The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1883-08-25

following Immediately upon the
removal of the other, gives quick
and satisfactory dividends. and
keeps a growing crop constantly
upon the surface, protecting il
from loss by washing or evapora-
ton. Under the intensive system
the rapidity of plant growth is al
most Incredible. Last year, after
raiSlag a crop of oats, | planted
the land on the 9th dag of June
IN cotton. In August | pulled up
a stalk of the cotton to exhibit in
connection with my address be-
fore the Georgia State Agricultu-
raj Society. Just fifty-nine days
after the seed were deposited in
the ground, aud it then measured
five feetand three inches in height,
and had on it one hundred and
twenty-six bolls and blooms and
squares. You can readily under
stand how crop growing as rap.
IDLY as this would soon cover the
land and protect it in every way.
-Four years ago | took a piece
OF sandy land, loose in texture
and easily washed, lying upon a
steep hillside-so steep, in fact,
that it is necessary to have the
crops carried part of the way up
the hill to the wagon at harvest.
My object in selecting it was to
see it by u continuous succession
OF crops it was not practicable to
stop the washes. which were very
numerous, and in some places
more than two feet in depth, aud
bring the land into good condition.
81 began by planting oats, fol-
lowed at once by corn and peas;
first filing the gullies with pine
tops, and plowing over them. /
fertilized each crop with manure
suited to its requirements, and
kept the land continuously in cul-
tivation, raising every year on it
three crops, as above stated, and
to-day its productiveness is in
creased four fold, and the surface
is smooth and unbroken, without
any sign of a gully apparent.
"From these illustrations, drawn
from my own experience, you can
see that the intensive system Is
able to remove the sources from
which spring the great evils that
so sorely afflict our agricultural
interests.
"The only other question left
for consideration, and one with
which | am frequently confronted
| Is: sGranted that it can do all this,
does it pay' Is it not too expen-
sive for general adoptione Is it
within the means of the average
farmerg'
To answer these queries | will
draw upon my own experience,
and give you tae figures covering
my five years. experience on sixty
acres of land.
"Fiye years ago | selected sixty
acres of the poorest land in Mid
die Georgia, five acres being red
clay, twenty-five sandy surface
with clay subsoil near the surface
and about one.half or thirty being
sandy piney woods land without
any clay within several feet of the
surface. | cultivated this careful
" the first year without manure
and made on it eight bales of cot
ton. The second year | applied
five hundred pounds of compost
per acre, consisting of six bushel'
cotton seed, six bushels stable
and lot manure, and one hundred
and forty pounds chemical, costini
two dollars per acre, making TIN
cost of manure used on the slxt,
acres $120. The crop was twelve
bales cotton averaging four hun
dred and seventy pounds AM
bringing s47 per bale-giving fou
bales of cotton increase, or II
money slSS, and leaving a prof
on it's use, after paying for tn
manure, of s6s, or about sixty pc
cent. The third year | double'
the manure, using one thonsan
pounds per acre, costing IN tn
aggregate, s24O, and the crop neal
IL doubled, rising to % bales, an
giving an increase of fifteen bales
{ worth 1915, with profit from tn
use of the manure OF s435, 0
! nearly two hundred per cent. 0
the money invested in manure
} The fourth year | doubled the al
plication again, with an aggregat
, cost of $3.50, and this time the Gro
, was a little over doubled, bein
/. for this year forty-seven bales
, tbe increase over the first year b'
) ing thirty-nine bales, worth $40
: leaving a profit of 1920, or nea'
!. " three hundred per cent. on tn
..n.u,ont Tho fifth or last yea