The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-15
Stopping the GuIlias.

1t is not to he expected that mere tenant
OF land will have the same regard for its
welfare that the OWNER of it does The
former feels that his tenure is uncertain,
and his chief concern is to get all he can out
OF the land without much, if any, regard TO
It's future condition. To get one golden egg
the ordinary tenant of land is quite willing
to sacrifice the traditional goose. He is not
apt TO spead any time in ditcbing it, in using
any great precautionf for securing horizontal
rows. lie has little concern FOR mitigating
the baFstul influence of pernicious wee Is,
nor rs he specially mindful as to blowing the
land when it is too wet, except as it may
prove injurious to his growing crops. And
SO H. has cJme to pass in tie south, as it has
III avery other country when the tenant
sys lem was carried on without the over
sig Mt of the owners, that the lands have be-
co me so quilted and impoverished it is i'm
pr s'ible to grow profitable crops upon them.
Much Of it would not be worth the cost of
reclamation now under present values, ard
about all that can be done with it is to turn
1t over to such growth of sedge, pine sap
hng5 or the scant growth Of Lespedeza that
may take a hold upon it. Nature abhors
| vacuum no more perhaps than she does
soil denuded Of all vegetation, and she has
provided plants for certain conditions that
ind their congenial soil In one that is pow
erty stricken. These, however, with their
scant growth and lnnutritious q1ality are
of no practical value of any consequence.
except that they may gradually aid in the
restoration OF the soil by suppl wing from year
to year small quantities OF vegetable mat
ter.
| The owner, of course, may starve to
death while this slow process is going on if
he had &c wait for the restoration Of this
soil to fertile condition. Where land is as
| plentiful as it is with US, be is under no
necessity of waiting for this slow restora-
ton. He simply turns it out into commons
and continues to cultivate his best land-un-
til 1t wears out, too; and if he has no woods
land to take in he sells out and moves
away.
Under the miserable tenant system that
| prevails and has prevailed 80 long in the
south, is it to be wondered at that large
proportion of our lands is SO quilted and
| impoverished that it is impossible to grow
profitable crops upon it?
OF course. the rolling lands Of the hill
| country have more rapidly deterioated
than the level lands farther south, but even
Of the latter many thousands of acres have
had all their fertility washed out of them
and no longer pay for their culture, or at
any rate pay but scanty living either to
| owner or tenant
Neglect in taking the proper precautions
to prevent the outlying Of land has not been
by any means confined to tenants. Many
landowners. both large and small, who
farm their own lands, have given little care
to proven lug the starting of gullies, or
| stopping them after they had once started.
There are good man who have werked
up to the necessity OF doing something to
prevent the washing away of their soils.
| The more intelligent and energetic farmers
| IN the various sections of the south have
done good deal In the past five or six
| years in The way of terracing such lands as
needed protection, and have recognized the
value Of deyoting very rolling land to per-
manent grass, thus obviating the need of
| blowing such soils, except at rare intervals,
when IL may bscome necessary to reseed the
soil, but the large majority have doEe little
or nothi e in this direction. There is only
one rational and economical plan to pursue
with very rolling lands that are being
washed into gullies, and that is to
I to devote it to permanent grass, either for
pasturage or hay, two things that a farmer
needs as much as anything else. Bermuda
grass is the grass for the purpose.
! Very rolling lands, If promptly terraced
as soon as brought under cultivation and
before guIlieS have started, need never show
gully that amounts to much. AT that
stage the expense of terracing is trifing
| compared to what 1T will be after gullies
have been allowed 30 form.
AS pasture and hay are Just as valuable
crops as corn or oats, there is no reason why
all the hillides of Georgia farms should not
be devoted to permanent grass and III hav-
ing it so secure the protection of the soil in
the most economical way possible.
SAML AUSTIN.