Centre Farmer.
VOL. 2.
——————
CENTRE FARMER. |
|
PUBLISHED BY THE CENTRE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL |
SOCIETY.
JOHN A. WOODWARD, Howard,
Prof. JNO. HAMILTON, State College,
B. F, SHAFFER, Walker,
Publishing Committee.
Officers of the Society for 1876 :
President—JonN A. Woopwarp, Howard.
Vice Presidents—GEN. Gro. BucHANAN, of Gregg,
GEeo. I. Peters, of Union,
A. S. TrprroN, of Curtin,
SAMUEL Ginuinany, of College.
Seeretary & Treasurer—J. WESLEY GEPHART, of
Bellefonte.
Librarian—Jonx T. Jounstox, of Bellefonte.
Executive Com.—JAs. A. BEAVER, of Bellefonte,
JonN Risuer, of Benner,
Jonx A. HuNTER, of Halfmoon,
LreoNarp Ruonk, of Potter,
JonnN Hamirron, of College,
B. F. Suarrer, of Walker.
THE CENTRE FARMER will be issued
monthly, and is devoted exclusively to such
subjects as have a direct bearing upon the
interests of the farming community in gen-
eral and the CeNtrRE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL
Society in particular.
Terms Free, and Postage Prepaid.
To Advertisers.
The Cextre Farmer will be published for
six months, with a total of twenty siz thousand
copies, and distributed, through the: mails,
postage prepaid, to every farmer in the
county, whose address can be obtained. The
object of ite rablicatizn 15 to advertise moet
create a renewed interest in the County Agri-
cultural Society, and its annual fair, and no
pains will be spared to have it thoroughly
circulated. This makes it a very desirable
medium for that class of advertisers who
desire specially to reach the farming commu-
nity. We have still room for a limited num-
ber of advertisements which will be inserted
at the following rates :
One eighth column. .uiieiiiiiiennienencenienes . $600
One forth do .ccccusisinirersessisssress wees 10 00
One half QO © veisiserssrtistasasussasenaserees 20 00
Whole BO; Farrerrarreesieonets garenes veeese 40 00
Address,
CENTRE FARMER,
Howard, Centre Co., Pa.
—_— ee ———— ——
——Our next Annual Fair will be held
on the Society's grounds, at Bellefonte,
on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday, being the 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th
days of October, 1876.
DR. E. GREENE'S
Iniver Pills.
BEWARE OF COUNTERFEITS.
Dr. E. Greene's Liver Pills are always and
only put up in OVAL boxes, not round—and
have on the bottom of each and every box—
the name of the Sole Agents and Manufactu-
rers.
J. ZELLER & SON,
No. 6 Brockerhoff Row.
A=See other advertisement in this paper=ga
W. 8. WOLF & SON,
BELLEFONTE, PA.
MANUFACTURERS
STOVES, TINWARE,
Roofing & Spouting & Specialty.
ALL WORK GUARANTEED.
I
“PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE.”
INTERIOR FENCES.
Prof. Hamilton's reply to the question,
“What is the best plan for Centre
County Farmers to pursue in
regard lo fences, taking
the laws as they now
exist 2"
( Continued.)
Let us stop a moment and see what
this 1024 rods of inside fence has now
cost per year. We have
1-20 the original cost of the fence with
the compound interest added for 20
BELLEFONTE, CENTRE CO., PA., JULY, 1876.
25 cents will be $25 and this multi-
lied by 6—$150 00. The milk and
Patter milk, are usually worth but lit-
tle except as food for calves and pigs,
say half as much as butter, $75 00 ;
increase in one year in value of young
cattle, $15 00 each, $135 C0, making
in all 8360 00. From these statements
your cows have cost you $670 20, and
have produced $360 00, leaving as net
loss for food alone for 15 head of cattle
$310 20. That is, their food has cost
you $310 20, more than your cattle
have produced, and this does not count
possible losses by death or accident.
