The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-03

Good PreparatiOn-Winte Flowing.
1t is a pity that our farmers do not
appreciate better than they do the
great advantage obtained by a thor
ough preparation of the soil before the
planting of the crop. let the crop be
what it may.
Never before have we observed so
general a failure to prepare the soil
in anything like a proper manner as
was the case this year. This was the
result in a great measure of unfavor-
able weather during the spring, along
with a scarcity of labor. Farmers, as
a rule, were weeks behind with their
work when the first of April arrived.
On July many farmer were doing the
work that ordinarily is done June or
the middle of May Unlike a fast
railroad train a farmer nowadays
finds it a difficult thing to make up
lost time however well he may be sit
uated. 1t is not easy to get extra la
Dor of man or beast like it once was
and it is a fortunate farmer that can
get it just at the time it is most need
ed With the regular labor of the
farm that is started out with in jan
uary it is all a farmer can do to keep
up with his work to his satisfaction in
the very best of seasons and provided
with the best and healthiest labor that
can work rain or shine. But when he
has to contend with lots of wet wealth
er and loss of time on account of sick
ness of both self and hired labor to-
gether perhaps, conditions that were
very common during the past spring,
it is no difficult matter to get several
weeks behind with work Georgia
farmers had to contend with unusual
difficulties this year and it is a Won
der that many have come out as well
as they have. 1t was a good year
for the hay and stock farmer to be
sure, but for the farmer with only
hoed crops il has been about as full of
difficulties as could well be imagined.
There is only one way of anticipat-
ing and providing against spring
with much bad weather, and that is to
do all the blowing possible that the
weather will allow of being done in
November and December. During
these months every acre possible
should be listed up. This initial plow-
ing in the way of preparation accom-
plished by the middle or last of jan
uary even. will have the effect of keep
ing the farmer in an easy frame of
mind along in February if the usual
rainy season should occur to put
stop to blowing. With most of the
land listed up by the middle of jan
uary, it will have to be a very rainy
and unfavorable spring that will
cause the farmer to get much behind
with his work. Land thus ridged up
is easily worked in March and April.
1t viii dry off faster after protracted
rains and besides it will secure the
beneficial effects of the freezes in De-
cember or January which to some soil
is worth as much as an application of
commercial fertilizer. The sitter the
soil the more the benefit to it from
this winter blowing. In the winter
one can take time to do the work
well--to lay off the rows on a true
horizontal and get the rows uniform.
We believe that it is true that there is
no section of the civilized world where
so little regard is paid to the prepar-
alton of the soil as here in the South.
With the average farmer so the soil
is given the appearance of having been
broken up few inches is all that is
necessary for the beginning of planting
the crops. 1t may be left ever so
rough and cloddy and there may be
lots of unbroken soil concealed by
loose soil that the pillow threw over it
as the hurried plowman gave the plow
a fiirt to clear it of accumulated debris,
but to the average farmer it is all suf-
ficient preparation to secure the maxi
mum of his expectations-ten bushels
of corn or $50 pounds of lint cotton.
If one-half of the money spent on
commercial fertilizers was expended
on putting the soil in first class shape
to receive the seeds there would be
much better crops than are now made
with the poor preparation of soil us
ually the case.
Since the days of Jethro Tull. who
was perhaps the first to testify to its
value, many intelligent experimentors
and cultivators have born testimony
to the fact that a thorough pulveriza-
ton of the soil to a depth of four or
five inches, just prior to planting the
crops and then cultivating the crop
afterward in such a manner as to
keep the surface open to the entrance
of air could be made equivalent to
a very large application of fertilizer
There is no doubt of it, good prepara-
ton opens the way clear to the best
the land can do and there is no time
so suitable for beginning this prepar-
alton as in the winter when il can be
done without undue haste and when
it comes easy on both man and beast.