80 The Bulletin. 



necessary that the forests be destroyed that the civilization might develop. A 

 wise preservation or conservation of the forests would have made the develop- 

 ment more rapid and greater in both the past and the future. Under forest 

 conditions, such as existed when European races settled America, the surface 

 of our State was protected from soil wash and the streams were clear, unbur- 

 dened with tons of soil, overflowed but slightly, and droughts were probably 

 unknown. The forests were everywhere and mature. In their mature condi- 

 tion an equilibrium between growth and decay was established. There was 

 annually given back to the soil an amount of plant food in the form of leaf, 

 bark, fruit and twig equal to the plant food needed in the forests' annual 

 growth. A balance was established between supply and demand. This im- 

 mense quantity of vegetation, each year deposited upon the surface of the 

 soil and slowly decaying into the best forms of plant nutrients, also caught 

 and held the rains that fell, enabling the rain water to enter the earth, from 

 thence it was pumped by the vegetation as needed. The earth's surface was 

 shielded from the intense rays of the sun in summer and blanketed against 

 too great cold in winter by an ever-present covering of vegetation. 



Man and his methods changed this natural order of things. The conversion 

 of forest into cultivated field stopped the annual deposit of humus-making 

 material and destroyed that which had accumulated ; and Nature, dissipated, 

 let loose her excess of flood and drought, heat and cold. 



The tillage methods practiced in growing the three principal crops of the 

 State have forced soil depletion and destruction rather than its improvement. 

 Crop production, or yield per acre, is controlled by soil condition and soil com- 

 position. The plow, the greatest implement of production and the foundation of 

 our civilization, has been so used as to check both production and civilization, 

 since its improper use has aided in the destruction of the soil. Production de- 

 pends upon the soil and civilization upon production. How has this been done? 

 This greatest of civilizing influences, the plow, has been used in a primitive 

 form when better forms were available and in a primitive way when better ways 

 were known. In the preparation for crops the plow has been dragged by the 

 same light mule to the same shallow depth for several generations. The slid- 

 ing of the plow upon the same subsurface plane year after year has com- 

 pressed this subsurface and made it to a great extent impervious to the pene- 

 tration of the roots of growing crops and to the percolation of rain water. 

 Too often has the preparation with the plow been delayed until spring, where 

 the haste to get the soil ready for the spring crops was so great as to impair 

 the quality of the plowing and to induce the use of the plow when this sub- 

 surface was wet. There is formed a hard-pan, increasing in hardness each 

 year, largely restricting the roots of the crop to the depth of soil stirred by 

 the plow. The crops are thus forced to depend largely upon this shallow 

 depth of stirred soil for both food and drink, and quickly exhaust both. The 

 costly fertilizers are resorted to. that this impoverished shallow surface may 

 be stimulated to give up more of its plant food. Stable manure, leguminous 

 and other plants are plowed into this shallow surface to restore the lost soil 

 conditions and compositions. The growing crops year after year are con- 

 fined to this shallow depth, and exhaust it. 



Unless the North Carolina farmer has suddenly changed his methods, the 

 average depth of his plowing does not exceed three inches, the State over. 

 He uses only the surface three inches of his land, while he is entitled to three 

 or four times that depth. He restricts the crops feeding to this three inches 

 of surface which has been fed from year after year. The crop, according to 

 its requirement and nature, is entitled to eight or twelve or more inches. The 

 rain that falls so spasmodically should soak into the ground, the ground being 

 the natural reservoir for growing plants. This all but impervious stratum 

 which has been formed three inches beneath the surface prevents the descent 

 of rain. The surface three inches of "prepared" soil soon becomes filled with 

 water when our frequent heavy rains visit us. The three inches become sat- 

 urated. The surplus water is prevented by the hard stratum from penetrating 

 to greater depth. The soil particles are made lighter in the presence of water. 

 Water exists in every space between the particles of soil, acting as a lubricant. 



