The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-05-21
IMPORTANT FARM WORK FOR MAY.


and weeds to grow rapidly. They cannot
be permitted to share with the crops the
plant food in the soil; extcrmination of
them is now the order Of the day. How
to accomplish this economically, rapidly
and without injury to young crops is one
of the incest problems the farmer is called
upon to solve. In the recent progress Of
agriculture, the old-time method of run
ming around young plants with narrow
scooter, having board nailed to foot and
beam OH one side to prevent throwing dirt
on the little plants, first gave way to the
sweep. The latter shaved the surface nicely
aud with its wing run2ing quite fiat threw
very little dirt. Moreover the siding fur
rows swept out the middes at the same
time, great advance over two siding fur
rows with scooters aud subsequent break
ing Of the middlcs with shovels. But
with the incest work Of the sweep, there
is still narrow strip along the line of plants
which is uudisturbed, and upon which
grass can firmly fix itself 10 destroy it
the hoe was called into requisition. This
involved heavy expense, unpleasant contact
with labor and great demand for hands to
chop out cotton. Next came broadcast
cultivation with a harrow in the first stages
of the crop, with heel scrapes and cutiva-
tors later. This is as far as We have ad-
vanced Indeed, most farmers have not
yet reached this point, and the method is
not yet, perhaps, fully perfected. But
from the very nature of things we must
advance in this observation-disclosures, im-
plements, horsepower, must supplant hand
labor more and more. How to cheapen n
.i-.---a----
clearing forests and cultivatiDg virgin soils.
Since the war the use of fertilizers has
been developed to great perfection and
now surroundings demanded the most ex-
tended use Of machinery and horse power.
All departments Of industry are moving
in this direction, and agriculture cannot
lag behind, Cautiously, wisely, judiciously
it must go on.
NARROWING CoTToN.-Our readers
will remember the articles published last
year in the CuHiOdtor on broadcast cultiva
tion with the harrow. The points which
seem to be well settled were that obstruc-
tions must be removed-trash in shane of
corn and cotton stalks cut up or knocked
to pieces and buried by breaking land with
large turn ploughs; beds, if any, to be
low and levcled down with harrow imme
diately after planting; if rain follows
planting quickly, harrow as soon as dry
enough; never allowing crust to form.
AS soon as cotton begins fairly to come up,
run harrow obliquely across rows-never
in the direction of the rows-in four or
five days run obliquely across again in the
opposite direction so that these two har-
rowings may be at right angles to each
other. In three or four days harrow again
across the last. These harrowngs must
begin early and bo repeated rapidly to thin
out the cotton, which they can do whilst
the plants are very young and tender
when still yellow. When older and tougher
they will be pushed aside often without
being destroyed. The cotton now being
considerably thinned, grass and weeds
thoroughly killed, and the surface nicely
pulvcrized, the crop is in condition to be
easily cultivated with sweep or scrapc. 1t
is said also that in the condition left by
the harrowings good hand can chop to
stand two acres Of cotton a day.
SHALLOW GUILTY. ALTON - FIRMING
SEED.-IftLe soil is supplied with humus,
and the land we'll prepared, cultivation
should be very shallow from tho start. In
hard soil, disposed to run together after
rain, deep plowing is perhaps admissible
when the cotton is very young, but not
otherwise. In two experiments made sue
cessivcly in 1884 and 1885 at the Alabama
Experiment Station, to test effects of deep
and shallow cultivation, there was a diff |
ference respectively of So and 100 pounds
Of seed cotton per acre in favor of shallow |
cultivation throughout. The two plats
were prepared, mauured and cultivated ex-
actly alike, except that when the cotton on
one plat was about a foot high it was
plowed deep with a long scooter and scrape,
as is frequently done by farmers, and its
roots considerably cut. The scrapc should
always be attached behind the foot Of the |
pillow, not in front of it, and the soooter