The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-13
What the Season Has Taught.

There are lessons to be learned by the
farmer from each years experiences,
says the Farm and Fireside Some may
be new; others may be old ones empha-
sized. The better we learn them the
better enabled we are to increase our in
comes in future years. In this drouthy
season of 1898, am chiefly impressed with
the necessity Of controlling and COnServ-
ing the moisture in our soils. The remark
is often made that the seasons are chang
ing, tending more and more to extremes
in the amount of rainfall. UnfavOrable
seasons are credited with all our failures
to get good yields, while | think that the
records will show that there has been lit
tie change on an average, granting, Of
course, that the severity of this years
drouth is extraordinary, although not I'M
paralleled in the past.
The ordinary drouths of summer seem
more severe than formerly. and do far
more damage in checking vegetable
growth, but this is due less to any in
creased tendency toward drouth than to
change in soils. Constant tillage has
tended to rob the soil of vegeta BILE matter
and to compact it. The change in me-
chanical condition and the reduction of
fertility have rendered plants an easier
prey to adverse forces.
Thorough preparation of the seed-bed is
one safeguard against drOuth. A we'll
rotted sod, thoroughly fined and firmed,
affords the best chance for a crop in
dry season. Formerly there was less
blowing in proportion TO the acreage of
farm than Is now usually the case, and
when q titled crop was planned.
the field was sod that
many years grOwths had filled
with plant-rOots and decayed vegetable
mat er. ii = were fertility and fine me-
cham, al condition at the same time. The
decayed roots left passages both for
natural drainage and the free passage of
air Drouths came and went, and crops
were less checked by them thannow, and
therefore the average season was admit
teddy good rather than unfavorable, as it
is now popularity supposed to be.
An abundance of plant food in the soil
usually carries crop through some ad-
verse conditions although it is possible
to ruin u crop by heavy manurIng in a
dry season. The plant food must be in
the right form, ana aid by affecting the
mechanical condition Of the soil favora-
bly,. l am ready TO affirm that more
fields fail to produce good crop because
the soil is untitled mechanically, than be
cause of lack of store Of fertility. While
giving due attention to the maintenance of
fertility, we must also pay greater atten-
ton to the control Of the moisture in the
soil, as without moisture in the soil plant
life is an impossibilty
In seeking 10 control the moisture in
the soil, after starting right by having
the soil supplied with humus and per
fectly cOmmiuuted by a mass of tibrOus
roots, the mulch is the chief agent. The
value of the mulch is imperfectly under
stood by many people. Some suppose that
a mulch means only covering of the
earth with heavy body Of straw or
leaves. and dismiss the idea with the
remark that such ways are inapplicablc
to practical farming While believing
that such mulching should have larger
place in farm methods, yet the ordinary
mulch is one within the reach of every
farmer, no matter how extensive his
operations
The earth mulch-a blanket of fine soil
is the agent, whose Importance is i'm
pressed upon us by this drouthy season.
What matters it whether we use straw,
or leaves, or earth, just so long as we
shade the soil that contains the plant
roots If one will go into the middle of
the street in the heat Of an August sun,
and scrape away the inch or two OF fine
dust. he will find moisture on the surface
of the compact soil below. The dust is
mulch that checks evaporation, and
shades the soil. In the field we need the
same protection of the soil from drying
winds and the sun s rays, and this is az
forded by frequent and perfect surface
cultivation.
Had l the pencil of craftsman l would