Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1913-07-30
CONSERVING MOISTURE AND SOIL
RECLAMATION.

Abundant opportunity has been offer
ed this summer to convince any one Of
the Importance and value OF moisture in
the soil for crops while they are growing.
Many people have been made to real
lie the value Of moisture and have taken
the necessary steps TO provide and con-
serve il.
Their crops now show the wisdom OF
their action While the crops OF some
OF their neighbors have been seriously
injured by dry weather, theirs have
grown right along,
Any one with ordinary intelligence can
do the things necessary to store up the
moisture. Break the land deep, turn
under vegetable matter, subsoil when
breaking the land in the fall When
preparing the land in the spring pull
verize deep and thorough, keep a dust
mulch on the surface by frequent thor
ough shallow cultivation. You can do
all this as well as any other farmer, and
when you do, you will find you have
taken a very decided step in the direc.
ton Of good and profitable farming be-
cause in getting your soil in right con.
dition to hold moisture you have got
rid OF your hardpan, you have stopped
your land from washing, and have made
it possible -for not only the rain but
the air and frost to penetrate the broken
up subsoil and thereby increase the avail
able plant food in your ground.
l wish every farmer in Tennessee
would give more attention to his soil
and how to increase its producing ca
pacity. If he could be made to under
stand that his soil only differs from
the subsoil below in that the top soil
has decayed vegetable matter in il
while the subsoil has not, when suffi-
cient vegetable matter is added to the
subsoil and the rain, air and frost pene-
trate it, the subsoil becomes as rich as
the top soil ever was. That being true,
we cannot afford to 60 on from year to
year blowing shallow, Unfortunately
using expensive fertilizers of which
only a portion Of the available plant
food is used by the crop grown for want
of moisture during the growing season,
but is leached out by the winter rains
and carried away before another grow
ing season because the soil is not deep
enough to hold the moisture.
Before we make the Roadway we
should in farming we have simply got
to make up our minds to cultivate fewer
acres and do it better. There is every
argument in favor of doing so. If You
have more land than you can cultivate
right, better pasture it and prevent its
washing and only cultivate as much as
you can do justice to. The land pas
tured will bring you something and that
portion you cultivate right will produce
more than all would have produced with
slipshod methods. Year by year you
will be able to increase your acreage of
cultivated land until you can work out
a rotation that will include the entire
area with some in corn, some in wheat
or oats, some in peas or soy beans and
some in clover to go back into corn
again.
The farmer who is a student of ma
tue, who studies his soil, who studies
his crops, who gives attention to his live
stock, who can see and appreciate the
good and beautiful in nature, will never
be dissatisfied with his vocation or want
to change from it to another because he
realizes that he is living the life OF
broadcast possibilities of more real pleas
ures and the least artificial substitutes
for real pleasure. Why should he want
to change?