Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-05-17
fartu aud firesiae.
GROWING CANE.

I have been thinking for sometime L
would write an article for your valua-
BILE paper on the subject of growing
cane. was told by friend of mine
that I "raised too much CAIN" for a
man of my age.
have been growing it for 25 years,
and the more I grow it, the better l
like it. I have been running a two
horse farm, in connection with a small
dairy business, and raising cotton.
This year I rented out my farm, ex-
cept enough for a half.horse farm, sow.
ing wheat, planting corn, cane, pota-
toes and ground peas.
I have made more money, not in
cluding the rent, than I did raising
cotton on the two-horse farm. made
so bushels of wheat on 2a acres, and
after the wheat was cut I sowed it
down in cane and peas.
I made 500 worth of hay from it.
It was no guesswork, for after cutting
and raking it up, I threw it into cocks.
1 had 100 on the 2a acres. took four
of the smallest cocks into town and
sold them for S3.771.
1 know they would average $1.0O
per cock. I had about Al acres sown
in cane and peas, and after filling my
barn, the dimensions of which are 60
x22 feet, sold 81 tons for $40 per ton
it is really worth more money. The
farmers will pay next summer Sl.OO
per hundred for hay that is not bali
80 good. I have fed my horse and
mules on the cane from June 1st up
to this date, and am feeding them
green cane today, November Is, and
unless we have freeze, 1 shall feed
them on it for two weeks longer.
give my COWS all they will eat night
and morning, and my milk and butter
is as good as can be found. 1t gives
the butter a rich golden color, so that
no artificial coloring is needed.
have raised four pigs on the cane
gave them the first ear of corn o.
tober /, and they are 30 fat they have
to sit down to eat; and I think they
will make me 1000 pounds of pork by
the last of this month.
can make more food from one acre
of cane than could from five acres Of
corn or oats. Some people are foolish
enough to think it will kill COWS and
horses. 1 have fed it at all stages for
25 years, and if ever had an animal
sick from eating it, I never knew it.
All the little children in my neighbor'
hood have been eating it all summer
and ever since frost, and l have not
heard of the first case Of "belly ache, v
so you see it hurts neither man moi
beast.
1t is the biggest thing in this coun.
try for our farmers, if they would only
believe it, and spare few acres from
cotton near their barnyards for wheat
or oats, and afterwards SOW in cane or
peas for, if you notice, all this hay l
raised was second crop. 1 planted a
fourth of an acre near my lot the 18th
of July, and good judges said it would
have made 100 gallons of syrup; this
is the cane I am now feeding.
For feeding green, I plant in drills
Take lot that is near the barn, pre-.
pare we'll, and if not rich, manure well
in the drill, for early use.
Plant cane about the first of April,
and continue planting until the mid
die of July and you will have green
food from June until frost, or later, as
I am feeding it now, a month after
frost. 1t is the most accommodating
plant I know of; planted with good
seasons in the ground, it will come
right up; but it will not wait for
the season, and will be sure to come in
on the home-stretch. When harvest
time comes, if the weather is not sll
right it will wait until the weather
man is ready. Cut with mower, let
lie one or two days, then with horse
rake rake into wind-rows, and let lie
one day, then with pitchfork throw
into round cocks as high as your bead.
If the weather is fair, in four or five
days you can haul up and store in
your barn, feeling assured that your
COWS are heeled for the winter. You
can keep your mules fat all winter,
while not at work, on this hay.-R. l..
Foreman in Southern Cultiyator.