fUUrityOcttber 22. 1S1I. $500 More a Year farming: (low to Get It BY DRAINING THE LAND. All Our Level Land and Mach o f Oar Hill Land Needs Under-; Drainage The Work Most Eve ntually Be Done and Should Be Began. Now. - v y hl rU Lj By Tilt Butler, - I (S) S17 ' Tbac Crop CmUlaju. The norneisnuxastr tf Ustrcii- The United Slaves Dpartatat f I,u nff". araMa a aygtmlc AgrlculturoVtaakea the following es- End dltteUc treatment, who place ttmate as: (& the condition of the to- inexr "lin ln PromiBea or a cure made by patent medicine advertis ers, should suffice to kindle a flame of indignation among the American people that will ever increase in la tenslty until the patent medicine devil is cast out of our midst Jno. A. Ferrell, M. D. baccocrop on October 1: LIMATIC conditions, especially every additional aid Obtainable, , to 1 . , rainfall, exert a powerful influ-V- ence on soil fertility. We have frequently' pointed-4ut facts relating to this matter which seem to be gen erally overlooked. Our long; hot, take care of the torrential and con tinuous rains which we sometimes have. The handling of the "water which falls on our soils is a much more important problem than South- moist summery cause a rapid, decay em farmers have yet realized. Too of all organic matter that may be on much of these heavy rainfalls now Or in the soil, and the heavy rainfall i. goes off over the surface, carrying and open winters faror the, washing with it the finest and best soil par- and leaching of plant foods out of all. unprotected lanas. iue urm, ansy w wards maintaining the fertility of Southern soils is a full recognition of these climatic conditions. V Our rain fall of from 60 to 60 inches . annually plays a more important part in soil fertility and land management than is ; involved in merely supplying, the necessary moisture to our crops. . On the other hand, this large rain fall produces other soil conditions which necessitate v drainage, besides those connected, with an excess of tides; while still further destruction to soil fertility results from too great quantities remaining in the surface soil for long periods. Where Surface Drainage Fails. The foregoing observations point unmistakably to oiie conclusion, and that Is, that the under-drainage of the larger part of our soils is a necessity to the highest soil fertility. Surface drainage is merely a makeshift, and is' in any , case an evil, which must under ideal conditions be reduced to moisture in the soil.. Soil that is de-v a minimum, in most cases it is bet pleted of -soluble plant foods and ter than none, and being cheaper, is eroded by excessive rains at certain sometimes the only sort of drainage seasons, requires drainage even Possible ; and, therefore, a necessity, though It may be dry enough at Dut tne b?st results will never be ob other seasons to ( produce profitable tained on "practically all our lands un ions. In other words, an excess of W1 they are tile drained. Our exces- moisture in the soil at any- season, for any considerable length of time, is injurious to the; land: This In jury comes not only from leaching or washing, but also from excluding, the sive rainfall at certain seasons 'makes this under-draining doubly important with us, and causes it to be needed on a much larger proportion of our lands than . where the rainfall does air, killing germ life and running the not exceed 35 inches annually. There soil together, all of which lower the fertility of the soil at other seasons of the year. In fact, lands that re main saturated with water for any considerable , length of time, suffer most from lack of moisture in the surface soli in periods of dry weath- We Must Both Dispose Of and Save : the Rainfall. ; ; -vy Our problem, then, is not alone to is another reason why tile draining must increase, and that is the neces sity of doing away with short rows and the: obstructions offered to the use of larger implements by open and hillside ditches. It , may. appear impracticable to suggest the tile drainage of land that is not worth (but $ 10 to $25 an acre, to people who are financially poor; but we are cbnvinced that many acres which are now scarcely worth the carry off the water so that the land $10 or $15 at which they are valued, will be sufficiently dry . during the crop growing season, but to also so handle and dispose of the heavy rain fall at all season that it will do least injury to. the land andbe most read ily available