Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-04-26
FARMER ANDPLANTER
INCREASING FERTILITY.
The Farmers who Have Been Ruth
lcssIy DespOiling the Soil Must
Give Something Back.

For the past so to 100 years The
farmers of this country have been
ruthlessly despoiling the soil OF its
virgin freshness until its fertility is
exhausted, its productive capacity
lessened or totally destroyed, and yet
the remedy for this condition OF
things proposed is-what? To simply
SOW the land down to clover or COW
peas, as if clover or COW peas could
remedy the wrong that has been per-
petrated for 50 or 100 years of taxi
ing everything possible off the land
and never putting anything back.
Clover furnishes what? Nitrogen.
Cow peas furnish what? Nitrogen.
Where is phosphoric acid and potash
that has been removed in so to 100
years of continued cultivation to come
from? How is il TO DC restored? Can
it, like nitrogen, be gotten from the
atmosphere? Not at all. If restored
at all, it must be restored by artiti-
cial means-by the hand of man. As
phosphoric acid and potash are just
as important and just as inevitably
good and profitable in the making OF
good and profitable crop as is nj
trogen, where is the business sense,
the business acumen, the good judg-
ment in depending upon something
that furnishes nitrogen alone? We
leave it with our clover-stricken or
pea-stricken friends to decide.
For several years past we have beeI
running an experimental farm of our
own. We have been running it for
what actual practical information
as well as profit, we could get out CT
it. Among other things we have
learned by so doing is, that one-sid-
ed fertilization don't pay. In order
to raise maximum crops year after
year, and still, as is the object ot
every good farmer, to leave the land
better than he found it; or, in other
words, TO increase instead of decreas-
ing the fertility and consequent pro
dNtliNt capacity VI tiG ooils IL 10 dDoo
lutely essential: First. that more in
stead of less is annually added to the
soil than is taken from it; and, SEE.
ond, that due proportion" prop
err balance" or as nearly as posi-.
bic and practicable in the way of per.
feet equilibrium of the three leading
elements of fertility. to-wit-nitro.
gen. phosphoric acid and potash be
maintained. This, and no, hing short
of this, will bring about maximum
or profitable crops year by year. Nj
trogcn by itself is not complete fer.
tilizer, and never will he. Phosphorc
acid by itself is not complete fer.
tilizer, and never will be. Potash it.
self. although truly remarkable re.
suits have been obtained by its use
alone is not a complete fertilizer, and
never will he. No, but by judicious
combination of these three leading
elements. and by their liberal mot
prodigall use. Eve bales of cotton
have been made TO the acre 225 bush
els of corn have been made to thr
acre: 500 bushels of sweet potatoes
and upwards of 900 bushels of irish
potatoes have been made to the acr,
900 gallons Of sirup; six tons of haI
and g. bushels of wheat have beer
mode 10 the acre. What has been dont
can he done again How? Is it by TAX
ing everything off the land. or is il
by adding something to the land
There are no midway measures in
this case. II is that which is taltel
from the land that makes il poorer
and conversely. 1t Is that which il
added to land that makes il richer
Every farmer can readily call to mirt
instances where poor acres have beer
enriched. but with the single eXcpp
ton of the means OF enrichment be
ing purchased, in the shape of cattl.
feeds, manure or chemical fertilizers
hence, brought it from abroad tn,
enrichment of those same acres wa
brought about by The impoyerishmen'
of other less. favored acres. 1t is sim
ply borrowing from Peter to pa,
Paul" The planting of leguminoui
crops is the very essence fgood farm
ing. BY means of them every farmel
can raise his own needed supply o
nitrogen and keep up his supply o
humus, but here as agents to be uset
in the maintenance or increase %
fertility, their usefulness ends. The,
do not, and can not, supply the pot
ash and phosphoric acid that ar
equally essential and equally indis
| peIsable with the much-vaunted nj
trogen in the production of profitable
crops. A well-balanced fertility cal
not be brought about by leguminou
crops alone. A judcious rotation o
crops is also absolutely indispensa
BILE to good farming; but, like TIL
sowing of the legumes, too mucl
should not be expected of it. AS ;
means TO aid in maintaining fertilit,
il easily takes front rank, but then
is nothing about rotation that woul'
tend to actually increase fertilit'
with the single exception of raisin;
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