]871.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



669 



IMPORTANCE OF FARMERS' CLUBS. 

 AKMEHS of the present gen- 

 ^1^ eration have had the exam- 

 ple before them of associa- 

 tion, among merchants, literary and 

 scientific men, mechanics, manufac- 

 turers, and of nearly all the classes 

 of the industrial population. 



These classes have combined for 

 several reasons, First, because in union there 

 is strength. They long ago learned that their 

 scattered power accomplished little or nothing, 

 but that when united in purpose, they were re- 

 spected, and their objects gained. Second, to 

 protect their interests. Striking examples of 

 this may be found in certain classes of manu- 

 facturers in New England, and of importers and 

 merchants in New York, whose zealous care 

 watches with Argus eyes every change in 

 State or National law, which would tend to af- 

 fect their interests. To protect themselves in 

 such cases, they always have in readiness 

 some of their most astute and influential men, 

 paid liberally from a common fund, who are 

 too often able to shape the form of law to 

 suit special cases, rather than to favor the gen- 

 eral interest. 



Thirdly, they unite in order to learn of each 

 other. In the course of an hour, the grand 

 results of a lifetime of studies, experiment and 

 investigation, may be made known to a com- 

 pany of one hundred or a thousand persons, 

 all of whom, may be earnest inquirers in the 

 same direction. The subject may be of vast 

 importanceto our national industry, or perhaps, 

 as in the case of the cotton-gin, by our own 

 Whitney, the gathering of earnest thinkers, 

 may bring out new points to improve or per- 

 fect the work under consideration. 



All these the farmer has always seen going 

 on, but the examples, so plain that none could 

 mistake them, or doubt of their utility when 

 honestly conducted, have not led to their 

 general adoption. 



There are State and County Associations, 

 and they are doing their work, — imperfectly, 

 to be sure, — arousing attention and having 

 many excellent influences. There are also 

 Farmer's Clubs, but compared with the extent 

 of territory occupied by farmers, and the vast 

 importance of their profession, they are alto- 

 gether too few and far between. 



Let us, as farmers, quit some of the old 

 hackneyed paths, and avail ourselves of the 



examples offered by the shrewd, money-mak- 

 ing classes about us, and thus gain strength 

 by union, protect our interests by a better 

 knowledge of them, and gain ability to state 

 and defend them, and learn of each other how 

 to secure the best products in our art at the 

 least cost. 



Let us illustrate by a single case. The 

 statement has been so long and so often made 

 that "manure is the basis of all good farming" 

 that it has become a maxim, a settled princi- 

 ple with farmers, so that their energies are 

 mainly turned to securing it. But though so 

 often repeated by books, newspapers andspeak- 

 ers everywhere, is it an indisputable fact? 

 Are there no preliminary preparations re- 

 (juired in the soil, which, if neglected, would 

 leave the manure cold and inactive ? Are not 

 depth, pulverization and moisture all to be at- 

 tended to before manure will have much influ- 

 ence upon the growth of plants? 



Much larger quantities of manure are col- 

 lected upon many farms now than there used to 

 be. This is done by employing every availa- 

 ble means. In some instances by an increase 

 of fodder, and in others by the use of grain 

 purchased from abroad, and by collecting all 

 possible perishable articles to increase the gen- 

 eral mass. 



The increase of the hay crop, however, has 

 not been equal to the increased cost and 

 amount of fertilizers. These fertilizers have 

 been applied, in too many cases, where the 

 land was not fitted to receive them, and con- 

 sequently, they had no power to act. If this 

 be so, "manure cannot be the basis of all good 

 farming." On many of our best lands, some 

 action is indispensable, previously to the ap- 

 plication of manure, — and that action is to re- 

 move all surplus water in the soil. 



The reader can be referred to hundreds of 

 acres which have been cultivated for fifty years 

 with little or no profit, because the opera- 

 tion and importance of draining the soil were 

 not understood. In some instances these lands 

 were ploughed, well manured and cleanly cul- 

 tivated, and yet yielded no profit. In others, 

 no ploughing had taken place, but a crop of 

 poor grass annually cut to the amount of about 

 one ton to the acre. When drained and mod- 

 erately manured, these same lands annually 

 produce a crop of English grass of from two 

 to three tons per acre. 



