Talks on Manures Part 17

And if she can extract this amount of matter out of the food for a part of the year, why can not she do so for the whole year? Are the powers of digestion weaker in the fall and winter than in spring and summer? If not, we unquestionably sustain great loss by allowing this digestive power to run to waste. This digestive power costs us 20 lbs. of hay a day. We can ill afford to let it lie dormant. But the Deacon will tell me that the cows are allowed all the food they will eat, winter and summer. Then we must, if they have digestive power to spare, endeavor to persuade them to eat more. If they eat as much hay or gra.s.s as their stomachs are capable of holding, we must endeavor to give them richer hay or gra.s.s. Not one farmer in a thousand seems to appreciate the advantage of having hay or gra.s.s containing a high percentage of nutriment. I have endeavored to show that a cow eating six tons of hay, or its equivalent, in a year, would produce 400 lbs. of cheese, worth $60. While a cow capable of eating, digesting, and turning to good account, nine tons of hay, or its equivalent, would produce 1,090 lbs.

of cheese, or its equivalent in other products, worth $162.

"I am sorry to interrupt the gentleman," said the Deacon with mock gravity.

"Then pray don't," said I; "I will not detain you long, and the subject is one which ought to interest you and every other farmer who keeps his cows on poor gra.s.s in summer, and corn-stalks and straw in winter."

I was going to say, when the Deacon interrupted me, that the stomach of a cow may not allow her to eat nine tons of hay a year, but it will allow her to eat six tons; and if these six tons contain as much nutriment as the nine tons, what is the real difference in its value?

Ordinarily we should probably estimate the one at $10 per ton, and the other at $15. But according to the above figures, one is worth $10 per ton and the other $27. To get rich gra.s.s, therefore, should be the aim of the American dairyman. I hope the Deacon begins to see what connection this has with a large pile of rich manure.

I do not mean merely a heavy growth of gra.s.s, but gra.s.s containing a high percentage of nutriment. Our long winters and heavy snows are a great advantage to us in this respect. Our gra.s.s in the spring, after its long rest, ought to start up like asparagus, and, under the organizing influence of our clear skies, and powerful sun, ought to be exceedingly nutritious. Comparatively few farmers, however, live up to their privileges in this respect. Our climate is better than our farming, the sun richer than our neglected soil. England may be able to produce more gra.s.s per acre in a year than we can, but we ought to produce richer gra.s.s, and, consequently, more cheese to a cow. And I believe, in fact, that such is often the case. The English dairyman has the advantage of a longer season of growth. We have a shorter season but a brighter sun, and if we do not have richer gra.s.s it is due to the want of draining, clean culture, and manuring. The object of American dairymen should be, not only to obtain more gra.s.s per acre, but to increase its nutriment in a given bulk. If we could increase it one-half, making six tons equal to nine tons, we have shown that it is nearly three times as valuable. Whether this can be done, I have not now time to consider; but at any rate if your land produces as many weeds as do some fields on my farm, not to say the Deacon's, and if the plant-food that these weeds absorb, could be organized by nutritious gra.s.ses, this alone would do a good deal towards accomplis.h.i.+ng the object. Whether this can be done or not, we want cows that can eat and turn to good account as much food per annum as is contained in nine tons of ordinary meadow-hay; and we want this nutriment in a bulk not exceeding six tons of hay. _If possible_, we should get this amount of nutriment in gra.s.s or hay. But if we can not do this, we must _feed enough concentrated food_ to bring it up to the desired standard.

"But will it pay?" asked the Deacon; "I have not much faith in buying feed. A farmer ought to raise everything he feeds out."

"As a rule, this may be true," I replied, "but there are many exceptions. I am trying to show that it will often pay a dairyman well to buy feed rich in nitrogen and phosphates, so as to make rich manure, and give him a start. After he gets his land rich, there is little difficulty in keeping up its productiveness.

"Now, I have said--and the figures, if anything, are too low--that if a cow, eating six tons of hay, or its equivalent, a year, produces 400 lbs. of cheese, a cow capable of eating, digesting, and turning to good account nine tons of hay, or its equivalent, a year, would produce 1,090 lbs. of cheese, or its equivalent in other products."

