The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1911-08-05

and do it with the least expense
possible?
There is common impression
that farming as practiced in this
country has tended towards inn
poverishment of the soil, and while
this is true of some sections OF
our country, it is not true OF all.
For by the official record in the
Department of Agriculture, kept
for thirty years, there has been al
most a steady increase during that
time in the capacity OF the aver
age acre cultivated. Corn has
been the slowest to respond to
this increased yield. And when we
read of what has been done by
proper fertilization, and the posi-
bilities before us, we, as students
of agriculture, are still in the pri-
mary class.
Our average of acre yields are
still low when compared with ie-
suits secured in Older countries,
where the press of population up
on the means of sustenance forces
intensive culture, or with individ-
ual yields under favorable condi-
tions in our own country. What is
possible with one is possible with
many. The National and State
Governments, through the De-
partment OF Agriculture and ex-
perimental stations, are sending
out men to these successful agri-
culturists to learn their methous,
and are printing them in Agricul-
tural Bulletins which are free for
the asking, trying to awaken the
average American farmer to a
higher standard of farming. And
they, with the help of the agricul-
tural papers, are slowly doing it.
My father was raised in the city.
and | was partly raised there too.
We knew nothing about farming !;
what little know now | have got
ten from books, observation and
experience. | believe in growing
clover wherever you can; every
where. if possible. | believe even
after heavy crop of clover hay
has been taken off field, it leaves
that field i'll better condition and
with more fertility to grow crop
of timothy than if there had been
no clover grown there. | an SOW
ing it i'll February on my sod field
lightly, and in my orchard, alsike
and rcd clover. asst spring it took
and will make me more pasture,
also enrich my soil and balance up
the rock pFosphoric acid. used
but three quarts o: clover seed
per acre on my wheat field it took
nicely and | have good stand.
| believe that manure, to get the
best results, should be hauled odi
on sod year before it is plowed.
| believe it is better, if you have
but a little manure, to spread it
lightly and make it go over the
whole plot and add a small amount
of rock phosphoric aci,:, than Ii
you put it on heavy and bought
ready mixed fertilizer for the rest
of the field. | believe, with light
coat OF manure, spread on top with
a light coat OF rock phosphoric
acid. you can grow wheat for a
great number of years. I grow
from twenty-five to forty-hve bu-
shells per acre. With the manure
| make and the clover roots |
grow and the rock buy my place
is steadily getting better. ! have
used rock for twenty-five or thirty
years. have a piece of ground
on which ! have used rock and
manure for eighteen years and
nothing else. 1t grows as large
crops as the rest OF my farm.
read that the liquid rom a we'll
fed dairy is worth SI2 per ton and
the solids So per ton. his year |
will build place to catch that
liquid, and with it and the rock
am using my soil, | think. will be-
come more fertile.
| have sown crimson clover to
ploW down for corn several times
but when you have little manure
and can ouy rock YOU can grow
more corn. One reason, YOU can
get it in earlier. But the clover
adds more humuS to the soil Get
all the humus you can: do not
burn anything or haul anything
into a ditch-spread it lightly and
let it remain on top. The humus
or vegetable matter helps to i'm
prove the mechanical condition OF
your soil by loosening up the soil