The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-02-16

! TO run over the land after sowing the
seed. If he has no drag he will have
to put up with brush. When roller
is used it presses the seed ana soil
| firmly together, and this is all the
covering needed. The rolling must be
done only when the soil is dry. The
oats and clover come up together, but
the latter will make very little growth
at first, but week after the oats or
other grain are cut off, the
clover will begin an almost magical
growth, and in FEW weeks
will cover the land Sompletely-that
is, If good stand was secured from the
ter pounds of seed and the land Is
good. We are satisfied a good deal of
very inferior clover seed has been sold
In the south, and it requires some care
on the part of the farmer that he gets
seeds, even half of which will grow.
We regret that this is so, for it has
been the means of discouragihg the
use of clover.
Speaking of clovefs, there are two
that ought to come into common use
ell over the south, though these two
are not SO well adapted to combining
with grain as the Red and the Sap
ling varieties are, and for this reason.
The latter will grow right on through
the summer and fall after the grain is
cut off, while Bur" and Crimson"
clovers 1.-THE two we refer toy will not
grow through the summer. These
two, if sown in the fall or in February,
ripen their seed late in the spring and
die down. They are both ANNALS and
are strictly winter growers--the very
reverse of our field peas. This charac-
teristic renders these clovers more de-
sirable than peas for manurial or fall
low purposes and especially where
early pasture or an early crop of hay
is desired, still more marked in their
superiority.
But the most extended use of these
two -clovers, we believe, ultimately,
will be found in sowing them In the
cotton fields in October and November
for the main purpose of keeping the
soil from being washed by the winter
rains, and later on in the spring the
crop turned under to enrich the land.
One good crop of Crimson or Bur clo-
yer turned under would so enrich our
average soils as to make show of It's
good effects for several years.
Until farmer comes to appreciate
the necessity for supplying his soil
abundantly with huinus, and so regu-
lates his practices as to give each acre
of arabic land a fair crop of clover Tor
peas) every two years, he will not see
his farm in condition to supply him
with profitable crops. There is no 9TH
er way of restoring fertility to long
cultivated land than this of growing it
on the land. Strange process the
thoughtless might allege, but the
statement is true. Put all the COM
mercial' fertilizer you may on these
worn soils, it will he of little effect nm
less there is humus in the soil to make
it properly assiinilable and to. open
the soil for the essential carbonic acid.
Till the soil with humus, then every
pound of commercial mineral manure
applied will have its effect in increas-
irsg the crop. 1t is so easy for the
southern farmer to restore hulnus to
his soil if he only appreciates the me-,
cessity for doing So. He can restore
humus, in fact without intermitting
his money crop-lst that be what it
might be.
What a host of plants he has at his
disposal-peas, Sofa beans, Bur clover,
Crimson clover, Sapling clover, Red
clover, Japan clover, Melilotus, vetch,
beggar weed! Why mention any more?
One of the greatest crimes of the
day committed chiefly against the
farmer is the selling of seeds infertile
and worthless. 1t is quite possiblO
that there are some very good people
who sell such goods ignorant of how
worthless they are. Then again there
are others who sell them knowing
they are old seeds and consequently
will not grow. There can hardly be
any worse crime against the purse of
our fellow-man. 1t is not SO bad as
selling adulterated medicine, but it is
worse than highway robbery Our
laws should deal severely with those
who commit either of these crimes
Southern Farm.