The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1917-02-07
Cooperative Cover Crop Work and
Hodges Method Of Gro,oing Cotton.
paper Read BIZ p w
at Meeting of State Agents a Clemson Collesc)

/
engaged in extension or demonstration
work, | have probably not been able
70 teach many things TO the farmers
OF my county, but | have learned a
good many things from them. have
had an idea, in rather vague aim.
less sort of way, for good many
years, that the problem for the south
crn farmer to solve was the problem
Of enriching his lands. In eleven
months of this work ! have lcaHncd
that lesson an hundred fold. And il
has become such Il vital part Of me,
aSriculturally speaking, that am sure
that insofar as | shall be able to
help the farmers Of my county solve
that all important question, just so
far will be successful in dcmonstra-
ton work.
Each OF us in his work. has his own
idea OF the most important branches
or projects TO be pushed, and to be
sure they arc all important; but il
seems 10 me that the matter Of "land
building" Che words should always be
written in BON-CAR letters and in
red inkp is ibc hub Of the agricultural
wheel that we AGRICULTURAL wheel
wriGhts ave trying to complete.
You and know TIC rar-rcachins
Importance Of The cover crop in the
scheme OF land building We know
that the farmer who starts out on n
task of land building without knowing
this and doing his utmost tC put his
knowledge into practice, will find the
task a most tedious one and almost
hopcless Of solution. 1t would seem
tbat the Importance Of the cover crop
N the process Of and building is so
patent that the mere mention Of the
GOOD results attained from IL would
stampede all the farmers in your coun-
ty covcr-crop-ward Results such as:
lst-- Adding humus to the land.
2nd-Nitrogcn transferred from the
air to the soil in the case Of lcgumes.
3rd-The holding of what remains
OF fertilizers after growing of money
or feed crop till the next one gets it.
4th-The holding Of soils on our
hill lands by means of cover crop
growth instead of allowing these hills
to lie bleak and bare to wash away
through the winter.
;n,,>
pie that the thing for which we invest
money with the farmer, his land)
must be kept busy, constantly, ever
laStingly busy, if we would reap the
proper returns from our investment.
6th-That bare and bleak lands arc
idle lands, etc.
say it would seem that the mere
mentioning OF these would send all our
farmers scurrying away to cover up
their lands and keep them busy And
yet you and know that these have
been cried from the house-tops through
agricultural papers. newspapers, ag-
ricultural colleges, experiment sta
tions through bulletins, public speak
crs, etc, 10 these many years and
sl!l find South Carolina landscapes
this week brown and bare, instead Of
gree and busy with lifc-giying growth
for next summers cotton and corn
crops.
One very naturally asks ihc question
Why hasn't more been accomplished
along this all-important line Why
haven't our farmers listened and act
ed upon the hearing? answer that
the whole warp and woof Of the whole
agricultural system OF n great section
OF our country, established two genera
t!ons ago and through every circum-
stance OF business conditions, financial
conditions, social conditions, and la
bcr conditions ever intensified as the
years have gone by, can't be quickly
and easily changed.
In the words Of the lamentcd Henry
Grady, "Thc greed for a money crop
has unbalanced the wisdom Of hus-
bandry.' This policy, the policy of
looking for immediate returns with
out regard for future good, through
four or five decades has grown into
us, or we into 1t, statewide and south
wide; and the individual farmer, to
break through the meshes Of this sys-
tenn Of agriculture to plan and execute
a better, safer and saner method. If