The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-07-23
FARM NOTES.
SOME MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CHILL
CLOVER AND WHERE TO
GET SEED.
A Chat With the NeighbOrs About Too
Many Acres of CottOn-SOmething
About Ticks-Other Things.
CHILL WHITE CLOVER.
Itural Editor of The Statesman

Agricultural Editor of The Statesman:
| About two months ago you pub
lished an article on Chill Glover which
interested me greatly, as it promi ed
a valuable crop on land that is too
chalky for anything else. l am too
old bird to be caught with chatf,
and don't place unlimited faith in
everything see in print.
! But on the other hand | am willing
and anxious to try anything that
gives a reasonable prospect of being
an improvement on what | have. If
this Chill clover will grow on pure,
white limestone knobs, | have got
them, and have not found any profit
able crop to grow thereon. | would
! like to know where the clover seed
can be bought. it's price, how seed
should be sowed per acre, how and
when the land should be prepared and
the best time for planting. If you can
give this information you will oblige
yours, etc. j. B. c..
was SO much struck with the dis
cription of this clover published in
Home and Farm, that wrote to its
author, ELI Shepperd" for more light
on the very points raised by J. B. G.
and received all the information asked
for. "Eli Shepperd" writes from
Greesboro, Ala, which is on the same
parallel of latitude as Austin; and
the chalky soil of that section is almost
Identical to that found so abundantIy
in our state. There the right time to
plant is February. The land is plow-
ed early and the seed is sowed broad
cast and narrowed in. Half bushel
OF seed is required for an acre, as the
seed is very small. Only one sowing is
necessary, for although only bienn-
ial it seeds itself. AS to cost of seed |
have no information, but it can be
had from any seed merchant in Cedar
vile, Hale county, Alabama.-ED.
THE FESTIVE TICK,
Mr.. w. r. Cole whose articles in
Texas Farm and Ranch on national
politics aud their relation to the tilier
of the soil, stamped him
not only facile writer, but close OBJ
server and level headed thinker: has
been recently investigating the habits
of the tick. In an article inlast issue
of Farm and Ranch he tell how he
took an inflated tick which had drop
ped from a dog, put it in q box and
confined it there for four days. Open
the box hefound mass of eggs attach.
ed to the proboscis of the tick. Two
days later the number had been
greatly increased. He estimated the
whole mass contained between 5000
and 1000 eggs. The curious part of
the business was the oyipositing via
the proboscis. With such fecuudity il
is not surprising that the supply of
ticks never gives out. Mr.. Cole tells
us that lin the spring of the year the
fertilized female ticks which have lived
through the winter attach themselves
to various animals and remain until
filled with blood. The tick then drops
off and crawls up the nearest upright
object, usually weed or bush, where
it deposits its eggs, which are attached
to the bark or leaf, where they re-
main till Matched. The young ticks
are little dark colored mites, remark
ably active and ready to lay
hold of the first animal
that may happen to shake
them from their Matching place.
These ticks are capable of producing
eggs without fertilization. And thus
the same process is repeated during
the whole summer without any fur
Their necessity for sexual divisions or
fertilization. The mating of the sexes
takes place during the warm days in |
the winter and early spring. Some |
claim that the ticks on horses are diff |
ferent from those living on COWS and |
shat they are viviparous, bringing
forth one young at a birth, which at |
taches itself just below its parent.
This is somewhat doubtful, vet in
ward the fact that ticks remain on
horses all winter, taking shelter among
the name and long hairs at the base
of the tail; and the further fact that |
at any time during the winter small |
ticks of different sizes are found in
close proximity to every large one.
While doubling the theory | will no
reject it without further observation.
sWANTED, A SUBSTITUTE.
Farmers have long been accustomed
to hear the doctrine of Investigation
of crops, but like unrepentant sinners
have continued to pursue their old
one-crop system, and it will take a
good many agricultural Sam Joneses
to waken them to a sense of their fool.
But, what cannot be accomplished
by teaching and preaching. may be
realized by natural causes. Under the
most favorable conditions there is lit
tie enough profit in farming, but when
the small margin of profit is exchanged
'or positive loss, then it becomes
merely question of how long it will
asst.
The mania for cotton has assumed
jhe acute form; it's victims are prostra-
ed and enteebled; their physical and
constitutions are under
mined, and they don't mind
h:ir case will soon become
chronic and hopeless. The merchant
who could be foolish enough to long
continue to sell his wares at less than he {
paid for them. would surely end in
The same result must 6
olow the farmers practice of selling |
lis products at less than they cost to ,
aise. In fact there are thousands of 1