The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-02
"a Crop wen Put in Is Half Made.

Perhaps there is no proverb relating to
farm work that expresses a truth more
forcibly than the one that says a crop
well planted is half made.
1t is pity that it is not better appre-
ciated by our farmers. Everywhere in
our Southern farming we see the most
careless methods prevailing. The ma
jority of our farmers do not seem to un-
derstand that a good mechanical condi-
ton of the soil bears a closer relation
to successful results usually than a mere
moderate application of manure. Very
rich soil, it is true, may produce large
crops without regard TO preparation or
manipulation, but that Is no reason why
il should not have produced still larger
if both conditions operated together-rich-
ness of soil with perfect preparation of 1t.
Since the days of Jethro Tull who was
one of the earliest to testify to its value,
many intelligent cultivators have appre-
ciated and borne testimony to the fact
that a thorough pulverization of the soil
to a depth of five or six inches just
prior to planting the crops and then cul-
tivating the crop afterward In such a
manner as to keep the surface pulver-
lied could be made equivalent to a very
liberal application of fertilizers. In other
words, thorough preparation of the soil
with intense cultivation without manure
would produce more profitable results
than poorly prepared soil and inferior
cultivation would, even with the liberal
application of manure.
IL is not to be doubted that in no sec
ton of the civilized world is so little re-
gard paid to the preparation of the soil
before plating a crop as there is here In
our own South country. So the soil is
given the appearance of having beer
broken up a few inches deep is all that
is necessary for the beginning of planting
operations 1t may be left ever so rough
and cloddy and there may be hundreds
of square feet of unbroken soil concealed
by loose soil that the pillow threw over
it, as the hasty plowman gave the pillow
a firt to clean it of accumulated debris
but to the average farmer II is all suffi-
Gent preparation to secure the maximum
of his expectations-ten bushels of corn
or 1856 pounds of lint cotton. Let him
bless the Lord his expectations are nc
| greater.
There is a great deal of money expend-
| ed upon fertilizers, much of which is OF
| a very doubtful character. If one-half
| of this were spent in putting the soil in
| "apple-pie" condition to receive the seeds
| there would be a. vast difference in the
| resulting crops, and until we come tc
realize more fully the great advantage OF
| growing our own manure right on the
| ground and then fitting the soil by a
| thorough fining of 1t, according TO the
| principles of Tull, we will never know
| how profitable cultivating the soil can be
made to be. A crop well put in is GER
tainly half made. Garden work for tho
month consists chiefly of starting the
tender crops that could not be put out
earlier. Tomatoes, pepper, egg plant
souashes melons, cucumbers should bt
| nut out as soon as possible. Above the
| Goth parallel of latitude we have fros'
now and then severe enough during April
! TO kill or seriously injure all of these
crops. but it is rarely the case that plant
ings after the 10th of the month are in
| jured
The first TRANSFORMING of sweet potatoes
| should be made toward the last Of the
| month.