The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1885-10-15
THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH.
What work Saould be Done DurinR the
Month OF 0ctnbsr--valuallo suEestIpnI
4 from High Authority. N ....S S..'A ~

i
Month OF Octobsr--valuatlo Suggestions
from High Authority. ... - .'AN' I
(W l.. Jones' in Southern Cuttioator).
In our last, the Importance of COW
ering our fields with growing crops
through the winter was discussed at
some length. Increased acreage in
oats, barley, and especially rye, wheat
also grasses and clovere, was earnestly |
advocated. The moro we reflect upon
the matter, the greater its Importance
impresses US. 1t ia not too late yet in
much Of the cotton belt to start these
crops, and for this reason it 10 again
brought to notice. In the coolest por-
ton of the cotton belt wheat sowing
will begin this month, and rye and
barley may be seeded down we'll into
next month. Abundant opportunity,
therefore, exists to do this convery at
ing work. We are trying to improve
our lands; every wide-awake
farmer is diligently husbanding and
gathering materials for composts; let
us not neglect the means of holding Oh
to the fertility already acquired. In
machinery o ratchet-wheel is all i'm
>ortant--its equivalent 10 not less so
Al agriculture. We cannot afford to
pse anything VIC have gained; what
~6ver manuriai elements the present
crop has failed to utilize must be held
In reserve for succeeding crops. This
Is just as necessary as the annual ap-
plication of new doses of plant food.
We are not unmindful Of the cost of
SEED and OF seeding under the propos-
ID arrangement. Let us study every
neans Tor reducing it; economizing
power or labor is great desideratum
la eur farming. If called upon to
Jingle out the mostimportant item juat
aow In the line Of progress, We would
unhesitatingly select economy of pow
;r. Our smechanical appliances arc
or Of our surroundings. We do not
substitute horsepower in place of
human muscle sufficiently, and we fail
to get the full benefit Of horse power
by making it work through inadequate
or imperfect implements. We have
been studying fertilizers very diligent-
ly during the last fifteen years; We are
pretty we'll 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 reyolu-
ton In our farming the general intro
duction has brought about. Who
would go back'to the shovel and scoot-
or In the cultivation of cropp But
has the sweep, or its better substitute,
the scrape, exhausted our ingenuity or
set bounds to useful contrivances? It
10, or should be, but the beginning of a
thorough revolution in the mechanical
appliances of tho farm. In the prepa.
ration Of land our ingenuity has not
advanced beyond the gathering up and
burning OF precious vegetable matter
to get 1t out of the way, or else with a
turn..plow of burying it In one thin
continuous sheet several inches below
tho surface. Neither of these are at
al! desirable. Implements arc needed
which shall cut up and comminutc
weeds, grass, stubble, stalks or what
nor, and leave them III condition for
any form of plow desired to mingle
them uniformity with the soil. The
screw pulverieer, the Disc harrow, etc.
are the beginnings in this directien'
Such implements, if perfected and pro-
vidcd with seeding attachments, would
make the putting in of grain and
grass 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 day.
Proht ss the difference between cost
OF production and gross sales, and
cheapness of production is more apt to |
bring godd profits than large yields
with heavy expense account, But
meanwhile, until the necessary imple-
mcnts arc perfected, let us do the best
we can with such as we have. Double
shovols, sweeps, cultivators, harrows,
judiciously used arc decided improve.
ments on single-shovels and scootcrs.
and diligent farmer can, with these
SOW down a 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 arc the most prom
ising, and the reader is urged to take
tho necessary steps now to raise an
abundance of seed of each of them for
next years use. Home. raised seed
comparatively litile; why shonld
farmer pay from one to one and a half
dollars per bushcl for rye, whom ne
can raise 1t for fifty cents a bushel or
less, just because majority neglect to
SOW rye, and have topay whatever the
few who do raise it choose TO ask PAR
the practice of sowing rye on our bare
lands should become general, seed ryo
would go begging. But all not
needed for sowing could be proiitablv
fed to stock; ground rye is a most OK. |
ceiledt horse food, and tho superfluous
grain, together with the abundant pas |
turage afforded by the practice advo-
Gated, would more than pay tho OK.
penses of it.
Partly for the work of conservation
and partly for the value of the crop
ltself to the famer's family and labor
erSj the sowing of wheat recommends
itself. We are fully aware that the
cotton belt is not the home ofthc wheat
plant, aud that only the harder Varie.
ties OF 1t can there be grown with rea.
sonable hope of profit tied, bearded
varieties, like the Mediterranean, are 6
most to be relied on, and early mlatnr. l
itC is matter of nrin,e ;n,rortn,,ao | !