Manure (Continued). 157 



$100 at the station. The fertility carried away is $12.24 P er 

 acre. This is not materially different in amount from what a 

 large crop of timothy would take from the farm ; but where the 

 timothy man gets $1.30 per acre over fertility sold off, I get 

 $87.76, a tremendous difference. It is a ruinous business, Ishould 

 say, when one gets but little more than the fertilizing value of his 

 products. I have known men to sell clover hay for much less 

 than its fertilizing value, actually. I will turn mine under every 

 time rather than to sell off the farm, and use it to feed crops that 

 I can sell, so as to get a good deal more than the mere fertilizing 

 value. I averaged about a ton of wheat per acre for a long 

 term of years. This takes off $7.09 from an acre, and last year 

 (1891) brought over $33 a ton. I get a good deal more than 

 market value for the fertility I sell. 



Again, there has been a great deal said by certain persons 

 because I did not keep more stock. I hold that I am actually 

 doing better farming, drawing on the vast store in the soil and 

 subsoil less, than a great many who keep stock largely. Men 

 should know that they are right before they find fault with those 

 who do differently. I think I know what I am about, at any rate 

 I have studied over it hard enough. Now, if I were to grow corn 

 instead of potatoes, and feed it with clover to beef cattle, and sell 

 beef off the farm instead of potatoes, no fault would be found 

 with me. That would be good farming, selling concentrated pro- 

 ducts, feeding out what you grow, etc. Well, I suppose for a ton 

 of the very finest fat cattle I might get $80 in these days, and it 

 has been about the same for a good while. That is putting it 

 full high, though. I mean $80 at the station here, of course. 

 And with every ton sold $ 11.80 of fertilizer would go. With 

 $80 worth of potatoes less than . that amount of fertilizer is 

 sold off the farm on the average. Selling beef cattle would 

 remove from the soil per $100 worth sold less' potash than sell- 

 ing potatoes, but my soil is abundantly supplied with this, so 

 much so that an application of ashes shows no effect whatever so 

 far. The selling of potatoes removes from my soil less phosphoric 

 acid than if I sold fat cattle, and this is the ingredient I think 

 that my soil has the smallest supply of. The amount of nitrogen 

 sold is not materially different in either case. But that is the 

 substance that I care least for, as I can or do at least get enough 

 of that from clover growing and careful saving not letting man- 

 ure heat, keeping some growing crop on land as nearly all the 

 time as possible, etc. 



I think now you can see where I stand on the manure ques- 

 tion. No man does or can save what he has any more carefully 

 than I. It is plant food. We are not likely to ever get enough, 

 say nothing of too much. But unless we sell butter mainly, one 

 cannot farm without selling off quite a quantity of fertilizer 

 yearly. I propose to sell enough to live well and make money as 



