The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1911-12-08
TRUCKER COMPELLED
TO ROTATE Crops
FOR GOOD RESULTS
RELATIVE DIFFERENCE OF SOIL
EXHAUSTION IN VARIOUS
PLANTS.
NOT A SCIENCE BUT ART
Opportunity Offered for Every Mem
Der Of the Family to Earn Some
thing and Help to Maintain the
Home With Garden Products.
(By r. r. DeDerry, Assistant Com
missioner Of Agriculture.)

LlllooAOhCl Va AS ACultuAO'J
Truck growing, like farming, is
not science but an art, so l shall
not attempt to lay down any hard and
fast rules for men to follow in case
they see fit to engage in growing We
getables for market. No two grow
ers will agree upon all Of the details
Of the growth Of plants in the eds
or their cultivation in the field, Meth
er will any two pieces of land make
the same response to the growers eff
forts, though given identically the
same treatment, nor will any variety
give the same results when grown
upon different soils or by different
men; but there are some general
principles that are alike applicable
to all growers and all soils, and it
is to these general principles that l
shall try to conhne my remarks to-
day.
Chief among the advantages is that
as rule greater returns being re-
ceived from lands devoted to truck
growing, less land is required than
for general farming, and this consti-
tutes an advantage that will have the
careful consideration of every man
who is called upon to purchase land
in this, the day of rapidly increasing
prices on that kind of property
A crop of corn producing 90 bushels
per acre, will remove from the soil
81 lbs. of nitrogen, 1876 lbs. of phos-
phoric acid and liz lbs. of potash
and will have of it's total weight 1888
per cent. of water, while a crop OF
tomatoes of $4,000 lbs. or 300 bush
els will remove only 2S.8 lbs. of nj
trogen, 8 lbs. Of phosphoric acid and
1876 lbs. of potash and contain 1854
per cent. water. At present valua-
ton of these plant foods the corn
takes from the soil $1174 worth,
while the tomatoes only take away
1854 worth, and this in spite of the
pounds of plant food than does the
corn, but it is of the cheaper phos-
phoric acid and potash, while the
corn takes away the more costly nj
trogen to nearly twice the amount
that the tomatoes do.
The trucker is also compelled to
| practice a systematic rotation If he
would avoid the different diseases
which are liable to attack his crops
| if grown upon the same land year
after year, and as truck crops remove
varying amounts of plant food from
the soil, just as do staple crops, the
balance of the different elements is
very easily maintained.
You will probably understand bet
ter if l explain that one crop will
remove more Potash than another,
while the Other will remore vome nj
trogen, and still another will take
out more phosphoric acid, and If
any one crop is grown continuously
upon the same piece of land, that
land becomes exhausted of the parti-
cular element Of which that plant
requires most, and it gets into such
condition that it will not grow lnaxI-
mum crops OF that one but if it is
grown in rotation with crops which
require more Of the other two, then
the elements of plant food remain
upon a more even balance and each
crop does better in it's turn than IL
grown continuously on the same
land.
Another advantage is that less land
being required upon which to operate,
means more homes, and more homes
means more churches, more schools
and more of that coming in contact
with each other in a social way, that
constitutes for the average man and
woman one OF the chief charms of
life, and without which the Joy OF
living would be greatly lessened for
the country dweller
So much hand labor being neces-
sary in truck growing, it offers much
better opportunities for all the peo-
pie of the community to get employ
ment even very small children can do
a good deal Of the work, such as
picking berries, transplating toma-
toes, tying and helping to gather
them; and, in addition, the greatly
increased tonnage produced per acre,
which the r. K. have to carry away,
furnishes work for many extra men.
While 1t is absolutely necessary
that we have food to eat and clothes
to wear and food for our stock, it we
only produce what we and they eat
and wear out we are no better off at
the end OF the year than we were at