The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-06-11
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE REASON WHY.
JEFF Welborn Tells the Southern Farmer
q Few Truths.

and the South so poor. While the mccoy
staple is travelling North by rail to en- ;
rich corporations, our soils are traVellhs
overhead through the atmosphere; So
not ONLY the cities of the North are {
building at our expense, but the SOILS Oh
the Northern farmer also" NO" 10
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 pcrpetuated both. These ele-
ments are brought in contact with each
other by the revolving OF the eartn
which bring about change OF seasons.
Biologists tell US that once the earth
was a molten mass that when cooled
formed into a solid rock that by the
agencies of atmospheric element tgasses
or acids} and the mineral alkall ele-
ments in this rock, the soil was formed
and the basins that hold water (seas
etc, J was made by the snrinkage In COOL
ing.
AS farmers we have not time lndl-
yidually to search for all the proofs
here, but must trust to our geologlst,
chemist and botanst, as we do our law
yers and preachers. If one makes an
error, another for self ggrandizement
will correct it. Then we need only
look after one branch of business. But
we must understand something about
these agencies before we can lntelll-
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 clements
nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen.
These are divided up by chemists, but
we ONLY have time to take them In
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
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 plant can 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 abun'
dant at the north, and atmospheric
eases 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 md moisture in the at
mosphere are essential to decomposi
ton; then the farther south, till We
come to the equator, the greater thu
quantity of these gases formed. Ih'
freezing and tbawing at the north dis
integrates the rocks in the soil; thi
gives many times more of the minera
substance to the soil than further south
1t would seem that nature has place.
these opposite elements that mustcom
together a long way apart, it is true
but they come together.
Nature feeds and waters her plants i
t0., &r1r
yapors the same as nitric and carboni
acid gases, then the starting point fc
both must be near the equator. If hca
generates them, cold must condens
(turn them back to liquids) When thes
acids and water vapors are formed, {
course the heat that forms them lift
taem up into the atmosphere. Whe
once above the earth they float in til
air and are carried by the winds
higher latitudes. During the winte
and spring these gases and watery vi
pors are condensed and come to til
earth in our Southern States by comm
in contact with cold currents of win
north, and later in the summer turtle
north. long as our nights are CO
enough for dews
These acids or gases will come to IL
earth if the soil is shaded by a dem
growing plant that does not form
turf, such as clover, cowpease, burr
blackberry briars, ETC., or is covert
with straw, dead grass, leaves, pc
vines, etc, or the surface soil is mat
exceedingly fine and loose. Not on
will we catch and retain these case
but hold all that were previously stor
there. But if the soil is make
packed crushed, lying in clods,
stirred, the sun will not on
lift these gases back up into the atmc
phere, but will take more from the 81
each day, as summer heat advances, a
carry them on further north, until tn
find lodging place sufficiently cool a
moist to hold them. When the wi
sets in steady from the south and nigl
become too warm for dews, nothing
condensed, but, on the other hal
where the soil is not protected as abo,
it's evaporation is going on night a
day.
Not only are we losing in dollars a
cents, and preparing the way for ;
other years clods, hard-pulliw a
naughty words, but soon will feel
ague galloping up and down our ba
bone, and the malarial fever setting
brain on fire, caused by these poisont
gases. While the South, in its natr
state is richer than the North, it tai
much moro care to hold the soil, beca1