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loL. XXIII. INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JUNE 16,1888. NO. 24 „„.,. for the Indiana Farmer. Oreen Manuring.—No. 2. BT JOHN M. STAHL. it la well known that one of the results , „een manuring is the production of .«, quantities of carbonic acid in the ,il. Tbis result is produced when farm srd manures or composts are incorpora- <i with the soil; but the same quantity neatly always most economically pro- ucei by green manuring. Many cannot nderstand how this carbonic acid in the loll can be a benefit. While I am aware hat there are yet some who think that the ■oots of our farm plants absorb carbonic l-id in appreciable quantities,I cannot see •herwlse than that the contrary has been jLll established by the experiments of loll, DeHerain, Vesque,Lawes,and many Ithers. How, then, can the production of arge quantities of carbonic acid in the joU be of value, when the roots make no f|.eof it? I answer that carbonic acid is powerful solvent. Soils that wo call •erile, and that certainly are unproductive, contain enough plant food for many eavy crops, but unfortunately this food in a form unavailable to the plants. It locked up in chemical compounds. As it. Atwater stated in a recent lecture: Soils fail to furnish food for crops, not so ach because they have not abundant tores, as because materials are not in rsiiable form." In getting them in vaflab.e form, dissolving them, we have o better agent then carbonic acid. Wa- Ipr impregnated with this acid is the great lolventof our soils. Prof. Storer states l»t "water that contains carbonic acid, Jven when the proportion of the latter is ery small, is a far more powerful solvent or many inorganic materials than mere »ter in. Hence it happens, that through formation of carbonic acid in the soil rom the decomposition of organic matter, many kinds of plant food are disced and made available that would ttierwise be worthless." Pavese determined by the careful ex- ^ination of pebbles of granite rock deep- 7 embedded in the soil, and which had °ng been exposed to the action of soil »ter more or less charged with carbonic :ld, that silicates of alumina and lime *1 been gradually changed from the instable condition to a state of comparably easy solubility. Muller digested ''fine powder of many different min- Y^-feldspar of different kinds, horn- ■•ende, magnetic iron, apatite of several •neties, alivine and serpentine—In cardie acid water, and as a result, all of the nerals were more or less decomposed. e matters dissolved were lime, phos- lrioSa0id' ferric oxIde' silica- magne8ia, lj*ftt and alumina. Beyer, by similar , odsi got the same results. Two Ger- ■Um Cheml8ts' st°eckhardt and Peters, ' w several tall glass jars with a rather *loamy soil, in these jars they plant- r4t» 6<1Ual numbfir of seeds of peas and _,rj 8orne of the jars were merely wa- ►W throu8h the earth of the others bo *"' f°rCed daily air charged with rat J110 acid. The crop grown in each Ke]," thoroughly dried and carefully I^wthY and it was found that the =i4 ch the im> treated to the carbonic T°*thfed alr was nearlv twlce the °t«nhi the ^ars the soil of which v™ d ^ected t0 the action of the carbonic '"••ei-ai ■ exainlning the contents of the *5oVed ,-Ms after the crop had been re- -Jg-rn Wa8foUnd that a considerably *sitte^r°portl°n of mineral and organic h«i&i*8t become soluble in water, in ^_ seated to the carbonic acid charged a th8 "j66" toancl that the carbonic acid '*% a solves Bome carbonates dl- I *ai6 &ndmonK these are carbonate of *eordin <**rbonateof magnesia. As at "7 temperature of the soil it is a more powerful acid than silica,it dissolves out, from silicates, potash, soda, lime and magnesia. When carbonic acid is made to act upon phosphate of lime, it gradually removes the lime, so that finally some soluble acid phosphate of lime is formed. Carbonic acid is, as we have seen,formed in the soil by the decay of the plants grown for green manuring. While those plants are growing their roots, as do the roots of all plants, give off carbonic acid inconsiderable quantities; and this acid cannot fail to act upon the matters in the soil to dissolve them. Hence while the crop is growing and again while it is de caylng, it is putting in the soil a powerful solvent that acts to make available to plants the stores of food existing in unavailable form. By this means, green manuring must increase the productiveness of the soil with no mean rapidity. Quincy, 111. wholesome instructive reading. A mind well cultured is worth more than a purse well filled. Both together are still better, and as a rule they go together. Farmers as a rule place too low an estimate on reading good books and papers. What we need, in working the soil, is to make one acre give as much profit as is now gotten from two or even three acres, and it can be done with proper management and careful work, done in the best manner. We ought to have two or three acres of clover for every one we have in Indiana, until our soil is brought to a much higher fertility than it now has, and this can be done in a few years. I agree with M. L. W. fully when