The field and fireside. (Marietta, Ga.) 1877-18??, October 09, 1877, Image 1

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THE FIELD AND FIRESIDE. Vol. I. (Thr/idil ami /iiroidr. ITBLISIIED BY T. G-. CAMPBELL oc CO. OFFICE IX THE OLD PRINTING OFFICE Building, Powder Springs Street. Mari etta Georgia. O.WU) iuwix. w. a. i*. m\ i.injury. i. i;. ikw ix. Irwin, McClatchey & Irwin, ATTORNEYS AT LyWV. M ill praetiee in the Blue Kidge, Rome, and ( oweta ('ireuits. .a Marietta. Mareli 13, 1877. PT \VM. T. WIXX. WILL. .1. WINN. W, T. & W. J. WINN, A (lor ■■ cy * :ii !i :s M , M ARIETTA, GKOlBil A. Mareli 13,1877. ly J. E. MOSELY, Attorney Law. W ILL atteiul loall luisines cunlided to him in ( 'ohh and ad jacent nulli ties. Oitick—ill Met lateiiey’s Build ing, up stairs. Marietta, March 13, 1877. Cm E. M. AU.HN. Kcsidcnt Dentist, Of more than twenty years. CHAR G K S R E A SO N A BT. E . Oi-i-u K —North side of Public Square. Marietta, Mareli 13, 1877. ly DR. G. TENNENT, Fraetieing Piiisitian. tag" Office on Cassville street. — Resi slenee oil Cherokee street. Marietta, March 13,1877. ly DR. E. J. SETZE, Physician a end Surgeon, rpKNDEKS his professional services 1 in the praetiee of .Medicine in all its* tranches to the citizens of Marietta and surrounding country. Office at the Drug Store of Win. Boot. inch 13—ly R. W. GABLE. BOOT Ml) Ir- SHOEMAKER AND REPAIRER. POWDER SPUING STREET, MARIETTA. GEO ML AVork done at very low prices, and wur 'euited. March 1,1877. Haley Brothers, CHEROKEE STREET, Dealers in GROCERIES, PROVISIONS, AXI) GENERAL MERCHANDIZE. Marietta, Ga., March 13,1877. ly M. It. Lyon, CHEROKEE STREET, FA 111 LY L KOI EKIK*, And dealer in ( GENTRY PUODI < E. Marietta, March 13,1877. ly W. T. CHEROKEE STREET, Sadie aid Harass: Maker AND REPAIRER. .Marietta, Geo., March 13, 1877. ly CONTRACTOR AND liIILOLK. THE undersigned eontiintes his busi ness of Brick Making, Stone and Brick Building, and is prepared at any time to take contracts on the most reas onable terms, and tooxeeute them in the most satisfactory manner. 11. B. WALLIS. .Marietta, March 13, 1877. 1y House Building and Repairing. SASH, BLINDS, DOORS FINISHER TO ORDER. Lumber of till kinds, and at the lowest prices, for sale. Thankful for the liberal patronage hitherto, the subscriber would state that lie Is fully prepared to contract for the erection of Buildings, and to exe cute the contracts in the nip ( t satisfacto ry manner. SHOP, south side Publii Square. March, 1877. LEM PEL BLACK. 1. g. XORTHCVTT, DEALER in Fanev and Maple DRY GOODS, SHOES, AND NOTIONS, &e. Young's Old Corner. Marietta, Marehßl, 1577. 1\ Agricultural. Farming Economy. We have an article, this week, on the greater protit ol' cultivat ing small areas, with large crops, over large areas. Let us suppose two neighbors pursue the differ ent plans—one cultivating twen ly, the other beginning with five acres. Suppose the land, to start with, is worth ten dollars per acre. The twenty acre fan net, pursuing the ordinary mode of farming', will produce annually about ten dollars per acre, making in live years someone thousand dollars on his twenty acres. Working his own farm, his expenses will be hardly less, securing to him self perhaps a meagre living, with the probability that at the end of the five years his land will be much reduced in value. The other neighbor begins with the thorough breaking of his soil, and the application of say twenty dollars per acre of feitilizers, ma king his outlay for live acres one hundred dollars, against the twen ty acres of two hundred dollars. It will cost no more—mulh less— to cultivate it, and his yield will be not less than thirty dollars per acre, and with less cost lor fertili zers, greater each succeeding year. Putting it at forty dollars, five acres give him two hundred dollars, and in five years one thousand dollars. At the end of five years the live acres will be worth fifty dollars per acre, mak ing two hundred and fifty dollars. The twenty acres probably not worth more than one hundred dollars. *% When it is apparent that farm ers of the piost limited means be ginning in this way, may greatly reduce the cost of fertilizing by the accumulation of home-made manures, and that each year they mav increase the area on the plan of high culture, and at the end of five years double or quadruple the aggregate product, it is amazing that the great body of farmers still adhere to the exhaustive pro cess of former times. Select of your fields, lying best for cultivation, only so much as you can cultivate well and highly fertilize. The remainder leave for pasture, until your improving process reaches it. This process lias for its object •• the highest product a given area is capable of producing." You have heard of five bales of cotton, sixty bushels of wheat, one hundred and fifty bushels of corn per acre. You may not reach such results, but you can see how farming' can lie made to pay. Farmers! you should he well re warded for your labor, but you are mere “ hewers of wood and draw ers of water" for the world at large, and all fora mere pittance wrung from a poor and reluctant soil. But, this soil, if worked, has all the wealth producing power desired if we will apply to it the stimulating,elements within our reach. Make it tot, and we be come masters of the situation. A Severe Winter. It is the opinion of the