The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-05-21

country rich as long as the farmers
of that country have to buy nitrogen
TO feed their staple crops. Nor will
farming ever make any country rich
while the farmers of that country
permit their soils to wash away or to
wear OUT for lack of a sufficient
supply of humus.
Southern farmers are grievous Of
tenders against good agricultural
practice in both these respects. Every
year they spend millions Of dollars
for nitrogen in commercial forms
when they could have gathered
enough for practically all of their
crops from the air. On millions Of
acres Of cultivated land the crops are
limited each year by insufficient water
supply during dry spells and by the
general lack Of organic matter in the
soil Until both these conditions are
changed, the Southern farmer is not
going to get as much as he should
for days work; is not going to
have as much as he should at the
end of the year; is not going to con-
tribute to the welfare of his commu-
nifty and his State as he might and
should.
At once the surest and the most
economical way to correct these evils
is by the growing of leguminous crops
not the haphazard planting of
pea patch here or an alfalfa plot
there but by the systematic planting
Of both summer and winter-g growing
legumes in a rotation adopted to in
dividual conditions and surrounn-
ings.
The legumes will get nitrogen from
the air, and save millions of dollars
now spent for commercial fertilizers;
they will add humus to the soils, i'm
proving it's texture, increasing its
water-holding capacity, making more
available the plant food it contains,
preventing gulleying, and making it
easier to work; they will supply the
best and cheapest feeds in the world,
thus enabling the farmer to keep
more stock and to feed them better
they will increase the yields of all the
staple crops and enable the farmers
to make a profit on thousands Of
acres Of land now idle and unprofit-
able; they will, in short if intelligent
ly used, put the farmers of the South
on the highway to prosperity and in
dependence.
To try to farm without them is, un-
der all ordinary conditions, wanton
folly; and the results of such farming
are to be seen today in worn-out
fields, quilted hillsides, poor crops,
poor stock and unattractive homes.
This issue is largely taken up with
the experiences of men who have
learned to make money growing le-
gumes, and what they have done every
year other farmers can, if he will.
IHcic may ne ldTIlerS VINO can
make money without growing these
crops; but such men are rare. and
there are very few men in the South
engaged in general farming who
could not increase their profits by
planting them more literally
Let every reader resolve right now
to raise an abundant supply of legume
forage for all his live stock-enough
cowpeas and soy beans and peanuts
for his pigs and calves to Craze on all
summer and fall, and enough to
make hay for all his stock next win
ter. He will want besides this to
grow, If possible, this year enough
seed for his own planting next season.
Let him also arrange to seed all lands
cultivated this season to a cover crop
next fail.
When he does this he will not only
make bigger crops, but he will be
able to feed his work stock and to
make pork and beef and milk at the
lowest cost. In short, he will be on
the open road to prosperity and in
dependence.-Progre Farmer
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