* * * * *
TALKS ON MANURES.
A Series of Familiar and Practical Talks
Between the Author and the Deacon, the Doctor,
and Other Neighbors, on the Whole Subject
of Manures and Fertilizers.
by
JOSEPH HARRIS, M.S.
Author of “Walks and Talks on the Farm,”
“Harris on the Pig,” etc.
NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION,
Including a Chapter Specially Written for It
by Sir John Bennet Lawes, of Rothamsted, England.
[Illustration: Publisher’s Logo]
New York:
Orange Judd Company,
1919
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by the
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Farming as a Business.-- High Farming and Good Farming.--
Summer-fallowing and Plowing under Clover.-- We must raise
larger Crops per Acre.-- Destruction of Weeds.-- Farming is
Slow Work.-- It requires Personal Attention. 9
CHAPTER II.
What is Manure?-- The definitions given by the Deacon and the
Doctor. 19
CHAPTER III.
Something about Plant-food.-- All soils on which plants grow
contain it.-- The Season.-- Water, Shade, Light, and Mulch,
not Manures.-- Several Definitions of Manure. 21
CHAPTER IV.
Natural Manure.-- Accumulated Plant-food in the Soil.-- Exhaustion
of the Soil.-- Why our Crops are so Poor.-- How to get Larger
Crops.-- We must Drain, Cultivate thoroughly, and Make Richer
Manure. 23
CHAPTER V.
Swamp-muck and Peat as Manure.-- Draining Swamp-land.--
Composition of Peat and Muck. 29
CHAPTER VI.
What is Potential Ammonia. 31
CHAPTER VII.
Tillage is Manure.-- The Doctor’s Lecture on Manure. 32
CHAPTER VIII.
Summer-fallowing.-- Mr. Lawes’ crop every other year.-- Wheat
after Barley.-- For Larger Crops raise less frequently, and
Manure Higher; also keep better Stock, and Feed Higher. 34
CHAPTER IX.
How to Restore a Worn-out Farm.-- The Author’s Farm.-- Tillage
renders the Plant-food stored in the soil available.--
Cultivated Lands contain less Plant-food, but are more
productive.-- Grass alone will not make rich land. 37
CHAPTER X.
How to Make Manure.-- We must get it out of the Land. 41
CHAPTER XI.
The Value of the Manure depends upon the Food--not upon the
Animal. 43
CHAPTER XII.
Foods which Make Rich Manure.-- Table giving the composition of
31 kinds of Food and the value of the Manure they yield.--
Cotton-seed Cake.-- English and German Clover.-- Nitrogenous
matter in Rich and Poor Foods.-- Manure from Corn compared
with that from Straw. 45
CHAPTER XIII.
Horse-manure and Farm-yard Manure.-- Why the one is richer than
the other.-- Amount of Manure from a Horse.-- Composition of
Farm-yard Manure.-- We draw and spread a ton to get 33 lbs. of
Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash. 50
CHAPTER XIV.
Fermenting Manure.-- Composition of Manure when Fresh and in
its stages of Fermentation.-- Loss in Fermentation and from
Leaching.-- Tables showing the composition of Manure at
different stages.-- Fermenting makes Manure more Soluble. 52
CHAPTER XV.
Keeping Manure under Cover.-- Dr. Vœlcker’s Experiments.-- Manure
Fermented Outside and Under Cover.-- Loss from keeping Manure
spread in the Barn-yard.-- Keeping well-rotted Manure in a
Heap.-- Conclusions from Dr. Vœlcker’s Experiments. 59
CHAPTER XVI.
An English Plan of Keeping Manure.-- Box feeding of Cattle.--
Spreading Manure at once.-- Piling in Heaps in the Field.--
Old Sods and Ashes from Charred Sods. 69
CHAPTER XVII.
Soluble Phosphates in Farm-yard Manure.-- Fermented, the Manure
has the most.-- Over 40 per cent. of the Phosphoric Acid is
Soluble. 72
CHAPTER XVIII.
How the Deacon makes Manure.-- A good plan for making poor Manure. 74
CHAPTER XIX.
How John Johnston Manages His Manure. Summer-fallows for Wheat.--
Does not plow under Clover.-- Value of Manure from different
foods.-- Piling Manure.-- Applies Manure to Grass-land in Fall,
and Plows under in Spring for Corn.-- His success due to the
Effect of Manure on Grass.-- It brought in Red Clover. 76
CHAPTER XX.
The Author’s Plan of Managing Manure.-- Piles as fast as it is
Made.-- What it is Made of.-- Horse and Cow Manure Together.--
Horse Manure for Bedding Pigs.-- To Prevent Freezing.-- Liquid
Manure from Pigs.-- Bedding Sheep.-- Piling in the Field.--
Where the Piles should be Made.-- Manure in a Basin.-- Reasons
for Piling.-- What we Gain by Fermenting Manure. 83
CHAPTER XXI.
Management Continued.-- Why We Ferment Manure.-- Dr. Vœlcker’s
Experiments showing the Loss when Manure is spread in Yards.--
Fermenting adds Nothing to Manure, but makes it more
available.-- Mr. Lawes’ Experiments on Wheat and Barley.-- Dr.
Vœlcker’s Results.-- Ellwander & Barry’s Experience.-- Loss of
Ammonia by Fermenting.-- Waste from Leaching.-- How to Save the
Liquid Manure from Cows. 94
CHAPTER XXII.
Manure on Dairy Farms.-- Wheat removes much more Nitrogen than
Cheese.-- Manures for Dairy Farms.-- Letter from Hon. Harris
Lewis.-- How to make more and better Manure on Dairy Farms.--
How to save and apply it.-- Letter from T. L. Harison, Esq. 101
CHAPTER XXIII.
Management of Manures on Grain Farms.-- Letter from Hon. Geo.
Geddes.-- Grain on Dairy Farms.-- Sheep on Grain Farms.-- Visit
to John Johnston.-- Mr. Lawes’ Wheat-field.-- Mr. Geddes and
Clover.-- Gypsum and Clover as Manures. 111
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Cheapest Manure a Farmer can use.-- Clover vs. Tillage.-- As
Plant-Food.-- Constituents of a Crop of Clover, as compared with
one of Wheat.-- Making a Farm Rich by Growing Clover. 127
CHAPTER XXV.
Dr. Vœlcker’s Experiments on Clover.-- Lawes and Gilbert’s on
Wheat.-- Clover Roots per Acre.-- Manures for Wheat.-- Liebig’s
Manure Theory.-- Peruvian Guano on Wheat.-- Manures and the
Quality of Wheat.-- Ammonia.-- Over 50 Bushels of Wheat to the
Acre. 135
CHAPTER XXVI.
Experiments on Clover Soils from Burcott Lodge Farm, Leighton
Buzzard.-- Soil from Part of 11-acre Field twice Mown for Hay.--
Soil from do. once Mown for Hay and left for Seed.-- Amount of
Roots left in the Soil by different Crops.-- Manures for Wheat. 149
CHAPTER XXVII.
Lawes and Gilbert’s Experiments on Wheat.-- Most Valuable and
Instructive Tables now first made accessible to the American
Farmer.-- The growth of Wheat Year after Year on the same Land,
unmanured, with Farm-yard Manure, and with various Organic and
Inorganic Fertilizers. 170
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Lime as a Manure.-- Prof. Way’s Experiments.-- The uses of Lime in
the Soil.-- Lime in this Country.-- Composts with Lime. 215
CHAPTER XXIX.
Manures for Barley.-- Composition of Barley, grain and straw.--
Valuable Tables giving the Results of Lawes and Gilbert’s
Experiments on the growth of Barley, Year after Year, on the
same Land, without Manure, and with different kinds of Manure.--
Manure and Rotation of Crops. 227
CHAPTER XXX.
Manures for Oats.-- Experiments at Rothamsted.-- Experiments of
Mr. Bath of Virginia.-- At Moreton Farm. 252
CHAPTER XXXI.
