Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1908-12-30

MAINTAINING bHo INCREASING
FERTILITY % soil.


/ FNNt"NfgFf
| n ibe-e II . subject ~ more VIA
Import IHee 10 ne people ~ The lnlfs
States ~ This time than thai ~ mali
tanning and Increasing the fefilllfy q
our s0iIs. II hasn't yet come 10 ID
writer's attention
With The people ~ foreign counirie
calllnE for more and more ~ the prod
uets ~ our soil each year. the pOpuIa
tion ~ our own country increasing b.
millions every year and demandlnJ
greater production from our farms
our rich original soil upon which W,
! have been depending too largely dur
/ Ing The past three decades being prac
tlcally all under cultivation. excep
a small area which may yet be 70
claimed through irrigation: with oul
older cultivated lands slowly but sure
ly decreasing In productive ability. 1,
u not well that We pause and consider
the welfare Of the soil upon which W.
depend for our very existence7
The average American farmer has
been land robber from the very be
ginning He has slaughtrd millions
upon millions OF acres OF forests, and
thus deprived the soil OF Its natural
protection. He has then robbed II OF
its fertility stored up by nature dur.
ing the past thousands OF years, and
he has added little or nothing In re.
turn. When these tracts have failed
through poverty TO yield him an abun-
dance he has moved on to the deep
black soil Of the prairie, and with his
four, six and eight-horse teams is do.
ing his best to accomplish her ruin.
This condition Of things must be
changed and our farmers brought to
see that theirs and their country's
greatest good lies In nurturing and
enrichng our soils rather than in rob.
bling and making them desolate.
The Problem of the South.
The south has, we believe, a great.
er problem before her along the line OF
soil retaining than has any other
section of our country, because of hel
having larger proportion of washed
semi-starved land than any other sec
tion of the United States; but her
farmers have this to encourage them
that, while hers is the greatest need
yet she has, because of her location
and the rapid awakening of her farm.
ers to a realization of her need, the
surest and most rapid means at hand
for remedying her trouble.
In order to remedy an evil, we must
know its cause. The cause OF the soil
poverty of the south, we believe, can
be traced to the following sources:
First, her almost universal (until re-
cently) system of cropping with crops
requiring clean cultivation; second,
her neglect Of legumous or nitrogen
gathering crops; third, her neglect OF
grass or sod-producing crops; fourth.
the sale Of the bulk Of her products
as raw material; fifth, the neglect OF
proper system of rotation; sixth,
shallow and insufficient working OF
her soils, and, last, her almost univer.
sal neglect Of live stock ON her farms.
Two other causes there are for her
sad condition of soil depletion beyond
the means of her farmers to remedy
except as they counteract these forces
by means within their reach They
are the torrential rainfalls that her
soils have to withstand and the long,
hot summer season, which, combined
with her heavy rainfall, causes the
humus of her soils to be burned out
very rapidly.
There is probably no one thing that
the soils of the southeast need more
than sufficient amount of humus. |
was about to say that the only thing
her heavy clay soils need is an abun-
dance of humus, but will qualify the
statement and add to the prescription,
and some soils may need
an occasional application of potash.
These two things (humus and phos-
phorous), / am thoroughly convinced
lIOuu q COu6iucl dDlt N dCllCdl ldi III ga
perience, will make southern clays
produce almost as virgin soils.
Live Stock to the Rescue.
But our soils have not the humus,
and, while we are supplying 1t to the
land, we must have continually in
mind that the farmer has a living to
make, and perhaps debts to pay also,
while engaged in rebuilding his soil.
So we must avoid with the greatest
care wastes of all sorts, and this is
the point at which live stock comes TO
the aid of the soil builder, allowing
him to utilize all manner of humus-
making plants as stock food before
them with the soils, thus
receiving twofold profit. we may say.
1t should be of great encouragement
to US that we have in our section such
an array of leguminous plants or
plants that are able to draw free nit
rogen from the air and store It for
use of crops that come later in the
rotation.
1t is a splendid thing for us, too
that these leguminous plants are as
valuable for humus-makers as any,
and happen at the same time to be