Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1904-12-15
FARMER AND PLANTER.
BUILDING UP POOR FARMS.
A North Carolina Farmer Tells How
He Went About RecIaiming
Poor Lands.

II having been the owner of poor
land fits a man to write about pool
land, and If he is competent in pro-
portion to the poverty Of the land,
then think / am the most competent
mar in North Caroline to dicsuss about
poor land. Some years ago | bought
some so poor that the ownership car
ried a distinct species of disgrace along
with 1t. For time out of mind, own
ers. and since the war, successive @
ants, had skinned that land or tried
to. for generally the land did the skin
ming, the tenants being poorer at har-
vest than at seed-time.
This land lay convenient to me. 1t
was free from rocks, hills and waste
places. 1t vas light and, indeed, some
what given to sandiness, and therefore
pleasant to cultivate. | boughtit, Civ
ing the owner considerable less than
half the price he paid for it a few
years previously, and set to work to
make it productive.
/ did not intend for that land to
break me, as 1t was said to have served
its former owners. Therefore | sought
to proceed upon economical lines.
Aware that of the three elements OF
fertility. ammonia, potash and phos-
phoric acid, that ammonia is both the
most costly and the easiest to escape
the soil. I decided to buy as little am
monia as possible, especially as 1t
costs about three times as much as
the other properties per pound. or
course l had to have ammonia, but
| knew that | could get it without buy
ing 1t at SO much per ton. In fact, get
1t free, as the process by which | got
it, as will appear. did not cost me any
thing extra to get the ammonia added.
Potash and phosphoric acid l also
needed largely. This | had to buy.
because there was no other way to
get them into the soil.
The land was plowed and run off
in rows three feet apart. In these
rows | sowed a mixture of $50 pounds
of kainit and 100 pounds of acid phos-
phate per acre. Listing on this fur
row by furrow from each side. | then
split open the list with one furrow.
This served to mix the fertilizer in the
soil, and also to throw open the fur
row for the peas. In this furrow |
sowed evenly, early in June. cowpeas
at the rate of one bushel to the acre
and covered them lightly with a small
tooth-cultivator. During the summer,
as needed, they We're given three
plowings with a small-tooth cu%ltivator,
no hoe work being required.
The result was a fair crop of cow
peas and pea-yines. The peas | picked
as soon as ripe and cut the vines for
forage
In September I plowed under the
stubble and applied broadcast the same
quantity and the same kind Of fer
tilizer used for the peas. This har-
rowed in with a fine disc harrow, leav-
ing a perfect seed-bed. On this L
sowed annual (crimson) clover at the
rate of three gallons to the acre and
dragged it in with a brush.
The following spring the clover
yielded a moderate crop of forage, the
land being yet TO poor to raise clover
with much success.
In June I plowed under the crimson
| clover stubble, and again drilled in
the pease, using the same fertilizer and
the same mode of culture as the pre-
ceding year. The autumn showed how
my land was improving. The crop
of both pease and pea-vines was good,
/ might almost say excellent.
In September the pea stubble was
plowed under and crimson clover again
| sown, the treatment being the same
as that of the fail before. The next
spring gave a very good crop of clover
hay. indeed. This | again followed with
peas, the cultivation and manuring be-
ing the same as for the two former
crops. The crops of peas and forage
that came that summer was a Won
der. It's equal had never been seen
in this neighborhood.
| now found that this pauper farm
had been transformed into a very good
one indeed, worth many times what
I maid for it. That fall l turned under
the pea stubble and put the land in
Strawberries, my staple crop. Since
then | have grown as fine berries and
as fine crops of all kinds ON that land
as anybody has grown in the county.
Every two or three years have ro-
tsted in cowpease or crimson clover,
using potash in the form of sulphate
of potash and acid phosphate on the
berry crop, and my land grows better
and better.-C. w. Blacknall, in South
ern C%ultivator.
HUSTLING.