Farmers’ Column.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 5, 25 February 1871, Page 14

Farmers’ Column.

HOW FARMING IS MADE TO PAY IN AMERICA. I take up my pen to tell of a visit to the farm of two men who knew how to till the soil. Allusion is made to S. M. and D. Wells; whose interests are united, and who pull well together. A chronicle oltheir customs of cultivation cannot but prove serviceable to others. The partners are practical men, and are enthusiastic in their occupation. Nor are they afraid of work. They are gloved with sunburn, and their boots are dusty from the turning of many furrows. Fortunately, the brothers were not reared in nests that were silver-lined Neither were they tempted to canes and kids, by the impending calamity of expected bequests. They were early instructed to rely upon themselves. When young they took charge of the old home farm. In those days it was poor enough. They quickly arrived at the important conclusion that the land must be liberally manured. But where, should they get the money. They were not in receipt of dividends from coal mines or cotton factories; they were not members of the Common Council, or directors in railroad swindles. Well, they bought cows; a few at first. They took to composting. They made experiments. Gradually they increased the number of their live stock, and extended their line fences. Their property had doubled in value, and is still advancing. Not far from them is another man who has worked in the opposite way. With as good soil and more of it to commence with, he has •impoverished his estate. He adopted the pernicious practice of selling hay. At first he sold quite a quantity, and the next year a little less—each, season less still, till last fall he bought hay of his neighbors, who are not so far gone. Now his pastures produce stunted mullens, his fields are rich in red sorrel, and beautiful with multitudes of blooming daisies. The Wells Brothers have more than 300 acres, of which about thirty are kept under the plough. Most of the remainder is in meadow. The soil is a reddish clay loam, naturally poor. Some of it was cold and wet. Of course this is underdrained. The fences are in order. The outbuildings are not expensive, but in good repair. They keep from fifty to eighty head of cattle. Of these generally half are Ayr■hire cows of the finest quality. The brothers are attaining reputations for this breed, and they have taken several premiums at State and country fairs. A few of the best were recently photographed for Secretary Gold’s forthcoming Agricultural Report. In the flush, these cows average five gallons of milk each per day, and more than two gallons all the year round. This is sold in Hartford at five Oents a quart, which pays the expense of care and keeping, with possibly a trifling •urplus. Hence the profit does not appear in bank-stock or in five-twenties, but it does appear in the enhanced fertility and value of land. Ready money comes from the ploughed portion of the farm. Besides raising vegetables for home use, and green fodder for the cattle, the brothers grow annually two or three acres of the best onion seed in the market. Haifa ,Iton to the acre is the expected yield, and it brings from seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents per pound. Great success has been attained by them in the culture of this crop. In the first place tinfoil must be remarkably rich, and the richer the better. If kept at the proper height of fertility, repeated crops may be produced on the same ground. The Wells Brothers continue to phmttmions in a bed which has been used for the same purpose for at least eighty years, and they have found that the finest and longest-keeping specimens come from the oldest gardens. Their favorite patch is manured each season at the rate of thirty cart-loads per acre. The soil is not less than a foot in depth. Their practice is as soon as the frost is out, to use a sub-soiler which goes ' two feet deep. A little later to put in a "plough which goes down about four inches then make the surface smooth and mellow, . and plant as early as possible in rows from eighteen to twenty inches apart; For £his purpose the Wethersfield is recommended for cheapnessand efficiency. The cultivation commences about three weeks after the seed is sown, and one of the great principles is, to keep the onions perfectly clean. Geiierally three times weeding will be sufficient and the crop seed not receive attention after the tops fehade the ground. The harvesting is done in September, and the best way to make hekps of forty or fifty bushels, each, covered with straw and leaves in the field for a lhonth or more. 600 bushels to the idre is a large return, but under the most favbrable circumstances 880 bushels can produced. For next year’s crop it is Well to ridge the ground in the fall, and ■pliitho ridges irt the spring. For new land the best plan is to begin two years ahegd and pave the way with corn, and v afterwards a crop of potatoes. The best manure is ..that obtained from cattle stalls. Occasionally if the young blades look pale • tbp dressing of Phmnix guaino may be profitably applied. The surest crop is

