The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-24
Improving Land.

Improving AdHO
The farmers land is his bank, and the
mora be regards it as such the more likely
will he exert himself to keep it in condi-
ton to return him >od dividends every
YEAR. He should regard every acre of that
land as q bank share which must not be al
lowed to fall below par. As the condition
and management of banking establish
ment are indicated by the market value o
its shares, whether above or bslow the ir par
value, so the intrinsic value of land must
be Judged by its capacity to produces
smaller or larger crops as the years come and
90, making due allowance every year for
elements of plant food artifcially applied
to it.
Instead Of extracting the last cent Of div
idend year after year. it is far better to al
low each acra to accumulate a reasonable
surplus. SO that the crops will grow little
larger instead of gradually growing less
every year. II this idea is not kept promi-
nently in the farmers mind his land is apt
TO become little poorer every year, and
the first thing he knows his bank becomes
insolvent.
Land left untitled we know is gradually
recuperated through the influencs of shade
.sotained through spontaneous growth and
the annual decay of the roots resulting from
that growth, and the undisturbed surface is
not subject to the destructive influence of
washing rains. On the other hand, cult
waited land is liable to deterioration yearly
much beyond the mere elements of fer
tility taken from it by the growing crop.
This is a small matter comparatively, for it
IS a very easy and simple matter to restore
to the soil the valuable elements carried off
i'll a crop-say, of 80 bushels of corn, go
bushels of oats or l, 500 pounds of seed cot
ton. We can approximate very closely the
quantity of nitrogen and several mineral
elements taken from the soil by these crops.
If we allow the waste matter-the stalks
and stems-to go back to the soil, the ele-
ments taken by the grain or lint and cotton
seed can be economically returned to the
soil every year.
But cultivated land is steadily detericr-
ated by washing rains wearing away the
surface soil Gf the land is not perfectly
level or properly protected). and the fire.
quent stirring OF the soil causes a rapid ex-
haustion of the humus that is in it. From
more or less every year, and the wornout
lands Of Middle Georgia stand to-day as
monument to the recklessness of their pre-
vious owners in not regarding the disas-
trous effects Of such influences. The
damage is steadily accumulative, and
where farmer fails to do what he can and
ought to do to avert it as far as possible, the
soil must of necessity become impoverished
sooner or later.
The first step toward improving land is to
protect it from the Injurious effects of
washing rains, aid the second is to begin to
restore its vegetable matter of some kind.
Those who are dependant upon the yearly
cash income for their crops and confine
themselves to the staple crops, are not in
condition financially to make wholesale i'm.
provement of even one or two acres yearly
after the manner # Mr. Drake of South
Carolina, who applied several hundred d 81
lars worth of manure and vegetable matter
to one acre in one season. They are COM
PEELED to go slow and count every dollar ex-
pended and from 50 to S. is the most that
they can afford to risk on their corn, cotton
or grass crops. Unless the soil is abuudantly
suppl ed with humus there is no sense in ap-
plyi any more than this.
The practical farmer can take no satisfac-
ton in big show of crops if there are no
satisfactory clear profits back of it.
We all know of numberless instances
where very large yields of corn, cotton,
oats, potatoes and wheat have been pro-
duced with the application of manure with
out regard TO cost, and in many instances
the value Of the crop did not equal the cos t
of the expenditure to make it. All these
big crops were very interesting to the agri-
cultural world, but could not teach any
very hopeful lesson to the average farmer
who tills the soil for the clear profit he can
get out CT it, There is not one farmer in
fifty that can afford to apply q hundred
loads OF stable manure or ton of cotton seed
meal to an acre OF land.
Vegetable and fruit growers near good
markets can afford to do this generally, but
the backwood farmer growing the staple
crops of the country cannot afford it, If out
Of debt and carrying on his farm operations
on q fair capital, he can afford to risk much
m ore yearly than one VINO is not so sit
uated.
1t is impracticable for the mass of farm
ers to bring up poor land in year or two,
so that it will make large and highly profit
able crops The improvement that he
makes mus be gradual and obtained
chiefly through proper rotation of crops, a
frequent growth Of humus-producing crops.
the result of a proper use of grain crops
and other forage crops. When by saving
all the manure that he can make on the
farm, and buying such mineral matter as
he can afford he must let diligence and pa
tlence do the rest. S. A. G.
I'm. Co,,n+~1z Go,o0Ia