Orangeburg news and times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1875-1877, 1876-07-15
Thoughts for the Month.

crops too early. Sambo wants to
give them the least amount of labor
possible, and landlords are anxious to
curtail: expenses as much rs they can.
Whatever the motive, the policy is a
bad one. Crops should have m7is-
putca possession of the land until
they are .fuUy matmcl, and whatever
work is necessary to secure this,
should be given them. So far rs
ploughing goes, corn crop is all tho
better soff for an early "laying by,"i
clean and well worked up to time Of
"bunching"-for little hoe work
will keep it clean after that, but cot
ton Should be worked just as long as
aplopgh can pass through it without
breaking off the limbs.
All upland crops should be ''laid
by" with The surface of the ground as
flat and free from ridges as practic-
able. Now, that manuring and en-
riching our lands is the order Of the
day, it is worse than folly to let them
wash away. If corn was planted in
water furrow, enough dirt will have
been thrown to it in previous work
ings, and no necessity for hilling will
exist. Cotton beds, if the crop has
been; cultivated, after the first or
second ploughing, with sweep, vii
pretty we'll disappear by August, and,
though the surface be clean and loose
-cpnditions favorable to washing
very little will take place. Moreover,
this clean, fiat surface will be admir-
ably adapted to receive seeding
down Of oats i'll September. To this
latter point we beg to call the readers
attention noe, that he may think
about and prcwrc for it. We have
just harvested as fine 4 crop of oats rs
W ever grew, made by sowing the
sS Sic ista III. u. cotton field iu September,
ssfsd Hing 5ne ilrrow OF u lhree.
foot harrow i'll each middle. Just
think Of the small amount Of labor
such a crop involves hand can SOW
down and cover some five acres in n
day We will rccur to this again,
however, next month.
Peas should always be sown broad
cast when laying by corn, if not pre-
viousIy planted in the corn. They
may take little food away from the
corn, but nothing like what grass
would, and for any loss thus produced
they return fonr-told equivalent i'll
the food they yield and enrichment
Of the land. No opportunity should
ever be lost OH farm to get in one
| of these nitrogen gathering crops. like
peas. Remember q good suppy Of
available nitrogen is The foundation Of
| Of a good gruia crop.
Go carefully over the cotton fields
now and kill all grass; tho bunchcs
are large enough now to be easily y
seen, and later, when the cotton is
larger, it will be more difficult to hoe
among it. Every years experience
and observation confirms the opinion
heretofore expressed, that by proper
care crob-yruss can be punished from
fields whore its presence ia not dcsir
cd. If q Gotten field is laid by per
fcctly clean and grass not allowed tc
seca iu it, little or no grass will appear
in it the next year, and in shor
time any original stock Of grass seed
which may have been in the soil vii
become exhausted. Just think Of the
diminished labor of making oottol
crop. if crab-grass was out OF th.
way Is i, not worth an effort to dt
this will not lille additional hoe.
ing no,o save manifold in the matter
of hoeing another year?
AS cotton has now commenced tc
fruit freely, the working given i
should be at longer interva IS, rs it is
now desirable to check gently the
growth Of ,ceed and turn the forces OF
the plant into fruit making. Rapie
growth and fruiting seldom 60 to
gether. Rapid growth from time Of
coming up to the time of blooming