The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-01-12
THE ~JUDGESHIP.

covering it with : clover, p~eaVines,
rakings from his forests, etc.
h conclusion was in accord win
the inference from what an Old uncle
told me when | asked him how my
grandfather, nearly n century ago,
| MANFRED his cotton patch. He did
not n it" he replied, h clear
ed a piece of.new ground every three
or four years and thus managed to
have fresh ground for the cotton
ground that had been shaded for
thousands Of years while humus was
being accumulated.
But this latitude theory fails to
account for the different degrees of
fertility in States equally distant from
the equator, as 4 ten year average OF
the crops in different States proves.
AS examples: Illinois makes nearly a
bushel of corn and Il ha!f bushel OF
wheat per acre more than indiana
does, but in 1903 lndiana's tobacco
crop was. per acre. 1928 pounds larger
| than that of Illinois; this ten ear
average shows that Tennessee beats
Nor,h Carolina Ill bushels of wheat
2nd $50 bushels of corn per acre, and
it shows that Alabama beats Georgia l
bushel OF wheat and ? bushels of
! corn, while the tobacco report for 1903
/ shows that Georgia beat Alabama by
13S pounds per acre.
Why these differences? To this
question there seems no reasonable
answer except that the chemical COM
position of the earth's surface in one
State is not the same as hat in
another. and that q lack Of a full sup
ply of any one OF the mineral ele-
ments which serve as o for a plant,
must prevent it from reaching the
perfection of which it is capable.
This answer carries me back to the
old uncle spoken Of. There is a
small creek on the farm where he
spent his boyhOod days, in which he
told me. he often found mussels; but
for the last sixty years, at least. no
such bivalve has been seen in its
waters. What became of then?
After the trees We're cut down and
ceased to furnish mouths for the rain
water. that water had to find its way
through the soil to the springs and
other outlets, and in doing so it car
ried with it some of the soluble ma
terlalS which make uO the ashes of
plants, among them being the lime,
OF which the shells of mollusks are
mostly composed. If, then, we knew
enough of the chemical elements in
the lands of different States and of
the texture and din of the strata. we
might account for the difference in
fertility. The direction of the rivers
in North Carolina and in Tennessee
a. IA MS that the f4rrler StatA, -o;.L
its greater slope towards the outlets
of its rivers. more easily loses the
soluble clements of it's soil, may ac-
count for that remarkable difference
in the corn crops of the two States,
but there is little to guide us in other
States, except that the narrowing strip
OF the country between the Atlantic
and the Appalachian Highlands.
4 rom I m nyf fh,,c
the chance for the loss of the soluble
elements of the soil. may assist US in
explainin~ the somewhat gradual in
crease in fertility from south to north.
1t is a regrettable mistake to attri-
h'1te n SUPERIOR fertility of tie
North Atlantic States to superior en-
l~lghtenment; many persons from
those States came down into North
Carolina after the wal and engaged
in farming. as is remembered by our
old people; bat every one of them
failed and went into some other bust
ness. And it is to be hoped that a
more satisfactory inquiry into the
question in all its phases may lead
the advisors of our farmers to dis
cover the means and methods by
which the fertility of our fields may
be made equal to that of any other
fields.
In conclusion, let me suggest an
objection to Mr.. Williamson's plan of
stunting his com SO as to check the
growth of the stalk. The stalk is
the StorehOuse which contains the
nourishment for the grains; and
hence the larger the stalk, the greater
should be the number of ears. In
stead, then, of stunning the stalk, it
seems to be the duty of the farmer
70 discover the method Of enabling
that stalk, after reaching its maxi
mum size, to bear the most ]abundan
fruit.
II this can be done. we shah NOT
only ONertako the North Atlantic
states. but. Si7ce +hair corn S+nI,-~
are much smaller than ours, we shall
soon be far ahead of them.
Let me advise, then, that Mr.. Poe
and all others who are interested in
ms problem, gather up and
the experiences of individual armer
here and there in the South, whose
crops have gone far beyond the aver
age ana frame Tor us a law of
growth which can insure the pros
perity so much desired.
=. Y. GRADY.