The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-21

dition for any kind of crops He is ready to engage in fruit or vegetable growing, having built up his land to the point where it will produce fine crops at a very small cost Of cultivation or for fertilizers. And let mo state here that 1t costs less to cultivate land prepared aS this is than 1t does to cultivate a worn out unfriendly soil. It will take the aver age cotton farmer with his exhausted soil two years at least to build up such soils to state of cultivation so that they will produce paying crops of fruits and veg etables. We have often stated, and here repeat, that most all of our soils in the cotton producing sections are short of or ganc matter-humus. decayed vegetable matter-and the first thing for the consid- eratlon of the cotton farmer with such soils. is how he can best and most eeo- ironically restore to the soil the humus so much needed The only way this can be accomplished is in q well regulated rota- tion of crops. So this comes in al one of the first educational features of the farm CTS institutes
 Must Cease Cotton Growing.
 The farmers of the hill country must cease cotton growing, or else they will soon have no soil left We hear so much about an over-production of cotton and of the efforts that are being made to re- duce the acreage. It would be best for the farmers on the uplands to turn their farms from cotton to stock. grain, grass forage crops fruits and vegetables and let the farmers of the rich river bottom sections produce the cotton needed If the farmers of the south could not get credit on prospective cotton crop, or If other crops were put on an equal footing with cotton in this respect, the whole order or system of farming in the cotton states would soon change for the better But so long as cotton crop Is the main security for the wants of the farmer, reformations will come slowly, and all the winter time spent in talk about cotton acreage reduc- ton will amount to but littIe
 Let the upland farmers first resolve to quit growing cotton. then set about to improve their farms for the crops for which they are best adapted Once the farmer gets started in this diversfication idea of farming. he will soon become self supporting and independent
 Condition of the Soil.
 Starting as I am. with Lamar county as an index, will notice first something of the present condition of the soils as I found them anu this condition is common not only to this, but to many sections of the cotton states.
 We find that there are many hilly rough lands which are not suitable for general cultivation, but are adapted for stock raising and grass growing. Now the question may arise as to what would be the first step necessary to prepare these hill lands for stock and grass It Is well-known fact that these lands are prolific in worthless brush and briars, es- pecially the sawyer briar, which in this section begins to grow as soon as the land is cleared and put into cultivation. The better plan for clearing these hills or any other lands of this worthless growth, will be to use goats. Angora goats are the most profitable. They will clear the land and rave the expense of having the work performed and they will do the clearing .n the most effective way killing out completely all undergrowth. Besides. there Is at the same time profit to be derived from the goats in several ways. First. their droppings afford the best of fertilizer; then the hair is valua ble. A good average Angora goat will give from two to four pounds of hair worth from thirty to fifty cents per pound Then. the flesh of the young goat is fine and finds ready sale on many markets. The Angora goat would prove valuable and profitable animal on all our hills or mountainous country in al, sections of the United States.