The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-10-30

will have BEEN taken toward the solution
Of the problem. Our own observation
and experience lead us to think that the
question is really one of preparation and
| fertility, rather than Of locality, climate
or general character of soil, though the
tilatter is not without it's influence. Clo-
yer and the grasses do wcii in the south
on good, strong clayey soils, well manurcd
and thoroughly prepared This is no
longer an open question. Are there not
loamy and sandy soils on which, if made
equally rich and. equally we'll prepared,
they will do Well also On this point
we need further experiments.
LIME FOR GRASS AND THE SMALL GRAINS.
A dressing Of lime on land to be sown
with wheat, oats orcloverand the grasses,
ais, in majority of cases, one of the most
remuneratiye applications that can be
made, provided lime can be procured at
reasonably low rates. 1t is not merely as
piapt-tood that lime is useful It is still
more important as prcparer Of plant
food. It's reaction with the acids of the
soil, its strong action upon dccaying veg
etable matter, and it's faculty of convert
ing clay into mud, and rendering it me-
chanically fit for culture, are some of it's
more Obvious, uses, and, as general rule,
1t may be assumedsthat the land which is
the richest in vegetable substances will
benefit most by the free use of lime, and
gravelly sand the. least. 1t is an open
question how much, or rather how little,
lime may be proiitably applied per acre.
The English farmers use lime heavily,
putting on their fields at the rate of from
scvcnty-fve to one hundred bushels per
acre, and make one application do for q
number of years Lighter dressings made
yearly do better herc-say from five to
twenty bushels, depending upon the
amount of vegetable matter in the soil
and its acidity. Our Charleston mari
lime, or calcincd mari, is better than the
ordinary stone lime.
WHAT EVERYBODY KNOWS-oF COURSE.
If it is worth while to make cotton Mt
all, as we all believc-showing our faith
by our works-it is surely worth while to
save it all in the best possible condition,
when made; yet there is always culpa-
bic neglect among planters in this partic-
ular-negleet to pick at the proper time !;
slovenly work in picking, which allows
mach of the lint to go to waste; a lack
of care i'll asserting the different quail
ties, so that much lint OF the highest
grade must be sold at the price of the
lowest, simply because some portion of
the latter has been mixed with it; bad
ginning, reducing good cotton to the
market value of an inferior quality, and
so on. This should not be tolerated
Does not every intelligent planter know
that-the original quality being the same
clean, well ginned, cotton commands
i'll market from one and half to two
cents more per pound than g trashy cot
ton?' or course, everybody knows
nevertheless, immense quantities of
trashy cotton find their way to market.
and these words of caution are not re-
Ipeated without reason.
| SOWING GRASS AND CLOVER WITH GRAIN,
| One great cause of failure with grass in
the south has been the seeding of the
crop with the small grains This is a
common practice at the north, and we
were formerly inclined to favor it, but
later experiments force us to the conclu-
sion that in our climate at least, the
practice is a bad one, and that it is far
more profitable to SOW each by itself. If
sown Immediately, (whcn not already in)
grass and clover will, on suitable soil,
attain such growth before the hot
weather of next season sets in, as will in
sure them against injury, without the
shade of the grain, which will be injured
by the clover and grass, while injllring
them i'll return. In any case, the land
Tor clover and the grasses should be rich
and thoroughly prepared by deep, close
pi!oughing, followed by narrowing, pre-
vlous to which good dressing of super
phosphate may be applied with advan-
tage. Brush lightly to cover and, ex-
cept on heavy soils, by all means roll the
helds with tolerably heavy roller. This
last is an Important and too generally
neglected process. If you are to SOW both
clover and the grasses on the same field.
tits best to sow the clover by itself, as
the seed does not mix we'll with the grass
seed. The various kinds of grass seed
may be mixed before sowing g.-Rwal
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