orchard Set in sod
land, and receiving no care but the cut
ting of the grass among the trees, leav-
ing it as mulch, has produced a rapid
and healthy growth of the trees. The
mulch should be protected by brush to
keep the poultry from scratching. If
the soil is not good enough to grow trees
without cultivation, some crop must be
grown, and anyhow most farmers will
need to raise something on their stony
soil to bring an income while the trees
are growing, unless poultry is depended
upon as money speciality.
Beans are fine crop on poor soil.
Hardly any soil seems too poor for good
yield, but no need to raise common field
beans; there is more money IN getting
seed of some new variety, raising good
crop of it and selling it to the seedsmen,
or perhaps selling it directly to planters
through little advertising in a farm
paper.
The same special clase of trade should
be secured for the poultry product
There is more money in selling poultry
and eggs than in catering to the ordinary
market. The man who intends to get
the most out of his rocky soil must plan
his best to secure fancy prices, and he
can do it with a little enterprise and
practice in handling such trade. Some
of the rocky farms are perhaps too rough
for poultry and fruit trees and ought to
be given up to pasturage and will supply
feed for cattle and sheep or allowed to
grow up to woodland In that way less
land will be left to work, but what is left,
if properly handled, should be better
than that cultivated. Growing in ordi-
nary methods of mixed farming the
owner of rocky soil naturally prefers
land rotations. The cost of blowing
frequently makes him willing to leave
the soil and grass longer than otherwise. |
If the soil is strong and moist it may be
kept to a good yield in this way by an
nual top-dressings of 300 to 600 pounds |
of chemical fertilizers.
Potatoes, rye and grass make splen-
did rotation, the grass being allowed to
continue as long as it returns decent |
yield. Corn, rye and grass is another
first-class rotation for the dairy farmer
on rough land, if there is plenty of pas
turage, not too bad, and rocky. The
owner of stony land can compete with
Others in dairy farming, but as the pas
ture grows older the care becomes great |
er, and more and more planning and good |
is required to keep up the |
yield. AS for the dairy herd it becomes
more and more important that the cows
should be of the best grade, that all the |
fertilizer should be saved, that whatever
land is titled should be worked as far as
possible by improved implements, that the
crop obtained at so much labor should be
tldIUItu w llIlOul w eioeC VI lOoos L I1O oWu
er of rough land is handicapped in some
ways. except in poultry and fruit com
He must manage to avoid
close competition by cultivating his brain
as we'll as his soil and study not only to
get down the cost, but to raise every
thing to grade good enough to bring
more than the ordinary prices.
''Why not clear off the rocks?" would
be the query put by Gilman of New
Hampshire, who has done it on hundreds
of acres and made it a paying invest
ment, partly on borrowed capital at that.
Many have tried in a smaller way, but
nobody seems to claim that it is the
cheapest way to get smooth land. Good,
workable farms can be bought for less
than it will cost to make them from
'ocky pastures.
The man who does such work must
Jake part of his pay in the satisfaction
If creating public benefit and leaving
he farm better than he found it. There
S more than one way of making such
Not far from the writer's
arm is a large field on which a gang of
italians have been blasting. digging and
lauling for months. Boulders that have
,een dug out cover the surface like {
rop of giant potatoes, although many
ave been broken up and dragged away |
O make long, wide walls that cost thou I
ands of dollars. Nearby is an equal I