Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1903-03-12

WIEN iuhtVFcu anu prepare iHt sd
for another prov to follow Have
never found any immediate bcnefii
from turning in a foul growth Of any
thing, in fact, have gotten one-third
more wheat per acre from land that
clover had been mown on than from
where the full growth had been
turned In, and all appearances now
indicate that the mown land shows
| up better. OF courss il would be
better for the land to ia, a in clover
or cow-peas than TO NOV the hay and
sell IT, We have made il rule, and
adhere to it, never TO sell hay, straw
or forage OF any kind from our land.
We feed 1t and get full value In the
increase in value OF stock; then we
have il all to 60 back on our land in
q much more available way than had
we either turned il in or allowed il
10 fall on the land. We avoid, as
much as possible, any of our land
standing idle that is without green
crop growing on it, Too much i'm
portance cannot be attached to the
value OF this point as only small
percentage Of crops growth is to
ken from the soil, the larger proper.
tion is floating around il the atmos
phere, and II we haven our land
ready with a growing crop, our share
goes 70 our neighDor over the fence
who has. We aim to treat our land
all alike. We do not SOW three.
fourths or four-rilths OF our crop
field in wheat, leaving the balance
in corn beds 70 be washed down By
the rains Of time, nor do we leave
our wheat.land without grass to FOL
ow Of some kind Sometimes for
speiiic reasons we break into our
regular rotation; in that case, we
alter our methods of manuriug and
iertilizing We may come to two
year rotation, aud believe, with
she recommendations coming with
COW peas and crimson clover, we
could follow il with most successful
results.
Tillagc is another most important
subject for consideration. | believe
that any land that was not entirely
bare, properly cultivated, and fol.
lowing our rotation would gradually
improve without any manurial as
sissaneo our heavy lands are plow
I'd deep not too much at first. We
endeavor 10 go little deeper each
time VIC pillow that gives Us a little
Of the poorer under soil TO enrich at
time, and eventually leaves as o
deep porous sced-bed 20 absorb the
rains and deal out the moisture 10
the crops as they need them. Csre
should always be taken that land
shci!d not be plowed or worked
wet, it will kill land quicker than
any other one thing. and should
be thoroughly and honestly plowed.
Few men know how to plow, or II
they do, il is not done properly.
Bad cultivation most often accounts
for our poor fields and poor crops.
After blowing, land should be har-
rowed frequently TO keep up the cir
culation. The crust should be broken
after every rain 50 as TO allow the
atmosphere 70 deposit in the pores
OF the earth its share oi nitrogen,
potash and phosphoric acid. One
Of the greatest eve openers | ever
had was given by one of our most
successful st. Mary county farm
ers, whose reputation as wheat
grower was not locally confined.
asked him how he made so much
wheat. His reply was he did IL by
a thorough preparation of the soil.
He said every time he narrowed his
land until it was thoroughly pre-
pared be considered he increased
the yield bushel to the acre, and
found that he was approximately
right This crop growing may be
depression, but | will connect 1t
with the subject by saying ! believe
that heavy cropping is beneficial to
the soil, for it requires heavy ma
nuring and thorough tillage to pro.
duce heavy crops, and as crops feed
by larger proportion from the at
mosphere and carry to the roots the
plant feeding elements, when You
remove the ripened plant you have
the roots, as 1t were, storage bat
terry of plant feeding nourishment
TO help on the next crop. Cropping
Is the surest sign Of soil improve
ment or deterioration, so our aim
should always be to increase the
yield aside from the monetary con-