The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-05-18
PLANT MORE LEGUMES; WHY
DON'T YOUG

4
AS long ago as the time of Virgil
it was known that it benefited the
land to grow on it occasionally a crop
of clover or vetehes or lupines. Not
until recent years was it known ex-
actIy why these and related crops
the legumes-were able to give the
farmer a rich return of grain or for
age and at the same time enrich the
land on which they grow, although
for a score of centuries-and for
much longer. no doubt-the best far
meTs have grown these crops as a
Irregular part of their rotation, ana
have profited by So doing.
In fact. it would seem strange that
in this good year 1911, there should be
and need of our, or anyone's urg-
ing the farmers of the South to grow
more of these crops. One who con-
sidered only the great value OF leg
umes to the man who wishes to do
the best farming, and the long time
| this value has been known of all men,
would almost certainly conclude 1t
! SENS to us, that every farmer would
regard it as an essential part OF his
work to plant every possible acre TO
| some of these crops.
This is what one might reasonably
expect; but it is far from what n
would find were he to start out on a
tour of observation yer the farms OF
the South. Instead, we fear, he would
find thousands and thousands OF
acres, already poor, on which corn or
cotton has been planted further to de-
plete the land; he. would find thou
sands and thousands of acres of a
left bare all last winter, getting poor
er with every heavy rain, upon which
a cover crop would have grown, Civ
ing a fair yield of hay or pasturage
and making the land better; he
would find thousands and thousands
of acres left idle all sumem long
land which, if planted to one of these
legume crops might yield large guam
titles of the feed so much needed by
Southern farm animals and leave the
land richer at the seasons end; he
would find thousands and thousands
of acres on which, instead of legum-
nous crops being grown regularly
every two or three years., as WOULD
naturally be expected, they are
grown only at long intervals, and in
some cases scarcely at all.
All farmers know that the legumes !
are good for their soil, good for Their
live stock, and good for their peck
etbooks, yet nine farmers out of every
ten will freely admit that they do not
plant these crops as extensively as
they should. This is certainly one
instance in which we do not do as
well as we know.-and because VIC
do not, all of US lose money ever
year. Isn't it time for us to get
down to hard thought for a little while
and see if it will not pay us to be
guided by the facts in the case rather
than by the wrong habits of farming |
which have acquired mastery over
us?
Legumes will not do everything
They will not make poor land ric;
in a single season; by themselves
they will not make poor land rich
at all, for they draw heavily upon the
mineral elements of plant food; they
will not make big crops on land too
poor to grow anything else, nor will
most of them thrive on sour or sog
gy soil they will not do well unde'
neglect or mistreatment; they viii
not entirely take the place of othe
crops. They have their limitations
as do things earthly, and many far
mers have been disappointed simply
because they expected to plant a GRO
of cowpeas, for example, on poor
and, poorly prepared, harvest a big
crop, n have a rich field the next
Planted literally, however, as
part of a sensible rotation, given good
care, fed to good live, stock or return
ed to the land, they will surely and
rapidly improve the soil and add to
the farmers profit. By their help the
South can be made the richest farm
ing section in America, without them
1t will go backward instead of for
ward.
Isn't it evident folly for a farmer
to go on from one season to anothe~
paying 20 cents a pound for the nitro
gen he uses on his cotton and corn.
when by working out a system of ro-
tation so that these crons could fol-
low a legume he could get this nitro
gen for nothing? The feeding value
OF a crop of clover or soy beans will
pay handsomely for the raising of the
crop and leave the soil Improvement
from its growth a clear gain. A leg
ume crop every other year on al!
cultivated lands we could in ten years
double the average corn crop and
average cotton crop O.. the South,
without any increase at all in our
fertilizer bill. How can we expect
to escape the reproach of bad farm
ing, if we neglect such a great and
evident means of salvation?
If you want to get more money out
of your farm and to make it richer,
plant more legumes. You know you
should do it. Why not begin. now
Progressive Farmer