“Ponce de Leon wasted a part of his life in riotous living and a part in seeking the Fountain of Youth. His dreams never came true. The farmers of this state have been doing the same thin in their farming operations, in hunting for some magic substance or short cut to keep up and increase the producing capacity of their soils. Drainage hasn’t done it, good seed prolongs the agency, deep plowing is not a panacea, crop rotations extend the end, plant food, in the form of fertilizers, delays the inevitable. All of these prescriptions are good, even necessary, provided there is constantly added to the soil a new supply of decaying organic matter—and this is the ‘Fountain of Youth’ for our soils. Without it the race is lost, and with it the limits of crop production are unbounded,” says Agronomist W.F. Pate of the North Carolina Experiment Station.
“Blessed with plenty of sunshine, and even distribution of rainfall, a long growing season, a great variety of crops and soils; it is possible for our farmers to constantly sow crops and turn them back into the soil for larger crop yields in the future.
“On account of their nature to make use of the nitrogen in the air it is best to sow legume crops. By their use more nitrogen will be added to our soils and of course, our fertilizer bill will be lowered,” he continues.
Mr. Pate states that it is now too late in the season to have much success with legumes but that cowpeas, velvet beans and soybeans may still be planted for soil improvement. Especially should all small grain be followed with these legumes. When they are sown in the corn at last working the land will improve in fertility. If the hay is needed for cattle, the manure will again greatly help the farm.
From the front page of the Mooresville Enterprise, July 12, 1923
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