The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-26
rr,p Note. in Sumter County

Trip Notes in Sumter County.
 A recent trip from Auburn to Liv- fngston and a long drive north Of Liv- ingston gave me view of crop con- ditions in Central Alabama that was far from reassuring As late as June 21 there was still to be seen some cot ton that had not then been chopped. not in one locality only, but all along the line. This was not the worst thing seen. Still more unpromising appear ed the condition of those farmers who had chopped cotton during June, and the area of spindling cotton. chopped late was alarmingly large. Probably these acres will entail greater finan- cial loss than those that have been en- tirely abandoned. The abandoned area coming under my view was not very large, and smaller, probably than it should have been.
 The condition of old corn seemed generally unpromising. In some To- callties young corn had a good color unthrifty, foul and in need of rain.
 Johnson grass has made a rank growth. too rank, among fields for the grass hay has been lost from rain, but considerable well cured Johnson grass hay was seen. One of the most convincing indications that some or our Southern farmers are progressive, in spite of all insinuations to the con trary, is found in the general adoption of improved implements in haymaking with hay carriers and some are so built that large shocks can be draeged by horse and rope into the barn, SD that the hay can be brought on DUCK
 For the benefit of novices in hay making it may be added that the buck rake consists essentially of 2 piatt9'rhm ph'rh sloping downward. gather the hay from windrow, or shock, and Dear It to the barn; It is pulled by by, two p pushed by two horses hitched behind. The latter form, costing little more, seems preferable; The approxsllmaate de sSe. sSe. and Gn '1s of the other ss5. The buck rake Is especially suftablei for hand-- ling Johnson grass hay Although have rss seen gehherS her1estns s alfalfa in the West. the dragging of the hay on tnis implement Gas we'll as the dragging ot shocks by means of horse ana spso Topes1 and cowpea hay, causing the shatter- ing of too many of the leaves The use of the stacker is by no form form stacker. which works nicely in connection with buck rakes, is the one | in most general use. On this trip one ply a cable above long. rick, the ca | ble supported at each end by two iong, strong poles in the form of the letter A. These supports are suitably guyse Stretched between them on which runs the hay carrier and its. fork.
 1 An innovation in curing hay Is the sumterville in curing. alfalfa hay. | They have about ninety acres tn al falfa and prefer to have one large large yield of hay is reported as nearly four l tons per acre on alfalfa more than . year old, and as more than two tons for first year alfalfa- or.,co, racks every eight feet which racks serve tne ne double purpose of ventilators ana 0l supports for poles or blanks r.a on sSfalfa wslfa are are R piaced. These layers are .appa: rently from fifteen to thirty inches thick. The rack or support cons Sons's1S o, slated box about fourteen inches
 thick eight or more feet long, and per,
 haps twelve feet high. All the lum1ei
 thre4 plank. On the horizontal slats
 which are about sixteen inches apart II
 vertical distance and which are cross plank extends from one rack or sup
 port to the next one eight feet away
 On this skeleton floor or platform layer of hay is placed then few inches above another layer of poles
 then a stratum of hay, and so On up. | In these alaIId 1he comon device prevents the undue pack
 barn. bar v" A few rows, of twelve incl blanks resting on the jSists inn. immediate, Hate, the load of hay when released by tho hay fork and from this temporary plat, form 1t Is easily tumbled wherever II may be needed.
 The prairie country. north of Living.
 ston Is being brought to its proper
 use. for larger proportion of the iant in this region is devoted to pasture than Tn any other part of the State. A: l noted this could but think how for,
 tunate Is the country that is prepared | for the advent of the boil weeVl. l3u
 think it was not the fear of the bol weevil that changed so much of thu
 section from cotton to cattle, but thu
 present scarcity of labor are apparen In the condition of large part of th'
 crop. It is fortunate that this. per
 haps the most rolling part of the prai
 rie region, is one of the first to protec l Ter hills from the further washing an,
 impoverishment by letting them go t'
 This IS surely a grass country. as b!
 rights, is all of the prairie region. Mel
 lotus and Johnson grass luxuriate ol the lime lands, even to the top of tn Nwherever introduced. either on thu
 lime lands or on the sand ridges an'
 flats. Just north of Livingston op ooup
 line where prairie and sandy land join
 Perhaps the greatest need of the sand
 ture land the adjacent lime land. is tn thin sowing of Japan clover whereve
 field is converted from cultivation t
 pasture. From this thin. inexpensiv sowing, self-seeding and thiekeninl will result. It introduces itself grad . ually, but for profit stockmen cal ? scarcely wait on nature.
 One surprising thing in connection with this whole region is the relative