Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-09-25
AGRICULTURAL.
Don't Farm Poor Land.
Progressive Farmer.)

htto w
work land like this. Often he has to
make a living from land all of this
kind. When this is the case it Is evil
lent that he will get only a poor liv-
ing, no matter how hard he works;
and we all know that there are thou
sands and thousands of Southern
armer who are working steadily
and faithfully and getting very mea-
ger returns for their labor.
This is an unpleasant fact for us
to admit, but it is a fact and We must
race 1t. TO attempt to ignore it or
to explain it away is not the part of
wisdom. 1t is too big to be ignored.
1t must be met and mastered. Al
ways the farming Of poor land is I'M
profitable, yet a very large per cent
OF Il Southern lands are poor. The
average Southern crop is not a profit
able crop-it does not give the far
mel a fair reward for his labor.
This being the case, what arc we
to do about it? Manifestly, there Is
but one thing. We must quit farming
on poor lands. There Is but one way
or most farmers to do this, and that
Is, to take the poor land they have
and make it good.
IT Southern soils are O. rich, they
can be made rich. We are ourselves
largely responsible for the fact that
We ba va moor Ia nlv IN 80 t.--
per cent Of our land was naturally
thin, but there was also a large prl
cent naturally rich which is rich no
longer. All that was once fertile, If
not washed away, can be restored to
fertility, and practically all Of u
naturally deficient soils can be made
more productive than they have ever
been.
The process IS very simple-on pa
per. 1t includes first Of all, in the
great majority Of cases, the addition
OF vegetable matter to the soils, then
the addition of the needed plant
foods. Of course, drainage is needed
IN some cases; in others, the preven-
ton of washing Is necessary; the cor
rection OF soil acidity is often de-
handed. Yet, the fundamental plan
to be pursued is simple-put ycgeta-
bic matter into the soil, then add nj
trogen and phosphoric acid and, on
some soils, potash.
1t sounds simple and easy. Any
one OF us can raise a green crop to
plow down, and we are used to buy
ing fertilizers literally. All of us
who have tried it, know, however,
that the building up of q poor soil
to the point where it will produce
paying crops is not as easy as If
sounds. 1t is a work requiring earn
est thought and constant care. Of
ten, too, it is slow and hard. ICspo-
cially is this the case when the ,ar-
mer must depend upon this same moor
land for a living, while he is trying
to improve it, and this is eyactlv
what thousands Of farmers have to
do.
And they really have to do it. If
they go on working Door land, tho
Will continue DOOR, or become Door
themselves. Poor-land farming will
not make prosr crous farmers, and no
matter what else we do, until we get
IN lands to producing better crops.
the agricultural South is coins TO
remain nnOr nc ,, !, n ,D1 - 4 -
sections and other businesses.
This, then, is the great task which
confronts Southern farmers. They
must settle down to the making Of
s"od lands out Of their poor ones,
with the calm realization that there
must be no let-up in their labor, and
with the fixed determination to stick
to their job until the low average
yields Of to-day are things of the past.
II Is then great opportunity. too:
for If soil building is real work II
brings with it the rewards of rr,l
work. There is no farmer so poor
that he cannot make his farm better.
and while the advance NAV seem
slow for a while. as the returns for
the work begin to come in he will
gradually become able to do more,
ana as the land becomes better, its
improvement will be easier and more
rapid. The poorer the land, the
o needy the farmer, the greater
reason there is for determined effort
along this line, and the richer the
reward will seem.
Don't be a po0r-land farmer. You
can make your poor land good-not
at once, Of course, but ultimately
and whenever you have started it to-