The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-16

on the farm and away from the con- | gested cities, it is generally agreed that by making the farm more pro ductfve you make 1t more productive you make it more attractive and that the emigration from the farm will | materially lessen if not entirely cease once this is accomplished.
 UnQuestionably New England should be a region as inviting to the farmer as it has been to the industrial class es, because here in a comparatively small area. are millions of people to be fed-1 13. .oOo,o0o east of the Hudson River. Here is land which has perhaps more trolley cars to the square mile than any other section of the country. There is one mile of railroad track to every T.63 square miles. Distributed among it's farm lands are populous cities easily reach ed. At least ninety per cent of the population are clam bring for some one to feed them while they toll at loo1n and spindle.
 And why isn't this being done? Why aren't it's farms bringing in rich re- turns to the farmers2 The answer to this, according to many agricultural experts, is that the soil lacks certain ingredients, in short, that 1t is run out land" They have been raising crops many of these farms for more than 275 years. These farms fed those whose descendants now peo- pie the West. All this time, while they have been putting back into the soil certain ingredients which nature has required they have failed to put back the proper proportion of lime.
 It Is estimated that 75 per cent. of the land in New England is sadly in need of lime. Lime is one of the things which nature requires for her work. Without lime we would all die. They have had lime here every place has Hme-but the lime has been used for commercial purposes while all the time the ground that has been expected to furnish food has been starving for it.
 One of the chief lines of work the agricultural colleges have undertaken has been to acquaint the farmers with this condition with the result that most of them are to-day cognizant of it, though probably few realize the possibilities which proper enrichment of the soil in this manner would mean for them. By the proper lining of the soil throughout New England the fertility of it's farms, according to hose who have made the matter a study, would be increased at the low est estimate 100 per cent In other words, where New England now pro- duces $114, ,399, ,237 in agricultural pro- ducts she would furnish $22S,798, 474. She could feed her own population and be an exporter of farm products instead of an importer. It would have the effect of increasing her poul- try products and her dairy products as well, would make her farms compare favorably with those of the West as producers with this tremendous ad- vantage-that they would be at the doors of the greatest market in this country if not in the world, instead of being hundreds if not thousands of miles away from 1t.
 ra fIn oaff f1f dof ofz Dairying has not been profitable in New England because of the low price of milk and the high cost of food for the cattle. If the land could be made to yield twice as much food it would cut the cost of production in two and would put dairying on a very profitable basis for the New England farmer situated as he is close to the greatest consuming centre in the country.
 Already experiments made with lime in New England have shown some surprising results. We hear of the great alfalfa crops Of the West. To-day some progressive New England farmers are raising from three to four tons of alfalfa, clover and forage per acre on land which before did not produce one third of that amount and they are doing this by reason of the fact that they have used lime by the ton.
 By the liberal use of lime alfalfa can 1 be grown in New England in quanti- l ties that would rival the West, judg- ing from the results of these experl- ments- On the farm of Col. Charles M. Jarvis sat Berlin, Conn.,, the alfal- ia yield has been as high as six tons to the acre. Five hundred pounds of lime was used to the acre. Elk periments on this farm have shown that any New England farmer can raise S10O of alfalfa to the acre.
 The results in the dairy line have been equally wonderful On a farm at Brocxton, Mass, no head of stock have been raised on eighty acres. The average yield of hay and forage in New England is about a, ton. On this farm the use of lime has result ed in yield of from three to four tons to the acre. H.. O. Daniels car ries 100 head of stock on eighty acres at Middletown, Conn. Frank Duffy at West Hartford, Conn.,, carries eighty head of sixty acres.
 Such results as these show what is in store for the New England agri- culturalist if he Is provided with a supply of lime at low cost. The reason why the New England farmer has neglected to replace the lime ta- ken out of the soil by his crops has been chiefly due to its cost Burned lime-the only, lime heretofore used by farmers-has cost an average s5 a ton at the nearest railroad sta ton.
 While the agricultural colleges have been doing much to enlighten the far mers as to the requirements of their soil it has been recognized that un- less the cost of lime to the farmer were cheapened little good could be accomplished. Tn line with their policy of cooperation the New Eng