The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-03-07
Impoverished Lands.

NO one reason can be given for i'm
poverished land, says the Farmers
Review. In a general way, it may
be stated that such lands have not
hau good care. as will be readily
seen by looking into the history of
any piece of impoverished land. 1t
will be found, probably in every case,
mat such lands have been neglected.
IL VIII also frequently be found that
such lands have not been properly
titled. and as a result have become
cloddy, hard. foul with weeds and un-
responsive. Perhaps they have been
left half fallow to bake in the hot
sun and lose their humus. Dry dust
is a consumer of humus. and there
is no doubt that in many cases the
top layer of soil has it's humus ex-
hausted by chemical action, just as
the vegetable matter in a dust closet
is entirely dissipated by the chemical
action going on in the mass of dry
dust. The loss of humus Vegetable
matter) is one of the greatest the
soil can sustain.
Nature has been working for CEN
turtles to supply vegetable matter to
the soil and to keep up the supply. In
all regions were climatic conditions
are favorable. the soil is always COW
cred with vegetation except in the
winter season. Every year a large
part of this vegetation dies and be-
comes incorporated with the soil. MAX
ing it dark-colored, rich and mellow
This enables the soil to hold an in
creased amount of water makes the
temperature of the soil more uniform
increases chemical activities and sup
plies plant food. When man takes
possession of a piece of land he should
remember this role that nature has
been playing and endeavor to initiate
her in keeping up the supply of
humus. But on the "impoverished'
land it will be found that this has
been neglected. The humus has not
been supplied to the soil from time
to. time, and the supply has there
fore been gradually lessened. The re-
suit is that the soil becomes very dry
in dry weather and very muddy in
wet weather. The clay soil becomes
lumpy and the sandy soil leachy.
This explains why stable manure
gives such excellent results on OK
hausted soils. 1t furnishes not only
plant food but humus. The blowing
under of a green crop has the same
results and rotations are therefore
| advantageous in keeping up the sup
| ply of humuS. Had a sensible rOta-
| ton been practiced on most of these
| lands, they would never have become
impoverished, as there would have
| been a good sod to turn under now
| and then. Catch crops are frequent
ly used to replenish the humus. when
| the main crop is taken off the land
| early enough in the season to permit
of a crop being grown in late sum-
mer and early fall. to be plowed un-
| der in late fall or in the spring. Prof.
| Bailey says: Most of the depleted
lands of New York are suffering more
for humus than for plant-food." Where
a man has a muck swamp and has
| lands that have been exhausted of
their humus, he has at hand the
means OF their regeneration. The
muck consists almost wholly of veg
etable matter. and the problem is to
apply this to the lands in question
Where possible it appears best to
compost this with barnyard manure.
But good many apply the raw
muck directly to the land without
composing.
One OF the most common causes of
unresponsive lands is the lack OF
proper drainage. The water table ie
too high in the soil during most of The
wear The farmer has perhaps rea-
soned that wet land should stand
drouth well and that therefore it is
| not necessary to drain. Just the OPP
| posite is the case. The wet lands en-.
courage a small surface development
of roots and when the drouth comes
! most of these roots are in the zone
| of dry soil and wither when they lose
| moisture The same soil drained
would have warmed UP more in the
| spring and the roots would have
struck deeper and would have been
in moist soil when the dry time came.