JUNE M THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 371 
agriculture is keeping pace with the advance¬ 
ment of the times. 
Baileyvllle, Ogle Co., Ill. 
- - ♦ ♦♦- 
OTIR BIRDS. 
It takes a good deal of agitation to make 
the farming community understand what some 
of their most important interests are. Timber 
planting, for iustance, was written about and 
talked about for years before anything was 
effected, and even now the majority of the 
farmers are only just beginning to realize its 
importance. There is another subject of vast 
importance to the farm¬ 
er on which little is ever 
said; namely, Birds. 
Farmers are aware that 
they have to contend 
against insect enemies 
innumerable, but they 
cannot realize how much 
the birds assist them in 
keeping such pests down, 
because they have never 
been without such aid. 
Some idea, however, of 
the number of insects de¬ 
stroyed by a single pair, 
may be formed by watch¬ 
ing them while feeding 
their young. Men think 
that the robins, for 
nstauce, spend a good 
deal of time in their 
small-fruit gardens, or 
among their cherries 
(and even here they do 
not confine their atten¬ 
tion to the fruit), but 
they can well afford to 
spare from their abun¬ 
dance what few the birds 
take for the sake of their 
assistance in lighting in¬ 
sects. Prof. Cook says 
that, after numerous ex¬ 
aminations of their stom¬ 
achs, made with the 
greatest care, he is con¬ 
vinced that “birds, not 
excepting even the rob¬ 
in and jay, are the 
farmer’s friends.” The blackbird, the much- 
abused crow, the wood-pecker, aud all our 
common songsters are valuable assistants. 
And not only are birds valuable aids in com¬ 
batting insects, but they also destroy great 
quantities of weed seed. Let any one watch 
a lloclc of birds gather about a patch of dried 
weeds late iu the fall and he will be convinced 
of this. If you appreciate the importance of 
the assistance rendered by our feathered 
friends, what do you do to encourage them? 
Do you have shrubbery for them to rest in ? 
Do you teach your children to respect the 
rights of tile birds ? Do you have a bird 
house ? Do you encourage the swallows 
around your barn? Do you do anything to 
encourage their presence and increase their 
numbers ? There ought to be in each State a 
strict iaw r against destroying our common 
song birds or their uosts, and it ought to he 
strictly enforced. Let every farmer exert him¬ 
self to secure the enactment of such a lau\ 
The game laws, also, are generally too lux and 
hut laxly executed. For instance, one email 
cannot be found now iu Northwestern Ohio, 
where ten years ago there were whole flocks; 
aud this is principally owlug to the depreda¬ 
tions of “sportsmen!” Every man and boy 
too lazy aud shiftless to work, will range the 
country throughout, the season hunting quail. 
Not to speak of the damage that such charac¬ 
ters always inflict on property, they are fast 
exterminating the quail. Let every farmer 
work to secure a public sentiment that shall 
demand the enforcement of the laws against 
such characters. V. J. Emery - . 
Henry Co., Ohio. 
jfann 
high farming and low prices. 
We have to thank Dr. Lawes of liothamsted, 
England, for a copy of an address delivered by 
him, on May 3rd, before the East Berwick¬ 
shire Agricultural Association. Parts of it, 
chiefly of a local character, are of interest 
mainly to the British farmer, but the bulk of 
the work, treating ol the general principles 
of economic agriculture, must be extremely 
interesting aud instructive r.o our readers as 
"'ell as to intelligent farmers everywhere. Of 
these parts we have Imre reproduced the prin¬ 
cipal ones. 
High Farming. 
At the outset the speaker reviews briefly the 
present depressed condition of British agricul- 
tuie, which he attributes to the combined 
effects of a succession of bad seasons, cheap 
grain, dear Jabor, cheapening meat aud close 
foreign competition, especially with the agri- 
"ifncnl products of this country, and the ob¬ 
ject of his address he declares to be, not to 
discuss the applicability of all the suggested 
emedies for this depression, but to examine 
the advice frequently offered, that lower prices 
should he met by increased production; in 
other words, whether a higher standard of 
farrniug can be recommended to compensate 
for a reduction in price. Supposing, for in¬ 
stance, there were a permanent reduction iu 
the price of the salable prodnee of the farm to 
the extent of 20 per cent, would the proper 
remedy be to increase our prodnee per acre by 
one-fourth, and so bring up the salable value 
to the same amount as before. This could 
only be done by what Is termed high fanning, 
which he pithily distinguished as intensive in 
contradistinction to the extensive farming com¬ 
monly practiced here. Farming on the four 
course system of rotation, consuming each 
alternate crop on the farm, and in additiou 
to this converting all the straw of the grain 
crops into manure but without the use of any 
purchased foods or manures, though some¬ 
times iguorantly called by that name, would 
not he high farming; but, on the contrary, he 
considers it one of the main causes of the 
present depression. “ High farming is a very 
different process. It implies the importation 
of material from without. All soils are capa¬ 
ble of yielding more or less annually from 
their own substance to the produce which 
grows upon them. But, the greater the 
arnovmt of cattle-food aud manure, purchased 
aud brought upon the land—that is. the higher 
the farming—the less will the soil itself con¬ 
tribute to the crops. Indeed, in many cases, 
it contributes nothing at all, but becomes 
richer by the process. Under such circum¬ 
stances, the soil may be said to serve maiuly 
as a reservoir for the manures applied, aud 
for the necessary moisture, and to afford sup¬ 
port to the growing plauts; so that, with the 
aid of the sun’s rays, they may be enabled to 
accumulate carbon (and other constituents) 
from the atmosphere. They thus, so to speak, 
manufacture raw material supplied from ex¬ 
ternal sources. Under such conditious ag¬ 
riculture is a manufacture depending on the 
products of other soils and on the atmosphere 
for its raw material, just as ranch as do the 
manufactures of wool, cotton, and silk depeud 
on external sources for their material." 
