The Columbus weekly dispatch., 1908-07-16
Artesia Items.

ing had too much, others exactly
enough, while there are some dry
streaks, and just in that proportion
will the corn crop be affected Early
corn is very poor, while the late
planting is to be heard from. The
alfalfa crop of July bids fair 70 equal
that of May, which was unusually
heavy. The gardens of the prairie
have been knocked out by drouth,
excessive rain and neglect, mostly
the latter
1 notice in an agricultural paper
that farmer asks how corn should
be laid by with the plow. and states
that it is the custom in his vicinity
to lay by with the turing plow. When
I was a boy my father saw in a paper
where the turning plow was recon-
mended for the last plOwing, and he
said: Now. Johnnie, get out your
turning plows and hill up your corn.
and this fellow says he guarantees
good results" We had had a good
rain and the land was IN fine condi-
ton for laying by. The turning plow
all surface roots, and before new
roots could form and catch in the
loose soil the moisture was gone, and
the corn crop also - made nothing
but nubbins. A few years after that
father saw where an editor recon-
mended deep plowing for laying by
cotton, and I was instructed TO lei
the plows down. The cotton was on
river land, and about waist high IN
ten days the ground was so covered
with leaves, squares and young bolls
that it looked like fire had gone over
the field. One or more agricultural
papers should be on every farmers
table, but a little sugar and a great
deal of salt should be taken with
every dose Of advice. What viii
suit one piece of land viii not suit
another, and what viii prove benef-
ciaI one year will be disastrous the
next. Experiments on a small scale
and experience on large scale are
the lessons best for a farmer. #
had pIowed only a few rows of that
corn as recommended and the other
in the usual way, we would not have
had corn and cotton TO buy the next
year.
I am told that the farmers from /
the Northwest who are buying large /
farms in the interior on which 10 /
grow alfalfa say they care nothing /
for distance to railroads; that with /
a traction engine they viii carry to /
the depot in a giffy a carload Of hay
at one trip. That sounds all right
during a drought. These men don't
know how familiar this prairie land
is when it is muddy A traction en-
gine with ordinary wheels would 90
to the rock in a wet spell, and when
the mud is in a friendly mood those
traction wheels would assume the
size of a Ferris wheel and would
make it to the railroad in three or
four revolutions, but IT would be
probably a month making the revo-
utions. a great many years ago a
Northern man bought a farm west
If Artesia, and said 10 the prairie
1ucks: 4 am going 10 show you
ellows how TO farm, and what this
and Will do" And so he did. He
vas from a country where fat cul-
ure is the rule, and the best He
,rolze his fields broadcast and leyeled
With harrow and drag. The land got
vet and remained wet. In the late
pring, when his neighbors were
llowing their crops, he was wrestling
With that wet land. He planted his :
ands fat and cultivated fat, and [
made a fat failure. Too much rain I
or fat culture Flat culture and
ots of rain are things Of Lowndes :
asst of the river, but high beds and /
ry seasons for the prairie.
Some of our farmers complain OF =
he seed sent out by Mr. Gambler d
hey say they are old seed. and do
OF germinate. I mentioned the fact
D Mr.. Mitchell and he says if ne Is
lected he viii send the boys fresh
eed and of the best variety.
Boys, don't forget the Business
ollege. You may not have another {
uch opportunity 10 get a business
raining. If the old governor cant
ford it, sell that colt and top buggy .
nd light out 10 the college. One
undred dollars viii do you more
ood at his school than four hundred
t the A. and NJ, with their mess
all mess. The writer undertook TO
xpose the A. and NJ. once upon
me, but now the expose Is coming Z
rom within.
Look here. Dan, none Of your Hirt-
lg with old Johnnie, or he may meet .