Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-10-21
Just as True North as South.

In speaking of the methods used by a
negro in Alabama named Sam Mccall,
who so iutensifies his farming as 10 grow
great crops of cotton on small area of
land, the Rural New Yorker makes use
of phrase as follows:
The soil in most parts Of the South has
been drained of organic matter (humus)
and of its lime"
just change the word South to North,
and you have the key to the reason why
we do not raise better crops on Northern
farms. 1t is a simple matter. For all
these years our farmers have been blind
ly taking out the organic matter which
in other words is decayed vegetable mat
Ter, or humus, and with it has gone the
lime aud nitrogen. All of this vegetable
matter that they have put back has been
the small amount of manure they have
made and the few roots in the soil they
plowed under. But every year they took
off a good deal more than they put back.
Is it any wonder under such treatment
that our farms have grown less and less
productive? The Rural New Yorker
adds these words to its statement OF the
fact:
1.-The thing to do to improve the soil
and thus increase the crops is to stuff
the soil with organic matter of some
sort, and then use lime both to decay
the organic matter and to put the soil
into better physical condition"
Here in nutshell is told the reason
soil grows poorer and the way to improva
il. All simple enough. One would
think that there would not be farmer
in all this broad land who would not
catch on to this double truth and follow
it just as that ignorant negro and ex-
slave, Mccall, is doing. But such is
the case. A very large proportion of
our farmers have steadily follow the
other course, blindly depicting the land
Of its productive power, constantly tax
ing out the organic matter and lime, and
doing nothing more than they can help
To follow better methods. They stand
dumb founded at the idea of a little ex-
ira effort and little extra money to be
laid out in the way of enriching their
soil. If you ask them to plOw under a
second crop of clover or the fourth crop
of alfalfa they will say, "What! waste
all that hayg" Suggest that they buy a
carload of ground limestone or mari and
a spreader aud they will tell you they
cant afford it," Everywhere it seems
to be fact that the only thing most OF
our farmers think they can afford is to
reduce the fertility of their soil. And
yet here is an ignorant negro, who sim
ply by the aid of his observation alone,
without books, or bulletins, or papers,
solves the problem of profitable crop
raising. II seems that Ii Is the most
simple truths that are the hardest for
us TO comprehend.
This negro and our old farmer friend,
"Uncle Tim" we spoke of in recent
editorial, are doing the highest kind oi
true scientific farming Uncle Tim says,
"Feei the land just az you would q
horse II you want it to do good work"
The negro, Mccall, says and does the
same thing. All simple enough but, oh,
how difficult to comprehend and do.
The Rural New Yorker ends its com.
ment with these words:
"There 10 no great discovery about 1t
and no great magic or new development
of mystery. Sam Mccall simply knows
how TO stuff his soil and then take the
stufing out Of 1t and there are thousands
of white men all over Alabama who
might just as we'll do the same thing
Hoard's Dairyman.