The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-09-28
SOIL IMPROVEMENT AND ECO
NOMICAL CROP PRODUCTION.
"But this | Say, He Which SOweth
Sparingly Shall Also Reap Spar
ingly."-2nd. Cor. 9:6.

There are two big problems con-
fronting the farmers Of Williamsburg
county, one is economical production
and the other is business-like market
ing of farm crops. Economical crop
production is an individual problem
to be worked out on each farm, and
business-like marketing requires CO.
operation and organized effort on the
part of the producers. We have made
remarkable strides in buSiness-hke
marketing during the last ten months.
The Tobacco Association has gone
far enough to demonstrate the fact
that the members will receive more
for their tobacco in the pool than the
non-members who sold under the old
auction system. Cooperative market
ing is here to stay. Even with CO.
operative marketing established we
can't have a we'll balanced system un-
til we get economical crop production.
A reasonable market price is all
that can be expected on the averages,
and the farmer who produces his
crop economically is the one who re-
ceives the largest margin of profit
between cost of production and the
price received. But it is impossible
to produce large crops economically
on poor soil; hence, soil building IS
a necessity for it is the foundation
of economical crop production.
Most of our soils are in clean
cultivated crop all summer and then
left bare all winter. This practice
has been repeated year after year for
a generation or longer, and soils that
were once productive are now depict
ed in organic matter, nitrogen and
available plant food materials.
Moisture Control.
Profitable farming rests upon mols-
ture control. We loose an enormous
amount each year by the teaching
out of the most soluble and expensive
plant food from our soils when left
bare all winter following clean culti-
waited crops like cotton. Experiments
indicate that no less than so pounds
per acre of valuable nitrogen may
be saved from teaching out in drain
age water during one winter by means
of a green winter cover crop such
as rye and vetch, oats and vetch, or
crimson clover. Nitrogen is the most
expensive part of the fertilizer we
buy, costing annually in South Caro-
lima about 's15,O00,O0O, and it is in
dicated from teaching experiments
that we probably have been loosing
about 60 percent of it, about $9,OOO,-
600, annually by neglecting the use
of green winter cover crops on clean
cultivated fields.
Nitrogen From the Air.
II the winter crop is legume like
vetch or crimson clover or contains
about 20 pounds of the legume seed
per acre with a bushel of Abruzzi,
rye or two bushels of oats per acre,
it will not only save large amounts
of nitrogen from teaching out but
from so to rs pound more Of nitro
gen will probably be added from the
God-given air free of charge, if the
vetch or clover plants have on their
roots the special kind of bacteria that
have the power of using the air nitro
gen. If the soil does not contain the
special kind of bacteria for the crop
we want to plant, then it Is necessary
to inoculate. Hence, in the spring an
acre of soil that has been covered
all winter with a green growing le-
gume crop will have large amounts
of nitrogen more than the same soil
left bare during the winter. Often
more than $4,000 per acre worth OF
nitrogen will have been saved and
added during the winter months. This
is more than equal to an application
of 600 pounds of nitrate OF soda per
acre.
The United States Weather Bureau
estimates that dry weather and ex-
cessive moisture decrease the annual
southern cotton crop 100000 bales,
or about S21r.UvU. 900, and the south
ern corn crop 2l1,OOO,OOO bushels.
The combined loss to southern corn
and cotton alone equals about S43O,-
100000.
Efficient moisture control by means
of proper drainage and the incorpora-
tion of organic matter by deep plow-
ing will decrease the damage at least
80 per cent. and will effect an annual
saving of over s16,000,O0O to the
State of South Carolina alone.
Organic Matter.
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