Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-11-20

of America by Cyril G.. Hopkins, of
the Illinois station. 1t Is issued as
Circular No. 1876 Of that station.
frof. Hopkins states that a recent
publication issued by the Federal Blu
reau Of Soils strongly amrms that the
restoration and maintenance Of soil
fertility do not require the applica-
ton Of plant food-that these foods
exist in abundance in all soils and
subsoils and in the air above them
and they only need to be unlocked
and brought up from below or down
from above by proper tillage and
crop rotation to render them availa-
bic. The tillage aerates the lower
soils INT renders their PHOSPHORUS
and potash soluble, and the deep
rooted legumes take up these mine
rails from the lower soils and by
means Of bacteria in the nodules of
their roots also store up nitrogen
from the air. and when these roots
and stubble decay they leave their
gathered stores of plant food in the
top soil for the use of subsequent
crops.
Prof. Hopkins does not question
that this IS beneficial; but he denies
that 1t is sufficient. He quotes De
S~aussure, Senebier, Davy, Leibing and
the long-continued experiments of
Laws II Gilbert at Rothanstead,
England, in contravention of Prof.
Whltney's doctrine. He shows that
a century of the practice of
restoring to the soil, in the form Of
Fertilizers, the plant food removed by
the crops grown, has resulted in pro-
ducing an average of 20 bushels of
wheat per acre in Germany, 33 bush
els In Great Britain and 40 bushels
in Denmark, while the average in the
United States, where no plant food is
restored to the depleted soil, is only
IA bushels per acre.
Prof. Hopkins say this fatal policy
of steadily drawing from the soils
store of plant food and depositing
none In its stead has led to the aban-
donment Of millions Of acres of once
fertile farming lands in the North
eastern States Of our country; and
that n Of these impoverished farms
within a few miles Of such great mar
kets as Baltimore, Philadelphia and
Washington recently sold for $40 an
acre; whereas. If this farm had not
had It's virgin fertility mined out Of
the land 1t would have sold for $500
an acre.
In this connection, Prof. Hopkins
makes the following most impressive
statement as to the certain and steady
future Increase in land values. Our
ing the last ten years III population
increased 81 per cent, the same as
during the preceding ten years; while
the acreage Of farm land Increased
only S per cent, and Circular No. 80
of the United States Department Of
Agriculture shows that only 8 per
cent further increase in farm lands
is possible" since that will exhaust
the entire tillable acreage in the
country.
Crop Rotation-Humus-Plant Food.
Bulletin 1928 Of the Minnesota sta
ton, by Prof. Geo. w. Walker, treats
Of the relation Of different systems of
crop rotation to humus and associat-
ed plant food. The bulletin Is highly
technical, giving much space TO the
methods Of determining the amount
Of humus (decayed vegetable matter)
In a soil, and also to the ascertain
ment Of the amount Of plant food in
the humus.
While humus Is chiefly valued for
the physical virtues it imparts to soil,
rendering it loose, friable, warm, cas-
lily titled and retentive Of moisture,
it Is shown by this bulletin to be also
rich in plant food. Constant clean
culture Of such crops as beets, cotton,
corn, ETC., rapidly depletes the soil Of
It's humus; while the growing Of le-
gumenous (pod-bearing) crops hay
ing a heavy root system, such as COW
peas, clover, ETC., augments the sup
ply Of humus. Hence the advantage
of crop rotation, the growing Of catch
crops, winter cover crops and the
blowing under Of green crops, weeds,
stubblc, etc.
The tests treated Of in this bulle-
tin showed that Of the three cardinal
plant foods, humus is richer in nitro
gen than either p~hosphoric acid or
potash. Wheat was the only crop
grown in crop rotation thai appreci-
ably exhausted the p~hosphoric acid