St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-02-07

CONSERVATION OF SOILS
BY Dean Joseph l.. Hills, Dean OF
the State Agricultural College,
Burlington.
prepared at the request of the
Vermont Commission on the Con-
servation of Natural Resources.)
New England is a rugged and
somewhat barren upland area, a
sixth part Of which is improved
land. Vermont is it's most favored
section, in that three-eighths of its
land area is improved, the remainS
ing five-eighths being either forest
clad or best adapted to forestry.
Vermont farming suffers from
many ills. Plant food depletion;
the development of western areas
and industries, which have wooed
away many of her best and bright
est; the scarcity of farm labor; the
difficulty experienced in maintain
ing a proper physical condition of
her rough, stony fields; the COM
petition of mills and factories for
| labor; the lure of the city; the
cityward trend of the schools; the
decreasing birthrate of the old New
England stock; these and other
causes have been at fault. With
the causes of and remedies for the
sociological conditions the present
article has nothing to do; but in
most condensed form seeks to point
out methods of soil conservation
and restoration.
Soils become impoverished in
many ways-some natural, some
artificial These conditions may
or may not be remediable
Soils become surface denuded
by water and by wind; nitrogen
wasteage occurs, due to bacterial
activities; inadequate tillage and
drainage entail faulty moisture re-
lations; the filth is inferior; the
available plant food may be reIa-
lively lacking, acidity excessive, the
humus supply deficient. Any one,
two, several, or all of these condi-
lions may obtain in a given case.
Erosion, or surface denudation,
an extremely important factor in
world agriculture, is so minor a
factor here that no special reference
is needed. Nitrogen wasteage, how
ever, is great. Yet thanks to clover
and alfalfa gathering nitrogen from
the air through bacterial means, and
to calcium cyanamid and lime
nitrate, which are artificial at
mospheric nitrogen containers, her
soils need never lack nitrogen. Let
the individual farmer keep his land
crop-clad the year around, grow
clover freely, use land plaster and
absorbents in the stable, and fire.
quently apply manure to the fields,
and he need not fear nitrogen de-
pletion.
Four hundred square miles of
Vermont's area is in dire need of
under-drainage and much of it is
worth re-claiming. This is equiva-
lent to ten per cent. of her entire
improved area. Most of the rest of
it at times lacks water and would be
bettered by adequate tfllage opera
tions, rightly employed at the right
time.
The lack of available plant food
may be due to inherent soil poverty,
to misuse, or to under-use. Few
Vermont soils are exhausted, though
many are tired. Their permanent
producing capacity is not seriously
impaired, but their immediate pro-
ducing capacity is lowered by mis-
use. Many causes are apt to be at
fault, causes remediable by tillage,
drainage, rotation, green manuring,
and the use of farm manures. These
constitute the best keys for UNI
locking the unavailable plant food;
tillage, to promote the solubility of
the soil PARTICLES; drainage, to aug
ment soil aeration and root penetra-
ton; crop rotation, to bring diverse
roofing habits to bear upon different
soil area; manuring- green and
~
icaI and biological action.
Vermont soils are often acid. |
When sorrel or moss abounds, when |
white daisies, brakes, and black |
berry bushes flourish, when clover /
fails, acidity may be suspected.
Ashes, lime, mari, sprinkled on the
plowed burrows and narrowed in,
or otherwise applied, may prove a
happy remedy for a desperate con-
dition.
The maintenance of soil fertility
is largely matter of the upkeep of
it's humus content. The "first aid
to the injured" soil, abused and
worn out, usually should be to fur
nish ample quantities Of humus. It
supplies plant food, augments it's
water holding capacity, increases it's
warmth, betters its texture, and pro-
notes bacterial growth. It's sup
ply is lowered by the continuous
growth of titled crops; by i'll adj
7ised rotatiYe cropping; by defores-
alton; and by the continued and
jole use of commercial fertilizers.
t is augmented by an adequate crop
citation; by the use of farm manur-
IS; and by the practice of green
nanuring.
Vermont farmers are increasingly ,
their real estate to Boston
nd New York. An average milk I
rain removes approximately 500 :
Eorth of plant food beyond our 1
orders. This is not conservation.
(, however, the milk shipper grows
lover and feeds cottonsead meal or
Their rich concentrates; If from the
ir, the sub-soil, and from Dixie land 4
nd elsewhere as much of plant food 4
restored as is removed, he may Y
9th eat his cake and have IL too.