The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1911-12-22
A TALK IN DAIRY FARMING.
By r. M. Murphy.


The soils on many of our farms
have reached such state of depletion
that grain farming is Improbable.
We cannot afford to grow wheat with
a yield of ten bushels per acre, or
corn with I'D of twenty bushels,
and use $500 worth of commercial
fertilizer per acre. In so doing, year
after year, enormous sums are ex-
pended for commercial fertilizers, but
the yields get smaller and smaller.
The use of commercial fertilizers
in building up soils and increasing
yields, requires special study and a
better knowledge of soil and crop
needs than is possessed by the aver
age farmer. On the other hand there
are many good instances of farms
where there is yearly increase in
the value and productivity of the soil,
due to the fact that the crops raised
are grown primarily for the mainten-
ance Of dairy herd, and but little Is
sold except their products. In addi-
ton to the feed grown, considerable
quantities Of concentrated feeds are
purchased, which are greatly to the
value of the manure produced. BY
such practice it is possible not only
to maintain the fertility Of the soil,
but to gradually improve it, provided
the manure is properly cared for.
The fertilizer elements sold off the
farm in one ton of milk may be re-
covered by feeding 200 pounds of cot
ton seed meal; or if butter alone is
sold, the fertilizer elements in one
ton of butter may be returned by feed
ing so pounds of cotton seed meal
Every farmer knows the beneficial
effect of an application of farmyard
manure, but its real value is not ap.
preciated else it would not be allowed
to remain exposed to the weather
under the caves of the barn, where it
may easily lose one-half of its value.
The great dairy state of our country
to-day is Wisconsin. With an area
but one-fourth greater than Tennes-
see, she has four times as many dairy
cows The value of her dairy prod
ucts last year was over $79,000,000 or
a sum greater than the total value OF
all her farm crops, wheat, oats, rye,
pOJdIOOo, IODcCOOy GU. LID
BILE development of the dairy industry
is not due to any peculiar adoption OF
soil or climate over many other parts
of our country. Much Of the land In
Wisconsin that is now devoted to
dairy farming, was badly run down by
continuous cropping in wheat. Many
new settlers came in there from the
dairy countries of Europe, and natu-
rally engaged in dairying. The bust
ness was found profitable, and now in
many sections of the State every man
is a dairymAn, with a herd generally
of from % to so COWS.
Wisconsin does not possess the eli
matte advantages that Tennessee has,
From the manufacturing standpoint,
there is certain advantage in the
shorter hot season Of the North, since
milk products are especially difficult
to handle in hot weather, also the
cold winters enable them to store up
a supply of ice sufficient to last
throughout their hot season. But
with the great advance in recent
years in the perfecting of refrigerat-
ing machinery, the matter of main
tanning most favorable temperatures
is much more satisfactorily accom-
plished than by depending upon the
natural supply of ice.
The greatest evil of the dairy indus
try is the general prevalence of UNI
profitable COWS. One-half of the cows
in Tennessee to-day are kept at but
slight, if any profit, and many of them