during periods of drouth. would be better worth $50 to $100 an acre if tile drained. However, we do not expect all . our lands to be , tile drained in the near future, nor v are we advising it; but we do Insist on the wisdom of working to that We have a problem in disposing of end by starting the work at once and our heavy rainfall on the rolling lands scarcely less important than that of taking the water off the low lands. When we have solved these two problems we shall have solved the greatest problems in soil manage ment which confront the Southern farmer. Extremes of moisture in the soil are disastrous to crops, and the one is more or less dependent on the other. At least, the : excessive mois ture which we have on practically all lands at certain seasons, is one of the chief .causes why we suffer so se verely i from dry periods when they do' occur; for unquestionably, land which is well drained or is never too wet for any considerable length of time withstands dry weather best. ; Wkere Under-Draining is Needed. Practically all level lands would, be improved by, under-draining, and much of : the rolling lands would be benefited almost as much , by under- . drains that would help to carry off water, thereby reducing the quantity which now goes off over the surface. Moderate rainfalls may be' absorbed by a soil well filled with humus, and it It be tiled 6r uqder-dralned, It will take in, and properly dispose of, a much greater quantity; but both these laying as many tile each year as the available resources will permit Use a HERCULES - AO-Steel Triple-Power Stump Puller on 30 Days Free Trial Clear up yowstumpy fields at our risk now . with a famous Hercules 6n30 days' Free Trial. Test it on your place at our risk. Pulls stumps out, roots and all. 40056 stronger than any other puller made. Triple power attachment means one-third greater pull. The only stump puller guaranteed for 3 years. Only one with Double Safety Ratchets. Only one with aU bearings and working parts turned, finished and machined, reducing friction, increasing power, making: it extremely light-running. I Hitch on to any stump 4An ' - andthe More ! f Cf- Xt knwA Power Wl,vuuu 10 ume Also pulls largeet sized green trees, Hedgerows, etc. Don't risk dangerous nd 'costly drn&mlte. It only shatters tnmr and leares 1 roots In ground. 1 k 8,t money I n I by tre Ulnar otrr FR BOOKS special rropoitlon .to first buyers where we baye no .. frXQ us a postal oard today. Address , '.j-T'iyK ' HERCULES MANUFACTURING io. :18017th Street, CanterrilU, low , r . f Kentucky .... North Carolina Virginia Tennessee .... South Carolina Florida ...... 80 73 85 81 74 87 81 77 88 82 84 85 Ten,Year At. 83 78 83 84 82 89 United States.. 80.2 81.3 83.0 The soil for early crops should be plowed early and tilled often. Pro fessor Fletcher. SgaTO miffli SULKY STAUC CUTTER Best by actual test "Tasting the nudding Is the roof thereof." Put bur machine to field test vith others and if ours does not prove itself the best we will pay expense of making the test' A square deal is all wt ask. Don't delay. Write us at once, we have something to tell you. The Jno. A. McKay Manufacturing Co, DUNN, N. O. LOOK -frjjr UOE SIMf 1 : jh isQtjR GUAR BEST MATERIAL, the BEST WORK MAN SHIP and PERFECT SATISFACTION v . .. . . ' .. Have ibeen the standard in the South for many years. They meet i the requirements of local conditions as no other wagon can; they are the lightest, easiest running, and longest lasting wagons in existence. ,' " Ask your dealer to show you the Thornhill; if he does not r; handle , them, write us and we will appoint an Agent in your ; locality-who will supply you promptly. THORNHILL WAGON COMFY, Manufacturers, , . LYNCHBURG, VA. r Calalope FREE. $20,00 ZtS $45.00J $20.00 Up. Cash or Credit r ' Q8B1TS WANTED We want men who are not aetlvelj encased In business to act as onr agents. tFe pay liberal tash com missions. Write for oor cataloyne and full particulars. bbbbbbbbbbbbsbHbbbbbbbHBbBbbbbS ' ' ' -., Only $10. Caoh. Bal&nca $5 a month. Warranted for 3 years. Only $25. Caoh. Balanoe $7 a month. Warranted for 8 years. SriB0m ' VJsiafjoiniG Only $15. Cach. Balance 5 a month. Warranted for 8 years. We trust honest people located in al parts of the world. Oasa or easy monthly payments. Write for our free catalogue. OEtlTURY r.lFQ OO, Dipt. 851 fast a, Loult, a are, needed, as also is probably

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view