The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1909-07-29
Southern Agricultural Topics.
Modern Methods That Are Helpful to
Farmer, Fruit Grower and Stockman.

Hints About Flowing and Cultivation.
In turning clover or any green
crop do not aim to flop 1t completely |
over, but edge up the burrows NO
matter II the clover is not all hidden.
II II is turned under Cat there is dan
ger that the layer of vegetation will
cut of the rise Of the capillary moist
ure and the crop may suffer in dry
weather.
Hence, I would edge up the fur
rows even If there is a good deal OF
trash left on top. 1t will do no harm
there. Then determine once for all
that you will turn the turning pillow
out of the field entirely after the crop
is planted. Harrow well before 1t
comes up. Then use the weeder both
ways and destroy the weeds when
small and save hoeing. There is no
need for hoe or pillow in the cornfeld
If you work 1t right
Cultivate perfectly level and shall
low and do not make burrows around
the hill to fill with water and start
gullies when they break over, Above
all, see that the blowing is deep and
that a bed of loose soil is made to re-
tain the water and not let It run
down hill. If all our hills on the
Piedmont country were plowed and
subsoiled a foot or more in all, there
would never be any need for terrace
II when the land was broken there
was always some dead vegetation to
turn under to hold the soil together
II is shallow blowing and the lack
OF humus-making material that have
made terraces necessary. The good
farmer will soon be able to dispense
with them, as he will dispense with
the purchase Of nitrogen for his crops.
Good blowing and shallow and level
cultivation will go a long way toward
that getting OF $500 more a year
from the soil In fact. believe that
with the great awakening In farming
in the South we are going to have
several times that $500 on Southern
farms.
Then, too, do not be beguiled into
stunning your crops of corn or cotton.
Stunting the growth OF plant can
never do any good What the crop
needs is plant food in the soil and
good, clean cultivation and no tearing
of the roots with a pillow or sweep
stock. Level and shallow cultivation
is just as important with the cotton
crop, too, as with the corn crop, for
the roots of both run far and wide
across the rows.
Then do not walk four times
through every row, but get two
horse cultivator and ride through
once and leave the row better cult
waited. Save the human labor wher-
ever you can. The weeder will save
as much in the cotton crop as in the
corn field. Run both ways, it will
break the crust and kill the little
weeds and you will only have to hoe
to a stand. The hoe has been well
called the most expensive tool on the
farm. for every hoe needs man, and
one man with a weeder can do more
than ten men with hoes.
In one section where the farmers
have pretty we'll abandoned the ridg'
ing up of their corn in laying by
found the same men n!lling up theiI
tobacco, which needed 1t no more
than the corn. When you cannot gel
close to the tobacco with a mule,
garden rake will clean 1t faster anc
better than a hoe If the weeds were
not allowed to get a strong start.
More mule work and less hand
work should be the aim OF every
Southern farmer, making machines
take the place of human hands.-Pro
fessor Massey.