The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-08-14


pack them down in this furrow.
Ridge and plant over them. and you
will find that the dry corn stalk is
the best manure you can get except
green pine boughs.
Now, why Is there manure In the
Dry corn stalk and green pine bough?
Because the stalk will take up water
and air for the plants and in the
dryest of weather it remains wet and
rotting and gives the, roots air anil
sweat in time of need. c. p. p"
OF course. the burying of corn
stalks or any vegetable matter to
decay in the soil will in this decay
contribute to the retention Of mois-
ture in the soil, and will add its mite
towards the accumulation Of humus
In the soil. But our friend starts
with the assumption that the corn
has been stripped and topped and the
stalks left in the field. and that in
stead of having something more on
the land than stalks. the farmer is
going to plant that same land in corn
or some other hoed crop. In the
first place, stripping and topping
corn is a bad practice, for it has
been proved time and again that the
man who pulls the blades and tops
his corn has lost just about corn
enough to pay for all the fodder he
gets. and thus has his labor wasted.
The way to handle the corn crop
Is to cut 1t at the ground and cure it
In shocks. and then feed the stover,
and all that the cattle do not eat will
be acting as an absorbent in taking
up the liquids. Then if he goes fur
ther and runs the whole through
shredder. he will have still more of
1t eaten and will have the refuse in
the best shape for absorbing the ma
nure. Then. If that manure is spread
evenly on the land. he will get more
benefit than from dry corn stalks
and will not be obliged to bed over
1t, but can plant level and work level
and keep the turning plow out of the
field after the crop is planted.
And more than this, the thought
full farmer will have peas and clover
In after his corn crop and will have
mass to turn in the spring that will
be worth hundred times as much
as a few stalks buried in the row.
Burying corn stalks or green pine
boughs in the furrow is simply an
acknowledgment that the SOM needs
organic decay. and placing these
things In the furrow is simply doing
a great deal of needless work to
accomplish what might be done on a
broader scale over the whole land i'm
cheaper way. by growing legumes
and feeding them and having good
manure all over the land instead of
few stalks in a furrow. If cotton
were to follow this burying of the
stalks in the beds, the chances are
that before the stalks could decay
you would have the beds so dry that
you would have poor stand Of cot
ton. If instead Of few stalks in the
burrows. you had the whole land fill
ed with vegetable matter, the case
would be vastly better
The turning plow should never go
into the corn field after it is planted
but the smoothing harrow and the
weeder should be used from the tiu,e
the corn is planted till it is tall
enough to use the riding cultivator
ana cultivate both sides Of the row
at once and save the greater par. oc
the labor. i rode not long since from
Wilmington, Delaware. down through
that beautifully cultivated section.
ana l did not see a field i'm which q
man was going two times in a row,
Out IN every field l saw men riding
on cultivator with two horses and
working the land level and doing the
work better and faster than two men
with single horses could have done
IL. And ] saw there the cleanest Of
ilelds and no clumps of bushes here
ana there i'm the field. no patches Of
broomscdgc, but wide fields of corr
ana clean, broad fields of wheat then
/ ha I
thought as my train whlrled alon"
through these beautiful farms. that
| wished all our readers could see how
| crops on land not a bit better natu-
! rally than thousands Of acres of She
Southern uplands. They cut theil
| hn