236 TALKS ON MANTJRES. 



pay well on potatoes. I have tried this mixture again and again, 

 and always with good effect. " 



" I believe in the hen-dung," said I, " and possibly in the plaster, 

 but on my land, ashes do not seem to be specially beneficial 

 on potatoes, while I have rarely used Peruvian guano without 

 good effect; and sometimes it has proved wonderfully profit- 

 able, owing to the high price of potatoes." 



Sometime ago, I had a visit from one of the most enterprising 

 and successful farmers in Western New York. 



''What I want to learn," he said, "is how to make manure 

 enough to keep my land in good condition. I sell nothing but 

 beans, potatoes, wheat, and apples. I feed out all my corn, oats, 

 stalks, straw, and hay on the farm, and draw into the barn-yard 

 the potato- vines and everything else that will rot into manure. I 

 make a big pile of it. But the point with me is to find out what is 

 the best stock to feed this straw, stalks, hay, oats, and corn to, so 

 as to make the best manure and return the largest profit. Last 

 year I, bought a lot of steers to feed in winter, and lost money. 

 This fall I bought 68 head of cows to winter, intending to sell 

 them in the spring." 



"What did they cost you ? " 



" I went into Wyoming and Cattarangus Counties, and picked 

 them up among the dairy farmers, and selected a very fair lot of 

 cows at an average of $22 per head. I expect to sell them as new 

 milch cows in the spring. Such cows last bpring would have been 

 worth $60 to $70 each." 



" That will pay. But it is not often the grain-grower gets such a 

 chance to feed out his straw, stalks, and other fodder to advantage. 

 It cannot be adopted as a permanent system. It is bad for the 

 dairyman, and no real help to the grain-grower. The manure is not 

 rich enough. Straw and stalks aloae can not be fed to advantage. 

 And when you winter cows to sell again in the spring, it will not 

 pay to feed grain. If you were going to keep the cows it would pay 

 well. The fat and flesh you put on in the winter would be re- 

 turned in the form of butter and cheese next summer." 



" Why is not the manure good ? I am careful to save everything, 

 and expect seven or eight hundred loads of manure in the spring." 



" You had 60 acres of wheat that yielded 25 bushels per acre, 

 and have probably about 50 tons of wheat straw. You had also 

 30 acres oats, that yielded 50 bushels per acre, say 85 tons of 

 straw. Your 20 acres of corn produced 40 bushels of shelled com 

 per acre ; say the stalks weigh 30 tons. And you have 60 tons of 



