The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-05-07

hard Y they could have met the diff
Guilty by reducing expenditures. They.
quickly adopted all the laborsaving
appliances and to-day in the North a
lad of fourteen years can do more
work In the hay or harvest field than
five of our best negro laborers. Eaelr
machines never go to Arkansas just
when needed, nor have they to attend
political meetings, and an improved
narrower or mower has no tendency
to " lift our chickens for the August
meetings"
Un the contrary, the South had It's
experience and capital swept away, It's
/ labor demoralized-we had to learn
how to manage the 4" Freedman, and
now before these problems are an
swered a greater q arises chow to
restore our lands to fertility" | speak
of the great body of the South. There
is an abundance of land In the South
that a thousand years of cropping will
not render ~valueless, but the great
body of our lands needs to be "recon-
structed." To me, it is clear that
manipulated Fertilizers have been the
cause, indirectly it may be, of the
present condition of the lands in the
South. Their Wholesale use led to a.
waste of ffertalszing nettepaL that is dlsa-
lgtseable to contemplate. i know some
OF the most intelligent planters in the
Gid North State, and ( know that ten
or fifteen years ago these planters
worked SO head of cattle of their own,
tdid not as a rule spread so pounds of
manure per head Of stock. They rel
lied almost altogether on guano. Cots
ton seed was Jet. to go tO |wasteyer sold
! for a song t0~seed mills; whife hay,
corn andbran were brought frpnl the
North in large quantities Now 1t is
fashionable t0 sell your cotton seed.
And right here l want the Alliance
to stop to think. We are passing
resolutions that we cannot stand to,
but We can pass and stand to this one.
Resohed, That we will not lease or
let to. any tenant who will not agree
to leave all the cotton seed on the
plantation.
According to our chemist, they are
worth freight added) 26 cents per
bushel for fertilizers, and more than
that for food, but more on this point
hereafter.
| throw this proposition at the feet
of any Agricultural Station in exist
ance-that an analysis Of soil or plant
at a given time does not and cannot
give the farmer a correct idea of what
the plant or the soil needs to produce
the most bountiful crops possible.
First, peaty, bogy soils composed Of
decayed vegetable matter, on analysis
shows that such soils have from $1,000
to 4 20-l00 per cent of ammonia in
them. That is to say, such soils are
worth thousands of dollars per acre
on account of the nitrogen they con
tain, they are worth hundreds of dol
lars for the phosphate acid they con
tain, and yet these lands will not pro-
duce crops worth 25 per acre in corn
or cotton per year. Near where 1 am
writing is a mass of granite rock com
posed of quartz, ieldspar and mica.
The ieldspar is rich in potash and &C
eording to analysis and present rate
of valuations these rocks are worth
$40 per ton. We have been for
years buying potash when these rocks
are constantly crumbling at u feet.
! If we take the analysis of Jul soils
and the analysis of crops, W. find
we have an over abundance of plant