The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-15
Children Cry for Pitchers castorIa.

same Is true in the northwest, where wheat
has been raised continuously for many
years. This exhaustion of the soil has in
duced some farmers to claim that it is
impossible to raise either wheat or corn
in these regions as cheaply as a few years
ago, and that farmers cannot make a liv-
ing with these grains at present prices.
Years ago Eastern farmers, or at least
some of them, learned the lesson of ex-
haustion of soil through continuous culti-
walton. and adaptation to the change has
been slow but sure. To-day we find east
ern farms that have been in cultivation
three times as long as some of these west
ern farms, yielding better crops than
those in the Ohio valley or in the north
west. A recent examination of the soils
of these old farms and the comparatively
new western soil showed that the former
were richer in plant fuel and humus. A
chemical analysis showed that potash, nj
trogen and lime were more abundant in
the well-cultivated eastern soils than in
the corn or wheat lands of the west
This may seem surprising to many wes-
tern farmers, who have looked upon their
soils as the richest in the world, capable
of yielding large crops without fertilizing
or very much cultivation. But the fact
in many cases is overlooked that soils
in the west are deteriorating rapidly
through the continuous cultivation Of
Single crops, White III llG east ~ SANiiieitiS
rotation of crops has not only retained
the fertility of the soil, but is actually ad-
ding to it. This, of course, does not ap-
ply to all farms, but to the majority of the
best cultivated ones. Long age eastern
farmers discovered that it was necessary
to adopt rotation of crops or abandon their
farms altogether They took the only wise
course, and their farms are paying invest
ments, even in these hard times.
About a year ago the Minnesota station
made a series of chemical analyses of $50
different soils in the west to determine
the effect of continuous cultivation. The
top soil and subsoil were used in this test.
The results Of the experiments showed
after eight to twelve years of continuous
cultivation the nitrogen in the soil was
reduced from one-third to one-haf and
the potash and phosphates almost as
much. The original supply of humus was
reduced from 80 to 80 per cent. in the
same time. If the process continued the
soils would be brought to the point where
they could not be cultivated proftably.
1t was further shown that the exhausted
soils suffered greatly from droughts, while
the land rich in humus and nitrogen stood
the dry weather very satisfactorily.
This process, however, is just reversed
where a rotation of crops is which grass
and clover figure prominently is practised.
Instead Of deteriorating, the soils gradu-
ally gain in richness, so that in time the
commercial fertilizers are needed but very
little The true supply of fertility GENES
from the grass and vegetable material sup
piled by good cultivation, and through the
application of barnyard manure. If farm
ers would all realize this, the fertilizer
question of the future would be readily
solved by many who to-day predict dire
disasters to farming when the cost of
fertilizing the soil will eat up all the profit
There is no such condition of affairs to
come if true rotation of crops is prac-
ticed.