When Scientist George Washington Carver arrived at Tuskegee, he faced seriously damaged soil. This problem went back to before the Civil War. After Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, cotton growing expanded rapidly. By 1815, it had spread from Georgia and South Carolina north to Virginia and west to Alabama and Mississippi. Cotton farming with enslaved labor was extremely wasteful because growers didn't rotate crops or use organic fertilizers. Instead, they grew cotton until the soil was completely worn out, then moved west to fresh land. Carver taught farmers to use free resources all around them instead of expensive store-bought fertilizers. He encouraged them to collect decaying leaves and rich swamp sediment (called muck) to make compost. Begin composting now, he urged. Don't delay! Use every moment from now until planting time to collect the rich organic matter all around you. He showed how to build compost pens and fill them with layers of muck, leaves, and animal manure. Carver recommended covering the compost pile with a rough shed to prevent rain from washing away the nutrients. He also suggested adding vegetable scraps, fruit peels, wood ashes, rags, paper, and anything else that would break down quickly. Carver proved his methods worked through his own experiments. Three acres of Tuskegee's experimental farm received no commercial fertilizer for twelve years. Instead, Carver used only compost and proper crop rotation. The land was continuously farmed but increased in fertility every year.
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