The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-10-14

land and throw leaves in each wash, and
where rocks were convenient, put some
of them at lower end of wash to hold the
leaves in place. In the absence of rocks
few stobs may be driven across the
mouth. Leaves not only catch and hold
dirt, but enrich the spot, and next year
grass and weeds will spring up in the
wash and filter out the dirt passing
through them. a very little work Of
this kind every Summer will keep farm
in excellent condition. 1tshould be done
in Summer or Autumn so as to be ready
for the Winter rains; not in Spring after
those rains have done their destructive
work.
We have also been constructing some
barricades across branch bottom, having
considerable fall, to prevent the securing
effects of heavy freshets. The narrowest
points between converging hills were
selected for their sites. At one point
where wagon road was desired, broad
dam of rocks was built across from two
points of equal altitude on each side Of
the branch, and high bridge built across
the latter. At other points two rows Of
stakes, some three feet apart, were firmly
driven in the ground, and the space be.
tween them filled with brush and logs.
Our purpose is, next Spring, to drive will
low stobs along the line of these barri.
cades, and let them grow up to trees, and
thus form living and permanent barri'
cadcs to catch and hold trash and dirt.
Work of this kind must be we'll done |;
the power of water is very great, and
unless the stakes are strong aud driven
deeply in the ground, the whole is liable
to be swept away. It is we'll to have
small crowbar and prepare deep holes to
receive the stakes, which is easily done
by jobbing the bar down, shaking it
backwards and forwards, and repeating
this q few times. In connection with
this matter of preserving the soil, we
venture to repeat suggestion made in
the ChAivator several years ago: that
fields be laid of in strips (horizontall
from twenty to Fifty yards in width, and
these alternately sown down and cultisat-
ed. Washes started in cultivated strip
would be promptly arrested by the un:
cultivated strip below it. A vast deal
could be accomplished by this simple
arrangement toward the preservation OF
the soil, and now that the pasturing Of
grain fields is being largely abandoned,
there is no objection to adopting it. We
cannot too often or too emphatically
stress the point, that clean culture is the
main cause of the red, quilted hills
South of the Potomac.
Will our readers pardon US for again
urging the great Importance of seeding
down our bare fields? If they have no
faith in their ability to raise grass, or
have no special use for that crop, they
can SOW rye, and it is not yet too late to
do that. On average land and for the
purpose now in view, half bushel Of
seed to the acre will suffice, and the small
outlay will be returned manifold in the
Improvement of the land. With peas as
a Summer renovating crop, and rye as a
Winter one, we have the best of facilities
for bringing up our worn and wasted
soils. e"
Towards the last of the month wheat
sowing will be in order in the Northern
sections of the cotton belt. 1t is well to
realize the fact that our climate is not
the best for wheat, and that it should
not therefore be made leading crop.
But while this is true, by judicious selec.
ton of varieties, and of suitable soils,
with proper preparation and manuring,
enough wheat for home supply can be
raised. First as to. varieties. We must
discard the handsome but tender white
wheats, and take those of the Mediterra-
mean type-red, bearded kinds, which
seem at home in warm climates. The
good housewife will have to yield little
on the score of white -four; it will be
none the less nutritiousor palatable. In
the next. place, the highest and dryest
knobs and knolls should be selected. No
matter if poor; make up. for that by
manure. There is very little land rich
enough to bring wheat without manure
anyway. If it has been sown in peas, 80
much the better there is mo better. crop
to precede wheat than peas, unless it be
clover. Turn the pea-vines under not
very deep, and then harrow the land
several times. Get the finest tilth you
can. If cotton seed is to be used, and
there is nothing better, they can be
spread on the land before it is turned,
but it will not do to turn them under
deeply. If commercial fertilizers or
cotton seed meal are used, they can be
narrowed instead Of being plowed in.
After the seed is sown, roll the land;
this will cause the seed to come up better
and more uniformly. Wheat may be
sown from the Goth Of October to the LIST
of December, according to latitude. The
tendency of late years has been to SOW
too late.
About the 25th of the month a killing
frost usually occurs, and it is well to have
everything ready for it, pea vines, forage,
hay, etc., gathered and housed. Ground
peas should also be gathered by that
time, that the tops may be cured as forage,
and the gathering of the nuts facilitated.
After killing frost, the nuts quickly lose
their hold on the vines, and are left in
The ground when the latter are pulled up.
Sorghum cut and slowed away under
shelter, will keep green and sweet for q
long time, prolonging heperiod of green
feed we'll up to Christmas. Stalks, leaves
and heads cut up together, we find to be
a most excellent feed for cattle. Our
people, generally, have not learned yet
to appreciate its value as stock feed. We
think it superior to Milo Maize or any
other of that class. The amber cane is
the best variety for this purpose.
The sweet potato vine is another good
feed, Liable now to be ruined by frost.
AS it. is almost impossible to cure them,
thew may be either grazed or pulled off
and fed. Little damage to the potato
will accure if this is done after the mid
die of October. Everything should be
in readiness also for digging the potatoes.
After the weather gets cool and yegeta-
tion ceases active growth, the digging
NAV take place at any time when the
soil is dry. Where the vines are not fed
off to stock, the usual practice is to pull
them out of the way with plow. This
gathers the vines in heaps at the end of
the rows and deprives the land of their
tertilizing properties. It would be better
to have turn plough with sharp, revolv-
ing coulter, and run it on each side of
row so as to cut off the vines and bury
them in the middles. Then with plow,
called q "potato digger" such as is used
by Northern farmers for. digging Irish
potatoes, the tubers might be lifted out