Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-02-09

N-t~~y 4
otherwise disturbing the soil with i'm
plements is concerned. But a soil
never rests in the sense of ceasing to
furnish the elements Of growth to
plants. II no seed are sown, the in
digenous grasses and weeds will spring
up and the soil is taxed for their sup
port. But the real reason why we fol-
low one crop with another so closely is
found in the changed relation which
the soil sustains to system of inten-
siye farming, Under the extensive
system we rely very largely if not ex'
clusively on the natural fertility of the
soil and the slow processes by which
the plant food already contained is
made available to crops. Under the
intensive system we regard the soil
more as mere support to the plants
and receptacle for fertilizers. In each
system the labor performed in prepar>
ing the soil and cultivating the crop is
closely proportioned to the area; and
the production is in proportion to the
total amount of manure used.
AS labor is ordinarily the most ex
pensive element it would appear that
any reasonable system by which this
item is reduced, or its results increased
(the same thing would be the system
to adopt. This is just what is accom-
plished by the intensive system, and
intensive farming involves or at least
induces the practice of a close success
sion of crops. There is no danger of
wearing out the soil if abundant ma
nure is used and the crops planted in
clude an occasional renovating crop.
In garden culture, especially in the
neighborhood of large cities, the inten.
sive system, including the practice of
close succession of crops, is well illus
rated. Quantities of stable manure,
composts and concentrated fertilizers
are applied which would appall an or
binary farmer and almost sink into i'll
signifcance-by comparison the liber-
al applications of the late Mr., Furman,
This gentleman well understood this
fact, and it was his practice, during
each of the five years he followed the
intensive system, to double the appli,
cation of the previous year-frmly be-
lieving that all the appliances and re-
sources at his command or within reach,
for manuring the soil, would fall short
of reaching the extent beyond which it
would not be profitable to venture.
His idea was to make his entire farm a
garden in depth and productiveness Of
soil, and apply to it, as nearly as prac'
ticable, the same system of close sue
cession of crops as is practiced in the
best market gardens. The idea, in this
progressive age, is to get all out of the
soil and put as much back as possible
Increased fertility and capacity fol
production is natural result of judi
cious effort to increase the crop of {
given year. We cannot get out of thu
soil in one crop all the fertilizers applied
for that crop. If we increase thu
: amount, we increase the reslduum il
, the soil, while, at the same time, GU
, profits are increased.
Hence the wisdom and propriety o
manuring for every crop and keepin!
: the elements of plant food constant.
active and changing into more VALUABLE
forms. The saving of labor is one o
the most important considerations ii
any enterprise, especially in all farm
ing operations, and no process make
such saving more manifest than tina
by which we get two or three bales o
cotton instead of one-third of bal
from an acre, or fifty bushels of cor
or hundred bushels of oats instead O
} ten bushels or fifteen bushels respec
lively. The process can be intensifie
by getting two such crops in one yea
from the same acre. A gardener o
reputation is by no means content t
secure a crop of cabbages only from
piece of ground in one year.-SoutherI
!, World.