CULTIVATING A PATCH OF CASSAVA ON THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT PLOT
Statistical data show that the average yield of cotton per acre throughout the South is 190 pounds, an astonishingly low figure, and, except when high prices rule, below the paying point. Every acre of cotton in the South can and should be made to produce 500 pounds of lint. Should the cotton grower add the trifling increase of five pounds of lint an acre, it would mean for the Cotton States a total increase of 240,000 bales, based on the crop reports for 1902, with a value of nearly $15,000,000, according to the prices realised on the crop of 1903. The experimental station at Tuskegee has appreciated the tremendous possibilities pictured by such statements as these, and the Director, Mr. Carver, has demonstrated the value of scientific cultivation, by raising nearly 500 pounds of cotton on one acre of poor Alabama land. In addition he has taken up the problem of crossing varieties of cotton to increase the quality of the uplands staple. These experiments have been promisingly successful, and already a hybrid cotton has been grown which is vastly superior to that commonly raised in Alabama. In other words, Tuskegee is teaching the farmers how to raise a better grade of cotton and more of it, without increasing the acreage planted.
The subject of soil improvement through natural agencies has been one of much concern to both ancient and modern agriculturists. The ancient Egyptian knew that if he let his land lie idle—"rested," as he termed it—he was able to produce a much better crop, and that crop would be in quantity and quality, all other things being equal, proportionate to the length of time this land had been rested.
At a later period the fertilising value of the legumes (pod-bearing plants) was recognised. But as the population of the world increased and civilisation advanced, it became more imperative that all farming operations should be more intensive and less extensive. Each decade saw the progressive farmer on his journey of progress correcting many mistakes of the past. He then began to see that it was quite possible and practicable to keep his ground covered with some crop; and the soil also became richer and more fertile every year—by reason of this constant tillage—than was possible under the old method of letting the land lie fallow for a few years. As science shed light upon his art, he learned that the crop-yielding capacity of a soil was increased by rotating or changing his farm crops every year upon land not occupied by such crops the year previous.
For seven years Tuskegee has made the subject of crop rotation a special study, and submits the plan illustrated by the accompanying chart as the most simple and satisfactory. This chart and data were worked out by the Director of the Agricultural Department. It was hoped that the experiment would shed some light on the following pertinent questions:
(a) Is it possible to build up the poor upland soils of Alabama?
(b) Can injurious washing away of the soil by rains be overcome?
(c) Are not the fertilisers necessary for the production of a crop on such land far beyond the reach of the average farmer?