The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1904-02-11
! 70 Improve Old Fields.
Southern Farm Magazine.]


[Southern Farm Magazine.]
NEARLY all over the South old
fields are seen. They are the re-
suit OF style Of farming that was very
general before the Civil War. While
land was cheap and labor abundant it
was considered far cheaper to clear
lands and cultivate them continually
until they became exhausted. They
were then turned out on the commons
and allowed to rem ain without any at
tempt for their restoration.
Since the new style OF agriculture
has come into practice in the South a
good many farmers have gone to work
to reclaim these old abandoned fields
and to bring them into condition OF
fertility sufficiently great to justify the
expense of their cultivation. One OF
the best methods of reaplng some prof.
its from these old fields is to break
them up and plant them i'll yellow
locust, that in a few years will prove
as remunerative as any portion of the
farm. The rapidly growing demand
for durable fencing posts leads one to
the belief that every scre planted will
within fifteen years yield return ct
500 per acre. This Is big Item, and
it becomes still larger when We con-
slider that the noble cedar forests 0! tie
South have become weli-nigh exhaust
cd, and nothing will so we'll take their
place as locust forests. Another way
Of restoring them that may prove prci-
table is to SOW them with scaly-haIk
hickory-nuts. The trees will bear
h,ckory-nuts within fifteen years. TIE
demand for second-growth hickory for
lent work, buggy spokes, axe handles,
etc, is continually increasing. In six
or eight years after sowing these hick-
DRY groves might be thinned out and a
large number OF hoop-poles could be
secured that would pay the cost OF all
the work that has been done.
But while al! this profit may result
the largest profit would be in the re-
n.wal of fertility of the soil. Nothing
will do so much to bring about this
restoration as the subsoiilng which the
hickory roots would give the soil, and
also the mulch which the hickory
leaves would form upon the surface.
Where the hickory sprouts come up
| thick upon the surface they will hold
thu leaves and not permit them to be
swept away from off the land by the
| wind. This mulch would soon bring
about virgin fertility.
In the pine regions OF the South ar
old field turned out soon become.
covered with young pine trees that
grow up and protect its surface from
the burning rays of the sun. The &C
emulation of pine straw upon thl
| 3uIlAC0 ACtS S1S u MulCA3 0uA III a A0N
wears the fertility OF the soil will b
partially restored.
Steps should be taken to rid th.
country of such evidences OF unthrif
and disregard for the primary prlnci
pies of successful agriculture as oil
fields. The South ought to have arbo
days every year. There should be al
intelligent movement in this direction
aud the devastations that have beef
made in the past should be repaired
The sell is machine that converts it
pl nt-food into bread grains and grasse
for the sustenance of man and beast
1t produces the raw material for on
clothing, and gives US the mean
whereby we may live. 1t indlrectl,
feeds, clothes and shelters us, and sucl
a machine requires to be CAREFUL,
guarded, kept in good repair and in