Manures for Potatoes.-- Peruvian Guano for Potatoes.-- Manure from
different Foods.-- Experiments at Moreton Farm.-- Mr. Hunter’s
Experiments. 255
CHAPTER XXXII.
What Crops should Manure be Applied to?-- How, and When?-- John
J. Thomas’ manner of Applying Manure.-- Top Dressing.-- Doct.
Vœlcker’s Experiments. 265
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Manures on Permanent Meadows and Pastures.-- Experiments at
Rothamsted. 271
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Manures for Special Crops.-- Hops.-- Indian Corn.-- Turnips.--
Mangel-Wurzel or Sugar-Beets.-- Cabbages, Parsnips, Lettuce,
Onions, etc. 274
CHAPTER XXXV.
Manures for Gardens and Orchards.-- Market Gardens.-- Seed-growing
Farms.-- Private Gardens.-- Hot-beds.-- Manure for Nurserymen.--
Fruit Growers.-- Hen-Manure. 294
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Different Kinds of Manures.-- Cow Manure.-- Sheep Manure.-- Buying
Manure.-- Liquid Manure.-- Nightsoil and Sewage.-- Peruvian
Guano.-- Salts of Ammonia and Nitrate of Soda. 302
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Bone-Dust and Superphosphate of Lime.-- Bone furnishes Nitrogen
as well as Phosphate of Lime.-- Increasing the Availability of
Bone with Sulphuric Acid. 314
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Special Manures.-- Liebig’s Views.-- Special Manure for Wheat and
Turnips.-- Rothamsted Experiments. 320
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Value of Fertilizers.-- Cost per pound of the Essential
Constituents of Fertilizers.-- Value of Guanos.-- Potash as a
Manure. 324
CHAPTER XL.
Restoring Fertility to the Soil, a Chapter by Sir John Bennet
Lawes.-- The Treatment of a Poor Farm, to Restore it most
Profitably.-- Meat-making the Back-bone of the System.-- The
Use of Sheep to Manure the Soil.-- The Feeding of Cotton-seed
Cake.-- Artificial Manures not Profitable on Poor Land.--
The Loss of Nitrogen.-- The Formation of Nitric Acid. 342
APPENDIX.
Letter from Edward Jessop.-- From Dr. E. L. Sturtevant.-- From
M. C. Weld.-- From Peter Henderson.-- From J. B. M. anderson.--
Manure Statistics of Long Island.-- Letter from J. H. Rushmore.--
Letter from John E. Backus.-- Manure in Philadelphia.-- Various
other Letters. 352
INTRODUCTION TO NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION.
Sir John Bennet Lawes kindly consented to write a Chapter for the new
edition of this work. The Deacon, the Doctor, the Squire, Charlie and
myself all felt flattered and somewhat bashful at finding ourselves in
such distinguished company. I need not say that this new Chapter from
the pen of the most eminent English agricultural investigator is worthy
of a very careful study. I have read it again and again, and each time
with great and renewed interest. I could wish there was more of it. But
to the intelligent and well-informed reader this Chapter will be valued
not merely for what it contains, but for what it omits. A man who knew
less would write more. Sir John goes straight to the mark, and we have
here his mature views on one of the most important questions in
agricultural science and practice.
Sir John describes a tract of poor land, and tells us that the cheapest
method of improving and enriching it is, to keep a large breeding flock
of sheep, and feed them American cotton-seed cake. We are pleased to
find that this is in accordance with the general teaching of our
“Talks,” as given in this book several years ago.
When this work was first published, some of my friends expressed
surprise that I did not recommend the more extended use of artificial
manures. One thing is certain, since that time the use of superphosphate
has been greatly on the increase. And it seems clear that its use must
be profitable. Where I live, in Western New York, it is sown quite
generally on winter wheat, and also on barley and oats in the spring.
On corn and potatoes, its use is not so common. Whether this is because
its application to these crops is not so easy, or because it does not
produce so marked an increase in the yield per acre, I am unable to say.
Our winter wheat is sown here the first, second, or (rarely) the third
week in September. We sow from one and a half to two and a quarter
bushels per acre. It is almost invariably sown with a drill. The drill
has a fertilizer attachment that distributes the superphosphate at the
same time the wheat is sown. The superphosphate is not mixed with the
wheat, but it drops into the same tubes with the wheat, and is sown with
it in the same drill mark. In this way, the superphosphate is deposited
where the roots of the young plants can immediately find it. For barley
and oats the same method is adopted.
It will be seen that the cost of sowing superphosphate on these crops
is merely nominal. But for corn and potatoes, when planted in hills,
the superphosphate must be dropped in the hill by hand, and, as we are
almost always hurried at that season of the year, we are impatient at
anything which will delay planting even for a day. The boys want to go
fishing!
This is, undoubtedly, one reason why superphosphate is not used so
generally with us for corn as for wheat, barley, and oats. Another
reason may be, that one hundred pounds of corn will not sell for
anything like as much as one hundred pounds of wheat, barley, and oats.
We are now buying a very good superphosphate, made from Carolina rock
phosphate, for about one and a half cents per pound. We usually drill in
about two hundred pounds per acre at a cost of three dollars. Now, if
this gives us an increase of five bushels of wheat per acre, worth six
dollars, we think it pays. It often does far better than this. Last year
the wheat crop of Western New York was the best in a third of a century,
which is as far back as I have had anything to do with farming here.
From all I can learn, it is doubtful if the wheat crop of Western New
York has ever averaged a larger yield per acre since the land was first
cultivated after the removal of the original forest. Something of this
is due to better methods of cultivation and tillage, and something,
doubtless, to the general use of superphosphate, but much more to the
favorable season.
The present year our wheat crop turned out exceedingly poor. Hundreds of
acres of wheat were plowed up, and the land resown, and hundreds more
would have been plowed up had it not been for the fact that the land
was seeded with timothy grass at the time of sowing the wheat, and with
clover in the spring. We do not like to lose our grass and clover.
Dry weather in the autumn was the real cause of the poor yield of wheat
this year. True, we had a very trying winter, and a still more trying
spring, followed by dry, cold weather. The season was very backward. We
were not able to sow anything in the fields before the first of May, and
our wheat ought to have been ready to harvest in July. On the first of
May, many of our wheat-fields, especially on clay land, looked as bare
as a naked fallow.
There was here and there, a good field of wheat. As a rule, it was on
naturally moist land, or after a good summer-fallow, sown early. I know
of but one exception. A neighboring nursery firm had a very promising
field of wheat, which was sown late. But their land is rich and
unusually well worked. It is, in fact, in the very highest condition,
and, though sown late, the young plants were enabled to make a good
strong growth in the autumn.
In such a dry season, the great point is, to get the seed to germinate,
and to furnish sufficient moisture and food to enable the young plants
to make a strong, vigorous growth of roots in the autumn. I do not say
that two hundred pounds of superphosphate per acre, drilled in with the
seed, will always accomplish this object. But it is undoubtedly a great
help. It does not furnish the nitrogen which the wheat requires, but
if it will stimulate the production of roots in the early autumn, the
plants will be much more likely to find a sufficient supply of nitrogen
in the soil than plants with fewer and smaller roots.
In a season like the past, therefore, an application of two hundred
pounds of superphosphate per acre, costing three dollars, instead of
giving an increase of five or six bushels per acre, may give us an
increase of fifteen or twenty bushels per acre. That is to say, owing
to the dry weather in the autumn, followed by severe weather in the
winter, the weak plants on the unmanured land may either be killed out
altogether, or injured to such an extent that the crop is hardly worth
harvesting, while the wheat where the phosphate was sown may give us
almost an average crop.
