The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-01-27
Possibilities OF the Soil

and brought wealth and prosperity to
all who dared to follow the plain trail
| marked out by the Iowan.
! Cows and Clover soon became the
watchword creameries were estab-
i Hshed, at first by individuals, later be-
coming cooperative, and this watch
word has turned a large portion Of the
once rundown and practically i'm
poverished northwestern empire into
the most fertile and easily cultivated
region of the entire earth.
But these conditions are not by any
means general throughout the nation
Old and hoary methods, methods Of
may father" are still followed and
revered by millions OF filters of Ameri-
can soil and the same waste and the
same failures remain to admonish US
OF the hand to mouth" system of
centuries ago.
Up to the beginning of the current
century our learned agriculturists and
to a large extent our Universities and
advanced agricultural schools enter
tained this idea and taught that mono
but the BLACK lands. the heavy clay
loans OF the prairies, the deciduous-
wooded timber lands and the lacus-
trine and fuvatiie bottoms were worth
the attention OF the agronomist.
The lighter and more sandy soils OF
regions where coniferous woods pre-
vailed being destitute Of humus and to
some extent OF nitrogen and phos-
phorus' were cast aside as COMPARE
lively worth less. These ideas have
been largely modified by contract with
the sandy soils of the cut over pine
lands Of the north and the suoth.
The agricultural analyst is today not
entirely sure that humus. the great
crop maker of the past, has any other
virtue in plant growth than to furnish
moisture and conserve IL for future
use. He will claim. and Justly. that
fresh humus, when put into a soil Will
exert a favorable influence just so long
as decomposition and disintegration
goes on and no longer. It then becomes
inert as nutrititive agent and re-
solves itself into a collector and con-
server of moisture. The great Liebig,
Germany's most iIlustrious chemical
analyst, promulgated this idea more
than half q century ago, but our
schools and scientific plodders have
been 10th to admit it. And not u1til
it had been shown that humus was not
q content Of a soils fertility was the
pernicious theory abandoned.
Recent investigation has demon
strated that sand. lime and clay are
the primary ingredients of all soils
and that il these mineral elements sre
in proper combination such soil will
produce plants. It has been Rscer-
tanned that such soil. If It will pro-
duce a first crop of clover, COW peas
or any other leguminous soiling plant, |
the soil may, by intelligent culture |
and management, be made in a soil as |
fertile and productive as the black |
lands OF the great basins OF the earth |
and remain so as long as spoliation |
Is not resorted to.
The Cut-over pine lands of northern |
wisconsin and Minnesota are mainly |
Of the character above mentioned, they
have been tested and thoroughly ex- |
plotted with actual contact and have !
been found to contain all the mineral |
elements OF productive soil. and with
the exception of wheat will produce as
as the black soil land all |
the food crops indigenous TO that cli-
mate. From one hundred 10 five hun
dred bushels OF Irish potatoes have
been produced upon an acre and for
age plants to almost an endless war;
ETY. are grown upon these lands every
year. With a suff1ciency OF rainfall
there is never any doubt about q fun
crop, perhaps not a Bumper every
season but never a failure.
The "Cut-ove lands Of the South
are equally as capable Of producing
plant as are those OF like
character of the North. Rainfall is
always ample, heat never wanting, and