Transylvania Farmers Revitalize Worn Land, 1950

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Charlotte Carolina Farm Observer, Dec. 11, 1950

Old, eroded hillsides, once of no value to the owners, are being made to contribute to the family income. North Carolina farmers say there is a place for every acre these days. Very often, a so-called worn-out pied of land is a real challenge to the owner. 

Steve Ferguson of Transylvania County had such a challenge on his place. To the rear of his barn was a poor, eroded, steep, hillside covered with briars and broomsedge. Every time Mr. Ferguson looked out at the hillside, it seemed to disturb his sense of the fitness of things. Then, too, he was expanding his herd of dairy cows. The folks around Brevard needed more fresh, homegrown, mountain milk and butter! Yet, here was a vacant pied of land, bearing all the signs of an infertile soil. Mr. Ferguson says that when you see a field covered with broomsedge and briars, especially in the mountains, that’s a poor piece of land. Insofar as he knew, the particular tract on his farm had never received an application of fertilizer.

But again, the land was needed for pasture. So Mr. Ferguson bought dolomitic limestone, applied between 2 and 2 ½ tons per acre over the field and then he mounted his tractor and literally tore that field to pieces. His next step was to apply about 200 pounds per acre of actual phosphoric acid in the form of a phosphate fertilizer. Again he mounted his tractor and gave the field a thorough disking. Next, he added 200 pounds of 50 percent muriate of potash and 50 pounds of nitrate fertilizer per acre and then he smoothed off the seed bed. Last fall, he planted the field to oats, and over-seeded the oats with ladino clover and orchard grass. The oats were cut early for hay this spring so as to allow the pasture to get a start and Mr. Ferguson stored a nice crop of oat hay. 

He now has a beautiful soft carpet of clover and grass as a pasture for his dairy cows. Better still, the pasture sod holds the raindrops where they will do him the most good, right there in that hillside soil.

Jack Gilliam, who farms over near Hendersonville but also in Transylvania County, had a problem of a different sort. He owns a very small place and says his soil is not suited for truck crops, yet he doesn’t have enough land to go into dairying. He started a nice Ladino pasture last year thinking that he might add a few cows, but he soon saw that this wouldn’t work. However, the farm had to somehow be used to make a living for his family. So he came up with the idea that he should go into the poultry business. He is building a comfortable laying house on the side of his house next to the ladino pasture, in an ideal spot sheltered from the fierce mountain winds.

The house is well arranged for convenience and ventilation and will hold 500 hens. Jack says he did most of the carpenter work himself but even so the house has cost him between $900 and $1,000 cash.

“I am new in this poultry business,” he commented, “but I am learning. When I get into all the tricks of the trade, I am going to expand. We have enough land to handle chickens and I plan to sell the kind of eggs that people want to buy.”