The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-12-16

four horses TO pull them. 1t IS practically
impossible to do good blowing with the
one horse pillow still so extensively used
in the south. OF course, the one horse
pillow is not so generally used in our ter
ritory as it formerly was, but in March
counted 1So one horse plows at work
preparing the land, to nineteen two horse
outfits.
"The complaint is general that the
large plows, and especially the large disk
plows, require SO much power to pull
them, that they are not practicable for
the average farmer. OF course, if man
has not the work stock to pull large
plow, he should obtain the necessary
power before buying the plow, but good
possible without these, and therefore, our
aim must be to increase the work stock
as rapidly as possible. No pillow that does
effective and economical work is going to
run easy. Usually plow does effective
work in proportion to the power required
to pull. The one-horse farmer is of
necessity an inefficient farmer. 1t is
simply impossible for any man to proper
ly and economically cultivate the soil
with one horse or mule. In Mississippi
we have less than one mule or horse
to each farm worker. Our earnings are
consequently small, To increase our earn
ings we must obtain the help of more
live stock. There are states in which the
products of an average acre, sell for less
than the products of our average acre,
and yet the tilers of those acres earn
FIVE times as much as we do Why? Sim
ply because they have five times as many
dairy cattle, and five times as many
horses working for them, and five times
as many improved implements to work
with. We must have two, three or four
horses to pull our plows, and other large
more efficient and economical imple-
ments. Our great need today is more
farm work stock. We must have it to do
good blowing.
"When land is thoroughly pulverized-
that is, when the soil particles are broken
up very fine and of uniform size, its ca
pacity for absorbing and holding water is |
greatly increased. Land that is hard and
run together neither takes in so much |
water nor does It hold it so we'll. The
depth of blowing also influences the I
storage capacity of the soil for water. The
deeper the soil the larger the amount of
water it will hold
LANDS which have tendency to wash
should be broken deeply, but they should
not be fresh plowed, if they are to be
left bare, without growing crop on them,
during the seasons of heaviest rainfall.
The work which will now yield the best
reward for our most energetic efforts, is
the breaking and preparation of the lands
early in advance of planting
to insure the possibility of the best pos
sible seed-bed, 1t is not advisable to plow
Of break all lands early in the winter, es-
Decially those having a tendency to wash
badly, but large part of lands may be
broken in the winter, and
those covered with grass, weeds
and other trash be broken sufficiently
early to insure the rotening of this matter,
and the proper settling Of the soil before
time for planting. This usually requires
at least months time. No part of our
farm work is more defective than the
manner in which we fail to properly pre-
pare our lands for planting, and in proper
ton to the labor and cost, no work we
can do will yield better reward in in
creased crops.
'1n these times of strenuous life, no
one can afford to let opportunities slip
by him in days of idleness. The business
and professional men who succeed, give
six days of active service fifty-two weeks
in the year, and we must learn to use
the winter months in careful preparation !
for the next seasons crops When this is |
done it will be found that they are by no
means the least valuable months of the
year.
LET us start now to prepare for next
years crop. There is no greater defect
in our farming than our failure to proper
ly prepare the lands for next crops. We
have ample time to do this work. Our
winters offer little obstruction to field
operations, and there is no excuse for
insufficient preparation of the seedbed.
We can do this without capital and it
will add greatly to our harvests."
Prof. E. R. Lloyd, director of Farmers
Institutes, was the next speaker. He said
that farming could be made success
if the proper methods of the systems Ill
vogue were carried out. He explained
how old lands could be made to produce
fair crops, and said it wasn't the fault of