Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1867-01-31
AaritnItntal department,
DOES THE SOIL NEED REST.

Our fathers in Agriculture quite generally held
the opinion that Summer following greatly bene-
fitted the soil by the rest which it gave. If the
land Law utterly idle through all the season of
growth, should it not recuperate its power OF pro-
duction? They believed it would. And this opin-
ion prevails to some extent, at the present time
among farmers. :,
But absolute rest obviously adds nothing to the
so no food for plants descends from the air above
orrisesfrom the subsoil below. No favorable chem
ical action is known to I've induced by exposing a
naked soil long time to the elements; on the
contrary, it may be apprehended that the washing
of the rain, the parchng of the sun, the evapora-
ton of the atmosphere, remove some OF the Vola-
tile substances which are found in a fertile soil
Rest does not impart fertility to the sands of the
desert, nor are arabic soils state of nature where
they are increasing in fertility, ever permitted to
be destitute of vegetable covering
The soil then does not need rest - it requires
cultivation By cultivation we mean here those
physical changes which may be made. 1t wants
deep and thorough working so that the roots OF
plants can reach every particle OF soil it needs
draining to draw off the stagnant water which is
poison to the roots of our cereals and cultivated
grasses. Deep though frequent p1lverization OF
Che soil, though it adds nothing to the amount of
plant food, will, by making it all available to the
crops, cause the land to be very productive, for it
is by the sole agency of what grows upon it, that
the farmer can hope to increase the amount ofplant
food in his land.
Butts notland constantly producing crops, wheth-
er of grain or grass, exhausting itself2 Yes, If
those crops are removed from the soil and no re-
muneration made therefor; but if the whole pro.
duce of the ground is returned to it the amount OF
plant food is increased The soil becomes richer
for the reason that the substance of the plant was
only partly derived from the soil, but largely from
the atmosphere, and when the soil receives again
what it gave, through the decomposition Of the
plant. it has in addition all that was drawn from
other sources This is the reason why the plough
ing under of clover or other green crops for manure
enriches the soil The crops have drawn only part
of their fertilizing components from the sol-they
have gathered from the air likewise it is pre-,
csey this which increases the previous richness OF
the soil. And if all the manure which crops will
make by passing through the animal system be re-
turned to the soil, its fertility will doubtless be
maintained; enough will be returned to replace the
ash-constituents of the plant which alone were de-
rived from the earth.
We conclude, then, that the soil does not need
rest to render it fertile 1t needs cultivation and
cropping Not reckless, wasteful, unmethodical
farming, but that so planned and executed as to
grow large and varied crops, and dispose Of them
in such manner as to return the extracted elements
of fertility to the soil.-Rural Neao Yorker.