The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-06-02
WINSTON, N. c., JUNE 2, 1886.

mari and Is or 20 bushels of cotton
seed per acre He breaks up his
land deep with a one-horse plow and
puts in his manure and beds on it and
plants and cultivates in the usual way.
He runs ten plows and plants 22l
acres in cotton, 10 in oats and u in
corn to one plow. It will be seen
the greater part Of his provision crop
is oats. He considers corn as too
expensive crop to feed stock
upon, hence he raises oats and feeds
exclusively on them from the time he
cuts in June till February or March,
when he feeds on, corn and fodder.
1t has been notion with a great
many farmers that stock could not
stand work on oats alone, but he as
sures me that his mules do better on
oats than they do on corn and fod-
der. He has boxes or troughs and
feeds in the straw without even
cutting it up. l was at his house
the 11th of this month and saw his
mules and they were fat and in good
condition. He has no other kind
of mules but mare mules. He says
his experience is that horse mules are
not as good as those of the opposite
sex. If a horse will do the same
work and keep in good condition
when fed on oats exclusively as
when fed on corn it will be observed
that it is much cheaper to thus feed
him, and that the cost of farming
can be reduced a great deal. Mr..
.Sylivent informs me that one acre
in oats will feed a horse longer than
acre in corn. Now here is a point
worth the attention of the Southern
farmers. For it is the cultivated feed
crops that makes Southern farming
so costly. Farmers, consider this
fact and try it. You can see at a
glance what can be saved The
same blowing that breaks up the
land for corn will plant the oats.
Then the oats require no more cul-
livation, while the corn will require
four plowings and two hoeings, thus
making the raising of corn cost about
s,ven times more than growing oats.
This is an important item in the
expense Of cultivating a farm, and l
beg the farmers to consider it. 1t
will certainly produce a great revc-
Iutiou in the present system of feed
ing on corn and fodder exclusively.
His method Of raising his hogs is
worthy of attention. He has four
acres il orchard enclosed with a
plank fence and divided into two
lots of two acres each. In this or
chard there are all kinds of fruit
trees. There are plum, mulberry,
peach and apple trees. The trees
are so selected that his hogs have
fruit from the last of May, when his
plums and mulberries ripen, till the
close of the fruit season. He plants
a few acres in peas, which are ready
for the hogs by the last of August.
They are kept on peas until the po-
tatoesa are ready, when he turns them
on them, and by the time they get
through with the potatoes they are
fat and require but very little corn
to harden the fat. By adopting this
meth ID his meat costs him very little.
Now it may surprise your readers
when I tell them that this man who
has accomplished SO much by farm
ing, and done it, too, since the war,
under the changed order Of things,
when so many have failed, cannot
read letter in the book or write
his name. 1t must not be inferred
from this that he does not appreci-
ate education and that he is not a
man of refined tastes. But the re-
verse is true. He has a school house
on his land that cost 5000 nice
and comfortable building, plastered
and painted. He keeps school all
the time for his children, having had
his present teacher, Miss Ida Ed
wards, for four years. He has around
his dwelling yard of most beauti-
ful flowers, and the whole atmos-
phere is laden, with the sweet per-
fume of the blushing rose. All Of his
tenant houses, thirteen in number,
are located on the public road that
runs on one side of his cleared land
and divides it from the woodland,
like a street, and in front of each
are clusters of oaks, affording CRATE
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