he says it don't pay to work poor land. Put it in clover and make it produce paying crops and leave it in clover until it will give paying crops. Shelby, Co. Written for the Indiana Farmer. Some Practical Thoughts. BY AN OLD FARME R. M. L. W., in the Farmer of June 2d, gives some very good practical ideas, to farmers especially. I notice he advises to rotate crops for profitable farming. That is certainly correct, and is not done as much as it ought to be; also, he says, he always breaks his corn ground in the fall. That will doon some land but not on all. if he will try his plan on wet land, or on heavy clay land, he will find the spring the best time to break. However these kinds of soils may be broken with profit in the fall if they have stubble or much litter of any kind on them, by breaking just deep enough to cover the litter, and then break deep the spring following. Where a farmer has loose porous, light soil his plan is a good one, but the great mistake many farmers make is to think all soils can be worked alike with profit. Wet or heavy clay land will run together if broke in the fall,so as to need to be broken again in the spring. Our friend makes a mistake in that he says oats rests aud enriches land. While an oats stubble is a fine chance for a wheat crop, I have long since learned to regard oats, flax and buckwheat as very exhaustive on land. Notwithstanding they all put land in good condition for wheat. When our friend talks of sowing clover every spring he accounts for the best mode of resting and improving land we have. There is no crop that imparts such fertility to land as does the clover crop. I am much pleased with his ideas on farmers needing to read more, and exchange experiences more freely with each other. If our farmers read more and gave each other all the information they could through our agricultural papers it would be of great value and would be at small cost. What we need most on the farm is more intelligence as to turning our labor to good account. In short we need more brain much worse than more muscle. It is intelligent work that pays in anything. The farm is no exception to the rule. We frequently meet those that have no faith in book "larnin" nor in book farming. I have been sending names of subscribers for the Indiana F.vrmer, at times since the days of Bland as its editor, some 16 or 18 years, and have been a constant reader of it myself, and feel that it has paid me well. I have solicited subscribers many times from men owning from 40 to 160 acres of land, who were not taking a paper of any kind, and they wonld tell me they could not afford to take a paper as times were so hard, and yet they had a family of 6 or 8 children, with nothing more than an almanac to read, if Indeed they had that. No wonder such people are called Country Jakes. It is certainly a duty that all fathers and mothers owe to their children to furnish them with good, sound, Written for the Indiana Farmer. Experiments With Fertilizers. BY W. W. STEVENS. Station. Although late for this season, we give the same that they may be borne in mind for future use; they are as follows: 1. Soak the seed forty hours in a solution of one pound of copper sulphate (blue vitriol) in four gallons of water. 2. Soak the seed one day in a solution of one pound of caustic potash in six gallons of water, or a solution made by mixing forty pounds of hard wood ashes in ten gallons of water that has remained a day and the water then poured off. 3. Soak one day in a solution of castile soap in water, with enough quick lime to color the liquid milky white. 4. Soak several hours in brine of the strength used for pickling pork, i. e., that in which a fresh egg will float. One gallon of solution will be sufficient forabout four bushels of seed. Now that the use of commercial ferti lizers has become general throughout the country, it is very important that farmers should know how, when and where to use them to the best advantage, or where they would bring in the best returns upon the investment made. Experiments are annually made at our State Agricultural College, and the bulletins containing these and much other valuable information for the farmer can be obtained simply by asking for them, or writing the president of Purdue, but what we all desire most, and what would be much more practical, would be local experiments. In addition to the experiments carried on at the college farm there should be tests made in different localities and on several farms containing all the varieties of soil cultivated in the State, and upon the crops best adapted to both soil and locality. I think that at least one energetic, Intelligent farmer in every county ought to be furnished a small amount of some good fertilizer, with instructions how and where to use it, noting and reporting results carefully, so that all farmers similarly located could profit thereby. The cost of this sort of experiments would be very inconsiderable considering the vast amount of good that would be accomplished. There is no doubt but what our farmers are throwing away thousands upon thousands of dollars every year for commercial fertilizers because they do not