The Opelousas courier., 1882-12-09

bales had taken out of each acre of my
land as much of the constituents of cot
ton as was held in $50 pounds of my
compost. 1 therefore put 500 pounds
of compost on each acre, restoring dou-
BILE what the crop of the year before
had taken out. The result was that |
made four bales extra. l then restored
double what the twelve bales had taken
out and made twenty-three bales. l
doubled the restoration the next year
and got f~orty-seven bales. | doubled
again, and this year have at least eighty
bales.n
"But does this extra manuring payF'
Immensely Here are my figures
1000 pounds Of my compost cost 81 "a
or SO 90 a thousand pounds. The first
year l put 500 pounds to the acre-cost
81 80 an acre, or $117 for sixty-five
acres. But my crop rose from eight to
twelve bales, 1.-THE extra four bales Civ
ing me 5000 surplus, or 1888 net on my
manure. Next year my manure 1000
pounds to the acre) cost 1895; but my
crop increasedzsstossstwenty-thr three bales
from eight ON unmanured land. These
extra bales give me $3.50 or net profit
on anure of 1916. The next year |
used 1000 pounds per acre at cost Of
| 81 IS an acre, or $471 for total. But
my crop went from 8 to AZ bales, giving
increased income or $3.50, or net over
cost of manure of about $500. This
year | used 1000 pounds to acre costing
$14 so, or $942 for total manur But
my crop is at least eighty bales with
| this manure, where it was eight with
out. This increase of seventy-two bales
is worth $4,000. Deduct cost of manure
| $940, and we have $1,000 as the profit
on use of manure"
"And then the land is so much rich
err
Certainly. 1t is worth $10O an
acre, where it was formerly worth S..
You must credit the manure with this"
"Where will you stop in this pro-
erosion? ?"
ri don't know. | shall double my
manure next year, putting 5000 pounds
to the acre. / believe | will get $50
bales from the IS acres. | hope to push
it up to three bales an acre. I have a
few acres on which I put 10000 pounds
of compost as an experiment., and every
acre of it will give me three bales this
year"
"Mr. Warthen raised five bales to the
acre."
eyes, but left his land poorer. He
pushed 1T, stimulated it and took the
very heart out of it. After taking off
my enormous crop | leave my land
richer than before. cultivate my six
ty-fve acres with two plows, and | will
make $50 bales with those two ploWs on
sixty-five acres. That will be glory
enough for me, and will be a revelation
TO the world. I believe | will get 90
bales this year with two plows. have
| already picked 80 bales, and the best
judges say~hardly ons-third is yet pick
ed. This is an astounding result, and
simply shows what intensive farming
will do.n
How do you make this compostm
"Here is my formula: Take 80 bush
els well-rotted stable manure or we'll
rotted organic matter, as leaves, muck,
ETC., and scatter it about three inches
thick upon a piece of ground so situated
that water will not stand on it., but shed
off in every direction. The 80 bushels
will weigh about 900 pounds; to 200
pounds of good acid phosphate add 100
pounds kainit, and mix the acid phos-
phate and kainit thoroughly, then scatter
evenly on the manure. Take next 80
bushels green cotton seed and distribute
evenly YER the pile, and wet them
thoroughly. They will weigh 900
pounds. Take again 200 pounds acid
phosphate and 700 pounds kainit, mix
and spread over the seed, begin on the
manure and keep on in this way build
ing up your heap, layer by layer, until
you get it as high as convenient then
cover with six inches of rich earth from
~fence-corners, and leave at least six
weeks; when ready to haul to the field,
cut with a spade OIL pickax square down,
and mix as thoroughly as possible.
Now, we have 30 bushels of manure
weighing 900 pounds and 800 pounds
chemicals in the first layer, and 30
bushels cotton seed weighing 900
pounds and 400 pounds of chemicals in
the seeondlayer, and these two layers
combined form the perfect compost.
Tw~enty-four hundred pounds of this
mixture cost me 80 Is. This mixture
makes practically q perfect manure for
cotton, and a splendid application for
corn.p
"This restores to the soil everything
the cotton took from it :"
Except silica, which is in the soil in
inexhaustible quantity. So that when
you put in a larger quantity of these
than the cotton teok out, your soil is
evidently richer"
"You do not believe in commercial
fertilizers ~
SIN a certain respect. There are
many fertilizers that are made with a
view to snowy results, that really parch
and %impoverish the land, besides taking
all the farmers cash. / do not believe
in them. But the chemicals that are pre-
pared for composing are very reliable,
and we could not do without them. The
secret of success is buying these chemi-
Gals ~judiciously and composing with
leaves, humns, cotton seed, etc. No
farmer can succeed permanently with
out composing. The greatest wastein
the South is with stable manure. Many
farmers never think of saving it. In
Ohio the compost raised on one fifty five
acre farm, from ten head of horses and
thirty head of cattle in n year, was
estimated by the State chemist at $2650,
and scattered 10000 pounds to the acre,
made a net profit of $500 an acre.
Another thing is that our farmers do
not appreciate cotton seed. That comes
nearer to being o perfect fertilizer than
any ono fhinn in fhn world Aud rn+