YEARS tiociitinniersntissseeiiernenineiirissrasenssene $270 93 cal
Interest on land occupied by fences... 10 22 Now let us sum np again and see
TT lanes... 6 14|where we are:
Yearly TOPAIIE 1ir0sesssssssescnisssrensrivsseeesss 5 00 Fences cost annually. cece eeeseeesssens . $373 70
Losses by additional turning 63 44 | Cattle cost TT eristiesiiranssnniitini . 7670 20
“ % tramping at the ends
TUPRINE a iiitricsnricesercdansiveirrsres . 17 97 Moning HORIEO ivr care carriiiisntsiiies $1043 90
oore nr | Cattle PrOAUCeR sii sre trresrercsreanseriinre 360 00
Making a total of...iueeieeireeenen. aaresnnee $373 70 P
lost each year by fences, not including’
taxes, on the land #0 occupied, cost of
removing weeds, briers, &c., in amount
lost by snow banks that prevent early
working in the Spring, and sometimes
destroy the grain by smothering.
What is all this expense for? $373 70
per year. Farmers certainly are not
foolish enough to throw away this
amount of money simply because they
can afford to do it. What is all this
expense for? Why a farmer answers,
“to protect our grain fields from our
cattle.” Is this all! Is it possible that
it must cost $373 70 each year to keep
our cattle off our grain? How many
cattle, let me ask, do you keep on this
one hundred and eighty acres, 6, 10, 12,
15 hea? 2 Say 15 head are kept, that
i#'zix milk cows and nine young cattle.
The question that now arises, is, are
they worth it? - Are these 15 head of
cattle worth what they cost. Let us
stop and see :
Six cows at $40 00 each cuuuiirenneernnrnnnns $240 00
Nine young cattle at $20 00 each. ....... 180 00
TTIOLAL coir tsreniisnssinisansvsbessssinssenessavsssse $420 00
in all. You can get $420 00 for them
at a sale to day and this is all that
that they will bring. What income
do they bring in? 5, 10, 20, 50 per
cent? Say that one can realize 50 per
cent. This would amount in the six
months during which you pasture to
$105 00. That is in order to make
$105 00 you spend annually $373 70.
Curious economy. It is something like
Mark Twain's account of Henry Ward
Beechers farming, “bought a hog for
$8 00, fed him $30 worth of corn.
Sold hog for §15. Made on the hog,
lost on the corn.”
Farmers have you ever counted what
your cattle cost you? Take 6 head of
cows and 9 young cattle, they will re-
quire at least two acres each of pasture
during the Summer, or two of your 15
acre fields, besides the picking that
they get from the corn fields in the
early fall. This land should produce
al least one ton of hay to the acre,
worth (at $10 per ton) $300. In order
to keep these cattle during the winter
there will be required two tons more of
hay apiece, worth at the same price,
$300 more, These cattle in order that
they may be well kept and thrive will
require grain equal to about six
bushels of corn apiece, making 90
bushels which at 50 cents per bushel
would amount to $45 00. To these
amounts add $25 20 the interest on
$240 00, the money invested in the
cattle and we have a total cost per
year of $670 20. In this estimate the
manure is supposed to pay for the at-
tendance. Let us now see what they
will produce. Williard, the highest
authority on Dairy Husbandry, states,
that the average annual quantity of
milk from each cow as shown by sta-
tistics, is 1800 quarts, and that it takes
an average of 18 quarts of milk to
make a pound of butter. According
to this statement each cow will yearly
produce 100 pounds of butter which at
Leaving a total loss per year of......... $683 90
or $263 90 more than the cattle are
worth. It is very evident that the
more stock a man keeps in this way
the worse he is off. When you ques-
tion the owner of this 180 acre farm
respecting his condition, he complains
that his lot in life is severe, that he
has to work as hard as he can drive
early and late, year in and year out,
that he cannot live as men in other
professions live, that he must stint and
scrape and economize and scratch.
That he must labor and his wife must
toil and slave, and notwithstanding
this that he is growing poorer every
year. Judgments are being entered
up against his property, store bills are
over due, children must stay at home
Trom™e¥io, dothing can be contfibu-
ted when the church calls for beuevo-
lence, clothes are old and worn, build-
ings need repair, land needs clovering
and improving, implements and ma-
chinery are worn out and useless, and
all about him is in a sadly dilapida-
ted state. When asked why he does
not fix up and better his condition, he
tells the truth when he replies “too
poor.” Why is it that you are so
poor? Look at just one of your in-
vestments:
In callle........cooniiiees insrarersiresessasesess
And as a consequence of this you
have expended on inside fences.....
