St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-09-14
FARMER ANDPLANTER,
COTTON CULTURE.

greatest aid and ally OF the cow pea
for the southern farmer that has We,
been tested. This is the annual grow.
ing clover, now known as crimson
clover. There Is no plant that fits in
SO well with the cow pea rs = forage
crop for tho south or rs = renovatinR
crop. have been urging the merits
OF this clover upon the cotton farmers
OF the south for several years and moi
only on the cotton farmers. but on all
of our farmers alike. Mr.. r. p. Nc
Anally, Of Saxon. N. c.. writes that he
tried crimson clover three years ago,
but it grew only nine inches high and
he discarded it. But recently he
was induced to give it another
trial with the help Of 500 pounds OF
kainit per acre narrowed in with the
sesd. and now he reports . wonderful
growth ''as thick as the hair on a
dogs back" This shows that his soil
needed the help of the potash in the
kainit to enable it to gather nitrogen
for him. The great advantage to the
cotton farmer in the crimson clover
crop is that he can sow it all through
his cotton field after the cultivation
Is over in August and will have .
green pasture all winter in place of q
bare soil washing away all through
the winter rains, and will have =
growth to pillow under for corn in the
spring that will insure him . good
crop. Then as have said, it fits in
well with the cow pea crop for -
soon as the peas are cut for hay, he
can sow the clover seed on the land
after stirring it with q cutaway har-
row, and can pasture it until time to
put the land in order for cotton.
Mr.. William Choice, of Spartanburg,
S. c., writes that he had an outlying
farm that he tried to sell as he had
more land than he needed, but failing
to do SO, he asked my advice how to
treat it, as the land had been badly
run down under the old one-crop
planting system. l advised him to use
literally potash salts and dissolved
phosphate rock. and sow it down in
crimson clover He prepared in Au-
gust large field and did as directed.
The results have been he'says more
than satisfactory. I'm April follow
ing the clover was in full bloom, and
made large crop Of hay, which was
OF in time EGGPLANT cotton. Planted
on the clover sod without any other
manure. and the young cotton now
shows that rich rank growth which is
fair harbinger of a good crop This
goes to show that proper rotation,
with crimson clover as the basis
of recuperation, will make the farm
rich and at the same time give paying
crops" Here then we see the effect of
one well-fetilized crop of crimson
clover. the hay from which fully paid
all the expense of the fertilizers in
giving the promise of a good crop
without further fertilization. No bills
for complete fertilizers ut high price
to be paid for out of that cotton.
This shows what I have been for
years insisting upon. that the true
way to fertilize for our sale crops is to
use the cheaper forms of mineral plant
food to grow . heavy crop Of the
plants that are going to capture for us
the nitrogen that costs so much in
. complete fertilizer and thus
not only get heavy forage
crop to feed for the making of
. profit out of stock, and to make
our manure pile larger, but thus fix
nitrogen in the land for the succeeding
crop of cotton or corn. This is in effect
not only getting the fertilizer free for
the cotton crop. but the making of a
profit in doing SO. and 1T the same time
have the satisfaction to know that our
soil is actually being improved by the
process. 1t has been we'll said that
1.-The coming farmer of the south will
be = legume farmer" Cow peas and
clover, with = liberal use Of
the cheap potash and phosphate, lie at
the very foundation Of all rational
farm improvement in the south. BY
their aid the land need never, either in
summer or winter. be left to the vast
ing Of rains and sun by lying bare,
but between every hoed crop may be
with a growth to yield
profit while it gathers fertility
for the land and food for the sale crops.
But it must not be assumed that these
crops will bring all the elements of
fertility to soil that has been ex-
hausted by long tillage and exposure
70 the teaching effects Of rain and sun.
Il you want the best results from the
action of leguminous crops, you must
ICED them. They will gather nitro
rem for you free, but they can not get
he potash and phosphoric acid that
he crops of former years have taken
rom the soil, and without these arc
yiveH them they can not get the nitro
rem they would with well-developed
growth, and you will not only lose the
lay crop they would give but
he effect on the soil for subse-
luent crops. Nothing from nothing
ind nothing remains 1t will pay far
,etter to put liberal dressing of the
heap mineral fertilizers on the pea
md clover crops than to put the same
money value in a high-grade fertilizer
N the cotton crop direct, and not only
NY better in the cotton crop, but in |
he permanent improvement of the soil. |
1aving these two crops then rs sheet |
Inchors in our efforts to grow cotton
heaply. we will take up in our next |
he various rotations of crops that |
nay be practiced with Gotten as the |
money crop; or, in other words, the |
vay in which we will change from
'lanting to farming.-W. +. Massey,
sorth Carolina Experiment Station.
DEEP FLOWING.
Ne Of the Means Of Restorlag Apparently
Lest Fertility.