The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-11-18
FARMER AND PLANTER.
PROFITABLE COTTON GROWING.

-EfANlM EN- ANDI LIAM ! En-
PRoFiTAeLE coTToN GROWING.
Doo't Try 60 Caltlvate More Land Than
You Can Take Care OF.
The small average. production per
acre Of cotton should convince pro-
ducers that q great deal of hard work
is thrown away every year.
In almost every neighborhood tndt-
vidual instances furnish conclusive evil
dence that the fault is in the man and
not In the soil. The great trouble be-
hind all of this is in the universal dis
position to plant more land than can be
properly cared for.
The southern farmer is given to "big"
things. and his standing israted by the
number of bales of cotton his planta-
ton ships to market annually. There
is very little land in the cotton belt
that will not (properly managed pro-
ton in fair seasons; yet we see the aver
age falls below 100 pounds for the en-
tire acreage.
The lands of the Yazoo Delta will,
with good cultivation, produce 500
pounds Of lint cotton or fifty bushels of
corn per acre, yet the average given
for this section is about 200 pounds of
cotton and twenty bushels of corn.
Riding over the country, one FREE
quently sees a fine crop of cotton and
corn, belonging to the same tenant,
while on the same kind of soil, in the
same Enclosure, will be seen another
crop scarcely worth preserving.
Inquiry will reveal that in the first
instance the tenant has just what he
can attend to CAREFUL, while the other
is badly over-cropped, and necessarily
loses in yield. 1t is possible for the
southern farmer to bring up his land
to a paying point by a judicious course
of rotation. The COW pea furnishes n
cheap and valuable soil renOvator, and
the average southern farm can be re-
stored to profitable production by the
use of COW peas alone.
A trial OF this will convince the most
sl<eptical. It must be understood that
no crop should be plowed under green
in our warm climate, but it should be
left until frost has killed vegetation
and then turned under, or do it IN the
winter. january being the best time.)
In this section, vegetation is SO rank
that after June 1 it would be almost
impossible to p1ow under this rank
growth. in fact, it can hardly be done
In the winter, as the dead vines, weeds
and grass on vacant fields, are frequent
ly six to twelve inches deep, and must
be removed before the land can be
plowed. This is usually accomplished
by burning, a practice that should not
be resortcd to, if possible to avoid.
If our farming friends would learn
that it is much more profitable to take
only SO much land as the means at their
command will Justify, and give to that
the best attention in the preparat ton
and after cultivation, they will soon
cease complaining that farming does
not pay. Competition, even in the cot
ton-growing business, is dri> ing the
limits of profit down to very narrow
margins.
We are told that revolutions never go
backward. therefore we must adapt
ourselves to the new conditions, or drop
out to make room for those who dc. In
a few years more cotton production
have never before grown it. That the
United States can defy all competition
in this line I think certain. We can
produce cotton cheaper than other
countries by using improved labor
saving implements. The picker
will be forthcoming when the
time demands it. When it. does, cot
ton will be produced at a cost of three
cents per pound. At present, pine cot
ton, grown by the old methods, has
ceased to be profitable. We must pro-
duce 500 pounds per acre to realize any
profit. This can be easily obtained on
Yazoo Delta lands, properly cultivated,
and can be done without resort to use
of artificial fertilizers. More attention
must be given to the preparation of
the soil before the seeds are planted.
Depending on the rains to pulverize
the cloddy land is makeshift method.
A slow but sure method pays better in
the end. Quality of the article mar
keted should receive more attention.
Quantity. without regard TO quality,
requires more labor, more expense,
and certainly sells for less. Special
brands, once established and kept up
to a high standard, would become a
"trade mark that would pay to keep
up.
There are several varieties OF cotton
in cultivation here, that most in use
being the short staple, a prolific va
riety, and is always in demand at
prices quoted in our daily papers. The
Peterl>in and Taylor are mostly grown
in the county. Medium staple such as
Griffin, Southern Hope, Eureka. and
some others are also planted. They
are not quite SO prolific as the shorter
taples. Cook ond Allen are the stand
ard fancy staples; the first named is
These fancy varieties are bought up
spool thread (for sewing.) They sell at
ranging from two 70 five cents This
ject was followed to the end. I defer
MUCK AS MANURE.
All Muck Is Not Manure, But It Is Ex-
celcnt Absorbent.
Not everything is gold that glitters;