The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-01
ESTABLISHED 1865.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS MOIS-
TURE AND,RENDERS.PLAN FOOD
IN THE SOIL AVAILABLE.

farming or gardening are engaged in
preparing the land for tho reception of
the seed, it may be interesting to rccur
to the theories of Jethro Iull which
though unsuccessful in practice because
of his mistake in not combining manure
with his methods of tillage, marked an
era in agricultural progress.
His work, entitled, "New Horse
Hoeing Husbandry," though published
1o5 years ago, may be read with profit
by most farmers Of today. Too much
Importance cannot be attached to the
deep and thorough pulvcrization of the
soil previous to planting. Not only
does deeply prepared and pulverized
soil hold and conserve more moisture
than one poorly prepared, but the roots
OF plants penetrate more deeply and con-
sequcntly resist the influence of drouth
which proves fatal to their shallow
rooted ncighbors.
BY repeated and thorough stirring of
the soil the manures are incorporated
with the lower strata, where even dur
ing drouth there will be moisture to dis
solve the plant food which they contain
and convey it into the circulation of the
plants. Some thirty years ago we cult
waited garden which had been trcnchcd
to the depth Of two feet. On fall crop
OF Irish potatoes oat straw and chaff
were used as mulch. After the potato
vines matured or were killed by frost
oats grew from the chaff and were al
lowed to remain until the following
spring. After the oats were cut and the
land plowed, finding it difficult to pre-
pare the land for planting on account of
the mass Of roots and stubblc, we dug
holes two feet deep for melons. We
found the soil, as deep as it had been
trenched, completely occupied by the
roots of the oats which instead of the
usual four inches Of loose soil derived
their food from six times this area besides
the accompanying advantage Of having
large root surface beyond the reach Of
an ordinary drouth. This difference be-
tween the condition, texture and color of
the soil and subsoil is due principally to
the fact that the soil has been acted
upon by the air while the subsoil has
not.
The greater quantity of humus in the
soil contributes to this difference, but
the most active corroding agent in ma
ture is oxygen. Thorough tillage ad-
mits free circulation Of air to which
the PARTICLES of soil and stone arc thus
exposed and decomposed or rather dis
intcgratcd. The geologist speaks of the
'wcathering" of the surface rock by
which he means that the work Of disin-
tegration has commenced in consequence
of its exposure to atmospheric inhu-
ences.
If we plant poorly prepared soil, we
deprive ourselves Of the use Of the plant
food which is locked up in the clods,
which the roots of the plants are unable
to penetrate. We ask our readers to
compare two acres this scason-onc sub
soilcd and thoroughly pulvcrizcd by re-
pcated plowings and narrowing and the
other prepared in the usual slipshod way
and report results next fall. Quite a
number of farmers have adopted the in
tensive system in recent years and have
thus demonstrated that this, in coniunc-
ton with diversified farming, enables
them to grow cotton proftably, even at
present prices
The following extract from a recent
issue Of the News and Courier illustrates
this point:
MIR. Fletcher cultivates only sixty
eight acres of his land himself and rents
forty acres to tenants. The following
statements show in condensed form the
results of his successful intensivc-extcn-
sivc-Marlboro-Fletcher style of business
farming:
RECEIPTS FROM s1xrY-E1GHr ACRES
13 acres cotton, I'd bales SIS pounds
each, equal to 1890 pounds at 5H
cents pound......... .......... .......S 732 &c
IS acres corn, as bushels per acre,
equal to 875 bushels, at SO cents. ...... 437 so
800 bushels peas from corn land, at SO
cents........ Observation-Disclosures. 400 oo
H., Ga