FROM DARKNESS UNTO LIGHT IN FARMING! 
HOW AN OHIO MAN TOOK FRK8H HEART. 
He was called “a crarik "cranks move the world! 
What "no manure" brought him too: how he made 
five acres beat 30 ; pen up the manure ; a home mix¬ 
ture; how hand-planting worked ; a sliding scale of 
sales ; "honor to whom honor is due! ” 
The “ Old Way” Was a Big Failure. 
This locality was once known as the oak openings. 
The soil is light and sandy, with a sandy subsoil. 
When I began talking about what a man should know 
to be a successful farmer, such as the elements of 
which manure is composed, what plant food different 
crops take from the soil, how they take food from the 
atmosphere, the combination of different materials to 
form a complete fertilizer, etc., the neighbors called 
me “a crank.” When I commenced using fertilizers, 
in 1893, they asked me how my patent manure was 
getting along; not that they were interested in the 
matter, but simply to make 
sport of my undertakings. 
Most of the farmers in this 
section are satisfied with 
from 15 to 50 bushels of pota¬ 
toes to the acre, and from 
7 to 13 bushels of wheat. 
There is considerable small 
fruit grown, such as straw¬ 
berries, blackberries and 
raspberries and many 
peaches also. Some of the 
berries are sold in the home 
market and the surplus is 
shipped to Buffalo, about 
350 miles distant; the latter 
market being generally the 
most satisfactory. Berries 
being mostly grown on poor 
soil—fertilizers and manure 
being out of the question— 
one can easily imagine the 
results. 
Here is one of my records 
before I was converted to the 
use of manures and ferti¬ 
lizers. Total sales from four 
acres of straw berries for two 
years, 8136.46—two years’ 
picking. Last season, from 
less than one-half acre, my 
sales amounted to $158 14. 
This I consider quite fair 
when we take into con¬ 
sideration the unfavorable 
weather that prevailed throughout the berry season. 
My failures and successes with potatoes were about on 
a par with those with my berries. In 1889, I cul¬ 
tivated 30 acres of potatoes and bought an Aspinwall 
planter and a Hoover digger. When the crop was 
harvested and the tallies counted I found that I had 
but 350 bushels of inferior tubers. All my other crops 
at that time were about equal to those of my berries 
and potatoes. It was about six of one and a half 
dozen of the other. In 1893, I dug 575 bushels of pota¬ 
toes from less than three acres. The season through¬ 
out was a very unfavorable one. There being but one 
shower of any account from the time they were planted 
until they were ripe. 
A Poor Place to Build On. 
These three acres were on a part of the land where 
the 30 acre failure was made. The crops that followed 
the potatoes and their yields were as follows : Oats, 
eight bushels per acre ; wheat, 18 bushels (this was 
a very good wheat year); Japanese buckwheat, 11 
bushels. No manure or fertilizer was applied during 
this time, so it will be seen that the soil was very poor 
to commence with for the 1893 crop of potatoes. Now 
what brought about these changes ? A better knowl¬ 
edge of the business 1 In the fall of 1893 I began to 
prepare the manure for the crop. This was done by 
forking over the heap three or four times during the 
winter. I also mixed one barrel of plaster with every 
three or four loads of manure, and also built a pen 
three or four feet in height without a roof, using old 
boards, where I kept the manure until applied to the 
land. I believe in penning up manure and putting a 
roof over it, to prevent leaching, and to keep chickens 
from scratching it all over the barnyard, which they 
will do when it is well composted. I applied about 18 
loads of this compost to the acre, plowing it under. 
Then I applied 600 pounds of fertilizer to the acre as a 
top-dressing. The latter was of my own mixing, 
made to analyze about 9>^ per cent of phosphoric 
acid, 10 of potash and three of nitrogen. The horses 
from which the manure was made were fed consider¬ 
able clover and oil-meal, which would make the man¬ 
ure strong in nitrogen, and this surplus nitrogen was 
allowed to make up the deficiency in the fertilizer. 