the red Wethersfield, which is large, hardy, and strong. For, raising seed the same richness of land is required, and the same strict attention to cultivation. The onions are set as early as possible, in rows forty inches apart, at the rate of 250 bushels to the acre. They can be freed from weeds by the use of a horse hoe. When the tops are ripe enough they are chipped off, dried under shelter, threshed out, and run through an ordinary fanning mill. The Wells Brothers’ manufacture and management of manure is the important subject. They have a spacious Btable, containing forty stalls, the ground surface of which is cemented. A supply of dried peat or muck is kept on hand, and a wheelbarrow full is placed daily in the gutter behind each row of eight cows. This absorbs all odours and moisture, and is easily shovelled out the following morning, through a small door, into an enclosed shed, which also has a cemented bottom. Thus nothing is lost by leaching or other waste, and cleanliness is secured. The manure thus obtained is of excellent quality, and the brothers have proved by experiment that the addition of muck not only doubles or triples the quantity, but really makes a better fertilizer than pare stable manure. That which is not demanded for the onion beds and other ploughed ground is used as top dressing for the meadows. This is considered the best way of applying it. It is put on with a liberal hand, and the result is easily perceived. Last spring a portion of one field was top dressed, and it will cut two or three tons to the acre —the other part was not top dressed, and will produce less than half that amount. The brothers do not approve of fancy manures, as a general thing. They are convinced that no fertilizer pays in the end, the effect of which cannot be perceived for three or four years afterwards. They once applied Peruvian guano, received a crop of sixty bushels of shelled corn to the acre; thp next year they planted potatoes in the same field, without further manure, and did not get, enough to pay forutfigging, though the season was favorable for their growth. The dairy department has for a long time received much attention. They have tried most of the breeds of cows, and have decided that the Ayrshire is preferable to any other, and they think it not profitable to keep a cow, for milk or cheese, that gives less than twenty quarts a day when in flush; Many of theirs do even better. They have found it very difficult to obtain this from a Devon, almost impossible from an Alderney, but comparatively easy from an Ayrshire. Shore horns are large milkers, but are great eaters as well, and by actual test they have ascertained that two Ayrshires give as much milk as three Short Horns, while two Short Horns require as much food as three Ayrshires a fact which the cheesemakers of Western New York, who, on authority of Professor Brewer, are ,not addicted to experiment, would, perhaps, do well to note. The brothers believe in high feeding. They find that no other practice pays in the long run, and they use annually 1500 or 2000 bushels of beet, and last year purchased nearly 1000 dollars’ worth of corn meal. Their system, of green soiling is thorough, and is continued regularly during the summer and autumn months. May, June, and July, they cut grass from their door yards or fence corners, and sprinkle it with meal. In August and September, sowed corn, raised on the best land, comes on, and this is followed in October and November, with sowed rye, grown late on rich soil, after an early crop has been removed. They cut and steam the hay and other fodder used through the winter, and believe that thereby a saving of at least one third is secured. The cow stable is kept neat and well ventilated. The stalls are littered with pine shavings, and the muck arrangement above mentioned; and the three-inch thick concrete floor, together with padded siding keep the room clean and quite warm, even in the severest weather. The stock is housed eight months in the year, and fourteen hours a day during the remaining four months. By a simple arrangement, running water is kept constantly in each manger, and in the winter the cows scarcely ever leave their stalls, and they appear anxious to get back after they do leave. Something must be said of the exceeding kindness with which the herd is treated. No dogs are allowed about the farm. There is no shouting or haste. The bars are let down and the animals walk out at their leasure. In the stable no loud conversation is permitted, and it has been found that any continuous noise, of a fanning mill, about the barn, so operates on the nervous system as perceptibly to reduce the flow of milk. As a consequence, the cows are remarkably gentle, almost like cossets, and they have a sunny, satisfied expression of eye which Henry Berg would be delighted to Bee. The owners of this estate have arrived at their conclusions by a protracted series of experiments, which are to be continued. Their sole ambition has beep, and is, to develop their land to extent. With the exception tbfts/a year or two ago, the elder brother was induced to represent his district in the Legislature the

farm has received undivided attention. Of course they have not obtained, nor did they expect, immediate money returns, for a farm is a great consumer, and calls for more; 'but they see clearly that, in the end, there must be large balances in bank, and thus solve the problem, “How to make farming, pay.”—Correspondent to “ New York Tribune.”