Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-09-14
EDUCATION SOUGHT BY A POOR
Roy


]. c. p. Lawrenceville, Ca. writes:
am anxious to obtain an agricultural ed
ucation. but would have to go to some
place where I could work and earn part
OF my experience. have seen II stated that
all sonls have practically the same chemi-
cal composition: that the worn-out hill
side contains just as much plant food as
the rich bottom lands, but that In the
poor soil the plant food was not in sol
uble condition and the plant could not
use It. Is this correct2 II the plant food
Is in the poor soil and is made soluble
will the soil be made poor again by grow
ing crops on 1t and not letting them de-
cav on the soil and not applying any fer
tilizer of any kind? Or Is the supply of
plant food in the soil inexhaustible2
II will pay you 10 make any sacrifice
to obtain an education such as you have
In mind. because an education will enable
you TO double or treble your earning ca
paclty. and will give you a knowledge OF
nature which will enable you to become
a more intelligent and successful farmer
than the farmer without this knowledge.
II Is becoming more difficult from year to
wear to farm successfully in the south be-
cause of the high price Of labor and the
exhaustion of the virgin fertility Of our
soils and the necessity Of using compii-
tations to maintain soil fertility. There
fore, Il becomes increasingly more i'm
portant for a man to have an education
In all the principles involved In crop
production, and the growing, feeding and
management of animals.
All soils are not equal in fertility. The
rich bottom land contains larger store
of plant food than the wornout upland.
This is shown by the difference in the
14la IN
the total amount of plant food and the
amount of available plant FOOD, depending
or the character Of rock from which they
are derived, the conditions which they
have passed through In previous years,
and the character of crops grown on
them. For instance. the rich soils of the
Red River valley at one time produced 40
bushels OF wheat per acre without diff
Guilty. but in many instances where wheat
has been grown on them continuously,
the yield has fallen now 10 Is bushels.
This is due to the exhaustion of the
available plant food they once contained.
Previous to the war comparatively little
commercial plant food was used in the
south. Now we spend millions of dollars
for commercial fertilizers for the purpose
OF supplying to the soil a part of the
plant food needed by the growing crop in
an available form. II II true, that thin
worn red hillsides are not exhausted in
the sense Of being devoid or pant food.
While they do not contain as much total
plant food as rich bottom land, yet they
contain enough TO grow crops FOR long
period of time II IL can be rendered avail
able. To render this food available we
must rotate crops, because different
crops make different demands on the fer
fifty Of the soil. For instance, a fegume,
such as the cowpee, gathers its nitrogen
from the air. The cereals, as wheat or
oats, takes IL out of the soil. One crop
therefore putting It In the soil for an
other crop when a rotation is practiced.
and so with other elements OF soil fer
tility. We can take a very thin poor soil
TO commence with and by growing
legumes on II and using some phos-
pilates and potash bring 1t under cultiva-
ton in a comparatively short time, and
then If we follow crop rotations and feed
a part OF the crops on the farm and save
the farmyard manure and return It to the
soil, we can build It UP. When we feed
ton Of cotton seed meal containing $50
worth OF fertility. so per cent OF It may
be returned to the soil in the droppings
OF the animals, which amounts as you see
TO $24 So by developing animal indus
tries we can make crop rotation profitable
and build up our soils so they will grow
more cotton. This win enable us to cut
down the area devoted to cotton and
grow a greater variety o. crops. and then
when We grow this greater variety of
crops. we can develop our animal indus
tries and feed the crops at home and
make a part of our money out OF porn
milk and beef. This is the system we
must follow to enrich our soils and make
the south permanently prosperous. 1t is
also the system by which we can raise
the price OF cotton to a profitable point
and keep IL there.