1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
95 
said to be made. There is always considerable 
competition, for every one likes to have his yard 
well filled with good manure in the spring, and yet 
with few horses and cows, and a diligent use of ab¬ 
sorbents, that is, of leaves from the woods, muck 
from the swamp, sods, and such things, the manure 
heap will increase just about as fast, with no more 
labor or responsibility. Of course with more 
“ help ” we might board horses and cart muck and 
leaves too, and so have our muck and manure heap 
grow in proportion to the number of horses and 
cattle stabled, but I notice that that is not the re¬ 
sult generally seen. The stipulation in regard to 
boarding horses usually is that they shall have all 
the good hay they will eat, and towards spring a 
certain quantity of oats daily is ordered in addition. 
Boarding horses thus get in the way of nosing over 
a good deal of hay, which is wasted, for as they 
lose their relish for dry hay, they pick out the 
nicer sorts, and refuse the rest. Our own horses are 
fed more economically, when they have cut hay 
with bran and corn-and-oat feed, with only such 
dry hay as they will eat clean, and it would, I think, 
be better for both the farmer and for the horse 
owner, if the stipulation were that the horse should 
be kept in good flesh or gaining weight from No¬ 
vember to May, leaving the farmer to feed hay, 
grain, or roots, as he could do most economically. 
Talks on Farm Crops.—No. 13. 
By the Author of “ Walks and Talks on the Farm,” 
'■'Harris on the Pig,” etc. 
Mr. Calvin Chamberlin, of Maine, writes: “I 
have been a reader of the American Agriculturist for 
several years. Tour article in January is of 
special interest, as I have given much time and 
thought to the matter of forage plants, as substi¬ 
tutes for pasturage and hay. I am situated at a 
thriving village, and supply some of our neighbors 
with good milk. I moved from a 200-acre farm in 
1852, to my present place, then 20 acres—nearly one- 
half of which was covered with the original forest. 
I started a nursery of apple-trees as a leading busi¬ 
ness ; but at the end of a few years was glad to put 
the land to better use. I then got some Jersey 
6tock, beginning with grade heifers and a thorough¬ 
bred bull. I have since owned two other full-blood 
bulls, and kept each of the three two years. I have 
raised and sold several very fine cows, and have 
usually four cows in milk. My original 20 acres 
has been changed by cutting off about one-half the 
wood-lot, leaving a belt on the north and west for 
a wind-break ; and I have given four acres for the 
way of a railroad, and a site for a spool-factory. 
“ With my present available land,—not over ten 
acres, for all purposes of pasture, meadow, tillage, 
orchard, and garden,—and keeping a horse, and 
generally a bull, and raising heifers, and finding a 
good account in the Jersey cows, you can under¬ 
stand how it is that I am interested in a well-pre¬ 
sented article on a forage-crop. I have' .usually 
brought home some hay from out-lying lands a few 
miles away ; but for the main dependence, I make 
the best use I can of these ten acres. I have 
grown very heavy clover by using stable manure, 
wood ashes,-'and superphosphates. My last pur¬ 
chase of ashes was from the spool-factory—100 bbls., 
well packed, made from white birch, at 50 cts. per 
bbl. Alsike clover gives me as much weight of hay 
as does the largest red, and I think of more value. 
I have been through with all the usual experience 
with Hungarian Grass, Millet, and Western Corn, 
as fodder crops, and have settled on an early sweet 
corn. The cows and the horse have been consulted 
in their tastes while arriving at this result. 
“ 1 P ] ant in rows about 3i ft. distance, and hills 
li to 2 ft., with 5 to 8 stalks to the hill. Give flat 
tillage; hoe once or twice; use scarifier freely. 
The crop grown in this manner is as heavy as that 
grown in drills with more seed; and being more 
open to the sun, I imagine is more fully charged 
with the valuable elements. This mode of plant¬ 
ing has the advantage of easier handling in the 
daily green rations; and the surplus of crop ma¬ 
tures good ears, of which I usually have a few bbls. 
to be ground with the cobs, which goes well with 
the cows and calves in a mixture with cotton-seed 
meal. Besides the crop of potatoes, I grow some 
roots. Formerly I aimed to have 100 bushels of 
carrots to each cow wintered. I have now changed 
to mangel-wurzel aud turnips.” 
