Vol. LXXI. No. 4158. 
NEW YORK, JULY 6, 1912. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
SHORT STORIES ABOUT THE SOIL. 
Idle Soil Grows Stronger. 
Will soil deteriorate year after year when not used, pro¬ 
vided there is no washing away? What is the best way to 
leave fields which may not be used for two or three years? 
New Jersey. w. H. 
No. If the soil does 
not wash or leach away 
it will not grow poorer 
when left alone. In the 
older parts of the coun¬ 
try are old fields which 
years ago were cleared 
and cultivated. • After 
awhile they became so 
poor in available plant 
food that crops did not 
pay. Such fields were 
then abandoned. Weeds, 
briers and coarse grass* 
came in, and leaves were 
blown in from other 
fields. All this decayed 
on the soil, and slowly a 
higher class of vegeta¬ 
tion appeared. The clo¬ 
vers came in here and 
there, and such grasses 
as Red-top, Timothy 
and Blue grass. In time 
something of a sod of 
mixed grasses and weeds 
formed. Everyone knows 
that when a sod is 
plowed under two or 
three fair crops can be 
grown. So, in time, 
these old fields were 
again plowed and culti¬ 
vated until they again 
failed. What happened 
was this: The cultivated 
crops could not find 
available food, but there 
were coarse weeds and 
tough grasses which 
could do so. These made 
a stunted growth and 
died. They had obtained 
some plant food from 
the old soil, and as they 
decayed this became 
available for other 
plants. They also pro¬ 
vided humus which 
changed the character of 
the soil a little. There 
were clovers and grass 
seeds dormant in that 
soil. Finally the soil im¬ 
proved so that these 
seeds sprouted and made 
a small growth, and de¬ 
veloped more seeds. 
There was little added 
to the soil except what 
the clovers may have 
taken from the air, but as 
crop after crop of weeds or briers grew and decayed, 
unavailable plant food was made over so that farm 
crops could use it. While it is true that such soils 
slowly improve in available plant food they usually 
grow sour as well. Thus the use of lime when re¬ 
working these old fields always shows great results. 
If such old fields are not to be used for several years 
the best thing we know of is to clip off the growth at 
least twice during the year and let it lie on the ground 
to decay. We have tried this on such a field with 
surprising results as compared with letting the weeds 
mature their seed. This mulch shading the ground 
and slowly decaying has a good effect upon the soil. 
With us it leads to a better class of grasses and a 
stronger sod. Of course where such a soil is exposed 
to washing rains so that it gullies badly the plant food 
made available by the weeds and coarse growth will 
be lost. 
Weeds to Save Fertilizer. 
This is in line with the plan of caring for an or¬ 
chard which is followed by A. T. Repp, of New Jer¬ 
sey. We have told the 
story several times. It 
is repeated because the 
time is near for stopping 
cultivation in orchards, 
and we want to make 
clear this possible value 
of weeds. For some 
years Mr. Repp has fer¬ 
tilized heavily, given 
thorough culture up to 
the middle of July, and 
then left the weeds free 
to grow. The object was 
to stop wood growth on 
the trees and set them to 
developing this year's 
fruit and next season’s 
buds. The next object 
was to save the available 
fertilizer left in the soil 
by storing it up in the 
weeds. Many of these 
weeds are head high by 
August. They draw both 
moisture and plant food 
from the soil. This 
checks the tree growth, 
and the trees stop mak¬ 
ing growth and go to 
hardening and maturing 
what they have made. 
The nitrate and availa¬ 
ble plant food in the 
soil might be washed out 
or changed if these rank 
weeds were not growing. 
Weeds hold that plant 
food, store it up in their 
bodies and hold it safely 
until the next season. 
Then what is left of 
these weeds is plowed 
under. Decay sets in, 
and these weeds give up 
that plant food to the 
trees. Another crop of 
weeds follows to hold 
what the trees have not 
taken. Thus year after 
year there can be little 
loss of plant food from 
that soil except what the 
trees and the fruit re¬ 
move. Our experience 
indicates that there 
would be even better re¬ 
sults if these weeds 
were clipped off twice 
during the season, but 
Mr. Repp does not think 
it would pay for the 
extra labor. Having fertilized heavily for many years, 
Mr. Repp feels that his soil can take care of itself for 
awhile. The weeds have prevented any great loss and 
a ton of apples or peaches removes about 1,700 pounds 
of water and barely eight pounds of plant food. Thus 
HAPPY DAYS FOR THE FARMER’S BEST FRIEND. Fig. 295. 
