The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-09
Wornout Land.

There is really no such thing as worn
out land, in the same sense that a wagon,
a harness or machine is said to be worn
out. says the Tennessee Farmer. When
an article is actually worn out that is the
end of it. 1t is worthless. The tire of
wagon may be so out of fix that the wagon
could not be used, but the other parts be-
ing sound, put on new tire and the
wagon will go as well as ever. So when
land has been constantly cropped with no
fertilizers returned, less and less is re-
ceived every year until it is called worn
out land. Out of a number of elements
two or three may be deficient, and when
these are supplied you have as good crops
as ever. In Michigan, Wisconsin and other
western states, great number of farmers
that have been raising wheat year after
year upon the same land find IL producing
less and less until they look upon the
soil as nearly worn out. From forty
bushels to the acre it has gone down to
thirty, twenty-five, fifteen, ten and so on
until they can get no more than six or
eight bushels Some one has said that the
western farmers have been selling their
land by the bushel. So we have farms here
in Vermont that once kept a dairy of
thirty to forty cows, where now eight or
ten can hardly be kept In some in
stances the land is left to grow weeds
and bushes, and farms are abandoned.
They call the land worn out, but it is
not so. The land is just as fertile as it
ever was. 1t will bear just as good crops
as it ever did. Its present condition sim
ply shows that scrub farming has had it's
day.
Land cultivated in an intelligent way
will never wear out or appear to wear out
In Italy you may find farms yielding good
returns that have borne abundant crops
ever since a period long before the reign
of Caesar. So in Germany, England and
in China you may find land that has been
cultivated for thousands of years, bear
ing just as good crops now as 1t ever did.
We may learn some things from the Chi
nese.
What are the farmers going to do then
with the land that seems to be worn out Z?
They should bear in mind all the time
that the land is just as rich" as it ever
was Out of perhaps twenty elements,
only one or two may be supplied. We all
know that a plenty of good barn yard
manure viii soon renovate a piece of land.
Commercial fertilizers may or may not
be just the thing, but they cost money.
Sewing a quick growing crop like rye or
buckwheat and blowing it under is
method that has been used with good eff
feet. Two crops can be plowed in in one
year Nearly all the farmers in Vermont
throw their manure outside, where it is
bleached by the sun and washed by the
rains. Now it has been proved that by
putting a cellar under the stable with a
cemented bottom, so as to save all the
manure, both liquid and solid, the pro-
duce of the farm would be doubled in six
or seven years. Another very effective
way is to have a movable fence so that
an acre of land may be enclosed and the
cattle turned in every night for two or
three months. 1t will prove clean place
for the cows, instead of the filthy barn
yard, and all the manure will be saved
where it is needed Two or three differ
ent pieces may be fortified in this way
during the summer. A SOW and pig or two
or three shoats may be yarded upon an
almost worthless piece of land and the
brakes and briers will be rooted up and
the land receive fine top dressing, while
the hogs will make much better pork than
can be had when they are kept in close
pens, wallowing in mud and filth. These
deserted farms in Vermont will be found
very valuable when once attention is
turned to them, and methods of careful
tillage are applied in that direction. New
land in the west is nearly all taken up, so
that it will be necessary for farmers to
turn their attention to the hills and val
legs of New England and make them
blossom like the rose and bear crops more
abundant than they ever did in days
gone nv