Evening star., 1927-04-26

demic Is no respecter Of State bound
aries.
1t already affects the entire Nation
e economically, for it paralyZes business
within and near the flooded region.
Freight Of merchandise across the
lower Mississippi Valley is stopped,
for no bridges span the food. and all
trains on both sides are occupied with
flood relief. All ordinary business ac-
tivities in or near the flood district
have ceased.
Farms are covered, and crops,
orchards and live stock are wiped out
except such stock as was driven out
ahead Of the water.
The general idea that flood brings
great fertility to the land is disputed
by authority OF the agricultural ex-
perts of the River Nile, There the
farmers are, indeed, dependent upon
the annual Spring overflow of the Nile,
but that is because the land of the
tropics, with inadequate rainfall, is
dependent upon that flood for satura-
tion with the water.
In an official report by Mr.. A. Lucas,
r. I. c., of the Survey Department
Laboratories, Cairo, Egypt Q908), ap-
pears this paragraph:
"As q brief summary OF the manu-
rial value of Nile mud the following
statement may be quoted: Nile mud
supplies sufficient quantities of phos-
phoric acid and potash for the growth
of fair crops of cotton, wheat. barley,
maize, beans and potatoes. but does
not do for sugar cane, berseem and
berseem hagaZi--lucerne or alfalfa"
Even if Nile mud were rich in
manure, it does not follow that all
mud of flood water must carry the
same fertility. 1t depends upon its
composition due to its origin, and
while the silt from the upper Missis-
sippi may be quite as rich as the soil
it covers farther south, there will
also be great areas buried in sand.
which may be yards in depth, and
which completely ruin the land.
X % X X
This is not an optimistic view of
the situation, but it emphasizes the
needs of relief and full cooperation
Of a sympathetic Nation. President
Coolidge has appealed for $4,000, 900 to
be contributed to the Red Cross for
this relief, but authorities who have
come from the afflicted region de-
clare that that is q mere bagatelle,
compared with what will be required.
America has never suffered catas-
trophe of such magnitude.
The 1922 flood, which was very
much less than the present deluge,
covered ,4SS,OO0 acres of farm land,
and it's loss was reported as $17,0S7,-
100. The present area covered with
water is not less than 10000 square
miles--the size of Ohio--more than
25 900 900 acres.
The time of the 1922 food was prac-
tically the same season as the one of
the present.
1t will not be too late for the farm
ers to get in new crops If the water,
leaves the land by June ! or 10-and
we do not have too early Fall.
The authority of the Department
of Agriculture is behind the statement
that farmers can sow cotton as late
as June Is to July /; also SOW beans,
Mexico June corn, black-eyed peas,
velvet beans, peanuts and sorghum,
and can plant sweet potatoes-at least
with sweet potato cuttings. For
forage, in addition to sorghum, they
can also SOW sedan grass, the best
forage plant known. They can also
plant gardens cabbage, onions,
squash, turnips and watermeions. The
Government will cooperate in supply
ing seed, and the Department of
Agriculture is already making a sur
vey of surrounding regions to ascer-
tain sources of surplus seed of all
kinds. Farmers will need tools, also,
and live stock and shelter.
Unless the water subsidies very soon,
irreparable damage will be done to
orchards and to forests, for trees can.
not long survive, If submerged even Il
few feet above natural limits.
(Copyright 1927 by Paul " Collns)