The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-26
Making the Farm Richer.

The end of competition with the pro-
duction Of cheap, rich land in the great
west is now in sight, says the American
Cultivator. Under the extraordinary
stimulus of cultivation during the past
twenty years, there is very little availa-
BILE wheat land in the northwest that has
not been cropped two or three years, or
until its original fertility has been so far
exhausted that good crop can no longer
be regarded as certain whenever the seed
has been sown. 1t was this certainty of a
crop which stimulated production beyond
all precedent. Men made net profits of
$40 to $l2 per acre on all the wheat they
could put in, paying not only for the land,
but all the expense of growing the CrOD and
leaving "a handsome surplus besides So
long as this could be done it wa s not strange
that cropping was continued until the
soil showed plainly the signs Of exhaus-
tion and that such management could not
longer be successful. Yet. even when the
crop failures came they were usually at
tributed to insect attacks or to the effects
OF drouth or other peculiarities of the
season. At last the fact becomes plain
that exhaustion of early fertility is the
cause, and not until fertility is restored
can the old conditions of successful crop
ping be expected
ditions for booming the western farmer
have failed that increased attention is
now being turned to the best farming re-
glOnS Of the eastern states. Some farmers
here have made money, even during the
boom for cheap western lands, and they
have done it mainly by lesqening the
growing of exhaustive grain crops. which
must be sold in competition with the
west and turning their attention TO other
n NEb irh tsrfn 10,
less severe. AT the same time such farm
ers have been able to gradually increase
the fertility of their land which the
growers of grain exclusively have nos
been able to 90 So long as grain is the
main crop, but little stock can be kept,
and despite mineral manuring soil fertil-
ity must continue to decrease.
AS soon as farmers take to fruit grow
ing or gardening as specialties there is an
immediate demand for Increased fertility
Grain alone eau be grown for many years
If only the mineral elements removed by
the crop are restored in soluble form
But the fertility which comes from sup
plies of available nitrogen is that which
is hardest to get and hardest TO keep. IL
is this which makes it necessary for the
market gardener to spend hundreds of
dollars each year drawing stable manure
and composing it TO give quick growth to
his vegetable crops. For some crops the
gardener can use soluble nitrate with ad-
vantage, but unless he keeps the soil
filled with vegetable matter these nitrates
will be washed away and lost during the
winter season. 1t Is for this reason that
the market gardener is often Obliged to
seed his land with clover and plow under
a crop. After years of heavy manuring
without clover there is doubtless a good
deal of nitrogen washed into the subsOil
where 1t is below the range Of the feeding
roots of other plants than clover in this
way the clover root brings UP plant food
that without it would be lost. 1t also
lightens the suDsoil, enabling the air TO
circulate through it and warm it as the
clover roots decay.
For the ma lority of farmers clover
grown as extensively as possible is much
the cheapest way to increase farm fer
Utility. We do not mean that il is best 10
rely exclusively on clover. Both stable
manUres and mineral fertilizers are nee
essary and should be largely used Gen
orally the best use Of each of these will
be to increase the clover growth If all
the grain crops fortified with phOsphates
had been seeded with clover and tho
clover allowed two years full growth
there would never be any complaint OF
mineral fertilizers eXhausting the land
We have never failed to get a good clover
catch with grain on which phosphate was
applied. The largest clover crop we ever
grew was after phosphated winter grain
top dressed with stable manure, and
it was where the soil before this
experience had always been thin
and poor. To bring up the poor
spots and make them equal 20
the best ought to be the aim Of every
farmer. So long rs grain could be grown
with profit there is little announcement
to try to increase fertility, for the dress
ing Of mineral fertilizers would insure the
crop. But now that fruit growing and
special crops are taking the place Of grain