The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-10-05

plan has formed fertile soil for man. $
use. For him to conserve and in
crease it's fertility he must follow her
plan. lie rcust raise stock. No mat
ter what he grows, stock must be one
crop. If truck grower, he will have
grass after his crop is sold. He will
also have the best Of fertilizers anoth-
cr year; if an orchardist, grass and de-
fective ffui:; if cotton grower, cot
ton seed and grass. Good cotton
farming consists in making one bale
per acre. If one bale is made and the
seed exchanged with the oil mill for
meal, there will be enough to make 25O
to 300 pounds Of beef if the necessary
roughness is furnished. Right here l
wish to say that the oil mills are one
OF the best things in the South to day.
More of this later. There is no crop
so well fitted for stock raising as cot
ton. This same bale Of cotton we
have spoken Of is worth to-day $50.
In this lint there is practically moth
ing taken from the soil. 1t is com
posed Of carbon and water taken from
the air. The oil in the seed is the
same The fertility is left in the
meal and bulls. The potassium, phos-
phorus and nitrogen are practically
left. The rest is in the stalk and
leaves. This meal and hulls fed to
cattle is fer Ee:c beneficial 10 the
land afterwards than before. 1t is Of
greater bulk, supplies humus to the
soil and feeds the bacterial inhabi-
tants already present. 1t is not so
easily washed away by the rains and
adds to the moisture content. Any
beforc-the war farmer can tell you
how rich COW pens made land and
how the place could be told years
after
The writer, at the last State fair,
had several conversations with Mr.. +.
j.. Studebaker, proprietor of the
Black Creek Stock farm, Fort Warren,
Ind, the owner of the $4,000 Here
ford bull, "Conqueror." He claimed
that he could take 1000 acres Of land
and let the best farmer in South Caro-
lima take 1000 acres of similar land; !;
on his farm he would plant 500 acres
in cotton and the balance use for
stock; the seed used for feeding and
the manure used on the land. He
would guarantee to make more cotton
on his 500 acres than the other far
mer on the 1000 acres, and at q
greater profit. This was not state
ment Of chimerical enthusiast, but
o hard, practical, common.sense Yam
kee who has made ouocess Of his
business.
The Manufacturers Record sent
out this year to the prominent men of
the South asking for reasons for the
alar decrease in the cotton crop
in the last five years. 1t was sur
prising to see how many gave decrease
in fertility Of land as o reason. They
could almost be counted on one hand.
Despite the warning that is almost
shouted from every experiment sta.
tion in the land and every good agri.
cultural paper, and the example Of
every similar farming community aud
every table Of statistics compiled by
the agricultural department., we con-
tinue in the same rut. Travel
ing along the roads Of South Carolina,
we can see reasons on every side.
One fold of cotton will chow it. There
is field Of Is acres ne:sr Clio. Part
Of this field was cleared before the
war and part only few years ago.
The old land has no stumps, giving
more square yards Of cultivable land
per acre. In 1901 this field was plant
ed in cotton and fairly well fertilized.
The rows ran through the old land
into the new. The old was cultivated
the same minute as the new. The
new land made good crop, possibly
800 to 900 pounds of seed cotton per
acre. The old did not make 200
pounds. Last year in Sumter Coun.
ty, observed field after field the same
way. Why this difference? The
humic content Of the old had been
depleted. The fertility had gone
never to return. If stable manure
combined with commercial fertilizers
had been used on this old land year
after year the yield would have been
more than the new land, no matter
what the reasons. Three mules, one
COW and one pig cannot furnish enough
manure for 100 acres.
/ In conclusion for thia time take the