The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-27
Improving Poor Land.
Professor Massey in the Progressiv

fIOleSSoI MASSEY III the EIoSTeSSlNe
Farmer.
One OF my correspondents writes:
Il have read somewhere that land that
was originally rich cannot be made poor.
but can only be exhausted, so to speak
can easily be brought up, but land that
was poor in the beginning cannot be
made permanently rich. | have frequent
ly given it as my belief that land that
was originally fertile, and is of good
mechanical texture can never be really
worn out, though by bad farming it
may be brought into a very unproductive
condition while still having In it an
abundance OF plant food which its condi.
ton renders unavailable. The scientists
of the Department of Agriculture who
have been studying soils announce as one
OF their discoveries that all cultivablc
soils have in them about the same aver
age amount OF soluble plant food, and
that the only difference in their produc-
tiveness is in their mechanical condition
and the readiness which they supply
water for thes olution of the plant food.
If this is true then the fact that thC
chemist finds more nitrogen or phOsphorlc
acid or potash III one soil than in another
has nothing whatever to do with the
needs OF that soil as to additional plant
food to be supplied in fertilizers. IT the
amount of soluble plant food in all soils
is the same then all soils need the same
treatment as to allitional plant food to
be supplied in fertilizers. The soil that
was originally fertile soil have been cult
waited and crops taken off from it has
completely oxidized this humus and used
it up, and the mechanical condition of
the soil is very different. Its clayey mat
ter has run together and the air is shut
out. 1t dries out more rapidly and fails
to furnish water to the rotts and to
dissolve plant food, and though labora-
| tory experiment may show that it still
contains the average amount of soluble
| plant food, the water is not present tor
it's solution by reason of the loss of hui
mus and absorbs and retains less heat,
and heat Is essential to the growth of
plants.
Thus, while chemical analysis may show
that it has an abundance of plant food,
the food is loced up and plants cannot
get at it. This is just the condition Of
larger Arrears in the South. But to say
no soil originally poor or unproductive
cannot be made permanently fertile ard
productive is hardly true. There are
thousands of acres in the South which,
| W Heu uISt ClSdISu, were III an
tive condition, by reason OF lack of hui
mus. The red clay uplands of the South
have naturally less humus than similar
lands in the North, for in our open wood
lands the leaves are blown awav to the
| hollows and bottoms in winter, while
in the North they are packed down by
snow and held to rot where they fell,
and thus larger amount of humus Or
vegetable decay is found there. But
when these are stored with Misunderstanding
matter they rapidly increase in produc
tiveness because of their improved me-
chanical condition l once remarked to
| a friend, a good farmer IN an improving
section that I thought a certain field of
| corn was poor for piece of new ground. !
Newly cleared land here" he said, is
the poorest land web ave, and we never
expect it to do well till we have handled
ut few years and got some clover or
peas on it,"
l have never forgotten the remark, |
| though it was many years ago, and It
set me to thinking about the matter, !
and | became convinced that so far rs
the clay uplands of the South are con-
cerned he was right, and that the first |
step in their development and permanent |
prOuctiveness must be the getting into |
them of the humus that improves their |
warmth.
1t trsue that there are in the South |
an in all other sections of the country |
lands that were originally poor which |
cannot be made permanently fertile but |
must be continually aided by manure or
fertilizers. These are the sandy, barren |
soils where there was originally but a |
small store of plant food and where the |
plant food added in fertilizers is rapidly |
oxidized and leached down, because of |
the loose mechanical conditioned the sand
and the absence of foodretaining clay.
On such lands fertilizers act quickly on
the crops and their warmth macs them |
| available for early garden crops, but the
plant food supplied is soon lost and must
be continually renewed. But it does not
follow that a sandy soil that was origi |
nally poor cannot be made permanently |
fertile If just below the sandy surface |
there is a retentive clay subsoil that can |
be reached by teh pillow to ameliorate
| the surface, or even when out OF reach |
| of the pillow to serve as an arresting force |
| to retain moisture and plant food. Now, |
| having land that Is called worn out |
OH our red clay and the soil scientists |
| tell us that it shows just as much soluble |
plant food in it as land right alongside |
| that has been well worked and well
treated, and is productive, while no treat
ment at present seems to avail to make |
| it produce good crops we want to find |
| the reason. You will see on very cas-
ual examination that the productive land
| of the same natural character is darker |
in color, is more mellow and less inclined |
to bake and dry out.
In dry time you can stir up moisture |
in it with the toe of your shoe, while |
on your WORKOUT land you can hardly |
stir it at all when dry. What makes the |
difference in these two fields? Simnly |
the difference in humus or vegetable 0e-
cay. This has all been burnt out of the |
WORKOUT land, and while a laboratory
solution of the two soils will show the
same average amount of soluble plant
! food, the WORKOUT land has not moisture
enough to mae the solution naturally, and
| hence cannot deliver food to the plant
| roots. The very first thing then to be
done in its Improvement is to get this
| N;ef, 14oi, hoo l.