The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1890-08-09
FARMER AND PLANTER,
THE REASON WHY.
Jer Welborn Tells the Southern Farmer
a Few Truths.


remark: ut 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 Eeecy
staple is travelling North by rail 10 en-
rich corporations, our soils are travelling
overhead Though 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 solid rock that by the
agencies of atmospheric element (gasscs
or acids) and the mineral alkali ele-
ments ia this rock, the soil was formed
and the basins that hold water (seas,
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 clements
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
Tour 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 |
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- |
ton; then the farther sonth, till we
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
yapors 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 condensc {
turn them back to liquids). 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 to
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
in contact with cold currents of wind /
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 II the soil is shaded by a dense
growing plant that does not form a
turf, such as clover, cowpease, burrs,
briars, ETC., or is covered
With straw. dead grass, leaves, pea
zines, etc, or the surface soil is made
fine and loose. Not only
will we catch and retain these gases,
but hold all that were previously stored
here. But If the soil is naked.
lacked, crushed. lying in clods, or
TIRED, the sun will not only
lift these gases back up into the atmos-
here, but will take more from the soil +
'ach day, as summer heat advances, and
AIRY them on further north, until they
ind lodging place sufficiently cool and
moist to hold them. When the wind
cts in steady from the south and nighs
ecome too warm for dews, nothing is