The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-10-25
Must PlOW
Grass Under
And Plow It Deep, Is Advice of
Old Resident.

MI. IN. Il. Walker, who has
been resident OF Auburndale for
many years and close observer
OF conditions, brought us the fol
lowing clipping from the Times
Union, and proceeded to unbur-
den himself OF some very emphat-
&c remarks on the subject. They
are well worth reproducing, and
worth the careful consideration
OF every agriculturist i'll Florida.
The clipping follows.
Editor Times-Union: have
read with great deal Of inter
est MIR. S. II. Gaitskill's letter rel
alive to the boys corn clubs, TO
my opinion he has struck the key
note. have quite number Of
boys who have raised their acre
OF corn without pound Of iertil-
izer and the yield has been phc-
nomenal. The yield was made
by the thorough preparation of
the soil, ploughing in a lot of hui
mus, and giving the corn proper
cultivation. Under these condi-
lions, any farmer can increase his
yield OF corn.
| am distributing score cards
among the boys SO they can learn
how to select corn, which is OF
great Importance, and also the
selection OF the seed corn in the
field. SO they can see on what
kind OF stalk the corn grows, and
under what conditions.
Very truly yours,
S. ]. McCULLY,
Demonstration Agent.
Berlin, Fla.
This clipping said Mr.. Walk
er, tells me a greater story than
would appear from the mere read !
ing matter in it. 1t tells some
thing that have been telling my
friends for some time and | think
that if we ever hope to make this
a farming state we must consid-
er the thing and then follow it
up in practice.
Florida must raise more farm
produce at lower cost of pro-
duction and in order to do this
we must make some arrange
ments to stop the continual drain
On the state for fertilizer. Many
people would locate here if it
were not for the fact that they
have to use fertilizer on the land
here when they have not been
used to doing 50 i'll the North.
They are not acquainted with the
fact when they first come here
that even ii they do have TO pour
the fertilizer on to the land that
1t more than doubly pays for it
self and some are ignorant OF the
fact that it is becoming more and
more general i'll the north, for no
matter where fertilizer is used it
pays for itself many times over
However this is not the queS-
tion which we wish to discuss
here Have you ever noticed
how the most OF the people here
farm their lands In the first
place when they get ready to pre-
pare the land for a crop they first
set fire to the grass and weeds in
order to get them out Of the way.
They do not vet fully realize that
by so doing they are losing one
OF the most valuable plant foods,
the nitrogen contained in these
stems. But another valuable as
set which is being lost is the hui
mus. 1t is the humus which
gives texture to the soil. Bv
texture we mean the proper con-
dition of the soil for the free pas
sage OF air, warmth and moisture
through it. Without texture the
soil becomes as YOU say dead, but
why is il dead 1t is dead Tor
the simple reason that there is
not bacterial life in it. for bacteria .
live on either vegetable or animal
matter. Different kinds Of hac-l
terra work on different kinds OF
r,roanir matter. each bacteria has