The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-25
CroDs for Winter Cover.

Both North and South, the habit of
sowing something on the land to re-
main green in the winter and protect
the soil from washing is by no means
as common as it ought to be, says the
Agriculturist. But in the regions
where the ground remains frozen most
of the winter, and where such things
make little or no winter growth, the
necessity for it is not nearly so great
as where there are constant freezes
and thaws and many heavy rains dur
ing the winter months. And yet one
will see more bare lands in the South
than in the North at this season. AS
nearly all of our Southern lands are
very susceptible to washing it is par
ticularly necessary to resort to some
thing of this sort to prevent it. And
that is really but a small part of the
advantage gained. Great as it is.
The positive improvement of the land
is so great that it ought to be done,
even where the land is too level to
wash.
Speaking of the methods used at the
Louisiana Experiment Farm, DR..
Stubs said, in an address at farm
err convention, that on the college
farm the whole face of the earth is
covered with green crops, principally
turf oats and hairy vetch. When once
started these crops never have to be
resown, and the vetch is whipping, the
oats out. taking field after field About
500 acres are clothed in green. Green
crops keep the lands from washing
and leacing during the warm, wet
winters, and these causes have done
five times as much to wear out the
lands as all the crops ever removed
from them. These crops are being
sown between the rows of corn, cot
ton sorghum peas, ETC., at laying by
time. If every cultivated acre were so
treated in Mississippi, and the re-
sources for growing food fully de-
veloped, she could grow the beef of
Iowa, the dairy products of Wilson,
sin, the pork Of Illinois and the NUT
ton and wool of Ohio.
We have never had experience with
vetch except to a very limited extent,
and then the stand was too poor to
amount to anything, but winter oats
and crimson clover, we have used
great deal with the most satisfactory
results. We used both of these crops
for running hogs on in the spring and
then put the land in corn and cow
peas We got splendid results. The
clover made the very earliest green
stuff we could raise for the hogs and
by the time it was gone, the oats were
fully headed out and 1t was aStonish-
ing what a lot of feed they made for
the hogs. After both these crops, we
got fine crops of corn and peas and
once more the hogs got the advantage
in grazing the peas. Both the corn
and peas had to be early varieties to
get the land sown in clover and turf
cats again. BY using this rotation,
we believe that the cheapest pork can
be made that is grown anywhere, ex-
cept possibly on alfalfa or blue grass.
We have not tried sowing either in
cotton, because the tramping in pick
ing the cotton and the shading during
the early fall by the cotton would
probably prevent much growth. but 1t
is we'll worth trying, even in the cot
ton fields. To do this to the best adj
vantage the plan of dividing the fields
by fences and planting a smaller area
| and cultivatinG better should be adopt
| ed. This is good farming, moreover it
| is profitable farming, and it differs
| from our present system in the most
| important fact, that under it, a man
! can raise his meat supplies at home,
i get large crops to the acre and in
! stead of wearing out his farm have it
! constantly getting better. These two
! crops, or others answering the same
purpose are the ones that some fertil-
/ izer could be used on. with profit. A
/ liberal dose of acid phosphate alone
! would help greatly, but a complete
! fertilizer would do still better. We
| have never known any to try this
! method that did not stick to ii.