1 Title Registered L-j AN fS 0
sp P A Farm and Home Weekly for the Carolinas, Virginia Tennessee, and Georgia. ? P
CONSOLIDATED, 1909, WITH "MODERN FARMING."
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Vol. XXIV. ,V44.
RALEIGH, N. C, DECEMBER 9, 1909.
Weekly: $1 a Year.
Better Care of the Manure as a Guide Post to "$500 More a Year Farming."
OME THINGS WE SAY orer and over until some of our friends
may be tired of hearing them; but in every case where we do
this we are sure that conditions justify the repetition.
No reader who thinks will find fault with us, we are sure, for
once more calling attention to the great need yes, the absolute
necessity of making more stable manure and taking better care of
what we make. Indeed the same appeal to the business sense of
Southern farmers goes up, with much greater force than we are
able to express it, from the thousands and thousands of worn and
washed, gully-scarred 'and humus-starved acres that mar this fair
Southland of ours. In the new day of better farming that is coming
we, the farmers of the South, are going to get rid of these unprofit
able and unsightly acres are going to convert them into fair fields
that will reward the man who tills them with a rich return for his
care and labor. To do this, there is but one way: We must put
back into these soils the humus we have burned and washed out
of them by repeated summer cultivations and continued winter ex
posure. We can do this by growing the legumes on them; but to
do it most profitably, we must , feed these legumes to live stock and
return the manure to the fields. As was stated last week, we can
not, under ordinary circumstances, afford to apply directly to the soil
any crop that can be fed to stock; and this means that we must have
more live stock of . all kinds to convert the crops we raise into
meat and power and milk, and leave, at the same time, most of the
fertilizing elements in these crops on the farm where they can help
to grow 'other crops.'
.We need more stock, then, and we need to make more manure;
but we also need almost equally as much to take better care of the
manure we are now making.
Are we of the South so rich that we can afford in three States
to waste $29,000,000 worth of plant food each year?
We do not believe we are; but if we were, it would be none the less
criminal for us to do it. A needless waste is always criminal; and
to many Southern farmers the proper care of the manure made on
the farm would mean the difference between poor crops and good
ones, between "hard times" and prosperity. This is no exaggeration,
but a plain statement of simple facts.
And it isn't so hard to take care of the manure and prevent much
of the waste that now goes on. Just a few simples rules need to be
followed:
1. Have the floors of the stables made so that the liquid manure
cannot escape. A concrete floor will answer, or a very close board
floor, or one made of clay packed down hard and tight.
2. Use plenty of bedding pine straw, leaves, cut-up corn stalks,
dust, refuse hay or straw so as to absorb the liquids. With a
tight earth floor and , plenty of bedding the common loss of one-third
to one-half the value of the manure may be reduced to very little;
and any farmer can have these two things.
3. Haul the manure out every day if possible and spread it on
the land. If not able to do this, let it pack in the stables, using
plenty of bedding and keeping it moist not' wetand firmly packed.
4. - Do not let it get dry and "fire-fang." :
5. Do not throw it out in the leather. If it must be piled out at
all, make wide, flat heaps and keep them moist.
6. Never mix lime or ashes with the manure. Acid phosphate or
floats makes an, excellent absorbent, however, and supplies the ele
ment in which the manure is most lacking phosphoric acid.
7. When manure is taken to the fields, do not throw it in little
heaps and leave it for the ammonia to escape. Get it spread on or
mixed with the soil as soon as possible.
8. Do not waste time and money with recipes for making 'fer
tiBzers" or composts out of the manure. For some truck crops it may
pay to compost manure with sods or earth; but on the average farm
the best thing is to get it on the land with no more handling than
is absolutely necessary.
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INDEX TO THIS ISSUE.
BEGIN NOW TO PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS .. . . . . . ... . , . .... . . . 7
BIG VICTORY FOR NORTH CAROLINA APPLES. 5
EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE ...... . ............... ... ... 2
FARM WORK THAT SHOULD BE DONE NOW ............. . . ; . . 8
$500 MORE A YEAR FARMING; BY MAKING AND SAVING FARM
MANURES ... 8
HANDY DEVICE FOR BUTCHERING TIME . . .1 ...... . . . .... V. . 11
BOW TO GROW ROSES FROM CUTTINGS . .... ........ ....... 7
LEARN TO READ ALOUD ................. ............... 6
MONEY IN DUCKS AND GEESE . .... 14
NO GOOD HEALTH WITHOUT GOOD COOKING . ............ . . 7
NOTES AND COMMENTS ON RECENT ISSUES ... . . . . . ...... . . . . 2
OUR SOUTH CAROLINA LETTER. ..... . . . 12
SHORT TALKS ABOUT FERTILIZERS: III. HOW THE SOIL WAS
MADE . ......... 4
SOME HELPS TO EASY BUTCHERING . 10
V THE GOLD MINE OF THE FARM. . . ... ........... ; . . ........... 2
"WHAT'S THE NEWS?" . .. . . ....... . . . . ....... .... . . .... . 0
, WHY WE SHOULD PROTECT THE BIRDS . .... ..... . . . ..... ... 15