Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-01-04
A FEW WORDS TO FARMERS.


how long he expects his over-worked
lands to yield good crops without
either food or rest, and you open up an
entirely new subject for reflection.
Aud yet both questions are to the
point, and little reflection must salts
fy any sensible man that food is as
essential to growing crops as to labor
ing animals. We all know, without
reasoning upon the subject, that an
abundant supply of the products of
the soil will give health and strength
to the animal, but many seem not to
know that he thrives and fattens on
the life-blood of the soil-that ele-
nents which enter into the develop
ment of the plant are assimilated to
to the bone and muscle of the ami
NAL. And hence it is that the waste
matter of stables and yards con-
tribute so materially to fertilizing the
soil to which they are returned-it is a
simple restoration to the field of the
elements first consumed by the crop,
then absorbed by the animals that feed
upon it, and by them thrown off in
the form Of waste matter.
The farmer may reply to this, that
the manure he can save will go but a
little way towards fertilizing the large
area which he cultivates. This may
be true, but in answer to his objection,
we beg leave to suggest that the plant
food is not exhausted from the poorest
of his fields; that beneath the shallow
surface which he has been stirring,
year after year, there lies large sup
ply awaiting only a subsoil pillow to
reach and bring into active play. The
fbrOus roots which creep along a bar
ren surface, in search of food, are not
strong enough to penetrate the hard
pan, created by years of superficial
blowing. and if they were, the food
thus buried beyond the reach of sun
and air and rain is wholly untitled for
absorption until subjected to those
agencies by which food can be prepared
to be taken up by the almost invisible
roots which convey nutriment to the
growing plant BY deep blowing not
only Is plant food brought within reach
of the surface roots, but through the
agency of light and air it is disintegrat-
ed. and the carbonic acid which de-
scends with every shower, dissOlves it,
when it is ready to be absorbed by the
diminutive feeders thrown out from
the growing stem.
But, the fact that deep blowing
brings up a supply Of plant food, hith-
erto out Of reach, is not the only ar
gument in favor of subsoil prepara-
ton Moisture is as indispensable to
vegetable growth as Highland heat, and
to provide that moisture, in case of
drought, nothing is SO efficient as a
deep preparation. 1t enables the rain
to sink deep below the surface and the
iooseness of the soil acts as a proven
tive Of the rapid evaporation incl
dent TO compact ground. Besides,
every rain brings down with it more or
less ammonia, an indispensable ele-
ment of plant food, in addition to the
carbonic acid which dissolves the sill
Gates and phosphates, and, by liquify-
ing, fits them to be taken up by the
delicate roots always in reach of them.
The farmer who adopts the system
of deep cultivation will find himself
materially aided, in his efforts to i'm
prove his soil, by the hand of nature,
because thus prepared, light, heat, air
and water can freely enter, each con-
tributing its fertilizing influence, but
without such preparation, these con-
tributions are rejected by an imper-
vious surface, the crops fail, the soil
becomes poorer and the unenlightened
farmer attributes his want Of success
TO the natural sterility of his fields
and the unpropitious character of the
seasons. Feed your lands, or they will
not feed you--is the plain English of
all we would say on the subject, and
whilst we have indicated deep blowing
as very effective meaus of recuperat-
ing exhausted lands, We would, by no
means. intimate that other means
should be neglected-such as manur-
ing freely, rotation of crops, raising
grass. turning under rye, peas and
other green crops, seeded for that pur-
pose and, last, though not least, fixed
determination TO cultivate no larger
surface than can be well prepared
well MANFRED and titled in the mOstap-
proved style. The time has come when
farmers must calculate profits rather
than gross proceeds. The contest is
between the price of labor and the
nett proceeds of the farm, and tits
time that the farmers were ascertain
ing whether fair profit on ten acres
is not better than no profit on one hun
dred acres Labor on poor land cost;
as much as labor on rich land, the erea
in cultivation being the same. Then
~ if fftvacres of well fed land will yield
oas much as one hundred, poorly fed
Mere is a saving of one half the labor
required for the cultivation of the lat
ter. and doubling of the yield Of Tho
former, then the double yield and the
half cost of labor furnish the dat;
upon which the farmer can calculate
his profits. When he learns that en-
richinc his land viii save labor, in
crease the yield and his profits, he WI
have learned the first lesson IN pro
gressive prosperity, and each succeed
ing wear will illustrate the wisdom o
feeding his land as we'll as his mules
If he would make both efficient a
well as profitable. Poor land an'
hired labor never did, and neve
will nav. and the sooner farmers re
eognize this fact, the better for them
SELVES and for the general prosperity, o
an dependent upon agriculture-th
likelihood Of art, science, commerce