The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-07-31
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE REASON WHY.
JEFF Welborn Tells the Southern Farmers
Few Truths.

a Few Truths.
In former article closed with this
remark; ct is this going on blindly in
the cultivation of this plant (cotton)
that has made the North so prosperous
and the South so poor. While the feecy
staple is travelling North by rail to en-
rich corporations, our soils are travelling
overhead thAsugh the atmosphere; so,
not only the cities of the North are
building at our expense, but the soils of
the Northern farmer also" Now to
make my meaning plain:
When God created the earth and all
that. lives thereon, every thing was so
evenly balanced and perfectly arranged
that the acting of one element upon an
other perpetuated both. These ele-
ments are brought in contact with each
other by the revolving of the earth
which bring about change of seasons.
Biologists tell US that once the earth
was molten mass that when cooled
formed into a solid rock that by the
agencies of atmospheric element (gasses
or acids) and the mineral alkali ele-
ments IN this rock, the soil was formed
and the basins that hold water tseas,
etc. was made by the snrinkage in cool
ing.
AS farmers we have not time indi-
vidually to search for all the proofs
here, but must trust to our geologist,
chemist and botanist, as we do our law
yers and preachers. If one makes an
error, another for self aggrandizement
will correct it. Then we need only
look after one branch of business. But
we must understand something about
these agencies before we can intelli-
gently carry on our part so that all will
work in unison.
As above, opposite elements coming
together in the soil, counter currents in
the atmosphere, and opposite sex in
life, is the way all nature is perpetuated.
In the earth are the alkalies-potash,
soda, ammonia and lime. In the atmos-
phere we have four opposite elements
nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen.
These are divided up by chemists, but
we only have time to take them in a
lump.
The alkalies or minerals of the soil
will not support plant life, nor will the
four gases Of the atmosphere, but all
must be combined in the soil before a
perfect plant food is formed. If there
is an excess of minerals (alkalies) the
plant growth will be dwarfed, but fruit
ing will be in excess. If the gases or
acids predominant we have the other
extreme. The most essential element
Of the soil is potash; that of the atmos-
phere, nitrogen, and without either of
these no animal or plantcan long exist
But these two elements have as great
affinity for each other as opposite sexes
in the animal creation have for each
other, though widely separated by nat
ure, for we see BY plant growth that
these mineral substances are most album
dant at the north, and atmospheric
gases or acids most abundantly gener-
ated at the South.
Nitric and carbonic acids are the
principal gaseous elements of plant
food. They are generated by the de-
composition of animal and plant re-
mains. Heat and moisture in the at
mosphere are essential to decomposi-
come to the equator, the greater the
quantity of these gases formed. The
freezing and thawing at the north dis
integrates the rocks in the soil; this
gives many times more of the mineral
substance to the soil than further south.
1t would seem that nature has placed
these opposite elements that must come
together long way apart, it is true;
but they come together.
Nature feeds and waters her plants in
the same way. Heat generates watery
vapors the same as nitric and carbonic
acid gases, then the starting point for
both must be near the equator. If heat
generates them, cold must condense
| turn them back to Iiquids). When these
acids and water vapors are formed, OF
course the heat that forms them lifts
| them up into the atmosphere. When
once above the earth they float in the
air and are carried by the winds tc
higher ATTITUDES. During the winter
and spring these gases and watery va
] pors are condensed and come to the
earth in our Southern States by coming
AZ =bOhHebSb WIN OOAO Oh WING
north, and later in the summer further
north, long as our nights are cold
enough for dews.
These acids or gases will come to the
| earth if the soil is shaded by dense
growing plant that does not form Z
/ turf, such as clover, cowpease, burrs
/ blackberry briars, etc., or is covered
with straw, dead grass. leaves, pea
vines, ETC., or the surface soil is made
exceedingly fine and loose. Not onl.
will we catch and retain these gases
but hold all that were previously stored
there. But if the soil is naked
packed, crushed, lying in clods, o
stirred, the sun will not onl,
lift these gases back up into the atmos
phere, but will take more from the sol
each day, as summer heat advances, ant
carry them on further north, until the,
find lodging place sufficiently cool ant
moist to hold them. When the wine
sets in steady from the south and nighg
become too warm for dews, nothing i
condensed, but, on the other hand
where the soil is not protected as above
its evaporation is going on night and