The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-26
WITH THE FARMERS
BY Prof. w. F.. MASSEY

Ideveloped, tho moro food they can col
lect In the soil water.
The old notion still prevalent anon,
people who have not made a study o
plnnt growth is that tho sap rises II
trees in the spring and runs down IL
the fall. while. In fact, there is no sucl
circulation in plants. The so-calleo
sap that rises from the soil in sprint
is not sap. but simply water from tn,
SOIL in which food for the tree is dis
! solved. This water rises with the de
| felopment OF the leaves, and in the
| leaves the combination OF the plan
/ food from the soil and the much larger
! part that comes from tho air in the
shape of carbon taken in by the greer
| matter of the leaves. is made, and tho
true sap or material for growth OF
top and roots is elaborated and sent
TO NIL parts where growth Is going on
TO roots as we'll as tops. Therefore
there is descent Of the sap as we'll
as rise going on all the time that the
growing season causes il. and in the
| fall there is merely q cessation of
active growth, and storage OF form
ed plant food made for the early start
III the spring. We tap sugar maple
tree ms the so-callcd sap rises and get
sugar from it. But that sugar did not
come up from the soil with the rise
of the soil water. 1t was formed the
season before and simply is dissolved
by the rise OF the soil water. When
pisthl S(dEtS grow, the IrSt tnlnE
our microscopes can discover being
made is starch. From this starch the
living matter, the heterogeneous part of
the plant, makes all the woody ma
terial. the sugars, acids, oils and all
the so-called carbohydrate materials in
the plant, and all the carbon for this
purpose gets into the plant through
the leaves and none from the roots.
Hence, tho Importance of healthy
. leaves. Destroy the leaves with the
cedar rust or blight of any sort and
the apple tree cannot make perfect
fruit. Leaves arc the parents of roots,
not roots of leaves.
Farm Demonstration.
Il am In the demonstration work in
our county Underwater Va) | read
your columns in The Times Dispatc
and find them helpful and instructive.
L am starting with the idea that if I
could convince the farmers OF my coun-
~ that 1t is not necessary to buy nitro
gen for general farm crops, 1 would
he worth my wage several times over
II seems uphill work with some OF
them, as the results are before their
eyes and they will not see What is
your IDEA of the cornclub boy? Should
he not be taught the same thing? In
stead of side dressing his corn with
mixed fertilizers should he not be
taught the value Of getting his nitro
gen from legumcs? | am afraid that
the idea in some Instances of getting
a large yield regardless of cost has
peeh Taught rather than that of maxi
ing the most profit per acre
I read an article some time AGO In
which YOU said that you had boon able
10 MAKE more corn with rows four feet
apart and two feet in the rows than
IN any other way you have tried. DO
YOU mean one stalk in hill at this
Instance or more" l have not given
your county. since I do not care ana
you may not care to be idcnt,i,ed i'm
inc paper. The extract or your letter
VIII he plain TO you. 1t Is hard to get
FARMERS anywhere to understand thar
the growing, and use OF the IeRumes.
e!thcr as manure or direct or through
I 'hcir ieeding. and the return OF tho
/ manure to the land, will enable thcm
10 entirely 10 away with the nee, 10,
| puyinS nitrogen in n fertilizer. Many
Imagine that the mere growing OF the
leSume crops and taking them Off the
land will enrich it. like the farmer IN
| AlabRma, who wrote to me thar VIII.
| mad been saying about peas improving
| mo land was all nonsense, for no hou
| taken n crop Of peas off a niece or
! land for twelve years in sncccss,on
ana 1t got so poor that 1T would nor
! grow peas at all. What YOU need IN
/ impress on the farmers is the value
I
/ making OF rich manure to 20 back on
! the land that produced the crop. am
OFTEN asked If it Will not help the land
| more 10 pioW peas under than to take
I them off IN hay Certainly this Will
! AT once return 10 the soil more nitrogen
/ ana organic matter. but, as n matter
I OIL farm economy il Is more profitable
J 10 iecd The crop than TO use II n c
manure direct. since we can recover in
. ri
/ oil tho nitrogen, and can certainly
make a proft In the feeding. a CROW
or pea vine hay OF two tons an acre
/ IL worth $40 ton for feeding. and
! cannot see the economy of burvinc
SO worth OF feed when can recover
/ III thc manure, properly handled. more
! than 50 per cent oc It's manurial value
/ l ndcr certain conditions as in the
start IN the Improvement OF a very
poor piece OF land. II may be well to
I 'urn all Under. In order at once 10 ger
/ hunus making material into the sol,
! rapidly But when once we have soil
/ III a fairly good heart, I think thai
! inc iccdinE Is lar more profitable one
I OF the most successful farmers IN
/ Maryland wrote me that after adopting
/ a better short three year rotation on
/ y farm That formerly made nrtecn
bushels OF wheat an aero, he had for
/
an acre, and during that time had used
! no FERTILIZER except acid phosphate, ana
mat on tho wheat ana his corr crops
/ on manfred clover sod had incrcuaed
IRON thirty bushels TO seventy-iive
bushels an acre. Some Years ago in
one OF the best wheat-growinR com
Ties OF MARYLAND. ~ farmers insr
tutc. New York man made an address
on fertilizers and their composition
laying great stress On the making oil
a complete fertilizer.
After he was through told him
that he aid not probably realize tba,
not one farmer in ten, Of the more
than 200 in his audience. had bough,
any nitrogen in "a fertilizer for t,vent =.
or moro years. and had seen tb.ii
crops OF all kinds greatly Increase
through the use Of ieeumes IN q shor.
rotation. He was rather sstonishod "a,
the statement. but the farmers cor.
hrined what said The main aim.
cuity IS in setting farmers 20 adop,
ana stick 10 4 systematic rotation an.
the feeding OF live stock for so,,c ~,