New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1914-11-14
SOUTHWESTERN REFLEC-
TONS.

We hear a great deal of edlfy-
ing talk and no little pitfle 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 is his premier as
set, and by proper treatment he
can not only conserve this great
asset but can increase its poten-
tial value from year to year.
Howg First, by giving back to
the soil as much as possible OF
that which has been produced
upon it. In the rice districts
hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of fertilizer is burned up
or sold for less than it's fetriliz-
ing value every year. In the su
gar cane fields the leaves and
i1n' OF rhe cane are destroyed
each year, thereby robbing the
soil of humus that would be OF
the greatest value. In the puri-
fication by fire, as it were; or, to
be more accurate, it is sterlllzed
by fire and ignorance.
The sane thing to do is to turn
under deeply everything remain
ing on the land in the fall and
let it decompose; in that way
supplying a certain amount 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 a heavy
team s,4d big pl,w and turn TIL
Ger everything left on the land
after the crops were gathered.
And do it now.
OF course, all this presupposes
that your land is we'll drained,
for without thorough drainage
farming is a hazardous venture.
Then there is the matter of
barn-yard manure. not an ounce
of which should be wasted. No
farm should be without its COM
post heap into which all sorts of
waste, trash, yard and stable
sweepings should be thrown to
dec compose and add to the soil fer
tility. Those who live 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 enormous
ly to the fertility of the soil, es-
pecially if used in connection
with 300 pounds of acid phos.
plate to the acre.
Then there are the legumes;
cowpeas and soy beans for sum-
mer crops and clovers and vetch-
es for winter. What a pity it is
that ten thousand farmers did
not hear Professor D. N. Bar
rows intensely instructive ad-
dress on Winter Cover Crops at
the recent Annual Convention of
the Southwest Louisiana Develop
ment Bureau at Crowley. To the
practical Southwest Louisiana
farmer that speech alone would
be worth several years subscrip-
tons to the support of the Blu
reau.
The burden of this week 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
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
cultivation have increased to a
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 enithet, "the heather
Chinee."
From an agricultural stand
point who appears to be the heath.
emf John Chinaman or Henry
Jones? and the reason John
Chinaman is so far ahead of us
8, because he wastes nothing; he
fertiliZeS continuously