The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-12-11

fhes
cotton during the boil worm time
have watched very close.
Last spring when Red River Got =
her tare the current turned through M
heart of our place, while it swept awas
all loose soil and sand on about tx
acres, it also made Il sand-bar :
some fifty acres near the een4ss
of the farm. The sand was toS
deep to produce any thing but peas NJ
planted about forty acres of it in a sixty.
day pea during June. / know that S
general rain seldom, if ever, falls ID
tween July IS and August Is. Corn
pla nted after our overflow wonld hava
roasting cared about this time. So IN
ste ad of corn, we planted this early nea
and understanding that would make
before this time. Just as / predictea
late corn is no good at all; the peas fne5
and ample. with rnillet and cotton seed
to winter all of our stock, except worh
stock; make our meat for another year
and cost us planting and one WORKING
And besides the feed our sand-bar viii
make fine crop of cotton next year.
Since writing the above have been
out all day in the pea field where We
had some hands picking. The pea field
lays broad beside the cotton pateh-iust
turning row between them. This pea
| fieSd seems alive with the boil worm
millers-but not one did see in the cos
ton, although the cotton was large and
| green (planted first of June). Nor aid
find boil or square pierced, while in
the peas full five per cent of pods had
worms or the holes in them.
Peas planted after wheat or oats orin
corn at laying by, are good. Besides
this, field of peas will make mere
feed with less waste, either of feed.
labor or exhaustion to the soil than any
plant that grows. 1t is not neces-
sary to go to any great expe nse
to get seed. the very highest type 81
improved seed now can be bought from
almost any seedsmen, by mail, at about
thirty cents a pound. One pound Of the
late whey kind, given good distance.
with an occasional stalk of corn FOR
them to run upon, will give ten bushels
of seed the first year. One pound Of
the extra early will make about i've
bushels during June If planted In
April, this five bushels will be ample to
plant forty acres, and ordinary land.
twice plowed, will make 1000 bushels
This is the first year from one pound 81
seed. These early kinds are always
best for rich soil. and the whey kind
for poor soil, because the more
shade poor soil has the better
The crop will be just as good, il
it fits the season as we'll But the
reverse will always be found best on
rich soil, for the reason that shade
gathers nitrogen from the atmosphere
and restores capilarity in the subsoiL
Therefore, if plant that shades the
soil, whether the soil is rich or poor,
will always gather most nitrogen, the
more nitrogen the greater the proper
ton of plant growth and shade to fruit
Also the more shade the greater the pro.
portion of fruit roots. This unloading
adds to the growth too. But on poor
soil there is no danger of excess 81.
| nitrogen and carbonic acid; there is no
danger of even stalk growth of rotten
fruit Then the more of these ele-
ments the better. But rank, dense
growing plants, with excess OF shade
will always tail to fruit well, if there is
ample moisture, for where there IS
heavy shade fruit will every time be
lacking.
Then to beat boil worms on poor soil
plant rows wide enough for row 81
peas in June in the middle, or plant
patches of peas at intervals about over
the farm with long limb variety Of
cotton. But rich soil must be broken
deep during winter; prepare shallow
cluster variety and follow with rapid
but shallow cultivation Except the
blowing out tho middles deep, first
plowing). Top main stem in about
eighty to ninety days after planting
Two stalks should always be left In 8
place from one to two feet in rows three
and a half to four feet wide.
Why always plant cluster yariety2
Because it is the nearest to an annual,
and by topping both main stem and side
shoots we make it an annual. because
no more stalk growth can take place: Il
will just have to FIJI out what fruit II
has on when topped, and die regardless
of rain and fertilizer. But on the other
hand, rain and fertilizers hasten matu-
rity. The crop on all rich soil should b.
made before the rains the first Of Sep
TENDER come, or at any rate be heavily
fruited, or there will be excessive stalk
growth, and bottom fruit will rot For
these rains bring down excess of the
gaseous elements.
Now here is where Dr. Stell and d..
Yoakum get mixed. DE-. Stelps soil
and the tier of counties along Red River
are all rich or well-balanced soil. I
know from DIR. Yoakum's letters gem
orally that his soil is poor sandy, with
red clay some distance below the sur
face, say ten to twenty inches. He can
not beat this drought unless he fertilizes
with heterogeneous fertilizers, such IS
cotton seed or stable manure; but by
planting the first of June, the sand II
warm, the plant grows off faster and
this needed nitrogen, the first Of Sep
TENDER, CONES at fruiting time JEFF
Welborn, in Texas Farm and Ranch.
HERE AND THERE.