The Van Buren press., 1898-01-01
FARMER AND PLANTER.
FOR COTTON RAlSERS.

The Intensive" system OF Culture on an
Extensive scale-But Little "Rotation +"
and no decrease In ACREAGE Necessary.
In our two former articles we have
tried to formulate, introduce or inau-
gurate system of practice that, If fol-
| lowed throughout the entire cotton
belt, would, without fail, result in: 1.
4 reduction of the area devoted to cot
ton culture of just one-half, thereby
temporarily reducing the yield-en-
| hancing the value of the tleeey staple.
2. An increase in provision crops Cow
peas) to the extent of 10, 900, 900 acres.
We said temporarily reducing the
yield, because it would be but very
short time until larger number of
bales would be raised ON the half of
/ 10, 900, 900 acres than are now raised on
twice the amount, or 100000 acres.
B. This increase of the COW pea crop
would work no hardship upon any
single individual and would I'M ure
neither farm, farmer, community or
country, but could not possibly fail to
benefit all alike. Aside from the hui
mus which the peavines supply, which
plays such an important, though too
often unappreciated, part in the maxi
ing of really fertile soil, and in which
from long-con tinued culture in clean
hoed crops, southern soils are notori-
ously deficient; they, also, when pot
ash and phosphates are supplied in
! quantities sufficiently liberal to induce,
or insure, a luxuriant growth (malSing
/ hn, ttu1 ~ fpV
hay per acre., will furnish us with $25
worth of nitr ogen per acre, or $50, 600, :
600 worth throughout the entire cotton
belt. 4. Feed of the very best quality
would be raised ON every hand in such
abundance that live stock of all kinds
would stay fat, sleek and juicy; but
ter of the best quality could be made
in u quantity sufficient to abun-
dainty supply the necessities Of our own
local markets; while southern farmers
could not only raise their own meat
right at home, but they would raise it
enterely independent OF the corn crib;
as far as fattening was concerned,
merely sufficient corn being necessary
to "harden the fat and to tide the
| pigs or bogs over a period of scant pas
turage. We decidedly oppose the turn
ing out (as so often advised through the
agricultural press of so-called poor
land"--letting it grow up in sedge,
briars and sasafrass, persimmon and
other sprouts; a standing disgrace to
the farmer himself and the country in
which he lives No! don't turn it out
If you have no other use for it, break
1T up, put on you potash and phos-
pilates and SOW down to peas, or bet
ter still, drill them in rows about Is or
"a inches apart and work them one or
more times. Come out of the notion
that lands needs rest; it doesn't
need anything of the kind; it needs
to be kept at work growing some
one of the recuperative corps all the
time until sufficient fertility has accu-
mulated to justify one in more ex-
haustive crop. Always bear the fact
in mind that although lucerne clover
or COW peas are recuperative crops and
actually enrich land, they also exhaust
land as far as its stores of phosphoric
acid and potash are concerned, and that
these two substances must be added or
there is no real increase in fertility.
| To prevent any and all misunderstand-
ing on this point we would say that we
refer to the wellworn, rundown, semi
exhausted lands that are SO common
throughout our glorious southland;
lands that have been subjected to the
sol-robbing process, i. e., taking every
ash, its nitrogen, its lime, and last, but
H., -, d..
or decayed vegetable matter or mold.
As this latter is the basis of all fertili-
ty, the key that unlocks the impris-
oned, insoluble, ineart and consequent
ly unavailable soil contains the sine
qua non of all progressive, profitable,
successful and pre-eminently satisfac-
tory farming and in the absence of
which even the very best of chemical
or commercial fertilizers are more than
apt to be but dismal failures; it stands
to reason that the first step toward re-
cuperation is to strain every nerve, to
make every edge cut to Systematically
formulate our plans and energetically
determinedly and persistently work
them out in practice TO increase our
supply of this all-important and abso-
lutely indispensable substance, and we
are egotistical enough to believe that
the plan we have outlined above is the
very best easiest, cheapest, most prac-
tical and universally beneficial and
satisfactory as well as pre-eminently
profitable of any that has as yet been
devised.-G. Ii. Turner, in Farm and
Ranch.