70 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Difficulties of 

 the Northern 

 Farmer 



mineral salts, were washed out long ago, and now in addition to 

 those things being gone, the minerals have been extensively decom- 

 posed and their constituents carried away. To illustrate that I will 

 call your attention to a table of Southern soils I have here. 



I have used here the names we use in the Bureau of soils classi- 

 fication ; and I have given the percentages of potash and lime and 

 silica. Of course, silica is not one of the elements of fertility. The 

 Orangeburg Sandy Loam, which is an important soil in Western 

 Georgia, in Central Alabama and Eastern Mississippi, and quite an 

 important soil also in Central Louisiana, and also in Texas (but not 

 very abundantly in Texas), has 1/10 of 1 per cent of potash. Soils 

 in other areas will contain 2 or 3 per cent. This contains 1/10 of 

 1 per cent. What I want to point out to you is that the Southern 

 soils are pretty well leached through natural conditions — not due to 

 Southern agriculture. The farmer has not leached them out. Nature 

 did it. It is the result of natural processes. It is a condition that 

 the Southern landowner and farmer must meet. How does Nature 

 compensate the Southern farmer for this soil condition which she 

 has given him? The compensation lies in just what I mentioned 

 first, in the tremendous advantage that the Southern farmer has in 

 his climate. The settlers who take up land in the high mountains of 

 the West and North find it absolutely impossible to lengthen their 

 growing season one day. They find it impossible to increase their 

 rainfall 1/10 of 1 inch. They must meet conditions that they cannot 

 change. The Southern farmer, however, is not i-n that position. He 

 is not under the necessity of resigning himself to the soil conditions 

 established for him by nature. Since his soil deficiency is merely 

 one of soluble mineral matter, and a supply of organic matter they 

 may be supplied by him. The great development of the fertilizer 

 industry within the last fifty years has made it possible for the 

 Southern farmer to purchase an abundant supply of mineral 

 fertilizer for his soil, while his climate favors the rapid utilization 

 of all organic matter that he puts into it. 



The Southern farmer labors under a slight disadvantage in the 

 nature of his soils. He basks in the favor of the tremendously 

 advantageous climate and is able to overcome the disadvantage of his 

 soils by the use of fertilizers, which, are not extremely expensive. 

 That is essentially the situation so far as the character of Southern 

 soils is concerned. 



There is another factor in the handling of soils in agriculture, 

 with which agriculture has to contend— and that is the question of 



/ 



