The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1911-02-10
TITLE SOIL,

ldIM pIOuuCtb AOI uOAuo use anu W
sell at a price the people in our towns
and cities can afford to pay, we must
increase the fertility of our soils. Our
greatest asset is the fertility of our
soil. Just in proportion in which our
soils are worn out, in that proportion
is our prosperity diminished. No
living man has ever acquired the art
Of growing good crops of grains.
grasses, cotton, or vegetables on poor
land. It takes good land as well as
good preparation, good seed, and in
tensive cultivation to make good
crops.
A fertile soil is deep, we'll drained.
full of humus, and contains plenty OF
Of plant food in an available form.
Deep Solve deepen soils for
the following reasons: First, to in
crease the water holding capacity;
second, to let the water escape from
the surface without running over the
ground and washing 1t off; third, to
permit the air to circulate freely for
a considerable depth in the soil;
fourth, to secure crops against drouth
by enabling the roots to go down to
perpetual moisture; fifth, to increase
the area from which plant may OBJ
tain food.
Drainage.-Poorly drained soil can
not be properly prepared in the spring;
the rapid evaporation will keep the
soil cold regardless of the temper
ature of the air, thereby, retarding
the growth of the crop; the roots Of
the growing plants will spread out
near the surface and when the soil
dries out during the hot summer the
crop fires" or burns up before ma
turity; large quantities of water evap-
Grating from the soil, makes it COM
pact and solid and heavy to work.
Ditches-Broad shallow bitches
made with a pillow and xump scrapper
are by far preferable to bitches made
with a spade. The broad shallow
ditch is much better for drainage and
can be easily crossed with plows and
cultivators and thereby kept clean.
Humus.-The soil must be kept full
Of life-giving vegetable matter or
humus. 1t must be in a loose, porous
and open condition so that air, water
and pant roots can easily come into
contact with every grain Of it. The
soil must be full of vegetable matter
to prevent it from packing after every
heavy rain and to Increase the storage
capacity for water and thereby en-
able it to hold enough water to carry
the crop through the longest drouth
in the summer though heavily fer.
tilted. The soil must be full of humus
to furnish food for the microscopic
life that makes the plant food In the
soil available for plants. 1t matters
not how much plant food the soil
may contain, it will not yield maxi.
mum crops unless bacteria are pres.
ent to make the plant food available
for crops The number of bacteria
in the soil closely follows the amount
of humus in 1t.
Rotation of Crops.-By a suitable
rotation of cotton, corn and peas, oats
followed by peas, peanuts, soy beans
or lespedeza every acre of our sol,
that is devoid of vegetable matter may
be filled full In three years. The di
versiication Of crops, the turning un
der of corn and cotton stalks, oat
pea, soy bean, velvet bean, and othel
stubble, grass and trash, and the ap
soon fill our WORKOUT cotton land full
of life-giving vegetable matter o.
hume.
Plant Food.-The soil must contain
an abundance of plant food in al
available form in order to yield maxi
mum crops. Fourteen or fifteen of thu
elementary substances enter into tn
composition of plants. Cultivated
soils generally contain a sufficien
supply of all the elements necessar.
to plant growth, except potassium
PHOSPHORUS, and nitrogen. Missis
sippi soils contain an abundance o
potassium in an available form. Gu
soils are deficient in only two ele
ments-nitrogen and PHOSPHORUS.
Nitrogen.-A rotation of crops In
Guiding leguminous crops 1.-The eatin
of such leguminous crops as lespe
deza, cowpeas, peanuts, soy beans
velvet beans, and the most availabl
concentrate, ~cottenseed meal, by goo
stock and the application of all tn
manur obtained from the stock to tn
soil will place as much nitrogen in tn
soil as is necessary to produce max
mum crops.
We are told in a bulletin issued b
the Louisiana station that one acre
Spanish peanuts grown OF compar'
, lively poor pine land contained 10
l pounds of nitrogen, worth at CONNIE
cial fertilizers value at least $40. A
acre of velvet beans contained 19
pounds and an acre of cowpeas IL
pounds. These crops made from tw
to three and a half tons Of feedstuh
t richer in food elements than whes
bran. When such nitrogen gatherin
! plants can be grown on comparativ
= ly poor pine land and fed to goo
stock without serious loss In ferti
che Changed Hsr Mind.