The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1886-05-19

the .NOn!n oI
From an Intelligent Writer.
(w L. jones IL the May .'cuit;va'o-D
The earth is now warm enough Tor
grass and weeds to grow rapidly They
cannot be permitted to share with the
crops the plant food in the soil; exterml-
nation OF them is now the order OF the
day. How to accomplish this economl-
calv, 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 running around
Young plants with narrow scooter. hay
ing a board nailed to foot and beam on
one side to prevent throwing dirt on the
little plants, first gave way to the sweep.
The latter shaved the surface nicely, and
with it's wing running quite fiat threw
very little dirt. Moreover the siding
fulrows swept ont the middles at the
same time, a great advance over TWO
siding furrows with scooters and subse-
quent breaking OF the middleS with
shovels. But with the incest work OF
the sweep, there is still a marrow st'ap
along the Lne Of plants which Is undls-
turbed, and upon which grass can firmly
fix itself. To 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 the harrow in the first
stages of the crop, with heel scrapes and
cultivators later. This is as far as we
have advanced; indeed, most farmers
have not yet reached this point, and the
method is not yet, perhaps, fully per-
fected. But from the very nature OF
things We must advance in this direction
machines, implements, horsepower,
must supplant hand labor more and
more. How to cheaper production IS
the problem Of the hour. Our fathers
pushed labor to the utmost In clearing
forests and cultivating virgin soils. Since
the war the use Of fertilizers has been
developed to great perfection; and now
surroundings demand the most extended
use of machinery and horsepower. All
departments of industry are moving IN
this direction, and agriculture cannot lag
behind. Cautiously, wisely, Judiciously
it must go on.
Our readers will remember the articles
published last year in the Cultivator on
broadcast cultivation with the harrow.
The points which seem to be well set
tied were that distractions must be re-
moved-trash in the shape of corn and
cotton stalks cut up or knocked to pieces
and buried by breaking land with large
ruru ploughs; beds, il any, to be low
and leveled down with harrow immedi
ately after planting; if rain follows plant
ing quickly, harrow as soon as dry
enough, never allowing crust to form.
As soon as cotton begins fairly to come
up, run harrow obhquely across rows
never in the direction Of the rows-in
four or FIVE days run obiiquely across
again in the opposite direction, so that
these two harrowings may be at right
angles to each other. In three or four
DAYS harrow again across the last. These
harrowings must begin early and be re-
peated rapidly to thin out the cotton,
which they can do whilst the plants are
very young and tender--when still yel-
low. When older and tougher they will
be pushed aside often without being de-
st-oyed. The cotton now being consid-
erably thinned, grass and weeds thor
oughly killed, and the surface nicely
pulverized, the crop is in condition to
be easily cultivated with sweep or scrape.
It is said also that in the condition left
by the harrowings good hand can chop
TO stand two acres of cotton day.
Is tie soil is supplied with humus. and
thelano, well prepared, cultivation should
be very shallow from the start In hard
soil, disposed TO run together after rain,
a deep blowing is perhaps admissible
when the cotton is very young, but not
otherwise. In two experiments made
successivelv in 1884 and 1885 at the Ala
bama Experiment Station, to test effects
of deep and shallow cultivation, there
was a difference respectively Of S. and
100 pounds OF seed cotton per acre IL
favor of shallow cultivation throughout
The two plats We're prepared, manured
and cultivated exactly alike, except thai
when the cotton on one plat was about
a foot high it was plowed deep with :
long scooter and scrape, as is frequently
done by farmers, and its roots considera
;lv cut. The scrape should always be
attached behind the foot of the plow
not in front Of it, and the scooter used
with it sho1lld be very short, Just lone
enough to keep the point OF the plow
foot from striking the bottom OF the fur
row. Another interesting experiment
made at the same station illustrates s
point we have often urged, to-wit, The
importance of pressing or tirming seec
in the soil to insure prompt termination
Cotton was planted in two adjacent row:
on the same day with two different cot
ton planters, one covering the seed il
the usual manner, the other throwing
tie dirt into ridge over the seed ant
then passing it down on the seed by /
roller rigidly attached to the machine