Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-12-13
CONGRATULATIONS III SOIL
NEED RESr.

NEED REsT.
From the Rural New Yorker.l
Our fathers in agriculture quite gen.
orally held the opinion that summer
following greatly benefited the soil by
the rest which It gave. II the land lay
utterly idle through all the season OF
| growth, should il not recupsrate il
power Eof production? They believed
it would, and this opinion prevails to
some extent at the present time among
farmers.
But absolute rest obviously adds moth
ing TO the soil; no food for plants de-
scends from the air above or rises from
the subsoil below. No favorable chemi.
! cal action is known to be induced by
exposing a naked soil q Sng time to
the elements; on the contrary, il may
be apprehended that the washing of the
rain, the parching of the suu, the evapora-
ton of the atmosphere, emoves some
Of the volatile substances which are
found in a fertile soil. Rest does not
impart fertility to the sands Of the desert,
nor are arabic soils in q state of nature
where they are increasing in fertility,
ever permitted to be destitute Of vegt-
table covering.
The soil then does need nest-it re-
quires cultivation. By cultivation We
mean here those phycical changes which
may be made. 1t wants deep and thorough
workings, so that the roots OF plants can
reach every particle of soil it needs
draining to draw off the stagnaDt water,
which is poison to the roots of our cereals
and cultivated grasses. Deep though
frequent pulverizstiOn Of the soil, though
il adds nothing to the amount CT plant
food, will, by making it available to the
crop, cause the land to be very produce
tive. Then, except during the brief
period Of this thorough working, the
soil should be productive for it is by the
sole ageacy of what grows upon it that
the farmer can hope 10 increase the
amount Of plant food in his land.
But Is not land constantly producing
crops, whether of grain or grass, ex-
haHsting itself? Yes, II these crops are
removed from the soil and no remunera-
ton made therefor but if the whole
produce Of the ground is returned to It,
the amount Of plant food is increasing.
The soil becomes richer for the reason
that the substance Of the plants was not
only partly derived from the soil but
largely from the atmosphere, and whenit
receives again what il gave, through the
AEL1L R0GAAALa Va BA4AAf II nac III
addition all that was drawn from other
sources. This is the reason why the
blowing under of clover or other green
crops for manur enriches the soil. The
crops have drawn only part of their fer
tilizing --components from the soll-they
have gathered from the air lkewbse-
and it is precisely this which Increases
the previous richness Of the soD. And il
all the manure which cropl will uska
by passing through the animal system
be returned to the soil, It's fertility will
doubtless be maintained; enough will
be returned to replace the constituents
Of the plant which alone were derived
from the earth.
We conclude, then, that the soil does
not need rest to render it fertile. 1t needs
cultivation and cropping. Not reckless,
wssteful unmethodical farming, but that
so plsnned and executed as to grow large
and varied crops, and dispose OF them
in such manner as to return the extract
ed elements Of fertility to the soil.