Sir John B. Lawes has somewhere compared the owner of land to the owner
of a coal mine. The owner of the coal digs it and gets it to market in
the best way he can. The farmer’s coal mine consists of plant food, and
the object of the farmer is to get this food into such plants, or such
parts of plants, as his customers require. It is hardly worth while for
the owner of the coal mine to trouble his head about the exhaustion of
the supply of coal. His true plan is to dig it as economically as he
can, and get it into market. There is a good deal of coal in the world,
and there is a good deal of plant food in the earth. As long as the
plant food lies dormant in the soil, it is of no value to man. The
object of the farmer is to convert it into products which man and
animals require.
Mining for coal is a very simple matter, but how best to get the
greatest quantity of plant food out of the soil, with the least waste
and the greatest profit, is a much more complex and difficult task.
Plant food consists of a dozen or more different substances. We have
talked about them in the pages of this book, and all I wish to say here
is that some of them are much more abundant, and more readily obtained,
than others. The three substances most difficult to get at are: nitric
acid, phosphoric acid and potash. All these substances are in the soil,
but some soils contain much more than others, and their relative
proportion varies considerably. The substance which is of the greatest
importance, is nitric acid. As a rule, the fertility of a soil is in
proportion to the amount of nitric acid which becomes available for the
use of plants during the growing season. Many of our soils contain large
quantities of nitrogen, united with carbon, but the plants do not take
it up in this form. It has to be converted into nitric acid. Nitric acid
consists of seven pounds of nitrogen and twenty pounds of oxygen. It is
produced by the combustion of nitrogen. Since these “Talks” were
published, several important facts have been discovered in regard to how
plants take up nitrogen, and especially in regard to how organic
nitrogen is converted into nitric acid. It is brought about through the
action of a minute fungoid plant. There are several things necessary for
the growth of this plant. We must have some nitrogenous substance,
a moderate degree of heat, say from seventy to one hundred and twenty
degrees, a moderate amount of moisture, and plenty of oxygen. Shade is
also favorable. If too hot or too cold, or too wet or too dry, the
growth of the plant is checked, and the formation of nitric acid
suspended. The presence of lime, or of some alkali, is also necessary
for the growth of this fungus and the production of nitric acid. The
nitric acid unites with the lime, and forms nitrate of lime, or with
soda to form nitrate of soda, or with potash to form nitrate of potash,
or salt-petre. A water-logged soil, by excluding the oxygen, destroys
this plant, hence one of the advantages of underdraining. I have said
that shade is favorable to the growth of this fungus, and this fact
explains and confirms the common idea that shade is manure.
The great object of agriculture is to convert the nitrogen of our soils,
or of green crops plowed under, or of manure, into nitric acid, and then
to convert this nitric acid into profitable products with as little loss
as possible. Nitrogen, or rather nitric acid, is the most costly
ingredient in plant food, and unfortunately it is very easily washed out
of the soil and lost. Perhaps it is absolutely impossible to entirely
prevent all loss from leaching; but it is certainly well worth our while
to understand the subject, and to know exactly what we are doing. In a
new country, where land is cheap, it may be more profitable to raise as
large crops as possible without any regard to the loss of nitric acid.
But this condition of things does not last long, and it very soon
becomes desirable to adopt less wasteful processes.
In Lawes and Gilbert’s experiments, there is a great loss of nitric
acid from drainage. In no case has as much nitrogen been obtained in the
increased crop as was applied in the manure. There is always a loss and
probably always will be. But we should do all we can to make this loss
as small as possible, consistent with the production of profitable
crops.
There are many ways of lessening this loss of nitric acid. Our farmers
sow superphosphate with their wheat in the autumn, and this stimulates,
we think, the growth of roots, which ramify in all directions through
the soil. This increased growth of root brings the plant in contact with
a larger feeding surface, and enables it to take up more nitric acid
from its solution in the soil. Such is also the case during the winter
and early spring, when a good deal of water permeates through the
soil. The application of superphosphate, unquestionably in many cases,
prevents much loss of nitric acid. It does this by giving us a much
greater growth of wheat.
I was at Rothamsted in 1879, and witnessed the injurious effect of an
excessive rainfall, in washing out of the soil nitrate of soda and salts
of ammonia, which were sown with the wheat in the autumn. It was an
exceedingly wet season, and the loss of nitrates on all the different
plots was very great. But where the nitrates or salts of ammonia were
sown in the spring, while the crops were growing, the loss was not
nearly so great as when sown in the autumn.
The sight of that wheat field impressed me, as nothing else could, with
the importance of guarding against the loss of available nitrogen from
leaching, and it has changed my practice in two or three important
respects. I realize, as never before, the importance of applying manure
to crops, rather than to the land. I mean by this, that the object of
applying manure is, not simply to make land rich, but to make crops
grow. Manure is a costly and valuable article, and we want to convert it
into plants, with as little delay as possible, which will, directly or
indirectly, bring in some money.
Our climate is very different from that of England. As a rule, we seldom
have enough rain, from the time corn is planted until it is harvested,
to more than saturate the ground on our upland soils. This year is an
exception. On Sunday night, May 20, 1883, we had a northeast storm which
continued three days. During these three days, from three to five inches
of rain fell, and for the first time in many years, at this season, my
underdrains discharged water to their full capacity. Had nitrate of
soda been sown on bare land previous to this rain, much of it would,
doubtless, have been lost by leaching. This, however, is an exceptional
case. My underdrains usually do not commence to discharge water before
the first of December, or continue later than the first of May. To guard
against loss of nitrogen by leaching, therefore, we should aim to keep
rich land occupied by some crop, during the winter and early spring, and
the earlier the crop is sown in the autumn or late summer, the better,
so that the roots will the more completely fill the ground and take up
all the available nitrogen within their reach. I have said that this
idea had modified my own practice. I grow a considerable quantity of
garden vegetables, principally for seed. It is necessary to make the
land very rich. The plan I have adopted to guard against the loss of
nitrogen is this: As soon as the land is cleared of any crop, after it
is too late to sow turnips, I sow it with rye at the rate of one and a
half to two bushels per acre. On this rich land, especially on the moist
low land, the rye makes a great growth during our warm autumn weather.
The rye checks the growth of weeds, and furnishes a considerable amount
of succulent food for sheep, during the autumn or in the spring. If not
needed for food, it can be turned under in the spring for manure. It
unquestionably prevents the loss of considerable nitric acid from
leaching during the winter and early spring.
Buckwheat, or millet, is sometimes sown on such land for plowing under
as manure, but as these crops are killed out by the winter, they cannot
prevent the loss of nitric acid during the winter and spring months. It
is only on unusually rich land that such precautions are particularly
necessary. It has been thought that these experiments of Lawes and
Gilbert afford a strong argument against the use of summer-fallows. I do
not think so. A summer-fallow, in this country, is usually a piece of
land which has been seeded down one, two, and sometimes three years,
with red clover. The land is plowed in May or June, and occasionally in
July, and is afterwards sown to winter wheat in September. The treatment
of the summer-fallow varies in different localities and on different
farms.
Sometimes the land is only plowed once. The clover, or sod, is plowed
under deep and well, and the after-treatment consists in keeping the
surface soil free from weeds, by the frequent use of the harrow, roller,
cultivator or gang-plow. In other cases, especially on heavy clay land,
the first plowing is done early in the spring, and when the sod is
sufficiently rotted, the land is cross-plowed, and afterwards made fine
and mellow by the use of the roller, harrow, and cultivator. Just before
sowing the wheat, many good, old-fashioned farmers, plow the land again.
But in this section, a summer-fallow, plowed two or three times during
the summer, is becoming more and more rare every year.
Those farmers who summer-fallow at all, as a rule, plow their land but
once, and content themselves with mere surface cultivation afterwards.
It is undoubtedly true, also, that summer fallows of all kinds are by
no means as common as formerly. This fact may be considered an argument
against the use of summer-fallowing; but it is not conclusive in my
mind. Patient waiting is not a characteristic of the age. We are
inclined to take risks. We prefer to sow our land to oats, or barley,
and run the chance of getting a good wheat crop after it, rather than to
spend several months in cleaning and mellowing the land, simply to grow
one crop of wheat.
