122 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



[August, 



Before commercial manures were puffed up 

 to the extent they are now, I had a notion I 

 could make corn grow on the same principle — 

 stimulation— and 1 prepared a compound, not 

 wisely mixed, perhaps, but about as sensible 

 as many of the modern doses which farmers 

 swallow so easily, and I put this mixture into 

 the hill, put earth over it, and then planted 

 my corn. It came up so green and rank as to 

 attract the notice of persons passing on the 

 road, and t)ie stalks were grand, but I never 

 had so few ears in proportion. My compound 

 consisted of air-slaked lime, plaster, (sulphate 

 of lime) and wood ashes. Now, a chemist 

 can tell me just what was lacking, I suppose, 

 and if I had put that in, there would have 

 been a proportionate crop of ears. I should 

 like to have him. Now I will tell him some- 

 thing. If I had kept my compound out of the 

 hill, and had a natural growth of stalks such 

 as the land would have produced, the crop 

 would not have had the set-back it did, and 

 there would have been a proportionate crop 

 of ears. My point is that stimulating a crop 

 is an injury, unless it can be kept up until it 

 matures. As farmers usually use commercial 

 manures, they do little if anything more than 

 push the crop at the start, and often this ex- 

 tra growth is an injury. I watched a field of 

 buckwheat last summer with a great deal of 

 interest, where the seed had been drilled in 

 with some kind of phosphate, and a .strip left 

 across the lot without any of it. The phos- 

 phated part came up first, and at blossoming 

 time was several inches taller than the portion 

 where no phosphate was used. The straw — 

 mark this — was a great deal coarser, and the 

 leaves broader, and the cluster of blossoms 

 more scattered or wider apart. The owner 

 said he did not think there was any better 

 yield, and I do not think there was as good. 

 The phosphated part grew faster, blossomed 

 first, and was a few days riper, although it 

 was all cut at the same time. 



On soil so poor in organic matter (the basis 

 of vegetable growth,) that it would not pro- 

 duce a crop, chemical fertilizers no doubt 

 could be added to cause a crop to grow. They 

 would also help to extract plant food from the 

 soil, but would a crop grown at such an ex- 

 pense pay ? I do not hke such a foundation 

 to build upon. As a last resort it might do. 

 I know there is a great deal of wisdom spread 

 on here by professors and manufacturers of 

 chemical compounds. To most of us it is dust 

 in our eyes, so far as comprehending their 

 talk; but they do succeed in selling a world 

 of stuff, which in my humble opinion does 

 very little good. Not one of the farmers 

 ■whose remarks I quoted at the beginning of 

 this article knows that he was benefited in the 

 least by his expenditure for phosphates. The 

 probabilities are that they threw away their 

 money, and thousands of others are doing the 

 same thing every year. Does it never occur 

 to our farmers that possibly they may be hum- 

 bugged a little ? Only a few years ago there 

 were few makers of commercial stimulants, 

 or, as the farmers call them, "phosphates." 

 Now their name is legion, and every third far- 

 mer is an agent. Have farmers and philoso- 

 phers always been fools, or have there been 

 new discoveries in the science of growth 

 which can only be developed in the laboratory 



of some phosphate-compounding establish- 

 ment ? 



It would be more profitable for farmers when 

 they meet to discuss how they can increase 

 the bulk and quality of barnyard manure, and 

 turn their grain, straw and hay to the best 

 account to increase growth on the farm, to 

 exhort each other to better culture, which 

 will pay more in the end than by buying fer- 

 tilizers. I do not like to see this drifting 

 away from the old common sense and sub- 

 stantial landmarks and practices, which have 

 brought prosperity to so many homes, to the 

 uncertain, shiftless and costly ways where so 

 much is paid out and so little returned. 

 Would it not be a wiser policy for farmers to 

 expend the money they pay for chemical fer- 

 tilizers in the purchase of oil meal and bran 

 to feed to their cows, and to make more mut- 

 ton, beef and manure ? I consider oil meal 

 at .f -is per ton and buckwheat bran at $li^ per 

 ton to be a better investment than paying $40 

 or $4.5 per ton for a small per cent, of nitrogen 

 or phosphoric acid. — F. D. Curtis in Country 

 OeMtkman. 



HINTS ON LAWN MAKING. 

 In making a lawn now, as at any other 

 season, it is well to' recollect that the work is 

 to be done for many years, and that in no 

 part of the grounds will thorough preparation, 

 deep tilling of the soil, and abundant fertiliz- 

 ing, pay better than here. In a lawn of con- 

 siderable extent, it is a mistake to suppose 

 that it is neccessary to reduce the surface to 

 a dead level. For small grass plots, on small 

 places, this may be desirable, but a large lawn 

 appears to much better advantage if the sur- 

 face is gently undulating. Various mixtures 

 of seed are offered by the seedsmen. Some 

 of these seem to be well considered, but any- 

 thing more unsuited to our climate than the 

 "French Lawn Grass" can not be imagined. 