This system has found many advocates in 
England, chiefly on the ground that most of 
the expenses connected with farming are much 
the same, whatever the value of the crops 
grown, and consequently that, with the excep¬ 
tion of the extra cost of the manure applied to 
grow the larger crop, the charges remain much 
the same whether the amount and value of the 
produce be great or small. If the application 
of two or three times as much manure yielded 
twice or thrice as much increase of crops, 
then he concedes that this style of high farming 
would be a remedy for lower prices; but the 
results of some of the field experiments at 
Rothamsted conclusively show that the higher 
you farm, beyond a certain limit., the Jess is 
the amount of increase you obtain for a given 
amount of manure, and therefore the greater 
the cost of that increase. It is frequently as¬ 
sumed that the manure made by feeding stock 
costs nothing; that, by skillful amt judicious 
management the cost of the food aud the 
other expenses will be covered by the value of 
the meat produced and sold; and that, this 
being so, the mauure is obtained gratis. But 
the fact is universal in England, aud frequent 
in the older-settled parts of this country, that 
the food of an animal will, as a rule, cost more 
than the meat produced will sell for; and that, 
consequently, the cost of the food and the 
other necessary expenses cau only be recov¬ 
ered by charging a portion to the manure. 
The speaker next gave a highly interesting 
account of a scries of experiments at Rotham¬ 
sted, on the ordinary four-course rotation of 
turnips, barley, clover or beans, and v’heat. 
The experiments lasted 31 years. One-third 
of the land was kept entirely without manure 
during the whole period of ihe experiments; 
one-third received mineral superphosphate of 
lime alone, every fourth year ; that is, for the 
root crops; the other third received, also every 
fourth year, a liberal dressing of a complex 
artificial fertilizer, composed as follows : 
Per Acre. 
Race cake. 2,000 lbs. 
Sulphate ammonia. loo lbs. 
Muriate ammonia. 100 lbs. 
Sulphate of potass. S00 lbs. 
Sulphate of soda. 200 lbs. 
Sulphate of niap'iicsia. 100 lbs. 
Superphosphate of lime... 350 lbs. 
Each of the three portions, so differently 
treated as to manure, had been divided into 
two experiments. From one half, the whole 
of the produce, roots and tops, gram aud straw, 
aud clover, had been removed. On the other 
half of each, the ouly difference had been that 
the roots were led on the land by sheep having 
no oilier food, and the tops were also left on 
the land. The results of these experiments con¬ 
cern the European farmer chiefly, and are de¬ 
clared to have been somewhat disappointing, 
and that to farm still higher, as prices fall, 
would be a mistake. "We have learnt much.” 
says Mr. Lawes, “ respecting the action of 
manures, the requirements of different crops, 
and the influence of climate upon them, during 
the many years of the progress of our field 
experiments, and among other things, that we 
can gather up much more of the manure ap¬ 
plied, by moans of a mangold than of a turnip 
crop.” 
The part of the address which will chiofiy 
interest American farmers, inasmuch as its 
lessons arc equally applicable to their own 
conditions, is that treating of 
Experiments with Farm-yard Manure. 
“In these experiments," says Mr. Lawes, 
“farm-yard manure has been applied for many 
years in succession to different crops. When 
you arc urged to farm higher, the meaning is 
tha* you should put more dung upou your 
land. Consequently, it is of great importance 
to ascertain, With as much accuracy as possi¬ 
ble, the effects of the application of large 
quantities of dung. 
PRODUCE OF WHEAT AND BAULKY, BY 14 TONS FARM* 
YAltD MANURE PER ACRE, EVERY YEAR. 
Average per acre per 
annum. 