It has always seemed to me entirely unnecessary to urge farmers not to
summer-fallow. We all naturally prefer to see the land occupied by a
good paying crop, rather than to spend time, money, and labor, in
preparing it to produce a crop twelve or fifteen months afterwards. Yet
some of the agricultural editors and many of the agricultural writers,
seem to take delight in deriding the old-fashioned summer-fallow. The
fact that Lawes and Gilbert in England find that, when land contains
considerable nitric acid, the water which percolates through the soil
to the underdrains beneath, contains more nitrate of lime when the land
is not occupied by a crop, than when the roots of growing plants fill
the soil, is deemed positive proof that summer-fallowing is a wasteful
practice.
If we summer-fallowed for a spring crop, as I have sometimes done, it
is quite probable that there would be a loss of nitrogen. But, as I have
said before, it is very seldom that any water passes through the soil
from the time we commence the summer-fallow until the wheat is sown in
the autumn, or for many weeks afterwards. The nitrogen, which is
converted into nitric acid by the agency of a good summer-fallow, is
no more liable to be washed out of the soil after the field is sown to
wheat in the autumn, than if we applied the nitrogen in the form of some
readily available manure.
I still believe in summer fallows. If I had my life to live over again,
I would certainly summer-fallow more than I have done. I have been an
agricultural writer for one-third of a century, and have persistently
advocated the more extended use of the summer-fallow. I have nothing
to take back, unless it is what I have said in reference to
“fall-fallowing.” Possibly this practice may result in loss, though
I do not think so.
A good summer-fallow, on rather heavy clay land, if the conditions are
otherwise favorable, is pretty sure to give us a good crop of wheat, and
a good crop of clover and grass afterwards. Of course, a farmer who has
nice, clean sandy soil, will not think of summer-fallowing it. Such
soils are easily worked, and it is not a difficult matter to keep them
clean without summer-fallowing. Such soils, however, seldom contain a
large store of unavailable plant food, and instead of summer-fallowing,
we had better manure. On such soils artificial manures are often very
profitable, though barn-yard manure, or the droppings of animals feeding
on the land, should be the prime basis of all attempts to maintain, or
increase, the productiveness of such soils.
Since this book was first published, I do not know of any new facts
in regard to the important question of, how best to manage and apply
our barn-yard manure, so as to make it more immediately active and
available. It is unquestionably true, that the same amount of nitrogen
in barn-yard manure, will not produce so great an effect as its
theoretical value would indicate. There can be no doubt, however, that
the better we feed our animals, and the more carefully we save the
liquids, the more valuable and active will be the manure.
The conversion of the inert nitrogen of manures and soils, into nitric
acid, as already stated, is now known to be produced by a minute fungus.
I hope it will be found that we can introduce this _bacterium_ into our
manure piles, in such a way as to greatly aid the conversion of inert
nitrogen into nitrates.
Experiments have been made, and are still continued, at Woburn, under
the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, to ascertain,
among other things, whether manure from sheep receiving an allowance of
cotton-seed cake is any richer than that from sheep, otherwise fed
alike, but having, instead of cotton-seed cake, the same amount of corn
meal. We know that such manure contains more nitrogen, and other plant
food, than that from the corn meal. But the experiments so far, though
they have been continued for several years, do not show any striking
superiority of the manure from cotton-seed cake over that from corn
meal. I saw the wheat on these differently manured plots in 1879. Dr.
Vœlcker and Dr. Gilbert, told me that, one of two plots was dressed with
the cotton-seed manure, and the other with the corn meal manure, and
they wanted me to say which was the most promising crop. I believe the
one I said was the better, was the cotton-seed plot. But the difference
was very slight. The truth is that such experiments must be continued
for many years before they will prove anything. As I said before, we
know that the manure from the cotton-seed cake is richer in nitrogen
than that from the corn meal; but we also know that this nitrogen will
not produce so great an effect, as a much smaller amount of nitrogen in
salts of ammonia, or nitrate of soda.
In going over these experiments, I was struck with the healthy and
vigorous appearance of one of the plots of wheat, and asked how it was
manured. Dr. Vœlcker called out, “clover, Mr. Harris, clover.” In
England, as in America, it requires very little observation and
experience to convince any one of the value of clover. After what I
have said, and what the Deacon, the Doctor, Charley and the Squire have
said, in the pages of this book, I hope no one will think that I do not
appreciate the great value of red clover as a means of enriching our
land. Dr. Vœlcker evidently thought I was skeptical on this point. I am
not. I have great faith in the benefits to be derived from the growth
of clover. But I do not think it originates fertility; it does not get
nitrogen from the atmosphere. Or at any rate, we have no evidence of it.
The facts are all the other way. We have discussed this question at
considerable length in the pages of this book, and it is not necessary
to say more on the subject. I would, however, particularly urge farmers,
especially those who are using phosphates freely, to grow as much clover
as possible, and feed it out on the farm, or plow it under for manure.
The question is frequently asked, whether the use of phosphates will
ultimately impoverish our farms. It may, or it may not. It depends on
our general management. Theoretically, the use of a manure furnishing
only one element of plant food, if it increases the growth of crops
which are sold from the farm, must have a tendency to impoverish the
land of the other elements of plant food. In other words, the use of
superphosphate furnishing only, or principally, phosphoric acid, lime
and sulphuric acid, must have a tendency to impoverish the soil of
nitrogen and potash. Practically, however, it need do nothing of the
kind. If the land is well cultivated, and if our low, rich, alluvial
portions of the farm are drained, and if the hay, grass, clover, straw
and fodder crops are retained, the more phosphates we use, the richer
and more productive will the farm become. And I think it is a fact, that
the farmers who use the most phosphates, are the very men who take the
greatest pains to drain their land, cultivate it thoroughly, and make
the most manure. It follows, therefore, that the use of phosphates is a
national benefit.
Some of our railroad managers take this view of the subject. They
carry superphosphate at a low rate, knowing that its use will increase
the freight the other way. In other words, they bring a ton of
superphosphate from the seaboard, knowing that its use will give them
many tons of freight of produce, from the interior to the seaboard. It
is not an uncommon thing for two hundred pounds of superphosphate, to
give an increase of five tons of turnips per acre. Or, so to speak, the
railroad that brings one ton of superphosphate from the seaboard, might,
as the result of its use, have fifty tons of freight to carry back
again. This is perhaps an exceptionably favorable instance, but it
illustrates the principle. Years ago, before the abolition of tolls on
the English turnpike roads, carriages loaded with lime, and all other
substances intended for manure, were allowed to go free. And our
railroads will find it to their interest to transport manures of all
kinds, at a merely nominal rate.
Many people will be surprised at the recommendation of Sir John B.
Lawes, not to waste time and money in cleaning poor land, before seeding
it down to grass. He thinks that if the land is made rich, the superior
grasses overgrow the bad grasses and weeds. I have no doubt he is right
in this, though the principle may be pushed to an extreme. Our climate,
in this country, is so favorable for killing weeds, that the plow and
the cultivator will probably be a more economical means of making our
land clean, than the liberal use of expensive manures. It depends,
doubtless, on the land and on circumstances. It is well to know that
manure on grass land, will so increase the growth of the good grasses,
as to smother the weeds. Near my house was a piece of land that I wanted
to make into a lawn. I sowed it with grass seed, but the weeds smothered
it out. I plowed it, and hoed it, and re-seeded it, but still the weeds
grew. Mallows came up by the thousand, with other weeds too numerous to
mention. It was an eye-sore. We mowed the weeds, but almost despaired of
ever making a decent bit of grass land out of it. It so happened that,
one year, we placed the chicken coops on this miserable weedy spot. The
hens and chickens were kept there for several weeks. The feed and the
droppings made it look more unsightly than ever, but the next spring,
as if by magic, the weeds were gone and the land was covered with dark
green luxuriant grass.
