The Russellville Democrat., 1875-12-09
Soils and their iMpoverisl,-
 Mlcnt.

7 server that, whereas once any aver age upland acre in the southern states yielded, with little labor, a bale of cotton, i. is now consider ed very fair cropping to get half that much, though twice the labor ie expended.
 One of the causes of the incress- ed labor is the closeness or hard ness of the soil. A single beating rain will now very often cause the soil of n newly ploughed field to run together and become as hard as if not ploughcd in twelve months. This, in its turn, offers serious impcdiments to the ex tension of the rootlets, and as a consequence, greatly retaris the growth of the young plant. A prime result of this lagging growth is large increase of hoe or hand work, for had the soil furnished the conditions favorable to prompt and vigorous growth, the young plant would have out stripped the weeds and grass, or mounted 80 high as to offer great CT facilities for their destruction by plough, The retardation of the growth of the plant gives Tn ,reased potency to all it's enc mies-lice, etc.,-and so delays the production of fruit that the boil or army worm sweep away the greater portion of the crop.
 It is, therefore, interesting to consider the causes which have produced n condition of soil so unfarorablc to the development of the young plant. The loss of vegetable matter first suggests itself. There can not be a doubt that if to any of our stiff, hard fields a liberal amount of vegeta- blc mold were added, the result ing crop would be considerably augmented, even if the added mold contributes nothing to the sustenance of the plants; for if it did not nourish the growing plants, it would, besides favOring the progress of the rootlets in search of food, insure more equable supply of water, and ar, and the substances with which they arc frcightcd.
 Our latitude has, doubtless, something to do with speedy dcarth of vegetable matter, for the long hot weather determines q prompt conversion of vegetable matter into carbonic acid gas, etc; while farther north the same ma terial would remain on, or ill the soil a much longer time without decomposing. But the loss of the vegetable matter is not the sole cause of the propensity to bake. The withdrawal of the mineral ingredients must be cred ited with some of it, for the solu- blc mineral plant food in a soil exercises also a strong influence in keeping it light and porous.
 The question then arises: To what causes are due the general exhaustion of our lands? An easy answer is: Cropping without manuring. This is only partially correct, for though it is the truth 1t is not the whole truth. It is the truth, because all plants cx- haust the soil on which they grow. Clover especially, which is by many regarded as a land rcnovat- or, has been shown by eminent chemists to be, almost beyond any other plant, a soil impover- isher, inasmuch as single crop of Tt contains the ingredients for two or three crops of small grain.
 The analysis of the cotton fibre would seem to establish the fact that land planted continuously to cotton ought to grow better year by year, for the very small amount of nitrogen and allied minerals, which enter into the composition of wool are unquestionably much less than that which is appropri nted by the plant from the air or which passes over yearly from the condition of inappropriate to ap- propriablc plant food. Why then should lands planted to cotton dc teriorate! Because, while the fibre crop docs not exhaust, even in A sliUht deprec. the seed crop