The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1899-02-08

They had a system of rotation
that included nine crops, promi-
uent among which were clovers.
At least eight Of these nine crops
we're manursd. The average
yilld Of wheat was then 26 bush
els per acre as against Is for New
York and Pennsylvania new and
fresh. All other crops were pro-
portionately large, and that dis
trict today supports one of the
densest population Of earth.
IL has been known since the
time of the Greeks and Romans
that one crop would in some way
fit the land for making another
crop. II is now known that cer-
tain crops get definite quantities
OF nitrogen from the air that
may be weighed and measured
and its value computed Just as
we estimate the cost of bale OF
cotton or load of corn. The
Louisiana Experiment Station in
bulletin soon 10 be issued found
an acre Of Spanish peanuts con-
tanned 1872 pounds Of nitrogen,
presumably all Cotton from the
air, that il bought in fertilizers.
would cost $40 at least. An acre
Of velvet beane contained ig1
pounds, and an acre Of COW peas,
109 pounds. When we remember
that these crops produced from
2 10 81 tons of as fine feed stuff
as grows on the face OF earth,
and they may be fed without se-
rious lost in manurial value, can
there be any excuse for having
poor lands and poorer stock? No
section on the globe has such op-
portunities flor growing restora-
tive crops and yet no country
makes 50 little use OF them.
am convinced that the poorest
farm ia the whole pine woods
may be built up by rotation Of
crops and very moderate use of
fertilizers in few years to where
it will make bale OF cotton and
SOTO 10 bushels OF corn with more
es Sc and certainty than any land
in this country. More than this
was done by Dr.. Stubbs at Call
houn. La, on sandy pine woods
land, showing by chemical anal
ysis extreme poverty. It was
done by this simple plan that
may be followed by every man
however. poor hemay be. First
year cotton was planted; second
year, cornand peas; third year,
oats followed by peas and the
peas used for hay, and fourth
year back to cotton. In differ
ent trials cotton yields were rails.
cd 10 bale and over, and corn
| yields went as high as 81 bushels
and oats one time, | remember,
went above 90 bushels and the
psavine hay as high as two tons.
To iHaugurate such a system
it is only necessary to divide the
land into three parts and plant js
ID each crop and letthem alternate
with each otherin the order nam
ed. With this division Of erops,
a man could easily Utilize more
land than is done now More
than this, the large yields OF
corn, oats, pea-yine hay, etc. ],
would necessitate the keeping Of
more stock than was ever Kept
before and better stock. This
would necessilate pastures and
perhaps meadows, and thus
would a Mississippi farmer come
to utilize as much land per hand
as the Iowa farmer. and thus
might his income BE- multiplied
by 3 or 4 and his farm quadru-
pied in valne. Where is the
other country that can grow its
regular staple crops and so en-
rich its lands with stolen or catch
crops? Under such system of
diyersification the poorest lands
in our state would need only acid
phosphate, corresponding ex-
actly with the bone fertilizer that
helped TO do such wonders in
England and Scotland. These
phosphates on poor 8 )ils win
easily double the yield Of peas or
other leguminous crop and con-
sequentIy the quantity Of fertili-
ger extracted from the air.
We can do even better than has
yet been Indicated in the matter
of feeding our lands and our live
stock. We can grow feed and
fertilizer in the dead OF winter.
Scientists have proved that
the germs that enable legumi-
nous plants to draw nitrogen
from the air, can live and work
all through our warm winters.