FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 35? 



stored for the use of surface-feeders like the cereals. Wheu the clover is 

 buried iu the surface soil it has added to this soil mineral matter which was not 

 there before ; it affords a positive increase to the surface soil not only of nitro- 

 gen and other accumulated air food, but also of potash, lime, magnesia and 

 phosphates for the use of subsequent crops. This wonderful power of clover 

 to drink in from the air above, and to pump up from the deeper soil beneath, 

 all the elements so essential to the development of cereals, and whicli they un- 

 aided are so powerless to secure, explains why clover is such an excellent prepar- 

 ative for a wheat crop. Much of this benefit is secured by what the scythe 

 leaves, viz. : the clover stubble and roots ; but when the whole crop is buried in 

 the soil, the effect is astonishing. 



Over the climate of his farm man has no direct control ; the seasons, whether 

 wet or dry, warm or cold, are beyond his reach. Indirectly he may modify the 

 climate of his fields by drainage, by the amount of vegetable matter in his soil, 

 by shielding them by wind-breaks, or by opening them up to the action of the 

 wind and the sun. But over the soil and its food supply for vegetable growth, 

 he has unlimited control; he may make it as productive or unproductive as he 

 will. But in all these operations the question of cost and profit must be always 

 kept in view. The production of large crops by a wasteful expenditure of 

 capital is not a result over which a farmer need feel proud. The mau who 

 buys superphosphates, while his land is cumbered with bones, who buys potash, 

 and sells his ashes for six to ten cents a bushel to the soap boiler, or wlio buys 

 guano, yet leaves his dead animals to pollute the air of the neighborhood by 

 their decomposition, is not a model farmer. The question that should always 

 be before the farmer is, how can I most economically make my fields the most 

 productive? I have tried to answer this question in part. I have not kept in 

 view exceptional conditions of soil cultivation, such as market gardens where 

 from high price and ready sale of perishable products, the gardener is justified 

 in paying a high price for commercial fertilizers, but I have confined my atten- 

 tion to farming as it is usually carried on in this State, where the chief pro- 

 ducts sold from the farm are wheat, wool, pork, beef, butter and cheese. 

 These are commodities that will bear transporatiou, and are always marketable 

 in any part of our State. I do not give my attention to the person who is eager 

 to sell all his low-priced grains, hay, straw, stalks, and every coarse m.aterial 

 that can be sold for any price, however low, because I doubt if such a man 

 should be called a farmer. A hundred dollars' worth of wheat or wool removes 

 a certain amount of productive material from the farm, but it becomes a van- 

 ishing quantity compared with the productive material removed in a hundred 

 dollars' worth of straw. Every pound sold off the farm is so much available 

 capital removed, and the wise farmer will consider how much he is diminishing 

 his available farm capital by what he sells, and see to it that the capital thus 

 withdrawn shall bring the largest pecuniary return. Some may object that if 

 my advice were followed, the coarse farm products would never be found in 

 market. But in farming as in social life, it will ever remain true "the^oor 

 have ye always with you." 



I look with sincere pity upon many farmers who are settling down into dis- 

 couragement over the condition of their farm ; their crops arc light for want of 

 manure, the dungheap is small from want of crops; from want of anything to 

 sell they are too poor to buy fertilizers, and in utter hopelessness they exclaim, 

 '' farming is poor business." Well, such farming -i*- poor business. I do not 

 speak of this to add to his discouragement, but to give him a word of cheer, to 

 point him if I can, to some way to better his lot. I believe tiie cheapest and easi- 