I would like to say much more on this subject, but I hope enough has been said to show that there is great advantage in feeding rich food, even so far as the production of milk or beef is concerned; and if this is the case, then there is no difficulty in making rich manure on a dairy farm.

And I am delighted to know that many farmers in the dairy districts are purchasing more and more bran and meal every year. Taking milk, and beef, and manure all into the account, I feel sure that it will be found highly profitable; but you must have good cows--cows that can turn their extra food to good account.

This is not the place to discuss the merits of the different breeds of cows. All I wish to show is, that to make better manure, we must use richer food; and to feed this to advantage, we must have animals that can turn a large amount of food, over and above the amount required to sustain the vital functions, into milk, flesh, etc.

"You do not think," said the Deacon, "that a well-bred cow makes any richer manure than a common cow?"

Of course not; but to make rich manure, we must feed well; and we can not afford to feed well unless we have good animals.

HOW TO SAVE AND APPLY MANURE ON A DAIRY-FARM.

We can not go into details on this subject. The truth is, there are several good methods of saving manure, and which is best depends entirely on circ.u.mstances. The real point is to save the urine, and keep the cow-stable clean and sweet. There are three prominent methods adopted:

1st. To throw all the liquid and solid excrements into a manure-cellar underneath the cow-stable. In this cellar, dry swamp-muck, dry earth, or other absorbent material, is mixed with the manure in sufficient quant.i.ty to keep down offensive odors. A little dry earth or muck is also used in the stable, scattering it twice a day in the gutters and under the hind legs of the cows. Where this is carried out, it has many and decided advantages.

2d. To wheel or throw out the solid parts of the manure, and to have a drain for carrying the liquid into a tank, where it can be pumped on to the heap of manure in the yard. Where many horses or sheep are kept, and only a few cows, this plan can often be used to advantage, as the heap of manure in the yard, consisting of horse-manure, sheep-manure, and a small portion of cow-dung, will be able to absorb all the urine of the cows.

3d. To use sufficient bedding to absorb all the urine in the stable. In my own case, as I have said before, we usually chaff all our straw and stalks. The orts are used for bedding, and we also use a little dry earth--or, to be more exact, I use it when I attend to the matter myself, but have always found more or less trouble in getting the work done properly, unless I give it personal attention. To use "dirt" to keep the stable clean, is not a popular plan in this neighborhood. Where there is an abundance of straw, and especially if cut into chaff, the easiest way to keep the stable clean, and the cows comfortable, is to use enough of this chaffed straw to absorb all the liquid. Clean out the stable twice a day, and wheel the manure directly to the heap, and spread it.

In regard to the application of manure on a dairy-farm, we have seen what Harris Lewis does with his. I also wrote to T. L. Harison, Esq., of St. Lawrence Co., N.Y.; and knowing that he is not only a very intelligent farmer and breeder, but also one of our best agricultural writers, I asked him if he had written anything on the subject of manures.

"St. Lawrence Co.," said the Deacon, "produces capital gra.s.s, oats, and barley, but is, I should think, too far north for winter wheat; but what did Mr Harison say?"--Here is his letter:

"I never wrote anything about manure. Catch me at it! Nor do I know anything about the management of barn-yard manure worth telling. My own practice is dictated quite as much by convenience as by considerations of economy."

"Good," said the Deacon; "he writes like a sensible man."

"My rotation," he continues, "is such that the bulk of the manure made is applied to _one crop_; that is, to my hoed crops, corn, potatoes, and roots, in the second year.

"The manure from the stables is thrown or wheeled out under the sheds adjoining, and as fast as it becomes so large a quant.i.ty as to be in the way, or whenever there is an opportunity, it is hauled out to the field, where it is to be used, and put in large piles. It is turned once, if possible, in the spring, and then spread.

"The quant.i.ty applied, is, as near as may be, 25 loads per acre; but as we use a great deal of straw, we haul out 30 loads, and estimate that in the spring it will be about 25 loads.

"If we have any more (and occasionally we have 100 loads over), we pile it near the barn, and turn it once or twice during the summer, and use it as seems most profitable--sometimes to top-dress an old gra.s.s-field, that for some reason we prefer not to break for another year. Sometimes it goes on a piece of fall wheat, and sometimes is kept over for a barley field the following spring, and harrowed in just before sowing.

