The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1899-02-04
FARMER ANDPLANTER.
HOW CROPS GROW.
Every Step In Development 10 Pro-
vided for by Natures Laws.


The growth of crops is never an ac-
cidental circumstance. For every step
in the development of vegetable mat
ter. nature has provided laws which
may not be broken. With care and at
tention to particular wants, crops inn
prove both in quality and quantity.
This improvement of plants is the un-
DERIVING principle of agriculture.
Plants are improved in quality and
quantity of their products, by sur
rounding them with conditions most
favorable to their growth and develop
ment. This may mean simple tillige
of the soil, liberal feeding with fertil-
Izers or other manures, or protection
from injurious diseases and the at
tacks of insects. In measure all of
these methods of improvements are de-
pendent upon one another. Liberal
manuring of itself can not make good
the damage caused by improper or in
sufficient cultivation. Plants illy-cul-
tivated or scantily fed, fall an easy
prey to the various plant diseases.
Plants grow, therefore, by giving
them soil conditions of the right kind
and at the right time; in this is COM
Irised practically the whole art of sue
cessful agriculture. The soil must be
thoroughly broken, and kept in a high
state of filth by frequent cultivation.
Heavy soils should be plowed in the
fall, or very early in the spring; light
soils are not improved by fall blowing.
-
porous soil, and this means a deep soil
in most cases. No two soils are pre-
cisely alike, so that the farmer must
exercise judgment for his individual
conditions. 1t will never do to let we'll
enough alone. An effort should be
made to make each crop an improve
ment on its predecessor. Each years
work should be studied closely, or
nothing is gained from experience.
The feeding of plants is perhaps the
most important feature in modern
farming, because it involves the use
of materials in more or less blind
manner. Manures or fertilizers are
applied to the soil before the crop has
appeared, and once applied are no
longer under the apparent control of
the farmer. AS matter of fact the
action of manures is very much under
the control of the farmer throughout
The whole stage of plant growth. If
the soil is kept thoroughly titled and
a surface layer from one to two inches
in thickness maintained constantly in
dry, pulverized condition, either fer
tilizers or farm manures are much
more effective.
In large measure, the profits in
farming depend on the amount of
sales made off the farm; and, conse-
quently it is impossible to keep re-
turning to the soil, all that is taken
off. No farm can be maintained in
normal condition by the sole use of
the manures made by feeding the
roughage, as in such cases more plant
food is taken from the soil each year
than is returned. As a result, chem
ical fertilizers must be used sooner or
later, and it is q wise farmer who does
not wait until his soil is nearly ex-
hausted before making use of them.
The proper use of chemical fertil-
izers is one of the most important
problems in agriculture, and one on
which there are many disagreements.
The best practice at present seems to
be in using the farm-made manures
on corn, or other crops having clean
cultivation throughout the year. On
all other crops the chemical fertilizers
are best used, and even on the clean
culture crops, applications of the min
eral fertilizers potash and phosphoric
acid, are very profitable in most
cases.
As all farmers now know, chemical
fertilizers are materials of commerce
which contain the fertilizing princi-
pies found in farm yard manures;
that is, they contain ammonia, potash
and phosphoric acid. Some of these
chemical manures contain only one
of the fertilizing ingredients, others
two of them, and in few cases all
three are found. They are generally
much richer in plant food than farm
yard manures. and the consequently
much more cheaply applied. One of
the points of disagreement is the
proper quantity of fertilizers to use,
and the pounds of potash and phos-
phoric acid likely to prove most profit
able, but it may be taken as fairly
safe rule that the chemical analyses
of all ordinary farm crops may be
obtained. from any state agricultural
experiment station, free of cost to
farmers.
Besides these chemical fertilizers,
indirect fertilizers such as lime, are q
most important aid. Lime not only
improves the mechanical condition of
soils, but also tends to increase the