Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-06-05
FARMER AND PLANTER.
AGRICULTURAL SINS.
The Transgression Of Natural Law Will
Surely Bring Retrihutinn

SIN, and will surely be punished. 1t
matters not IL it be committed through
Ignorance or neglect. retribution will
come sooner or later. 1t is true ad-
age that ignorance OF the law excuses
no man." However morally good man
may be, II he goes contrary to Gods
established laws, even by error or heed
lessness, he will suffer the penalty.
Many are the attractions of natural law
IN the average farmers life. He opens
up piece of fertile land, rich in the
accumulated humus of centuries, may
be; no reserves all the heavy timber,
utilizing small portion for fencing
and fuel, but burning much of it on the
ground. This, though an appar-
entity wasteful proceeding, when
we think of the vast amount of good
fuel and timber destroyed by fire, is un-
avoidable in many cases. In order to
get the land in state of cultivation
the heavy timber must be removed,
even If it be done by fire; but the torch
does not always stop with the burning
OF the heavy timber. Much of the
lighter trash that could and should be
plowed under is raked up and burned.
The farmer does not think of the time
when his land will need all the vegeta-
BILE matter he can get uponit. Nor does
the torch always stop with the clearing
up of the land. 1t is frequently called
Into requisition every autumn to- barn
the corn stalks or grass in the fields. I
have seen scores of farmers in our rich
prairie counties windrow and burn their
cornstalks as though they were hate
full nuisance instead of a valuable assist
ant iii cut up with a stalk-cutter,
and plowed under in the falD in
making the next crop; acting both as
mulch and manure. l know
some of our black land farmers
argue that their land is already sup
piled with vegetable matter and does
not need any more. They probably do
not know that just as fertile lands in
some of our Western States have been
greatly depleted by just such treatment
The most fertile soil on earth must ulti-
mately succumb to the starvation system
of charming. Adequate compensation
must be given for all crops removed if
we would get the full return for our
labor. No sane man would attempt to
extort labor from horse day after day
without feeding him. Yet the old pio-
neer style of farming is about as unreal
sonable as working starved horse.
Tho np1r 10 To-, &c,
like DR.. Tanner than the poor horse-it
can stand starvation. Its final exhaus-
ton, however, is only question of time.
Ultimately it will utterly refuse to re-
spond to it's unreasona BILE owners de-
mands, and yield nothing. Even the
valley of the Nile would become ex-
bausted but for annual fertilizing.
Nature does the work for the Egyptians,
though, while we must do it for our.
selves. 1t makes one feel sad at this
season of the year (March) to see some
of our old, worn fields being plowed
preparatory for the coming crop The
soil is compact for want of vegetable
matter. The sin of land starvation has
been going on SO long that, even with
the most favorable seasons, only a very
meager crop can be expected. If these
old lands were sown down to COW peas
and the vines plowed under when be-
ginning to bear, great improvement
would be made. In two years goo(
crop of corn or cotton would be made
and if the pea vines were rein
forced by stable manure, fores
leaves or swamp muck, just a
good or better crops would be mad
as the land ever produced Continuou
cropping does not injure land that is an
nually MANFRED, either by green crop
or Otherwise, and rotation of crop
kept up. The Landreths have one farm
that has been in continuous cultivation
for century, and shows no diminutiol
in yield. Continuous tillage withou
the continuous application of manure
and the destruction by fire of all bouln
and grass, are both serious sins agains
mother Nature, and will always be pun
ished by poor inferior crops. Yet thes
are by no means the only agriculture
sins that are committed by large mum
Der of farmers. A very serious offens
against nature is the neglect of on
dumb animals, but as this article ha
already reached its proper limit, shal
reserve my remarks on this cruel sin fo
my next.-Dick Naylor, in Texas Farr
and Ranch.