The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1885-10-14
THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH.
rIMELY TOPICS FOR II CONSIDER
. ALTON OF PRoGREsSIvB FARMERS.
What Work Should be Done During tho
Month OF October-yaluable SUGGESTIONS
from High Authority.

What Work Should BIO Done During the
Month OF October-yaluable SUGGESTIONS
from High Authority.
wv l.. Joass IN Southern Cultioator).
In our last, lie Importance of COW
eriiig our fields with growing crops
through tho winter was discussed at
some length. Increased acreage in
oats, barley, and especially rye, wheat
also grasses and c~lovers, was earnestly
advocated. The more we reflect upon
the matter, the greater its Importance
impresscs us. 1t is not too late yet in
much of the cotton belt to start these
crops, and for this reason it is again
brought to notice. In the coolest por-
ton of the cotton belt wheat sowing
viii begin this month, and rye and
barley may be seeded down well into
next month. Abundant opportunity,
therefore, exists to do this at
ing work. We are trying to improve
our lands: every widc-awake
farmer is diligently outstanding and
gathering materials for composts; let
us not neglect the means Of holding on
to tho fertility already acquired. In
machinery n ratchet-whecl is all i'm
,ortant-its equivalent is not less so
N agriculture. We cannot afford to
ose anything we have gained; what
ever manurial elements the present
crop has failed to utilize must be held
In reserve for succeeding crops. This
Is Just as necessary as the annual APP
~plication of new doses of plant food.
We arc not unmindful of the cost Of
iced and of seeding under the propos-
I'd arrangement. Let us study every
means Tor reducing it; economizing
power or labor is a great dcsidcratum
In our farming. If called upon to
single out the mostimportant item just
now in the line Of progress, We would
unhcsitatingly select economy of pow
IT. Our SSmechanical appliances arc
not equal to the demands of the time
or Of our surroundings. We do not
substitute horsepower in place of
human muscle sufficiently, and we fail
by making it work through inadequate
or imperfect implements. We have
been studying fertilizers very diilgcnt-
ly during the last fifteen years; we are
pretty well advanced in the chemistry
of the farm. Let us concentrate our
thoughts now for awhile on the
mechanics of the farm; let us find out
how to produce the greatest with the
least labor. Consider what a revolu-
ton in our farming the general intro
duction has brought about. Who
would go back to tie shovel and scoot-
or in the cultivation of a crop? But
has the sweep, or its better substitute,
the scrapc, exhausted our ingenuity or
set bounds to useful contrivanccs? 1t
is, or should be, but the beginning of q
thorough revolution in the mechanical
appliances of the farm. In the prcpa-
ration Of land our ingenuity has not
advanced beyond the gathering up and
burning Of precious vegetable matter
to get it out of the way, or else with a
turn-plow of buryiDg it in one thin
continuous sheet several inches below
the surface. Neither of these are at
all desirable. Implements arc needed
which shall cut up and commute
weeds, grass, stubblc, stalks or what
any form of plow desired to minglc
them uniformity with the soil. The
screw pulverieer, the Disc harrow, ETC.,
are the beginnings in this direction.
Such implements. if perfected and pro-
vidcd with seeding attachments, would
make the putting in Of grain and
grass a very light job. A man and
four horeses could put in eight or ten
acres a day. Contrast this with the
old style of man and horse and scooter
finishing up one a day.
Profit is tho difference between cost
of production and gross sales, and
cheapncss of production is more apt TO
bring godd profits than large yields
with heavy expense account. But
meanwhile, until the necessary implc-
ments are perfected, let lis do the best
we can with such as we have. Double
shovcls, sweeps, cultivators, harrows,
j~udiciously used are decided improve
ments on sin~gle-shovels and scOotcrs,
and a diligent farmer can with these,
SOW down very large quantity of land
from the first OF September to the. first
of December.
OF the various anti-leaching crops,
rye and burr clover are the most prom
Using and the reader is urged to take
the necessary steps now to raise an
abundance of seed of zach of them for
next years use. Home.raised seed
comparatively little; why shOuld a
dollars per bushcl for rye, when he
can raise it for fifty cents a bushcl or
less, just because a majority neglect to
SOW rye, and have to pay whatever the
few who do raise it choose to ask? 3If
the practice of sowing rye on our bare
lands should become general, seed rye
would go a begging. But all not
needed for sowing could be probably
fed to stock; ground rye is n most cx-
celledt horse food, and the superiluous
grain, together with the abundant pas
turage afforded by the practice advo-
Gated, would more than pay the OK
penses of it.
Partly for the work of conservation
and partly for the value of the crop
itself to the famer's family and labor
ers, the sowing Of wheat recommends
itself. We are fully aware that the
cotton belt is not the home ofthc wheat
plant, and that only the harder varic.
ties of it can there be grown with rea-
sonable hope Of profit. Red, bearded
varieties, like the Mediterranean, are
most to be relied on, and early matur-
ity is q matter of prime importance.