The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-12-01
CO rTON CRoWINGIN THE SOUTH

aOouG concert OF eCtlO0 among farm ar8
for the purpose OF decreasing the area
planted In cotton this year, in order
that g similar crop may not be put OH
th@market Of the world But iittIere,
Election will show tue utter imp0ssibil
ity Of eff9c5ing the desired purpose in
this way. Human nature is very sci
fish, and If there was g prospect OF a
general agreement, there are thousands
who would at once imagine that now
was the time to plant heavily to take
advantage OF the prospective rise, and
the whole thing would be defeated.
There is no need for any conc art Of ac
tjOD, for the men who have been using
three Or four acres Of land to grow .
bale Of cotton cannot grow it n rhi6
way any longer end live Cotton as q
sole crop is done forever, just SIS wboa1
as a sole crop is in the North. The man
who makes anything from cotton here
after must be a farmer, ard not mere
planter, gambling on the chaEca of so
much fertilizer giving him so much
cotton. He must learn how to accu
mulat8 fertility in his soil, while get
ting increasing crops from it, and must
learn the fact that the only way to rest
land Is TO keep it at work between sale
crops growing peas and crimson clover
feed stock for raising manure for the
corn and cotton, so that the old-time
practice OF drilling a little fertilizer
in the furrow, for immediate effect. can
be forever abandoned, and q generous
brOadcGsging Of the manure for the
bent fit of the soil take it's place. OF
course the change cannot be made ali
at once, but it behooves all farmers
whose interests are in the cotton crop,
and with whom as a matter of neces
sity the cotton crop must be the money
crop, TO begin 10 take measures to make
1t really a money crop, the surplus
| crop, but not the sole dependence for
pay ing all the expenses of the farm.
The fact that land can be brought up
to high state of fertility by a proper
rotation Of crops, and the use Of the
cheaper forms Of mineral fertilizers,
phosphOric acid ana potash, without
the purchase of the expensive nitrogen
has been abundantly proved, where
the leguninOus crops, like peas and
clover, have been grown between the
sale crops. Now is the time to begin
to get our lands into such a proper ro
tation. The Southern field or COW pea
will do more for the lands of the South
ern coast plain than any plant yet dis
covered, as by it's growth the farmer is
enabled to get free from the air the
nitrogen which is SO costly when pur
chased in a commercial fertilizer. Cot
ton nee Dis for it's growth a we'll balanced
fertilizer in which potash has promj
nen5 place, with a proper percentage
Of the other elements OF plant food to
enable the plant to use the potash eco
nomically. On lard where no peas or
other leguminous crop has been grown
it will be necessary to use a complete
fertilizer, but if we have previously
grown a crop Of peas or clover on the
land by the aid Of mineral fertilizers,
there will be no need to Guy the costly
nitrogen for the cotton crop. But it
will not do to assume that because
clover will help the land in the matter
Of nitrogen, that it will keep the land
permanently fertile. The peas them
selves are greedy consumers of potash
and phosphoric acid, and these being
EC +hnxy mill 0rcf ho or
Therefore if we want to start our
land IN the proper rotation for the
growth of the cotton crop, it is essen
tial that we start with the pea crop,
and supply it with the essentials of it's
growth. Let us start them next spring
and SOW the peas broadcast, not less
than bushel per acre, and apply to
them 800 pounds of acid phosphate and
fifty pounds of muriate OF potash, or
200 pounds of kaiuit per acre. This
will give us a good growth of peas, the
best use we can make of these peas will
be to turn them into hay or
ensilage for feeding cattle. Then 10
September run a cutaway harrow over
the s5ubbIe and SOW crimson clover at
the rate of fifteen pounds per acre.
This will grow during the winter, and
can be plowed under in the spring for
corn, and the same dose Of fertilizer
given it.
Among the corn plant peas, and as
soon as the corn is off plow all under
and SOW the land in winter oats with
peas for hay again, and plow the stub