When the potatoes were nicely up, I applied at the 
rate of 100 pounds of nitrate of soda to the acre on a 
portion of the field to ascertain whether enough ni¬ 
trogen had been previously applied. No marked change 
could be seen from the nitrate. Was this preparation 
of the soil all that was necessary to grow a good crop ? 
No, I think not. Had I left the seed in the cellar to 
put forth sprouts one or two feet in length, as I did 
when I planted the 30 acres, neglected to cultivate 
and hoe in time, and, later allowed the bugs to de¬ 
stroy what little growth they would have made, I 
should have looked for another failure, in spite of the 
manure and fertilizer. Instead, I took the seed out of 
the cellar, spread it on the barn fioor, allowing the 
doors open at day time to give plenty of light, closing 
them on frosty nights. Had the weather come off 
quite cold, I would have shoveled the potatoes into 
a heap and covered them with straw and blankets. 
When these potatoes were planted, they had short, 
stubby sprouts about one-eighth of an inch long. 
How the Hand Beat the Machine. 
One acre was planted by the trench system, using 
the Planet Jr. cultivator with the wings so arranged 
that by bearing on the handles quite hard it would 
make a nice trench to drop the potatoes in. After 
dropping the seed about 15 inches apart, the trench 
was filled with the same tool, allowing the horse to 
walk on the ridge. This time I held up a little on the 
handles not quite filling the trench, so that the first 
harrowing would finish the filling in and also cover 
what weeds had started. The rest of the field was 
planted with the Aspinwall planter. The potatoes 
were harrowed twice, once about a week after plant¬ 
ing, and again when they were breaking through the 
ground. Small uncut potatoes about the size of a 
hen's egg, were used for seed. The after cultivation 
consisted of hoeing once and cultivating three times, 
after which the vines were too large for a horse to 
pass between the rows. Then 
came the “old fashion” bugs. 
My hired man and I fought 
them for several days, until 
finally they surrendered and 
marched out of the field, and 
did no more damage the rest 
of the season. This field of 
potatoes was a wonder to 
all who saw them when at 
their best. They started an 
immense crop, but the dry, 
hot weather that prevailed 
during their growth did not 
allow them to fully mature. 
Still 30G bushels per acre is 
better than 350 on 30 acres. 
The difference in results 
between those planted by 
hand and those planted by 
machine was astonishing. 
The hand-planted yielded 17 
bushels from two rows, 
while those planted with the 
machine gave but 11 bushels 
from two rows. The hand- 
planted would yield about 
856 bushels per acre, while 
the others gave but about 
175 bushels per acre. I dig 
all of my potatoes by hand 
now, after wearing out a 
Hoover digger and a Planet 
Jr., and also trying many 
others. The Hoover I con¬ 
sider the best so far, but in my soil a 6-tined fork with 
a good man on the end of the handle beats them all. 
The rest of my crops equaled my potatoes, except the 
corn and oats where no manure or fertilizer was ap¬ 
plied. They consisted of strawberries, raspberries, 
tomatoes for canning factory, muskmelons, peaches, 
and a little celery and onions. The onions were grown 
somewhat on the plan of the new onion culture, but I 
have not as yet reached the 8,000 bushels per acre. 
This season I grew at the rate of 1,400 bushels per 
acre on seven rods of ground. Some corn, oats and 
hay were also grown, and all are being fed to my two 
horses, one cow and six good hens. Here are my sales 
for the past six years : 1891, 8697 39. No manure and 
fertilizers bought. 1893, 81,070 36. Manure and fer¬ 
tilizers bought, 845.83. 1893, 81,487.64. Manure and 
fertilizers bought, 896.31. I have also remaining to 
sell of my 1893 crop, 400 bushels of potatoes, about 880 
worth of celery, and a few other articles which, will 
swell the 1893 sales to over 81,700. 
What has brought about this great change in so 
Russian Thistle, About One-sixth Natural Size. Pig. 33. 
