Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-06-30
SOILS OF SUMTER COUNTY AND THEIR
ADAPTABILITY TO VARIOUS CROPS
Hy " Don FORMER Soil Expert United Bureau of Soils
Department Of Agriculture

country are founded absolutely on the soil
or what lies under it.
It is prevalent idea, also, that the farm is
place to be tolerated and not place to be
fosered. This has been general belief for
aces past but it seems now that there is taking
Mace a general awakening to the fact that the
farm is the foundation of all prosperity. The
beter the land, of course, the greater this pros
nerty may become. 1t is also true that
Great deal depends upon the man who tiIIs the
SOIL In fact more depends on the man than
on the land, although he must have good land,
or land that he can make good, if he would
be prosperous
What is meant by good soil is not necessa-
riIv one that contains all the necessary elements
and ingredients to grow the maximum crops
without the use of fertilizer. Of course this
would be good soil and very valuable; but
generally speaking a good, tillable soil is one
that has good foundation that u.s. good sub
soil. If the sub-soil is right, the surface soil
can be made right We cannot change the
sub-soil, but we can change and improve the
surface soil.
A county or section of county possessing a
soil with a good clay sub-soil as foundation
IS certain to be, or to have, the most desirable
location for permanent farm homes, and there
fore the most prosperous towns. Some sections
where good, heavy soil is found, are too rough
and billy to permit of easy tillage; others pos
sesslng proper surface features are too sandy
TO accord good permanent foundation for agri.
cultural development
SUMTER COUNTY is in neither the one ex-
IRENE nor the, other 1t is not in the very hIly
or IN the very flat country The county pos
sesses great variety of soils, not all of them
good, but most of them can be made good
Among the Sumter County soils are some of the
best and most valuable to be found anywhere
in the South. A very large percentage of the
hllabIe land is yellowish or reddish gray peb-
bly, sandy loan, with heavy red or yellow
sandy clay sub-soil 1t is true that some of this
land has beer impoverished by improper meth
DDS of cultivation, but this does not permanently
lnure the soil for future use. 1t can be built
up and made very productive. If it were al
ready fertile and in high state of cultivation
1t would be very high in price. The fact thai
much of the soil of this county is in comparative
ly an undeveloped state, causes the price to be
so low that almost any man may secure for him
self enough land to establish home.
This state of things will not long continue.
Any place in the world where land can be
bought and paid for in two or three years with
the product of that land is certain to be hlled
up rapidly with new population, and the land
is certain to rise in price. Land of such quality
as this and at such price is much below its
real intrinsic value and cannot so continue
because of the great demand for such land.
In SUMTER COUNTY are to be found bar
gains IN farms so numerous and so rare that If
they could be realized by the general public
the population of the county would soon double
Many of the people who live here
do not know themselves what rare opportunities
are offered
The improvement of land and the growth OF
an agricultural population is usually slow
process because people do not generally take
hold Of such problems as they should, People
from other parts of the country do not come H.
largely because they have no means OF know
ing where tc find these opportunities Inc
people here do not develop agriculture as 1t
should be developed, partly because they them
selves do not generally know the great poSSlOll'
ltes that exist, and there are not enough people
here to do it, What is most needed is an IN
crease in the rural white population.
This can be brought about by dividing up
some of the large plantations into smaller FARMS
making the price and terms OF payment 50