$ 420 00
IN Alls iicriiirsencivensaitrrsinsssssresssasssvveses $2109 60
Upon this investment of $2109 60 you
ose yearly on food of cattle........... $310 20
ON ToN0BS i ccrvamsresssessrsarssraissrase versie 337 70
POA oeeiiiiiniiirienessisnsssisividererrsan $683 90
or nearly one third of the whole
amount invested. Is it any wonder
that you are poor, when you actually
throw away nearly seven hundred
dollars every year in one department
of your business? Is it not marvel
lous that you have been able to hold
out so long? How long think you,
could a merchant or a banker continue
prosperous were he to invest his money
in enterprises such as this? It is gen-
erally believed that in banking or in
trade, none but careful, shrewd and
calculating business men can count
upon success. But on the other hand,
“any body can run a farm.” So he can
if it is to be run with recklessness
and utter disregard for the conse-
quences that must inevitably ensue.
The end will come and in less than
sixteen years there has been thrown
away the entire value of the farm.
But this is not all. These 15 head
of cattle that are turned out upon the
fields during the Spring, Summer and
Fall are necessarily moving about
during the day collecting their food.
Each animal standing still covers with
its feet half a square foot of land.
If the animals step 24 inches at a
stride the 15 in walking a little. more
than 2} miles will have trampled an
acre.
The damage thus done to pasturing
is greatly under-estimated, vegetation
is so injured by crushing as to serious
ly retard its growth. The tender grass
NO. 2.
plants are trodden again and again,
until the pasture becomes so much
injured that the cattle can no longer
live on it, when they are removed and
the plants that have survived are per-
mitted to recuperate. Then the old
plan over and over again. Why is it
that farmers are in such haste to re-
move cattle from their potatoe plots or
gardens, if it is not that they fear the
destruction of the plants that they
there cultivate ; or vy, farmer would
permit his cattle, even were they
muzzled, to run wild over his corn and
wheat fields day after day, tramping,
into the earth the growing plants?
He very well knows that he would
lose his harvest by permitting such a
course. Why then if his object be to
raise the greatest quantity of vegeta-
ble growth upon the soil, does he
knowingly and deliberately pursue a
system that involves the mangling,
mutilating and destroying of plants,
thus effectually preventing the very
object of his profession. Does not
this system necessarily tend to, and
in many instances does it not actually
result in making the fields as unpro-
ductive as the public road ?
But the injury done is not confined
to the plants alone. The soil also, if
itis a clay, as is the case in most
parts of Centre county, is seriously in-
Jured by this practice.
Where this system is pursued cattle
are turned out to pasture every day,
wet and dry, in the early Spring and
late in the Fall, many times when the
ground is so saturated with water that
the ~animala*wink into iv 2, 3, or4
inches at every step, compacting the
soil as completely as if done by a
press. What is the result: 1st, no
grass will grow in those foot poles, and
2nd, where the land is being ploughed
it will require sharper and stronger
irons, a more powerful team, the
draught being increased at least one
third, slower work, and the parts so
tramped will break up into clods
nearly as hard as stones, impervious
to moisture and impenetrable by the
roots of plants. Full crops cannot be
grown upon such a soil and it fre-
quently takes years of careful tillage
to restore such a field to its original
condition.
By this system, also, more than one
half of all the manure made upon the
farm during the year instead of being
beneficial is positively injurious to the
crop. The droppings have the effect
of destroying the grass on the part
where they fall, and also of rendering
much around so distasteful as to be
refused by the animals pasturing there,
and the ultimate advantage is not as
great as is imagined. Since much of
it falling upon hill sides is washed
away by floods, while that upon the
level land is partly destroyed by in-
sects or lost by evaporation.
Could these droppings be saved upon
the manure heap, and placed upon
the land at the proper time and in the
roper places, not only would the in-
Jury be avoided, but the productions
of the soil be greatly increased. The
cattle too by lying upon the plants
render them unpalatable and when at
length they are free from the odor and
might be eaten, they have become so
old and woody as to be refused.
The question submitted by your
committee, asks, “what is the best that
can be done, under existing laws?"
Situated as wa are here in Centre
county, is what we are doing the best
that can be done? Is it absolutely
necessary that every farmer, living in
the grain growing districts of this
County, owning 180 acres of limestone
land worth at least $60 00 per acre,
shall expend annually the sum of
$373 70 for fences in order that he
may keep 15 head of cattle, that by
Continued on 3d page.