Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-02-02
THE CONSERVATION OF THE SOILS
OF VERMONT.
BY Joseph L. Hills, Dean Of the state
Agricultural College, BurIinotop,

Agricultural College, Burlington.
prepared at the request of the YER
mont Commission on the Conservation of
Natural Resources
New England is a rugged and some
what barren upland area, a sixth part
of which Is improved land. Vermont is
its most favored section, in that three
Fights of its land area is improved, the
remaining fve-eghths being either for
est clad or best adapted to forestry.
Vermont farming suffers from many
ills. Plant food depletion; the develop
ment of western areas and industries,
which have wooed away many of her
best and brightest; the scarcity of farm
labor; the difficulty experienced in main
tanning a proper physical condition of
her rough, stony fields the competition
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 socio-
logical 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 de-
nuded by water and by wind; nitrogen
wasteage occurs, due to bacterial activ-
tiles inadequate tillage and drainage en-
tail faulty moisture relations the filth is
Inferior the available plant food may be
relatively lacking, acidity excessive, the
humus supply deficient Any one, two,
several or all of these conditions may OBJ
tain in a given case.
Erosion, or surface denudation, an ex-
tremely important factor in world agri-
/ l. fNaAs 70 30
no special reference is needed Nitro
gen wasteage, however, 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 atmos-
pheric 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 frequently apply manure to the fields,
and he need not fear nitrogen deple-
ton.
| Four hundred square miles of Yer
mont's area is in dire need of under
| drainage and much of 1t is worth re-
claiming. This is equivalent 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 tilage
operations rightly employed at the right
| time.
The lack of avilable plant food NAV
be due to inherent soil poverty, to mis-
use, or to under-use Few Vermont soils
are exhausted, though many are tired.
| Their permanent producing capacity Is
not seriously impaired, but their imme-
date producing capacity is lowered by
| misuse. Many causes are apt to be at
fault, causes remediable by tillage,
| drainage, rotation, green manuring and
|
sutute the best keys for unlocking the
| unavailable plant food; tilage, to pro-
mote the solubility of the soil particles
drainage, to augment soil aeration and
root penetration; crop rotation, to bring
diverse roofing habits to bear upon diff
ferent soil area; manuring-green and
farm-to promote solution by chemical
and biological action.
Vermont soils are often acid When
sorrel or moss abounds, when white
daisies, brakes, and blackberry bushes
flourish, when clover fails, acidity may
be suspected. Ashes, lime, mar
sprnkled on the plowed burrows an;
narrowed in, or otherwise applied may
prove happy remedy for a desperate
condition.
The maintenance of soil fertility Is
largely matter of the upkeep of its
humus content. The first aid to the in.
Jured" soil, abused and worn out, usual,
humus. 1t supplies plant food, aug.
ments it water holding capacity, in.
creases its warmth, betters its texture
and promotes bacterial growth. Its sup.
ply is lowered by the continuous growth
OF titled crops; by i'll advised rotativ,
cropping; by deforestation; and by tn,
continued and sole use of commercial
fertilizers. 1t is augmented by an ade
quate crop rotation; by the use of farm
manures; and by the practice of greer
manuring
Vermont farmers are increasingly ex
porting their real estate to Boston an,
New York. An average milk train re
moves approximately 500 worth of plan
food beyond our borders. This is no
conservation. If, however the milk ship
per grows clover and feeds cottonsee,
meal or other rich concentrates: if from
the air, the sub-soil, and from Dixi
land and elsewhere as much of plan
food is restored as is removed, he ma,
both eat his cake and have 1t too.