weather wise that the approaching winter will be one of the most severe that we have experienced in ma ny years. Unmistakeable evi dences all point in that direction. It behooves our farming friends, then, to save everything they can in the shape of provender for their stock, that the crib may not be re sorted to too early in the season. This feeding from the crib as soon as the corn is gathered is a com mon error with many tanners, and one that ljys a tendency, as much as any we know of. to make accounts grow, involve them in debt, and render stock “mighty i thin” during the summer months. A little re tied ion about the mat ter will demonstrate the correct nDss of our statement. MARIETTA, GEORGIA. OCTOBER 9, 1877. Scientific Farming. It V WILLIAM EI'I.LKRTON. The production of the largest crops with the least labor and ex pense is the gVeat object to he at tained by the cultivation of the soil. How to accomplish this is a question now agitating the whole agricultural world. The whole of the Atlantic States, to a greater or less degree, are suf fering from exhaustion. Though improvidently cultivated, they once yielded bountiful harvests, but now fall far short of sustain ing their population. Even the rich prairies of the West are rap idly deteriorating. The same wasteful method of cultivation is pursued there, and the same fatal results are in the near future.— And even the Old World long since became alarmed by the dis covery that while her population was rapidly increasing, the pro ducts of her soil, upon which it was to subsist, were also rapidly diminishing. A remedy was eag erly sought for. Governments took the matter in hand ; the services of learned and scientific men were enlisted ; and during the past halt century, there has been no question of po litical economy, in either atmos phere, upon which has been ex pended so much thought and la bor. And these labors have not been without good results. Na ture has yielded up her secrets to the skill of man. The labratory of the chemist lias disclosed the laws which regulate and govern plant growth, and taught us how plants feed and grow, and upon what food they subsist. The value of these discoveries to the human family cannot be estimated.— There never was a time when the tillers of the soil could prosecute their calling with so much intel ligence and certainty of success as the present, And if they do not hereafter find their labors bet ter rewarded, it will be .because they shut their egi.-s.ki -Ah*- light that is afforded them. To be ig norant of these discoveries at the present day is to be without ex cuse. There is no other calling in life in which there is manifested such an indifference to new discoveries as is seen among the tillers of the soil. This arises mainly from a deep-seated prejudice against what is called scientific or hook farming, lie who by intelligent experiment and observation in creases the products of his land and maintains its fertility, is a scientific fanner. And such a man lias only to prosecute his work iu the light of modern dis coveries to reap a rich reward for his labors. He will learn how the crops he cultivates feed and grow, and what is their appropriate food, and that providing the same nutriment for all kinds of crops, is as unwise as it would be to feed the same kind of food to all ani mals. Hut farmers as a general thing shrink from the study of agricultural chemistry, because they regard it as an occult science requiring great research and in vestigation to comprehend if. So it does, but there are elementary truths which lie at the foundation of the science, which every far mer can comprehend and apply to the cultivation of the soil. It is not long since I saw a man make ing compost of caustic lime and barnyard manure. If he had un derstood the chemical action of the lime, he would have known that the ammonia, the most valu able ingredient of the mixture, would be entirely dissipated by it, and the compost itself' rendered almost worthless. lie would also have known that if lime in anotli er form—that of a sulphate—had been substituted, it would have preserved instead of dispelling this same ingredient, and thereby added largely to the value of his mixture. It is a want of familiarity with these things that renders them distateful to the farmer. If he would make a few of the simple principles of. chemical action his study, and become familiar with them, they would lose their mys tery, and he could profitably and safely apply them to his business. Indeed, there is nothing iu the laws governing the growth of plants any more difficult of com prehension than those which arc involved in making butter or to cook food, which is daily practis ed in every household. 