The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-08-11
FARMER AND PLANTER
PLANT COW PEAS.
They Furnish Food For Man snd
Beast and the Cheapest Fertilizer
For the Soil.

I'll ltS DRESSINGS are gone. fure water
and air, are taken as q matter of no
consequence, until the fearful results
Of their being violated come upon us.
Heaven has indeed been generous 70
the south. All men speak eloQuently
of our great monopoly of cotton" and
1t Is indeed a wondrous money-maker.
Yet we have but recently seen our
whole people groan under this very
monopoly: and on account of receiv.
Ing only half pay for its production,
many Of our farmers driven either In
to bankruptcy or to the cities. Then
cotton, on account of the clean cul-
ture necessary to its production, is an
exhaustive crop, to our soil. In con-
sequence, many southern hill, that
should be robed In verdure, Is now
scanned with gullies and millions of
CALLED spots are left as blot upon
our landscape, to tell the tale. That
portion OF our southland that still re-
spends to culture. is taxed more than
q 1.-THE to pay the enormous fertilizer
bills we are annually forced to make,
that we may enjoy growing our mo
nopoly." This is all our work,-it
was never Heavens plan. Nature, m
her kindness, would have foretold
such results, had her children been at
tenttve to her teachings. She gave us
twin monopoly. and intended that
the-wondrous-easy growing. nitro
gen gathering. soil-restoring-animal-
feeding legume, the cow-pea, should
receive equally the attention devot-
ed to cotton. 1t was her plan that the
cow-pea should procure the fertility
necessary to the best production of
her sister, cotton. For over one hun
dred years. we have known some
thing of the value of the cow-pea. but
we were too busy in our active pur.
suit OF the heecy staple, to give the
cow-pea the consideration It de-
served. and which would have result
ed in an untold blessing to our soil
and to ourselves. Like the children
OF Israel, we have gone astray after
false gods; we preferred to listen to
the oily talks Of the cotton Spectator
and guano dealer, who were LAYING
heavy tribute upon the labor of our
lands; to the still small voice" of
nature, who would have wooed us to
the ways of wisdom and independ-
ence. Farmers, wake up and go to do
Ing. The cow-pea is the easiest crop
10 grow that you can plant and one of
the very best. The pea Is fine food
for man and all your farm animals.
The vines make one of the very finest
nays for all you stock; and the vines
and the roots form one of the very
nnest and the cheapest fertilizers YOU
can return to your soil. Our advice is
to grow peas; feed your stock with
the peas and vines and return the
manure to your soil. We figure it in
this way, one ton Of peavine hay fed
to cattle is worth, as food and ma
nure. at least fifteen dollars. A farmer
should want all in any. product which
ne raises. that there is in 1t for him.
and hence should feed his peavines.
But II he does care to keep SO many
cattle. the peavines and roots, after
the peas are gathered for reseeding
are worth seven and a half dollars per
ton. as manure to the land, when
plowed under. While it Is better to
have the fifteen dollars, 1t is worse
than folly to lose the seven and \
half. Any farmer can grow a ton of
peavines cheaper than he can buy a
200-pound sack of guano. We meet
men every day, who tell us how they
can tell to the very row, in their
growing crops, where their peas were
planted last year. We know labor ia
scarce, but this is all the greater rea-
son for planting peas, SO as to in
crease the yield of cotton and corn.
upon the land you do cultivate. So.
whatever the nature or extent of your
farm operations, plant peas. The
peas themselves are as saleable "A
cotton. Every good-sixeA farm should
have a pea thresher; and twenty-five
or fifty extra bushels of peas. over
your demands for home sowing, will
bring more than that many dollars to
buy some needed household goods or
your family new suit around. II You
are cotton-farmer, plant peas
II you are fruit-grower, plant peas
II you are a trucker. plant peas-if,
finally. you are in sympathy with the
best interest of the south and have
any regard for the fertility of your
soil, plant peas. This is a common
ground, where we all can and should
meet, and as the cow-pea can be plant
ed anytime from the LIST of May to the
LIST of August, we call upon all to re-
member to plant as many peas as DOS
sible-sow them after your grain; put
them in your corn; plant them be-
tween your trees; sow them in your
melon patches. and plant them ON
every available space you can find to
put them upon. Then will our soil be
improved, our stock better fed. our
fertilizer bills reduced and we will be
much better of in every respect
Southern Cultivator.