Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-07-11
Improving Poor Lands.

correspondents to write about tile
draining, crop rotation, growing large
crops of potatoes. corn and wheat upon
scientific principles, ETC., taking for
granted that the soil is fertile. will
deviate some from this mode, and write
one letter for the benefit of the farmers
who have poor lands lands naturally
poor, OF which have been made SO by
unwise cropping at some time or other.
They are now, perhaps, in pasture, not
being worth moving, and have been SO
for al least one or two decades, scarcely
producing enough to pay taxes all OF
this time. Such lands new are covered
with a variety of grasseA such as will
grow only on poor land, md a good
many weeds; but. however poor, they
have lain SO long Favored by being
such as stock would not eat), having
fallen down to decay each year, that
quite a sod has formed.
The farmer is continually looking for
some way by which such land a be
placed on the road to improvement
without such an amount OF expense
that itwould be Improbable, He under
stands plainly that he could make it
produce big crops by putting large
quantities Of farmyard manure or ~
pc phosphate on it, but the manure is
needed in other places, where it be-
longs and cannot be spared, and the
superphosphate is so costly that follow
ing this mode would not be very sue
cessiul and profitable. Many farmers.
for the sake of doing something, and
because they could do no better, have
followed a system something like this:
The ground would be plowed either in
the Autumn or Spring. as the one doing
it thinks best, for buckwheat. The
next yearit is sowed to oats and seeded.
Some manuring would be done the
second year, but generally not much.
The success OF this plan WI a under
stand. The first year the buckwheat
would generally be q fair stand. and
would pay a little profit, but this profit
would inevitably be at the expense Of
that sod which it had required years to
form, and which was almost the sole
wealth of the land. Buckwheat was
the worst crop that could have been put
on it, it being n that will exhaust the
last atom of the fertilizing element that
the soil contains. The next year the
oats would be a failure, and the grass
seed thrown away, or as the expression
goes, it was a ''poor CATCH" Grass
seed will generally ''catch" Gas they
say if it has something to catch to.
The above management leaves the
land in greatly worse condition than it
was at the start. What must be done
is to get the benefit of that sod viii h it
has taken a long time to form. This is
the starting point, and must not be
taken from the land in any crop. The
land should be put under a course of
tillage, but should be only to get it
down to grow again OF better quality,
and have its fertility thereby increased.
A mode which has been proved to give
beneficial results is the following:
Plow the ground early in the autumn.
say in September, with care, so that the
weeds and grass are all turned under;
re-plow in the spring, and with a good
narrowing sow to oats, and seed.
About 500 pounds of superphosphate,
or ten or twenty loads OF manure should
be used to the acre. This will bring a
crop Of oats that will pay all of the ex-
pense, and there a be no doubt that
the 'catch'' of grass will be good. The
advantage of this is to get the land, as
quickly as possible, we'll seeded down,
no expensive crops being taken off, and
to do it the most good possible in that
short time. To take more than enc
crop off Of such poor land, when one is
attempting to improve it, is simply CO.
ing it at a cost Of everything contained
in that crop, or the same as to take it
directly out of ones pocket, for the soil
of itself does not contain fertility sut1i-
Gent to produce any series of crops. A
single crop, however, may be grown
quite successfully, and if each wear
something Is added to supply the waste
of the crop taken off, crops could be
produced fiom year to year, increasing
in profits as the improving of the soil
increases.
After a piece Of land is once in con-
dition, SO that it will produce a good
crop Of clover, there ought not
to be any trouble about managing it so
that crops could be produced profitably,
and the soil kept in good shape. But
when we propose to cultivate a poor
piece of land, we want to so start that
we shall improve; VIC want to start on
a road to improvement. We must get
it cheaply, and consequently prolitably,
up to the point Of raising good clover.
Ii we pursue the wrong course and ex-
haust a soil which has been improved
by lying ten or twenty years, of what
little fertility it has, it is left in a con-
dition next to worthless. BY taking
advantage of what the soil already con
tains, and by adding a little to ii, and
then getting it into good grass without
attempting to crop it, we make a be-
ginning OF getting on to Improvement,
and make a beginning which any farm
er ought to be capable OF taking advan-
tage OF, and besides continually increas-
ing the fertility Of his soil, he can grow
crops with proiit.-Country Gentleman.
Black Pigs.
ga good horse nav be of anv colo,.