know how to use them intelligently; neither is there any doubt about their paying when used in proper quantities and due proportions. If those having the matter in hand do not think the State is able just now to inaugurate this sort of experiment, but are desirous of trying it, let their wants be made known, and I think I maybe instrumental in procuring the necessary amount of fertilizing material free of cost to the State. Upon much of our farming lands profitable crops cannot be grown and the fertility of the soil maintained or improved unless commercial fertilizers are used. The restoration and preservation of our soils is the all important question for the farmer to consider, and any light that may be shed upon this subject will be gladly welcomed by thinking, intelligent agriculturists everywhere. Smut ln Oate. A greater or less loss results to farmers in consequence of smut in oats. This trouble has been investigated to some extent at Agricultural Experiment Stations. In Bulletin No. 9, of the Maine Station, are given remedies that are recommended •nd which are to be tested further this season. Three of these we find in New Tork Station reports, and the last is taken from the report of the Ottawa (Canada) The Farm Wind Mill. The men who have brought the farm wind mill to its present state of high perfection deserve much gratitude from the farmers of this country. We fear they don't get one per cent of what they deserve. Many are the uses to which the farm wind mill can be put; but of these by far the most important is pumping water for animals. Every new fact about diseases of farm animals discovered emphasizes that these diseases are owing to impure drink from ponds and sluggish creeks, more than all other causes combined. Any one not a fool knows that as long as tho water must be pumped by hand the animals will drink from ponds and creeks during the very busy hot weather, just when the water from these sources is most unwholesome. If you haven't a wind mill pump, your farm animals will continue to drink an unpalatably warm dilution of microbes and miasma. Decent drink will lessen disease and increase thrift among your stock to an extent to pay 10 times for the wind mill pump before it is worn out. Besides, you save the labor of pumping. You put the wind to work, and it works for nothing and boards itself. You cannot get a small boy to do the pumping so cheap. The average western farmer without a farm wind mill should join the anti-poverty society. He should also receive the attention of some society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.—Farmer's Call. Farming by Steam.—A novel sight in the fields of John O. Itodgers,of this county, is a traction engine which draws eight large plows, and breaks more ground in a day than a dozen men and horses. This engine is a light one thatMr. Rogers (who is a very ingenious mechanic) has been experimenting with, and has at last perfected for farm work. On the pike it can be seen almost daily drawing a train of six or seven wagons loaded with walnut logs, which are being brought to Versailles for shipment. The engine keeps the middle of the rend and runs with the ease of an "iron horse" on a steel track. Mr. Rogers says that he will attach the engine to his thresher at harvest time, and expects to cut all his grain by steam, and that the engine can turn corners better and will knock down less grain than horses. Several machine men were here last Monday to investigate the invention, and will probably enter into some contract with Mr. Rogers.—Courier-Journal. ■ «» » A brick school-house in Manotlck, Ont., was blown down on Wednesday, the 8th, in a cyclone and twenty children buried in the ruins. None were killed but all were more or less injured and some probably fatally. ,
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1888, v. 23, no. 24 (June 16) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA2324 |
Date of Original | 1888 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2010-12-06 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | loL. XXIII. INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JUNE 16,1888. NO. 24 „„.,. for the Indiana Farmer. Oreen Manuring.—No. 2. BT JOHN M. STAHL. it la well known that one of the results , „een manuring is the production of .«, quantities of carbonic acid in the ,il. Tbis result is produced when farm srd manures or composts are incorpora- treated to the carbonic T°*thfed alr was nearlv twlce the °t«nhi the ^ars the soil of which v™ d ^ected t0 the action of the carbonic '"••ei-ai ■ exainlning the contents of the *5oVed ,-Ms after the crop had been re- -Jg-rn Wa8foUnd that a considerably *sitte^r°portl°n of mineral and organic h«i&i*8t become soluble in water, in ^_ seated to the carbonic acid charged a th8 "j66" toancl that the carbonic acid '*% a solves Bome carbonates dl- I *ai6 &ndmonK these are carbonate of *eordin <**rbonateof magnesia. As at "7 temperature of the soil it is a more powerful acid than silica,it dissolves out, from silicates, potash, soda, lime and magnesia. When carbonic acid is made to act upon phosphate of lime, it gradually removes the lime, so that