The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-02-16
FARMER AND PLANTER
NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS
APPropriaso Sor Midwintcr Contemplation
by Southern Farmers.

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APProPrisso Cor Midwinter Contemplation
BY Southern Farmers.
1t is quite likely no country ever
made change in It's methods and sys-
TENS until absolutely forced to do so
oy calamitous conditions arising out Of
previous practices. IL this be 30, the
south may be said TO have arrived at
that period when conditions demand q
change, change of some kind. That
change may not be specifically stated
by anyone. 1t can only be roughly de
lined as going out of special, extensive
culture into intensive, diversified cult
ure. Each man must make his own
selection according to the best
lights he may have and in a
measure according to his taste.
1t will not do for everyone to do exact
~ the same way, to plant the same
crops, raise the same kind of stock and
proportion the same alike. There must
be more or less originality displayed
by each man.
Well, one of the most appropriate
things to do this midwinter period is
TO think strongly, discuss the situation
with men of hard sense and make
such allotments of the several crops as
best appear to fit the present situation.
1t is great pity more grain of one
KIND or another was not sown in Octo.
Der. A large crop of oats next summer
would mean a great saving in corn,
and. If appearances are worth any
thing, well preserved corn will Com
mand good price next spring; will be
well worth saving.
Doubtless there is almost an much
clear profit in oats at thirty-fiye cents
bushel as there is in cotton at five
cents pound; that is, if a man knows
now to raise oats and goes at it in
proper way.
Over large section of the country
oats when sown in December are not
subject to injury oftener than one year
in three, if they are put in properly
with harrow and roller; but over the
greater portion this rule may be said to
apply IL the sowing can not be made in
october and by the 10th of November,
1t is better to wait until February be-
fore putting in the crop. In the inter-
val, an extra blowing of the land will
tend to increase the yield several BUSH
els AS rule our farmers bestow very
little care on the seeding of this crop
In hundreds CT instances the seeds,
bushel or SO, are broadcasted,; more or
less unevenly on the unbroken soils
and turned under with plow, the soil
being left in as rough state as that
kind OF an implement can leave it.
Not much of crop should be expected
from this manner of treatment. If
the land should happen to be'good, q
yield OF eighteen or twenty bushels
may be secured, but where, if more
care had been bestowed in the seeding,
the yield could easily have been
doubled. We think there is no exag-
ge-ation in the statement that land
that yields three hundred pounds of
lint cotton can be made to produce
forty bushels of oats, this yield from
sowing made early in February. in
middle Georgia; a few bushels more, if
the sowing is made in October or Sep
TENDER.
1t may be that many will yet decide
to venture larger sowing of spring
oats than they had originally Intended.
and we have no doubt it will be
wise conclusion. If sown properly in
February, in January in more south
erly section, and using an acclimated
sariety-fairly rust-proof-anywhere
from IS to go bushels may be gathered
next June. 1t is quite likely the grain
will command a price that will make
the result fairly remunerative to the
grower. If good land is used for this
purpose. and it should appear long
about June that there is good pros
pect for cotton picking up IN
prices, this land can be planted to
cotton with very fair chance of max.
ing good crop as if it were planted in
May or earlier. Farmers who have
had much experience in planting the
staple in April and June are sure that
there is very little difference in the an
pearance OF the stalk in September of
two paintings made eight or nine
weeks apart: that is a planting made
April Is and another June Is. OF
course we would not advocate large
PianeinR VI cotton next year; still, as
we said, If the signs were good in June |
Tor cotton advancing cent or two. a |
crop OF oats could be followed by one |
OF cotton if farmer SO desired.
As a rule peas should follow grain If |
it is deemed advisable to turn the land |
afresh in midsummer. When the prac-
tice OF sowing clover with spring grain |
of any kind has become more general
in the south, there will be very little |
gra a stubble plowed in June, as the |
clover will come on and take possession
of the land without any blowing. We
would like to see the day when such q |
practice was common one in our
country.
The only rational and truly econom-
ical way of restoring.the lost fertility
OF our long cultivated soils is |