The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-07
THE FARM AND THE GARDEN.
sfATTERs OF INTEREST TO AGRI-
CULTURALIST AND HOUSEWIFE.

the Plant md Its Culture-hoW 10
Prevent Tomato ROt-PreparatiOn
of Soil FOR Planting.
fit devolved upon the writer to pass
upon the question the most important
to be kept before the Southern farm
ers, day in and day out, he would not
BIT at a loss to name that question and
doubtless there are many intelligent
cultivators of the soil that would heart
lily agree in that Judgment.
Without doubt the most important
single question is that of restoring that
humus to the soil that has been al
most entirely wasted by a long period
of clean culture, it may be fifty years
or it may be only twenty In the
past ten or fifteen years there has been
but little new land open to cultivation
in any section of the cotton states.
AT the conclusion of the Civil War
in 1865 there had been for many years
a certain addition of new arabic land
to nearly every farm in the South
ern States From year to year as the
new land was opened to cultivation
certain proportion Of the farm was
turned out" to grass-turned out to
recuperate through the SLOW process of
natural growth-broom sedge brlars
and what not. In fact much of the
turned -out land started afresh new
growth of forest trees pine in most
cases, but interspersed also with that
of oak, persimmon, Sassatras, etc. 10
bring much of the land back again in
. fxro . ton a I'M
at the first The recuperation of land
treated in this manner was, of course,
slow, but in the course of five, six or
seven years much of the humus wasted
by clean culture for ten or twenty
years was restored it and for num-
Der of years might be relied on to
yield it's $50 to 300 pounds of lint cot
ton or it's eight to fifteen bushels of
corn per acre. Thus turned-out land in
the course of a year or two afforded
a very fair pasturage for sheep, cattle
and hogs.
For some years after SO there was
a fair percentage of new land opened
to cultivation but this addition de-
cIined gradually until it reached a
point where there was no more land
worth being opened up on the average
farm. Here in Georgia, as in all
Southern states. there is in the aggre-
gate many thousands of acres yet to
be brought into cultivation that is far
richer than most of that already
opened up but it is land that requires
considerable expense to fit it for cult
vation-more expense than the aver
age farmer has been able to meet.
These lands that we have in mind can
be fitted for steady cultivation only
by the means of dyking or draining
or ditching work that is very expen-
sive. Once put in proper state for
our staple crops, it will be found that
one acre Of this land will produce
more than three or four acres of that
opened up before. These bottom lands
along rivers, creeks and branches not
reliable for cultivation now because of
their being subject to overflow either
in spring or autumn will some day
be found capable of producing a thous-
and pounds of lint cotton or 100 bush
els OF corn or other crops in like pro-
portion. What crops of sugar cane
will they produce or what magnificent
pastures or meadows of Bermuda
grass Obtaining easily a hight of two
feeD.
When the day comes when an acre
of soil in Georgia is valued and treat
ed like it is in Holland it will be a
day when Georgia soil will readily
SdEpOll pODQIdlluu Oh IlItGn mil
lions.
The land yet to be rescued from the
dominance of the water courses in our
state will alone support several mil
lions of happy, prosperous farmers.
Why is this land capable of so much
1t is because it is rich in the accumu-
lation of humus
Land is rich only in proportion to
the presence of humic acid (humus)
within IL. Such land is always deep
soil. With intelligent cultivation and
considerate treatment this land. will
produce large crops right along for
many years 1t may be that our chill
dren's children will be the ones to de-
Velop 1T. On every farm in Georgia
there is more land open than should
be cultivated in the staple or money
crops. Some of the land has been
cultivated for many years and is now
almost utterly destitute of humus.
Three years out of five at the best
the crops grown on it are unprofit-
able. 1t does not more than pay back
the cost of cultivation. 1t is folly to
continue to cultivate it. Every farm
sr should consider this and at once
proceed to apply the only remedy. Give
to the land and give it freely two years
of fallow crops purely for the purpose
of restocking the soil with that essen
tial humus without a reasonable sup
ply of which no soil can be cultivated
with profit. Proceed at once If in
autumn, SOW vetch or Bur" or Grim
son Clover" If in the spring. sow
velvet bean or Wonderful peas or
Ragweed. These fallow crops need
only d blowing for preparation, and
one, or at most two, cultivatings and
two years of such treatment will re-
store this worn soil that now is cul-
tivated at a loss to a condition that
will enable it to produce profitable
crops. 1t is almost like making land.
We have all been too greedy, too
stingy, in our treatment of our soil.
We have wanted to take all the time
and give rothing back to it. We have
been living on the principal instead of
on the interest of the principal 1t is
a poor plan. With farming as with
other business, it produces only one
result. impoverishment. We would
that our Georgia farmers, our Flor
ida farmers and every other, could be
brought to believe that this question
of humus is by ali odds the most i'm
portant that comes within the scope
of their labors They should believe
and act upon it without further de-
lay. Essence.
Instructions For Planting Cassava-
In selecting land, one should bear in
mind that Cassava is a plant which will
withstand any amount of dry weather.
but will not thrive in water or wet
land. Hence it should be planted on
high light soil with good drainage.
THE coil should he rrer1arad for y,lo,