The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-04-11
A 500 Pound Bale to the Acre.
MOORE. S. C.. March 20, 1889

me the..honor some weeks ago to ask me
to giveyou for the columns of your paper
my method of raising my hired hand crop
of cotton last year which made 5O0.lb.
bale per acre.
will premise by::saying, had bought
some Texas ponies, which I designed to
use on this particular farm. They came
to me in bad order, unbroken and at a
season when I needed them most. They
took the dIstemper and with my other
horses we're sick for a week or more,
which together with incessant rains got
me very much behind:with.my work. I
had no time to break land, and as it had
been in cotton the year previous, and as
it was light grey land, I saw no particu.
lar reason why it should be 60 done. I
set to. work hauling out stable manure,
four to FIVE good two.horse loads per
acre, scattering it in the, old water fur.
rows, or middles, (rows 3 feet) without
the center furrow being run. The man.
ure mas spread from the wagon with
shovel. Then two hundred pounds
Acid Phosphate WAS applied per acre
from basket carried upon the left arm,
and scattered along the row, or upon the
stable manure with the right hand, with.
out funnel or.any appliance to get 1t in a
little straight row.
Two furroWs were then thrown OIL the
manure and one furrow bursting up the
old atalks completed the bed. This was
done just previous to planting, when
the ground was in good order for work.
On April 11th to 18th the cotton was
planted with Harris planters-the variety,
Peterkin.
The first working was given it when
the cotton had just commenced to come
up or when stalk could be seen here
aud there over the field, with Thomas
Smoothing Harrow, which put the ground
in beautiful condition.
The second working was done with
tongue plow as close and deep as it could
go. Then I thinned it or chopped it to
two or three stalks every IL or is inches.
Then it was run around with heel sweep
and the middles plowed out with good
long shovel. The balance of the work
was done with heel sweeps. I thinned
the cotton to one stalk st place the
above distance. I tried to work it every
alternate week with the plow, going
over.i it every intervening week with the
hoe.
This Is all there is oft. 1t made the
finest cotton I have raised for years,
and my judgment is if the seasons had
been propitious it would have made u to
2 bales Of 500 lb. per acre. It was too
cold and vet in the spring and entirely
too wet during aud after the August
foods.
Now few reflect ions on the above.
I do not like to publish that I made
fine crop with next to no preparation,
lest be the cause of somebody not doing
his duty. I believe in good plowing,
deep and close, and have always tried to
so practice In this case it was matter
of necessity. I have made one good crop
of bale to the acre once before on this
field and then I knocked the bottom out,
so to speak, with subsoil plow, and
came down heavy with Peruvian Guano,
Dissolved Bone and Land Plaster.
hare now concluded that there is
more in good judicious manuring and
careful after cultivation than in so much
plowiDg, two or three times beforehand,
as I have often done and seen done.
Light gray sandy lands cannot possibly
receive much benefit from plowing before
or shortly after the winter freezes. 1t
is just as loose and friable after the heavy
freezes as it can possibly me made.
I have never failed to make good
crop when used stable manure in con-
nection with guano. Stable manure and
Acid Phosphate go together, or cotton
seed and Acid Phosphate. The one sup.
plies ammonia, the other Phosphoric
Acid. do not believe We need potash.
am preparing the same land this year
in the same way, except running off the
center furrow. The stable manure and
Acid Phosphate go in 1.-THE middles
will be bursted out and the cotton plant.
ed. have two other fields that have
been in stubble. One has been broken
| up, the other not. In February rows were
run off with shovel plow and 15 to 20
| bushels cotton seed applied per acre and
covered with narrow twister. In one
| of these covering furrows 200 lbs. Acid
Phosphate will be put and the middles
bursted out with two or three burrows as
I may find it to need.
It is not absolutely necessary to have
| all the manure right under the cotton.
In the above plan you will notice I put
| it down by the side, the cotton seed
| under. I do not desire to disturb the
cotton seed but prefer to let them remain
| with the two furrows on them till plant
ing. The plowing out the middles and
covering the Acid Phosphate will throw
fresh dirt on the ridges.
believe too much work is done before
planting and too little after.
The secret however of my good cotton
| was the good dose Of fine stable manure
| and Acid Phosphate. 1t you want to
raise good cotton it must have plenty Of
manure. 1t makes but little difference
how you work it, so that it be done regu-
| larly, deep at first workings and very
shallow the last ones.
1t should be plowed after every rain.
1