882.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



167 



the waste i)i(.k«l up by the liocs followuig 

 thorn. 



(.'oru is not as exliauHliiig to the soil as 

 wliuat or oats. Tliiri' is l)iit a very small per- 

 centage of our prairie laml that will not pro- 

 duce corn successfully from 10 to 15 years in 

 succession. 1 am not in favor of raising the 

 same crop on the .same land year after year, 

 and would consider such a course poor 

 farming. 



There is crop that feels the elTect of good 

 land more than corn. The aj)plication of 2U 

 loads of manure to the acre on land planted 

 to corn will increase its yield from 8 to 10 

 bushsls for three years, anddits etkct will he 

 seen after that time. 



We do not, at the best, make the most that 

 can be made out of our corn crop. It pays 

 well to grind corn for horses, beef-cattle, 

 milk-cows, and partly for hogs. By grinding 

 corn there is a saving of one-third. The 

 farmer who feeds from 1,.')00 to 2,(100 bushels 

 per year can well attbrd to invest $200 in a 

 mill and horse-power. 



We do not fully utilize the crop of corn- 

 fodder. The fodder on an acre of corn yield- 

 ing 40 or .")0 bushels is worth as much for feed 

 as a ton of timothy hay, w'hicli is about an 

 average yield of timothy on prairie land. The 

 cost of cutting up an acre of corn is $1.25. Of 

 course there is some value to the food left 

 standing in the field until the corn is gathered 

 and stock turned in upon it, but 10 acres of 

 corn-fodder cut in good season is worth as 

 much as 50 acres left standing. 



We need to say but little about the cultiva- 

 tion of corn. The means for planting and cul- 

 tivation of corn have greatly improved during 

 the last 20 j'ears. Witli the implements of to- 

 day, two men with good teams can plant and 

 well cultivate from 80 to 100 acres of corn. 

 The lister is of modern invention, but there 

 is a question whether it is really an improve- 

 ment. No better corn can be raised by its 

 use than is raised where the ground is well 

 plowed, and planted with a horse-planter with 

 check-row attachment. In very wet springs 

 there are many objections to the use of the 

 lister. This spring, corn phuited with the lister 

 is not as good as that planted wilh a planter. 

 The heavy rains have done much dama'je to 

 listed corn ; some ti'jlds washed out en- 

 tirely. If a little saving of labor is effected 

 by the 'ise of the lister tor three or four years, 

 damage may be done the lifth year by heavy 

 rains to more than overbalance the gain. If 

 we wish to grow corn with success in Kansas, 

 we had better settle down on good plowing, 

 thorough culture, and keep our lands in good 

 heart by application of manure, turn- 

 ing under clover and other grasses, feed our 

 corn at home, and in this way every farmer 

 will make a success of raising corn. — Hon. 

 Joshua Wlieeler, Atchison county, Kansas. 



THE EFFECT OF A GOOD SILO. 

 Last year I built a silo of 2J0 tons capacity, 

 wholly of stone and Kosendale cement, with 

 a flame and roof for cover. It is a good one 

 (I believe in no other), no vi'ater cau get in ; 

 no sap from the corn can get out, as so many 

 complain of when their silos are not half 

 \iuilt, or madi- from stale cement, or any poor 

 material. On account of the long-extended 

 drouth in this part of New .Jersey, I was able 



to scrape together of good, bad and indiffer- 

 ent, half-dried, wilted, grown and half-grown 

 corn, some :iO tons of ensilage after cured. 

 This, however, was enough to satisfy my 

 miiul on this subject, if there had over been j 

 any doubts. I used it as food for cows 110 

 days continuously, until all was fed o..t. 

 Within a week from the time we began feed- [ 

 ing hay, and though with an addition of 

 grain, the cows lost at least 25 per cent, of 

 milk ; the cream did not make as much but- 

 ter, and the butter was not of as good color or 

 flavor. During the time of feeding ensilage 

 we were unable to discover any other than the 

 most satisfactory taste to milk, cream or but- 

 ter. The cows were in the most perfect state 

 of health, and kei)t in line condition. 



I raised a Jersey calf droi)ped iu September, 

 which had all it wanted of ensilage, and I will 

 show it any day beside any man's calf six 

 months older. 1 fed for !«l days eight West- 

 ern steers, which averaged a gain of over li 

 pounds per day. The ration for cows and 

 oxen was 22 pounds of ensilage morning and 

 night, and 15 pounds of cut cornstalks at 

 noon. The cows had three quarts of corn- 

 meal and two (juarts of wheat bran per day, 

 and the steers had four quarts of corumeal 

 for 45 days, and live quarts for the last 45 

 days. Our success with the steers quite as- 

 tonished my neighbors, who feed in the old 

 way. The butcher says the cattle slaughtered 

 well, and the meat was remarkably fine, and 

 gave him every satisfaction. The use of poor 

 eusilage, made from corn half ripe, or frost- 

 bitten, I have reason for believing, would not 

 give such satisfactory results. ' I am one who 

 believes that to make good ensilage the corn 

 should be cut at the right time, cut the right 

 length, put away iu a good silo, and covered 

 over nicely, and then well and thoroughly 

 weighted down.— IF. JI'. M., in VouMry Gcn- 

 thnian. 



