The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1907-03-09
FARMER AND PLANTER
BEST FARMER IN GEORGIA.
Agricultural Editor Says He lives In
spaIding County.

Mr.. w. p. Walker lives in Spalding
county, Georgia. He needs no praise
at our hands, says the editor of The
Southern Agriculturist--hi3 own farm
operations praise him sufficiently, but
as far as our knowledge goes he -
the best all-round farmer in Georgia.
Mr.. Walker owns 700 acres of land,
but has $50 acres in his home place
which he calls his farm; the ether is
simply rented out to tenants. or this
$50 acres, he cultivates something
over 200 acres, and the rest Is in wood
lot and pasture. Every acre he cul.i-
Yates will make from a bale to bale
and half per acre. He has made
his land rich and himself well-to-do
81 a three-year rotation of wheat, fol
lowed by pease. corn and cotton. NOW
here is what We saw as nearly as we
can describe it: We found him out in
the 140-acre field in front OF his house
baling peavine hay. He and five ne
groes were baling, while two mares.
five heads of colts and a number OF
calves and heifers were helping them
selves from the stacks. We asked him
II this was not little wasteful, let
ting the cattle help themselves in this
manner. He replied, Eyes. it is, but
1t is my hay and my colts and calves.
and I have plenty of It," When we
looked around and counted about 100
large stacks that was turning out
about so bales to the stack, we decid-
ed there was no use to worry about
what little the colts and calves wasted.
| This 140 acres was good to look upon
and good to walk upon. Though 1t
was very rolling, 1t is not terraced,
nor had it gully in 1t. Mr.. Walker
has one rule that he uses as his square
and plum blob to adjust his methods
OF farming by-in his own language
| It is this: Us that according to ma
ture?" 1t was a great surprise to us
that he could keep his land from wash
ing without terraces, but he says
'eWhy does not the hillsides in the
woods wash? 1t is because they are
covered with leaves and the soil Is
porous and absorbs the majority oi
the rain. l keep SO much vegetable
matter upon this field that 1t can not
wash and it was even so, We would
nike to go leisurely along and describe
things as we took them in that day
but we must condense a little. Well
Mr.. Walker Walker had over 100 bale!
of cotton on his farm, two or three
thousand bushels of corn, over 60(
bushels of wheat, two or three hun
dred tons of hay, nearly sixty head o
cattle, some fifty head of hogs and
seven colts. He had some over sixt!
acres in wheat and was still sowing
He has as fine Bermuda pasture a.
there is In the south. Bottom lant
in pasture that would make fifty tt
sixty bushels of corn per acre. AL
though he had over forty head of cat
tie on 1t. there was more dead gras
on it than grows in most of the pas
lures Of the south. He has Durham
bull to head his herd and the cow
are of mixed breed. This fall h
sold some steers of his own raisini
that brought him SIS each. Mr.. Wal
ker has brought up mis- land putting
cow and stable manure upon IT. HI
gets around about every eight years
and land will stay rich MANFRED thi
often with stable manure, II only tn
rotation of crops is observed and tn
land plowed deep.