The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-07-05

0A0CCS VI CuOSo uS0d Dy 0udDlluS JIG SOIL 10 dDSOrD
and retain more moisture. For the same reason
it will render the ~droughts of summer less in
furious. Again, by having full team, more work
can be done, while the land is in the best condition
in both preparation and cultivation. By using
wide scrapes and cultivators the two mules will
be able to cultivate the corn and cotton promptly
after each rain, and thus dispense with much
of the hoe work. More than twice the load can
be carried on a two-horse wagon than on the
one-horse.
BETTER MACHINERY CAN BE USED.
One man with two mules can do more and bet
ter work in preparing land than two men with
one-horse plows. One man riding a moving ma
chine can do more work and do it better than
five men with grass scythes. By using a double
team, without increasing the area under ~cultiva-
ton, twice as much soil is made available to plant
roots, while its capacity for absorbing and hold
ing moisture is quadrupled, thus diminishing the
risk OF injury to the crops by either excessive
rains or summer drought, thereby insuring larger
crops of better quality at reduced cost of produc-
ton.
Not only is this true, but instead of increasing
in fertility, as is usually the case with the one
horse farm, with a judicious rotation and deep
and thorough preparation the productive capacity
of the two-horse farm is annually increased. A
three-year system of rotation in which cotton,
corn, small grain, peas and sorghum constitute
the principal crops may be made to combine profit
and progressive improvement of the soil.
CITATION OF CROPS.
The following rotation combines money crops,
forage crops and soil renovation:
First year: Field (a)-2O acres cotton; field
(b)-S0 acres corn and peas; field (c)-1O acres
small grain followed by peas, 5 acres sorghum.
5 acres peas and hog crops.
Second year: Field (a)-Corn and peas; field
6)-SmaI grain followed by peas, sorghum and
hog crops; field (c)-Cotton.
Third year: Field (a)-Small grain followed
by peas; field OBJECTION; field (c)-Corn and
peas.
1t will be observed that in this rotation two
thirds of the cultivated land has humus supply
ing and renovating crops every year.
Sweet potatoes, ground peas, sofa beans, arti-
chokes, rape, and chufas are classed as hog crops.
These are to be gathered by the hogs under NOV
able fences, which are easily made with cable
hog wire by mailing strips of plank to the posts
and ~bradding the wire to the plank. To move
this the plank, with wire attached, can be rolled
and carried to the new plot to be inclosed. The
posts are reset at the same, distance apart as be-
fore and the plank renailed to them. By this
means pork can be grown very cheaply without
recourse to the corn crib. Ten acres should be
sodded in Bermuda grass and several planted In
alfalfa, the former for permanent pasture and
the latter for green soiling or for hay. A few
acres in Texas bluegrass will complete the pas
turage for permanent use, as this is green when
Bermuda is dormant. Rye sown thickly, part in
drill and part broadcast, is the best winter grass.
Prof. j. S. Newman, South Carolina Agricul-
tural Experiment Station.