St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-06-09

busy one for Sam. And it was
am not less so for Florence and
Mrs. Powell. Florence often helped
I her brother when the work crowded.
and Mrs. Powell put in all her spare
time in the garden. melon patch and
orchard.
On the conteSt acre Sam was forced
to do all the work himself. The rules
were strict on this point. and after
Sans patch had been laid of and
measured by a committee he himself
planted the corn and no one else struck
a lick in it's cultivation.
Sans first planting was the Irish
potatoes. He bedded up an acre.
dragged down the beds almost fat and
planted them early in March. Next
came the contest acre. and when that
was finished he planted four more
acres in corn. making five in all. then
turned to the cotton.
Next came the cane. and Sam sOwed
this broadcast ana very thick. for ne
wanted to make hay OF It II the
stalks grow large and stiff it doesn't
make good hay.
The young farmer wound up the first
round Of planting by sowing the or
chard in rye. His idea was to let no
bit of ground lie idle. but to keep some
thing growing on it instead OF weeds.
The weed problem was pretty hard
one for Sam. so many had gone to seed
on the place. But he determined that
not one should make seed this year
So he was the busiest farmer in the
whole community. He plowed and
hoed constantly. but it was mostly
blowing, for Sam soon learned that
hoeing is a mighty slow way to kill
weeds and grass compared with plow-
ing.
People passing along by the Powell
place marveled at the clean. well cul-
tivated little farm. But Sam consid-
cred other needs OF the crops besides
cultivation.
The soil OF the place was not nearly
so poor as the neighbors had said 1t
was-not even so poor as Sam had
thought The trouble was that the
surface Of the ground had merely been
scratched, and he had remedied this by
thorough cultivation. Still the crops
lacked something, and be found that
each acre had certain qualities. As he
studied the farm he began to see that
each bit of land was strong in certain
ways and weak In others.
There was no time to have soil analy-
sis made this year. but he began to
study closely the wild vegetation and
trees growing about and to read the
bulletins and the book he had bought
on How Crops Grow" 1t wasn't an
easy subject by any means. Sam read
and reread the book and finally went
over it slowly and studied it page by
page. Pretty soon he knew nearly as
much about the soil he was cultivating
as any expert could have told him.
Here is what he learned about soil fer
tility:
Acid in soil that causes crops to fire
and die is indicated by sorrel growing
on the land Acid can easily be detect
ed also by getting slip Of blue Iitmus
paper for a nickel at the drug store
and pressing it in a ball of the soil
II it turns red there is acid. An appH-
cation of lime cures this.
Crops and plants Of all kinds are fed
by several elements of the soil. but
there are three more important than
the rest-nitrogen. potash and phos-
phoric acid.
Nitrogen forms the leaves of plants
that part of the plant body which
breathes.
Potash makes the trunk. stalk and
tuber of plant or tree.
Phosphoric acid reproduces-sets the |
blooms and makes abundant seed and
fruit
Sam learned these things from read
ing But. when be knew them. all he
had to do was to look about the farm
and learn more things by observation
Where trees grew or had grown well |
he knew that potash was plentiful. If |
leaves were rank, nitrogen was abun-
dant If flowers formed and fell Of !
the plants before they should be knew !
the soil needed phosphoric acid.
Finally the young farmer formed !
what he had learned into nine rules
and wrote them down in the back or
one OF his books, as follows:
al. Nitrogen Tor ammoniaJ encour- /
ages strong leaf, vine and bush growth |
20. Potash makes firm tuber. bulb |