The Mena weekly star., 1909-11-11
FARM SOIL---GOOD ROADS
The Need of a Cover Crop in the South Use of Stable Manure to Get
 Most Good.

the repor, of tue lectures deliv- ered here last Friday:
 MT. Ward was followed by Pr f. A. D. McNair of the Ar k SIS exs eriment station. He talked earnestly tor sol build- 'simiug so that good re- suits will come and yet lhe s il be increas m fertility, i stead To b ing decreased. He referred to the fact that while in the United States farmers used more modern mac liuefv, ye in Eog- land. France and Germany ih, ' maintained much greater fertility of soil. The average yield i1 the United States per acre for corn is oniy I bushels, while in England 1t is 30 bushels. Average yield in the U. 5. on potatoes is co bushels while in Germany 1t is l59 bushels per acre.
 One of the greatest losses comes to ohr land from the washing by heavy rains. The South suffers more from this than the North. In the North the land is cov- cred with snow and the ground frs zen during the winter months. while iu the South 1t lays bare and loose and often saudy, ready
 to have the best soil washed off and into the streams with every heavy rain. This is especially true with the lands in the moun- tainous portions of Arkansas, and
 from this one source of injury Mir McNair believes the greatest damage comes. He urges the planting of some fall and winter crop to cover and protect the land during the winter. Wheat and
 turf oats are good, but if the
 farmer wishes to blow this land
 for crops the next spring he often
 will hesitate before he goes down in his pocket to buy seed for this
 winter covering.
 To overcome this expense. Mir.
 McNair IS introducing and urg- | ing the use of bur clover It is
 unequaled as cover crop and
 will give an immense quantity of seed to be saved for the next years planting. Another great advantage of the bur clover is that, like other cloyers It draws
 nitrogen into the ground to sup ply the cotton and corn crops,
 which draw so much nitrogen froE; the soil. Bur clover is also
 cor sidered the finest crop to in-
 oculste the ground for alfalfa.
 IL Is claimed that it will do this
 perfectly.
 For improving the soil, Pro-
 lessor McNair calls attention to
 the result oi experiments in plant ling peanuts and following this
 crop with cotton or corn the sec
 ond year. The greatest results
 were shown where the peanut icrop had been used 10 fatien hogs. | As shown by Mir. Ward in his
 talk on stock raising, field of
 peanuts will give results in fat
 tening hogs equal 10 59 bnsheis
 of corn per acre. In MT. McNair's
 talk he carried this on to show
 that according to the actual ex-
 periments the land was added to | in a wonderful degree as to fer
 tility.
 TWO plats oI ground were usei
 in the experiment..
 A Lot No. 1 was planted to pea
 nuts and pastured with hogs. Lot No. was planted to cotton. The next year both were plant cd to cotton. Lot No. l produced |. 700 pounds of seed cotton, while No. 2 produced LOCO pounds. Then. to see how lasting the effect of the peanut crop would : be, both lots wer planted to cot ! ton the following year. Lot No T 1 produced HOO pounds of seed cotton, while No. 2 produced 7ot ? pounds.
 Mir. McNair urged the farmers to care for the stable manure. Hs sail iss value for the entire United states for one year was over tz 900, GOO, GOO. or more than tnt ? corn crop. Don't let 1t be piled ! ID 10 heat, for 1t loses 50 per cen ' oi it's value. Put il in your l'nt :, while it is fresh, then nothing | r lost. Build up the land you art C farming. Don't wear it out ane
 then expect to take another p'ees d of virgin soil and ruin Il. oucf !. a plan won't pay the farmer 2