In regard to the use of potash as a manure, we have still much to learn.
It would seem that our grain crops will use soda, if they cannot get
potash. They much prefer the potash, and will grow much more luxuriantly
where, in the soil or manure, in addition to the other elements of plant
food, potash is abundant. But the increased growth caused by the potash,
is principally, if not entirely, straw, or leaves and stem. Nature makes
a great effort to propagate the species. A plant of wheat or barley,
will produce seed if this is possible, even at the expense of the other
parts of the plant.
For grain crops, grown for seed, therefore, it would seem to be entirely
unprofitable to use potash as a manure. If the soil contains the other
elements of plant food, the addition of potash may give us a much more
luxuriant growth of leaves and stem, but no more grain or seed. For hay,
or grass or fodder crops, the case is very different, and potash may
often be used on these crops to great advantage.
I am inclined to think that considerable nitrate of soda will yet be
used in this country for manure. I do not suppose it will pay as a rule,
on wheat, corn and other standard grain crops. But the gardener, seed
grower, and nurseryman, will find out how to use it with great profit.
Our nurserymen say that they cannot use artificial manures with any
advantage. It is undoubtedly true that a dressing of superphosphate,
sown on a block of nursery trees, will do little good. It never reaches
the roots of the plants. Superphosphate can not be washed down deep into
the soil. Nitrate of soda is readily carried down, as deep as the water
sinks. For trees, therefore, it would seem desirable to apply the
superphosphate before they are planted, and plow it under. And the same
is true of potash; but nitrate of soda would be better applied as a
top-dressing every year, early in the spring.
The most discouraging fact, in Lawes’ and Gilbert’s experiments, is the
great loss of nitrogen. It would seem that, on an average, during the
last forty years, about one-half the nitrogen is washed out of the soil,
or otherwise lost. I can not but hope and believe that, at any rate in
this country, there is no such loss in practical agriculture. In Lawes’
and Gilbert’s experiments on wheat, this grain is grown year after year,
on the same land. Forty annual crops have been removed. No clover is
sown with the wheat, and great pains are taken to keep the land clean.
The crop is hoed while growing, and the weeds are pulled out by hand.
The best wheat season during the forty years, was the year 1863. The
poorest, that of 1879; and it so happened, that after an absence of
thirty years, I was at Rothamsted during this poor year of 1879. The
first thing that struck me, in looking at the experimental wheat, was
the ragged appearance of the crop. My own wheat crop was being cut the
day I left home, July 15. Several men and boys were pulling weeds out
of the experimental wheat, two weeks later. Had the weeds been suffered
to grow, Sir John Bennet Lawes tells us, there would be less loss of
nitrogen. The loss of nitrogen in 1863, was about twenty-four pounds
per acre, and in 1879 fifty pounds per acre--the amount of available
nitrogen, applied in each year, being eighty-seven pounds per acre. As I
said before, the wheat in 1879 had to me a ragged look. It was thin on
the ground. There were not plants enough to take up and evaporate the
large amount of water which fell during the wet season. Such a condition
of things rarely occurs in this country. We sow timothy with our winter
wheat, in the autumn, and red clover in the spring. After the wheat is
harvested, we frequently have a heavy growth of clover in the autumn. In
such circumstances I believe there would be comparatively little loss of
nitrogen.
In the summer-fallow experiments, which have now been continued for
twenty-seven years, there has been a great loss of nitrogen. The same
remarks apply to this case. No one ever advocates summer-fallowing land
every other year, and sowing nothing but wheat. When we summer-fallow a
piece of land for wheat, we seed it down with grass and clover. There
is, as a rule, very little loss of nitrogen by drainage while the wheat
is growing on the ground, but after the wheat is cut, the grass and
clover are pretty sure to take up all the available nitrogen within
the range of their roots. This summer-fallow experiment, instead of
affording an argument against the use of summer-fallowing, is an
argument in its favor. The summer-fallow, by exposing the soil to the
decomposing influences of the atmosphere, converts more or less of the
inert nitrogenous organic matter into ammonia and nitric acid. This is
precisely what a farmer wants. It is just what the wheat crop needs. But
we must be very careful, when we render the nitrogen soluble, to have
some plant ready to take it up, and not let it be washed out of the soil
during the winter and early spring.
We have much poor land in the United States, and an immense area of
good land. The poor land will be used to grow timber, or be improved by
converting more or less of it, gradually, into pasture, and stocking it
with sheep and cattle. The main point is, to feed the sheep or cattle
with some rich nitrogenous food, such as cotton-seed cake, malt-sprouts,
bran, shorts, mill-feed, refuse beans, or bean-meal made from beans
injured by the weevil, or bug. In short, the owner of such land must buy
such food as will furnish the most nutriment and make the richest manure
at the least cost--taking both of these objects into consideration.
He will also buy more or less artificial manures, to be used for the
production of fodder crops, such as corn, millet, Hungarian grass, etc.
and, as soon as a portion of the land can be made rich enough, he will
grow more or less mangel wurzels, sugar beets, turnips, and other root
crops. Superphosphate will be found admirably adapted for this purpose,
and two, three, or four hundred pounds of cheap potash salts, per acre,
can frequently be used on fodder crops, in connection with two or three
hundred pounds of superphosphate, with considerable profit. The whole
subject is well worthy of careful study. Never in the history of the
world has there been a grander opportunity for the application of
science to the improvement of agriculture than now.
On the richer lands, the aim of the farmer will be to convert the plant
food lying dormant in the soil into profitable crops. The main point is
_good tillage_. In many cases weeds now run away with half our crops and
all our profits. The weeds which spring up after the grain crops are
harvested, are not an unmixed evil. They retain the nitrogen and other
plant food, and when turned under make manure for the succeeding crops.
But weeds among the growing crop are evil, and only an evil. Thorough
plowing is the remedy, accompanied by drainage where needed.
We have an immense number of farms on which there are both good and poor
land. In such cases we must adopt a combined system. We must grow large
crops on the rich land and use them, at least in part, to make manure
for the poorer portions of the farm. Drainage and good tillage will
convert much of our low, alluvial lands into a perfect mine of wealth.
And much of our high, rolling land consists of strong loam, abounding in
plant food. Such land requires little more than thorough tillage, with
perhaps two hundred pounds of superphosphate per acre, to enable it to
produce good grain crops.
After all is said and done, farming is a business that requires not
merely science, but industry, economy, and common sense. The real basis
of success is faith, accompanied with good works. I cannot illustrate
this better than by alluding to one of my neighbors, a strong, healthy,
intelligent, observing and enterprising German, who commenced life as a
farm laborer, and is to-day worth at least one hundred thousand dollars,
that he has made, not by the advance of suburban property, but by
farming, pure and simple. He first rented a farm, and then bought it,
and in a few years he bought another farm adjoining the first one, and
would to-day buy another if he found one that suited him. He has faith
in farming. Some people think he “runs his land,” and, in fact, such is
the case. He keeps good teams, and good plows, and good harrows, and
good rollers, and good cultivators, and good grade Shorthorn cows. He
acts as though he believed, as Sir John B. Lawes says, that “the soil is
a mine,” out of which he digs money. He runs his land for all it is
worth. He raises wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, and hay, and when
he can get a good price for his timothy hay, he draws it to market and
sells it. Thorough tillage is the basis of his success. He is now using
phosphates for wheat, and will probably increase his herd of cows and
make more manure. He has great faith in manure, but acts as though he
had still greater faith in good plowing, early sowing, and thorough
cultivation.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
The Printers have got our “Talks on Manures” in type; and the publishers
want a Preface.
