The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-10-13

What Work the Good Farmers SLouIh Do I,
the Month of 0ctoDrr--tn Interesting Aru
Gle From an intelligent Writer.
(W J.. Jones in the Oetolcr "CultivaiornD
Tho gathering and housing of summer
crops will for tho present occupy mos
OF the farmers time. The rewards o.
skill and labor are now his. lie not only
has tho pleasure Of seeing his barns and
store-houses well filled, but also the ex
quisite enjoyment of plans consum
mated, Of undertakings well executed
His estimate of his liability is posi-
bly, enhanced by the success of hi,
ventures, and he may reasonably and
properly indulge his pride little. Eo,
six months or more he has been engaged
IN an arduous campaign one calling 10,
unccasing attention, unhagging energy
and discriminating Judgment at every
turn-one i'll which difficulties were con.
stantly to be met and ovorcomo-many
aScylla on the one side and CharybIis
on the other to bo Stunned one in
which co-opemtjOn with nature was to
Do assiduously courtod and antagonism
with her as carefully avoiacd. Now the
bent bow may he u little rclnxcd, and
elasticity restored TO the strained BODY
and mind.
While the plain, routine work of pick
lng cotton or breaking corn il xoinp ON.
there is no strain upon tho mind. and il
can lcisurely and quietly look back aud
compare results with thrir causes. Like
the old soldier who recalls the battles he
fought, the farmer can HOW bring back
before him the eight places" Lc was in,
the difficulties he had 10 meet, and how
ne met them, and culmly and iudicially
discuss his management, whether good
or bad. Lf you had to do IL ovcr,again.
are thorc any changes you would make?
Would you have broken your land deep
er and more thoroughly Wouid you
have narrowed it moro before painting?
Would you have used the same uiautity
and kind of manure? Would Won have
worked your crops more rapidly and
oftener i'll spring and carly summer, and
gotten ahead of the grass before the
rains set in? If you had known il was
gong to be wet summer, would you
not have bcstirTed yourself little more?
Could you not have bcstirrcd .oursclf
without knowing it was going 10 Do wet?
Is 1T not an excellent rule to DC always
prepared for the worst, though hoping
for the best? Don't you think row, in
view of your extended cotton field, with
their clean, bare surfaces ready 10 be
washed away, and their soils lcacacd by
the winter rains, that You planted rather
too much cotton? Would it not have
been better to have rested some OF the
land you cultivated? 1t is quite rcmark-
able that in a country i'll which popula-
ton is SO sparse, and land is so super
abundant, we are as anxious to utilize
very foot of it every year as in coun-
.rles where population is very dense and
the land can hardly support il. Our
judgment is that if half the open land in
the country was rested every year (abso-
lutte rest, not sown i'll Grain) rs much
would be made on the h,lt cultivated as
snow made on the whole.
Have the arrangements YOU adopted
last winter and spring to prevent the
washing of your land proved successful?
Didn't you make your terraces in the
early spring, just before the usual big
rainfalls occur, and did not these rains
strike them before they had time TO get
compactcd or get II growth OF any kind
upon them to bind and hold them, and
did not they get badly washed away?
Would it not be better to make terraces
on land when it is resting or in stubblc,
and do the work in the fail or early win
ter, so that the terraces may get settled
and firm before the heavy spring rains;
and would it not be We'll TO ,Ow the ter
races in rye or wheat as soon us they are
made, and get growth upon them at
once? If terraces freshly made in stub
bic land should give way under heavy
rain, the land would not wash, because
it is compact and held by roots. But
when terraces are made in spring, and
the land between item piouGhcd, as is
generally the case the washing becomes
excessive and disastrous if heavy rains
prevail. We have found that on old
land, in which washes have already
started, it is extremely difficult to get
terraces well established without the aid
OF some hillside bitches. Our practice
in such cases is to run bitches lust as
one would do if he did not have terracing
in view, and then lay off terraces just M
if there were no ditchos present of
course jumping over and not filling the
bitches where the terraces cross them.
After the terraces become we'll establish
ed and both incipient and OLD gullics arc
entirely filed up, the bitches may be
filed up if one thinks he can control the
water without them. On very rolling
land, where the disposition to wash is
very great, we find it best sometimes to
run short secondary bitches between the
regular bitches. A secondary ditch will
run across from one ditch to tho next
below, starting Just below the dam of the
first and emptying into the one below.
Placed lust above an incipicnt wash u
small secondary ditch will assist materi.
ally in stopping it. We cannot join the
ardent advocates of tergacing in whole,
sole denunciations of hillside bitches
VI find the latter, at times, very useful
nay, almost Indispensable If one
starts with fresh land, and there is nc
,nculivated slope above from which
water may flow down upon it, terraces
alone may answer, but on old lands
where washes have already started thest
may be arrested and permanently
stopped by o judicious combination oI
bitches and tnrraces with more ease anC