The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-01-22
sEAsoNARlE HINTS.

farm The winter should be the FARMER
season for schooling himself in. the many
improved methods of conducting farm
ing. Besides this, there are many other
things which need to be looked after at
this season.
Now the winter season is the time to
nrepare for making the summers work
light on the farms. Many of our farmers
seem to overlook the fact that the bet
ter they prepare their seed beds the cheap
er can they produce a crop me winter
season is the time to begin making seed
beds fine for all crops Experiments along
this line have disproved all or many OF
the old theories 1t was commonly taught
some years ago that 1t was not necessary
to plow and prepare seed beds for crop
Of cotton. Northern men who had been
educated in the preparation OF SOILS Tor
seed came to Oklahoma and Texas and
by deep blowing and thorough preparuon
of the soils have been able TO produce
In many instances a bale of cotton per
acre and they are beating the natives at
their own game Of cotton growing Take
from the markets the cotton that our new
corners have produced last year In Okla
homa and Northern Texas and see what
hole 1t would make.
We might give many more such in
stances with all lines of crops where in
telligence and energy have succeeded. so
there is no more fitting time than now to
begin preparing the soil for all crops.
How and Where to Begin.
The best place for many of our farmers
TO begin this work of preparing the soil
is in their fields where they have been
cultivating stumps and stones for years
and which have never given them cent
In return for their work. These stones
have been an annual source of expense to
the farmer in broken implements ana IN
causing a clear loss In crops, for no
grain or other crop can grow on stumps
and stones We often hear our farmers
talking about land growing scarce and
that they must move west to ind room
and new lands. l wonder IL our readers
ever stopped to think about how much OF
their land is occupied by these worthless
stumps and stones Blast and grub out
every stump and stone on your farms and
plant crops that will give you some re-
turns for your labor where these obstrue-
lions have been so long. Besides the prof
it's think of the pleasure and ease of
oultivating a field where one can pillow
| from fence to fence without fear of break
| ing a ploy or danger of falling over
stump or stone. After this work Is done
the next thing is to look after the drain
age.
How many of our readers have farms
with little streams meandering across
them spelling acres of land that should
| be producing fine crops The best way
| to get clear of these is to cut straight
ditches put in thing and put these little
streams under ground out of the way or
cultivation. Besides the waste of land,
these streams furnish protection along
| their banks for worthless weeds, briars
and brush. The next thing after the
/ fields are cleared Is the matter or tertil-
zers or plant foods.
| Along the lines of fertilizers is where
our farmers need more education, Tor 1t
| is a matter of education, and without
| this education they will never get full
returns from their Soils only wish l
could have thousands of farmers each
| day at our meetings, for / can find no
subject upon which I like to talk better
| than ! do on this question of plant foods.
| Right on this question today, here IN
/ Fort Worth, Tex, one of the leading
| grain men and millers said to me: If
/ we could only get our farmers to use
better seed it would solve the problem OF
better wheat" i said: Il beg to diner
| with you. The seed Is not the place to
begin The soil Is the starting place. Our
farmers must be taught how to prepare
| their seed beds for wheat before they
can get what they should have from i'm
/ proved seed" | asked him how many
| farmers there were in Texas growing
| wheat that could tell what the Office OF
nitrogen was in producing a crop OF
wheat He could not answer the ques-
| ton, and / doubt If there is one farmer
| In a hundred who can. In fact, very few
OF the farmers that l have talked to
know that nitrogen Is needed in wheat
| growing at all. Some farmers say that
rotation of crops will enable them to
grow fine crops of wheat. That depends
upon what kind of soils the rotation Is
| conducted on. Where we'll defined sys-
| TEN of rotation was commenced on a
virgin soil and kept up this might an
| swer, but where their soils have been de-
pleted Of all plant food they need to be
| fed again in order to obtain best results
| from a rotation. This same principle is
| equally true for all cotton crops as well
as wheat and other grains. What would
a rotation amount to on many of our
poor wornout clay soils unless assisted
by the proper plant foods?
| Organic Matter.
| Nearly all soils in the southern states
are deficient in organic matter or humus
or decayed vegetable matter, and this is
season when very much of this matter
can be provided. Every leaf, every par
ticle of straw and waste of all kinds, all
barnyard manure should be carefully
saved and applied to the soil at the right
| time and in the right way The woods
should be cleared Of all leaves and these
| used in a we'll made compost heap Where
| leaves, straw and all rubbish are prop
erly mixed with barnyard manure 1t
greatly Increases the value of the fertl-
| zer as well as reducing the expenses.
Nearly every farmer who will go at the
matter in an intelligent way can produce
| compost on his farm at a cost of IS or
| So per ton that will answer his purposes
better than fertilizer that would cost
| him $40 per ton. There is ordinarily
| enough time wasted every farm to
provide this compost and there is no bet
| ter season for this work than the winter
months. when there is plenty of time No
vegetable matter should be burned on
any farm, but everything should be turn
ed back upon the farm.
| 1t is a great mistake to burn our tree
leaves or to allow our forests to be burned
every year. thus destroying thou
| sands of dollars worth of plant food. The
time has come when our farmers should
be more saving in such matters. The
! time has passed when farmer should
be taking everything from his soil and
giving nothing in return.
Subsoling.
| The farms OF many of our readers no
| doubt do not have a soil deep enough
| to hold or to contain much of this plant
| food Such soils should be treated with
| a good subsoil pillow, broken deep, four
| teen to twenty inches. and filled with this
| organic matter, plant food. Every day
during this month when the soil is dry
enough this work may be carried on.
| / cannot take time in this article to
show all the advantages to be derived
| from sub-soiling for they are many But
one of the most important Is that in pre-
pairing this deep seed bed it can and
|