St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-08-10
FARMER AND
PLANTER
TO GROW PEAvlNE HAY.
Only q Peck of Peas Needed to Plant
an Acre-one Cultivation.

On account of the high price of peas
the question Of how best to get the
most land in .peaEine hay, with the
least expense, is one which now in
terests the farmers, more than at any
previous season in the history of pea
vine hay making.
BY adopting the plan which will
outline, the seed peas will be as cheap
at four dollars per bushel, as they
were in previous years at one.
One of the best farmers in the
county, near my place, used the follow
ing plan year or SO ago, and was
highly pleased with results, making
the finest crop of hay he ever raised,
and used only one peck of peas per
acre. He ran off his lands, just as
If oats were to be soWn, and in every
fourth furroW he step-dropped peas,
and by not blowing across ends of
lands they were practically in rows.
After the peas were up, he ran in
between them one time with cotton
2low with nothing ON but the point
and sweep. This gave the peas q
start ahead of the grass, and when
ready to cut, it was waist high, the
finest crab-grass and peavine hay ever
seen to grow in that neighborhood.
Owing to the scarcity of peas, this
is the plan we will adopt on Oak Glen
Farm this year, using a Cole planter
behind the fourth plow, and cultivat-
ing one time, and we expect better re-
suits than the old way Of sowing
broadcast. If this plan is universally
successful, and I have no doubt that
it will be, the, loss of last years crop
of peas will prove blessing in dis
guise to the farmers, showing them
that while making two blades of grass
grow where one grew before, they can
also make one pea answer where four
were used before This is valuable
lesson in farm economy, which is as
essential to agricultural success as
abundant crops, and even more so, as
1t Is not what we make, but what we
save, that counts for so much in max
ing the farmer comfortable and indie
pendent.
Instead of using, then, all the peas
we have, and in many cases buying
more in order to have an abundant
hay crop, we can save three bushels
in every four, to feed to the lod cow
which the March winds failed to blow
away, and be richly rewarded with an
extra flow of milk, and decided i'm
provement in looks and weight of
"Bossie." Just so, the farmers are
learning to chink many little leaks
around the farm, which have been
unheeded heretofore, and which will
serve the credit side of the ledger I'M
til eventually they will fully enjoy
that degree of financial prosperity,
which an all-wise Providence intended
for them
With the present demands for prod
ucts of cottonseed oil, the South has
wasted barrels of money in sowing its
crop, and chopping out nine-tenths Of
1t, and no doubt in a few years just
as good, or better stand, will be OBJ
tanned by planters that will drop the
seed at the proper distance, thereby
saving thousands of bushels of seed
for the mills. But necessity, perhaps,
will force this upon the farmers, as
1t has the use Of peas this year and
convince them that a thoroughly pre-
pared seed bed, for any crop, and good
quality Of seed, is more essential than
quantity.
However, we hope to see results of
experience, from different farmers on
the hay question discussed in your
paper, from now until harvest. "In
multitude of counsel there Is wisdom"
will B. Crawford, Wayne Co, N. c..
In Progressive Farmer.