St. Tammany farmer., 1911-07-22
st. Talllmany Farmer.
July 20. 1911.
WHAT FARMERS WANT TO
KNOW.

Carolina writes that his neighbors
tell him that he must use a sweep
or plow in his cotton at laying
by. Wants to known my opinion.
A sweep or turning plow In cotton
field is q relic of old methods that
are passing away. II cotton is plant
ed with dropper at regular intervals
and the first cultivation Is Win
weeder or smoothing harrow, there
will never be any need for noe
or a sweep or a plow in the field.
The nearer level the cotton is plant
ed and cultivated the better. Plows
and sweeps have been NEEDED where
the cotton Is planted on a high bed
and no cultivation is given to destroy
the grass in the rows till it is neces-
sary to cover. it with earth as the
only way to kill it. But il the sur
face is gone over rapidly with the
harrow before the cotton comes up
and once afterwards, the weeder 10
then used, there is no chance for the
grass to get start and, of course,
NO need for covering it or "dirt1ng
the cotton as they call 1t. Then,
too, in the rolling uplands where our
correspondent is farming, one OF the
most important things is to avoid
making burrows to gather water and
start gulley. Nothing on these
land starts more gulleys than the
practice Of bank the earth upto the
corn or cotton at laying-by. When
the torrential rains come these fur
rows get full of water and break over
one after another, and a gulley
Crews rapidly down the hill. If the
rows were cultivated perfectly level
there would be chance for a head
of water to gather. The best imple-
ment in the cotton field after the
use of the harrow and the weeder
is the two-horse riding cultivator,
with which one man will do more
work, and do it better. than three
men and three mules with sweeps.
Burning Out Stumps.
II have been told that saltpeter
applied to stumps by boring holes
in them, and allowing it to remain
several months, will permeate the
whole stumps and roots, and the
stump can be entirely burned out in
dry weather. Do you know that this
is true?" No, do not know that
i is true. Have often heard it SO
stated, and have heard of people try
ing it unsueeessfuliy, and am Of the
opinion that it Is doubtful: / have
burned out the stumps of the long
leaf pine without any difficulty, as
they are full of turpentine. We
simply dug down well alongside the
stump and started a fire and the
stump burned out easily. 1t was
done on contract for $8 an acre.
When to Sow Rape.
when should rape be sowed for
early fall pasture?" For early fall
feeding / would sow the rape in July
In rows like rutabaga turnips and
cultivate 1t. 1t can also be soWed
but you will set better
crop in rows. For late fall and
winter, SOW in early September. Use
the seed of the variety known as the
Dwarf Essex.
The Best Late Cabbage.
"What is the best cabbage to SOW
tol winter, and when should the
seed be sown?" use what is called
the Premium Late Flat Dutsch. Sow
the seed in a very. rich bed at any
time from middle of July till first Of
August, and push the plants along
with plenty of water and set in rich
and moist soil early in September
and cultivate wefl.
sllphate Of Potasb.
"if suiphate OF potash is SO per
cent potash, what 10 the rest?" Sui
phate is a combination of sulphuric
acid and potassium, and the re-
mainder is, of course, sulphuric acid.
Just what the result is in the soil
/. is hard to say 1t is probable that
es the potash is used by plants the
suiphuric acid 10 set free and then
combines with the lime In the soil
and forms plaster or lime sulphate,
and may in this way result in soil
acidity by robbing 1t Of lime carbo-
nate.
Phosphae in Manure.
"Is it profitable to compost acid
and manure?" 1t has been
found that by adding acid phosphate
to stable manure the efficiency of
the manure was more than doubled
even when only 40 pounds of the
acid phosphate were mixed in ton
al manure. Where the manure is
TO be used In the furroW | consider
II very good practice to add lOO
pounds of acid phosphate to each
two-horse wagon load of manure.
mixing it well in loading.
How Cowpeas Can Make Land Poor.
i An Arkansas friend writes that he
was somewhat surprised at my state
ment that taking a crop OF peas on
land twelve years In succession
would impoverish the soil, as ne
thought that the longer the peas
we're grown the better they would
make the laRd, Doubtless, If the
peas were made into hay aad fed
and the manure returned to the land
that grew them, there would be no
mnoyerishment. But taking any
crop off the land year after year
and returning nothing, can but lead
10 soil to depletion, and as cowpeas
draw very heavily on the phosphorlc
acid and potash in the soil, they Will
certainly reduce the amount OF these
slaiess they are kept supplied WITH
them. Peas get for US the nitrogen
In the air and combine It ~ organ,c
matter and thus give us not Only
nitrogen. but the organic matter 70
aid in the increase of the humus In
the soil. But they get all the pnos-
phnric acid and potash they use from
the soil. and the supply of these muSt
hs maintained or the soil VIII 3
the ioser. Peas are an invaiuabif
crnn when rightly used, but II VII
not A IA lump to the CONCLUSION
that YOU can take any crop on .ne
land wear after year without running
it down in fertility.
Curing Peavine.
Mr. i. q. Ross says (and ! suppos'
a hundred or more farmers have tolt
mo the same thingl: II always cur
a. professor Massey advises ane
90 80 : crnn IF hay b,