The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-16

RUh2 2l NhUH U Uh 1&hu aesMAm@D1 1 Competitive and Non Competitive Crops. There is a Iamentable lack of diver sincation on most farms in Alabama This is regrettable as matter of puD- lie welfare and of private gain. It Is double deplorabie. when we look for ward to the inevitable fact that the boil weeyil will be in our midst with in a few years. at which times 1t will he necessary for Alabama farmers not only to raise a larger proportion or their own supplies. but to have for sale great variey of other products Tn addition to cotto- Then cotton cui- ture will be practicable only for the farmers who practices intensive culti- vation and who will use most progress sive and scientific methods.
 I need not enter into a discussion or the reasons for the almost exclusive dependence of Alabama farmers on cotton. There are some good reasons in favor of this position when cotton does not too exclusively monopoiize the energies of the farmer, but the ar ! guments in favor of diversiflcation are still more weighty. Its advantages are obvious Then let us learn gradually and while there is yet time to grow other products. not as substitutes for cotton, but as supplements to cotton culture
 One small practical detail with which we need to become more definitely familiar Is the determination of the crops that fit together best with re- gard to the distribution of the work of teams and laborers. We sometimes ad- vocate the more extensive growing of grain and yet to do this 1t will be necessary to reduce somewhat the amount of land in cotton, not only that there may be a sufficient area avail able for grain but in order that there may not be too much urgent work re- ouired by both crops at the same time. Cotton and the small grain crops are competitors for labor to a certain ex- tent. For example, in the cotton crop the busiest season Is while chopping is in progress. say throughout the month of May, and even into June Now wheat Is ready for harvesting in central Alabama in the latter part of May and so is the fall sown crop of red rust proof oats. Fortunately this competition will be decreased under the methods of cotton culture that will he necessary when the boil weevil ar- rives, for then every effort will be made to produce an early crop of cot ton and the man whose crop is not chopped out by June 1, need not ex- pect the weevil to leave him many squares or bolls.
 Corn fits in better with cotton than does a large acreage of oats for the reason that the bulk of the upland corn is planted before cotton and then af- ter cotton planting it is possible to plant late corn and to work out the early corn before rapid cultivation of cotton becomes necessary. Yet on the whole. there is greater need to extend our area in oats than in corn. Anoth- CT difficulty connected with extensive small grain farming in connection with extensive cotton culture is the need of teams just after harvest to haul in grain and to break the land for cow peas at a time when cotton must be cultivated rapidly. In the selection of our diversifcation crop we must have due regard on a cotton plantation 10 the selection of those crops that do not intensely compete for labor with cot ton chopplng. For example. as a hay crop, cowpeas or sorghum or soy beans require no labor unt,, after cotton is chopped. neither does Johnson grass need harvesting before this rushing season. is past. On the other hand he who employs alfalfa or melilotus or oats or wheat as his principal hay plant will be called upon to harvest hay when every farmer in the country is bidding high for labor for cotton chopping.
 Cotton picking need not very ser iously interfere with fall blowing of land for grain crops if this work Is done with two and three horse teams requiring relatively little human la bor.
 If a farmer is considering the grow ing of a rather unfamiliar crop, one of the first things for him to consider is whether the bulk of the work on that crop will come at time when he can i'll take on any additional bur den.
 For example. let tobacco be under consideration. It Is important to bear in mind that the most tedious part of tobacco culture consists in setting the young plants, an operation that may have to be repeated in dry weather. thus bringing it as late as the cotton chopping season. Again sugar cane Is a promising crop for farmers willing 10 diversity. Let them consider well l whether they should chiefly reduce their acreage of cotton. of corn. or of small grain. in order that they may not be short of labor about the time | of frost. when the cane crop must be l cut stripped and ground, at an im- mense expenditure of labor. Another l man may have soils especially adapted to sweet potatoes and 1t would seem of special importance that he should not attempt great things both with sweet potatoes and with sugar cane since these are strictly competitive crops, recurring great outlay of labor at har- vesting time which for both crops is about the time of frost in the fall.
 This article is not intended to give definite lists of crons that severely | compete for labor. but rather to ask farmers to consider this relationship between crops. It shoulf be added that special changes in management may sometimes obviate the competition al- luded to above; for example, If tobacco plants are SC twith a machine, the com | petition with cotton choppinG Is de. creased though even here consider Likewise, If cotton be planted inl checks. there remains time in May for the hands on any one farm to do someI work on other crops But this cus- tom will probably never be extensively 1 adopted, so that hired hands will al- ways be in demand at high prices for work during the entire chopping sea- son. The simplest solution of the wholo matter is to grow only so much cotton as can be fertilized and cuIti- vated extensively. thus producing an equal number of bales on a much smaller acreage and with a smaller outlay of labor This system leaves the farmer at greater liberty to be- gin to grow in a small way a greater variety of crops. change that Is bet ter made now and gradually then made suddenly after the advent of the boil weevil.
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