The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-06-12
FARMER AND PLANTER.
PRIZE FACTS.
The Result of the Southern Farms 'Five
Facts" Contest.

The Result of the Southern Farms 'cFivo
Facts Contest.
Some time since the Southern Farm
offered prizes for the best ten groups of
five facts of Importance. Below we give
the winning groups, which will be found
to contain ideas worthy of perusal and
bordering:
R. L. DURHAM, ELDER. GA.
/. That it is economy for the farmers to so
manure and rotate their crops as to improve
their land each year.
2. That there are more failures made in
corn and cotton crops for the want of ma
nure and from having too many stalks to
the acre, than there are by dry weather.
3. That farmers land is his bank. and his
draft will be honored in proportion to the
amount of his deposit in labor and manure.
4. That what it will take to sustain worth
less dog will raise hog.
5. That bushel of corn or side of meat,
raised at home, is worth two in town.
JOHN H. DENT, COTTAGE HOME, FLOYD CoUE-
TY, GA
l. A farmer must make his occupation his
chief and first duty, and give his time and
close attention TO it, relying 0 the farm for
his maintenance and support through life.
2, Make your farm disappearing and
self-sustaining; raise all your food supplies,
for man and animals, on your farm; buy
nothing what you can produce yourself, and
keep close watch on the details of the
farm. Dollars are apt to take care of them
selves; cents must be cared for.
rs. Never undertake more than you can
have done properly. Ten acres thoroughly
prepared and well titled is worth twenty
acres half cultivated-it pays in the saving
of labor as well as in the increase of produc-
A.,
plus, and what you retain make it more val
liable by judicious management. 1t will
lessen expenses and increase profits.
4. One great error in Southern farming is
we don't keep stock enough on our farms.
Keep all you can have properly attended to.
The butcher wants meat, and the land wants
manure. Home made manures are cheaper,
more reliable and better than bought ma
nures. Commercial manures make no humus
-humus is what your land needs. Animal
manure and vegetable matter comp osted
gives you what you need, and in the fall
turn under weeds, stubble, and all vegetable
matter left on the land, and you will supply
your land with what it wants-humus.
Don't clean off your lands with fire; clean
them with the piow.
5. Read and study-take agricultural works.
You can from experience see what is prac-
teal in them; adopt what you believe to be
practical; what may seem doubtful try,
and then be your own gauge. Reading
hurts no one. If they read good
books no danger of making them book
farmers, as some call it., but on the contrary,
it has made more practical, successful
farmers than by the old routine methods.
Perseverance, energy and industry must be
component parts of a successful farmer.
Reading will never interfere with those ele-
ments, but quicken them and give them
proper direction, and often new and i'm
portant ideas. A farmer should read, work
and be close observer of all things. His
occupation embraces several important
sciences, which he should study. A farmer
should be man of Information, as well as
q worker.
HON. FELIX CORRUPT, CAVE SPRINGS, GA.
1. That the good, bright days, with plenty
of good sunshine, will take care of them
selves, and can always be probably util-
lied for farm work, but that in order to get
full value of time, and fair return for
hired labor during rainy, sloppy, bad
weather, or severe cold spells, indoor work
of some kind should be provided. ! never
have an idle day on the farm.
2. That it is cheaper to take care of agri-
cultural implements than to buy new ones.
few hours work in rainy weather will
keep them properly clea ed and oiled, and
a cheap shelter viii keep them out of the
weather. Alternate rains and sunshine will
wear out machinery faster than actual use.
3. That in order to make farm profitable,
crops should be diversified, all necessary
supplies raised at home, and the farmer
should have something to offer for sale
every day in the year
4 That the farm should be constituted a
home savings bank, the value of which can
be yearly added to; first, by proper ter
racing and drainage; secondly, by the Judi
cious application of home made fertilizers
distributed under the immediate supervision
n ffG thirdly Inv deem n RI tfO0 M
soil, shallow crop cultivation and the rota-
ton from clean crop culture, to small grain
and clover or grasses
5. That in order to economic in the mat
ter of stock food and obtain the very best re-
suits from what is fed, proper managers and
shelters should be provided to prevent the
wasting of food and protect stock from rain
or severe weather of any kind. Stock should
also be kept free from vermin. This can be
easily done by the judicious use of kerosene
OIL For dry cattle good, warm shelter can
be built out of pine poles and brush, covered
with leaves and weighted down with coarse
manure. This will absolutely cost nothing
and can be put up in few hours, when the
weather is unfit for work. Try it.
W. E. COLLINS, CAROLINA, MISS.
/. 1t does not pay to waste time trying to
save crop once neglected.
the extraordinary yields, to 5 be obtained
only by application of brain and hand labor.
g. Empty barns carry no prosperity,
though the cotton fields be white.
T. Good teams, well fed and hard lieks at
the right time, mean profit-contra, loss
5. Milk, butter, vegetables and poultry
mean health for the farmers family and
less expense, consequently more money to
educate his children.
B. W. HUNT, EATONToN, GA.
!. Build Southern barns, adopted to South
ern winters. Don't copy expensive plans
from Northern agricultural journals
2. Build stables separate from barns, and
make them fire and tornado proof, with
light plank sides and iron roofs. Use no
logs and heavy timbers to crush stock in our
tornado swept country.
g. Northern agricultural writer's do not
grasp the Southern situation. Make your
own combinations of properly balanced
food rations, albuminoids and carbo-
hydrates, fats, etc, always remembering
too much can not be said on the side of
cleanliness, and that butter fat is plant fat
separated from the other constituents of the
cows food, and this butter fat will carry the
flavor of the plant. Therefore, feed only the
best food. Some food makes hard and some
soft butter, some sweet and some bitter.
The dairy farmer must be a constant and
careful experimenter.
4. The successful raiser of thoroughbred
stock must be also somewhat of a veterinary
surgeon. The most fatal malady among