The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-10-11
FALL OATS AT THE SOUTH FOL
LOWED BY COW PEAS
OR GRASS,
A Timely Talk by q Practical Georgia
Farmer,

There is a saying here in Georgia
that farmers spend the first six months
Of the year killing grass and the other
six in buying Northern baled hay.
There is no doubt but that this is to
certain extent true. Ihave seen many
a crop where the grass was worth more
than the crop planted, if it could have
been gathered at the right time and
properly cured, The South is natur
ally a grass country, and there would
be no need to import pound of forage
into this or any other Southern State,
il the farmers would turn their atten
tion to the natural advantages they
have over the North in making hay out
of our natural grasses such as crab
grass and crow foot. Pea vines, prop
erly cured and housed, are far more
nutritious than any hay that we get
from the North. But the far mers' time
is 80 absorbed over that moneyless cot
ton crop that they don't have time to
attend to any thing else.
Oats are one of our surest grain and
forage that we can raise if planted
early enough to get well rooted before
freezing weather sets in. From my
own experience l prefer sowing in the
first days Of October. Land for all
small grain should be plowed deep and
thoroughly fined; the general plan
here is to plow in the seed, but think
the best way is to plow your land first,
and then work your seed in with an
Acme harrow, rolling the soil after
wards to firm it as we'll as to leave the
land smooth for cutting. Oats will
grow on almost any kind of land that
is not too wet. A we'll drained low
land that is rich in all of the different
plant foods is the proper land for this
country, on account of the spring
drouths with which we are sometimes
afflicted. Oats require considerable
nitrogen, but not TO excess.
It is necessary for farmers to know
what each crop requires, and also the
needs of his soil. II ost lands are poor
in nitrogen, an application Of 300
pounds to the acre of cotton seed meal
at time of sowing will be sufficient to
start the crop off. Oats have reputa-
ton of being exhausting to the soil. An
analysis of the plant shows that it does
not require so much potash and phos
phoric acid as some other plants. A
proper fertilizer for oats should contain,
besides the nitrogen, from 10 to IL per
cent. Of phosphoric acid and from to
6 per can't Of potash, the amount to be
regulated by the needs Of the soil. An
application of so pounds of nitrate of
soda to the acre in the spring would be
very beneficial, as it is the most solu ble
Of all kinds of nitrogenous fertilizers
and the most easily taken up and as
simulated by plants. There are times
when plants require some special ele-
ment to force more vigorous growth,
and thus the solubility becomes mat
ter for due considerable in their use
The soil is generally deficient in some
one or more special requisites for the
largest yield of any crop. Tnere is
what is known as dominant plant food,
that is, one in particular that appears
to be most useful to some special crop
Thus oats and the other small grains
seam to desire and need nitrogen
mostly. Bat nitrogen ia the least avail
able of all kinds of plant foods that
exist naturally in the soil, and at the
same time is the most easily lost from
the soil by drainage. Thus it is ex-
planned why in the spring an applica
tion of nitrate Of soda would be bene
fit, and how if we use COW peas in our
rotation of farm crops, (or, in other
words, precede the oat crop with COW
peas in order to furnish the nitrogen)
and buy only the cheaper chemical ma
nures. we could by that means save
the most expensive part Of the fertilizer
bill If we have fertilized our land as
we eshould dofor the oat crop, we should
have, left in the soil, sufficient plant
food to produce a heavy crop of peas
or grass.
have a field that has been alternated
in oats and peas for five years, and it
nos has crop of peas about ready to
cut for forage. The oats were cut the
last of May and made heavy crop,
and owing to a severe drouth the peas
were not planted until the first week
in July. The oat ground was plowed
and narrowed down smooth and rows
marked out three feet apart and planted
IS inches, using about dozen peas to
the hill of the Unknown variety. The
crop received only one cultivation.
They now stand at least from three to
four feet high and cover the entire