1 have spoken of the alarm which once prevailed lest tiff? pro duction of the eajjtli. lessened as it was by reckless and wasteful things, would notjeeep pace with its rapidly increasing population, and of the meaujvlidopted to dis cover, a repiedy. The result is, that to day it is as well known what our crops extract from the earth, which tend to, its exhaiis tion, and how fertility can he re stored to it, as it is that light an<j heat are necessary to successful cultivation. And ibis knowledge so dearly acquired and so reluct antly accepted by those who could he most benefitted by it, is abso lutely indispensible to an intelli gent and successful cultivation of the soil. Ido not mean to be un derstood as advocating the doc trine that the farmer should be able to explain thq great myste ries of nature, or attempt to anal yze her productions, as the chem ist does, but I do mean to assert, that he should know that his crop feeds as his cattle do, each one re quiring its appropriate food, and that when this food is exhausted from the soil it must he restored in kind, or sterility will follow. No farmer can prosecute his Ini siness successfully! on poor land, and there fs no necessity for do ing it for any great length of time. It is a waste of time and money, of energy and life it self. It brings neither money to the pocket nor joy to the heart. Farming is a very hard life, unless it brings pleasure, aside from profit. It is necessary for the farmer's enjoy meat, as it is for his pocket, that his land should produce what it is capable of when well fed and cul tivated. And he can no more af ford to raise less than that, than he can afford to pay his hired man full wages and require him to la bor but a part of the time. The interest on the cost of his land is running, whether the land yields much or nothing*ul the taxgath er must be sat isfied though the garner’s may he empty. Cultivating a farm without get ting from it as large a result as the land is reasonably capable of producing, involves a useless loss. The difference between a crop of eighty and twenty bushels of corn to the acre is the difference be tween success and failure. The expense of cultivating the larger crop is hut little more than that of the other, while the cost of production ot the smaller crop, compared with the result, is very much greater. Here, then, is the secret of the farmer’s success or failure. Large crops within a small area should be his aim, and all his energies should be given to its accomplishment. If he has not sufficient manure to enrich twenty acres, let him put what he lias upon ten. If the supply is insufficient for ten, then reduce the area to live. At all events, whatever space he cultivates, let him enrich it. and raise a maxi mum crop. I know what some may say, t hat in consequence of the lack of the means, I am recommending im possibilities. I respectfully, yet earnestly, deny the soundness of any such proposition. There are very few farmers so limited in their means that they cannot at once enter upon the system of cultivation which I shall point out, and which will certainly re suit to their benefit as that seed time and harvest shall continue. I venture to lay down this pro position as indisputable,that there are farmers who entertain t he idea that they cannot afford to buy fer tilizers, who waste enough each year in useless tillage to supply themselves with them. I have seen such cultivate a large area of poor land at an expense which would have enabled them to fer tilize and cultivate one half of such area, so as to make it pro duce as much as did the whole.— And this diminished area would not only have been made to pro duce as much as t wice its extent in area, but it would be left alter the crop was removed in a condi tion which, with a proper rota tion, would cause it to increase and not diminish in its fertility. The amount annually lost from too large farms, and the cultiva tion of too great a surface with out remunerative returns, and the ■•ale ot whatever j* so produced from the farms, without any re turn to the soil of the (dements removed by the crops, is some thing alarming to contemplate. Nucli a reckless system would im poverish any land, however pro ductive its natural condition.— And when I recommend the pur ‘‘base of naturalfertilizers.in or dor to insure large crops, it is not with a view of encouraging that system of tillage which removes everything from the farm which is produced upon it. Nothing but a truck farm, where vegetables are raised for city consumption, could warrant t he expense of such husbandry. lleep Plowing. After discussing the ad vant ages of deep plowing at some length, the Journal of Progress adds the following reasons in favor of deeply working the soil: It gives full scope to the roots of vegetables, causing them to become more fibrous titan they would become in a packed soil, and hence to afford growth far better opportunities of feeding. It admits the air directly to the spongioles of the roots, without which, no plant can have a heal thv growth. It raises the temperature of the soil in the spring by admit t ing t lie warm air and rain. It enables the soil to absorb large quantities of fertilizing gases from the atmosphere. It acts as a drain in excessive, wet weather, causing the water to settle down and escape through the subsoil, or immediately along the surface. It leads to more rapid decompo sititm of dead vegetable matter in the soil, by bringing it directly into contact with decomposing grass, thus speedily converting it into plant food. tilling Behindhand. ‘‘They tell mo farmer H. is go ing behindhand l" " I giu-ss there's no doubt of it.” “ Hut I don't see how it can bo. He has one of the best farms in the country; and he used to be considered a good farmer.” “True-—bill Ins farm is certain ly running out, and I am told In is running in debt.” “I don't see how that can be.” So conversed two neighboring farmers, and while they con vers ed, farmer 11. was looking