The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1892-09-08

L.
| Need he be surprised if he have to carry
oyer much OF that stock or sell at a
heavy loss? The farmer who plants all
or nearly all cotton commits the same
mistake. A careful study of the uues-
! tiol will show him that there IRE GER
tain laws of supply and demand which
render such course exceedingly haz-
ardous. The safest plan is to put in
such crops and by such methods as will
i assure at least home supplies. and per-
| haps some revenue, thus placing his
cotton crop safely beyond the reach of
| spectators and himself on an. inde-
| pendent plane.
CAREFUL ROTATION OF CROPS.
and study of the elements REQUIRED,
| supplying in each case that which the
soil lacks for the proper development of
that crop will do much to
RECLAIM OUR WORN LANDS.
There are thousands of acres of land
in this State, which have been robbed
by years of clean culture in successive
cotton crops of every vestige of vegeta-
| bic matter. On these lands the usual
| plan IS to apply in the drills some highly
| concentrated commercial fertilizer. This
! stimulates the young cotton plants, and
II the season prove favorable, with
| plenty of moisture, the usual bale to
| three acres is realized, but at heavy ex-
pense: II drouth comes this iniudi-
cious use of highly heterogeneous fertili-
| zers becomes painfully apparent, and
,, instead of vigorous and well developed
plants we see stunted stalks and scared
| leaves. @
Have you never noticed that in field
| where pile of manure has been placed
Inc
| that the plants growing there are not
only much finer, but in times of drouth
| keep greener and are better fruited than
| those in other parts of the field? Even
| in protracted 'drouths both corn and
cotton in these spots retain their color
| and suffer comparatively little.
This season | used cotton seed and
acid combined, applying in the drill In
| the spots where this was deposited be-
fore being distributed the corn is unu-
sually fine, averaging two heavy ears to
the stalk. Where commercial fertilizer
was applied in the drill the land being
! naturally thin. the corn fire" even dur
| ing two weeks drouth, presenting
| striking contrast to the green and Wig
| orouS stalks where the manure was
| more evenly and generally distributed.
A farmer In Gwlnnett county told me a
few days since that his son, anxious to
secure fine yield of corn, decided that
If small application of fertilizer did
good the yield would be relatively in
creased by larger applications Had
the land been in good filth, the soil we'll
preserved and the fertilizer more evenly
distributed. the expectations. of the
young farmer would have been reason
ably certain, and the rate of increase
would probably have been in proportion
to the amount of manure used. But
the land had been deprived of all plant
food by years of clean cotton culture.
| ana the large quantity of concentrated
fertilizer applied in the drill produced a
burnt crop, no ears appearing on many
stalks. The lesson to be learned from
this case is, that on old and exhausted
land 1t is time and money worse than
wasted to apply in the drill and in
large quantities any highly ammoniated
commercial fertilizer. 1t is absolutely
necessary to treat these worn lands
with renovating crops of peas and clio
yer, the situation of the farmer and
other conditions determining which of
these is most desirable. All things con-
| sidered, peas sown broadcast, and then
turned under, is the cheapest and most
NNSAA CAbAS ACAAOk 1LO1, Dut III SOul6 sec
tons clover produces better results.
though this requires better land to give
| 1t start, and is not so quick in its i'm
proving effects.
While travelling through Middle
Georgia recently. noticed with pleas
ure that on some farms every acre from
which small grain had been cut was
now covered with a promising growth
of peas. On many of these fields bone
or acid phosphate was first applied
broadcast and then the peas were s6wn,
Would that there was more general
awakening on this subject.
When farmers as class realize that
a system of speculative farming is
fraught with much danger and risk,
and that successful farming implies not
only producing large cotton crops, but
making all supplies at home and care
full attention to and Improvement of the
land as well, we shall see many of our
present mistakes rectifed. Corn, which
costs anywhere from fifty to seventy
five cents cash, can be raised at home at
less cost, and fodder and hay at saving
of at least one half. With proper ar
rangements for keeping hogs. and with
rye. clover, the orchard and groundpeas,
meat can be raised at a cost of from
four to five cents.
was recently shown the expense ac-
count of man who resides in town and
who has to buy everything consumed
by his hogs, they being confined in a
close pen. All expenses included. his
meat cost him seven cents, at least two
cents below the cash price today. Even
if the meat should cost as much as the
market value, we feel this cost less SEN
sibly than when we have to take from
our pockets the hard earned dollars to
pay for it. IT you have not heretofore
made arrangements for a pasture NOW
that the crops are laid by), don't let a
day pass without giving this matter
your serious consideration. The season
is nearly upon us when we must pre-
pare to sow
RYE,
barley and fall oats. With an applica-
ton of phosphate on fairly good land
we can reasonably expect two good
crops of rye, and when this is planted,
on the land where the peas have been
turned under, the result is a surprising
yield of fine forage, of which the stock
haoop1a vorv fond md xr,bo,,