Dressed 
Grain. 
Straw. 
Wheat, year after year on the 
same land—So years, 1844-1878. 
Bushels. 
Cwte. 
First Period, 8 years, 1844 1851... 
28 
28->a 
Second Period, 9 years, 1852-1880. 
84(» 
34*,, 
Third Period. 9 years, 1861-1889.. 
37!„ 
335a 
Fourth Period, 9 years, 1870-1978. 
Hurley, war after on the same 
31 
29,'a 
Until -27 years, 1852-1878. 
First Period, 9 years, 1852 i860... 
44 
26 
Second Period, 9 years. 1891 -1889.1 
62 
309 b 
Third Period, 9 years, 1870-1878.. 
«* 1 
29 s « 
“In the table is giveu the produce of wheat, 
grain and straw, aud of barley, grain aud 
straw, by the application of 14 tons of farm¬ 
yard manure per acre per annum. In the 
upper division of the table the results obtained 
with wheat, and in the lower those obtained 
with barley, are recorded. The experiments 
on wheat have now been continued for 35 
years, and the average produce per acre per 
annum is given for the first eight years, the next 
nine years, the next nine ycarB, and the last nine 
years. The experiments on barley have been 
continued for 27 years, aud the results aregiven 
for the three periods of nine years each, cor¬ 
responding with the last three periods in the 
case of tire wheat. 
“Referring first to the 
wheat, you will observe 
that the average prodnee 
of the first eight years 
is the lowest, that of the 
next nine years is higher, 
that of the third period 
is higher still, and that 
of the last nine years 
again is considerably 
lower, being only about 
three bushels more than 
over the first period, 
about three bushels less 
tbau over the second, and 
six bushels less than over 
the third period. 
“It is quite obvious 
from thi6 result, that the 
produce was not at all In 
proportion to the accu¬ 
mulation of manure in 
the land. When the soil 
was analyzed a few years 
ago. it was found that 
the first nine inches in 
depth were nearly twice 
as rich in nitrogen as 
any of the artificially ma¬ 
nured plots, yielding as 
much, or even more, pro¬ 
duce. There can be uo 
doubt that whilst, there 
is a general tendency 
to increase in produce 
as the result of this 
great accumulation of 
manure in the soil, the 
fluctuations are greatly dependent on the char¬ 
acters of the seasons. Thus, the third period, 
which gives the highest produce, included some 
very productive years, whilst the fourth pe¬ 
riod included a number of bad seasons, the 
adverse influence of which the constantly in¬ 
creasing accumulation of manure within the 
soil only very partially obviated. It will be 
observed, too, that the amount of straw, the 
excess of which is a sure sign of excess of 
manure and over luxuriance, upon the whole 
increases rather less than that of grain, there 
being less straw over the third period, with the 
highest produce of grain, than over the second 
with a lower produce of grain, whilst the 
fourth period gives considerably less than 
either the second or the third. This is the 
more remarkable since the auuuul application 
of 14 tons of dang will have annually brought 
upon the laud the equivalent of from three to 
four tons of straw. The fluctuations in the 
produce of straw, as well as in that of grain, 
further illustrate the influence of season in 
spite of the accumulation of maaure. 
“Turning to the experiments with barley, 
we have, upon the whole, very accordant re¬ 
sults over the three periods, compared with the 
same three periods with wheat. Thus, the last 
period but one, which included a number of 
very good seasons, gave more produce than 
the last period, notwithstanding the greater 
accumulation of manure in the later years. 
There is in the barley, too, as with the wheat, 
no striking increase in the production of straw; 
for although there was considerable variation 
in the proportion of grain or straw in individ¬ 
ual years, according to season, the average 
proportion is almost identical for each of the 
three periods. It is, then, obvious that there 
is no increase of produce of either wheat or 
barley over ihe later years, at all commen¬ 
surate with the increased accumulation of 
manure in the soil. 
“ You will doubtless be interested to know 
something of the after effects of these great 
accumulations of dung iu the soil, seeing that 
they iuerease the crops so inadequately during 
the period of the application of fhe manure. 
The folio wiug table affords information on this 
point. The two upper divisions relate to bar¬ 
ley, and the lower one to meadow hay. After 
14 tous of farmyard manure had been applied 
for 20 years iu succession on oue plot in the 
field devoted to the continuous growth of bar¬ 
ley, the plot was divided. On one-half the 
annual application of the dung has been con¬ 
tinued now for a period of seven years more ; 
whilst the other half has been loft nnmauurod. 
also now for seven years, in the experiments 
ou meadow hay, the application of 14 tons of 
farmyard mauure per acre per annum was con¬ 
tinued for eight years; and the land has since 
been left unmanured for 15 years. The table 
shows the produce of barley, grain and straw, 
