The age-herald., 1902-04-27

curing hay let him try portion. at least, of his crop this way this season and he will soon be convinced. I was. too, raised up under the old saying make hay while the sun shines" and many day have I turned and pitched heavy green hay: and when I went west and found the farmers moving and putting up hay right after the mower I fully expected to see all the hay shocks rot right down in the field
 But, I soon learned better, and soon saw the wisdom of getting the hay right up out of the weather Of course, it is just as important now as 1t ever was to have clear, sunny weather at having time, but it does not mean that we should spend a week of sunny weather turning and handling our hay until the quality has been greatly reduced and in many cases the feeding value rendered almost worthless.
 But. in this as in all other farming operations, the farmer has to be governed largely by conditions, and so can not al- ways have his choica of weather. Having time is always a time of rush and much hard work and when the work is once commenced 1t should be pushed to fn ish until the crop is made secure.
 When to Sow.
 So far I have said nothing as to best time of sowing cane for fodder. The plant Is rather tender and so should not be planted until both soil and weather be- comes warm. The young plants suffer more by cold wet weather in early spring than they do from drouth The plants will stand almost any amount of dry hot weather and if regularly cultivated will grow right off. but when the weather is wet and cold the plants make but slow feeble growth. So that early plantings are not at all advisable. For this section or dinary plantings can be m ade by the mid dle of April or about the same time as the crop of cotton Is planted. Then too the planting will depend largely on what is wanted If a second crop is expected from the same sowing then 1t will be i'm portant In planting just as early as 1t is safe in order to get the first crop off and out of the way of the new growth which will soon spring up and this new crop will need time for maturing. The western farmer never counts anything on second crop and here Is where the southern farmer has greatly the advan- tage for he may be able to secure two crops from one sowing and as many as three crops have been reported How ever. I would not figure anything what ever on a third crop for this section for If the cane Is allowed to grow and ma ture as 1t should, the two crops will con- sume all the season.
 But there are many fields, especially so this season, which will be too wet to work much before June, and these if properly prepared will make fine fields for hay, but at this late date of sowing only one crop could reasonably be ex- pected, at least the second crop could not be expected to fully mature, yet with a favorable fall it might get far enough advanced to make 1t worth cutting This, however, will depend entirely upon the weather following after the first crop is harvested off, where one Is sowing with the idea of getting two crops, the ad- vantages of the drill system again come in as by cultivation and the crop will ma ture much earlier.
 How to Sow.
 The seed may be sown by hand, but this is rather slow process as well as very uncertain one, especially as to the amount of seed sown for no matter how careful the sower may be 1t will be Impossible to SOW the seed evenly The seeding can be performed much better, and In less than half the time by the use of drills, now made for this purpose. When drill Is used the seed should be well cleaned and free from all chaff and sticks or broken up parts of heads. Now l am fully aware of the fact that every farm CT cannot own a seeder though they cost
 
 owned in every neighborhood either by several farmers going In together and buying one or better still. take the west ern plan let some one farmer buy good seeder and do the seeding for his neigh bors at a small cost per acre. This would pay both parties. The farmer who is sow ing but one acre had better hire 1t done with the seeder as the work can be done In an hour or so and done so much bet ha., T1A,a think, too of the value that one of our latest improved combination seeders. would be to every neighborhood. These seeders are now made so that they will SOW almost all sorts of farm seeds, from field corn to garden seed, including beans, peas, cane seed and in fact a farm seeds and at same time SOW the necessary amount of fertilizer for each crop right along with the seed. A, good man and good horse can go over eight to ten acres per day.
 I wish to state here that have made arrangements for planting a number of crops for farmers free of charge just to show them how easily the work can be done. The seed should not be covered very deep. The plants will grow slow for a short time, hence the importance of cul- tivating early and getting start of the weeds But when the plants once start to grow they grow very 1aSt, ana VIII soon reach the stage when they will take care of themselves. So far at least as weeds are concerned. The cane crop can also be made to follow after early crops. oat and wheat lands after these crops are harvested can be broken and sown In cane So of early potato fields, after the potatoes are dug the land can be used for a crop of cane owing however to our fall weather being dry 1t is not wise to risk these chances for our crop of cane, but use these lands for a catch crop. Now as to the yield this like all other crops depends largely on circumstances But a crop of cane well managed should yield from two to four tons of good hay per feeding In the green state I do not think 1t very valuable, of course stock eat Al in the green state very readily, yet it certainly has very little value for feed when in the green stage. The great value of the crop Is in feeding in the cured ma tured state. with these outlines I think that most any farmer can grow and save few tons of sorghum foddor for his stock the coming season.
 kaffir Corn.
 This is another hardy drouth resisting plant, belonging to the family of sorg- huns or millets and is very largely grown in Africa and India It is called in some sections African and in other sec- tions Indian nillet. The same directions for planting and cultivating as given for growing sorghum will answer for Kaffir corn. Though why any one should prefer T. xl,,.x,,