"I should spread the manure as it comes from the sheds, instead of piling it, but the great quant.i.ty of snow we usually have, has always seemed to be an insuperable obstacle. It is an advantage to pile it, and to give it one turning, but, on the other hand, the piles made in cold weather freeze through, and they take a provokingly long time to thaw out in the spring. I never found manure _piled_ out of doors to get too much water from rain.

"I have given up using gypsum, except a little in the stables, because the clover grows too strong without it, and so long as this is the case, I do not need gypsum. But I sometimes have a piece of oats or barley that stands still, and looks sick, and a dose of gypsum helps it very much."

"That is a fact worth remembering," said the Deacon.

"I use some superphosphate," continues Mr. Harison, "and some ground bones on my turnips. We also use superphosphate on oats, barley, and wheat (about 200 lbs. per acre), and find it pays. Last year, our estimate was, on 10 acres of oats, comparing with a strip in the middle, left for the purpose, that the 200 lbs. of superphosphate increased the crop 15 bushels per acre, and gave a gain in quality. It was the "Manhattan," which has about three per cent ammonia, and seven to eight per cent soluble phosphoric acid.

"My rotation, which I stick to as close as I can, is: 1, oats; 2, corn, and potatoes, and roots; 3, barley or spring wheat; 4, 5, and 6, gra.s.s (clover or timothy, with a little mixture occasionally).

"I am trying to get to 4, fall wheat, but it is mighty risky."

"That is a very sensible letter," said the Deacon; "but it is evident that he raises more grain than I supposed was generally the case in the dairy districts; and the fact that his clover is so heavy that he does not need plaster, indicates that his land is rich."

It merely confirms what I have said all along, and that is, that the dairymen, if they will feed their animals liberally, and cultivate their soil thoroughly, can soon have productive farms. There are very few of us in this section who can make manure enough to give all our corn, potatoes, and roots, 25 loads of rotted manure per acre, and have some to spare.

In the spring of 1877, Mr. Harison wrote: "I have been hauling out manure all winter as fast as made, and putting it on the land. At first we spread it; but when deep snows came, we put it in small heaps. The field looks as if there had been a grain crop on it left uncut."

"That last remark," said the Doctor, "indicates that the manure looks more like straw than well-rotted dung, and is an argument in favor of your plan of piling the manure in the yard or field, instead of spreading it on the land, or putting it in small heaps."

CHAPTER XXIII.

MANAGEMENT OF MANURES ON GRAIN-FARMS.

"I am surprised to find," said the Deacon, "that Mr. Harison, living as he does in the great gra.s.s and dairy district of this State, should raise so much grain. He has nearly as large a proportion of his land under the plow as some of the best wheat-growers of Western New York."

This remark of the Deacon is right to the point. The truth is, that some of our best wheat-growers are plowing less land, and are raising more gra.s.s, and keeping more stock; and some of the dairymen, though not keeping less stock, are plowing more land. The better farmers of both sections are approaching each other.

At all events, it is certain that the wheat growers will keep more stock. I wrote to the Hon. Geo. Geddes, of Onondaga Co., N.Y., well known as a large wheat-grower, and as a life-long advocate of keeping up the fertility of our farms by growing clover. He replies as follows:

"I regret that I have not time to give your letter the consideration it deserves. The subject you have undertaken is truly a difficult one. The circ.u.mstances of a grain-raiser and a dairyman are so unlike, that their views in regard to the treatment of the manure produced on the farm would vary as greatly as the lines of farming they follow.

"The grain-grower has straw in excess; he tries hard to get it into such form that he can draw it to his fields, and get it at work, at the least cost in labor. So he covers his barn-yards deep with straw, after each snow-storm, and gets his cattle, sheep, and horses, to trample it under foot; and he makes his pigs convert all he can into such form that it will do to apply it to his pastures, etc., in winter or early spring.

"A load of such manure is large, perhaps, but of no very great value, as compared with well-rotted stable-manure from grain-fed horses; but it is as good as much that I have seen drawn from city stables, and carried far, to restore the worn-out hay-fields on the sh.o.r.es of the North River--in fact, quite like it.

"The dairyman, generally, has but little straw, and his manure is mostly dung of cows, worth much more, per cord, than the straw-litter of the grain-growers.