The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-10-30

Marked Success In Increasing Fertility
or Land by Growing Winter Cover
Crop.

The Columbia correspondent of the
Augusta Chronicle writes interesting
ly Of a successful effort to improve
sand hill land and grow profitable
crops without using barn yard man.
ure. He says:
One frequently hears 1t said that it
is impossible to maintain the fertility
Of the soil without the use of live
stock. 1t Is supposed that only by
using barn-yard manure the organic
matter In the soil can be profitably
maintained. Experiments with win
ter cover crops. however are rapidly
disproving this theory. BY growing
vetch. burr cloever. or crimson clover,
and either cutting them of for hay
or turning them under as a manure
crop the poorest Of soil with the prop
er fertilization and cultivation can be
brought up to high state of fertility.
An excellent example of this fact
has been demonstrated on the Con
xales Farm. near Columbia. In the
spring Of 1905 Mr.. Gonzales took hold
Of nine acres Of the poorest kind of
sand-hill land. The previous crop was
Bundle Dee cotton, the stalks being
not more than six inches high. The
clay In this land IL 80 deep down that
1t has never yet been discovered.
The first plowing given this land
was shallow. but 1t has been gradual
ly deepened until In the fall of 1908
1t was plowed twelve inches deep with
q disc plow. The fertilizers have been
only acid phosphate. and potash.
Three hundred pounds of the former
and one hundred pounds of the latter
per acre applied before planting each
crop except once each year q small
amount OF cotton seed meal was ad-
ded.
The first crop planted In the spring
Of 1905 was sorghum. only part of
II was large enough to cut for hay, the
remainder being so small 1t had to be
plowed under. In the fall OF 1906 the
land was sowed In oats and vetch.
Only small growth was secured. The
vetch grew only on about half the
ield. a. the land had not been innoc-
ulated.
The oats and vetch were cut for
hay. the yield being light. In the
spring of 1907 after the oats and
vetch were removed the field was SOW
ed in peas. The yield was better than
that Of the oats and vetch but still
was not heavy. After the peas were
moved. vetch and oats were sowed
again. This was cut for hay in. the
spring Of 1908. The yield was. better
than the previous year as more Of the
land had become innoculated for
vetch. After the hay was cut, corn
was planted, intending to harvest it
for grain. The yield was estimated at
80 bushels per acre. but it was put
in the silo instead of .husking.
In October 1908. soil was taken
from the part Of the field where vetch
had grown most luxuriantly and scat
tered over the parts where it had not
grown before in order to inoculate the
soil.
An application of fifteen hundred
pounds Of air slaked lime per acre
was made in>order to correct the ac-
idity Of the soil. Oats and vetch were
then sowed. The vetch grew over the
entire field for the first time. The
crop was cut for silage, yielding nine
tons per acre, or the equivalent of a
little more than two tons of hay per
acre.
The silage has since been fed to
dairy cows with marked success. Fol
lowing the crop of oats and vetch COW
peas were planted in June, 1909.
These made a yield of approximately
two and one-half tons per acre. A
heavier growth rarely ever having
been seen.
This shows conclusively what can
be done In building up land without
the use Of barnyard manure, and by
judicious use of fertilizer, and winter
cover crops. But little ammonia was
used, the vetch and cowpeas having
supplied the larger portion. The yield
of cotton in 1905 and the sorghum in
1906 was almost insignificant but this
year. the fourth year after beginning
with the land Mr.. Gonzales with only
moderate amount Of fertilizer has Sc
cured yield of four and one-half
tons OF hay per acre.