The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-09-14
Law and Order Triumphs
Manning to Conduct the Affairs of the State
for Two More Years
Keep Muddy Water on Your Farm.


The farmer who lets muddy water
run off his farm is a poor farmer.
Muddy water means water freighted
with the cream of our soils, with ex-
pensive plant foods; muddy water
pouring down our creeks and rivers
means that somewhere soils are gull
lying, washing, and wasting, and far
mers are becoming poorer and poorer
year after year.
Let's stop this waste. Let's hence
forth see to it that all waters leav-
ing our farms are clear and clean,
and not carrying with them plant
foods that have cost us hard work
and hard cash. Of course the excess
rainfall must be gotten rid of, but
let's make it go through the soil,
rather than over it; instead of let
ting it rob us, let's make it work
for us.
Don't ever think this matter Of
muddy water is not important; for,
in truth, it is so very important that
the farmer who neglects it is on the
road to failure. Soil maintenance
and. soil building lie at the very
foundation of successful farming,
and the man who fails to look to
them, as his first, biggest and ever
present job, had better seek another
calling.
Muddy water and land washing
away really mean the same thing,
and the longer we study the problem
the greater fait tn have we in winter
cover crops of crimson clover, vetch,
rye, or oats as means of solving it.
Since the December rains began all
cotton fields unprotected by a carpet
of green have been wasting their very
best plant food elements. Tons and
tons of nitrogen, at $500 a ton, have
gone, lost to our fields forever. On
the other hand, the fields protected
by cover crops have not only held
their fertility for the summer crops,
but where covered with the clovers
or vetches, have been enriched with
great quantities of nitrogen from the
air.
Lets make the South land Of
painted farm houses" has long been
a Progressive Farmer slogan; now
we propose another: "A carpet of
winter green for every Southern
farm Our choice above all is GRIM
son clover, because it is not only a
legume, a nitrogen-gatherer, but it
is also we'll adapted to a wide range
of soil and climatic conditions. Next
comes vetch, which is legume and
also does we'll nearly all over the
South. But if neither vetch nor clo-
yer are grown, rye, preferably Abruz-
ri, is an excellent winter cover and
grazing crop, making very consider
able winter and early spring growth.
If none of the above can be planted,
ordinary oats, planted in September
or October, will, even if plowed un-
der in March, be worth several dol
lars an acre in keeping the land COW
cred and protected from the winter
rains.
So really : ere is wide list from
which a choice may be made-so
wide, indeed, that there is simply NO
excuse for our leaving our fields in
their shameful nakedness. If you
can't plant clover or vetch, plant rye;
if you can't plant rye, plants oats.
And don't just plant patches; plant
acres, fields, your whole farm. Paint
the winter landscape green; change
it from an ugly brown to bright
emerald that will be the talk OF the
county. Progressive farmers every
where are doing this, and finding it
the road to wealth, and you, too, can
do as we'll.
"A carpet of green in winter for
every Southern farm'-won't you
helm us make this ideal come true
bv seeing to it that there is one on
your fields hereafter?-Progresslve
Farmer.