for iiis hoe. “ Dan," he cried to one of his boys, “ where is the hoe ‘l I have been looking for It this half hour. I might have had my work done by this time. Where is it ?” “ I do'no, dad. It’s summ’rs, I s’poso.” “ Somewhere, you young rascal. Didn’t vou have it last night '” “ No.” Did’nl Itel I vou to hoe I Ik* cii cumbers t" “ YeS ; hut I eoiild’nl find the hoe.” The two joined in the search. “ book here, iJan,” said his fa Iher, altera f I*llitloss time, “ von must have left that hoe some where. Why don’t you pul things in their jdaees when you’ve done with them “Well, dad. where is the place for the hoe ? Where do vou al ls put it ?” The ]invent was posed. Ili- tool house has been used for a wood shed, and though he had often talked of building another, lie had not yet done so. By-and by, before the hoe was found, a neighbor dropped in. and after chat ting awhile, he said, with a smack of the lips, and ex pedant rubbingof the hands:—- u By the way, If., have you got a drop in your jug “ f guess so. Would von like a bit r “ Well, ves- if its handy.’' Ah! he had no difficulty in put ting his hand upon the jug at once; and had the two wondering neighbors been there to hear and see, they would have wondered no more why farmer H. was run ning behindhand. Sfook Raising in the South. It is evident that the South and Kouth west, with a genial climate, and increased facilities for cheap and rapid transit, must >oon he come the great stock breeding centre of thel uion. in no -cotion can animals be kept so cheaply: and a- tin* people begin to diver sily iheir agricult lire, and compre hend the great importance of more domestic animals, they will find we competitors in that branch of husbandry. Even before the war, and with no particular thought of their importance, the number of eattle, sheep and swine broil in the cotton States, bore no insignificant proportion to the whole number bred in the Union. Why some Farmers keep Poor. A recqto writer says: “After long ten, I have come to the conclusion that a great "I 1 In- Dinners that are poor liiigflS have made money. If you jH quire into their business you'll find they sell the best an ’ t i keep the poorest. For instance,! it they have too many sheep on hand they pick out the best toUfljk sold, li you ask them why do so, they will say ‘ RocanH they bring twice as much as the °t hers, and I am hard up just now j Ibr money. I know that it is no| a good plan, and I do not iirfflfl to follow it always.' fHH “• I think (hi- habit of •be best is a very poor plan for any man, I don't care what bis cir cumstances may be. I have a man in my mind now who always sells his poorest sheep for more, than twice as much as the aver-J age fanner gets for his best. |J have seen farmers in the fall pidjfl out their best pigs to fatten, cause they would make a more pounds of pork than tbr others. This l call a very poor economy.” Bermuda Grass. 1 observe, in the Courier Jour nal ot tin- 2Dd insl., Mr. Brown’s inquiry in regard to Bermuda grass. In reply to this inquiry, 1 will say that Hcrmuda grass is propagated from the roots, and can In- procured in south Missis sippi in any quantity desired. This grass resembles blue grass, grows luxuriantly on low lands, very thick, and is the finest grass 1 am acquainted with for stock. It was brought to I his country to prevent our sandy lands from washing iu to galleys, and is indispcnsildc to railroads to prevent wash on their embankments. A single handful of Bermuda grass roots will spread over one yard square of earth in one year, which is a sufficient quantity to sod one acre. I have sent sever al lots of Hcrmuda grass to west Tennessee and north Alabama, and have received letters from the parties, intimating their satisfac tion with it in the highest terms. Many planters in rhis section object to I his grass because it can not be confined to the one spot or locality. Ihe roots run in every conceivable direction, measuring three or lour feet in length, and a spring of grass grows from each joint (which is an inch apart] from five to twelve inches in height, and in a tew years the roots are so closely malted together that it re quires a pair of extra horses to break the land for cultivation.— Hurmuda grass cannot be killed only by incessant plowing in mid summer. I have-a neighbor who has mown two tons of hay from one acre of this grass in one year. I will supply persons wishing this grass in small quantities with out eomp(%sati(m. I will also be pleased to correspond with any one who may wish further inter mation concerning this grass. Respectfully, etc. D. W. Kicjj, Clinton, Miss., Aug. 24. A !i<mv method of preserv ing fVuitti in being practised in hngland. l'ears, ;j j>j > Ifs. and oth er fruits, are reduced to a paste, wliieh is then pressed into small cakes and gently dried. When required lor use, it is only net*/ > a sary to pour lour times tUfSt', weight of boiling water over them allow them to souk lor t,WGitW~ minutes, and then add sugar suit the taste. I'lk* line flavor of the ripe fruit is said to he retain ed to perfection. The cost of the prepared product is not. greater than that of the original fruit, differing with the supply and price oi the latter; the keeping qualities are excellent, so IhjiLit time ••■'i'. or 1 lon 'j 11 ■ without detriment. or corina i- required, so fLyj^Hg no waste. No. 9.