“Mr. Chamberlin,” said the Deacon, “seems to 
second your opinion that we are making a mistake 
in sowing the large varieties of Western and 
Southern corn for fodder, and that we ought rather 
to sow small-growing early kinds. I confess to 
have thought otherwise. Possibly, however, there 
is some truth in your idea.” 
“ Depend upon it,” said the Doctor, “ it is one of 
the most important points in growing com for fod¬ 
der. The only objection that can be made to corn 
as a forage plant is that it is not nutritious enough. 
It is too bulky. I am not sure that you want an 
early variety. What is needed is a variety that pro¬ 
duces small, fine, highly nutritious stalks, with an 
abundance of leaves. You do not want ears, but 
rich, soft, easily digested stalks, and it is not de¬ 
monstrated that a variety of sweet corn is any bet¬ 
ter than a variety of other corn. Tour stalks, last 
year, from a small early variety of common corn, 
were certainly sweet enough. Sugar is no more 
nutritious than starch, and as it ferments readily, 
there is great danger of its being lost from expo¬ 
sure to the rain in curing, or from fermentation.” 
“ Mr. Chamberlain’s method of planting,” said I, 
“ is agood one when the corn is to be cut up green 
for daily use in summer. But when it is sown on 
a large scale, to be cut with a reaper and tied into 
bundles to be cured for fodder in winter, I think 
my method of drilling it thickly in rows, is better 
than planting it in hills. We have in this section a 
bean-planter that plants two rows at a time, 2 ft. 5 
in. apart, and drops the seed in hills 12 or 15 inches 
apart in the rows. I have used this for fodder corn, 
dropping eight or ten kernels in a hill.” 
“ And you had a grand crop,” said the Deacon. 
“ True,” said I, “but no better than I have had 
since we drilled in a continuous row. The plan to 
adopt is the one which is the most convenient un¬ 
der the circumstances. The only thing that need 
be insisted on, is to sow it in rows wide enough 
apart to admit the free use of the horse-hoe or 
cultivator. Good crops are occasionally grown by 
drilling in the seed in rows seven inches apart, or 
by sowing broadcast, but they are the exception. 
A poor, sickly looking crop is the rule. For the best 
of ‘ Maize hay,’ we want a small-grow'ing variety, 
the richest and best land, and thorough culture.” 
But it is not an easy matter to convince a man that 
a “ big crop ” is not always the best. I W'as talking 
to-day with a farmer about barley. He was grum¬ 
bling at the price. He raised the two-rowed kind, 
and could only get 56 cents per bushel. “You 
could have got 75 cents,” said I, “for a choice 
sample of six-rowed barley.”—“ But you raise,” 
he replied, “ten bushels more, per acre, of the 
two-rowed, than you can of the six-rowed.” — 
“ That maybe sometimes the case,” I replied, “but 
the crop which is the most easily raised is seldom 
the most profitable. You sow wheat after the bar¬ 
ley, and it is reasonable to suppose that you would 
get better wheat after the smaller and earlier crop 
of six-rowed barley, than after the larger and late 
crop of two-rowed barley. It removes less plant- 
food from the soil. And at present prices, a crop 
of six-rowed would bring in more money than a 
crop of two-rowed. For instance, you have 50 bu. 
of two-rowed barley, per acre, and sell it for 56 
cents per bushel, or $28 per acre. If you had 40 
bushels of six-rowed, and sell it at 75 cents, you 
would get $30 per acre, and the cost of threshing, 
cleaning, and drawing to market is less on the 40 
bushel crop of six-rowed, than on the 50 bushel 
crop of two-rowed. You get more money per acre, 
and the crop impoverishes the land less.” 
“You admit, then,” he said, “ that you can grow 
a larger crop of two-rowed than six-rowed.” 
