The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-12-24
THE FARM AND THE GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO AGRI-
CULTURIsT AND not sEwIFE.

An Unusual Winter-oats-The Cot
ton soil WervIl-rhe RasOrback
Hog 60 he fttnE.
Nitrate Of sodR-PomeRraRat
rye for cattle.
In the past twony years We may have
mad now ana then a winter that nearly
equallcd the present one Boz mildness aud
dryness hut certainly there has noe been
q single one that afforded inner conditions
Tor an kinds OF work in farm, garden and
orchard There have not been more than
a half dozen days perhaps when farm
work could not be- carried on since the
arst Of september
For ga.heriH8 the crops. for cutting and
hauling wood for repairing che fences.
Tor sowing grain. for blowing and manur-
ing the soil for early crops Of The coming
year 600 field or truck farm. for setting
OUT fruit trees for an these things and
many more there could not have been
more favorable condition Of weather
The farmer had .old his crops for fair
prices and Providence. seemingly more
bsnehcent than usual afforded che mos,
tempting conditions Tor the further pros
ceution Of al kinds Of work
Farmer should have taken full advan-
tage o. o. The rye and the barley and the
wheat and the oats and che clover should
have had a fun measure Of attention.
How any Southern farmer can fai 70
SOW oats We nave never been able 10 IN
dsstand This grain. II no other. should
be- feature o. the fo-aiion on every farm.
Il may not be- much OF a money CROP
20 the great mass % small farmers. but
% comes 30 so nicely for protecting the
soil from waste during the winter. pro.
vldes many bites 81 green 20 the several
Kinds ~ stock ana then early IN che new
year furnishes the most wholesome FOOD
Tor the work stock that we can possibly
get
The crop needs no cultivation and then
Vacatcs the land ia plenty Of time 20 al
low OF other valuable crop being ansed-
either peas or sweet potatoes. or even cot
ton. n desired oats are considerably
exhaustive OF the mineral elements OF The
soil hui these elements are more easily
restored hy the Southern farmer than Il
ne important nitrogen OF which there Is
comparatively little taken by the grain
The stuhhlc of the oats IN some measure
VIII restore this when i Is carefully turn
ed under
The finest yield OF cotton that GER
tain old field ever produced IN thlr;v
years Of cultivation was when the cotton
was planted on IL afScr the oats were cut
OF IN early June
The siubbe was very regular and the
land was not bedded up for the cotton
Rows were lsd on with a scooter. the
seeds put IN and then the middles were
well broken out with the scooter. The
land then was we'll rolled. 50 that the
stubble was pressed down firmly In the
soil The cotton hardly needed any cul-
uV1tion. While early cotton shed its
squares freely thas season along in Au-
gust this field lost nothing and produced
q much better crop than other land did
that was much richer
Cotton planted IN this manner after oats
Will stand the drought OF autumn better
than where there IS no siuhble But where
the soil Is iight Il must be well rolled
About all the work il will need Is the work
Of the hoe 70 thin II down 20 a stand
Then use smoothing harrow 10 Kill the
young grass and weeds.
THIS stubblc land when nrepares for
sweet potatoes should be bedded IN and
the beds should be well rolled to nrm the
stuhble before the plants are set out
So II may be We'll claimed that a far
mer has no reasonable excuse for neglect
ing 50 valuable a crop as oats on the plea
thot he has not enough land In good con-
diton 20 allow % their entering into the
rotation.