Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1895-08-15
tARMERAND PLANTER.
COTTON CULTURE.
some Aids to Improvement In lite Pro,iuo-
tion IN tho South. b AT

tioh In the South. p sf
IN y former article | have shown
'nat What the south needs il not an
abandonment of her great staple, but
u systen' OF culture that will increase
.ne crop per acre, so that the crop can
ue grown at less expense and on re-
auced acreage. This Is to be done only
W pp abandonment Of the old method
VI planting cotton year after year on
the Same land, by the aid OF expensive
fertilizers, and the substitution for It
OF systematic farming, methods, In
which q rotation of crops shall be de-
Vised' all suited to the southern condi.
lions, and which shall all tend TO the
increase of the yield per acre of the
cotton crop, through systematic
building up Of the fertility Of the soil.
IL Is now well.settled fact that
economical soil Improvement in any
part OF the country must be accom-
piished through the aid OF the plants
known to botanists as the leguminosee,
or the pea family, It has been
demonstrated that this family OF
plants all have the power to get and
nix 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 It 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
all ofthe 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 title for
the improvement of our southern lands
than red clover could if it were a 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 necessarily,
were in the habit of resting it in
alternate years; that is, they allowed
1T to lie idle whole season, and
gather 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 sale
crop But II involved the keeping OF
half the land continually producing
nothing of value, mud, 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 business-lilxe man should.
We know now that the best way to rest
land is to keep 1t 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 eff;
fort now being made In many places
to diversity our crops, there is too lit.
tie notion that the crops used to make
the diversity can not only be made to
serve the purpose Of food for the
farmer, and his stock, but that they
can also be made subsidiary sale crops
to the staple crop of cotton. We hear
of farmers who have grown a crop o.
corn, congratulating themselves that
they have corn enough for two OF
more years, totally ignoring the mar
ket value of the corn, or its value tC
put into stock for immediate sale, ant
forgetting that boarded grain is worse
than boarded money In its rapid de
probation by reason of shrlnkage ant
insect depredations. The effort should
be made to make the most profit
able use Of the diversifying crops tc
increase the profit of the farm
In getting away from the bondage o
the one crop of cotton we should en-
deavor to get as money producers a.
many other. products as is consisten
with the proper carrying out of the 70
tation adopted. Even the recuperativ'
crops of peas, grown while the land il
resting" should be used as forage fol
live stock, and while improving thu
land should at the same time he mad,
to improve the pocket book as well
The corn crop, unless the markets. to,
good for the grain, should, with it
fodder, be made to promote the snm
purpose either In feeding beef ant
pork or for the dairy. The straw
of the oat crop comes in play for tn
same purpose, and all enter int
the Improvement Of the manure pile
and consequently of the soil. Weth
err the cotton farmer should sci
the grain he grows in rotation witt
cotton will depend almost entirel.
upon his location. If he is where h
can sell the products of the dairy t
advantage, it may be better for him t
use the grain mainly in that way. Blu
if he has u good market for grain, h
had better usually sell his surplus an
sell it before it has deprecated by tn
myraids of weevils and other insect
that prey so rapidly on grain stored il
southern climate. He will start usual
" on soil that has been badly deplete
of plant food, and the greatest probler
that usually comfronts him is, how ca
get my land into e productive cond
ton, so that can adopt and maintain
regular rotation of crops9 BY the GU
ture of peas and clover ! can secure a
the needed nitrogen from the air, bu
where am to get the food for plant
there that will enable me to get TIL
best crops of peas and clover? Gu
sandy soils are usually deficient in bot
phosphoric acid and potash, particular
ly In potash. These are mineral ma
ters that we can not get from the al
by any process. Fortunately they al
the cheapest forms of plant food, an
unlike nitrogen are not all the tim
rettinp away from us before we ca