The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-12-07
"A GOOD YIELD.
"A York County Farmer Breaks the
Record OF South Carolina.


Having finished the gathering of tn
crop of Of my pet acre of cotton, | will
now, In compliance with your reuues
made TO me some weeks ago cndeayO
to give you a history of the expert
ment.
Io begin with, the plot OF land wa
stepped of by one Of my neighbors n
follows First line, So yards secon,
line, 65 yards; third line, 60 yards ant
fourth line, 30 yards, enclosing tota
OF 1910 square yards of dark gray lane
with yellow subsoil.
Now, to go back little Two year,
ago I'm 1899 this plot was fertilizeC
with 800 pounds of soluble guano anc
planted in corn. The yield was be
tween 40 and 80 bushels. Last yeal
QS96) it was fertilized with lG two
horse loads of lot scraping, scattered
broadcast, and 900 pounds of soluble
guano, Charlotte acil and German
kainit placed in drill. After this, it
was planted with King cotton, and the
yield was SIG pounds of lint.
About the middle of March of the
the present year, | made q compos t
heap, consisting of 80 bushels of cotton
seed, six two horse loads of stable man
ure, 500 pounds of Charlotte acid and
700 pounds Of kainit. After thorough
mixing, these materials were covered
with rich earth and left in a low, flat
heap until the 10Th of April, when.
alter having turned out the old stalks
and smoothly narrowed my acre,
spread over it the contents of the com
post heap, as evenly as possible, and
then turned it under to u depth of from
six to eight inches, after which again
used the harrow to level and pulverize
the land.
n hA Al
thoroughly pulvcrZcd, | next took a
terrace level,ra a line directly through
the centre of the plot, and from this
line, each way, laid of the'rows 4! feet
apart from centre to centre. Then, in
the burrows, | drilled 700 pounds OF
equal parts OF soluble guano Char
lotte acid and kainit, and after that,
with 6-inch steel shovel, prepared
the land in low Hat beds for planting.
The seeds used were what might
very properly be called Further I'm
proved King. They consisted of lOO|
pounds carefully selected from the best
bolls off the best stalks that grew on
the same land the year before.
On the 10th Of May, sidc-harrowcd
the acre, and two days afterward went
over it again, and, by hand, pulled it
up to one stalk TO every q or s inches
This work | did myself, in order to be
sure that it was done right, and also
that might be assured that there was
nothing left but healthy, vigorous
stalks.
On the 9th OF May side narrowed
again, and on the lst of June thinned
to Is inches in the drill. Next, on the |
10th of June, | sided with q short |
on the 22l | sided again with larger |
shovel and l6.inch bow. Then, on the |
18th OF July, | hoed and run three fur
rows and shovel and lS.inch heel scrape. |
Last, on the 18th of July, | went
through the middlcs as deeply as | |
could with u bull tongue, or scooter,
and then, on the same day, "laid-by" |
by leveling OFF with shovel and heel |
scrape.
The work of picking, ginning and
packing has just been completed, with |
a total yield OF four bales, weig hing
respectively 43O AL, 4j3 and 30S
the acre.
Now, Mr. Editor, know that this is
a phenomenal yield Of cotton to be
gathered from one acre, and many OF
your readers will doubt this report. |
have not got anything to say to Thomas:
but to others who believe in the pos
sibility of things ithat they them
selves have never seen, | beg to say
that what | have dOGc is nothing more
than they can do if they will use the
means. Let them select the right kind
OF seed, fertilize their land well, work
it properly, and my word for it they
will be gratiiied at the result.
AS for myself, | have been using the
King variety for sometime past. am
not prepared to say that the King is
superior to all other varieties for all
kinds OF soil but in this climate, on
highly fertilized lands, | think the
King beats any other variety.
While my success this year has been
in large measure due to the seed
probably owe more to the seed than
anything else; still | think that the
deep furrow at the last working had
much to do with the yield My opinion
here is based on past experience.
have several times before gathered two
bales from one aero, and each time
there was a considerable quantity of
fruit which failed to mature. Some Of
itrotted and some OF it dried up. Any.
how, 1T did not not open. | began to
think it was impossible to cultivate or
fertilizo so as TO get more than two
bales. The trouble seemed to be that
after certain point, the stalks would
become so large and the foliage so
dense as to necessarily cause the mould
ing and rotting Of the lower bolls.
But in the King variety this trouble
is, in q large measure, overcome. Ow
ing to the natural habits OF the plant,
dwarf growth and early maturity, the
stalk does not grow as large under
same conditions. 1t puts on more fruit
to the size than any other variety of
which have any knowledge, and while
the foliage is all sufficient to give the
stalk healthy growth, yet this foliage
Is not so dense, even under the stimulus
Of high cultivation, and this year |
noticed but very little trouble on ac-
count OF the routing Of the early
bolls.
This year the cotton on the acre re-
ferred to above bloomed at least two
weeks early than ordinary varieties.
1t has been earlier every year 1t has
also matured earlier. Heretofore
have neglected the deep furrow already
described. The effect Of that furrow
has certainly been most noticeable.
The cotton kept on maturing almost as
late as other varieties, and l. think the
| deep furrow was largely the cause OF
it. The furrOw deepens the feeding
roots and gives greater vitality.
Then another thing. Although
have referred to this cotton a5 a dwarf
variety, | wish to be understood only
that IL has dwarf tendencies and char
acteristics under ordinary circumstan