Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-10

be applied hereafter is a question we are
unable to determine. u
On the other hand, lands resting on a
good clayey subsoil, one that is retentive
of water, can be kept fertile through sn
indefinite length of time at comparative
small cost. Constant clovering, regular
rotation of crops and an occasional load
of manure on hillsides, are all that is
necessary. Such lands require to be often
SUBSIDIZED, both to increase the depth of
filth and to let off the excessive moisture,
but no farmer with ordinary intelligence,
industry and forecast can fail to prosper
upon such land, and increase its produc-
tive capacity each year. Much of Middle
Tennessee is of this character. The red
lands bordering on the Kentucky line,
as well as all those lying In what
biologists style the Central Basin, are
practically inexhsustible. We know some
of these lands that have been in cultiva-
ton for seventy years, and are as fertile
now as when first cleared. For the pro-
duction of wheat and sll the cereals, In
dian corn excepted, they are better. All
the changes in climate, brought about by
the opening of the lands have increased
their capacity for the production of
wheat, and those farms that have de-
creased in he yield of this great cereal
have not been kept in a high state of cul-
tivation ami fertility. Newly cleared
lands will yield a larger amount of straw,
but the wheat is more apt, for that very
reason, to be attacked by the rust. Too
much humidity In summer is fatal to the
wheat crop. California owes its splendid
wheat-growing qualities more to the eli
mate than to the richness of her soil.
Rain rarely ever falls upon the crop from
the time of jointing. The dry, balmy
weather develops all the nutritive ele-
ments profusely.
In the selection of lands in this State,
next to the society and facilities for the
transportation of produce, we should look
to the subsoil, and without undergoing
the tedious process of chemical analysis,
we should be governed,
/. By the color of the subsoil.
2. Its power to hold water.
8. Its tendency to pulverization by ex-
posure to the atmosphere.
Experience has shown that our best
lands rest upon a deep red or chocolate
colored clay. In the blue grass regions
of Sumner snc other counties, the clay is
inclined to be more of mulatto color;
but while these lands are perhaps more
valuable because of their suitableness for
blue grass, they will not yield wheat or
corn or tobacco like the red lands of
Montgomery, Stewart and Robertson, nor
cotton like the red soils of Rutherford.
Unless lands have the capacity for re-
tanning water, they can have no capacity
for retaining fertilizers. To judge of
this it is only necessary to inquire if
ponds can be made.
Unless the subsoil can be pulVerized by
exposure there will be no chance TO
deepen the soil. Blue clay lands, al
though they will hold water, are not
valuable, Except for certain specific pur-
poses, because of their want of friability.
Some of them may be rendered so by the
liberal use of lime and under draining;
and around Louisville, KY, many of
these lands have been made highly pro-
ductive and valuable in this way. They
are improved solely by virtue of their
power to hold fertilizers.
In q future number we shall take &C.
casion to mention some of the wild
growths that indicate the different quail
ties of soil. Strangers, desiring to move
to our State, are deeply interested in
questions of this character.