The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-11-19
FARMER AND PLANTER.
EXPERIMENT STATIONS.
A Little of SoliloIny and a Little PHI
losophy on the Subject.

to suffer the sting and arrows of out
rageous fortune, or to take arms against
a sea of troubles, and by opposing
them"
While my grievances are in no way
| like "Eamlet's," still the above solilo
| guy has. of late often come up in my
mind when reading the reports of our
stations have been of incstimabe value
to me, and the whole South, in some OF
| their reports.
But their testing the different varie-
ties of cotton is certainly mixed,
motley business that is doing
much harm, and the idea of test
Ing improved seeds with the scrub
work seems to me very unscien-
titic, and beyond doubt will every time
| show up the scrub seed or those nearest
to scrub, as earliest, most prolific,
best quality of lint, etc, because i'm
proved seed were not produced by scrub
work nor by physicing, but first, by
either judicious crossing, or carefully
selecting the fitest of certain type for
seed each year for q number of years,
and giving q certain routine of work,
and improved for certain purposes, the
same as stock.
Our professors at the experiment sta
tions would hoot at the idea of testing
short-horn COWS with Jerseys for but
ter, giving the same feed per COW;
would also deride the man who would
suggest the testing of Jersey with the
tolsteine for flow of milk, each hay
ing the feed necessary to support the
larger frame of the Holsteine. And
they would call man natural
idiot that would talk about Jcr-
sey steer making the same quality of
beef as a short-horn, both having all
the feed necessary to bring them to
greatest perfection and kept until short
horn was fully grown. Nor would they,
in their reports show the Jersey beef
cost twice as much as the short-horn,
because the individual Jersey was one.
half as largo as the individual short
horn.
On the same score, does it look reason
able that the little early varie ties of
northern corn with stalk five feet high
three-quarters of an inch in diameter
would require the same number of
square feet per stalk as the largest
Southern varieties with their 10 to II
feet high stalks to 2 inches in diameter,
or giving the same distance to the "old
mans pea or pea of the backwoods"
they would to the whey unknown pea, ;"
Or the six weeks bunch bean the same
as the pole bean; or the little 12-inch
Tom Thumb pea vine the same space as
the late to feet high varieties g?
(These comparisons are no more err
roneous than the way the tests Of vari-
cites OF cotton at our experiment sta
tons.) We would not expect the Berk-
shire, Essex Or Yorkshire hogs to make
as much pork as Red jersey" Ches-
ter White or Pollen China; but we would
expect them to make about two-thirds
as much at less than half the cost and
in two-thirds the time. Because we can
have our pigs dropped in March, and
kill them in December fully matured.
We ges tho full benefit of the grass,
most peas, potatoes, etc, and the hog
does his own harvesting, without hav-
ing to tide over single winter. This
explains to fraction the difference be-
tween the varieties that have been i'm
proved to make before drought and
worms appear and those that have been
improved to stand them All cluster
varieties can be made ANNALS BY
pinching off the top and the two
to four side shoots about the time
the early summer rains are over,
which is from 9Th to 18th of July in
northorn portion of cotton belt, but ear
lier as we go south. The richer the
land the quicker they will come through
II the land is prepared and cultivated
according to natural laws This can
only be done by deep winter blowing
and shallow spring and summer cultiva-
ton. This puts the soil and subsoil as
in the woods; loose, non-capillary soil,
with firm (but not hard) capillary SUBJ
'OAA' - wiz ldito 10 DiVhcH III jig SDrlnV
we have non-capillary suosoil. This
causes the roots to have to start out SO
deep that the plant gets off very slow,
except we physic the soil. If we wait
until spring before blowing, and then
plow shallow, the effect on the soils will
be the same as where drastic doses of
anSi-fat acid phosphate is used. The
fertility of the surface and the capillary
or natural functions of the subsoil will
soon be seriously impaired. While
the reverse effects will be seen by
the winter breaking process, and let
nature furnish the "base" except where
we pillow under vegetable matter, where
nature has mixed in proper proportions,
this anti-fat will prove detrimental to
any prolific variety of cotton, because to
be prolific the fruiting should be COM
pact on the stalk and foliage scant.
Such plant would produce little shade.
therefore would gather very little of
tho active elements Of plant food from
the atmosphere; and such plats as do
not shade the soil will be dispropor-
toned by the use of phosphates-except
the soil has excess of undccomposed
vegetable matter But where plants
shade the soil, such as clover, cowpeas
and the prolific varieties of our expert
ment stations and our grand fathers,
i. e., long limbed, long jointed varie-
ties of cotton, with two leaves for every
square, and four leaves for every boil,
If no anti-fat is use. But by its use the
shade is reduced, the limb, and Joints
shortened, thus bringing them nearer
to an annual-iust where our true pro-
lifics are when our doctors at the sta