Vor.. LXVIII No. 4024. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 11, 1909. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE WITH 
STABLE MANURE. 
A Sample of Old-Fashioned Farming. 
I have been much pleased with the 
recent articles by F. L. Allen and the 
editorial comments therein, that coin¬ 
cide with my own 55 years of experience 
as a farmer, the first nine years a tenant 
and then over 30 as owner and manager, 
until the last few years that I have let 
it out on shares. It was mv good for¬ 
tune to purchase a farm of even quality, 
so that a regular rotation could be ap¬ 
plied. The manure was always drawn 
and spread directly on the pasture at 
the first opportunity, but living in a very 
snowy country some Winters but little 
could be drawn. Often along in March 
there would be a break up, and then 
after a freeze, with a flurry of snow r that 
made it an ideal time for the transfer. 
The more there was drawn before Spring 
work commenced the better it paid. 
After the Spring seeding was done every 
particle of the remainder was drawn, 
and the lot was completely covered, to 
be pastured the same year, and followed 
by corn the year after; then barley or 
oats, and wheat afterwards when it was 
seeded down for meadow until the pas¬ 
ture rotation came around again. I 
usually had an abundance of straw, and 
at that time there was but little market 
for it. I threw it around the yard three 
or four feet thick; the stock all came 
to the yard for their drink and shade 
in open sheds. I would soon have an¬ 
other supply, which would go on the 
less fertile parts of the pasture. No 
putting in piles or composting for me, 
but when a load was in the wagon it 
went to the grass field without any fur¬ 
ther trouble or expense. This manage¬ 
ment would more than double my pas¬ 
ture and greatly increase the following 
crops, and each rotation would be an 
improvement, as it is much easier to 
make a rich farm richer than a noor 
farm rich. Horace Greeley said that if 
a man had 50 acres of land and wanted 
50 more to go down and get it, but a 
much simpler, surer and quicker way is 
to manure your grass land, to be fol¬ 
lowed by such rotations as your soil is 
adapted to and your judgment dictates. 
I think the manure applied this wav- 
more than doubles its value before till¬ 
age takes place by the great increase of 
sod produced in the best available form 
for the following crops. I know that 
this will more than double production; 
while going down after more subsoil to 
mix with that which is already deficient 
in fertility in many soils would make a 
bad matter worse. When I commenced 
farming by working land on shares I 
made a specialty of fine-wooled sheep. 
I used to shear many for others as well 
as my own, until I got to be quite an 
expert judge on sheep. I would pur¬ 
chase enough wethers to add to my 
home-raised to make a deck load, and 
sometimes a full carload for the New 
York market. I raised a large amount of 
GASOLINE HORSE AND SPRING-TOOTH PIARROW. Fro. 575 
SIDE VIEW OF THE GASOLINE HORSE. Fig. 576. 
THIS FARM PLOW TEAM EATS GASOLINE. Fig. 577. 
carrots and turnips; sometimes fed as 
much as 12 bushels of carrots a day, 
and about all the grain they would eat, 
and threw out straw several times a day, 
filling their racks with hay at night. 
These sheep would sell themselves when 
shipped; all I had to do was to sit down 
and the buyers would come and bid for 
them. Silos have taken the place of root 
crops in a great measure, but I think 
that carrots could be used in a great 
measure to advantage in diversified 
stock farming. It is not practical to 
raise them in weedy land. If on sod one 
wants to apply all the rich barnyard 
manure that is needed, and plow in early 
Fall before, and work it some, and as 
soon as the Spring work is over plow 
and till thoroughly until August; then 
sow with flat turnips thick, the largest 
can be used. I lie following year it is 
ready for carrots after thorough culture, 
with commercial fertilizer only. Very 
little weeding will be required besides 
horse work. When harvesting plow up 
to the first row, then a ditching plow, 
which consists of one blade about two 
feet long, just past the row, when they 
will come out easily. I used to draw 
them tops and all to the barn, where thcv 
were topped, and put them down in the 
cellar, mixing the tops with straw and 
feed them out together. The main ob¬ 
ject was to make large quantities of 
manure and double its value by surface 
manuring on grass land. 
After fine-wooled sheep became less 
profitable and good wethers scarce I 
raised a great many colts, horses being 
high in price. I imported some, doing 
this as much to see the country on the 
other side as for anything. I kept many 
of these horses in box stalls, used litter 
freely, cleaned out every three days, 
used a stone-boat and a gentle horse 
with collar and hatnes with traces, and 
drew the manure from them and the 
cattle and threw it evenly around the 
yard. No piles were allowed anywhere, 
but were made as even in quality as pos¬ 
sible all through the yard. This mixture 
of horse manure was ideal for Winter 
drawing, as it did not freeze easily, and 
one could draw when the snow was not 
too deep. This is one of the hardest 
things I have to contend with in letting 
out the farm, and it has been my expe¬ 
rience that the tenant who will not at¬ 
tend to this important matter, but let so 
much fertility go to waste, will many 
times cut past the middle when opportu¬ 
nity occurs. One would better sell 
everything in the rough and rely on com¬ 
mercial fertilizer than to let fertility go 
to waste after it is made. It is one of 
the extravagances that is most foolish 
and wicked, and without excuse, for the 
right way is simplicity itself, and re¬ 
quires but little brains. Draw out the 
manure the first chance you get and 
spread it on the grass, h. c. slocum. 
Cayuga Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—The proper utilization of 
wastes is the factor that may determine 
profit or loss, in commerce or on the 
farm. 
