Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-02-14
INTENSIVE FARMING.

what intensive farming VIII accomplish III IHC CVC-
ton belt. The writer Is Mr.. NJ. A. Crosby, well
known in Noxubee:
Farmers generally recognize the value of Or
ganic matter in the soil. It Is rare, though, to
find a man who utilizes this means of increasing
crop yields to as great an extent as he probably
might. Most rundown farms Of the country, par
~ticularly In the South, are In far greater need of
organic matter to make them productive than they
are of commercial fertilizers. In the South many
means Of adding organic matter to the soil are
neglected. Weeds, cornstalks, cottonstalks, straw,
stubble and other trash are generally burned be-
fore the land Is plowed. This Ia a fundamental
error. They should be plowed under or worked
into the soil, and In addition to this certain crops
should be plantsd for the express purpose Of green
ranuring. BY this means alone, yields on poor
land may frequently be trebled or quadrupled.
Below IL given the results Of q study Of the
system followed on a one-horse farm by an Ala.
bama farmer who practiced intensive farming with
field crops and increased the producing capacity of
his soil more than ten-fold, principally by making
It rich in organic matter. without the extensive
use of either manure or commercial fertilizer.
Sam Mccall, the owner of this farm, is an ex-
slave, now over 75 years of age. His land was so
grown up with brush and so cut up with gullies
that only a comparatively small portion of it was
suitable for cultivation, and even the tilable areas,
having been cropped by tenants for sveral years
with no attempt to maintain the fertility, were
very deficient in organic matter, and consequently
Of low crop-producing capacity.
The soil of the Mccall farm is a grayish loan
,x,;kh a rodJ;ch GLOW cuhcoiI t. xuoo or;r;po11, q
fertile soil, but one which was rapidly depleted un-
der poor management, owing 10 the fact that the
land is rolling in contour, and very susceptible to
erosion. Improvement Of this land was begun by
increasing the organic content of the soil. At first
this was accomplished by blowing under leaves
and other decaying vegetable matter secured from
the nearby woodland, but this practice was later
discontinued. Corn stalks, cotton stalks and all
weeds from the fence corners were plowed under,
but never burned. The manure produced by his
horse and two cows was carefully kept, but as the
latter were out at pasture the greater part Of the
year the quantity thus saved was not large.
bitches were also constructed from the stable lot,
so that when it rained any teaching from the barn
yard would be carried to the field. where it could
be utilized by the growing crops. No commercial
fertilizer of any kind has been used, except a little
cottonseed meal under the oats. The depth of the
soil was made greater by gradually breaking the
land deeper each year, so that now It is open, por-
Gus and friable to a depth of 10 or IL inches.
With the increased organic content and greater
depth of soil came a corresponding increase in the
yields of cotton, SO that after a few years the land
was producing a bale or more to the acre. By 1898
the soil had become so rich that Z bales were pro-
duced on 2 acres, and for several years the yield
averaged close to this mark. Noting that certain
produced much more cotton than others, Mccall
was led to take up plaDt selection at an early date
and for a number Of years has saved the seed from
only the best plants for planting purposes. in this
way developing high yielding strain, which is
locally known Us the Sam Mccall cotton.
As McCalls reputation as a producer of biz
yields has grown, he has had no difficulty II
selling his surplus cotton seed at fancy prices K
the farmers Of that section.
During the last few years. having heard o.
thing Of the advantages Of crop rotation as a means
Of increasing yields, Mccall has been diversifyins
his crops and growing corn and oats in addition t
cotton, hoping in this way to still further increas,
the procuctiveness of his land, SO as to enable hin
to produce the desired 9 bales of cotton. He frs,
tried various rotations, growing winter oats ans
following these with corn and cotton the sam,
year, but while splendid yields of all three crop
were secured, the late planting of cotton necessi
tated by this system CORRESPONDENCE decreased it
yield.
One year his best two acres were planted t.
corn, raising two crops on the same land and pro
ducing a total yield of 800 bushels. The first cro]
was planted in rows 8 feet apart on March /. o.
May S the second crop was planted between tn
rows of the first planting. This necessitated work
ing the crop by hand from the time the secon,
planting was made until the first planting We
harvested. AS soon as the first crop was mature