St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-06-22
FARMER AND PLANTER
GOOD FARMING.

| ] Z1lNNl LIN AM Ian LIN
GOOD FARMING.
| e1x Fundamental Principles On Which
| Good Farming 10 lIased.
| The farmer who has always in his
mind the six principles or factors in
plant growth should never be bothered
about what work he should do every
day in the year.
| 1t is absolutely necessary 70 his sue
cess in crop raising that he should
know not by name merely, but thor
oughly understand the work and influ-
ence Of every one of these principles.
As they are all necessary factors or
agents in the growth and maturity Of
q good crop Of anything. it follows that
il one is absent and neglected there
will be failure, sometimes more and
sometimes less.
These principles are good seed, good
seed-bed. fertility of soil, moisture,
heat and sunshine. Ignorance of one
or more Of these in farming makes
rote farming. This kind is frequently
successful. but sometimes not; and
when not, the rotc farmer doesn't know
the reason why, and can not CORE Ct
his errors.
The object of this writing is to slim
ulate study of all of these principles.
because a knowledge of them will be
n guide to the farmer, telling him
every morning what work he should
do that day. and how he should do it.
Good seed means a well-developed
and matured seed of its kind free from
the seed of every other growth. The
largest is not always the best. 1t is
important that it should have grown
in 4 crop that was rs pure of its kind,
and rs free from disease rs possible.
The fall months is the best time to
select seed corn. All through the
winter while feeding stock is next best
time. just before planting is the worst
time.
Much good work in the making of =
good seed bed can be done in the fall.
even for the next spring planting.
January and February are generally
wet months in my latitude tsOuthern
kentucky. no profitable work can he
done in or on ground when it is wet at
any season of the year. BY a good
seed bed mean a soil thoroughly pull
verified before or at the time of plant
ing and then packed if the ground is
dry. Some work in the making of q
poor soil richer can be done all the
year round. The only rule l wish To
advise 1T this time is that soluble
manures put on land when wet, is
more than one-half lost. Dry ground
has = strong affinity for attracting and
preserving liquid manure, bat il it is
already wet the fertility will pass or
with the surplus water.
The meaning Of moisture as here
contemplated is that the soil in which
the plant roots are feeding shall have
just enough water in it to make the
plant food soluble and the soil friablc,
but not sticky. Our crops don't wish
to have their roots in either wet or dry
ground.
The meaning Of heat is that the soil
shall have that degree Of temperature
most favorable to the termination and
growth Of the desired crop. In some.
such rs garden peas, Irish potatoes,
rye, wheat and some other grains, =
low temperature is best. But for beans,
sweet potatoes, corn, cotton, tobacco,
sorghum and southern stock pea the
soil can hardly have too much warmth
in il.
lIy sunshine is meant that every
plant shall receive its share Os the di-
rect rays of the aun. Because it is
solar light pulsatipg its ETHEREAL waves
through soil and plants that creates
vegetable life and stimulates growth.
We may talk about artificial heat.
light and electricity; but there would
not be upon this globe either vegetable
or animal life II it were not for the
power. the agency and guardianship
of the sun. The short-sightcd farmer
may say that he will make his land
rich. that he will make good seed
bed. that he will plant good seed. that
he will cultivate we'll. but for the matter
of moisture, heat and sunshine, he will
trust to Providence. He may quote
Scripture and say that God said to
Noah that, while the earth re-
maineth, seed time and harvest, and
cold and heat, snd summer and winter,
and day and night, shall not cease"
This was promise that is being full
filled. But there came with that
promise the coIamand To live by the
sweat of the face-to subduc the earth,
and to possess il, and to be = co-labor-
er with nature. Where moisture and
hest are deficient we can increase
them. Where there is too much
moisture. hea. or sunshine We
can diminish them, or which is
the same thing. protect our crops from
them. We can 90 cultivate rs to in
tensify the influence of either of these
on our crops VIXEN needed. l rcmem-
ber one late, wet spring while l was =
young man l covered my corn from
three to four inc hes deep while my ad-
joining neighbor covered his one inch.
His came mp AMI did well, and mine
rottcd. His corn had arolSd it proper
amount OF moisture; minG had too
much. His corn had temperature Of
20 or 30 degrees Of heat more than
mine. A weak sunshine nurscd his
corn into = new life. while mine never
felt its geniCl influence. re-
again that it WAS . very dry.
hot spring and summer that I did not
get all my lan0 intended for tobacco
set out. and il was on the lst day OF
July planted some of the ground in
corn, covering it six inches deep, be-
cause found little moisture At that
depth. The strong sunshine brought
it up before the next rain. remember
another year when il was = cold, wet
spring, and one Of my neighbOrs and
myself had each field Of corn that we
had been cultivating on the level sys-
tenn because it was the time OF the year
70 expect warm, dry weather. The
corn had gotten to be about three
inches high and :eemed to stop grow
ing for the reason that the season and
did not favor corn-growth.
My neighbor saw the dilemma aud