The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., June 01, 1912, Image 1

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
WHAT*S THE MATTER THE COUNTRY CHURCH?—Page 5.
I A Farm and Home Weekly for
I Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
I BIRMINGHAM, ALA.,—MEMPHIS, TENN.
I Vol. XXVII. No. 22. SATURDAY^ JUNE 1, 1912. Weekly: $1 a Year.
I We Must Stop Our ii^ls From Washing Away.
WHEN a hard rain comes, does it cut your cultivated hill fields
full of little gullies? Does muddy water run down these little
channels and into the creek or the roadside ditches ? Are there
a few big gullies cut through to the hard unbroken soil ?
Where these things happen, the farmer is losing the best part of
his soil and losing it forever. He will have to plow and harrow and
fertilize and manure and .
grow legumes to replace the
fertility which the streams
are Carrying away. The
writer has seen, as have most
readers, fields so badly dam
aged by one hard rain that
years of work would *be re
quired to restore them.
It is evident to the man
who thinks, that this process
of soil destruction cannot be
allowed to continue—cer
tainly not to the extent it has
taken place in the past. To
let our lands continue to
wash away, as the old field
shown in the picture is wash
ing, and as thousands of fields
all over the South have done,
is to prepare for ourselves
or for our children a time of
hardship beyond anything
we have ever known. The
time will come, when this
land will have to be redeem
eu ana the man who has to redeem such land, and to depend upon it
for a living while he does the work, is going to do much hard work
for very little pay.
We must stop the washing of our lands—not only the great de
vouring gullies which bite away whole acres of cultivated land and
cave barren wastes in its place, but also the little often-unnoticed
channels down which the water runs, carrying with it the best part of
he soil. It is no easy task, as anyone who has tried it knows. Per
aps soil-washing will never be entirely stopped, but we must at least
reduce it to such a point that our hill lands will get better instead of
poorer.
There are many things which will help, but no one thing which
®ay be called a remedy. It is a task'for all the years the land is cul
vated. not a thing to be done once for all.
Many lands could be saved from washing simply by a judicious
j° ^on°f crops wi th decent plowing and at winter cover. To crop any
ebihiat rollin£ year after year, until the soil is robbed of all veg
^a e matter and has become dead and lifeless, is to invite gullies,
erraces will solve the problem in many cases—not weed - grown
n s and ugly ditches, but low broad swells of earth, or real terraces
0ne above another.
will kiMside ditch may be necessary in some cases. Tile drainage
^ ®°lve the problem for thousands of acres, the writer feels
n‘ Odmr thousands which men are now trying to tend will have
____ —————
NOTE HOW THE SOIL OF THE FIELD IS BEING WASHED DOWN INTO THE OLD ROAD-BED.
THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF SUCH OLD FIELDS IN THE SOUTH.
put into grass or replanted to forest trees. Indeed, when land
cannot be held in place by deep plowing, cover crops, the Mangum
terrace and proper cultivation, or by good under-drainage, it ought not
to be cultivated at all.
On land that is now being cultivated, attention to a few points
will do much to prevent or to lessen the damage from surface
-1 water. Here are four of
them:
1. Rows should be laid
off with the contour of the
land, and not up and down |
the hills. ^ j
2. Cultivation should be }
level,—that is, there should
not be ridges made to catch
and hold the water until it
gathers sufficient volume to
break through and start a
wash. i
3. When a gulley is start
ed, no matter how small, it
should be stopped at once.
Just as soon as the ground
dries after a hard rain put
the cultivators to work and
fill up all the little ditches.
If any are too large for this,
or if any start in places
where the cultivator will not f
do the work, fill them at
once with manure, straw,
leaves, any sort of litter.
4. If there is a natural depression down which the water must
run, seed it down with redtop, or plant it to Bermuda, and leave it
unbroken. If nothing else, scatter cane seed thickly along it.
The waste of the soil must be stopped.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE FARMER—The Big Political Prob
lem of Our Day. 10
FARM AND GARDEN WORK FOR JUNE — Professor Massey’s
Suggestions . 4 !
FEEDING BEEF CALVES IN ALABAMA — Can the South Make
Baby Beef?. 12
LEGALIZED LOYALTY—How to Make Sure That Farmers Will
“Stick” . 18 I
“MY WASHING MACHINE AND HOW I LIKE IT”—Four Prize j
Letters, More Next Week. 8
POULTRY WORK FOR THE MONTH—Comment and Suggestions
by Loring Brown. 14
THE OVERFLOW AS AN INCENTIVE TO GOOD FARMING—
Now is the Time to Plant Feed Crops, Start Pastures and Get
Rid of the Cattle Tick. 10
THREE FEED ANALYSES—A Little Study for All Interested in
Feeding .'. 3
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH THE COUNTRY CHURCH?—The
First of a Series of Vital Articles. 5
WHERE POLITICAL REFORM MUST BEGIN—Right in Your
Own Township. 10
_ j’