The Russellville Democrat., 1875-12-09

eminentiy detrimental. But ever if all the seeds were returned t the land from the gin, or as ma nurc from the hog and cow-lots the cotton crop would, we think be still degree exhaustive, un less certain conditions, to b' presently discussed, were strictl, regarded.
 There is one test which goei beyond all others in determinin. the value of any farmers tactics It is this: Have his lands be come more fertile? Do his fields yield, with the same kind al amount of labor, larger crops than they did five or ten years ago: Tried by such test-aud the cx- cellencc of the test is unqucstion- able-thcre has been n vast amount of bad farming in the United States. The fact is, there are the fewest good farmers from Maine to the Rio Grande. The northern farmers which arc grow ing better, year by year, are few and far between. (We do not here include vegetable farms in the neighborhood of citics.) Clo- yer decieved them and made them believe that it's exhaustive trans fer, from tile deep to the superfi- cial soil, were veritable additions to the soils store of fertility. Deep ploughing and underdrain- ing deceived in ways not essen tially different. All the time the process of exhaustion has gone on; and if correct comparative analysis of the whole plant food in a given depth, on most of our farms, could be gotten, they would show a very material decrease in the last twenty or thirty years. Up to this time we have been riot ing upon the bounty of nature, and have at length gotten to the point where it becomes necessary to be co. workers with her, in or der to secure q continuance of her favor.
 A few moments ago the opinio was expressed that if every seed of a cotton crop were restored to the soil, the crop would still be, under certain circumstances, ex- haustive. Long observation of the effect of rains convinces me that a very inadequate concep- tion of their spoliations is gener- ally entertained. Ihavc intended for years past to subject this mat ter to the test of careful expert ment, but circumstances have prevented. l recommend such experiments to your readers, as a most valuable vein for investiga- tion. The amount is enormous, as the billions of tons of foreign materials in our swamps and low lands abundantly testify.
 The deterioration from this cause is specially great Tn lands planted to cotton having few sur faco roots, the slightest obstacles are offered to the transporting power of rains, whereas both corn and the small grains pcrmeate, with q close net work of roots, the surface soil, and bind it so firmly as to bar very eflectually such deprcdations. The inclina- tion, or lay of the land and the rows has, of course, much to do with the extent of these spolia- tions. There are, 1 learn, in this state some hill lands, cleared since the war, that arc already absolutely worn out, and present to the eye congeries of red hill ocks and gaping gullies. But even when the inclination of the land aad the rows is very gradual, an extensive observation convinc- cs me that the deterioration from
 
 this cause is considerable. In this connection it will be interest ing to mention fact noticed by Prof Johnston in his Agricultural Chemistry: Stiff clays kept in grass some years are very much amelioratcd-more than the in crease of vegetable matter would explain. Prof. Johnston in dis cussing the phenomenon declares that there is an actual decrease of the proportion of aluminium in the superficial strata. He attrib-