The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1890-07-26
FARMER AND PLANTER.
AGRICULTURAL SINS.

Inc IransErcssi0n of Natural Law viii
surely Bring Retributiou.
ANY transgression Of natural law is a
I'm, and will surely be punished. 1t
matters not IL it be committed through
Ignorance or neglect retribution will
come sooner or later. 1t is a true adj
age that ignorance of the law excuses
no man" However morally good man
may be, If he goes contrary to Gods
established laws, even by error or heed
iessness, he will suffer the penalty.
Many are the infractions 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
Tue. and timber desire yed by FIRE. il I'M
avoldable in many cases. In order to
get the land in . state OF cultivation
the heavy timber must be removed,
even IL 1t 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
piowed 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 burn
the corn stalks or grass in the fields.
have seen scores of farmers in our rich
prairie counties windrow and burn their
cornstalks as though they were hate
ful nuisance instead of valuable assist
ant (if cut up with o stalk-cutter,
and plowed under in the fall) in
making the next crop; acting both as
mulch and . manure. 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-
matelysuccumb to the starvation system
Of ofarming. Adequate compensation
must be given for all crops removed II
We would got the full return for our
labor. No sane man would attempt to
extort labor from horse day after day
without feeding him. Yet tho old MO
neer style OF farming is about as unreal
sonable As working . starved horse.
The only difference is, the land is more
like DR.. Tanner than the poor horse-it
can stand starvation. Its final exhaus-
tion. however, is only question Of time.
Ultimately it will utterly refuse to re-
spond to its unreasona BILE owners de-
mands, and yield nothing. Even the
valley Of the Nile would become ex-
hausted but for annual fertilizinq.
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 80 long that, even with
the most favorable seasons, only q 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 q good
and q the nea yines wara ra;n'
m8nUT6. f0r4S6