The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-03-17

wait till the rows are green with grass
and weeds before attempting theil
destruction; this is unwise, as by that
lime they have done some mischief to
! the crop and are more difficult to
eradicate. The same people seem to
think that the cultivation of crop
should be done during it's growth,
whereas the best time is before plant
ing, by a thorough preparation of the
soil One of the most costly items in
cotton culture is the hoeing necessary
to kill weeds. We must either get a
bigger price for cotton, great
ly reduce the cost of pro-
duction, or abandon it. The
prospect for better price is very slim,
but something may be done to cheap
en- production. If the land has been
thoroughly and properly prepared,
the cost of after cultivation will be
greatly reduced and the yield in
creased. Early blowing and thorough
surface pulverization is as essential
for cotton as for any other crop. The
soil should be thoroughly stirred just
before planting, or if bedded wide
winged sweep should be ruin along
the ridges just ahead Of the planter
This will demoraliZe all grass and
weeds in its track, whether above or
below ground, and the young cotton
will have the soil to itself till chOI
ping time comes. The cost of chop
ping may be greatly lessened by
checking with sweep. This will also
lessen after cultivation, as it can. be
done with horse and sweep, in / lace
of hand and hoe.
~
1t wO" d be pretty hard on s
people if next seasons cotton maOme
opened at cents ana dropped rktt
but it would not be an unmiXed TO :;
In fact, it might prove a blessing in
disguise. Nothing short of such a
collapse will persuade some people to
lessen their acreage and enable them
to understand that their soil is capa-
BILE of raising other crops. AS soon as
this is realized the sooner will we
have return of prosperity that will be
permanent. We are fortunate enough
to live in state where anything
suited to a temperate climate can be
grown to perfection; yet about three
fourths of the land in cultivation is
devoted to cotton, and when that
fails, or yields an excessive supply, so
that prices become Improbable, our
farmers are in the same bankrupt con-
dition as the small. grain growers of
the northwest when there has been a
big European crop, but without any
excuse. With cotton out of the way it
would be found that many crops now
of could be profitably
raised and marketed.
Hasten the day of cent cotton.
x*x
l have long urged the diver
sitication OF crops, and named
several that give promise
of profit, but it never occurred to mt
that even our Becky Mountain ranges
and scrub covered untillable lands
might be utilized for the production
of valuable commercial article which
would rival electricity. But an es-
teemed correspondent throws a light
on the subject. He has tried cotton
raising and knows all about it, and
has doubtless studied the problem of
q substitute, for he writes: 1.-THE Aus
tin Gas company are making the best
gas this country ever saw from hard |
wood and coal oil refuse. You can
now urge the production of live oak
TIMBER
Next.
According to a test made at
Rothamsted, England, it has
been settled that oats are more
exhaustive of the soil than wheat.
This is the reverse of what farmers
have believed. They have generally
thought that oats can be grown on
less fertile land than wheat. 1t is now
found that 3077 pounds of grain and
straw of oats contain more of every
element of plant food than Abs pounds
Of wheat and its connecting straw,
except in one item, viz; ph0sphOric |
acid and in such quality of grain and
straw wheat contains three pounds |
more than oats. This suggests the APP
plication of manure to oat land and a
change of location.
#*x
The average home garden on the |
Iarm, says the Rural New Yorker, is
very meager affair in no |
way creditable to the owner. 1t is |
perfectly safe to say that well man
aged home garden is the most profit
able piece of land on the farm, no
matter in what aspect you view it.
Merely from standpoint Of dollars
and cents it is always profitable, and
when we come to look at it in a
broader light it becomes of such para
mount Importance that neglect of it
seems inexcusable. The farmer who
cares for his wife as he should, and as
le told her he did in his courtship
lays, owes it to her to provide her
with first-class garden, upon which
she may confidently rely for supply
If all seasonable vegetables. The
lead of the household, in the larger
operations that engross his powers,
s apt to forget the domestic
side of his duties. He is
apt to forget the obligations
he owes his wife and family, in so far
as the garden is concerned, he is too
apt to look upon it as pretty affair
not worth any attended or systematic
care. If he could change places with
mis- wife for single summer month.
no would never again be guilty of
the garden, Morning,
noon and night every day in the year,
She .ntfln thn aror |