The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1886-08-25
MANNING CLARENDON COUNTY, AUGUST 25 1885,

transportation for any distance over {
highway, and local railroad frcights ap
proximate too closely the cost Of cou
vcyance by wagon. Water carriage l:
best and cheapest. When the location
is not adapted to marketing the hay
only enough should be harvested fo]
winter feed of live stock, and the rest
gTazed off for summer pasture. Indeed
! the best husDandmen contend that il
! Justice Is done 70 the land no hay should
ever leave the farm on which it Is grown,
except in the shape Of flesh and bones.
So far, with my meadow In a few hur
dred feet OF q railroad, and special con
vcnicrces for shipping, the bulk OF the
hay has gone to market, and 1t IS the
largest and most remunerativc market
crop of the farm I have not been able,
however, to advantageously send it for
sale farther than to towns from sixty to
one hundred miles away. Bermuda,
from its ter&city of life and from its well
known character as a pest in hoed crops,
should be put for a meadow only when
! it is intended 10 stay; and here its stay
ing qualities are OF immense value ID
comparison with grasses that require re-
seeding and resetting every few years.
Cultivation, however, IS to some extent
necessary. narrowing benefits it. and a
thorough scarifcation every other year
with sharp cutting instrument that
does not disturb the smoothness Of the
F.! sod is desirable Thus far the river
overtiows seem sufficient to keep the
meadow productive The seventh and
eighth crops have been the largest,
reaching each over $500 pounds per
acre of hay, weighed when cured and
baled for market.
The second river low grounds on this
place are cold tenacious clay, requiring
thorough drainage, and from long cult
vation deficient in h1rmus. Enough of
this is set apart for corn culture, and the
remainder thrown into permanent pasture
Producing without manure from twenty
to thirty bushels to the acre, fifty acres
annually under the plough is enough IN
the general scheme. This fifty acres
alternates with as much more either in
spring oats or in weed fallow, thus add
ing to instead Of decreasing the supply
OF humuS. More than one year in weed
! flllow Injuries the tlth for the next sue
ceeding crop by the land becoming too
foul. Corn is poor market crop, trou-
blcsome and wastefIll to handle, and no
more, therefore, is grown than can be
proitably fed Very little of the blades
| is gathered for forage, sometimes none.
It is too expensive and IS not needed ex-
ccpt as a change to hardworked or sick
horses.
Spring oats are planted in rotation
with corn on the second low grounds:
fall oats on highland in rotation with
cotton. In the cotton rotation the land
is .own down immeiiatelv Y upon harvest
ing the oats in peas, Fertiiized with either
ash clement or kainit. When the peas
arc matured, hogs, and no other stock,
are pastrred, not too closely, upon them.
The value Of the peas to the hogs is csti-
mated at about the cost of the pea and
ash clement crop, leaving its amchorat-
ing value as clear gain. The cotton re-
ceivcs two hundred bushels Of compost
in the drill, which is found to be as
much as can be advantageously applied
to the acre in that way The oats crop
neither spring nor fall, receives manure.
The crop is threshed as soon as harvest
ed, both to secure economy in feeding
the grain and by careful housing to save
the straw in the best condition for win
ter forage. Cut when not oyer-lpe and
cured without or with little rain, it is
valuable Salt, in putting it away,
makes it more palatable to stock. The
yield of oats has varied with seasons
from twenty-five to forty-seven bushels
per acre.
COTTON.
The United States department of agri-
culture in 1876 estimated the average
Weld of cotton in the South at 166
pounds of lint per acre, and the cost Of
production at g cents per pound. Mr.
Henderson, the commissioner of agricul-
ture in Georgia, is quoted as placing the
crop OF last year 1SS5) in that State at
$50 pounds Of lint, and the cost per
pound at cents. The average yield In
South Carolina varies little from that in
Georgia, and there IS with me no doubt
of the near approach to accuracy of the
estimates of cost made on the basis Of
that rate OF production. Many Of the
items of expense, however, are fixed, and
with larger yield the cost per pound
decreases. In Rammond's Handbook
of South Carolina are given in detail The
expenses Of two crops grown in 1882
one in Newberry of 100 pounds Of lint
and one in Fairfield of 800 pounds to the
acre; the first cost g. cents and the last
6 6-l0 cents per pound. In the same
year | kept for my own satisfaction
careful account with the cotton crop on
this farm; the yield, better than usual,
was 40 pounds Of lint to the acre and
the cost 40 cents per pound. These
figures show that, with middlings ruling
at from 8 to 10 cents at the seaports,
cotton by itself can be no profitable
crop. Analysing the items OF expense
in my accounts ] find that 3 6-10 cents,
or something over half, was in manure,
meat and bread for the laborers, and
feed for plough animals. These under
the system OF mixed husbandry are made
on the farm and sold at full price to the
cotton crop. 1t is just here that in any
such system at the South, cotton comes
in, and planted onl y 70 a proper extent
is valuable. If sold only ct the cost Of
production, ii has purchased the manures
from the live stock, and turned into
money the provision crops or the meat