Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-04-06
farlt1 aud fireside.
LIVE FERTILIZER FACTORY.

MIR. Johnson's Scheme For Enriching Land
at Little Cost.
Edwin Lehman johnson in Southern Farm
Magazine.
1 want you to publish the letter 1
give below from w. T. Bradley: a
South Carolina farmer, to the Colum-
bia State. 1t contains more horse
sense to the square inch on this vexed
question of raising the price of cotton
than any article I have seen on the
subject. In eight short paragraphs,
every one of them we'll written, closely
connected and logically constructed,
Mr.. Bradley shows the true solution of
reducing the cotton acreage, namely,
offer something to the farmer that will
pay to put his idle land in, aud he will
very quickly reduce his acreage. Here
is Mr.. Bradley's letter:
"It is fact well-known to everyone
that our financial condition is depress.
ed mean the southern states-and
it is all due to the fact. that we are
getting nothing for cotton, our money
crop, and this is caused, as we we'll
know, by overproductioD. Various
remedies have been suggested. It is u
problem that has taxed the minds of
our best thinkers and most practical
farmers for years. That something
must be done is evident, or we cannot
see future relief. suppose it will not
come amiss for me to give my expe-
rience in the fond hope of what l say
will be the means of doing something
to relieve the situation. have made
a study of this subject and shall at
tempt to give you my experience
1T is universally conceded that re-
duction of the acreage is the cure for
all the ills. How to bring about this
reduction is the question. Any of the
plans suggested would bring the de-
sired relief, if carried out. My plan is
this: Let the farmer prepare as much
land for cotton as he may wish, but
when he is ready to plant let him plant
every other row in cotton, and in June
let him plant the remaining rows in
peas. This, you will observe, reduces
the acreage one-half, but does not re-
duce the yield so much, as my expe-
rience teaches me. l make at least
three-fourths Of crop of cotton, and
peas without limit. You enrich your
land, so that in a few years you can
make bale per acre with every alter
nate row in peas, have an abundance
of feed, and consequently fat stock
and your bacon at home. Besides,
you save one.half fertilizer, one-half
noeing and one.lhird plowing. We
have in cultivation this year "a ,0OO,O 600
acres. We will make in round num-
bers, 100000 bales. This cotton is
worth at the present price $3.50, ,OOO,-
900. Now, to follow the pea sugges-
ton, we would have 100000 in
cultivation, which would yield $780,
900 bales or $500, 100000 at 8 cents
per pound, a gain of $4,000, 900, TO
say nothing about the cost of produc.
tion, which, as l have shown, would
BIZ about one-half. If it is not desir-
able to plant so many peas, you can
plant pinders, sweet or Irish potatoes
with equal success. l bought 10 acres
of very poor land and farmed it as
above suggested, and today lam offer
ed $40 for the 10 acres. I am making
bale of cotton per acre, and corn,
etc., in proportion.
"Now, Mr.. Editor, what has been
done on a small scale can be done on
large one. Let any man follow this
plan and he will have like expe-
rience."
1t seems almost like trying to paint
the lily to try to improve on the plan
of this planter, who evidently is as
clear headed in his work as he is in bis
speech. Mr.. Bradley himself almost
suggests the improvement 1 propose
when he says "you will have abun-
dance of feed and consequently fat
stock"
My amendment is this: Buy one
head of cattle per acre, plant half an
acre less in peas and make a cattle,
yard of it; exchange your cottonseed
for hulls and meal ; feed these, togeth'
er with your common or the ground
pea hay, to the cattle cover this half
acre lot with litter, pine straw OF
anything convenient, six inches deep
and make one of the best manures
you can put under cotton or corn at
the rate Of one ton per head pei
month, worth So per ton by actual
chemical analysis. Put this manure
on the land broadcast or drilled. In
five years you will not need to raise
any more peas, but can raise potatoes
or cabbage between the cotton rows
and at the same time make two bales
of cotton to the acre. l have seen
this done, and know that it is not mere
theory.
The cattle-yard must be carefully
chosen, so that the rains do not wash
away part of the manure, and the
ground should be plowed deeply with
two-horse plow before the cattle are
put in it. At the end of every 80 days
or when it becomes packed it should
be plowed again and more litter put
on. Fifty heads may be fattened al
one time, if desired, in such an enclos'
ure, and the loss in manure will hard
ly be appreciable. Of course, when
the manure is needed the ground is