The Deacon is busy hoeing his corn; the Doctor is gone to Rice Lake,
fishing; Charley is cultivating mangels; the Squire is haying, and I am
here alone, with a pencil in hand and a sheet of blank paper before me.
I would far rather be at work. In fact, I have only just come in from
the field.
Now, what shall I say? It will do no good to apologize for the
deficiencies of the book. If the critics condescend to notice it at
all, nothing I can say will propitiate their favor, or moderate their
censure. They are an independent set of fellows! I know them well, I am
an old editor myself, and nothing would please me better than to sit
down and write a slashing criticism of these “Talks on Manures.”
But I am denied that pleasure. The critics have the floor.
All I will say here, is, that the book is what it pretends to be.
Some people seem to think that the “Deacon” is a fictitious character.
Nothing of the kind. He is one of the oldest farmers in town, and
lives on the farm next to me. I have the very highest respect for him.
I have tried to report him fully and correctly. Of my own share in the
conversations I will say little, and of the Doctor’s nothing. My own
views are honestly given. I hold myself responsible for them. I may
contradict in one chapter what I have asserted in another. And so,
probably, has the Deacon. I do not know whether this is or is not the
case. I know very well that on many questions “much can be said on both
sides”--and very likely the Deacon is sometimes on the south side of the
fence and I on the north side; and in the next chapter you may find the
Deacon on the north side, and where would you have me go, except to the
south side? We cannot see both sides of the fence, if both of us walk on
the same side!
I fear some will be disappointed at not finding a particular subject
discussed.
I have talked about those things which occupy my own thoughts. There are
some things not worth thinking about. There are others beyond my reach.
I have said nothing about manures for cotton or for the sugar-cane--not
because I feel no interest in the matter, but because I have had no
experience in the cultivation of these important crops. I might have
told what the crops contain, and could have given minute directions for
furnishing in manure the exact quantity of plant-food which the crops
remove from the soil. But I have no faith in such a system of farming.
The few cotton-planters I have had the pleasure of seeing were men of
education and rare ability. I cannot undertake to offer them advice. But
I presume they will find that, if they desire to increase the growth of
the cotton-plant, in nine cases out of ten they can do it, provided the
soil is properly worked, by supplying a manure containing available
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. But the _proper proportion_ of
these ingredients of plant-food must be ascertained by experiment, and
not from a mere analysis of the cotton-plant.
I have much faith in artificial manures. They will do great things for
American agriculture--directly, and indirectly. Their general use will
lead to a higher system of farming--to better cultivation, more root and
fodder crops, improved stock, higher feeding, and richer manure. But it
has been no part of my object to unduly extol the virtues of commercial
manures. That may be left to the manufacturers.
My sympathy is with the farmer, and especially with the farmer of
moderate means, who finds that improved farming calls for more and more
capital. I would like to encourage such a man. And so, in point of fact,
would the Deacon, though he often talks as though a man who tries to
improve his farm will certainly come to poverty. Such men as the
Deacon are useful neighbors if their doubts, and head-shakings, and
shoulder-shruggings lead a young and enthusiastic farmer to put more
energy, industry, and economy into his business. It is well to listen
to the Deacon--to hear all his objections, and then to keep a sharp
look-out for the dangers and difficulties, and _go-ahead_.
TALKS ON MANURES.
CHAPTER I.
FARMING AS A BUSINESS.
“Farming is a poor business,” said the Deacon. “Take the corn crop.
Thirty bushels per acre is a fair average, worth, at 75 cents per
bushel, $22.50. If we reckon that, for each bushel of corn, we get 100
lbs. of stalks, this would be a ton and a half per acre, worth at $5 per
ton $7.50.”
Total receipts per acre for corn crop $30 00
Expenses.--Preparing the land for the crop $5 00
Planting and seed 1 50
Cultivating, three times,
twice in a row both ways 5 00
Hoeing twice 3 00
Cutting up the corn 1 50
Husking and drawing in the corn 4 00
Drawing in the stalks, etc. 1 00
Shelling, and drawing to market 2 00
Total cost of the crop ----- $23 00
------
Profit per acre $7 00
“And from this,” said the Deacon, “we have to deduct interest on land
and taxes. I tell you, farming is a poor business.”
“Yes,” I replied, “_poor_ farming is a _very_ poor business. But _good_
farming, if we have good prices, is as good a business as I want, and
withal as pleasant. A good farmer raises 75 bushels of corn per acre,
instead of 30. He would get for his crop, including stalks
$75 00
Expenses.--Preparing land for the crop $5 00
Planting and seed 1 50
Cultivating 5 00
Hoeing 3 00
Cutting up the corn 1 50
Husking and drawing 10 00
Drawing in the stalks 3 00
Shelling, etc. 6 00
----- $35 00
------
Profit per acre $40 00
Take another case, which actually occurred in this neighborhood. The
Judge is a good farmer, and particularly successful in raising potatoes
and selling them at a good price to hotels and private families. He
cultivates very thoroughly, plants in hills, and puts a handful of
ashes, plaster, and hen-manure, on the hill.
In 1873, his crop of Peachblows was at the rate of 208 bushels per acre.
Of these, 200 bushels were sold at 60 cents per bushel. There were 8
bushels of small potatoes, worth say 12½ cents per bushel, to feed out
to stock.
Mr. Sloe, who lives on an adjoining farm, had three acres of Peachblow
potatoes the same year. The yield was 100 bushels per acre--of which 25
bushels were not large enough for market, he got 50 cents per bushel for
the others.
The account of the two crops stands as follows:
-----------------------------------------+----------+---------
Expenses Per Acre: | Mr. Sloe | Judge.
-----------------------------------------+----------+---------
Plowing, harrowing, rolling, marking, | |
planting and covering | $ 8 00 | $ 8 00
Seed | 5 00 | 5 00
Hoeing, cultivating, etc. | 7 00 | 10 00
Digging | 10 00 | 10 00
+----------+---------
| 30 00 | 33 00
_Receipts Per Acre_: | |
75 bushels, @ 50c | 37 50 |
25 ” @ 12½c | 3 12 |
+----------+---------
| 40 62 |
200 bushels, @ 60c | | 120 00
8 ” @ 12½c | | 1 00
| +---------
| | 121 00
+----------+---------
Profit per acre | $10 62 | $98 00
-----------------------------------------+----------+---------
Since then, Mr. Sloe has been making and using more manure, and the year
before last (1875) his crop of potatoes averaged over 200 bushels per
acre, and on the sandy knolls, where more manure was applied, the yield
was at least 250 bushels per acre.
“Nevertheless,” said the Deacon, “I do not believe in ‘high farming.’ It
will not pay.”
“Possibly not,” I replied. “It depends on circumstances; and these we
will talk about presently. High farming aims to get large crops every
year. _Good_ farming produces equally large crops per acre, but not so
many of them. This is what I am trying to do on my own farm. I am aiming
to get 35 bushels of wheat per acre, 80 bushels of shelled corn, 50
bushels of barley, 90 bushels of oats, 300 bushels of potatoes, and
1,200 bushels of mangel-wurzel per acre, on the average. I can see no
way of paying high wages except by raising large crops _per acre_. But
if I get these large crops it does not necessarily follow that I am
practising ‘high farming.’”
To illustrate: Suppose I should succeed in getting such crops by
adopting the following plan. I have a farm of nearly 300 acres, one
quarter of it being low, alluvial land, too wet for cultivation, but
when drained excellent for pasturing cows or for timothy meadows.
I drain this land, and after it is drained I dam up some of the streams
that flow into it or through it, and irrigate wherever I can make the
water flow. So much for the low land.
The upland portion of the farm, containing say 200 acres, exclusive of
fences, roads, buildings, garden, etc., is a naturally fertile loam, as
good as the average wheat land of Western New York. But it is, or was,
badly “run down.” It had been what people call “worked to death;”
although, in point of fact, it had not been half-worked. Some said it
was “wheated to death,” others that it had been “oated to death,” others
that it had been “grassed to death,” and one man said to me, “That field
has had sheep on it until they have gnawed every particle of vegetable
matter out of the soil, and it will not now produce enough to pasture a
flock of geese.” And he was not far from right--notwithstanding the fact
that sheep are thought to be, and are, the best animals to enrich land.
