The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1895-01-26

tuition OF grain crops Tor cotton. An me
crease rather than decrease of humus |
in the soil will follow. Give up your
faith in q great nunlbc of poor acres.
Year after year you have tried them
and they have been found wanting.
Try smaller number of acres of your
best land and cultivate them better.
Every farmer knows which are the
most productive and reliable fields on
his farm. Plant these only and cult.
vate them better; place emphasis on
good land, good preparation and good
cultivation rather than on the number
of acres planted; you will gain every
turn. You will need less labor (ooth
provisions (because fewer acres cab
for smaller nunlper of work
animals), fewer plows and other
Implements: and, moreover, You will
need less rain, because such land Will
stand drought better. Since the use of
commercial fertilizers has become gen.
eral, the tendency is to rely on them
too much, and on good cultivation too
little. Good cultivation brings out the
| latent fertility of the soil, and it is
upon this, after all, that our chief
| reliance must be placed. Fertilizers
are only helps and aids, and are rapid
| ly settling down to their proper place
as supplementary additions to the
! compost heap. Consider tho soils of
| the older countries of the world, OF
China, England, France. They have
| supported dense populations for hum
dreds of years. and yet it is only with
| i'll the present century that England
| has imported guano from South Amer
lea, bones from the continent, or
| utilized the phosphate coprolites froIh
| her own formations. The same is true
| of Fra nee and Germany.
This brings us to another mistake of
| most southern farmers, to-wit: The
| not using of the best implements For
preparing, seeding and cultiva.ing
land. Before the war the pre-
vailing habit of clearing fresh
land gave the one-horse scooter and
shovel precedence over all other
plows. They were we'll adapted to
| stumpy. rooty land, also to the care
less, needless negro. SO firm foot
hold did those plows obtain. SO strong
the first place on most southern farms.
| Now it is impossible to break land
deeply and Thoroughly with one OF these
light Plows when the land is at all
foul. They choke up and arc constant
ly thrown out of the ground. After
beddcd with twister or shovel, it in
tended for cotton, and that is all
| the preparation it receives. Con.
trast this with what might be
done. With a heavy two-h"rse turn
, p}ow, or. better still, with silk Y
|
; of sight, at any depth desired. trou
three to ten inches. The clean sur
faces thus obtained may. by alter Ia te
, rolling and narrowing with dist
l | harrow. DC brought into finest tiltf
; from three to five inches Gccp. If de
l sired, it may then he thro Nn into bed:
by riding or walking cultivator. go
ing once to each row.. With the nipple
: ments named, this greatly-superiol
l ! preparation can be given with the same
(or less) labor, both of iran and horse
= | that the imperfect breaking and bed
ding with one-horsc i,lows require
! Imperfect prepare ton increases decd
: eddy the labor of subsequent cultiva
: ton. Northern farmcts who have hae
- free labor for n long time. who hav'
t learned to appreciate it's costliness
0 and the vital importa nee of economic
| | ing it, use these improved implement
L | almost universally. Though they cos
! more at the beginning. they are chcal
G in the end. 1t behoovcs the farmer t.
o advance cautiously and prudently il
n | this direction. He must not purchas
y implements unsrited to his work or hi
4 lands Or his crops, or to his laborer. II
n | must become some what of a lnachinist
i to be able to manage the more ccmpl
,, | Gated implements. He must ObServ
:. and study their working at the fair
4 and on the farms OF his more advance
/. neigh bors. He Knight have to visit re
:. mote parts to see them work and eve
q then get we'll paid for his trouble
q Take all wise precautions. but in
o proved implements lie must have t
j. Farm.
" HERE AND THERE.