Running water is Nature's greatest sculptor. It carves out hills and valleys, and carries away the debris to form a soil in some other place CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Farming is a business, and the successful farmer must be first of all a business man. He follows his vocation primarily for the money he can make, and like other business men should aim to get the greatest possible returns for the money and labor involved. It is not enough simply to grow crops, but they must be so produced as to yield a profit on the capital invested. To succeed, he must be thoroughly acquainted with every detail of his occupation, and must strive to stop all leaks and prevent needless waste. At the same time, he must bear in mind that it is a good business principle to spend a dollar whenever he can see that it will come back to him with interest. Agriculture is not merely a business but an art as well: the art of producing plants and animals that are useful to man. A real knowledge of farming necessitates a knowledge of the principles upon which the art of agriculture is founded; for an understanding of these principles is essential to an intelligent and rational practice. A few years since, "anyone could be a farmer." It was only necessary to sow and reap, for Nature dealt lavishly with man, and gave to him freely of the fertility she had been storing up for countless ages. A system of extravagant and unbusinesslike farming, however, has so impoverished the soil, in some parts of our country, that many farms are already abandoned, having ceased to be profitable; and that too, in localities where the land once commanded high prices. This fact is the more lamentable, because the exhaustion of the soil might have been prevented by an intelligent foresight on the part of our earlier farmers. The farming of the future, therefore, must be done by men of broad training which should in An abandoned farm. Many farms have been abandoned because the soil is said to be exhausted. This exhaustion of the soil might have been prevented and the soils in many cases can be restored to their original fertility clude, among other things, some knowledge of such sciences as geology, chemistry, botany, zoology and physics. These sciences have done much to explain how the fertility of the land may be conserved, and it is the aim of this little book to present in a brief manner the latest views of agricultural investigators and farmers on this important subject. The intention is to make the treatment of the subject thoroughly practical, and for this reason the minimum of theory and the maximum of demonstrated facts will be given, and with the least possible use of technical language. Before taking up the subject of manures and fertilizers it is desirable to devote a short time to the consideration of plant food in general, explaining what it is and its source of supply Plants of First Importance to the Farmer.-All agriculture depends upon the growth of plants, and Plants are of first importance to agriculture, The production of animals and animal products is merely one way of marketing the crop consequently the profit that accrues to the farmer depends primarily upon the value of the crops his farm produces. In some kinds of farming the profit comes from the sale of crops that are useful in providing food, fuel, or raiment for man, while in others the direct gain comes from the sale of animals or animal products. Even in the latter case the feeding crops that can be grown upon the farm determine its earning |