The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-04-17

/ lHGnt 10 DGlilS Ile leflllltN Ddck. w nat
YOU can do is t0 use ,1e means at
hand to the best advantage. PloW
that sod and manure under deeply and
! do not disturb il, but work the corn
flat and shallow and rapidly, never
! allowing q crust to remain till the
crop is made. In this way you may
not get 50 bushels Of corn per acre,
but YOU will get what the land is
capable at present Of making. and
YOU will have the rotted sod and some
| of the manure on top the land to feed
a gram crop when YOU turn it up
again. Then if YOU follow that corn
with wheat, you can SOW peas On the
land after the wheat is cut. and there
is the place for Il heavy application
of acid phosphate.
The land YOU now have in crimson
clover has been pastured by sheep all
winter. It had peas on it last fall
Here. too. there is Il good deal of
heterogeneous matter that will become
available to the corn during the sum
mer. | do not know that YOU can
get lime cheaply enough to afford to
use it. but if YOU can | believe that
| would give this land Il coat Of lime
al a rate Of 20 bushels of slaked lime
per acre after it has been well plow-
ed. Lime should always 90 on top.
for it sinks rapidly in the soil and
viii thus effect the whole soil. while
plOWed under ii would not reach the
soil above. If YOU adopt Il short rota-
tion Of crops and bring in peas ana
clover frequently Il coat Of lime once
i'm six years VIII be Il great heIp. BY
leaving off the commercial fertilizer
from the corn YOU may make less
corn. but | am satisfied at if YOU
apply the fertilizer YOU Will at best
be simply exchanging it for the same
amount in corn and the chances are
that the extra corn would not buy
| the fertilizer.
Our upland clay soils are by no
means exhausted. In fact | take very
little stock in the idea of worn out
soils. Most of the worn out soils in
the South never had much in them to
wear out in the first place, and there
are millions of acres all over the
South Of red clay uplands that are
unproductive by reason OF bad man
agement and bad cultivation which
nave in them an abundant store of
all the mineral elements of plant food
needed in Il fertile son, and which can
be made available by proper manage
ment. Deep breaking. subSOiling and
thorough preparation OF the land and
then shallow culture 70 retain BY d
dust blanket at the top the moisture
that come from below. will cause
many an old red hill to astonsh its
owned by its inherent prOductiveness.
These soils have been robbed of their
nUmuS by long clean culture and have
thus run together and readily dry out
after Il rain. If they are filled again
I
ness viii be restored and they will
retain moisture better, and this moist
ure viii render their plant food more
available. We advocate good farming
rather than a constant dependence on
The fertilizer mixer.
Another friend writes that gave
him Il formula some years ago for
composing stable manure. cotton
seed, acid phosphate and kainit. He
has lost the paper and wishes me to
send it again. You may have gotten
! such 4 formula from the Station. but
! you never got it from me. for | dO
| not believe in any such waste of labor.
! Manure and cotton seed and fertIi-
zers mixed and piled up Will not gain
anything by the pling or composing.
| On the other hand there will be an
! inevitable loss Of ammonia. Many
| men seem TO think that stable manure
| is something to be treasured and Ia
| bOTiOuSlN handled over and over With
Il lot Of something else not so good
! or something else ust Us good. and
| that the result will be a pile Of some
! thing better than either. while the
fact is there Will be Il pile of some
thing not so good as the materials
| were before. Stable manure should
be gotten out on the land where some
crop wants it as fast as II is made.
! Every day it remains in the lot or
! the stable there is Il loss going on
| that would not go on if spread on the
! field Every farmer who works his
| land properly will generally have a
| place to put the manure as fast as it
! accumuIates. 1t can be used as Il top
! dressing on clover or grass 1t can be
! spread between the corn rows while
! the corn is small. 1t can be put on
| the stubble where the peas are to go
and on. the pea StuDble III winter
where cotton or corn is to go in the
/ spring. One Of the best farmers in
! South Carolina spreads his summer
manure down between the rows of
cotton even after it is laid by. and it
pays him to get it where some plant
/ viii begin to use it at once rather
| than keep il in stable or lot to waste
! il $ value in the air or be washed down
| the hill from the lot. Cotton seed
are like unto it. If YOU are not CON
! venent to an oil mill where YOU can
| exchange the seed for meal and huil~
the best thing you can do with them
is to bury them in the middles be
tween the rows Of cotton and then
/ when the cotton gets to a fruitino
stage they will be rotted and Will
feed the plants just when they need
II most Then whatever Of CONNER
cial fertilizer YOU. use mix it in a de-
finite proportion and you viii know
| lust what YOU are using. \ compost
! Of manure. cotton seed and concen-
Continued on Fourth PaPe.)