The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-08-26
URSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 26, 1886.
GRASS AND LIVE STOCK. =

/ meetings., ana IT, IS IN luis tnat IN tnt
| Judgment of many lies their chief value
Having been requested to do so, some de-
tails in my own experience ofconverting
cotton plantation into farm of mixec
husbandry, with grass and live stock a.
the leading features, will be submitted
| AS in all new departures, mistakes were
made, difficulties encountered and Loose;
incurred with which it is unnecessary tt
trouble you but to save some yodngel
brother Of the plough, who is dissatisfied
with exclusive cotton culture, from trav.
elling the same path, resulting methods
will be freely given.
The. experiment was commenced ir
| 1873, and made in the upper part of the
State, on Saluda River, twelve miles by
rail from the town of Newberry. The
plantation contained near q thousand
acres of which about one.half was creek
and river bottom. OF this last about 30(
acres had been cleared from fifty to 8
hundred years and cropped chiefly in
corn, without manure. The high lands
we're billy, their original growth were
oak and hickory, and the soil vsried from
q red to whitish clay, with more or Less
loose surface rock. These high lands
had been nearly all cleared, cultivated
with little attention to preserving the
land, and when beginning to fail turned
out to be grown up in pines, to be again
| cut down and cultivated. This process
had been repeated at least three times
since the land was in original forest. AS
slave plantation, it had been profitable
after emancipation, under an ill.devised
system of tenantry, it had been unproft.
able and the property became much i'm.
paired. The buildings had become
dilapidated, fences almost gone, bitches
filled, and the arabic land cultivated in
patches, a vigorous growth Of. young pines
over most of it. The establishment of q
meadow, the restoration of q portion oi
the arabic land to good filth, and the
cutting down of pines and shrubs on the
balance to promote the growth of natural
grasses for pasturage, the alteration ol
old buildings and the erection of many
new ones, together with the putting up
of frst:class fences, constituted the per
,manent outlay. Live stock, tools and
implements had also to be purchased.
THE MEADOW. 49,.
The meadow consists now. Of seventy.
five acres of first. river bottom, being a
pure alluyium. Stumps and sprouts were
carefully eradicated, the land flushed
close and deep with narrow one.horsa
!ploughs. Bermuda grass roots sown
broadcast and ploughed in shallow, then
heavily rolled to make the surface as
smooth as possible. The best. time for
this work was found to be- from. after
frost. in the Spring still hot Summer
weather set in. The annual weeds that
4 sprung up with the,grass were cut and
raked by horse power and carted off The
land. ID ~ ~. 7.17..es III
The meadow, lis ordinarily subject ia
frequent Winter and occasional Summer
overaows. 1t has received no other
fertilization, exceptin some small exper.
mental plats, none of which, have given
satisfaction. The Summer overflow, il
coming just before harvest, ,is injurious
| if before the grass is tall enough to ]be
mashed down by. the. sediment deposited
and time enough for subsequent rains to
cleanse the blades, they are, like the
/ Winter treshets, advantageous. When
the whole or any part of a crop is mud
died by freshet it is perfectly cleansed
by running itthrough machine com
biniDg a whipper and fan arrangement
After the meadow. is fully set, say after
The second year, including the occasional
| lamage from Summer overflow, four. to
i've thousand pounds Of merchantable
hay may be expected according to seasons
from such a, meadow. Ample barn room
is necessary to making good hay; railroad
or water facilities for. transportation to
market are essential, hay, bulky in
proportion to value, will not bear trans.
portation forany distance over a highway,
and local railroad freights approximate
too closely the cost of conveyance by
wagon. Water carriage is best and
cheapest. When the location is not
adapted to marketing the hay, only
enough should be harvested for Winter
feed of live stock, and the rest grazed of
for Summer pasture. Indeed the bes,
husbandmen contend that if justice is
done to 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 q few hundred feet
Of railroad, and special convenience
| for shipping, the bulk of the hay ha:
gone to market, and it is the largest and
most remunerative market crop of the
farm. I have not been able, however, to
advantageously send it for sale further
than to towns from sixty to one hundred
miles away. Bermuda, from its tenacity
of life and from its we'll known character
as pest in hoed crops, should be put fol
d meadow only when it is intended tc
stay and here its staying qualities are
of immense value in comparison with
grasses that require reseeding and reset
ting every few years. Cultivation, how
ever, is to some extent necessary. Har'
rowing benefits it, and thorough scarf
ficstion every other~yeefass With 9 shaTE
cutting instrument that does not disturb
the smoothness of the sod is desirable
Thus far the river overhows seem suf6
cient to keep the meadow productive
Tho seventh and eighth crops have been
the largest, reaching each over 5000 lbs
per acre of hay, weighed when cured and
baled for market.
CORN.
The second river low grounds on this
place are cold tenacious clay, requiring
thorough drainage, and from long cult
yation deficient in humus. Enough o,
this is set apart for corn culture, aud the
remainder thrown into permanent pas
ture Producing without manure from
twenty to thirty bushels to the acre, fifty
acres annually under the plough j.
enough in the general scheme. This
fifty acres alternates with as much more
either in spring oats or in weed fallow
thus adding to instead of decreasing the
supply of humus. More than one yeal
| in weed fallow Injuries the tilth for the
next succeeding crop by the land becom
ing too foul. Corn is poor marke
crop, troublesome and wasteful to handle
and no more, therefore, is grown thar
can he proftably fed. Very little of the
blades is gathered for forage, sometime:
none. 1t is too expensive and is moi
needed except as change to hard worked
or sick horses.
OATS.
Spring oats arc planted in rotation
with corn on the second low grounds