The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-03-16
FARM WORK NOW.
FINE COWS AND ABUNDANCE OF FOOD.
EnrichinS Fertilizers and FatteninG;
COrn...TObaccO and Potatoes.

EnrichinS Fertilizers and FatteninG
Corn-..TobaccO and Potatoes.
Southern Cultvator.
i BY this time every farmer should have per-
fected his general plans ior the year. and
! made considerable progress in working out
the details. He should at least have deter
mined where he will plant corn. and where
cotton, and the relative and absolute area OF
each. ~ .,, ,,o
;, readers of the Cultivator OF certain truths
have not been altogether truitless. We have
made no new discoveries as g. basis for the
arguments we have advanced from time to
| time In favor of the policy OF n selfsupport-
ing system of agriculture. 1t has been Lime
| CulLivaior is not the only monitor. The
agricultural writer's and speakers, agricultur-
al journals, and even the political and relig-
| iOuS periodicals OF the day, have warmed up
in the discussion of the farmers problem, OF
how to make ends meet. The cry of wolf.
wolf, has become chestnut; but NJ last Tire
wolf is near at hand. A real crisis has oc-
CURED in the history OF farming In the South.
The low price of cotton, out of all inverse
proportion To the size OF the crop, as Is us
ualy the case, has precipitated this crisis.
| The dulltSt mind is now able to see, and the
most reckless and needless is now made to
feel that th ngs cannot 20 on any longer as In
the past. There must be some refuge from
the present doubt and uncertainty anu nope
| less outlook.
| We are not sure that the prevailing low
price OF cotton, the scarcity OF money and
general depression, may not protea blessing
| IN disguise. 1t certainly will so prove II 1t
shall teach our farmers 10 quit raising cotton
at Il cost equal TO or even greater than the
market price, If they shall learn the lesson
| that true farming embraces as an essen tlal
the principle OF selEreliance for liring-the
production on the farm of the things con-
Sumed on the farm rs fur as placttcable-not
as far as convenient, but much further. 1t Is
N m ~
say. They are liable to be stolen, or take the
! cholera, or some other fatal nalady. Nor Is
IL convenient to raise mules, or to make but
! ter and milk and beef or to do dozen OF the
things that every genuine farmer does. No,
IL is TOO much trouble, requires too much care
and attention, calls for SO much more skill
and intelligence. Our poorest, --LATEST, stupid
est negroes can raise cotton and lew nuo-
bins of corn, and maybe few bundles oil
| oats from late spring sown patch. but IL re-
Quires Intelligence and skill 10 make bale or
two of cotton per acre, TO grow fifty bushels
OF corn, and seventy-fve bushels OF oats, To
| have fat four-gallon COWS, to breed mules and
horses, TO build up and improve me land.
But the time has come, indeed II came some
years ago, but was not realized as II now Is,
when brains and intelligence, In combination
| with energy and industry. is the only comoi.
| nation that will unlock the gate OF prosperity
and genuine progress. Science long since
furnished the various arts with the princi-
Piles upon which their profitable practice de-
pends and immense strides In economic pro-
duction have been the result.
Agriculture, the oldest. in its broadeSt sense
of human occupations, has been reserved for
the last to receive her beneticent aid. Agri-
cuItaral colleges and experiment stations are
quite modern institutions, the natural out.
growth OF the scientific investigations and ex-
periments that began with Liebeg and others
stItutions have not been sufficiently wide
spread in their influence and operations to
meet the demand, or at least the necessity lor
accurate and systematic knowledge OF the
n;,,la of E,r inu 10 H.
| Ing how little is known of these principles by
| the very best educated men OF Today who are
| forty years old and upward. perhaps we
should have said-not how little is known by
| The older generation Of educated men. but
how few Of them know any thing about these
| principles.
It is not surprising then how slowly the far
mers are coming TO knowledge OF these
things. Why, is it not too much TO say that
the farmer OF average Intelligence could soon-
| er learn TO be a fairly good lawyer than
scientific, successful farmer.
The truth Is II is easier 10 be successful
| lawyer, or physician, or other professional
! man than to achieve a business success as
farmer. and for the simple reason that a far
thing az humbugging old dame Nature. A
farmer must live by the sweat of his brain
and his brow, and not by the sweat OF his
jaw.
FERTILIZERS.
Whatever may be said by short sighted
takers about the good old times when stable
manure and cotton seed were all the manures
Il farmer req qulred, commercial fertilizers have
come to stay. They are one OF those uecessit-
les that were foreseen by wise creative Prov
idence, and provided for years ago. We
| heard, or rather read, the other day delloer-
ate argument BY an Intelligent farmer, urging
| the farmers 10 cooperate in the resolve TO
buy no more fertilizers. The pith of his ar
gunent, in fact it was al pith IN another
sense, was that the extensive use OF CONNER
cal fertilizers had caused the over produc-
tion OF cotton; ergo, Quit fertilizers, lhereby
reducing the production and advancing the
price. IL did not occur TO him that we might
also still further diminish the production OF
cotton by laying aside all the Improved i'm
plemenLs of culture, and improved, prolific
varieties. Why did he not bemoan the In,
ven tion of the cotton gin, the invention and
development Of the steam eagine, the build
ing OF railroads.
But in regard to buying fertilizers, we do
insist. not that the farmers should by less fer
tiliZers, but first, that they should rely more
upon home manurial resources, Including
| renovating and enriching crops, and. second.
they pay cash for fertilizers, and insist on the
lowest cash prices.
There is a certain class Of plants which
draw largely upon the atmosphere FOR THEIR
supply OF nitrogen, the most costly element
Of plant food IL bought In the market. These
plants require large percentage OF nitrogen
| for their development, but they have been
blessed with the power to get 1t for them-
| selves. With very few exceptions, these
plants make the most nutritious forage and
| the richest manure They make good ma
nure when plOwed under the soil which has
| Just produced them, but they make Just as
good manure, and almost az much OF IL, ii
| first fed to animals, and the sale of animals.
or their marketable products. will he clear
gain-less the expense OF care and attention.
The most commonly known OF this class oil
plants are clover, iucerne, COW pea, pea nut,
vetch, burr clover, Japan pea (Soja Beam, etc.
These are all rich food plants and they don't
ask you for any nitrogen. On the contrary
they will gather what they need to perfect
exhaustibe storehouSe-and after they have
| filled the barns and bellies to overtiowing
with fatness, they will have left the soil on
| which they grew just right for crop OF corn,
oats, grass or cotton. This Is solution OF the
| famous problem. The only trouble about It's
system cannot be put into full operation In
one year. Nor can IL be said of any other
system that 1t can relieve the present distress,
at once.
The victims Of this extremity have procras-
tinsted, speculated and doubled until they
that doubts is damned" But these self-forag-
Ing as well as iorageproducing plants re-
| 9uire certain amount OF help In the form OF
phoSphoric acid and potash; and these are
| the elements OF plant food that Il farmer may
judiciouhly buy in the market, and under a
we'll established system of rotation, stock
feeding and manure making, nitrogen should
not be bought any more than water shou ID be
bought. But until such system shall have
| been inaugurated 1t will be advisable to buy
amtnonialed fertilizers as well as phosphates
and potash salts.
| Among the nitrogenous ingredients cotton
seed meal has the merit OF being home pro.
duct, and on that account Is more conven-
lent. But nitrate of soda is about as good, al
| though not quite so cheap IL source OF nitro