The Mena weekly star., 1913-02-20

bUl ittiiN " ''' turist:
 In making over an old farm the work Is not all in clearing out and cleaning up, but the most essential factor in the process is in building up or restoring fertility to the worn-out land, and this part of the program requires more headWork than handwork-in fact, it requires some knowledge of the most Valu- able properties of the various ferti- lizers and how to use them to the best advantage. The fertilizing question is a semi-scientific propo- sition and runs out in the deep water of chemistry. Many farmers spend money every year for con- mercial fertilizers when they have tons and tons of good fertilizing ele- ments going to waste on their farms.
 Without any desire whatever to knock on the commercial fertilizer trade. l want to say that l am firm lv impressed with the belief that nature provides the farmer with nearly everything he needs in that line, if he only knows how to uti- lize it. Everything around him that grows out of the earth, from sprouting bud to falling leaf, tells him that nothing is lost.
 The leaf falls down to mother earth,
 To nourish the little rootletS,
 So they may aid in giving birth
 To the tender little shOOtletS.
 No nothing is lost in the all-wise economy of nature, and man should follow the example of nature in giving back to his land what he takes away from it in the way of | fcrtilizing elements. To do other wise is to impoverlsh his land and make it practically worthless.
 All this side talk brings me around to my old iO-acre farm, and having discoursed at some length in a former article on how l have been clearing off and cleaning up, 1 will now endeavor to describe the methods l have employed in re- storing life and fertility to some of the worn-out land on the place.
 In my last article | spoke of cut ting up my corn crop in order to save the fodder and get rid of the CornStalkS. but l do not want any one to think that after feeding the fodder I have been burning the stalks or piline them away some where. No. sir, not bit of it. In the first place, ran three wires around one end of a field where the land had been worn to a frazzle, and
 made a seed lot out of it. This land l connected with my pasture where 1 there Is spring, and then engaged four cows from my ueiEhborS to 1 run on the pasture. three of them at 90 cents per month and one for half of her milk and her owner do the milking. This COW, being half Jcr- Sey and extra good, afforded all the milk and butter both families could use. On the feed lot I scattered all the cornStalks from the stable man. ger and all the damaged OF refuse fodder about the place and let the cattle work it over. Horses. as a rule. will not eat the husks on fod- ter, but cattle WilL and so l will not only get the benefit of all the ferti- iMmg elements contained in the rornStalks but get a lot of refuse stun worked up into the best ferti- Ilzer that was ever dropped on a farm, No, | will not burn the stalks after the cattle get through with them. will let that part of the field Hay out until the stalks rot sufficiently to blow under and then l will make them produce an- other crop of corn. COrnstalks, by the way, are fairly rich in nitrogen, one of the principal elements in all good fertilizers, and also contain some phoSphoric acid, another es- sential element, but very little pot ash. To test this last statement, pile up lot of cornstalks and burn them and see how many ashes you will get. Not spoonful.
 Nothing about a farm is such a good soil builder as dairy COW, for according to John H. Page, commissioner of agriculture, a COW produces ii tons of solid and
 liquid fertilizing elements in a year, ton of which contains 8.6 pounds of nitrogen, 5.S pounds of phos- phoric acid and SS pounds of pot ash, which, at 20 cents per pound for nitrogen and 3 cents per pound for phosphoric acid and potash, is worth $40 for plant food.
 Of course, all these fertilizing properties are not saved, but if we consider that as much as one-hali Is preserved, think of what it means 10 poor land.
 Another thing am doing to build up my little farm and that is to save all the leaves about the place that l can get at. I rake them up in piles when they are dry. and when 1t rains they get wet and be- gln to turn into leaf mould. one of the best fertilizers nature produces. Forest leaves, by the way, contain 10 pounds of nitrogen, 3.2 pounds of phosphoric acid and 6 pounds of potash per ton, and the ton is worth S3i6 as plant food. These figures are given by our commissioners of agrleulture, and therefore there is no guesswork about them. They are compiled from tie results of