The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-06-09
Shall 1t be Oats ?

Shall 1t be Oats7
Thoughtful farmers must see that M
agricultural country can thrive that turns
its industry. into big cotton speculation
to the neglect Of producing its food. All
the pencil work that can be done to
prove automatically that it is cheaper to
raise cotton to buy food won't work it
out practically in the end. This is not
the fault of the figures at all, but arises
from want of q full statement of the
whole proposition with all the drawbacks
and advantages on either side. One
man says: II can raise $50 pounds of
lint cotton to the acre, and I can't make
more than 10 bushels of corn to the same
acre." Another says: "There is more
margin in the increase Of production in
cotton than there is in corn" Another
says: The seasons have changed and We
can't make corn any more. eau
remember in Colonel Buncomhe's time
when all the muster beat made from 20
to rs bushels round to acre, now 10 is
more than we make" And 30 there is
one reason after another assigned, which
in some cases may be sound as to the
comparative profit in raising cotton and
corn. 1t should not be forgotten, how.
ever, that the proposition is not the rails
ing of all corn against all cotton, nor in
deed the raising of corn for the general
market, but only 90 much corn as each
farmer or his neighbors, within ten miles
of him, are likely to consume. Nor
should it be forgotten with the labor and
animals necessary to raise the market
crop of cotton, or whatever else it may
be, we may fnd it possible 70 interject
certain amount of food production at
little or no coat. A planter who plants
eight acres of cotton to the hand may
find room at certain period of his cot
ton cultivation TO put in 30 much corn
without Withdrawing an iota of work
from his cotton, and yet at some periods
of conducting this cotton planting the
whole of this force may be and must be
necessary. This much, then, of this
grain production, so far from its being a
rival with cotton production, is com.
plement to it, an added production,
always competent 10 well.conducted
cotton farm, which is solid gain to the
cotton production itself. If it be true
that seasons have changed, which we
doubt, or that the land has suffered such
deterioration, which is likely, as to make
corn production not actually worth the
while with the ordinary run of season,
soil and cultivation, of course it is not
common sense to follow the old rut and
20 through the mere motion Of produc.
tion, without and remunerative result.
With the many other kinds of food pro-
duction open to us at the South, accord
ing to locality, such as wheat, oats, high
land rice, peas, potatoes, and still other
crops for feeding ourselves and animals,
we are not put to the exclusive task of
raising corn as our food crop, or it may
be confined to limited extent and the
culture intensified so as to make 1t pay.
Our attention has been called especially
to the production of oats on certain town
farms or lots in the State of Georgia,
which show wonderful production per
acre in oats. In several parts of Geor-
gia, il some of the Oldest and most worn
out lands, experiments have been made
with the rust proof oat, known in .Geor-
gia as the Bancroft" and as high as 1923
bushels per acre has been raised. The
land is thoroughly prepared aud the seed
sown in the Fall very thick, two or three
times the usual quantity to the acre.
This, it is said, prevents tillering, and
thus the heads ripen together and there
is little or no waste. So, too, the straw
is said to make better fodder. Prof.
Browne, Of the Agricultural Department
of the Georgia University, strongly advo-
Gates the grfat advantage Of the oat
over corn, both on account of the labor
saved in the production of crop, as well
as to its being preferable food for work
animals. The fact OF 1923 bushels of oats
per acre being possible in our climate is
in itself q tremendous fact where we can
stop and think. Such yield per acre
would afford from one acre nearly II
quarts per day for the year round,
besides the straw, to one animal. This
is certainly good average feed. We
then have one acre feeding horse for
year. By bedding the stall of an animal
we'll with leaves and refuse straw suffi.
cheney of farm manure could be collected
to make such an acre richer than the
richest river bottoms. With deep pre-
paration and pulverization we can readily
perceive how it might be that such an
acre could be made almost independent
of season, especially if this high manur-
ing was supplemented with the free use
of the phosphate fertilizers and the ash
element and pea vines turned under.
Presuming such course of intensive
culture, one acre to horse might be
readily enriched IS inches deep; and if
it is underdrained and kept untrampled
by stock, there is no reason why itshould
not become richer and richer as the years
roll, so as to be brought up to the most
wonderful results. Nothing but climate
and special seasons would restrain the
result And even these incidents would
become so much modified as to be more
or less under the control of man. The
depth of preparation and free supply of
ammonia would not only restrain the
effects of frost, but invite moisture from
the dews and by capillary attraction from
below.
Such al acre to every work or pleasure
animal should we bring it up to the best
performance our climate admits, would 90
six horse plantation give ssix acres, say
at 100 bushels of oats per acre This crop
could be harvested and crop of corn
planted on the enriched acres, producing
say seventy-five bushels per acre. Here
we would have on q six-horse farm 600
bushels nf oats and 450 bushels of corn
which would be ample food for man and
beast, and to spare so that each locality
would supply its wants and the acciden