St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1911-08-26
PRINCIPLE OF
GOOD FARMING.

Work in the Southern States 1t was
found necessary to outline some OF
the fundamental principles OF good
farming and to insist that the filters
of the soil should become familiar
with them and practice them as
first step in the betterment OF 1arIn
life. These principles are as folioWs.
III Prepare deep and thorough
" pulverized seed bed, well dralnec
break in the fall to a depth OF
10 or 10 inches. according to tn
soil. with implements that will nc
bring too much of the subsol to to
surface. (The foregoing depths snoul
be reached gradually if the field
broken with an ordinary turnln
nIow. If a disk plow is used, ]
is safe to break to the above depths
at once.)
~ Use seed of the best varietJ
intelligently selected and carefuii9
13) In cultivated crops give the
rows and the plants in the rows
space suited to the plant, the SOIL
and the climate.
"a Use intensive tillage during
the growing period of the crops.
~ Secure a high content OF hui
mus in the soil by the use of legumes,
barnyard manure, farm refuse' anu
commercial fertilizers.
(6) Garry out a systematic crop
rotation with a winter cover crop
on Southern farms.
(7) Accomplish more work IN q
day by using more horse power and
better implements.
(S) Increase the farm stock to
the extent of utilizing all the waste
products and idle lands of the farm:
(9) Prduce all the food required
TO, the men and animals on the farm.
1O) Keep an account OF each
farm product, in order to know Wnlcn
the gain or loss arises.
PREPARATION OF THE SEED
BED.
Prepare a deep and thoroughly
pulverized seed bed, we'll drained !,
break in the fall to depth OF 8, ~
or IL inches, according to the soil
| with implements that will not bring
too much of the subsoil to the sur
face. (The foregoing depths should
be reached gradually if a field is
broken with an ordinary plow. Ii
disk plow is used, it is safe to &C
to the above depths at once.)
1t is the purpose of the Farmers
! Cooperative Demonstration Work to
insist upon such preparation OF the
soil as will furnish the best feeding
grounds for the roots and such as
will provide at all times plenty o.
moisture and food for the growing
plants. It is better to secure II
or II inches of wel1-drained, thor
oughly soil filled with humus than tt
go deeper at the expense of less thor
ough preparation.
The presence of heat, air and mois
ture is essential to chemical and germ
action in the preparation of plan
food in the soil. The depths tt
which these penetrate the soil in thu
South depend upon the depth of thu
blowing, provided the soil is wei
drained. There is no use in polwin.
down into subsoil full of water.
1t has been proved without ques
ton that the roots of plants penetrat
the soil deeper and feed deeper il
deeper ploWed land. Thus, in gen
eral, it may be stated that when tn
soil is plowed inches deep tn
plants have 3 inches of food, whel
plowed 6 inches deep they have
Inches of food, and when plowed L
Inches deep they have 10 inches 0
food. The fact that the bottom por
tons of the plowed land are not a
rich in available plant food as tn
top portions shows the necessity o
getting more air and heat down t
them by deeper tillage.
The soil requirements most essen
tiai to the growth of plants are hea
land moisture. Deep breaking insure
air and heat at greater depth.
For plants to do their best Their
must be in the soil a constant suppl
of moisture, so that film of waite
can develop the soil particles an
absorb nutritive elements. The hal
roots of plants drink this for nourish
ment. If there is any more tina
enough to serve as films for the sol
particles and capillary water, Their
lis too much, and it should be draine
off. This can be determined by dig
ging hole 200 inches deep. II ther
lis standing water in the bottom 9
the hole, it indicates that there
too much water in the soil or subsoi
The capacity of given soil t
hold film and capillary moisture de
ponds upon how finely it is pulverize
and upon the amount of humus i
lit. Unplowed lands retain but littl
water. Thoroughly pulverized so
!. inches deep can not store enoug
q to make a good crop.
y In all Southern States there ar
J every year periods of drought, some
times not serious, but generally sui
fciently protracted to reduce tn
crop. The remedy for this is in
creased storage capacity for mois
ture. This can be accomplished b
deep and thorough tillage and b
filling the soil with humus (partl
, decayed vegetation). The effect {
deep tillage has been explained. TIL
effect of humus to increase great
the storage capacity of soils for waite
and to reduce evaporation. A poun
of humus will store seven and ONT
half times as much mature as
pound of sand, and the sand wi
lose it's water by evaporation thre
and one-half times more rapidly tina
the humus. A clay soil will stor
only about one-fourth as much moi:
ture as humus, and will lose it b
evaporation twice as rapidly.
Plants use an enormous quantit
of water. An acre of good corn wi
, absorb and evaporate during ii
growth nearly 10 inches of watel
About three-fourths of this amour
will be required during the las
seventy five days of it's growth, @
) at the rate of inches of water
month. This is in addition to eval
Grafton from the soil, which, eve
with the retarding influence of tn