18 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



JOHN KEATING'S ADDRESS. 



The subject of the present paper is one of the most important, perhaps 

 the most important connected with the science and practice of agriculture. 

 So important is it, indeed, that all experience has shown that on it, more than 

 on any other one thing, hinges the failure or success of the agriculturist. 

 The man who makes a large quantity of rich manure, and applies it properly, 

 can not and will not fail of being successful. Per contra^ the man who is 

 careless on this point, who feeds his cattle poor and insufficient food, who 

 allows his manure to be swept away by the winter's winds, and dried up by 

 the summer's sun, though he may rise early and labor assiduously, is destined 

 to failure and disappointment. 



Time was, and that but recently, when this subject received very little 

 serious consideration from the majority of the farmers of Illinois. The 

 doctrine was then taught that the fertility of our prairies was inexhaustible, 

 and that although in the East manure was indispensable to a crop, that in 

 the West the happy farmer was freed from this laborious and expensive 

 necessity. That time is past, and past forever. The fertility of our State 

 is yet unimpaired. She yet bears crops of grass and grain which may chal- 

 lenge competition with those of any other State; aud the secret of this 

 continued fertility is, that the farmers of this State are fully awakened to 

 the necessity of caring for their manures and properly applying them to 

 their lands. It is impossible, in a limited article of this nature, to more 

 than glance at the most important parts of this vast subject. How vast it 

 is, and how much maj be written on it without exhausting the subject, few 

 realize. However, I shall not attempt to dwell on the subject in the minute 

 and scientific manner with which Eastern agriculturists are familiar. I 

 shall say nothing of mineral manures, or of artificial maTiures, of green 

 manuring or of sewage manuring. I shall avoid all mention of super-phos- 

 phates and nitrates, of chlorides and sulphates, and shall confine myself to 

 that of which I know something by actual experience; to that which I am 

 convinced is the most important to Illinois farmers, the production, care 

 and application of barnyard manure. 



In the production of barnyard manure it should be the aim of every farmer 

 to produce as much as possible. We want a quantity of fertilizing substances 

 to cover our broad acres, and to make any recompense to our lands, for the 

 abundant crops they bear us. This is one of the great difficulties with which 

 we have to contend. Our farms are so large, and generally so insufficiently 

 stocked, that it is impossible for most of us to produce annually anything 

 like the quantity of manure that we so earnestly desire to use. The first 

 thing, therefore, that we should do, is to stock our farms as heavily as the 

 land will support, or as we can aif ord to buy, even if we were obliged to buy 

 some extra grain to winter them. Having done this, we should remember 

 that it is not alone in bulk that the value of manure consists. We should 

 remember that quality is even more important than quantity. In order to 

 o-et rich manure it is necessary that we feed our cattle nutritious and abun- 

 dant food, and keep them in warm and comfortable barns. 



