The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1915-09-28
SOIL BUILDING.
Job You Cannot Afford to .
Shirk. 1
Progressive Farmer.

fOT inc idrn1eT Ol tue oOutn, we
hold that there are few greater res
possibilities than that of caring for
the land; not only caring for it, but
making 1t better and better as the
years go by. Indeed, so great is this
responsibility that we affirm that the
farmer who is not a soil-builder,
rather than a soil-robber, is not. how
ever splendid his other qualities may
be. good citizen.
will be greater than it's common peo-
will be create rthan its common peo-
ple-the people whose feet daily
press the bosom of Mother Earth;
and no farming people can ever be
great unless the lands they live upon
are fat and fruitful. Where the poor,
barren lands are, there will you
ever find poor, barren people
poor In the common comforts that
make life better and more whole
some, barren of all aspiration ana
hope of better things. Where the
rich and fruitful lands are, there are
ever found good homes, good schools,
vigorous, hopeful men and women
with faces turned toward the risIn.
SUM-"
1t Is given to but few men to be
great, as greatness Is commonly reck-
oned; but II true greatness lies In
service, in doing we'll our share of
the worlds work, and, when we go,
leaving behind us world a little
better for our having lived in 1t. In
contributing our bit to the welfare
and happiness of the present genera
ton and all generations yet to be-
IL this be the sort Of service that
makes for greatness. then, no less
than poets and painters. no less than
warriors and statesmen, is the soil
building farmer a great man, worthy
to be ranked with the greatest bene-
factors OF mankind.
Hitherto, particularly in the South.
where heavy rainfall and mild WIN
ters are factors in depicting soil fer
tility, soil building has not becu
easy; on the other hand, it has been
both difficult and exepnsivc.
Every spring. If you pay cash, or
every fall, IL you buy on time, hasn't
your commercial fertilizer bill sorely
worried you? Haven't you many
times wondered how you might avoid
at least part of this burdensome
tax on your years work. only to de-
eide that keeping your yields up to
the mark demanded the continued
use of fertilizers?
But there's a way out, friend; you
don't have to continue to buy huge
quantities cf fertilizers every spring,
nor by not buying them will you run
the risk of short crops. On the other
hand, there's a way, a sure way, by
which you can cut your fertilizer
bills in half and at the same time
make bigger crops than you are now
making This sounds unbelievable,
you say? We answer that thousands
of Progressive Farmer readers are
proving every year that it can be
done, and that it is up to you to
prove to your own satisfaction the
truth or falsity of our statement.
In the air all above the earth are
literally billions and billions of dol
lars worth of nitrogen, the element
you get in nitrate of soda and cot
tonseed meal. and for which you pay
from eighteen to twenty-five cents a
pound. A crop of crimson clover
growing in winter and early spring
when your land would otherwise be
idle and barren, has the power OF
drawing down this nitrogen from the
air, $40 to $25 worth for every acre
in clover; and, when plowed under
in the spring, of storing this valuable
food in the soil for the corn croT
that follows.
We only ask that you give crimson
clover one trial as a corn fertilizer
Study carefully all that is being said
in The Progressive Farmer this week
about how to succeed with il. ant
then plant some. When YOU hav,
seen the rank growth of corn that !,
makes, so rank, as one OF our friend.
say, that you can see lightning bug.
in it in the daytime;" when you have
seen how mellow and loose il make.
your soil and how it increases yield.
for years afterward, you will bles!
the day you found il, and your onl,