The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1903-12-23
mr.. STEVENS TALKS TO THE FARMERS
The Commissioner Gives Some Valuable Timely Suggestions
the Farmers The Question of Labor Becoming Serious
Problem He Says. The Cultivation of Cotton

The question of labor Is getting to
be such serious one TO our farmers
that it is very essential to their sue
cess to find some plan which will en-
able them, with less labor and less
acreage, to raise as much cotton as
heretofore.
Or course it will require very scien-
tine farming to raise as much cotton
ON ten acres as used to be raised on
twenty. To do this will require intel
hgence and diligence. Some in Geor-
gta have done it; why not others?
There are farmers of our acquaint-
ance who have taken land that was
considered exhausted and almost
worthless, and by careful, persistent,
ddEgent farming on the intensive
plan, have brought IL up to the point
where it produces on the average one
bale Of cotton TO the acre. This has
been done by careful study of the
needs of the land, by a judicious ro-
tation of crops and skillful use of both
domestic and commercial fertilizers.
Success demands not only the ex-
pendlture of time and labor, but also
of money. Put as much time on ten
acres as you did on twenty and spread
upon the ten as much fertilizer as
upon the twenty and you can double
the average production to the Scre.
But no farmer can hope to obtain this
result who uses oldfashdoned tools
and the oldtime methods.
Use the Best Tools.
In order to properly pulveriZe the
soil and get the right kind Of seed
bed. which is the first essential of sue
cess with every crop, and then to prop
eTly plant and cultivate, the farmer
must use improved plows, rollers, har'
rows, planters, weeders and cultiva-
tors. With improved implements the
farmer will be able not only to plow
the land to the necessary depth, but
also with rollers to crush the clods on
a strip three 70 eight feet wide
across the field, with no clods left un-
broken, to require the extra labor OF
going over the field and breaking them
one at a time. In order to use this
improved machinery the field must
of course, be cleered of stumps and
rocks.
Preparation and Cultivation.
When the farmer has thoroughly
turned up his land with the plOw, sub
soiling if necessary, and every clod
has been thoroughly broken with har'
row and roller, he should then put on
the necessary kind and amount of fer
tilizer by either broadcasting OF
by opening the burrows and
bedding on it, if it is put between the
rows. When ready TO plant, he will
do well to distribute a small part OF
fertilizer with the seed.
In the well prepared soil he should
put the seed in rows from three to SIX
feet apart, and when the plants have
grown 10 sufficient height thin them
out to a distance of twelve or twenty
four inches apart, determining the dis
lance by the fertility of the soil.
The great thing 10 be desired Is
that the stalks, when grown, should
barely meet in the row, so that they
may thus secure the strength OF the
land for the fruit.
Fertilizers.
A judicious use of fertilizers in.
creases greatly the productiveness OF
the fields.
On every farm there are manurial
resources-from the horse lot, the
cow pen and the barnyard. These
should all be gathered together and
saved under shelter for use at The
proper time.
A compost of these animal manures
with mari muck, cotton seed and
commercial fertilizers will greatly re
duce the cost of fertilization. AS has
been remarked by one of our most
successful farmers, the cow is
the best fertilizer factory. If in the
lot which has been used as
COW pasture, the ground is turned every
month or so, and the cattle removed
to another lot, the whole farm may be
gradually enriched UP to the point
where it will have double its former
productiveness, and even more, pro-
vided the farm is well supplied with
live stock. Every up-todate farmer
must so manage that his farm shall
be thus supplied. He should have
few fat cattle to sell every year, and
yet have an increase Of his herd. Sew
enty-five per cent Of the food which
they consume will be returned to the