St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-04-05
FARMER AND PLANTER
A TALK WITH FARMERS.
A~.,cultural Editor Has
Something to Say to the
ers of the South.

The writer is southern man ny
birth, lives in the south, and mas oe-
voted his life to efforts for the up
lifting of southern agriculture. Eo1t.
ing an agricultural weekly paper Oh
wide national circulation, he Is na'-
| urallv brought into close contact
with farmers in various parts OF the
country Northward the farmers are
in better shape to-day than IN the
south, There is much discourage
ment among southern farmers, espe-
cially cotton farmers, by reason OF
short crop and low prices. At the
same time the southern tobacco
growers are happy over. the improved
prices for their crop. 1 think, there
fore, that this is a good time to TAX
with those, who, like me, are deeply
interested in the farming OF the
south.
WHY is it that the cotton farmers
are depressed? OF course, as l have
said it is at present on account OF
poor crops and low prices. But why
should these conditions always en-
barrass the southern farmer? Is 1t
not because the cotton grower Is
merely a cotton grower, and not a
farmer in the best sense of the word!
l think that much of the poor crop
is due to the way in which farmers
who study their profession are al
ways ready to grasp improvements
in cultivation and fertilization OF
their crops, while in the cotton belt
the same methods are pursued in the
growing of the crop that have been
pursued for generations, and the
farmers seem to think that there is
no other way. They spend too much
labor in the cultivation of the crop
through using obsolete tools and
nelecting to adopt improved meth
DDS. They work the same land year
after year in cotton with little
dribble Of fertilizer, never realizing
that through good farming and the
use of good rotation with the re-
Operative crops they could use the
fertilizers more lavishly and IN
cheaper form. In all the South At
lantic states the past summer there
were constant deluges of rain. The
cotton grower as a rule has his
favorite brand of ready-mixed fer
tilzer, and he used it in the regula-
ton way in the furrow to start the
crop. Last year nitrate of soda was
unusually cheap, and there was
temptation for manufacturers to use
it freely for the nitrogen in their
goods. Nitrateof soda is very solu-
BILE form of nitrogen, and if not TAX
en- up at once by the plants, is speed
lily lost. The season was very wet,
and we saw hundreds Of fields of we'll
drained light upland soil where the
cotton failed and the owner said that
it was drowned out. The fact is that
it was starved out. The little fer
tilizer applied in a very soluble form
was washed away through long
years of constant cultivation in cot
ton had no power to hold on to the
plant food. Too little was applied in
the start, and that little was soon
lost.
Now suppose that every cotton field
in the south had had a crop of peas
on it the season before. that these
peas had been well fortified with
phosphate and potash SO that the
growth of forage was heavy, and the
accumulation of nitrogen from the
air by means of the pea roots was
also heavy. This organic ammonia
would not have been so rapidly
washed away from the plants as the
soluble nitrate was, and by its OBJ
sorptive power it would have held
the plant food there for the plants,
and the result would have been better
crops through the agency of a crop
that enabled the farmer to feed more
stock and raise more, manure at
home. In fact, after a heavy fer
tilization of the pea crop with the
mineral elements phosphoric acid and
potash alone, the crop of the past
year would have been better with no
more fertilizer added than it was with
the complete fertilizer on the soil
deficient in humus. The meaning of
this is that the southern cotton
farmer has got to go to farming it
he is ever to meet the low prices for
the staple which seems to be the
future prospect.
Another point in which we have
failed, as have suggested, is in the
use of antiquated cultural methods.
The pillow and sweeps OF the cotton
belt do excellent work, but they do it
at too great cost, and the deep plow-
ing and killing of the crop is a disad-
vantage. The corn growers of the
central west have long ago found out
that deep preparation Of the soil and
shallow cultivation, keeping the soil
perfectly level, is better than the old
fashioned killing of the corn and
tearing the roots with pillow after
they extend across the rows. The
roots of the cotton plant extend in
the same way and are torn by the
stock of the sweep, and the killing
is no more advantage to the cotton
than it is to the corn. If the cotton
is planted on the level, with plant
food in reach of it in every direction
from the crop of the previous year,
the first cultivation should be before
it is up by running smoothing har-
row over it to break the crust. Then
as soon as up run the weeder length
wise and crosswise the rows, and you
will see the cotton start with bound
with no sore shins from rubbing
against a crust, and half the chop
ping and thinning would be saved.
Then let the subsequent cultivation
be with small tooth cultivator, keep
ing the ground as level as possible,
and retaining the moisture which is