Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-05-23
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Feed Your Crops!

Feed Your Crops!
If was. asked tn lar down "ne great
principle TO govern those who cnlrlvat'
the soil in whatever capacity, as Planters
Farmers. or Gardeners. priuciple th;.
would guide them to certain sucress, !
would say, feed your crops his should
he The lode star to every tiller of the soil.
Man aud all animate creation eat to live
and grow. So with the inanimate. The
trees Of the forest. the crops OF the hsld.
cotton, corn, potatoes, and all other vege-
table growth, eat and mast eat to grow
and thrive.
This idea constantly kept before TIE
mind of the Kusbandman, and followed
out in all his operations, must inevitably
lead 70 the best practical results. know
tina, nany woald say deep plonghins ard
the thorough cultivation OF crop, or the
use of this or that implement, is tht
sine qua non; but when once it BE-
comes the settled conviction in the mind
that the crop must have food in order to
be developed to lis highest capacity, every
other necessary preparation will follow
For the mind will set about at once III
q,,irins what kind of food is needed tor
this or that crop, how shall it be prepared:
how and when administered
Nearly all the contrariety OF opinions
which exists among the tillers of the soil
arises from want of strict adherence tc
the principle laid down above. Mankind
are constantly through ignorance. of prin-
ciples (and none more so than We Agr'-
culturalist,) carried away by side issues.
One advocates che idea that plants do moi
abstract any food from the soil but derive
it from the atmosphere, another, that Ger.
tain crops grow best on poor land; one
saws that the season alone makes the CROP,
and still another, that keeping the cfol.
cIesn during its culture is all that is neces-
sary. While they are all correct to q
certain extent, the adherence TO one or
the other idea alone is sure to result III
failure, or at least accidental and partial
success. Did ever man see COW or &
hog thrive and grow fat on little or no
food2 When farmer sets about fatten
ing his stock, he first of all secures food
in sufficient quantity; and in proporti' n
as the requisite quantity and quality art
given, and the more comfortable the ami
NAL is made, the more it will thrive and
become developed. The food IS theprim'
necessity. It's preparation and proper
administration coupled with the appliance
for the comfort of the animal, are the adj
juncts, important it is true. but still but
accessory; as, farmer may have fine
shelters for his stock, and good troughs
to feed them from, but if he does not sup
ply the food, they avail nothing. Just SO
with the implements of tillage and the
tillage itself, if there is nothing in the
soil for the plant to feed upon, IL ''iU not
qrow. Therefore food is the prime neces-
sity withplants as with animals. Eecog.
niziug this principle then, it follows that
if there is not sufficient food of the proper
kind already in given soil, it must be
supplied; snd when SO supplied, the re
suits under judicious management are
sometimes so wonderful as to be incredi.
bic to many. The production of over
two hundred bushels of corn from an acre
of land, two thousand pounds of seed
cotton, five hundred dollars worth Of food
(root crops) upon the same amount OF
worn upland, which has been and is fire.
auently made, even in South Caroline,
with the aid oply of the appliances which
a man with few acres of land, horse,
a COW, and few pigs can bring to bear,
is looked upon by the unpracticed as one
of those achievements that will do to talk
and write about but never to be witness
ed. The man who says that he has done
the like is considered as obnoxious to
the reproach of having been mistaken in
his calculations, if not actually demented,
or something worse. And yet, Mr.. EpI-
TOR, if these things (which have often
been done elsewhere) ARE done in the
green tree with US, what can we not do
in the " dry ~ Youn correspondent pre-
diets that, as regards the two last, they
can and s0iA be quadrupled.
If you think this worthy of place in
your agricultural corner, and your read
ers do not think it too big whopper,
you may soon hear again from
SOUTH SLOPE.