But let me say, in passing, that I have since raised on that same field
50 bushels of barley per acre, 33 bushels of Diehl wheat, a great crop
of clover, and last year, on a part of it, over 1,000 bushels of
mangel-wurzel per acre.
But this is a digression. Let us carry out the illustration. What does
this upland portion of the farm need? It needs underdraining, thorough
cultivation, and _plenty of manure_. If I had plenty of manure, I could
adopt high farming. But where am I to get plenty of manure for 200 acres
of land? “Make it,” says the Deacon. Very good; but what shall I make it
of? “Make it out of your straw and stalks and hay.” So I do, but all the
straw and stalks and hay raised on the farm when I bought it would not
make as much manure as “high farming” requires for five acres of land.
And is this not true of half the farms in the United States to-day? What
then, shall we do?
The best thing to do, _theoretically_, is this: Any land that is
producing a fair crop of grass or clover, let it lie. Pasture it or mow
it for hay. If you have a field of clayey or stiff loamy land, break it
up in the fall, and summer-fallow it the next year, and sow it to wheat
and seed it down with clover. Let it lie two or three years in clover.
Then break it up in July or August, “fall-fallow” it, and sow it with
barley the next spring, and seed it down again with clover.
Sandy or light land, that it will not pay to summer-fallow, should have
all the manure you can make, and be plowed and planted with corn.
Cultivate thoroughly, and either seed it down with the corn in August,
or sow it to barley or oats next spring, and seed it down with clover.
I say, _theoretically_ this is the best plan to adopt. But practically
it may not be so, because it may be absolutely necessary that we should
raise something that we can sell at once, and get money to live upon or
pay interest and taxes. But the gentlemen who so strenuously advocate
high farming, are not perhaps often troubled with considerations of this
kind. Meeting them, therefore, on their own ground, I contend that in my
case “high farming” would not be as profitable as the plan hinted at
above.
The rich alluvial low land is to be pastured or mown; the upland to be
broken up only when necessary, and when it is plowed to be plowed well
and worked thoroughly, and got back again into clover as soon as
possible. The hay and pasture from the low land, and the clover and
straw and stalks from the upland, would enable us to keep a good many
cows and sheep, with more or less pigs, and there would be a big pile of
manure in the yard every spring. And when this is once obtained, you can
get along much more pleasantly and profitably.
“But,” I may be asked, “when you have got this pile of manure can not
you adopt high farming?” No. My manure pile would contain say: 60 tons
of clover-hay; 20 tons wheat-straw; 25 tons oat, barley, and pea-straw;
40 tons meadow-hay; 20 tons corn-stalks; 20 tons corn, oats, and other
grain; 120 tons mangel-wurzel and turnips.
This would give me about 500 tons of well-rotted manure. I should want
200 tons of this for the mangels and turnips, and the 300 tons I should
want to top-dress 20 acres of grass land intended for corn and potatoes
the next year. My pile of manure, therefore, is all used up on 25 to 30
acres of land. In other words, I use the unsold produce of 10 acres to
manure one. Is this “high farming?” I think in my circumstances it is
good farming, but it is not high farming. It gives me large crops per
acre, but I have comparatively few acres in crops that are sold from the
farm.
“High farming,” if the term is to have any definite meaning at all
should only be used to express the idea of a farm so managed that the
soil is rich enough to produce maximum crops _every year_. If you adopt
the system of rotation quite general in this section--say, 1st year,
corn on sod; 2d, barley or oats; 3d, wheat; 4th, clover for hay and
afterwards for seed; 5th, timothy and clover for hay; and then the 6th
year plowed up for corn again--it would be necessary to make the land
rich enough to produce say 100 bushels shelled corn, 50 bushels of
barley, 40 bushels of wheat, 3 tons clover-hay, and 5 bushels of
clover-seed, and 3 tons clover and timothy-hay per acre. This would be
_moderate_ high farming. If we introduced lucern, Italian rye-grass,
corn-fodder, and mangel-wurzel into the rotation, we should need still
richer land to produce a maximum growth of these crops. In other words,
we should need more manure.
The point I am endeavoring to get at, is this: Where you want a farm to
be self-supporting--where you depend solely on the produce of the farm
to supply manure--it is a sheer impossibility to adopt high farming _on
the whole of your land_. I want to raise just as large crops per acre as
the high farmers, but there is no way of doing this, unless we go
outside the farm for manure, without raising a smaller area of such
crops as are sold from the farm.
I do not wish any one to suppose that I am opposed to high farming.
There is occasionally a farm where it may be practised with advantage,
but it seems perfectly clear to my mind that as long as there is such an
unlimited supply of _land_, and such a limited supply of fertilizers,
most of us will find it more profitable to develop the latent stores of
plant-food lying dormant in the soil rather than to buy manures. And it
is certain that you can not adopt high farming without either buying
manure directly, or buying food to feed to animals that shall make
manure on the farm.
And you must recollect that high farming requires an increased supply of
labor, and hired help is a luxury almost as costly as artificial
fertilizers.
We have heard superficial thinkers object to agricultural papers on the
ground that they were urging farmers to improve their land and produce
larger crops, “while,” say they, “we are producing so much already that
it will not sell for as much as it costs to produce it.” My plan of
improved agriculture does not necessarily imply the production of any
more wheat or of any more grain of any kind that we sell than we raise
at present. I would simply raise it on fewer acres, and thus lessen the
expense for seed, cultivation, harvesting, etc. I would raise 30 bushels
of wheat per acre every third year, instead of 10 bushels every year.
If we summer-fallowed and plowed under clover in order to produce the 30
bushels of wheat once in three years, instead of 10 bushels every year,
no more produce of any kind would be raised. But my plan does not
contemplate such a result. On my own farm I seldom summer-fallow, and
never plow under clover. I think I can enrich the farm nearly as much by
feeding the clover to animals and returning the manure to the land. The
animals do not take out more than from five to ten per cent of the more
valuable elements of plant-food from the clover. And so my plan, while
it produces as much and no more grain to sell, adds greatly to the
fertility of the land, and gives an increased production of beef,
mutton, wool, butter, cheese, and pork.
“But what is a man to do who is poor and has poor land?” If he has good
health, is industrious, economical, and is possessed of a fair share of
good common sense, he need have no doubt as to being able to renovate
his farm and improve his own fortune.
Faith in good farming is the first requisite. If this is weak, it will
be strengthened by exercise. If you have not faith, act as though you
had.
Work hard, but do not be a drudge. A few hours’ vigorous labor will
accomplish a great deal, and encourage you to continued effort. Be
prompt, systematic, cheerful, and enthusiastic. Go to bed early and get
up when you wake. But take sleep enough. A man had better be in bed than
at the tavern or grocery. Let not friends, even, keep you up late;
“manners is manners, but still your elth’s your elth.”
“But what has this to do with good farming?” More than chemistry and all
the science of the schools. Agriculture is an art and must be followed
as such. Science will help--help enormously--but it will never enable us
to dispense with industry. Chemistry throws great light on the art of
cooking, but a farmer’s wife will roast a turkey better than a Liebig.
When Mr. James O. Sheldon, of Geneva. N.Y., bought his farm, his entire
crop of hay the first year was 76 loads. He kept stock, and bought more
or less grain and bran, and in eleven years from that time his farm
produced 430 loads of hay, afforded pasture for his large herd of
Shorthorn cattle, and produced quite as much grain as when he first took
it.
