The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-01-29
FARMER AND PLANTER.
NO IDLE TIME.

Make Every Hour Count Tor Pleasure
or Profit.
There is no idle time on well-reg
ulated farm. Time for recreation should
be taken. There is no use devoting life
to everlasting slavery. The inventive
genius and the educational resources Of
humanity have wrought a thousand
years that the posterity now on might
enjoy the fruits thereof. which is leisure
for recreation and enjoyment for social
intercourse anu mental Improvement
to attend the fairs, to go to picnics, to
| go fishing, to visit among neighbors, or
to take protraeted outing whereverin-
clination leads. The object of all this
is to give zest to labor. and enable one
to do more work in less time, and do it
better than is possible for the perpetual
drudge. Time thus spent in getting in
| good fix for work is not idle time. Idle
ness is rust, recreation is oil to the hui
nan machine.
The farmer can always find plenty of
work to do. Fences to build or repair;
barns, stables, cattle sheds, pig pens,
fowl houses, all need more or less atten-
ton, and should have it promptly. An
immense amount of labor and loss re-
suits from the careless habit some farm
ers have of building for the present
only, ANY thing to pull through this
winter with" and after the resulting
worry, the same work Is to be done
again next year. If only pig pen is to
be built it should be made of strong
durable material, nailed together as if
/ a. - Id e., ~
Grafton yet unborn If gate is to be
set put the big. square posts so deep in
the earth that nothing can shake them.
| Every thing about farm should be
thoroughly substantial, and it is bad
policy to hurry over any such work.
| Take time, and never spare nails.
There is some cotton yet in the fields,
and while the price of lint is going
down, the price of picking steadily
rises Whether it is better to delay the
picking and run the risks of loss from
rains and winds, or to pay price for
picking that will destroy all profit, is
| question for each farmer to settle for
! himself, as the course that would be
1 best for one would be worse for another
For instance, small farmer with a
large family would do better to pick his
own cotton, particularly if it is quite
scattering, even if it takes three weeks,
than to pay a dollar per hundred and
have it done in three or four days On
the other hand, the large planter must
hire his cotton picked or let it rot in
the field, and he can better afford to pay
high prices for picking than not to have
it picked at all.
Corn ought to be in the crib before
the middle of November, so that the
hogs can CLEAN the fields to their profit
Other stock also get in good fix for win
ter by grazing the crab grass and pea
vines, etc.
Sweet potatoes are to be cared for
Every farmer has his favorite plan for
keeping them. 1t is generally agreed
that steady cool and dry weather is best
for digging, as the potatoes are more
apt to keep. However they may be put
up, within four weeks they should be
examined, and If any rotten ones are
found they should be overhauled and
thoroughly sorted, and all that are I'M
sound should be separated, and such as
are not too far gone fed the hogs. Where
there is a surplus they should be fed to
hogs. Then little corn to finish with.
and there's your meat, for home use or
to sell.
off the actual loss from want of atten-
ton to farm stock was known, some
people would be astonished. In this
matter there has been great improve
ment of late years, but the reform is
not complete "A mercifu1 man is mer-
ciful to his beast" There is no work
on farm that pays better than that de-
voted to feeding and housing stock. 1t
is the well-fed, comfortable and content
ed horse that does the most work; it is
the contented cow that gives the most
milk; the contented hog that fattens
fastest and the contented hen that laws
IL winter. The reverse of this is also
true.
Somebody has been writing in a prom
inent Southern agricultural paper
against fall and winter blowing, saving
that perhaps the sun will iniure the
naked fallow, and that the vegetable
matter will be decomposed and
leached out before it is needed
for plant food. It is certainly
true that decomposition proceeds slowly
in winter, and the effects of the suns
rays are also greatly modified. It is
the heat hatdoes the damage to a clean
surface, and in winter this is not to be
feared. Any green or dry vegetation
turned under now will be in good condi-
ton to benefit the crops when wanted
For either corn or cotton land should be
deeply plowed in winter, and for cotton
no more deep blowing will be needed
for the crop. 1t is possible that when
the science of agriculture is thoroughly
understood, all blowing will be done in
winter, and cultivation will be confined
to destroying grass and weeds and
keeping about twoinches of the surface
soil we'll pulverized. There are good
implements now on the market for this
shallow work, but there is room
for further Improvements The slantip0
toothed harrow is excellent for this pur-
pose. There are, however, some soils
in the State that require deep blowing
lust before plautiuO r. 1iou,od - all