The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-09-07
FARMER AND PLANTER.
COTTON CULTURE.
Some Aids to Improvement In Its Produc-
tIon In the South.

tiOu In INC bouths |
In q former article I have shown
that what the south needs Ii not an
abandonment Of her great staple, but
= system of culture that will increase
the crop per acre, SO that the crop can
be grown at less expense and on re-
duced acreage. This is to be done only
by an abap onnent Of the old method
of planting cotton year after year on
the same land, by t.ie aid Of expensive
fertilizers, and the substitution for 1t
of systematic farming methods, In
which q rotation of crops shall be de-
vised, all suited to the southern condi'
tions, and which shall all tend to the
increase of the yield per acre OF the
cotton crop, through a systematic
building up Of the fertility OF the soil.
1t is now well-settled fact that
economical soil improvement IN any
part of the country must be accom-
plished through the aid of the plants
known to botanists as the leguminosse,
or the pea family. 1t has been
demonstrated that this family OF
plants all have the power to get and
Ak in the soil from the air the element
nitrogen, which is one OF the essential
elements OF plant food, without which
no green plant can grow, and which Is
the most costly part OF our fertilizers
when purchased in the market In the
northern and middle states, and in the
upper Piedmont part of the south
Atlantic states, the ordinary red clover
is the best legume for general farm
purposes. making, as 1t does, ex-
cellent hay, and rapidly adding humus
to the soil. as we'll as gathering the nj
trogen for the succeeding crop. But in
oil of the sandy plain Of the south the
red clover will not thrive through the
long summers, and 1t becomes necessary
to resort to some other plant to take its
place. Fortunately, we are not with
out one eminently adapted to the
wants of the south, and one that will
do more in the same length of time for
the Improvement of our southern lands
than red clover could if it were per-
| feet success. This has been well
termed "the clover of the SOUTH" the
COW pea. Years ago those planters
who wished TO do something for their
land and not crop it incessantly,
were in the habit of resting" it in
| alternate years; that is, they allowed
/ It to lie idle a whole season, and
gather a coat of weeds and grass to be
plowed under for the next crop. This,
| of course, was to some extent better
than the constant cultivation and the
use of fertilizers merely to force a sale
crop. But it involved the keeping OF
half the land continually producing
nothing of value, and, worse than this,
it brought in weeds and grass to make
the labor of the next years cultivation
more costly and difficult. 1t was only
one phase of planting, and was moi
farming as a business-lilse man should
We know now that the best way to resi-
land is to keep it at work growing some
thing that will be of advantage to the
soil, and at the same time bring money
to the farmers purse. between every
sale crop of cotton or grain. In the eft
fort now being made in many place:
to diversity our crops, there is too lit
tie notion that the crops used to make
the diversity can not only lie made t.
serve the purpose OF food for the
farmer, and his stock, but that thel
can also be made subsidiary sale crop:
to the staple crop of cotton. We heal
of farmers who have grown crop o
corn, congratulating themselves tina
they have corn enough for two o
more years, totally ignoring the mar
ket value of the corn, or its value t
put into stock for immediate sale, an
forgetting that boarded grain is wors
than boarded money in its rapid dc
probation by reason of shrinkage an
insect depredations. The effort shout
be made to make the most profit
able use of the dlversifying crops t
increase the profit OF the farm
In getting away from the bondage q
the one crop of cotton we should Ell
} deavor to get as money producers
many other products as is consister
, with the proper carrying out OF the re
tation adopted. Even the recuperativ
crops Of peas, grown while the land
resting" should be used as forage fe
, live stock. and while improving I'll
land should at the same time be mad
to improve the pocket book as wei
1 The corn crop. unless the markets. te
5 good for the grain. should. with
! fodder, be made to promote the sun
= purpose either in feeding beef ar
$ pork or for the dairy. The stra
I of the oat crop comes in play for Il
r same purpose, and all enter in
!, the improvement of the manure pill
e and consequently of the soil. Wet
er the cotton farmer should Sc
). the grain he grows in rotation Wi
cotton will depend almost entire
$ upon his location. If he is where
: can sell the products of the dairy
q advantage, 1t may be better for him
. use the grain mainly in that way. Is
l. IL he has a good market for grain,
q had better usually sell his surplus al
n sell it before it has deprecated by t
r myraids of weevils and other inses
az