Except in the neighborhood of large cities, “high farming” may not pay,
owing to the fact that we have so much land. But whether this is so or
not, there can be no doubt that the only profitable system of farming is
to raise large crops on such land as we cultivate. High farming gives us
large crops, and _many of them_. At present, while we have so much land
in proportion to population, we must, perhaps, be content with large
crops of grain, and few of them. We must adopt the slower but less
expensive means of enriching our land from natural sources, rather than
the quicker, more artificial, and costly means adopted by many farmers
in England, and by market gardeners, seed-growers, and nurserymen in
this country. Labor is so high that we can not afford to raise a small
crop. If we sow but half the number of acres, and double the yield, we
should quadruple our profits. I have made up my mind to let the land lie
in clover three years, instead of two. This will lessen the number of
acres under cultivation, and enable us to bestow more care in plowing
and cleaning it. And the land will be richer, and produce better crops.
The atmosphere is capable of supplying a certain quantity of ammonia to
the soil in rains and dews every year, and by giving the wheat crop a
three years supply instead of two years, we gain so much. Plaster the
clover, top-dress it in the fall, if you have the manure, and stimulate
its growth in every way possible, and consume all the clover on the
land, or in the barn-yard. Do not sell a single ton; let not a weed
grow, and the land will certainly improve.
The first object should be to destroy weeds. I do not know how it is in
other sections, but with us the majority of farms are completely overrun
with weeds. They are eating out the life of the land, and if something
is not done to destroy them, even exorbitantly high prices can not make
farming profitable. A farmer yesterday was contending that it did not
pay to summer-fallow. He has taken a run-down farm, and a year ago last
spring he plowed up ten acres of a field, and sowed it to barley and
oats. The remainder of the field he summer-fallowed, plowing it four
times, rolling and harrowing thoroughly after each plowing. After the
barley and oats were off, he plowed the land once, harrowed it and sowed
Mediterranean wheat. On the summer-fallow he drilled in Diehl wheat. He
has just threshed, and got 22 bushels per acre of Mediterranean wheat
after the spring crop, at one plowing, and 26 bushels per acre of Diehl
wheat on the summer-fallow. This, he said, would not pay, as it cost him
$20 per acre to summer-fallow, and he lost the use of the land for one
season. Now this may be all true, and yet it is no argument against
summer-fallowing. Wait a few years. Farming is slow work. Mr. George
Geddes remarked to me, when I told him I was trying to renovate a
run-down farm, “you will find it the work of your life.” We ought not to
expect a big crop on poor, run-down land, simply by plowing it three or
four times in as many months. Time is required for the chemical changes
to take place in the soil. But watch the effect on the clover for the
next two years, and when the land is plowed again, see if it is not in
far better condition than the part not summer-fallowed. I should expect
the clover on the summer-fallow to be fully one-third better in
quantity, and of better quality than on the other part, and this extra
quantity of clover will make an extra quantity of good manure, and thus
we have the means of going on with the work of improving the farm.
“Yes,” said the Doctor, “and there will also be more clover-roots in the
soil.”
“But I can not afford to wait for clover, and summer-fallowing,” writes
an intelligent New York gentleman, a dear lover of good stock, who has
bought an exhausted New England farm, “I must have a portion of it
producing good crops right off.” Very well. A farmer with plenty of
money can do wonders in a short time. Set a gang of ditchers to work,
and put in underdrains where most needed. Have teams and plows enough to
do the work rapidly. As soon as the land is drained and plowed, put on a
heavy roller. Then sow 500 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre broadcast, or
its equivalent in some other fertilizer. Follow with a Shares’ harrow.
This will mellow the surface and cover the guano without disturbing the
sod. Follow with a forty-toothed harrow, and roll again, if needed,
working the land until there is three or four inches of fine, mellow
surface soil. Then mark off the land in rows as straight as an arrow,
and plant corn. Cultivate thoroughly, and kill every weed. If the
ditchers can not get through until it is too late to plant corn, drill
in beans on the last drained part of the field.
Another good crop to raise on a stock farm is corn-fodder. This can be
drilled in from time to time as the land can be got ready. Put on half a
ton of guano per acre and harrow in, and then mark off the rows three
feet apart, and drill in four bushels of corn per acre. Cultivate
thoroughly, and expect a great crop. By the last of July, the Ayrshire
cows will take kindly to the succulent corn-fodder, and with three or
four quarts of meal a day, it will enable each of them to make 10 lbs.
of butter a week.
For the pigs, sow a few acres of peas. These will do well on sod-land,
sown early or late, or a part early and a part late, as most convenient.
Sow broadcast and harrow in, 500 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre and 200
lbs. of gypsum. Drill in three bushels of peas per acre, or sow
broadcast, and cover them with a Shares’ harrow. Commence to feed the
crop green as soon as the pods are formed, and continue to feed out the
crop, threshed or unthreshed, until the middle of November. Up to this
time the bugs do comparatively little damage. The pigs will thrive
wonderfully on this crop, and make the richest and best of manure.
I have little faith in any attempt to raise root crops on land not
previously well prepared. But as it is necessary to have some
mangel-wurzel and Swede turnips for the Ayrshire cows and long-wool
sheep next winter and spring, select the cleanest and richest land that
can be found that was under cultivation last season. If fall plowed, the
chances of success will be doubled. Plow the land two or three times,
and cultivate, harrow, and roll until it is as mellow as a garden. Sow
400 lbs. of Peruvian guano and 300 lbs. of good superphosphate per acre
broadcast, and harrow them in. Ridge up the land into ridges 2½ to 3 ft.
apart, with a double mould-board plow. Roll down the ridges with a light
roller, and drill in the seed. Sow the mangel-wurzel in May--the earlier
the better--and the Swedes as soon afterwards as the land can be
thoroughly prepared. Better delay until June rather than sow on rough
land.
The first point on such a farm will be to attend to the grass land. This
affords the most hopeful chance of getting good returns the first year.
But no time is to be lost. Sow 500 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre on
all the grass land and on the clover, with 200 lbs. of gypsum in
addition on the latter. If this is sown early enough, so that the spring
rains dissolve it and wash it into the soil, great crops of grass may be
expected.
“But will it pay?” My friend in New York is a very energetic and
successful business man, and he has a real love for farming, and I have
no sort of doubt that, taking the New York business and the farm
together, they will afford a very handsome profit. Furthermore, I have
no doubt that if, after he has drained it, he would cover the whole farm
with 500 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre, or its equivalent, it would
pay him better than any other agricultural operation he is likely to
engage in. By the time it was on the land the cost would amount to about
$20 per acre. If he sells no more grass or hay from the farm than he
would sell if he did not use the guano, this $20 may very properly be
added to the permanent capital invested in the farm. And in this aspect
of the case, I have no hesitation in saying it will pay a high rate of
interest. His bill for labor will be as much in one case as in the
other; and if he uses the guano he will probably double his crops. His
grass lands will carry twenty cows instead of ten, and if he raises the
corn-fodder and roots, he can probably keep thirty cows better than he
could otherwise keep a dozen; and, having to keep a herdsman in either
case, the cost of labor will not be much increased. “But you think it
will not pay?” It will probably not pay _him_. I do not think _his_
business would pay me if I lived on my farm, and went to New York only
once or twice a week. If there is one business above all others that
requires constant attention, it is farming--and especially
stock-farming. But my friend is right in saying that he cannot afford to
wait to enrich his land by clover and summer-fallowing. His land costs
too much; he has a large barn and everything requisite to keep a large
stock of cattle and sheep. The interest on farm and buildings, and the
money expended in labor, would run on while the dormant matter in the
soil was slowly becoming available under the influence of good tillage.
The large barn must be filled at once, and the only way to do this is to
apply manure with an unsparing hand. If he lived on the farm, I should
have no doubt that, by adopting this course, and by keeping improved
stock, and feeding liberally, he could make money. Perhaps he can find a
man who will successfully manage the farm under his direction, but the
probabilities are that his present profit and pleasure will come from
the gratification of his early love for country life.