Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-01-21
Preserve the FERTILITY Of the Soil.

A MAN who deposits all his capital in
savings bank, and then adopts the policy
of drawing the interest and portion Of
the principal annually in order TO meet
current expenses, would certainly be con-
sidered on the road to hopeless bank
ruptcy. But this Is an exact counterpart
of the policy pursued by nine-tcnths of
the farmers who commence operations
upon our most fertile virgin soils. The
effect is seen in all our older States, and
in many of the new, and the cry comes
from thousands of'owners of worn.out
farms d" What shall we do to restore
the fertility of our land?" When we,
or our fathers, settled here the soil gave
abundant returns for the labor bestowed
in cultiyating the various kinds OF crops,
but all this is changed, and while there
is still seed time" the harvest comes
not H-"HI H.a III. Hf
There is not day in the year in which
we could not fiiid men who will tecotnt
their troubles in strains similar to the
above, and it is evident that they have
been drawing upon the principal as well
as interest of their bank stock 1t is true
that men are constantly taking up those
old charters of once sound banks, and, by
putting in new capitol in the form of good
ItlNlllLNlb, DldCC lutIil dEulu
upon paying basis, and occasionally to
make few declare large dividends upon
the investment. ....
No system of husbandry can ever sue
Ceed which does not recognize the fertil-
ity of the soil as its basis or capital, and
the crops taken from the land as the IN
terest thereon. Now in proportion MS the
farmer permits his land to deteriorate he
diminishes Ii capital and lessons his an
nual dividends. But this gradual lessen
ing of ones income might be borne with
better grace if the labor necessary for its
production decreases In the same ratio
this, however, is not the case, for it costs
just as much to plow and prepare an acre
of land which will yield only ten bushels
of corn as one that gives fifty or n hun
dred. This same principle pertades the
entire routine of agricultural operations
hence it is very easy TO sec how farmer
may labor necessarily and obtain only
small returns. 500 ~
Whenever farmer finds his crops
growing gradually less per acre he may
at once conclude that his capital stock Is
being impaired, and measures should be
Immediately taken to restore its original
strength. How to do this is question
depending upon local circumstances and
surroundings. Sometimes the swamps
may be drawn upon for their rich depOs-
its of peat, which can be protitably used
as direct application to the land or COM
posted with barnyafd manure or with
lime, ashes and waste from some manu-
factory. Gypsum beds and mari depos-
its are made available in such cases, but
generally the best source for obtaining
fertilizers is in the farmers own stock.
yards or in turning under green crops.
Raising root crops to feed to stock and
keeping sheep is the system most gener-
ally pursued in old and long settled coun-
tries, not only to restore fertility to worn
| out soils but to improve that which has
remained fertile. Our Western farmers,
as well as those of the elder States, should
heed this warning, for inexhaustible soils
have never yet been found, although their
discovery is frequently announced.
1t is much easier to keep land rich than
to make it so after it has once become
poor, besides the well-known fact that
the older a country grows and the more
thickly- settled it becomes the more val
liable are the products of the soil, and
this should be in itself sufficient in.
centive for keeping up its fertility to the
highest possible standard. Probably about
OuC III CNCII lcn VI
has fully understood the value of unim-
paired fertility of the soil and pursued a
system of cultivation corresponding there.
with, and it is only just to say that they
are not anxious to sell out and go West OF
elsewhere. A man who can rely--year in
and year out-upon two tons of hay per
| acre, and can sell it for fifty or sixty dol
lars, or upon seventy-five bushels of corn,
and get one dollar per bushel for the same,
is far from being eXtravagant at valuing
his land at 5000 or $500 per acre, while
he also takes into consideration the fact
that the price is more likely to go up than
down in the future.
Circumstances identical with those
which have enhanced the value of the
best farming lands in the Eastern States
are affecting those of the Western, and
their owners should guard against the
fatal error of permitting decrease of fer.
tility while endeavoring to make the mos
of high prices and ready market. There
are farms in the vicinity of our older cite,
which readily command $500 to 81, ,00t
per acre for cultivation only, while there
are others in the same neighborhood no
worth fifty, the difference being mainly
in the fertility of the soil. The owners o
the one have drawn upon the fertility o.
the soil until it is exhausted, while tn,
others have been adding to it for years
and the results of. the two systems ar,
shown in present values.-N. Y. Sun.