The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-03-15
SOME STRAY
Southern Planter.l

. renldrk in the February number,
on How to Make Good Crops make
me smile at the "reminiscences that they
bring up of the host of letters | get in
the same line. Men imagine that after
tney nave for generations been run
nlng down the store of plant food that
nature provided in the soil, and have
exhausted the huInus there. the only
thlng necessary TO do j. TO put there a
lot Of concentrated plant food. and pres
70 change, the soil Is good again. Men
write To me: 4 have Il piece OF land
that made ten bushels of corn last wear
| want 10 make on il a premium crop
TINS Year. How much fertilizer shall
| use 70 do it, Of course it cannot
he done that way. But still they come
with the same old idea. Natures way
OF restoring an old field they sec all
ABOUT them. The friendly broomScd-c
takes possession of the land. and in
rs shade the Dine finds a place to pro
1'ct It's seedlings and to send its tap
root down into the unused store of food
that the scratch blowing of past wears
has not touched. This food the pine
brings up and ecatters all over the ton.
and gradually restores humus and min
eraI matters to the soil till some ono
hnfS that the old field has become in
proved and cuts down the pines and goes
10 work to exhaust the store agajn. l.
'"ok nature and the pine n long time
t" get a little fertility stored in the INNER
SOL again, but men are slow to learn thu
lesson that they can initiate naurc's nro-
cess. and by the Use of legumpS. do in
Il rev years what took her generations
10 90. 1t IS nOt enough TO put the plant
1000 on the hard barren soil. We must
restore J1n ,,oII-,o. III -
mechanical texture of the soil good, and
renders moro rctcntiyc Of moisture, and
also renders the plant food more avail
ablo when placed there. The soil was
dead. We must restore life to il by bring
IN" INTO activity tho bacteria that
aboilnd I'M 4 soil filled with humus, and
make 1T again n living soil. This can
not ne done in Il woTnout soil in one sea
son or III two. but we can do if quicker
fhan nature does it with the broom
sedgc and the mines. and must improve
O natures methods of s~uhsoilinc with
the tap roots by S1lhSoiIing the whole
80 ina tnc leGumeS can get down into
the fresh Subsoil. No soil was eyer worn
out IN Il single season. and none will ever
be redeemed but by years of building I'm.
brother VAN Demam is on the right
track. and the one that | have been
working on for a generation almost
fNGht here IN this ncighbOrhood is q
f1nc farm, on which the rich owner for
Years kept half a dozen wagons hauling
manure from the city three miles AWAY
TO grow crops for sale. Tho same
amount expended in commercial f~ertili-
zerS to produce clover and peas would
nave made the farm greatly richer than
II IS. and would have had it in bet
ter condition.. for it is now infested with
all th" bad weeds of the section. and last
sulnmeH the Bermuda grass took posses
an extent that land that should
have made a bale and a half per
acre. made hardly half a bale, if that
much. The proper use of the mineral
forms Of plant food. in connection with
the growing of leguninous crops and
1eedlng them to cattle. form the only
available way to get the wide areas Of
the South restored to fertility.
III. Myers. too, is backing me I'D on the
green manures. All right: but | oh
Ject to the term great manure" for
no crop should be used green for the
purpose of improving the soil. The doc
Tor wen says that when the crop is to
be turned under. do it 'Eat the rroner
time | think that time lis usually when
a%noeher crop is to be put in the ground.
provided the manure crop is dead and
mas done all that 1t can do for the land.
But green manurimg-never, If if
= possible to get 4 profit out of the feed
ing Of the crop. get it before putting it
in the soil.
Mr.. Sandy asks whether farming can
he made profitable in Southside Nir-
ginia, and then goes on to show that it
can. If there is any part of the country
where good farming will give good re-
turns. it is right there where the land
IS level and so easy to- improve. Far
ming will pay there. but the CID planting
never will again.
In regard to the San Jose Scale. | have
become satisfied that the only spray
that is perfectly effective is pure kero-
s2ne. This will injure the peach if APP
piled in cold cloudy weather. but in
warm and sunny weather. when the oil
evaporateS rapidly. 1T can be used with
ont damage. At Fayetteville. in this
State. 4 nnrseryInan. Oh whose place the
scale had been detected last spring. went
to work in May and sprayed his entire
place. nursery trees and all. with kero-
sonc. and did no harm. When I in
Spcctct his place in September. there
was not a sign Of the insect to be found
and no harm had been done. At Cornell
Station. trees of the peach were sprayed
with kerosene in June, and the scale de-
mollShcd with no harm. White wash
ing the runks and larger limbs is also
good against any scale. In North Caro-
Ina we are more troubled with the OyS-
ter shell bark louise or scale than with
the San Jose. and | find that white
wash is q great cleanser of the old parts
Of the tree. 1t VIII smother any scale
whatever. W. +. MASSEY.
IN TIME OF STORM.