The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1911-08-11
LIVE STOCK AID SOIL
Fertility Of Land Is Kept Up by
Use of Manure.
History Of Agricultural World Points
Out Farm Animal ~ lndispens-
able Factor In Economy
Of Agriculture.

1uCIQ y
farmer may follow-that in which all
the products Of the farm are sold on
the market, and the attempt being
made to keep up the productivity OF
the soil by the use Of commercial
fertilizers: and that in which the
farm crops are largely fed to live
stock and the soil fertility is kept up
by the returns Of manure and by crop
rotation. It is 2 fact easily observed
that on those farms where live stock
is fed the land il in a much higher
state Of productivity than on farms
where the other system Is followed.
The reason Is that where the crop Is
sold on the market all Of the plant
1 food contained in 1t IL lost to the
soft. whereas, when the crop Is fed
to live stock only Is to Is per cent.
Is lost.
In sections where all crops are sold
the method known as the mining
system"-and the attempt 10 made to
keep up the land by the use Of COM
mercial fertilizers, the result Is al
ways the impoverishment Of the soil,
for the reason that It II seldom that
enough commercial fertilizer is used.
Even we're this done. there would be .
deficit in organic matter, which 10 one
Of the most valuable properties OF
). farm manures. and can be most eco
nomically supplied by them. The
continued use of limited amounts OF
, commercial fertilizers, with no green
|, manure. would in the end result in ar
{ impoverished soil.
, Not only does the history OF thu
agricultural world point out the farm
animal as an Indispensable factor II
the economy of agriculture. but natur'
herself has indicated 1t in the gen
eral plan of creation. In the begin
ming before man came to i~ntreduc
Q discord into the general fitness q
. things. nature has established a grea
: cycle In which minerals Cor elements
plants, and other animals bore
g definite relationship to one another
q apparently in the order of their cre'
n ton. There we're frst the element
% contained In minerals, soils. air. an
% water. Plants came in due time. an
converted these elements into con
pounds, which upon the death Of til
plant. underwent di~sintegration. Ii
r compounds being broken down int
,e the original elements. Later, OF col
temporaneously, animals were intr
a. duced, which from the compounds
t, the plants built up other and mol
N, complex compounds. In the operate
r.. az animals, the waste from the boo
to tissues and undigested food furnish'
an amour of plant food, which Is r
turned In the manure, equal to fro
~ to IS per cent. of that In the orr
:. inal material fed to the animal.
this cycle there Is no loss. but rath
4 gain, for the eason that In all
=. the processes of decay there are 1
80 yolved living organisms, largely "a
=. terial. which in their life process
q. gather nitrogen from the air and Il
- crate by-products that act upon I
soil particles, causing a certain pt
ton of them to become availab
thereby adding to the fertility Of I
soil by an increase In mineral m
ter. Thus when the animal IL 81
red on. It matters not how long he n
The have been maintained on the farm,
lid more plant food will be sold than
the contained in the o weight of
'tal body. These facts establish the alb
ncs lutte necessity Of animals in econt
ical farm practice.
Good farming presupposes (
maintenance and increase Of soil
1ere tility, and this cannot be accomplish
trio In the most economical way by
ere. pending wholly upon commercial
tilizers. In fact. commercial ferti
ers cannot be supplied probably
many farm crops in suficient qua
No. ties to replace the fertility sold II
IT, the farm by the direct method Of n
keting crops. On the other ha
~ vegetable matter IL fundamental
= good farm practice, and. unless g.
~ crops are plowed under. which in n
Two cases can be more probably. fed
ROM live stock. and the manure return
IL there follows q serious depletion
,,l.- soil fertility from loss Of nitrogen,
80 reduction Of bacteria and other 10
" 60. - ne d~uAwAout s,unu -.