AGRICULTUEAL PROSPERITY 

 SHOULD BENEFIT THE FARMER. 



The future of farming iu the United States 

 has never, in the history of the country, been 

 so propitious as this season. Two of the great 

 staple products of American agriculture, the 

 two which are most to be relied upon tor the 

 general prosperity, to wit, hay ami wheat, 

 have naver been so abundant. It is not un- 

 likely that the corn crop also may exceed that 

 of any year that has preceded this. The av- 

 erage of all other staple crops is good. Already 

 these facts of great power are beginning to be 

 felt. " This is the tide in the allairs of men 

 — farmers— which taken at its flood will lead 

 to fortune." The farmer, living in his retire- 

 ments little knows the inlluences which his 

 general prosperity exerts over the commercial 

 relations of the country. The maiuifacturer 

 knows, the importer and exporter knows, the 

 railroad king knows, the iiolitician knows, 

 and all appreciate this inlliience. Unfortu- 

 uiilely for the fanner there are, among all 

 classes of men, ambitious speculators who use 

 their knowledge of the above facts not only to 

 increase their legitimate operations, but to 

 study how they can best take advantage of 

 the ignorance of farmers to appropriate the 

 prosperity of the latter to their own advan- 

 tage. To this end there are "stock ex- 

 changes,"' "corn exchanges," "bankers' and 



brokers' boards," "boards of trade," "rail- 

 road syndicates," etc., etc., the business of 

 which i.s, by organization, to control the 

 transportation, purchase and sale of farm pro- 

 ducts, not fiU' the benelit of the farmer at 

 home, nor for the benelit of the consumer of 

 such products, but for the sole benefit of the 

 jobbers and traflickers in these commodities, 

 and lh(( farmer in the country home, without 

 organization, is the victim of these combina- 

 tions and ma<'hinations. 



It is a serious problem how farmers can so 

 unite and combine as to protect their own in- 

 terests against the organized outrage and ex- 

 tortion of these other comliinations. 



Running through most of the grain and 

 grass-growing jiortions of the country there 

 are net-works of railroads, the original stock 

 of which was largely subscribed by farmers, in 

 the belief that lu-oximily to railroad transpor- 

 tation would a<lvance the profits of farming, 

 but unforlunately railroad corporations and 

 syndicates so completely monopolize the ope- 

 rations of railroads that the farmer never 

 sees the benefits of the roads, nor the color of 

 the money he invested in them. 



Farmers generally know these facts and de- 

 plore their inability to remedy the evils. 



The organization of " Patrons of Ilusban 

 dry" was conceived by and created in the be- 

 lief that a .solid combination of farmers with 

 their individual intelligence and combined 

 strength, could control legislation, and 

 through it regulate transportation and pur- 

 chase and sale, so that the producers would, 

 at least, be able to divide with the operators 

 in the profits of farm products. 



But this orsranization, in its extreme cau- 

 tion to keep out of it " politics and religion," 

 and avoid dangers within itself, carried it,s 

 caution to the extent of inability to guard 

 against danger from without, and after years 

 of labor finds its organization outgeneraled by 

 combined corporations, and out-witted by 

 wily politicians, until its very power is turned 

 against itself, and made the instrument of 

 those outside combinations which it was de- 

 signed to protect the farmer against. 



If the founders of the Patrons of Hus- 

 bandry, instead of excluding politics from its 

 deliberations had made it a political, not 

 Iiartisau organization, the purpose of which 

 was to protect the interests of the farmer by 

 electing legislators who would enact laws in 

 the interest of agriculture, and by electing exe- 

 cutive c^flicers who would jireserve tho.se inter- 

 ests, that organization might, to-day, instead of 

 being managed and manipulated in the inter- 

 ests of capital and monopolies, be the dictat- 

 ing power in State and National Legislative 

 bodies. Capital in the United States to-day 

 controls legislation, and legislators control 

 the industries of the country, more especially 

 the agricultural industry. This order of 

 things should be and can be reversed, so that 

 farmers, being in the majority over any other 

 class of men, should control legislation- 

 State and national— and honest legislation 

 should control capital. In a Bepublican 

 form of government majorities should rule. 

 The farmer is the majority. Forewarned is 

 to be forearmed. Farmers should and can 

 IM-otect their industry, and reap the fortune 

 from this tiilal wave of prosperity. 



