The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1914-11-14
southwestern
REFLECTIONS,

we hear great deal or edlfy-
ing talk and no little piffie these
days about the conservation of
our natural resources. To the
farmer there are few more vital
subjects than the conservation of
his soil. That ls his premier as.
set, and by proper treatment he
can not only conserve this great
asset but can increase it's pOten.
tial value from year to year.
HOWE First, by giving back to
| the soil as much as possible of
that which has been produced
upon it. In the rice districts hun.
dreds of thousands of dollars
worth of fertilizer is burned up or
sold for less than Its fertillzing
value every year. In the sugar
cane fields the leaves and tops of
the cane are destroyed each year,
thereby robbiDg the soil Of humus
that would be of the greatest
value. In the publication by Are,
as it were; or, to be more accu-
rate, it is sterilized by fire and ig.
n0rance.
The sane thing to do is to turn
under deeply everything remain
ing on the land in the fall and let
it decompOse; IN tbat way supply
ing a certain amOaut Of humus
and giving back to the soil a little
Of that of which it was robbed by
the growing crops. Try it this
fall. Get heavy team and big
plow and turn under everything
left on the land after the crops
were gathered. And do it now.
OF course, all this presupposes
that your land is well drained, for
without through drainage farming
il hazardous venture.
| Then there is the matter of
barn.yard manpre, not an ounce of
which should be wasted. No
farm should be without Its CON-
post heap into which all sorts of
waste, trash, yard and stable
sweepIngs should be thrown to de.
compose and add to the soil ferti-
lity. Those who leave near the
woods can find hundreds of tons
of leaves which hauled out to the
farm, spread over the land and
turned under will add enormously
to the fertility of the soil, espe-
cially if used in connection With
800 pounds of acid phosphate to
the acre.
Then there are the legumes; COW.
peas and soy beans for summer
crops and clovers and vetches for
winter. What a pity 1t is that
ten thousand farmers did not hear
Professor ID: n. Barrow's intense
~ instructive address on Winter
Cover Crops at the recent Annual
Convention of the Southwest Lou
isiaDa Development Bureau at
Crowley. To the practical South
west Louisiana farmer that speech
alone would be worth several
years subscriptions to the support
Of the Bureau.
The burden Of this weeks mes
sage is:-Conserve your soil. I'm.
prove it. Do it now.
In his fascinating book, Farm
ers Of Forty Centuries, the late
Professor King relates the infinite
pains with which the Chinese
farmers save and gather up every
conceivable waste article to put
back upon their soil. The result
is seen in the contrast between
the productive capacity of their
soil and that Of our own. -Four
thousand years of continuous cul-
tivatioD have increased to q won.
derful extent the soil of China; a
hundred years, fifty, twenty five
sometimes, have worn our soil out.
And still we are wont to apply to
these farmers the epithet '.the
heathen Chinee".
From an agricultural standpoint
who appears to be the beathen3
John Chinaman or Henry Joness
and the reason John Chinaman is
so far ahead of us is, because he
wastes nothing; he fertillzes con.
tinuOus1y.