The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-21
BY F. HI. JETER

produce the larger crops needed
for this war. In World War No. l,
he said, farmers seemed to lose
their sense of proportion and many
OF them put land under the pillow
that never should have been farm
ed. AS a result, out in the mid
western and southwestern states,
the drouth had reduced the soil to
powder. In our State, especially
in the Piedmont country, much
good land washed away and so
severe was the erosion that men
found it. almost impossible to
make a living no matter how hard
they labored. This man said that
we are fortunate that our farms
today are more fertile than they
were in the last war and no mat
ter what ones thoughts are about
the New Deal Administration. it
has brought to the attention of
farmers everywhere the need for
caring for their soil.
The soil conservation phases OF
tie Triple-A, for instance, have
been beneficial, this man said,
tecause those who have had to
be helped to care for their land
gave it the kind of care and pro-
lection which is paying good di-
yidends now that we need all the
food we can get from every acre
Of soil. The figures show that this
farmer knew what he was talking
about because back in 1886 only
about 81 per cent of North Car
olina's cropland was included in
the conservation program of the
Triple-A. By 1912, this had in
creased to 935 per cent. This
means that nearly all Of the open
cropland in this state is being
cenefited by the use of legumes,
limestone or some of the other
practices for which the AAA
makes benefit payments.
I talked to Mr.. Patten in the
State Triple-A office the other
day and asked him how general
was the use of legumes and grass
es in the program fostered by
his group. He said that 484, 638
acres of these legumes and grass
es had been seeded in the fall of
1886 but by the fall of 1912, North
Carolina farmers had planted L.
211, 012 acres. They also planted
475,291 acres of legume crops for
turning under in 1886 and 1885,,
$50 acres in 1912. Naturally, some
of this green stuff was used for
grazing and some for hay. Mel
Their did all of it make such
growth as to be beneficial to the
soil when turned under. But it is
4 fact that we are now growing
more cf these sod crops each
fall and, as result, they are saw
ing cur land. from washing and
are retaining some of the costly
plant food hat would have been
'eached out by winter rains. The
use of ground limestone over the
State has been nothing short OF
,henominal because the AAA re-
cords alone show a jump of from
80, 5S4 tons in 1886 to $40, 700 tons
last year.
The beauty about all of this is
that our folks are just beginning
to learn of the value of limestone.
Some of us have been preaching
about it's value for many years but
row that we see the necessity Tor
clovers and pastures and winter
growing crops, the value of the
material is just beginning to be
generally recognized. The wise
farmer of the future will there
fore include limestone alone with
his other fertilizing and plant food
materials. 1t is a fact also that
North Carolina farmers built some
is million feet of terraces in both
1912 and 1913 to almost double the
contour terraces of a previous
year. New drainage bitches are be-
Ing dug and apparently, as my far
mer friend said, our people have
at long last begun to pay some
attention to their soil-the only
source of new wealth that we
nave.
This added intelligence about
how to handle land is rejecting
;tsef in other good farming prac-
tees. For instance, the man VINO
formerly continued to pillow an ero-
ded hillside year after year, work
ing himself to the bone and get
ing little returns for his LABOR
now knows to either put that NIL.
side in pasture grasses on pan.
| it to trees. BY this means, ne
can increase production without
wasting labor. In similar way
moist lowlands that are now grow,
| ing up in bushes can be cleared
and developed into excellent pas
tllre Or drained and cultivated.