The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1875-08-18
AUGUST.
THE VALUE OF RED RUST"
PROOF OATS.

I published an experiment with red
oats, that several friends asserted
was an exception, because ''it was
growing oats too cheap" Another
year has come and gone. l have
repeated the experiment, succeed eded1 /
equally as we'll, and am pleased to
say, I have witnessed a better sue
cess with more than one of my
neighbors. Red oats can be grown
at an expense of twenty-five cents
per bushel upon any ordinary farm
in the South, every such bushel
will weigh thirty pounds, and a
pound of oats will produce just as
much muscle and fat as pound Of
corn. I have kert a horse for two
years without ever feeding him an
ear of corn or blade of fodder,
his daily diet being shelled oats
and straw, or cut oats from the
sheaf; he has been ploughed, wag-
oned, hacked about in a buggy, and
ridden under the saddle; and there
never was time he was not ready
and willing to do full share of
work. Any land that ever | have
seen in the South will produce two
bushels of oats where it will grow
one bushel of corn each farmer
for himself can calculate the cost
of growing the two crops.
Red oats Will yield more grain to
the straw, and more delicate straw
than any oats I have ever grown.
Sown in the fall, they will produce
a remunerative crop on good land,
even if frozen out during the win
ter to single stool to every square
foot. They are heavier than any
other and have never been known
to take the rust. A few years ago
I selected eight adjoining acres,
and on them sowed a bushel to each
acre of eight varieties Of oats
Some were entirely ruined by the
winter, some were ruined by rust,
and all but the red oats we're more
or less damaged by this parasite.
Not even a blade of the red oats
was touched, though the acre was
in the midst Of those most thor
oughly ruined. The time is upon
US when they should again be sown,
though they are remunerative if
sown at any time between this and
the 1st of next March.
I prefer to SOW in cotton land
broadcast, and plough in with three
or four sweep-furrows. This lays
by a cotton crop as we'll as sows a
small grain crop, hence a saving
of half the labor. It is cheaper
to SOW in the cotton field even if
postponed till September or Octo-
Der, because cotton requiring clean
culture the land is in better tilth,
and fewer burrows are necessary.
The hands while picking cotton du-
ring the winter will trample upon
the young sprigs, and make them
stool out better therefor. Sheep
will winter on oats in a cotton field
and never modest the cotton till
they have eaten up the oats.
Where cotton is the exclusive
crop, there is no little vcxation and
harassing doubts at harvest time to
him who ventures to SOW small
grain. In June the cotton and corn
need the attention of the laborer
constantly. Hence, the policy, al
most necessity, of interesting the
laborer in the ownership of at least
the oat crop. A fair contract, in
this regard, is for the employer to
furnish the seed, fertilizer and land,
and require the employee to supply
the labor of seeding and harvest
ing, and at harvest time divide the
crop, one-fourth to the laborer and
three-fourths to the employer. An
acre of land, producing twenty
bushels of oats, would thus give
the laborer FIVE bushels Of oats for
about two days work, (ploughing,
scattering manure, knocking down
stalks. and harvesting,) and fifteen
bushels to the owner, one and
half bushels of seed, three and q
half bushels to pay for fertilizer,
and ten bushels rent. have never