The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1914-01-21

vice OF the American Medical aSSOcla-
ton to girls to dress more simply.
The By-Products of the Farm.
In this day and age the by-products
of almost any enterprise are becoming
one of the most important sources of
revenue. The competition on the main
products has become so keen that Of
ten they furnish but little profit; and
if there is to be any great profit, it
must be on the heretofore neglected
by-products. The packing houses fur
nish a fine illustration. They are able
to dominate, if not control, the live
stock interests of the entire nation.
simply because they have learned to
utilize the by-products. Their CON-
plete utilization has become the Won
der of the business world.
The farmer must follow their en-
ample if he is to make in most cases
anything more than mere living. For
1 tunately, the farm furnishes a greater
proportion of by-produces than almost
any other industry. What are the by
products Of the farm?
The first thought would be the ma
nure; and it is one of the most i'm
portant The more perishable the BY
product, the greater the care that
should be taken to use it.; and manure
is one OF the most perishable of by
products. If thrown out of the stable
door and left to take the rains of Win
| ter as it accumulates, or if allowed to
lie all summer, it loses, roughly speak
ing, about half it's value. If the stable
is not we'll bedded with absorbents. or
if there is not concrete floor con-
nected with a cistern into which the
LIQUID portions may run, these are lost
altogether and they contain some of
the most valuable elements of this BY
product.
The place for manure is on the land
where it is to be used. AS rule,
western lands are hungry for it. There
fore the profits of the farmer depend
very largely upon how he utiliZes this
manure. The man who puts it right
out on the land is the man who egets
the most use out of it. The only man
who gets more use out of it than he
does is the man who allows it to drop
on the land, as on pastures during the
summer, or in hogging down corn, a
custom which is increasing, which
ought to increase and can be in
creased provided the farmer will simp-
ly prepare for it.
The manure is not the only by-prod-
uct, however. Look over the fields OF
the corn belt today, and you will find
corn stalks standing in the field, valu-
able only for pasture for short time
after husking, and decreasing in value
very rapidly after the month of Janu-
ary Now we know perfectly well that
as farmers are situated now. they can
not utilize much of this; but the time
will come when they will have to util-
iZe it if their fields are to yield their
proper increase. There is some value
left even after nature has done her
work There is some value even after
the stalks are burned; but this is only
a 1.-THE of the value that can be util
lied when practical farming is done.
OF course, the only way to utilize
this is through live stock; and before
lena, Gamma and Susanna and many
we can have live stock, we must have
a better system of renting our land,
where it is rented. We must have
live stock farming. TO have it we
must have rotation of crops. We must
learn how to grow better pastures. We
must grow a smaller acreage of corn
and more to the acre. Only in this
way can We utilize this vast by-prod-
uct.
TO do this is going to take good
deal of education by the agricultural
colleges, the experiment stations and
the agricultural press; but we must
come to it if our agriculture is to be
permanent There will be an end
sooner or later to the increase in the
value of land. We don5t know when
it will come, but in the nature of
things it must come; and when we
come to this point, We must farm in
stead of speculate on land, which most
of us are doing now.
Even the weeds, which are the
plague of the farmers life, can be
used as by-product if we insist on
being pestered with them. This may
be done best by The gradual introduce
ton OF sheep farming, not turning the
whole farm over to sheep, but keeping
them largely for the purpose of using
this by-product. and by their use de-
creasing it, and decreasing our labor
as well.
Just take day off and look your
farm over carefully and note the per-
centage of by-products that are going
to waste-the straw, damaged hay,
windfall apples, Gull potatoes, etc.
and then remember that no other bus
mess in the world neglects the by
| ~
tent that the farmer neglects the by
products of the farm.-Wallaces
| Farmer.
| However, if the American home is