The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1888-02-16
Asour SANDY so,l.

A find sand VIII, Il leveledcby the
granger. stand drought remark ably
we'll; not by resisting evaporation (for
this goes on fasN, but by rapid capil.
larry attraction, bringing up moisture
from below. Sand seems to have .
special power for collecting nitrogen.
In q RAINY season my sandy plains
give me corn-stalks OF . size out Of all
proportion to their apparent fertility.
No rain IL wasted on sand, none runs
away, a. on other soils, but all Of It
percolates through and the nitrogen
Is strained out for the benefit Of the
crop In rainy season the corn on
my plains is taller and the ears are
heavier than Oh the best bottom lands
Of the Muskingum.
White or yellow sand absorbs heat
slowly, but 1t also parts slowly.
Hence It needs long summing. and the
enriching mellowlng action Of the
rsins. before planting is done.
Sand needs humus, It needs decay
ing vegetable matter. to give It life
and action by the yeasting effect Of the
carbonic acid. Hence the special value
Of green manuring for this class Of
soils. In light porous sand the car
bonic acid escaping from green ma
nure, consequent upon the rapid oxy-
genation of the material, Is liable to
escape into the atmosphere in the form
Of gas. Hence the necessity, in light
sand. Of turning vegetable matter
under to some depth. But dry straw
manure. II plowed down, will make
trouble in a drought by drying out the
ground. 1t is better If applied on the
surface in the form of mulching. This
brings the line Of constant moisture
near the surface and holds 1t there.
One very dry summer, when the
white clover on very sandy plains be-
came brown and powdery in the heat,
the cattle and sheep nosed aside the
manure, which had been scattered in
one place, to browse green herbage
which they could not find elsewhere.
All manure on sand does its best
work II placed at or near the surface.
It's action is downward by teaching,
rather than upward by evaporation.
Even the green manure. which was
turned down to some depth, to await
the fermenting process, or oxygena-
ton. should be turned up near the
surface again before planting Most
sands carry more nitrogen and car
bon than would be apparent to the
casual observer. This is espe cially
true of the sands which are every
where in the South. The abunda ant
semi-tropical rains the warmth Of the
sun and the humid atmosphere pro.
duce q wonderful growth Of weeds
and grass in summer. These supply
the two elements named, but there is
q lack iof potash, phosphorus and
lime, at least in an available form.
They must be soil, If already there,
by the solvent action of car bonic acid
arising from the ferment of green
manures.
The Southern native farmers plow
shallow mere skimming-because.
they say. the bottom is dead and cold.
From their point Of view. or of action,
they are right But the Northern
colonist turns green matter deep down;
this warns and vitalizes the soil by
the process Of oxygenation or slow
combustion. Then he turns it to the
surface again, bringing up the miner.
ais which the vegetable acids have dis
solved. and the glowing tropical sun
completes the ripening or the .sweet.
ening." But mulch is grateful to the
land and the crop throu gh the ardent
heat Of summer.
On my sandy plains in Ohio. in their
virgin condition, wheat would yield
only eight bushels per acre. There
was only an inch or two Of soil
Nature, in her wasteful processes, had
accumulated only SO little, because the
forest leaves. in slow combustion, had
vanished In. air.
Then man interviewed. He busbanded
the resources of the land. Ny grand
father began as the Southern farmers
do to-day blowing only two or three
inches deep But he went deeper year
by year. He carried the soil down
with him as he went. The stubble and
the grass which he plowed under were
saved. not wasted as nature had done
by leaving them to slow combustion
on the top In forty years soil was
made eight inches deep To-day those
plains will yield fifteen or twenty
bushels to the acre; in good year
twenty-five.
This was clear gain. because these
plains 1are far from the farm head
quarters and receive nothing but what
they create themselves. Hogs were
fed there, but they ate the corn that
grew on the plains only. These sands
enriched themselves Nature. In her
wasteful way, created an inch or two
OF soil in centuries; man saved his
material and made eight inches in
lifetime. Stephen Powers. IN Country
Gentlensaa.