The eastern clarion. [volume] (Paulding, Miss.) 1837-1863, 1859-08-17


pine straw 10y ploughing it under, it may
increase the oPenneSs of that soil To an in.
furious extent before it decays: and until
u ao1s decay, no beneficial influence can lin
any case but that Of an exceeding heavy
soil be expected from it, Moreover. in
such dry and open soils, It's decay is ne
ce,~ariy very slow. This consideration
will render ineligible to not a few their
want of success. How then ought if TO be
applied? Simply, a. you do other straws:
/ 1t ought TO he used as litter. if possible.
and then left to decay to some extent in
the manure pile under cover bee it rcmcm-
hercd.l or it NAV be compo-ted bv itself
/ with substances that facilitate it, decom-
/ position, such as lime. ashes. or mortar:
some swamp or pine hollow muck NAV be
added with advantage. In the region, ac-
| ces>lble to marls, these may be used for
composing with great advantage. But
while thi, Is done, and the pile kept moist.
there ought to be no fluid DRAWINGS lost
from it,
1t is well known that the sandy lands
of the 'piney woods" will yield fair crops
fora few year, when freshly cleared; after
which, they stop producing, and neither
lime nor guano will avail This shows,
that all the nutritive matters which the
soil contains, are present in condition in
which thcyarc Observation-Disclosures;
after they have been extracted by the lat
ter. nothing remains for lime, guano or
| following to develop. have little doubt,
and think ] can prove it by analysis that
almost all the nutritive power of these
soils l. due 70 the pine straw, which has
been continually decaying on them for
centuries The elements of fertility are
being continually brought up from the
sub-oil 10y the pine roots to bc afterwards
deposited on the surface soil in the shape
of straw good clay or loan soil would
thus bee constantly improving; but these
sandy soils are VIGOROUSLY 80 little reten-
tive OF manure of any kind, that only
few years supply Is present in them at any
one time the rest going back to the sub
soil with the rain water.
This suggests to the ''piney woods"
planter a very simple plan of making avail
able the fertility of all the land he owns.
without actually cultivating it all. Ifyou
own a section of land, cultivate only a
quarter section for instance, and raise or
maintain its fertility 10y applying to it the
min. ..,II..t.I from, tI ,.-t Of ,-g,,,,.
land. The pines do all the sub,oiling for
YOU, without pillow or coulter, and you can
thus with q small force make as much on
"A small tract ofland in a high state of cul-
tiyation. as you would 10y planting four
times the amount of poor land.
! do not mean to say that this would be-
a perfectly rational system of culture; for
the pines, dcpriving the soil annually of
the whole amount of nouri>hmcnt CON
tanned IN their leaves. would ultimately, in
the course of time. 80 impoyeri-h their
own soil. that they them,elvc, would cease
to thrive But this looks a long time
ahcal-ccnturie- perhaps; and long be-
fore that time comes. it j, to be- hoped that
the past AMI present system of raJbp.y the
soil, will have given way to the only IA
tional system Of agriculture. that which
returns TO the soil regularly every year, in
the shape Of the otial and excrcmcnts OF
animals and men. the ingredients it has
been deprived OF 10y the crops these ami
NAL, have consumed.
have been frequently asked, how the
| plouching under of green crops would
compare ia advantage with the application
Of pine straw The great and essential
difference Is, that while green crops simply
| rr'ys 10 the land u mare arr.ig5ir rani-
/ ta that which they irssc from =. the pine
straw i, an actual atitoa to the stock of
fertility in the soil inasmuch a, it, ingre-
dicut- were obtained s,sarLcrs. other
/ things being equal, the momentary effect
of % green crop will generally be greater
than that Of pine straw: but the one ex-
hau,ts the soil, while the other enrich
e. it,
have been unable to obtain definite
data "a, to how and to what extent pine
straw is used for the improvement of soils
in the Southern Atlantic States. although
know that it j. used great deal. What
| have said above is based simply upon the
general principles Of agricultural chemis-
try. applied to my researches on the sub
ject. and may not be new to some of your
readers. Still have thought it might do
some good TO call attention to the facts
through the columns OF your popular pa
par, previous to the publication of my re-
port, which will come too late in the sea
son to be of much avail for the crops of
the coming year.
Yours very respectfully,
EUG. W. HILGARD.