The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-06-05

| we'll satisfied as to the value of fat cul-
| ture, and the abandonment of the old
| practice Of laying by corn with a big
! furrow, try a portion of your field, and
use on that the ucltivation alone, and
| use it more frequently than you have ever
| done. never allowing a crust to remain
| any time the surface Then if you
| find that the part thus treated stands up
| as we'll as that hlled up, and makes
| better corn. it may prove to you that the
| new way is the best. l have long ago
| satisfied myself by actual trial in the
| field, that level culture is the best for all
hOed crops, and that it is a mistake to
| hill up cotton or tobacco.
We start in the spring with deeply
| plOwed ground and abundance of
moisture The broken ground below We
wish to settle and to establish a capillar-
| ity that Will tend to be drawing up mois-
| ture from below continually. But we do
| not want that moisture to escape into
! the air. IS it will if the surface is undis-
| turbed and crusty Therefore we keep
| loose blanket over it continually by
! shallow culture SO that the moisture is
| held right where the roots need it. And
| it is vitality important that this shallow
| culture and a dust blanket shall be kept
!
/ severe drought they should not keep
! the cultivatOr going and imagine that
| the only use for cultivation is to keep
| down grass and weeds. 1t is of course
! important that the grass be kept down,
! but it is fully important that the
| moisture accumulated in the soil during
/ the winter should be kept as far as pos
/ sible a crop cultivated very shallow
after a good preparatory plowing will re-
sist the effects Of drought far better than
one in which the plow is used to turn up
the soil and dry it out. One Of the most
| successful cotton growers | know uses
! all his manures and fertilizers broad
| cast. plants on the level and works the
| young cotton with the weeder, doing a
! large part of the chopping with the weed
| er and then uses a small tooth cultiva-
tor during the season and leaves his land
/ perfectly fat If you will examine a cot
I ton field cultivated in the ordinary way
/ after it has been laid by and heavy rains
| have fallen. you Will find as | have found,
| that right down the furrow in the middle
| the water has run, carrying some Of the
! fertility with it, and exposing the netted
mass of roots that are running clear
across the mddles. And these roots that
are running clear across the middles.
And these roots that have out into
the middles are the important feeding
roots of the plant and should have food
right there where they are rambling. But
/ the common practice puts the fertilizer
in the furrow, and then turns the soil
| from the middles up to the row, While
the feeding roots, on which the plant
/ depends are out in the poorer soil and
having even that washed off from them.
| | have heretofore mentioned the prac-
! tice Of good farmer in South Carolina,
| who cleans out the summer accumulation
| of manure and spreads it between the
| cotton rows after the crop is laid by, and
and thereby not only helps the late crop.
| but furnishes a means of insuring a stand
! Of crimson clover which he then sOWS all
| between the cotton rows, and thus ge-s
| a winter cover of green plants on the soil
TO protect it from leachug away its fer
| tilty in the winter. Our cotton and corn
| lands have lost fertility faster by the
| winter washing than they have through
| the summer cropping and one of the
most important things to attend to is to
/ get a green growth for the winter on the
| lands that have been cultivated clean in
| summer. l had letter few days ago
| from a gentleman in Edgecombe county,
| telling me that last summer in laying by
| his corn which had been cultivated per-
| fectly level. he SOWed seed of crimson
! clover and the result he says sur
/ prsng, the whole field this spring be-
ing d dense mass of crimson bloom, and
| a fine hay crop secured at a trihing cost,
while the Improvement in the soil will be
| manifest another season, and he still has
| time to get a second valuavle hay crop
| from the same land by sowing it in peas.
| By the way, we are going to try new
pea this season that comes from Mexico.
| 1t resembles in appearance what we call
! v
| vines 20 feet long, and to be enormously
| productive and as fine for the table as
| the Lady pea. We hope to succeed in
| getting a lot sown. and If they prove as
| they are claimed will have valuable
| addition to our field peas. A gentleman
in Tennessee who grew them last year
| saws that he gathered in spite of very
long and severe drought 40 bushels
/ from ten acres and was sure the crop
would have been very much heavier in
q fair season We are more than ever
convinced that the pea is the greatest
plant that Southern farmers can use for
| forage and that there is no need for our
| exnerimenting with the various weeds
| that are continually being sent out by
! the seedsmen when have the field pea
| and Indian corn,> which so fully supple
| ment each other as feed crops. The key
to success lies in getting a forage crop
| on the land as soon as possible after
| cotton or small grain crop and having
| abundant forage to feed cattle and make
/ manure at home and gradually get indie
pendent of the fertilizer mixer
i Yesterday at the trial at Lawrenceville
Va of Rev j. e. Riddick, for the murder
Of Or. Temple Drs. Hodges and Drewry