Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1895-07-30
FARMER ANDPLANTER.
oofToN cuL1uar.

Il +
The importance OF LeTuminsss Crops for
Tn. Restoration of tho Worn Out Cotton
Lands of the south.
In my last letter I referred to the
Importance Of lcguminous cross Ia tte
restoration OF our land SO as to MARE
maximum crops possible and spoke
of the importanee ~ ths s3ainern cow
pea IA starting this improvement.
Within the past FIVE years another
crcrr nas been introduced to our farm
ers' notice that promises TO be the
greatest aid and ally 81 The COW bsa
FOR the southern farther that has yet
esen tested. This is the annual grow
Ing clover. now known as crimson
clover. There Is no plant that ats Id
so well with The COW peas.ss forage
crsp Tor the south or as Wrenovating
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, bat On eli
of our farmers alike, Mr.. R. r. Me
Anally, Of Saxon, II. C., writes that lie
tried crimson elcssr three years ago.
bss !. grew only nine inches high ami
he discarded it. But recently he
was induced to give it another
trial with the help of 500 pounds of
kainit per acre narrowed id With The
seed, and now he reports a wonderful
growth las 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 Ia August and will have a
green pasture all winter in place of
bare soil washing away all through
growth to pillow under for corn in the
spring that will insure him good
crop. Then as I have said, IL Ats in
we'll with the cow pea crop. for as
soon as the peas are cut for hay, he
can sow the clover seed on the land
after stirring it with a cutaway har-
row, and can pasture it until time to
put the land in order for cotton.
Mr. William Choice, OF Spartanburg,
~ ~ "NiOCo tIdI ldt III oublD ing
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 1t, as the land had been badly
run down under the old oneAcrop
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 growGh which is
fair harbinger of a good crop. This
goes to show that a 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 at 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 q 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 at the same time
have the satisfaction to know that our
soil is actually being improved by the
process. 1t has been well said that
1.-THE coming farmer of the south will
be legume farmer" Cow peas and
crimson clover, with a 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 hood crop may be
covered with 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
to the teaching effects of rain and sun.
If you want the best results from the
action of leguminous crops, you must
feed them. They will gather nitro
gen for you free, but they can not get
the potash and phosphoric acid that
the crops Of former years have taken
from the soil, and without these are
given them they can not get the nitro
gen they would with well-developed
growth, and you will not only lose the
hay crop they would give but
the effect on the soil for subse-
quent crops. Nothing from nothing
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