The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1911-07-28

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natural order malvaceae
which, through the down of fine cellu.
lar hair attached to its seeds, supplies
the raw material for some of our
greatest industries and for the largest
part of the clothing for all nations.
Among the most reliable resources of
the southern farmer should be counted
the profits arising from the sale of his
cotton seed. From this is obtained
the oil, meal, cake and bulls. The
oil is utilized in making oleomargarine,
butterine, cottolene, and when purified
makes an excellent salad oil. The
meal and bulls are utilized in the feed
ing of stock, besides supplying him
with an excellent fertilizer.
Selection of Seed.
The farmer should make q selection
Of some well approved variety. Some
varieties are far better than others
After making selection the farmer
can still further build up the quality
of his cotton by watching its growth
and making selections of seed for his
next years planting from the stalks
which have yielded the largest num-
Der Of bolls of fine quality and have
shown themselves capable of resisting
any disease that may have appeared in
his crop.
Preparation and Cultivation.
OF course. the first step is thorough
preparation of the land. Turn up the
land well with a turning pillow: then, if
the land requires it. subsoil. Next har-
row and roll, the object being to make
a thoroughly pulverlzed seed bed, so
necessary in the growing of any farm
product. Next put on the amount and
kind Of fertilizer needed, either by
broadcasting or drilling, or open the
burrows and bed on the fertilizers. If
they are put between the rows. When
ready to put in the seed small part of
fertilizer can be distributed with It,
AS is well known to every southern
farmer, cotton requires a great deal of
sunshine. 1t must be so managed as
not to overtask the land by requiring
the stalk that there will not be enough
left for the nourishment of the fruit.
If the plants are allowed to come ND
too close together the result will be
too much shade and too much running
of the plant to stalk. Apply the same
principles to the selection of your seed
that you would to any other crop.
Then put them in the well prepared
soil at the distance of twelve to TWEEN
ty-four inches in the drill and in rows
from three to six feet apart The
proper distance must be determined
by the fertility of the soul The great
thing to be desired is that the stalks
when grown should barely meet in the
row. In this way there will be Sc
cured to the plants the strength of the
land for the fruit, thus greatly increas-
ing the average production to the acre.
Before cotton comes up harrow well,
using the best modern tools. The OBJ
ject in this is to loosen the crust as
well as to kill grass and weeds, al
ways 81 Ieduy 10 spring up.
If when the, cotton has come up the
plants should be too close together
thin them to a stand Then use mod
ern harrows and cultivators, which
can be obtained at any store which
deals in farm implements.
Proper preparation and cultivation
of soil are impossible with the anti
quated tools of past generations. No
farmer can hope to get the best results
from his land without the use of i'm
proved plows, rollers, harrows, plant
ers, weeders and cultivators. The man
who will persist in the use of old time
tools and methods need not be sur
prised if his neighbor leaves him far
behind in the race. The old fashioned
tools will not properly pulverize the
soil; hence many clods are left unbro-
ken or to be broken one at a time.
With improved implements he can
pillow the land to the necessary depth |
and then crush the clods on a strip
seven or eight inches wide across the |
the surface will kill the weeds, not al
lowing one to reach height of even |
one inch.
Fertility.
A judicious use of fertilizers will |
enormously increase the productiveness
of the fields. The composing of COM
mercial fertilizers with animal ma
nures, mari, muck and cottonseed will |
greatly reduce the cost of fertilization.
All the manurial resources of the farm
should be gathered together and saved |
under shelter that they may be ready
for application to the fields at the
proper time.
Right here we think it appropriate to
quote the saying of Mr.. James NJ.
Smith of Oglethorpe, who declares that
the COW or steer is our best fertilizer
factory. He has proved his faith by
his works and has confirmed the faith
of others who hold the same opinion.
For many years he has kept on HAND
800 head of cattle, which he pastures
in the summer and feeds in the winter
on cottonseed meal and hulls. together
with other forage usually fed the
stock He has from 70 to 100 milk
cOws-Jerseys, Devons and Holsteins.
Some are pure and others are mixed
breeds. These cows have furnished
each year 10000 pounds of butter,
bringing from IS to 25 cents per pound
Moreover, he has been able
70 sell about 100 head of cattle each
rear without diminishing his herd,
rom which it is plain that there is
steady increase of his cattle.
His cattle are kept in an Enclosure Of
fifteen acres, being moved occasionally
N another lot and avarv month or 81