Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1856-03-08
[From the Alabama Planter.
On the Proper Time for xanuriug.

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The leisure of the past summer has
occasioned several communications to
you, drawn from the remembrance Of
many years Of close attention to the gen.
eral business of the cotton and corn plan
tation where the want Of fertility had
directed the attention very much to all
possible aids from manure. Enclosing
fields to be ungrazed, listing with the
hoe and plough, aud the hoe alone, and
movable and stationary stock pens, lit
tering with straw from the woods direct
to the fields and generally the usual
practices Of farm where its wants were
more than the means Of supply for them;
cotton seed very fully tried, rotted at
the gin house in the usual way, and put
on sound and unirjurei also. ] think
success, having due respect to the sea-
sons, has much depended on deep plough
ing and late manuring. To this latter I
shall confine my remarks and give the
reason for my opinion, so that each may
test its correctness by his own observa'
ton.
There is observable in all plants and
animals growing and bearing stage,
and as the object you seek is the bear
ing or fruiting, the manure should be so
applied as to be ir its most powerful &C.
ton, when the plant is in its frui;ion.
This seems reasonable. Can it possibly
be better to give all you: manure to the
cotton and corn when growing or when
it is bearing. and this is too often the
case. A short lived manure may be ex
pended in giving growth to the stalk and
leaving nothing to make the ear. Cot
ton seed, early winter rotted, is of this
class, and If put on rotted at planting,
its effects are all expended il the stalks
with nothing left for the ears. The ten
dency of our warm climate is to run to
too much stalk, and should be counter
acted rather than stimulated. Our only
friend that has been doing this is
early draught, always unthanked, and
frequently regarded as an enemy. Corn
will stand seasons that much diminish
its size and yield well, provided suitable
rains come when the grain is maturing.
The manure should be so managed rs to
act at this juncture, say June and July.
Let us take corn for an example, and the
season equally applies TO cotton and all
other products, and your observation
will make the application. Corn is gen,
orally planted ia Mach, and continues
through its growing stage through all
May, when the bearing or fruiting stage
commences, and continues through June
and July. The obseryant planter will
then see the rapidity Of the shooting and
tssseIing aud pushing out the young
ears, and if he takes the hoe he will see
just under the surface, innumerabIe
thread like white roots extending 10 all
directions from the guard roots anc 9th
ers to the distance Of eight or ten feet :;
then is the time the land shon!d be in
fine order and the manure in its most
powerful action. These roots are iu
search Of food and bearing it to the corn,
and should not be cut by plough Or hoe,
as it will be too late to renew for use.
ln June or July it is in full bearing,
and wants all the effect Of the manure
and rains, and on this, more than on the
size Of the stalk, is the yield dependant.
All that class Of manure that come from
listing in and covering where grow the
rubbish and surface soil, and the latter
or stables and cowpens or compost heaps,
as well from the want Of time Ias the ne
cessity Of the cooperation Of the earth in
rotting, reducing and preparing it for the
food ofplants, must be applied before tue
crop is planted, and let this be as at
present The manures l particularly al
Iude to are cotton seed, guano and the
sulphates, alIpowerful in themselves and
requiring so little time in the application,
aud think may add, Of a short du-
ration, in the homeopathic dose usually
given. The practice l complain of is the
usual one Of throwing out The cotton seed
a. it is ginned, where from the size of the
bulk it heats, sobs and its essence and
value passes into the air and is lost. In
this evaporation its odor tells the noise,
if it has not formed the understanding,
that it is wasting into the air. 1t isl per-
haps correct to say that more than one
half its value is lost. and without the
poor excuse Of its being too busy time.
Let the cotton seed be hauled of to the
field to be manured before it accumulates
into much bulk. In the small heaps in