St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-06-30
FARMER AND PLANTER.
FERTILIZATION,
"General Principles" Of Fertilisatioo, -
How to Increase the ..AYcraRe.~

/ I0Vs
| "GenerAl Principles" OF EertfllsAtlo0, q
How to Increase the "Avcfa6e."
The great reproach to agriculture Is the beg
carly average yield per acre. ~ reported
| IN the census returns. compared with that har
| vested by our best farmers. Thousands Of
farmers harvest from six to ten bushels oi
wheat. twelve to sixteen OF corn. twenty I've
10 thirty OF oats, one hundred and eighty e
| two hundred pounds OF lint cotton per acre
| while others. their neighbors make twenty Il
thlrty-nve bushels OF wheat, fifty to seventy
hve bushels OF corn, eighty to one hundred
bushels OF oats, and Ave to seven hundred
| pounds OF cotton per acre 1t IL strange that q
many-in fact. majority Of farmers-will con
tent themselvce with results that are reproach
| to agriculture md the country. These are no,
the results Of laziness or dissipation, except In
rare cases, but Of bad management. attempting
% 90 more ehnn can be done we'll. and conoe
Quent faulty preparation OF the soil. and poor
fculfivaaou; lack OF care in the selection oil
varieties and seed. and often OF ignorance oil
| the best methods OF cultivation. Last June
the writer saw turning plows choking every
Two or three rods with corn roots, and cotton
laid by with the same implement in July. The
| most rational way to account for the great dis
parity Of yields is the great number Of farmers
who do not read agricultural papers. attend
| farmers institutes, Eor make any efforts "a
keep up with the improvements Of the day
Texas Farm and Ranch. December l6. 1893
We have no fears of giving too much
of q good thing when we quote the
above article entire; in its entirety it
isr unfortunately too true. The 'av-
1age" yields per acre are so small as
- he sa6t of all proportion with
the natural fertility of the soil;
ana as shove stated the beggarly
terage yields are a reproach to agri-
culture But how about that large
army who fall below the average-the
minimum farmer? The writer of above
enumcrates some of the causes which
operate to bring about these minimum
crops, viz: First, in rare cases, laziness
or dissipation. Second, bad manage
ment. Third, attempting to do mere
than can be done we'll this is, in our
opinion, and throughout the entire
south, if not the whole of Uncle Sans
vast domain, the main and leading
causel. and consequently, fourth, faul-
ty preparation of the soil, and fifth.
poor cultivation: sixth. lack of care in
the, selection of varieties. and seventh,
Fseed; eighth. land often of ignorance
OF the best methods of cultivation. !"
That each and all of the above are
true causes, we are satisfied. The
remedy in. each case is so obvious, and
so. often dwelt upon by farm
writers of any and every grade,
that we forbear further comment
thereon at this time and proceed with
our subject, viz, the general principles
of rational fertilization. Our friends
of the inexhaustible Brazos river bot
tom, and the famous fertile black land,
will doubtless think it is like our inn
pudence to even talk fertilizers to q
Texan. We fancy we hear Uncle
Snort say: THAT fool of Mississip-
plan ought to be kicked to death by =
jackass, and I'd like to be the one to do
it." But though the major portion of
Texas is SO exceedingly rich as to be
almost inexhaustiblesofttim being as
black and rich thirty feet below as at
the surface, not even a Texan nor a
Connecticut Yankee can invent q pillow
that will bring this rich, black, unc-
tious soil from those great depths to
the surface. Neither can they, by any
known method of cultivation, induce
che laterals or feeding roots to 60 down
in search of this vast bed Of hidden
fertility. This fact tends. to
equalize things. to eeen them Mp,
and throws us all on a. com
mon level by confining MS TO the. top
layer, or upper twelve to- eighteen
inches of soil. Although il. is mpoSsas
BILE to exhaust soil thirty Yeet deep 81
all its fertility, it is not impossible to
SO impoverish, by continued cropping
and a want Of judicious rotation,
coupled with the soil-robbing process
of taking everything of the soil and
putting nothing back. that obtain in
all naturally rich and fertile sections
of country. the upper layer-twelve
inches-of soil as that the cultivation
thereof ceases to be remunerative.
This fact has been abundantly sub
on the older-settled portions
of what used to be the great west, viz,
Indiana and Illinois. The time to save
a thing is when we have it; it is ever
lastinglv too late to undertake to save
it after it is gone. "A word to the
wise is sufficient" etc, etc, etc. Texas
is truly grand and great country. an
empire within itself. 1t is full Of mag
nificent possibilities as we'll as
what is of infinitely greater import
and possesses quite
a variety of both climates and soils. 1t
is this multiplicity Of soils that en-
boldens us in writing this article; real
ly it is the latter fact that creates the
necessity for it At farmers institutes
and in the agricu ltural press, no SUBJ
ject has been deemed of greater i'm
portance. none having been discussed
more than that of rational fertilization;
yet in spite of so much discussion. no
subject connected with vital, practical
agriculture seems to be less under
stood. Were all soils alike in chemical
mechanical division. or
texture and productive capacity. even
though they were all poor, judicious
would cease tobe the COM
pick problem it now is. This COM
plexity of the fertilizing prob
lem ceases to exist when the
soil tiller makes practical,
NV NuCuAAS0ls 0u0l SAS VA IuC
various soils on his farm, and
makes himself familiar with the great
general principles of rational fertili-
cation. We use the term RATIONAL
here in contra-distinction from and op-
posed to empirical fertilization, j. e.
applying the same kind of manure and
fertilizer to all kinds and varieties of
soil, iudiscriminately. To know what
IS and what is not required to bring
each individual variety of soil up to
its maximum productive capacity and
thereby increase the general average
in the sine-qua-non of profitable agri-
is as easy as rolling down hill |
when the cultivator studies, first, the
general principles underlying the fer
tilizing process; second, the necessities
IF each individual class Of plants: and |
third, practically analyze his soils. OF
The practical analysis of soils, we shall |
speak elsewhere, in an article |
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