finally some soluble acid phosphate of lime is formed. Carbonic acid is, as we have seen,formed in the soil by the decay of the plants grown for green manuring. While those plants are growing their roots, as do the roots of all plants, give off carbonic acid inconsiderable quantities; and this acid cannot fail to act upon the matters in the soil to dissolve them. Hence while the crop is growing and again while it is de caylng, it is putting in the soil a powerful solvent that acts to make available to plants the stores of food existing in unavailable form. By this means, green manuring must increase the productiveness of the soil with no mean rapidity. Quincy, 111. wholesome instructive reading. A mind well cultured is worth more than a purse well filled. Both together are still better, and as a rule they go together. Farmers as a rule place too low an estimate on reading good books and papers. What we need, in working the soil, is to make one acre give as much profit as is now gotten from two or even three acres, and it can be done with proper management and careful work, done in the best manner. We ought to have two or three acres of clover for every one we have in Indiana, until our soil is brought to a much higher fertility than it now has, and this can be done in a few years. I agree with M. L. W. fully when he says it don't pay to work poor land. Put it in clover and make it produce paying crops and leave it in clover until it will give paying crops. Shelby, Co. Written for the Indiana Farmer. Some Practical Thoughts. BY AN OLD FARME R. M. L. W., in the Farmer of June 2d, gives some very good practical ideas, to farmers especially. I notice he advises to rotate crops for profitable farming. That is certainly correct, and is not done as much as it ought to be; also, he says, he always breaks his corn ground in the fall. That will doon some land but not on all. if he will try his plan on wet land, or on heavy clay land, he will find the spring the best time to break. However these kinds of soils may be broken with profit in the fall if they have stubble or much litter of any kind on them, by breaking just deep enough to cover the litter, and then break deep the spring following. Where a farmer has loose porous, light soil his plan is a good one, but the great mistake many farmers make is to think all soils can be worked alike with profit. Wet or heavy clay land will run together if broke in the fall,so as to need to be broken again in the spring. Our friend makes a mistake in that he says oats rests aud enriches land. While an oats stubble is a fine chance for a wheat crop, I have long since learned to regard oats, flax and buckwheat as very exhaustive on land. Notwithstanding they all put land in good condition for wheat. When our friend talks of sowing clover every spring he accounts for the best mode of resting and improving land we have. There is no crop that imparts such fertility to land as does the clover crop. I am much pleased with his ideas on farmers needing to read more, and exchange experiences more freely with each other. If our farmers read more and gave each other all the information they could through our agricultural papers it would be of great value and would be at small cost. What we need most on the farm is more intelligence as to turning our labor to good account. In short we need more brain much worse than more muscle. It is intelligent work that pays in anything. The farm is no exception to the rule. We frequently meet those that have no faith in book "larnin" nor in book farming. I have been sending names of subscribers for the Indiana F.vrmer, at times since the days of Bland as its editor, some 16 or 18 years, and have been a constant reader of it myself, and feel that it has paid me well. I have solicited subscribers many times from men owning from 40 to 160 acres of land, who were not taking a paper of any kind, and they wonld tell me they could not afford to take a paper as times were so hard, and yet they had a family of 6 or 8 children, with nothing more than an almanac to read, if Indeed they had that. No wonder such people are called Country Jakes. It is certainly a duty that all fathers and mothers owe to their children to furnish them with good, sound, Written for the Indiana Farmer. Experiments With Fertilizers. BY W. W. STEVENS. Station. Although late for this season, we give the same that they may be borne in mind for future use; they are as follows: 1. Soak the seed forty hours in a solution of one pound of copper sulphate (blue vitriol) in four gallons of water. 2. Soak the seed one day in a solution of one pound of caustic potash in six gallons of water, or a solution made by mixing forty pounds of hard wood ashes in ten gallons of water that has remained a day and the water then poured off. 3. Soak one day in a solution of castile soap in water, with enough quick lime to color the liquid milky white. 