OCR Text |
Show Soil Conservation In the matter of soil conservation the agriculturist will do well to take a leaf out of Nature's own book, for one of Nature's tricks for holding and fertilizing the soil is to keep it constantly 'covered with vegetation. Such coverage, when maintained by the farmer is usually called a cover crop. It may be a fairly permanent cover, maintained over a period of years, or it may be planted merely mere-ly for a winter or a summer season. Careful erosion surveys made throughout the United States show that 50.000,000 acres of once-fertile land are now completely useless and 100,000,000 more in bad condition as a result of soil erosion. The greater part, if not all of this shocking loss of productivity could have been prevented pre-vented by the use of proper soil conservation methods. One of such methods, and an important one, would have been the planting of cover crops in proper rotation with other crops. A recent Farmers' Bulletin Bul-letin lists the following advantages to be derived from the use of cover crops: "1. The cover crop reduces runoff run-off of rain and thus conserves moisture; mois-ture; "2. Prevents excessive erosion of soil; "3. Adds organic matter to the soil; "4. Prevents the leaching of available avail-able plant food, especially nitrate nitrogen; "5. When turned under, forms organic or-ganic acids or other compounds which aid in the liberation of mineral plant food; "6. May provide late fall, winter, and early spring pasture; "7. Protects newly constructed terraces and other soil-erosion devices; de-vices; "8. Increases yield of corn, cotton, and other regular farm crops; "9. When plowed under, improves the structure of both heavy and light soils and increases the water-absorbing water-absorbing capacity and the infiltration infiltra-tion of water into the soil." Such crops as corn, tobacco, potatoes, po-tatoes, and cotton which are grown in wide rows with clean cultivation, and also wheat and other small-grain small-grain crops grown on sloping land under a summer-fallow system of rotation are all highly conducive to soil loss by erosion. CROP YIELDS INCREASED Farmers are sometimes disinclined disin-clined to try cover crops because of the cost of seed and labor involved; nevertheless, both practical and experimental ex-perimental results of cover cropping crop-ping show that in the Cotton Belt yields have been greatly increased as much as 35 per cent for cotton and 75 per cent for corn by this practice. In winter-grain sections, yields have also been materially increased in-creased by the use of summer cover cov-er crops. Legumes, especially, themselves a cash crop, may be used as cover crops in rotation with other cash crops, to reduce erosion and increase the yield of the cultivated culti-vated crops which follow them. In the northern Corn Belt and in the western part of the United States where soils are neutral or alkaline, sweetclover, broadcast with wheat is very valuable since its large top and root growth add much organic matter to the soil. A standard crop along the Atlantic coast, from New Jersey to northern Georgia is crimson crim-son clover. It must be admitted that it is frequently difficult to obtain ob-tain a stand of crimson clover, but wherever a stand can be secured it makes a very satisfactory erosion-control erosion-control crop. For best results, sow the seed in the hull, at the rate of 50 pounds per acre, on a well-prepared well-prepared seed bed, and press the seed into the soil with a roller. NON-LEGUMES In either the Corn Belt or the Cotton Belt, one of the best all-round all-round cover crops is rye, which germinates easily and makes a complete com-plete cover in a very short time. Winter oats may also be used where freezing is not severe. Wheat, in areas to which it is adapted, or oats or barley make good cover crops. In regions where leguminous crops are, for any reason, not desirable, de-sirable, Italian ryegrass, redtop or rye are indicated for cover. Cover crops should be turned under two weeks before corn planting or three weeks before cotton planting. For early truck crops, plant for cover something which will form a dense growth in the fall to serve as a winter win-ter mulch and turn it under in February Feb-ruary or March. For further information concerning cover crops, send five cents to Superintendent ol Documents, Washington, D. C, asking lor Farmers' Bulletin No. 17S8. THE PITCHER PLANT It is the leaf of the pitcher plant which gives it its name. These leaves may be anywhere fom 4 to 10 inches long. They are hollow and are shaped like little trumpets with the small end of the "trumpet" attached to the stem of the plant. Each perfect leaf is winged on its inner side and is colored in various shades of green, streaked in purple or a dark liver color. These trum pet-shaped leaves are usually ne;ir ly full of water (the plants grow in boggy marshes). Hence its name |