Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-08-03
ExALL ON BETTER FARMING
People Must be Taught Absolute
Necessity at Returning All
Fertilizers to Soil.

In the address of the president Of
the Texas Industrial Congress at its
late meeting, Col. Henry Exall spoke,
In part, as follows:
THE population Of Europe and
America at the beginning of the nine.
teenth century was about 1870 million;
1t is now yer 4E0 million. The pop
ulation of the United States in 1900
was seven million; it is now almost
100 million. The opening up Of this
new country, with its rich soil, so
cheapened food production that the
population increased by leaps and
bounds, and despite the Civil war,
with its incalculable destruction Of
life and 7:operty, and it's paralyzing
effect upon progress, our population
has grown from thirty million in 1860
to ninety-two million in 100000 per
cent in fifty years. At the sam rate
of increase we will have 2e6 million
people to feed in 1860. In this con
nection 1t is well to remember that
despite the fact that within the past
forty years we have put into cultiya-
ton the major part of the great
prairie plains, the richest body Of
land Of like fertility on the face of
the earth, comprising what is known
as the mississippi valley, and includ-
inV the black belt in Illinois, and
We. through Iowa and the Dakotas,
and southwest through Kansas, Ne
braska, Oklahoma, and Texas, and
Notwithstanding the fact that great
improvements have been made for cul-
tivating and harvesting crops, and
great advance has been made in seed
selection, and some improvement in
cultural method, so little has been
done to conseryAAthe fertility of the
earth; so cor by have we mined
rather than N it; s%ubtracting
f on 1t without adding to it, that the
average crop OF corr and wheat com
bined per acre in the United States
is less than it was forty years ago.
The population is increasing at q
terrible rate, and production is con-
stantly decreasing. The grain acreage
increase for the past ten years has
teen about twenty-three per cent;
the production has increased about
thirty-five per cent, but the consump-
ton has increased sixty per cent.
TT behooves us, therefore, to save
and to use every particle Of fertile
ing matter that is within our reach.
The nitrogen, phosphorus and potash
in the stalks from 100 bushels Of corn
are worth, in carload lots oday, il
we had to buy it, $10,55. The same
mineral elements in the stalks from
bale y. cotton are worth $3.50 AS
a ru4 we burn both, and temporarily
destroy the usefulness of the land
urun which the fires are lighted. We
are not only clipping the coupons, but
W are cutting into the bcdy of the
bonds.
THE people must be taught the abb
solute necessity Of returning every
thing possible in the line of fertilizers
tt the soil; protecting it from wash
ing by t%erracing, and blowing around
instead of up and down the slopes.
They must be taught to thoroughly
prepare the lands before planting the
carefully selected seeo, and by con-
slant shallow mulch cultivation to keep
down the weeds. They must not lay
by and leave their crops, but must be
taught to know that as the stalk
grows larger it has more live weight
to sustain, and it needs more nourish-
ment. Cultivation should continue un-
til the crop is positively made. The
rule has been to lay by the crop and
leave it to fight the suckers, weeds,
dry, parched earth and hot winds
alone, when its life work is yet to be
accomplished.
IF this one last item mentioned,
namely, not to lay by and leave the
crop, but to keep a soft mulch on top
of the ground, and the crop entirely
free from weeds and suckers until the
grains are hard upon the stalk, were
literally put into effect, it would add
millions of dollars to the value of the
crop in the state this year."