The Van Buren press., 1895-08-17
FARMERAND PLANTER
COTTON CULTURE.


the Restoration of the Worn Out Cotton
Lands of the South.
In my last letter referred TO tho
Importance Of 1eguminous crops IN we
restoration of our land SO as to mn.e
maximum crops possible. and spoke
Of the importance Of the southern cow
pea in starting this improvement
Within the past five years another
crop has been introduced to our farm
ers' notice that promises to be tpe
greatest aid and ally OF the COW pea
for the southern farmer that has yet
been tested. This Is the annual grow
ing clover, now known ss criu1son
clover. There is no plant thst fits in
SO well with the COW pea as . forage
crop for the south or as a arenovatmg
crop. have been urging the merits
Of this clover upon the cotton farmers
OF the south for several years and not
only on the cotton farmers. but on Gil
of our farmers alike. Mr.. r T. Mo
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 erecently he
was induced to give it another
trial with the help of 800 pounds OF
kainit per acre narrowed in with the
sesd, and now he reports q wonderful
growth ''as thick as the hair on
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 1t all through
his cotton field after the cultivation
is over In August and will have a
green pasture all winter in place OF q
bare soil washing away all through
the winter rains, and will have q
growth to plow under for corn in the
spring that will insure him good
crop. Then as have said, it fits In
we'll with the COW pea crop, for as
soon rs the peas are cut for hay, he
car. SOW the clover seed on the land
after stirring IL 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. 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. ''In April follow
ing the clover was in full bloom, and
made large crop of hay, which was
off in time to plant cotton. Planted
on the clover sod without any other
manure, and the young cotton now
shows that rich rank growth which is
a fair harbingsr 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 oi
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 cror
without further fertilization. No bills
for complete fertilizers at high price
TO be paid for out of that cotton.
This shows what have been fol
years insisting upon, that the true
way to fertilize for our sale crops is Il
use the cheaper forms of mineral plant
food to grow heavy crop Of thu
plants that are going to capture for III
the nitrogen that costs SO much il
complete fertilizer and thu
not only get heavy forag,
crop to feed for the making o
. profit out Of stock, and to max,
our manure pile larger, but thus fl,
nitrogen in the land for the succeeding
crop Of cotton or corn. This is in effec
not only getting the fertilizer free fo
the cotton crop, but the making of |
profit in doing SO, and at the same tim
have the satisfaction to know that ou
soil is actually being improved by tn
process It has been well said tina
"the coming farmer of the south will
be . legume farmer" Cow peas AM
crimson clover, with q liberal use O
the cheap potash and phosphate, lie a
the very foundation of all rationa
farm improvement in the south. B,
their aid the land need never, either Il
summer or winter, be left to the vast
ing of rains and sun by lying bare
but between every hoed crop may b
covered with a growth to yiel'
profit while it gathers fertilit
for the land and food for the sale crops
But it must not be assumed that thes
crops will bring all the elements O
fertility to soil that has been ez
hausted by long ti1lage and exposur
to the teaching effects of rain and sun
If you want the best results from tn
action OF leguminous crops, you mus
feed them. They will gather nitro
gen for you free, but they can not ge
the potash and phosphoric acid tina
the crops of former years have takel
from the soil, and without these ar
given them they can not get the nitro
gen they would with a well-develope,
growth, and you will not only lose tn
hay crop they would give bu
the effect on the soil for subse
quent crops. Nothing from nothing
and nothing remains. 1t will pay ia
better to put liberal dressing Of tn
cheap mineral fertilizers on the PEI
and clover crops than to put the sam
money value in high-grade fertilize
on the cotton crop direct, and not onl.
pay better in the cotton crop, but il
the permanent improvements Of the soil
Having these two crops then as shee
anchors in. our efforts to grow cotto
cheaply, we will take up in our mex
the various rotations of crons tha