The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-07-20
A PERMANENT SYSTEM OF
AGRICULTURE AND IT'S VALUE
(By c. Is. WILLIAMS, Chief OF the Agronomy Division of the <or.,
Carolina Experiment Station,

that Is more fundamentally important |
than is that of the maintenance and
increase of the fertility of the soil. 1t
IS Indirectly from the soil that the
food for feeding and the materials for
clothing of the people of the Nation
IS derived. If our soils are main
.ained in a productive state our chill |
dren and children's children will be
prosperous; but if they are run down
and depleted by irrational and waste |
iul methods of culture than poverty |
and weakness will be the inheritance |
of those who follow US. Indeed, sad
and practically hopeless, SO far as ma
terial and intellectual advancement isl
concerned, is the future Of such a
people naide after their lands have
been so reduced in fertility as to fail
60 produce remunerative crops. Fam
inc and death will hover above such
81 poverty-stricken land. Now, the
question which it is wished to raise in
shis connection is whether We as a
people are profting or not by the
above facts. Are we handling our
agricultural lands in such a way that
they will be passed on to our children
in as productive or more productive
state than when they came under our
management. Our fo~refathers in most
cases have not done this. They, as
well as many of the farmers of the
present day, considered their virgin
soils as inexhaustible and have
EARNED them in such a way as to get
the most out of them. without n re-
gard whatever as to the effect of
their methods upon the productivity
of the soil in the long-run. In far
TOO many cases have virgin soils been
brought under cultivation and grown
continuously in one or two exhaustive
crops, like tobacco or wheat, as long
as the yields were profitable without
any effort at maintenance or improve
ment in their fertility and then aban-
doned to grow up in brushes and
trees. During the early development
Of this country when lands were
cheap n plentiful and fertile this
practice could be followed; but today
when most of our lands suitable for
farming purposes have been brought
under cultivation and the increase in
population has brought consumption
almost up to that of production, it is
quite a different and much more diff
cult problem to meet them it was
with the farmers of pioneer days
Again, the uthleS wasting of the
fertility of the soils of this country
mas been enormous during the past
hundred years, this waste having
largely been brought about through
the continual draught made upon thu
reserve plant-food supply Of the sol
10y the selling OIL crops from the farm
10y the loss through teaching and ero
sion under poor cultivation and crol
rotation; and by the wasting to
large extent of the plant o con
stituents contained of the manur pro
duced by feeding of the crops on tn,
farm. To such an extent has this de
struction taken place, especially witt
our eastern soil which has beer
longest subjected to this irrationa
system Of handling, that they canno
possibly produce profitable yields a
the present time, even under the hes
seasonal conditions and with the mos
intelligent cultivation until at leas
some one or more Of the lacking plant
food constituents needed in the grOwt
of crops has been supplied the soil
in "A form or under conditions whic
will enable the plants to readily as
simulate them.
All this waste of the greatest {
our natural resources has bee
brought about largely by the fact thu
land suitable for agricultural purpose
was abundant and all one had to d
was to clear it, bring it under tn
skinning process of cultivation to
prevalent at hat time, and far tc
common in the present day, unit
the soil was exhausted or washe
away and then they pull up and moN
or to a new locality whose untille
and fertile lands were obtalnabl
This day cheap and abundant ferti
soils have past. as practically all OF
best lands suitable for farming pu
poses have been brought under cult
walton. There seemed to be a motto
among farmers of the past and to l
small extent this idea is prevalent
The present time, h a soil exhaustit
Is brought about primarily by the CO
slant CIVILIZATIONS; it not seeming
have occurred to them that each crt
taken from the farm removed certa
plant-food materials that would soon
or later have to be replaced, if Il
soil was to be maintained in a pr
ductive state. They seemed to ha
overlooked the fact that Germany al
Great Britain had been cultivatil
their lands for ten centuries and y