Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-05-02
Men, Not Cows, Exhaust Soil.

Men, Not Cows, Exhaust Soil.
To be sure, the COW does not return
large quantities of nitrogen to the soil
but nitrogen is only one of the severa
substances required to feed plant life
II her milk is sold, considerable quan
tity of plant food is sold with it, bu
the amount sold in butter would mo-
impoverish the land in q thousand gen
erations. Ii 10 not the COW that i'm
poverishes our farms, neither is it tht
horse, or the sheep, or the hog thai
makes our fields and pastures brown anC
barren. Ii is lack of knowledge or oI
energy with which properly to preserve
and apply the plant-food these servants
of man supply.
know of farm that boasts large
silo and raises corn each year to fill it,
with the usual fertilizer purchased, tC
plant with corn in the hill, and this farm
is not more than holding its own. II
should have constantly improved, &C,
cording to all the rules of the game, had
the game been played fair. Investiga-
ton shows, however, that the game has
not been played fair. A look around
the premises shows the manure cellars
without sufficient absorbents to hold the
liquids, which are teaching away, car
rying with them the best part OF the
plaut-food that the cows furnish in re-
turn for their food. Particularly does
this liquid contain nitrogen, more than
the solids. The hog pens show the
same cOndi,iou-sloppy, filthy pens, in
which the hogs will not do nearly as
we'll as they would in dry quarters, and
a constant waste of the liquids. 1t Is
customary on eastern farms to purchase
a part at least of the grain feed. Not
oue-tbird of the farmers pay any atten-
ton TO the manurial value of the grain
purchased. Cottouseed meal is worth
more for that purpose than any OF her
and contains in addition
the largest percentage of protein. II
about eight per cent OF nitrogen
and considerable quantity of potash
and phosphOric acid. These substances
will all be present in the excrement, and
IL conserved instead of allowed to soak
into the soil around the barn and evapo-
rate into the air, as nitrogen surely will
il it comes in contact with it, will feed
the soil to produce corn, bay, clover, or
W whatever one pleases to raise.
1t is not necessary to dispose of the
COW in order to raise clover. She is a
help to the clover, and the clover is
help to her. She cannot put back on
the soil anything that was not in the
food she eats. She does not create
but simply returns that
which she has eaten. II the plant-food
that sht gives us is all returned to the
land and the proper rotation of crops Is
raised, the fields will not grow poorer,
but better. She furnishes large supply
Of humus without which cultivated soils
soon deteriorate and with which they
store up moisture and nitrogen. What
shall we do with our clover il we keep
no cows or other animals? II we sell it,
We surely are skimmipg off pretty rich
cream, and one that we must replace II
we keep on skimming. Land will not
raise clover to sell year after year and
still keep itself good. We will have to
buy back what we take of just as surely
as we will have to return the plant-food
that the cow makes to the soil, or else 1t
will cease TO produce.
The cow has no power to distribute
plant-fOOd where il is most needed,
therefore our pastures do not hold good.
The plaut-food is there, but il is wasted.
Pastures that can be plowed should be
cultivated occasionally for term or
two of rotation. 1t is not barren land,
as has been proved over and over again.
No land will produce better potatoes
than old pasture land. Potatoes, fol-
lowed by clover and then by corn, then
by good pasture grass, will make ideal
pasture of it again. EWbere it is too
rough for the plow, it may be made
rich by top-dressing or by dividing it
into small lots and pasturing alternately,
thus compelling more even distribution
OF the fertilizer.
The ideal way to run dairy farm Is
to raise clover and feed it to the cows;
next year raise corn on the same land
and feed it TO the cows; the third year
raise grain, and seed the land to mixed
clover and grasses and keep it in this
until the yield begins TO fail, then repeat
the rotation. Feed everything to the
cows, feed the hogs with,,the skim-milk,
save every part of the manure, both
solid and liquid, and apply it to the
land. A farm so treated will increase
in productive power.
| knew 'one farmer on small farm
who never purchased either grain or
fertilizer. His fields produced clover
and grasses. and he cut il twice each
season. he had a herd of excellent
Jersey cows, and they were fed all they
could eat of this rowen. A piece OF
ground was plowed each year and plant
ell tn corn, which was fertilized in the
good old-fashioned way with manure
from the hog-pen. he grew premium
corn, which he husked and ground for
cows and pigs. He seeded with barley
or oats, and mixed clover and red top.
His cows produced immense quantities
of butter, and his meadows immense
quantities of hay. His land was not in
good condition when he took il.
Glover is a great soil restorer, but how
can one restore his soil with clover and
derive an income from ii at the same
time, unless be feeds his clover to some
kind of livestock, and with what can he
obtain regular income in frequent pay
ments except with the dairy COW? To
obtain the best results, it looks TO me as
if we had better have the COW, and the
clover, tool. Leigh Hunt in Country