The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-08

Cotton. corn, oats and sweet potatoes
constitute the great quartette of staple
crops of the Southern farm. They are
the corner stones of the farm super
structure when properly proper
toned and we made good crops of
them it makes prosperous and sat
isfactory year of farming. There are
a good many farmers still who try to
get along without oats, especially fall
oats, but these will not be found
among the more prosperous and pro-
gressive class. The more intelligent
farmers of the South have found out
at last that corn is not the desirable
food for stock that it was for so long
thought to be. Corn is an indispensi-
BILE crop on almost every farm, but it
is not the safe food for horses and
mules that oats are. There are plenty
of purposes for which corn should be
grown, but as being the best food for
work and pleasure animals is not one
of them. We have no doubt if relia-
bic statistics could be had it would be
shown that the greatest fatality to
lU6SG dIlIildiS Is ONllB W NOllC anu tAldA
80 per cent. of the cases OF coIc are
caused by corn. Even perfectly sound
shelled corn when fed injudiciOusly or
without a proper accompaniment of
hay or other long forage is an unsafe
food for work animals. When we take
into account the vast quantity of in
ferior imported corn made use of in
the SOuth-COTn Oftener than not muSty
and with many rotten grains in tit is
a wonder that the fatality is not great
er. Corn, good or inferior, fed by it.
self is an unsafe food for stock. On
the other hand oats are a perfectly
safe food and could be fed indefinitely
without any accompaniment of hay.
This being true it is the wise farmer
that recognizes the true value of oats
on the farm and in so far as he can
provides them abundantly for his work
or pleasure animals. They are not
proper food for hogs or poultry, nor
cattle really, in their nground state.
Assured of their value as food the
next question is how are they provid-
ed must economically; when is the
best time to SOW? 1t has been shown
concusively by many practical results
that if this sowing were TO be confined
within the limits of any particular
month, taking the whole state over Oc-
tober is the month for sowing oats
But to infringe upon another month
and allow of a greater range of time
for the work sowings can be made
any time from Sept. Is to the last of
October. according as the season may
be best adapted TO the purpose.
On poor land sowings can be made
in September without danger of the
grain getting so far advanced as to be
injured by late spring freezes. The
poorer the land the earlier can seed
ing be made. Within the bounds stat
ed the richer the land the later should
the sowing be deferred. For either poor
or rich land the happy medium for
sowing anywhere in this state is Oct
!. The one great risk incurred in de-
ferring sowing to the last of the limit
is drought. If there should not be
moisture enough in the soil to sprout
the seeds at once and no rain should
fall for some weeks it would delay the
starting of the crop so that a late No
Vember or December freeze might do
considerable damage to the young crop
if not heave it completely.
If the crop is put in with roller at
this season. if there is any moisture at
all in the soil, termination will be very
prompt. So few farmers have rollers
for seeding down grain so it becomes
necessary for them to provide against
these probable adverse conditions of
drought by sowing as early as posi-
benefit of the first heavy rain to bring
up the crop.
To make a success of grain growing
year in and year out a farmer must
have harrow and a roller. They are
indispensable implements in grain Gull
ture, especially the latter. 1t is more
important to roll in the fall sowing
than the spring. Generally there is
moisture enough in the soil in Febru-
airy to cause prompt termination, but
in three years out of five IL is a very
uncertain condition in October.
AS a rule cold severe enough to in
jure grain of any kind sowed in Octo-
Der rarely occurs before Christmas. If
the oat plants can get a fair hold up
on the soil by Dec. 1 and if by the
18th the soil is completely hidden by
the growing crop there will not be
much likelihood of it's being injured by
January or February freezes. Not one
year in seven will fall sown grain be
seriously injured by cold If the crop
can be terminated completely by Nov.
10.
Not less than so to 100 pounds of good
clean seeds of a good rust-proof va
riety should be used to the acre. The
seeds if not sown with a sower should
be carefully sown with the hands. SOW
ing half one way and half the other.
1t is very practicable and easy to sow
from horseback, taking on just enough
TO sow one acre in a suitably arrang-
ed bag in front of the rider. The reins
should be attached to the stirrups so
that the animal can be guided with
the feet leaving the hands perfectly
free for sowing the seeds.
Fall sown oats should have a large
place in the esteem of every Southern
farmer. The farmer that attempts to
get along without plenty of oats is not
progressive. He sadly neglects his best
interests and risks the safety and
we'll being of his stock. There
is more to be said about the value Of
this crop.