 Probably not a third of the kinds of grass it 

 is said to contain, will survive in our climate. 

 The best lawns we ever had were sown with 

 "Kentuckey Blue-grass" and "Rhode Island 

 Bent" (a variety of Red-top), in both cases a 

 small amount of "White Clover" was added. 

 For strong soils, the former, for light and 

 sandy ones, the latter, will no doubt give sat- 

 isfaction. In buying grass seed for a lawn, 

 look well to its quality. Some seed of "Ken- 

 tucky Blue-grass" (the same as "June Grass") 

 sells for twice the price of others, and is worth 

 four times as much. Chaff does not always 

 cover seed, and the samples should be care- 

 fully inspected. The advice to use from three 

 to eightjbushels of seed to the acre, is founded 

 upon the uncertain quality of the seed. Prob- 

 ably four bushels of fairly good seed would 

 be ample. The seed should be divided into 

 two or four equal portions, and the sowing 

 made, after thoroughly preparing the soil, in 

 different directions. The seed may be brush- 

 ed in, but at this season, a good rolling 

 will give a sutticient covering. Where the 

 lawn borders on roads or paths, or on shrub- 

 bery or other plantations, it will be best to 

 lay a margin of turf, six inches or more in 

 width. For small areas, the laying of sods is 

 advisable, and this may be done now, as' well 

 as in spring. In most localities, a common, 

 or the road-sides, will usiially afford a fine, 

 close turf. The soil, in this case, should be 



as thoroughly prepared as for seeding, and 

 the turf well beaten down, to bring its roots- 

 in close contact with the soil; If necessary 

 to cover steep banks, sods must be used. 

 These may be held in place by the use of pins; 

 plaster's lath split is best. These will decay 

 by the time the sod becomes well established. 



— American Agriculturist for August. 



• ■ 



SELECTING A FARM. 



In the selection of a farm the following are 

 some of the points to be taken into con- 

 sideration : The means, experience, adapta- 

 tion for certain kinds of farming, present and 

 future fertility, and condition of soil ; dis- 

 tahce from and accessibility to home and for- 

 eign markets, school, people, local govern- 

 ment, title of land, climate, healthfulness of 

 place, probability of increase in value of land 

 from surrounding causes, or internal improve- 

 ment. Lack of surticient means in farming, 

 as in all other business, is a serious drawback, 

 and in the selection of a farm is a most im- 

 portant consideration, as affecting the size 

 and value land to be bought. As a rule all 

 one's capital should not be put into the farm, 

 and loss in proportion as the laud is high and 

 the increase in value of land not so important 

 a consideration. Experience and adaptation 

 are important factors in deciding the location 

 of a place to farm, and they should decide, to 

 a great extent, the kind of farming to be pur- 

 sued. Fertility of land available and reserved, 

 is not an easy matter to determine. Land at 

 present fertile may be much sooner exhausted 

 than land at present less fertile. For instance 

 in new country the high lands are the most 

 fertile, while the low swampy places upon be 

 ing drained become most the valuable. Roads 

 are a matter of importance as influencing the 

 cost of marketing of crops and .sale of land, 

 and comfort of the farmer. Poor roads pre- 

 vent social intercourse. In that portion of 

 the year when farmers have time to meet to- 

 gether for mutual enjoyment and to discourse 

 subjects of interest and profit, they are very 

 apt to have bad roads which prevent their 

 meeting. This is one of the difficulties in the 

 way of enlightenment of the farmers. Sloughs 

 and lowlands lying between the market and a 

 farm are often a great hindrance, not only 

 from their inconvenience but from their es- 

 tablishing the kind of ftirms and farmers with 

 whom you will come in contact. From many 

 towns in the West produce can be shipped for 

 the same price as from points half the distance 

 owing to the difference in facilities for trans- 

 portation. 



The size of a farm should depend upon the 

 capital you have to invest in and upon your 

 farm, and upon your skill and ability. The 

 latter is a property that can not be measured 

 so well in quantity and is of different kinds. 

 For instance, one man has the ability to make 

 a "sand-bank" of thirteen acres yield $4,000 

 a year in market gardening, while you can 

 find men of equal itelligeuce who, if compell- 

 ed to make their living off of that amount of 

 land, would almost starve to death. Again 

 there are men whose whole life is made up of 

 transactions on a large scale. With plenty of 

 capital a farmer of good executive ability 

 can hardly have too much land. The profit 

 per acre does not depend upon the size of the 

 farm, but the capital invested upon the land 

 and the ability to manage it. 



