Wilmington journal., 1876-02-11
f ON the Southern Cultivate,
IN 0IRIsTa for tho N.

Gnan lGCle TOO late. many crop has
been ruined by farmers being 81" "littie he.
hind"in tire spring. A delay of one weeL
in pie ,ting, sometimes decides the fate
of the crop, whether it shall be good
or bad. Not only should all preoara.
tory work be finished up, but all means
and contrivanoes for spreading mo-
nure and seed, ard covering them ran
idly and wei, sfould be studied ont
and made ready in advance. Plantera
overhauled. ploughs repaired, barrels
for rolling seed geared up, harrows
boards, or other contrivauces for Gov
ering seed gotten ready. Rainy davs
may be most profit .bly spent in look
ing after these things. Now that cot.
ton seed and acid phosphates are he
iag SO largely used az manures
some contrIvauce for distrihnt;no
in the drill from Is to az
bushels of seed. uniformly and ranid,v
Is much needed. Ordinary plantars'
like the Dow Law, will DO the wort
Effectively, but with these the homer
nesds filling too often when such large
quantities are being distributed. One
that Can carry enough with one LOADING
to go over one-fourLb to one-haif acre
is the thing now nee led. Labor costs
700 much for one TO have four or fivo
hands stationed at different points to
feed "plantera' of small capacity.
PITCHING THE CROP
We hope no reader of the CuUirator
sill pitch his crop this year without
nature deliberation. Beware of the
delusive phantom of hope" and
count we'll the cost before beginning.
fn ~
:op yourself, not only in the sense of
planting more than you have mules or
hands to tend or manure to fertilize.
but in the still more important sense
of having means to pay as you 40.
Avoid credit in every shape and form.
1t has made the middleman" the op-
pressor, and is the parent of all our
agricultural troubles. You may at
tempt to explain them by this. that
and the other, but they all go back
at last to this miserable credit
system which has cursed the
land for the past ten years. Exam
inc your cribs and barns, and if Won
have any more mules than you can
feed well, g, Il the overplus at once
and reduce your crop. Pay wages if
possible to hands, and if yon have
means to hire only few on this basis,
reduce your crop accordingly. Rent
your surplus land to tenants who have
the means to plant without your
"6dckiog," or else SOW them in grains
or grasses, or let them rest It is in
this sense that we urge you not to
"overcrop" yourself.
APPoRTIONMENT OF LAND TO CROPS.
For corn-Bottom lands, of course:
if there are any on the farm-if not.
then the least "thirSty" lands TO be
had. Other things being equal select
fields in cotton or peas the previous
year, as corn does best after these
the chief point to be guarded against
is drought. For this reason we suggest
ed the selection of the least "thirsty"
soil, and would now add free but judi
ciobs manuring. There is no doubt
that all crops properly fed withstand
/ drought, cold and all other averse cir
| cumstances better than those stinted
or Stay'Ued;; and a corn crop can be
greatly strengthened in this respect,
by feeding it literally with cotton seed
and especially with cotton seed treat
ed with acid phosphate-1OO TBS. latter
to 20 to 80 bushels seed. On we'll pre-
pared upland, in good heart, we should
not hesitate to apply as much as ftty
| bushels cotton seed, thus treated, pei
acre. Even Oh the sandy lands of
Southern Georgia, Mr.. Hardaway ap-
plies from 60 to 100 bushels per acre
without firing corn. True, his land
has been well manured for number
of years, and his crops judiciously
rotated. His rule, which is perhaps as
good as any, is to apply three ftths
| of the manure in the drill before the
| corn is planted and tUo-ffths in a side
| furrow at the I'd working of tie corn.
| On bottom land, where there is no
fear of drought, two or three times the
| above qualities of manure may be
protitably applied, taking care with
heavy manuring to have sufficient
| number of stalks to make large
yield. On thin upland, lightly manur-
| ed, good distance is iil-important; on
bottom land, heavily manured, crowd
| ing is equally essential for the best re-
suits; 3x3 with two stalks III hill is
| none too thick if there is manure
enough to make 100 bushels of corn
per acre. In perfecting your plans for
a
very little more labor is required to
make 100 buchels corn per acre, than
to make 10.
1t is best to put manure for corn in
the ground just before or at planting
time, and it is not desirable to place 1t
very deep in the soil. Everything
should be ready, that planting may
begin Just as soon as the seasons will
permit. Plant whenever it gets warm
enough TO secure a "sta,,d." Early
corn will generally produce best and
besides can be layed by early, so
as to give better opportunities to work
q cotton crop. It is lest TO plant q
part of the crop in some early matur-
ing variety that will lipen by 1st July,
as precaution against July drought,
but the bulk of the crop should be OF
some large-eared productive variety.
SPRING OATS.
This is not valuable crop-some-
times produces well, but too uncer-
tain, unless a "rusS-proof" variety is
sown upon very rich land. Where
ample provision has not been made for
stock feed, it would be best, however,
to rick this crop. Select good land
and SOW early, and 1t is best to SOW II
to 2 bushels seed per acre croWdi'ag
hastens the ripening of the crop and
lessons the danger from drought and
rust.
CLOVER AND GRASS.
The latter half of this mon thi is the
best time for the spring SOW ngs OF
these. Put lar in fine tilth, manure
it we'll, with phosphates for clover and
ammoniated manure for grass, and
SOW plenty Of seed. Brush in very
lightly, and then roll the land. In the
case of grass particularly, unless
ve,y thick stand IS seculed, broom,
sage and other native grasses Will
most certainly take possession OF the
lond in a few years. We would advise
the sowing of about double the quan-
tity of seed usually recommended
say of red clover Is lb' per acre, Or
chard grass bushels, &c, &c.
PREPARATION FOR COTTON.
Composts of cotton seed and
acid phosphate should be put up
this month, both because there
is more leisure for such work, and me
reaction between the phosphate ana
nh