32 



BULLETIN li-">0, r. s. DK1WKTMENT <>!■' AcliK'CLTURE. 



yields from L903 to L914. li is -con that this line has a marked 

 downward tendency, indicating thai the average yield per acre has 

 gradually decreased during this period. 



The variai ions Prom year to year in the yield per acre are accounted 

 for by climatic or other condit ions, over which the fanners have little 

 control. However, the average downward tendency of the yield per 

 acre is a matter of vital concern to the farmers, and also is a matter 

 over which the farmers can have some influence. Tt appears certain 

 that the system of finning followed here at present is not self- 

 sustaining. Eventually farmers must either change to some pther 

 system, or must so change their practices with the present one as to 

 rebuild the soil. 



The forces that determine what system of farming is best in a 

 given locality are so complex that no human agency can tell what 

 system is best until the matter is worked out in practice. In Brooks 



County. Ga., where 

 the single crop cotton 

 system held sway un- 

 til yields were re- 

 duced to a point that 

 made a change neces- 

 sary, hogs and pea- 

 nuts became the farm- 

 er's main dependence. 

 But peanuts are not 

 so well adapted to the 

 soils of Ellis County. 

 Tex., and raising hogs 



I'm.. 9.— Variation in yield per acre of cotton from 1903 to for market, as dis- 

 1914, Ellis County, Tex. (Data furnished by U. S. tinffuished f rom rais- 

 Bureau of Crop Estimates.) IlllgUlblieU II om lais 



ing the home supply. 

 requires careful management on soils that become very muddy in wet 

 weather. It is unwise to try to suggest new systems of farming for 

 this region until a careful study has been made of the system pre- 

 vailing in other similar regions where this problem has been worked 

 out. if such regions can be found. Such a study is contemplated. 



The experience of farmers in Marlboro County. S. C. seems to 

 oiler a suggestion. That county long since reached the point where. 

 continuous cotton culture with no attention to soil fertility made a 

 change necessary. To-day it has soil of wonderful yielding power. 

 Its yield per acre of coiton is remarkably high. In this locality it 

 was long ago learned thai the application of commercial fertilizers 

 would greatly stimulate the growth of cotton. The use of a little 

 manure or vegetable refuse of almost any kind aided materially. It 



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