AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS IN SOUTHERN NEW YORK. 7 



fostered and encoiira<:^ed (•liaii<i;o and ne<2;le('t in the East. In fact, 

 many of these ohan<z;es may ho said to be the direct results of this 

 movement, whicli has now not only reached its limits but has turned 

 back eastward. Disor<i;ani/ation and abandonment have ceased; 

 reorganization and reconstruction have be(i;un. 



FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF IMPROVEMENT. 



Enough evidence is at hand to support the belief that the agricul- 

 tural conditions existing in southern New York are not necessary 

 and that they are the results of ])Oor or indifferent management. As 

 pointed out in Bulletin GO of the Bureau of Soils,'^ the problem of 

 soil improvement is purely one of a system of management. In 

 almost any part of the region described, however bad, small areas of 

 exactly the same type of soil and under the same general conditions 

 may be found producing gootl crops. Moreover, fertility is not 

 exluiusted in these soils, as many suppose. The fact that 250 bushels 

 of potatoes have been grown on a field abandoned for several years 

 previously, without the use of any commercial fertilizer, is good evi- 

 dence of this. 



It is a fact, however, that the systems of the past have been largely 

 those designed to get the most from the land during a given year 

 regardless of the future, so that the plant food elements imme- 

 diately available have been exhausted to a greater or less degree and 

 the physical condition of the soil very seriously injured. Ilumus is 

 the essential element, and whatever new systems of farming may be 

 planned they must have for their first object the restoration of tlie 

 physical condition of the soil by the addition of humus in some form. 



GROWTH OF CLOVER. 



One of the principal causes of the decreased supply of humus in the 

 soil of this section is the running out of clover. No other plant is so 

 important in any rotation for this region. This is because there is no 

 other plant which can take its place as a producer of feed for stock, 

 as green manure, or as a means of adding humus and improving 

 physical soil conditions generally. Being a legume, clover adds some 

 plant food to the soil. Botli its deep root and heavy top growth add 

 organic matter in considerable quantity. In addition, its deep root 

 system opens uj) the soil to better aeration and better drainage. 



Investigation has shown that clover does not grow on most of the 

 area in southern New York at the present time, and moreover that 

 it will not grow under existing conditions. It has been found that 

 clover fails to grow for three principal reasons: (1) On account of 



a A Preliminary Report on the Volusia Soils, Their Problems and Management. 

 Bulletin 60, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

 [Cir. 04 J 



