Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-04-13
By CHARLES A. WHITTLE.

tanned by turning under such crops
as peas, soy beans, rye, etc, or by
feeding the crops to live stock and
spreading the manure on the ground?
Feed your crops to live stock and
about % per cent of the fertilizing
value of the plant is absorbed by the
animal. In other words. If the ma
nure is placed upon the land. YOU
get back on the soil only about IS
per cent of what would have been put
into the soil if the green crop had
been turned under.
one might conclude at once that
the best way to place vegetable mat
ter into the soil is to place as much
of It there as quickly as he can But
another will hold that it is more
profitable to utilize the vegetable
matter as feed first and then return
it to the soil in form of manure,
even if % per cent of the vegetable
matter is lost. The % per cent that
has lodged in the animal is worth
more in that form than in the soil,
especially when it is considered that
il only means that it will require
a slightly longer time to place i'm
the soil all of the vegetable matter
# needs. In other words, the lack
Of vegetable matter is not so inn
portant that it can not be very prof
itablv supplied i'm quantities a little
less than the maximum each year.
As "a general proposition, the
Southern farmer need not convert a
seasons crop into green manure
when he can make a good profit off
Of It by feeding it to cattle and after
all lose only 20 per cent of its value
to the soil.
Feed Vegetable Matter.
Certain it is that whichever pol
icy is pursued. a vital mistake will
be made should the Southern farmer
sell off of the farm the vegetable
matter that should be converted into
feed. For instance, should he grow
peas and then sell pea vine hay
without an opportunity Of getting the
manure il produces, he will have suf-
fered a permanent loss. So much
valuable humus and plant food ma
terial has been taken from his soil
and removed beyond his reach.
Hence, the advocates of live stock
raising in the South hold that per
manently successful agriculture can
not be maintained without the use Of
live stock ON the farm. Their food
demand requires "a departure from
the One-crOp system of cotton, so de
pletiug to the organic matter of the
soil. II makes possible a crop rO-
tatiOn and especially admits Of the
winter cover crops-a thing most
necessary to protecting the washing
and teaching of soils deficient i'm hu-
mus or organic matter. 1t opens
other avenues of profit 10 the farmer
In beef production, in dairy products
I'm pork making, etc. II adds an Gle
mcut Of interest to farm life-thau
which none is greater or even equals
the care of animals. II is instinct
with the race, a call of the pastoral
days. a hereditary desire coming
down from forbears Of long ago, who
tended the hocks. The training and
demonstrating of the farm animal is
a work that has appealed to man all
through the past. No tie is stronger
10 bind the youth to the occupation
of farming and blind him TO the
aIlurements of the dazzling city, than
animal husbandry.
Manure Best for Fertilizer.
Manure as "A fertilizer is unsur-
passed. tbs value is not solely in the
amount of food of plants it contains,
but also because Of the bacterial aC-
ton which it starts that releases
from the soil the natural elements Of
plant food therein contained.
Plant food becomes instantly avail
able from stimulation of manureS and
marked evidence Of IL can be seen in
pastures Not only is the grass much
erecner and ranker in the spots
where the droppings have occurred,
but for some distance around, indi-
eating that the manure stimulates
bacterial energy and these bacteria
extend their operations beyond the
circumference of the primal cause.
In further argument in favor Of
animal rather than green manure, II
can be said that the animal manure
can be distributed and placed where
il can at once become available for
plant food, while green crops turned
under do not become Immediately
available. or at least not as readily,
nor can green crops be distributed
with any immediate and special hene-
fit to a crop to be planted or grow
ing.
We generally speak Of organic mat
ter in the soil as humuS. Organic
matter becomes humus when ii de-
,omposes and becomes available for
pIant food The best form of humus
contributed 10 any soil is manure.
because it is i'm process of decomp"-
sltfon. is more readily available To
bacteria and therefore quicker TO en-
ergize plant life and develop IT, We
dn not know lust how long ii takes
Green manure to become as active as
animal manure. but il certainly does
FAKE longer. And, Furthermore. we
are not certain that the humus Great
ed bv green manuriug fayors nitrogen
fixing as thoroughly as animal ma
nure.
Conserve Vegetable Matter.
Conserving the vegetable matter
of "a farm is. therefore, "a very inn
porfant matter Il is doubtless
more profitable to utilize it as a feed
before returning it TO the soil as has
been shown, but under the ordinary
nrocess. Of cattle feeding in the south,
nuch of the vegetable matter IS not
utilized as feed, even when that IS
fine policy which the farmer IS under
taking to pursue.
If ii is profitable TO feed vegetable
matter il is important that every
available bit of vegetable matter be
fed not only should the grain but
the leaves and the stalk But II cat
tie are left to eat the stalk in Its
natural condition there would be
much waste. To conserve ana make
an available. the silo has come into
1se where stalk. leaf and gram, cut
in green condition and placed lh
huge bin. pickle themselves. every olt