WASTES AND WANTS OF THE FARM. 573 



To permit one-half of the mamirial resources of the farm to be wasted is certainly not 

 good economy, when with a little extra care it might easily all be saved. Furthermore, to 

 spend money in buying commercial fertilizers to make up the deficiency of this waste, is not 

 good management, when the expenditure might so easily be obviated. In order to save the 

 liquid manure, various methods are employed, such as barn-cellars, etc. These are very con 

 venient, but not absolutely essential for this purpose. By the use of proper absorbents for 

 the bedding of the stock, which will take up all the liquids, they may thus be saved. Suitable 

 material for this purpose may be easily procured, such as dry loam, dry swamp-muck, fine 

 sand, road-dust, chaff, dry leaves, etc. 



Another wasteful practice is in throwing the solid manure out of the stable- windows and 

 permitting it to lie exposed to the rains and hot sun until wanted for use upon the land, where 

 the most valuable fertilizing elements are either washed out or evaporated. Manure thus 

 exposed loses fully one-half its value. Thus we see that those farmers who permit the liquid 

 manure of their stock to be wasted, which as previously stated is computed to be one-half 

 ol the entire quantity, and are in the habit of allowing the solid manure to be exposed to 

 the weather, thus permitting one-half or more of that to be wasted, lose fully three-fourths 

 of the entire amount of manure made by their stock. Dr. Voelcker found by careful experi 

 ment, that five tons of fresh manure, after having been spread in the yard and exposed to the 

 weather from November 3d until the following August 23d, lost nearly two-thirds of its actual 

 value as a fertilizer. Now, if farmers would take pains to prevent this waste of manure, by 

 the use of absorbents for the liquid, and shelter for the solid excrement, either in barn-cellars 

 or sheds, a good supply of manure would be had where now it is limited, thus requiring less 

 expense for the purchase of commercial manures, and an increased fertility of the soil with 

 no additional expense, together with better crops, and consequently larger profits. 



Another waste common on the farm that might be appropriately mentioned in this con 

 nection, is in exhausting the resources of the soil by constant cropping, without a sufficient 

 supply of manure. By this means valuable lands in some sections have become almost worth 

 less, and farms that once were very productive, yielding for a time large profits, have become 

 either entirely unproductive, or can hardly be made to produce sufficient to pay the expense 

 of tillage. This might all have been avoided by the judicious use of supplying a sufficient 

 amount of plant-food adapted to the crops to be cultivated, and thus valuable lands saved 

 from deterioration, and running to waste. Very few farmers would think of spending to no 

 purpose, or wasting the amount of money which such injudicious management involves, yet 

 they will permit such wastes to go on upon their farms year after year with the utmost indif 

 ference. 



Lack of Economy in Labor. While farmers, as a general rule, are a very hard- 

 laboring class, working more hours to the day than those engaged in almost any other avoca 

 tion, yet it is too often the case that the time and labor expended do not result in the profits 

 that they otherwise would, owing to the various ways in which there is a lack of economy in 

 utilizing the labor thus expended. The neglect to perform work at the proper time is a 

 source of waste on the farm, as well as in every other business. If the plowing be done for 

 the crops when the soil is dry and in a suitable condition for tillage, instead of being saturated 

 with water, much needless labor will be caved both to the farmer and team. 



Planting at the proper season, and usin;* good seed for that purpose, will economize 

 labor and bring profits that cannot be obtained by planting too early and thus permitting the 

 frost to kill plants, necessitating a second planting, or planting so late that only a partial 

 crop can be procured from the labor expended. The planting of poor seed is labor wasted. 

 The farmer who takes measures to kill the weeds in his cultivated fields when they first 

 make their appearance and can easily be exterminated, instead of permitting them to grow 

 until they have secured a partial or complete possession of the soil, will save not only much 