4. Soak several hours in brine of the strength used for pickling pork, i. e., that in which a fresh egg will float. One gallon of solution will be sufficient forabout four bushels of seed. Now that the use of commercial ferti lizers has become general throughout the country, it is very important that farmers should know how, when and where to use them to the best advantage, or where they would bring in the best returns upon the investment made. Experiments are annually made at our State Agricultural College, and the bulletins containing these and much other valuable information for the farmer can be obtained simply by asking for them, or writing the president of Purdue, but what we all desire most, and what would be much more practical, would be local experiments. In addition to the experiments carried on at the college farm there should be tests made in different localities and on several farms containing all the varieties of soil cultivated in the State, and upon the crops best adapted to both soil and locality. I think that at least one energetic, Intelligent farmer in every county ought to be furnished a small amount of some good fertilizer, with instructions how and where to use it, noting and reporting results carefully, so that all farmers similarly located could profit thereby. The cost of this sort of experiments would be very inconsiderable considering the vast amount of good that would be accomplished. There is no doubt but what our farmers are throwing away thousands upon thousands of dollars every year for commercial fertilizers because they do not know how to use them intelligently; neither is there any doubt about their paying when used in proper quantities and due proportions. If those having the matter in hand do not think the State is able just now to inaugurate this sort of experiment, but are desirous of trying it, let their wants be made known, and I think I maybe instrumental in procuring the necessary amount of fertilizing material free of cost to the State. Upon much of our farming lands profitable crops cannot be grown and the fertility of the soil maintained or improved unless commercial fertilizers are used. The restoration and preservation of our soils is the all important question for the farmer to consider, and any light that may be shed upon this subject will be gladly welcomed by thinking, intelligent agriculturists everywhere. Smut ln Oate. A greater or less loss results to farmers in consequence of smut in oats. This trouble has been investigated to some extent at Agricultural Experiment Stations. In Bulletin No. 9, of the Maine Station, are given remedies that are recommended •nd which are to be tested further this season. Three of these we find in New Tork Station reports, and the last is taken from the report of the Ottawa (Canada) The Farm Wind Mill. The men who have brought the farm wind mill to its present state of high perfection deserve much gratitude from the farmers of this country. We fear they don't get one per cent of what they deserve. Many are the uses to which the farm wind mill can be put; but of these by far the most important is pumping water for animals. Every new fact about diseases of farm animals discovered emphasizes that these diseases are owing to impure drink from ponds and sluggish creeks, more than all other causes combined. Any one not a fool knows that as long as tho water must be pumped by hand the animals will drink from ponds and creeks during the very busy hot weather, just when the water from these sources is most unwholesome. If you haven't a wind mill pump, your farm animals will continue to drink an unpalatably warm dilution of microbes and miasma. Decent drink will lessen disease and increase thrift among your stock to an extent to pay 10 times for the wind mill pump before it is worn out. Besides, you save the labor of pumping. You put the wind to work, and it works for nothing and boards itself. You cannot get a small boy to do the pumping so cheap. The average western farmer without a farm wind mill should join the anti-poverty society. He should also receive the attention of some society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.—Farmer's Call. Farming by Steam.—A novel sight in the fields of John O. Itodgers,of this county, is a traction engine which draws eight large plows, and breaks more ground in a day than a dozen men and horses. This engine is a light one thatMr. Rogers (who is a very ingenious mechanic) has been experimenting with, and has at last perfected for farm work. On the pike it can be seen almost daily drawing a train of six or seven wagons loaded with walnut logs, which are being brought to Versailles for shipment. The engine keeps the middle of the rend and runs with the ease of an "iron horse" on a steel track. Mr. Rogers says that he will attach the engine to his thresher at harvest time, and expects to cut all his grain by steam, and that the engine can turn corners better and will knock down less grain than horses. Several machine men were here last Monday to investigate the invention, and will probably enter into some contract with Mr. Rogers.—Courier-Journal. ■ «» » A brick school-house in Manotlck, Ont., was blown down on Wednesday, the 8th, in a cyclone and twenty children buried in the ruins. None were killed but all were more or less injured and some probably fatally. , |
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