“No, I do not. But it doubless requires,” said 
I, “richer land to produce a maximum crop of six- 
rowed than a maximum crop of two-rowed—just as 
it requires richer land to produce a maximum crop 
of early Kent peas, than a maximum crop of Mar¬ 
rowfats. The early, short-strawed, six-rowed bar¬ 
ley, requires richer and better land than the later 
and longer strawed two-rowed kind. To grow 
choice, heavy six-rowed barley, you require well- 
drained, rich, clean, mellow land, and these requi¬ 
sites being provided, there is no crop which, in pro¬ 
portion to the labor, and taking one year with an¬ 
other, affords a better profit.” 
“Farmers will not sow much barley this year,” 
said the Deacon, “ spiiug wheat and oats pay bet¬ 
ter at present prices.” 
“If so,” said I, “those farmers who have good 
land, well adapted to the crop, had better stick to 
barley. A short crop means a good price aud larger 
profits. But the main thing is to make the land 
rich, warm, and mellow, and to sow early. We are 
getting commercial manures at comparatively rea¬ 
sonable rates, and they will pay as well on barley 
as on any other ordinary farm crop. If we cannot 
afford to use them on the whole field, there are 
usually some light, sandy knolls, or poor spots in 
the field, where a little artificial manure would 
make all the difference between a good crop and a 
bad one. There are sandy knolls on my farm that 
will not produce 8 bushels of barley per acre with¬ 
out manure, but when a dressing of manure is 
given, will give a crop of 48 bushels per acre. And 
you must recollect that I am obliged to spend pre¬ 
cisely as much labor and money in plowing, har¬ 
rowing, rolling, sowing, cutting, and raking these 
poor portions, as those producing a good crop.” 
“ On these poor sandy knolls,” said the Doctor, 
“1 should have more faith in some well rotted 
barn-yard manure, than in artificials.” 
“ Perhaps 60 ,” said I, “andin fact we are to-day 
drawing out some ‘ scrapings ’ from the barn-yard, 
and spreading them on the poorer, sandy portions 
of the field where we intend sowing barley. 1 have 
done this for several years with great advantage. 
But if you can not do this, then try 6ome artificial 
manure. I should prefer equal parts nitrate of 
soda and superphosphate, unless I could find some 
manure that would afford soluble phosphoric acid 
and available nitrogen at less cost.” 
“ If you have a good sod to plow under for corn,” 
said the Deacon, “ and after the corn is harvested 
can plow the land in the fall, the decayed sod will 
be brought to the surface, and if the land is not too 
heavy, you can sow the barley in the spring without 
again plowing. The sod will be where the roots of 
the barley can get hold of it, and it will be equal to 
a good dressing of manure. And besides this, the 
sods keep the ground loose and mellow, which is 
what is wanted for success in growing barley.” 
“A little artificial manure,” said the Doctor, 
“ sown in the spring, and mixed with this decaying 
sod, will be a great help. The nitrogen and phos¬ 
phoric acid of the fertilizer will make this sod equal 
to the richest and best manure. It is good in itself, 
but you will not get the full benefit from it without 
a little addition of nitrogen and phosphoric acid.” 
“The Doctor is right,” said I, “and the only 
question is, whether we can buy the nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid cheap enough. As a rule, we can 
make manure cheaper, by feeding more grain, 
bran, oil cake,etc., to 6toek, than we can buy it. 
But it will be found that those who make the 
most manure will be the largest purchasers of arti¬ 
ficial fertilizers. It is almost impossible to get as 
much manure as we can use to good advantage.” 
“ You can not raise good barley,” said the Doctor, 
“ unless your land is thoroughly underdrained.” 
“ Unless it is naturally drained,” said I. “ And 
even then it is not drained as thoroughly as we 
wish. Something may be done in the way of letting 
off surface water that will greatly facilitate spring 
work. On my farm we can often let off thousands of 
gallons of water while the ground is partially frozen 
in the spring, and before the water has time to soak 
into the soil. If it soaks into the soil, ithas to stay 
there until it evaporates into the atmosphere. And 
every gallon we let off, gives the sun and air a bet¬ 
ter chance to dry and warm the soil. Farmers let 
off surface water from their wheat, but very few 
think it worth while to let off water from land un¬ 
occupied with crops. If they would do so, they 
would frequently be able to plow and work the 
land a week or ten days earlier in the spring.” 
