The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-02-01
PROFITABLE FARM WORK FOR FEBRUARY

PROFITABLE FARM WORK FOR FEBRUARY
Useful and Instructive Hints for The
Farming Man.
Southern Cultiuator.
This is the beginning of the busy work of
preparing for the next crop. The farm now
would lay broad foundation for n successful
years work. 1t Is impossible to foresec what
| will be the character of the seasons in the fu-
We know that i vii be i eItaHr a to
vide against either extreme as far as practical
Only ordinary skill and Judgment on the
part Of the farmer aro required to make
reasonably fair crop in q fairly, scasonable
year. But it does require high degree or
Skill. and judgment that Is based on expert
encc and study to discount In ADVANCE, the
and probabilities Of the future, It is often
said that IA crop well planted is half madc;'
but tho land must be. properly prepared, Sc
curely protected against stock. tudieiously
and planted before 1t may be truly said that
the crop has been swell planted" Some have
said that farmer ought to plant such an area
circumstances, n sufflcicncy for home use.
This is putting it rather too strong. Every
| farmer of O dozen years experience knows
that occur %ono Sorn o
probably he would not If he could have fore
seen the result. IT,
The saier rule is to adjust relative areas Tin
provision crops especially with reference to ex-
pected average seasons, so that an abandance
will be produced with such seasons: 1t Is
we'll enough TO prepare the land and space
GOOD zoo seasons proved nothing will have been
| lost; and II drouth occur at the critical pc
Rod the extra labor of preparation and the
wide spacing will tell wonderfully In the nnal
result. Let every farmer consider what he
wishes or expects to secure by the labors Of
the year. What are the most pressing and In
dispensable wants among those that may be
ffTgpitllt frsgt: Clothing next and so on. The essential
business Of a farmer Is to make living (meat
and bread, lodging and cothiug) for himself
and family. In our Judgment tne man VINO
iect of effor, and who looks upon the growing
Of food crops and other departments OF farm
| industry. as mere incidents or unavoidaole g
draw backs, makes a very serious, radical
mistake. Such mistakes are frequent, and
are frequcncly II not generally, the cause OF
failure! Such mistakes are the cause OF the
present depression In Southern agriculture.
| We should first produce what we need most
what we must have-what we consume, not
what we do not need (or need but little of )and
what we cannot consume. The farmer VINO
with direct regard to supplying his family
with food in such variety and Of such whole
some quality as may only be produced un-
der his own eye, will not be likely 70 su11er lor
sary, or even modest luxury thnt may be out
side the limits OF actual home production.
thing" hin that that such a farmer wifi make will gen
| orally result in such surplus OF one or more
products OF his labor as will procure such 9TH
| er objects of desire, to say nothing or the re-
turns from the cotton or other so'called mon
we Claim no originality in the foregoing
Thoughts" except possibly In the manner
are e. substantially the "oId story" We would
that by any means we might impress upon
Southern farmers that the essential Idea and
aim in farming-an object that is attainable
In no other pursuit on earth-.should be to
supply the chief necessaries and many Of the
luxuries of life directly from the farm. The
| mechanic, the miner, the mere laborer, the
professional man, the follower Of every other
craft must exchange the products of his labor
! for money, and with the money purchase in
the market the real objects Of desire and ne
cessity. Not so with the true farmer, In such
q climate and with such teemlng SOIL Us
ours. -
The acreage sown in fall oats is much less
than usual. The freezing out of a large por-
tion of the crop OF 1856 by the hard freezes In
January 1887, had most discouraginS effect,
which was augmented by the unfavorably dry
weather which prevailed in some parts OF the
country during the sowing season: The oat
crop, however, Is too valuable, and in the long
run too reliable to be given up. Spring SOW
| ing cost little more than the seed, even If the
crop fails from drouth; and good breadth
eight or ten acres at least to each plow run
should be put In. In ourjudgement-founde
upon experience and obscryation-oats sown
in February are much less liable to Injury by
freezing than if sown in January. Sowing In
the "old twelve days" smacks moro Of super
| titIon and sentiment than sound reason. Our
hardest weather Is usually from December p
to February !, and 1t is not often that oats
sown In February are killed by freezing. The
soil for spring oats If MOI already iertlle,
| ly plowed-the latter to guard against drouth
as much as possible. II the land be cross
plowed so as to leave the burrows partly open,
the seed may be sown broadcast aad harrow
ed in with good results. Cotton seed, or the
meal alone, or in compost with acid phos.
plate and potash, makes an excellent fertil-
| iZcr for oats. The crop requires rather more
ammonia and potash than the percentage u.s.
ually found in commercial ammoniated phos-
| pilates.
Undoubtedly the Burt oat Is the safest for
spring sowing, asst viii mature IN lou TO l2o
cording TO latitude. Sow plenty of seed; the
| latter the sowing the heavier should be the
seeding. Allow for yield Of twenty fold, Is
Weld. or capacity of the land is small, In
which case the seeding should be somewhat
| heavier than this rule would indicate, and
| pice-rerSa.
ITENSIVE FARMING.
| In last months Thoughts" we promised
more on the subject of intensive farming latter
awhile" 1t was then suggested that as a
principle 1t does not pay the best TO manure
q few acres very heavily and leave the main
expanse of the farm with little or no ma
| nure" To state the proposition affirmatively
| we mean to say that general practice IT pay
better to distribute manures somewhat uni
formally and impartlally over the entire area
to be cultivated than to fertilize few acres
| very highIv and the remainder very lightly.
| A ton Of any good fertilizer will yield bet
| ter per cent on the cost II distributed equally
over field of twenty acres than II one nall
the ton be concentrated on two acres and the
naming eighteen acres. These hints are
more particularly applicable where concer-
trated fertilizers are used, which cost COM
paratively little to distribute.
bc considered as an investment rather than
an expense. An increase of the area In culti-
vation involves increased expense Of labor,
supplies, implements, etc, but an increase In
The Quantity of fertilizers need not involve
any material additional expense, and while
| we have promised that uniform distribution
| gives better results on whole, the correct con-
cusion Is 10 reduct areas and fertilize both
literally and uniformly the entire crop cuti-
waited. A farmer may highly fertilize 20 acres
and make good profit but the hundred or
more acres unfertilized or but Tightly fertiliZed
may result in such q loss as will swallow up
average result will be loss instead OF gain.
There are thousands, yea hundreds Of thous-
ands OF acres annually cultivated In the South
that do not yield one cent of profit, but on II the
contrary, entail positive and real loss. The
remedy is either to throw such acres out OF
cultivation, or cultivate them In different
| Way, The most available and immediate
remedy is to throw such land out of cultiva-
ton and corflne our efforts to smaller areas,
with less expense of labor, stock, etc., and In
crease the investment In fertilizers.