The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-04-11
agranltural.
From the Sumter Banner.
Renovation of the Soil.

10 The President and Members efMe
Sumter Agricultural association:
GENTLEMEN: As improvement in every
branch of Agriculture is the object which our
Association has in view, | deem it proper to
address this and other communications relating
to agricultural art or science to you, trusting
the views set forth may lead to the communi-
cation of important facts by others.
The improvidence of the Southern planter
has become almost proverbal. He begins by
preparing the woodland for the culture of corn,
cotton, &C.; and atthe end ofa few years the fer.
tility of large part of his cultivated land has
become exhausted by neglectine to restore to
it what has annually been abstracted by the
growing crop. The'remedy for this has been
to lay it aside, and prepare fresh piece of
woodland for culture, until, as it often turns
out in the course of his planting operations, he
has cleared three or four times as much land rs
he annually cultivates. Now though it would
be better economy to renew regularly in the
soil what it loses from year to year in bringing
to maturity the cultivated crop, than to defer
this labor till it has become utterly impoverish-
ed, and then resort to some means of renova-
ton; yet, as such economy is so little prac-
ticed, we propose the question to any planter
who designs clearing and substituting new land
in place of what he has exhausted. Would not
the labor and efpenee of renovating your er
hausted land be less than that Of clearing and
preparing for cultivation tile same ertent Of
1ruolluna?
We feel assured Though all planters have not
equally at command the materials for cheap
renovation) that such would be the result of
actual experiment in nine cases out of ten, in
which the simple means Of renovation hereafter
pointed out, are employed. Both observation
and experiment furnish us with a reason for
the faith that is in US, viz: that, whenever there
is a sufficient body Of woodland adjoining or
near by the cultivated field, and rotted vegeta
Bile matter may therefrom be provided in sufi-
cient quantity, and at convenient distance,
the renovation of the soil in such field is not
only practicable, but attended with less labor
and expense than the preparation Of the wood
land for cultivation. In seeking to effect this
end, (renovation,) the planter cannot err in
adopting the simple means which nature en-
sploys with the same end in view. In the leaves,
straw, bark, &C., with which she annually COW
ers the surface Of the earth, is provided an am
ple store of the food requisite to sustain the
plants and trees which grow upon it. They
contain the very ingredients of the natural soil;
and in their decay and decomposition, evolve
whatever elements it may be necessary to re-
turn to it in order TO restore its fertility. Chem.
ical analysis of the seeds and roots of cdltiva.
ted plants, and of the leaves, straw and bark
of "a great variety of trees abundanty prove
IL. IL c,.t tbo. hot, t1,o M
economy of nature, the elements of nutrition for
plants exist in these products which she annu
ally returns to the soil, in far greater proper
ton than they do in the bodies and branches
of trees. What then has the planter to do in
order, either to restore to the soil before it be.
comes exhausted, whatever is needed to secure
its fertility, or, to renew the fertility of one
which he has exhausted? but to draw from the
woodland adjoining his field, a sufficient guam.
tity of the very material which originally tert-
i7ed it. 1t is sometimes important to ascertain
b.. an analysis of the soil what elements may
be needed to restore its fertility, but we believe
it rarely happens that they can be provided as
cheaply in their separate form, as that in which
they may thus be provided by greater ma
iority of planters. While therefore we rejoice
that Science begins TO shed its light as guide
to the planter in his operations, let US not over
look or under value the plain teachings of ma.
ture because the truths she discoses are not
brought to view by the light of science. BY
the decomposition Of the leaves, straw, &C.,
which fall from the trees, other purposes in the
economy of nature are answered besides pre-.
serving or renewing the soil, but the planter
having this end solely in view may accomplish
it in a comparatively short time -andapply the
same materials in form better adapted to 9th.
er objects he has Immediately in view.
-Four great advantages, for example, are
gained BY applying the straw, &c, for the pur-
pose of renovation, in a rotted, instead of
fresh state. AS far as our observation extends.
these substances bave been used, in the few cx-
pcrments made to test their effects as a reno
vator, either in fresh Or very partially ro'ted
state. Various disadvantages attend the use
of them in this form, which Go not attend their
use when thoroughly dccaycd. The labor of
car,ing fresl, litter is comparatively. y.much grca.
ter; which is owing to the difficulty Of com.
pressing it to a convenient bulk foy leading and
hauling No noe tI'an a comparatively >tuaii