McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1913-08-01
Letter from New York.
Editor Independent:

ioul oypco liiduC IIc say Ill ldS'
letter just what | did not want to say
in regard to the vetches and other
leguminous plants. 1t sounded as
though | said that such plants were
no more food for the soil than whisky
is for man. | wanted to say that of
chemical fertilizers, many of which
are in the end hurt and not help
to the soil. Your printer is unusual
ly accurate, and may have set it up
as | wrote it; if so, the mistake was
mine. There is no better builder of
fertility in the field than the legumes,
such as clover, yetch, cow-pea, alfalfa,
and peanut. They aid the soil me-
chemically by adding humus when
they rot, but their great function is
to gather nitrogen from the air
through the bacteria which work in
the nodules of their roots. These
useful germs store up that elusive ele-
ment of which seven-tenths of the air
is composed, and which is the great
est plant food known, like bees store
up honey from flowers, which we 9TH
erwise could never get at. The little
knots on the roots of such plants as
clover and COW peas are. the home of
millions of germs which gather nitro
gen for their food and it goes into
the soil, enriching it splendidly.
But these leguminous plants should
not be planted on steep hillsides, for
the loosened soil will wash away
much worse after their growth on it.
There are hundreds of old abandoned
or "turned-out" fields in McNairy
now selling for a few dollars an acre
which, if taken through course of
legume treatment for very few
years would compare in fertility with
the lands Of 0bion county, where
$500 an acre is often paid for farm
ing land. The legumes are such fine
cattle feed that they are doubly valu-
able on farm, and their nitrogen
content, added to the manure of the
legume-fed cattle, will bring up the
farm in double-quick time. Those in
terested should send to the Secretary
of Agriculture at Washington for the
bulletin on leguminous plants. They
should also inquire as to how to Sc
cure bottles Of the germ treatment
for leguminous seed-planting, and as
to nitrogen-gathering bacteria. While
they are doing this, they may as well
ask for bulletins on other farming
subjects, which will also be sent free
Of charge, or sold at cost, amounting
to few cent apiece. Most of them
are free.
The sandy lands of Tennessee are
finely adapted to peanut culture, and
as peanuts are steadily increasing in
value 1.-THE price is said to have ad-
vanced 70 per cent. in the last six
months, on account of the many uses
to which they are being put, such as
the manufacture of butter, oils for
the table, etc. it will pay to raise
them in McNairy. Where the soil is
heavy clay, lime will help put it in
the proper shape, and lime is one of
the best things to put on peanuts,
anyhow. The peanut grown in Ten
nessee is generally of a deep red COL
or, rich in oil but not good for the
market. 1t is one of the best and
and cheapest hog fatteners known.
The hog does his own harvesting.
Get the government bulletin ON hog
feeding in the South, and see how lit
tie it costs to add 100 pounds to a
hog fed on peanuts. That's the way
the famous Smithfeld hams are made
in Virginia. No reason why McNairy
hams should not in time be equally
famous. Land is cheaper there, and
peanuts can be raised with less trou-
BILE and expense. The finest red pea
nuts | ever saw were raised near
Murfreesboro, Tenn, six years ago.
Before leaving this subject | will
have to tell of the difficulty my father
had in raising peanuts near Purdy
when | was boy. The fat, shelled
nuts were given to me to plant. So
few of than came up that my father
concluded something must have eaten
them before they sprouted. I%aould
have told him what did it, but |
hadn't the nerve to do so. He con-
cluded to put coal oil or kerosene on
the next batch he planted, and he
got better stand. To this day |