Soil Saver 







*■*»■ 



t:j.7 





Adolph Spitznass points along terrace which 

 forms part of system started In 1928. 

 Watching are Sam Sorrells, lAA livestock 

 fieldman, left, and R. C. Broom, Williamson 

 county farm adviser. White line indicates 

 lay of terrace. 



FRC^M his front porch Adolph 

 Spitzii.iss. 6i, of near Marion 

 in Williamson county, commands 

 a magnificent view of the i;reen, 

 terraced fields that comprise his 

 2^3-acre livestock farm. 



Adolph can see from tiiis vantaue 

 (x)int the far corners of his farm and 

 watch his tine cow herd of sleek Here- 

 fords as they tiraze knee-deep in clover 

 witli t risky, white-taced calves by their 

 sides. 



This, however, was not the view that 

 confronted yoimt: Adolph -lO years ai;o 

 \\ hen he brought his bride to the family 

 homestead he hail taken over from his 

 father the fall before. 



The house and barn was located, as 

 they remain toilav. in the center of his 

 farm on the crest of a hit;h knoll, with 

 the helds sloping sharply in three di- 

 rections from the homestead. But the 

 hillside fields were barren and badly 

 cullied. Heavy croppint; and culti- 

 vatint; with the slope had eroded the 

 fertility away. 



"My father." Spitznass said, "bought 

 the farm in 1SS3 for S.31 an acre. He 

 was a good farmer, crew good crops 

 and seeded down with red clover. But 

 this wasn't enough. Just about the 

 time I took it over, yields started to 

 50 down pretty fast." 



From stark necessity, backed by a 

 deep love of his land, Adolph Spitz- 

 nass started to rebuild a worn farm. 

 And from these early struggles Spitz- 

 nass learned how the job is done and in 

 the process became a pioneer in soil 

 conservation practices that are con- 

 sidered new even today. 



where I built my first terraces with four 

 mules and a small iron road grader." 

 He still has the grader, and uses it to 

 mend rain-damaged terraces. 



Spitznass credits his terraces with re- 

 building his farm more cjuickly and 

 saving more soil than any. other prac- 

 tice he has used. Before that, even 

 with legumes, progress was slow. 



As his liming and terracing pro- 

 gressed, Spitznass found he was having 

 better luck with his legume seedings, 

 and began to rely more and more on 

 alfalfa and clover for hay and pasture. 

 As he grew more roughage he kept 

 more stock. Adolph estimates that he 

 feeds at least three times as many cattle, 

 hogs, and sheep as he used to. 



Rotations became longer and longer 

 and now Spitznass leaves terraced fields 

 in hay and pasture as long as they are 

 productive, with five, si.\, and seven 



FOR 40 YEARS 



His soil building program, based on 

 trial and error, gradually evolved 

 around the practices of heavy fertiliza- 

 tion, terracing, livestock farming, large 

 acreages of legumes, and long pasture 

 rotations. 



Spitznass started by saving his hill- 

 side soil every way he could. He would 

 tramp straw, corn stalks, brush, any- 

 thing he could lay his hands on, into 

 the ditches to stop them from spread- 

 ing. 



Then in the early twenties he started 

 to lime. Since that time, he has bought 

 and spread 67 carloads of limestone. 

 More recently he had been adding rock 

 phosphate and has tested the effects 

 of potash. 



.■\bout 20 years ago. even before the 

 days of the depression and CCC camps, 

 Adolph learned about building terraces 

 from the Williamson County Farm 

 Bureau which Adolph helped to organ- 

 ize and joined 30 years ago as a charter 

 member. 



Pointing to a steep slope now neatly 

 grassed, Adolph reminisced: "Here's 



Adolph throws out bale of bean hay to fin« 



herd of 27 Hereford cows that last year 



raised a $4000 calf crop on roughage and 



without grain. 



year rotation. This year he estimates 

 that only 66 of his 253 acres will be 

 cropped with 32 acres in corn, 20 in 

 wheat, and 16 in oats. 



Yields of grain have doubled and 

 tripled. Last year from one field that 

 years ago would produce only nubbins, 

 he harvested 8« bushels of corn an acre. 



The income of the Spitznass farm is 

 supplemented by royalties from coal 

 which a mining company is digging from 

 a large vein underlying the farm. The 

 royalties are not large. 



But the coal docs present Spitznass 

 with a real problem. "My farm," he 

 said, "is one place where the doctrine 

 of cheap food and high wages doesn't 

 pan out for the farmer." He has trouble 

 keeping help since most men can make 

 a higher hourly wage working in ths 

 mines. 



(Continued on page 34) 



12 



I. A. A. RECORD 



