The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-01
Milking Lind Fertile.

In a large part of the country, and this
is every year growing more true. how 10
restore lost fertility is much the most i'm
portant question for farmers TO consider,
says the American Cultivator. In all The
rest of the country the question is of
nearly equal importance, how to proftably
keep land fertile that is so already This
last question would seem to be much the
saslest to answer. Where some
thing can now be made from
land it would seem that self
interest, If nothing else, would restrain
farmers from those methods of cropping
which experience has shown are most GER
tainly exhaustive, yet when Eastern or
English farmers who have been used at
home 10 keeping up soil fertility go to new
lands in the West they are quite certain
to fall in with the prevailing methods and
exhaust soil fertility as fast as their neigh
boris
In all new countries most settlers buy
more land then they can pay for and the
burden of debt is made all The harder be-
caused interest rates are high. 1t seeps
to be, and possibly in some cases is, good
policy to force the land to produce all it
will until the debts are cancelled. For
tunate is he who when his farm is free
from debt can truthfully say it is capable
vi ~ OiuClllS as IdIS6 crops as II ola WQen
he first plowed il. YET this is what every
farmer ought to be able to say of his farm.
1t is even possible, as practical farmers
long ago discovered to make their land
increasingly fertile while still cropping It..
In all old countries, where good farming
prevails, as il does in England. land cul-
tvated for hundreds of years is more pro
ductive than il was hundred years ago.
In the celebrated experiments in England
in growing successive Of with
out manure, Lawes and Gilbert showed
that on English soil, without manure, the
average crop after twenty-nine years was
more than the average wheat crop of the
United States This was paruy due to the
thorough tillage that This wheat received,
as it was put in rows and hood in spring,
just as we hoe our corn crop. But the
main reason for this result, doubtless was
that so much fertility had been stored in
the soil by long years of manuring that
twenty years cropping without ma
nure could not wholly exhaust 1t.
Probably no good American soil had
originally so much mineral fertility as
these acres, which Messrs. Lawes and Gil
bert experimental upon, had acquired by
heavy manuring. On the other hand, ii Is
true that no wheat crops in the United
States receive so careful cultivation as did
those of waves and Gilbert. In our hot
climate cultivation of wheat in spring,
except the narrowing tnat gives the wheat
a check, would more likely be Injurious
to the crop than helpful to it. So much
nitrogen in the soil VIII be developed by
hot weather that The straw would grow
too large and the grain yield would be
lessened. But the experiments of Lawes
and Gilbert are valuable to show how
much fertility remains in soil after many
years cropping without manure, if only it
is properly cultivated.
There is no heavy soil that cannot be
made by thorough puIverization rich
enough TO make a good clover catch.
Sandy soil is harder to reclaim, because 1t
usually lacks potash, and also often lacks
lime Wood ashes contain both these min
erals, and are the best manures for clover
on any soil So soon as clover can be
made to grow, its roots VIII increase the
humus in the soil. 1t will make is fer
fifty more permanent, and on heavy soil
more available. All the eguminous plants,
in which are included peas and beans, are
helps to soil fertility, and should be grown
in preference to the small grains wherever
one of the objects in farming is to increase
fertility.
The Southern farmer has a good half
dozen plants with which to restore fertil-
ity (humus) cheapiy Peas, sofa beans,
beggar weed bur-clover, cotton plant
crimson clover. There is no need for our
soils becoming unfertile.