The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920, 1910-01-22
Professor Massey's
Editorial Page.
The Great Need of Southern Soils
and How to Supply 1t.

n LONG AGO BECAME convinced that any
M farmer whose money crop is either cotton
OA9 wheat need never buy nitrogen in any
form if he farms right in short rotation and
uses the legume crops wisely The Southern pa
pers are always full of advice to the farmer to di-
versify his crops and grow his supplies" The
writers in these papers have very dim idea of
what they mean by Investigation. Mere DIVERSE
fcatiOn and the growing Of variety OF crops is
not what is needed 1t is a rotation properly plan
ned for the increased production in an economical
manner Of his staple crop. Feed for his stock, OF
course, every farmer should produce in abudance.
but there is no need for his growing little of
everything his climate and soil may produce.
While the cotton farmer should not be one-crop
farmer, he should be specialist in the sense that
all his farming should be directed to the increase
OF the productiveness of his land in cotton, and
his rotation of crops should be planned with that
end in view.
If he plans a short rotation in which the peas
come In often on his land he can avoid the pur
chase Of ammonia or nitrogen in fertilizer, and
can get it through the peas and the feeding OF
cattle with these. But there will still be waste
Of the mineral matters from his soil. This will
be smaller with the cotton farmer than any one
else IL nothing but cotton is sold from his land.
but there will. nevertheless. be waste of phos-
phorus and potassium that must be made good
Shall he restore these simply for the production
of sale crop OF cotton, shall he use them
more wisely to increase the growth of the pea
crop and thus get more forage, and more nitrogen
fixed in the soil? 1t seems to me that the best
use Of fertilizers. the true Of Them is to thus
increase the crop that feeds soil and stock and
in the end will do towards the increase of
the productiveness Of his soil rather than to use
them on the sale crop direct
The legume crops, like the cowpea, are greedy
consumers OF phosphoric acid and potash and
their growth as forage and their work as nitro
gen-gathers is greatly increased by liberal use
OF these on the CROP The result will be, that the
farmer has larger amount OF forage to feed
makes more profit from the cattle and has a
larger amount Of manure for his money crop
Save half the cost OF the commercial fertilizer by
leaving out the ammonia and then put on the pea
crop phosphorc acid and potash equal in value TO
the complete fertilizer that would have been used
In short. the great need of the cotton farmer is
cotton grown at less cost. and the cost can be les
sened most by the production of legume forage
and the feeding of 1t with the corn crop on the
farm. Growing abundance of the best forage and
corn and feeding it to live stock, abandoning
the purchase of the low grade complete mixtures
and depending on the phosphorc acid and potash
to make the forage. will do more to cheaper the
cost of the cotton crop than anything that can
be done The cotton farms need nitrogen but
they need 1t in humus-making materials like peas
way without cost. Growing forage and feeding
cattle and hogs is just as profitable to the cotton
farmer as to any other class and live stock lie at
1nent, no matter what the money crop may be-