The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1881-08-24

we always gets market Tor our
at good figures, like they get In the pine
land regions of New Jersey already ailu-
ded to, but such a thing isnot to be ex-
pected throughout the Southern pine
country at present. So desirable astate
of affairs will probably come in time, es.
pecially along our great railroad lines, but
that is not the point engaging our atten-
ton ut present. The problem which peo-
| pie are now most DESTROYS of having SOL
we'd Is.
HOW TO KEEP Up PINE LANDs7
80 that they shall not only be s~elf-sustain-
ing within themselves, but shall also nf-
ford q margin of profit sufficient to give
a living to their VINE and bis family. In
our effort to solve this problem we will
=, suppose that an industrious man has just
immigrated to our pine region and pos
sessed himself of say forty aGres Of land.
The same time we will further suppose
that his possession has upon it the usual
little pine country improvement, con-
sisting Of a few acres Of cleared land with
the necessary cabins, &c.
Our NEW comer'' is what could be con-
sistently termed An extremely poor man.
He owns a horse, which is his only live
stock, also q cart. a plough and probably
some other simple implements Of the
husbandman. With these he is aiming
to make a living for his family off his few
non-productive acres of pine land. His
neighbors tell him 1t Is all folly unless he
has money to expend in the purchase OF
fertilizers, which he has not. BY close
his food supplies through the season, but
not a dollar the expenditure of which
could be risked for any other purpose.
Looking around among his neighbors to
see how they manage to live he notices
the excellent results coming from the ap-
plication OF farm yard manure, or ra her,
from "cowpenning g." If he had cattle he
would be TALL set up" but he has not,
neither has he the means of procuring
them. But why are cattle 80 useful as
fertilizing agents? What particular ole
ments do cattle Of themselves contribute
to the soil? They contribute nothing.
They are simply the collectors Of fertiliz-
ing elements, nothing more. And where
do they collect, and what? In the woods.
every place where vegetation Is seen to
grow, and they collect a certain character
of plants, such rs our newcomer see,
growing all over the uncleared portion OF
his forty acres. Years ago a larger por.,
ton of The pines had been cut away and
converted into lumber for some foreign!
market, and in their place a thick growth
Of young oaks and hickories and persim-
mons had sprung up. He saw bis neigh
bors' cattle feeding upon the young and
tender leafy sprouts of these n 1t sug'
gestee al idea---they were simply max
ing a collection for the neighbors' truck
patches. Was it not possible for a man to
collect rs we'll Is a GOVT? Why not!
Upon this thought lie acted. With his
cart and horse be repaired to the WOODS
and, aided by a pair of pruning shears, ne
had soon filled his cart with leafy and sue
culent sprouts of the oak, the hickory
and other deciduous growths. 1t was not
much Of O job to collect q CARLOAD ana 10
throw it upon a pile in q corner OF ms
field. He kept at his work and the pie
rapidly grew to immense proportions, u
being green and %succulent the materials
soon heated and underwent a thorough
decomposition, giving him a large supply
of as good "farm yard manure 80 lar az
related to properties, az was ever spread
upon any piece Of poor pine land. In
truth it was really a better manure than
that gathered by the cattle, owing to the
fact that all its elements wore there, none
having gone to supply that want III the
animal economy which had prompted the
COW in making her collection.
The problem was solved. Our new
comer'' found that he was able to make
his own farm yard manure independent
of the stock power usually employed, and
having q will to work he made it. Attic
proper time he spread it i've his land,
ploughed 1t in and planted his crops. in
planning his Irish potatoes he opened O
deep furrow and filled IL with freshly cut
green and succulent branches from his
oak woods. Upon these lie dropped bis
potatoes, after which he threw q ridge
over them in the usual way. When the
time for putting ont his sweet potatoes
had arrived he had his ridges all ready,
filed with green matter ON tbes same plan
His neighbors were dazed at the result.
large crops Of both Irish and sweet pota'
toes on poor lands, withort either COW
penning OF commercial fertilizers, was
something so unreasonable that they could
scarcely credit their own sense Of sight.
And 50 it went from year to year. On
the land of Jour "dewcomer" was a sandy
| ridge covered with saw palmettoes. BY
some means be learned this was among
the most rich of our potash plants, 80 he
hauled it to his grounds by the ton. II
did not rot 50 quickly az did his oak and
his hickory, Out having things now in
good condition. be could afford to wait on
its slow motions. There was no giving
out Of supplies. Trimming the branches
from his tree growths only made them
limb out more thickly and present a lar.
ger suface to work upon. The advan'
tages which they presented, due to the
trimming, were astonishing they almost
seemed to realize that they were yielding
a valuable crop, and that it was no longer
appointed that they should convert them"
selves into trees.
There was no swamp on d lands o.
our newcomer had this been otherwise
he might have used 1t to advantage by
mixing swamp muck into his compost,
and by gathering swamp growths for hin
heap, including the long moss, all OF
| which gro Tths would have been found
decidedly rich in fertilizing elements:
He might have collected pine straw had
he needed it Tor hulnus, but the cl,arac-
ter of his fertilizers left no such necessity
IN existence 4; and he might have collect
| ed pine cones had they been convenient,
for they contain q larger per cent. OF pot
ash than any other Southern growth
known. perhaps.
The foregoing may read like an imagi-
nary sketch, but no matter what 1t reads
like, the thing will work out Just so every
time. 1t solves the problem.