The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-05-13

land enough or force enough to keAl
two horses at work, it is very doubt
full whether it will pay him to buy "a
second mule, and feed him. while
much of the time he is standing
idle
Let Us see how much that extra
! mule costs him. Value it at 5000.
The interest on the money will be
at least $14. The deterioration
from increasing age and danger of
death at least 500 Shoeing. SO:
and feed 500. We will offset the at
! tention by the manure. SO this addi-
tional mule will cost the tenant about
$144 year. He will not need him
except in breaking time, for. if
course, it is conceded that he must
have horsepower enough to culti-
vate his crops. Can he afford TO
pay out this much in order to
break his one-horse farm with a
two-horse plow? l have watched the
matter with some interest. | have d
tenant who has been doing fairly well
with one horse, saving something
every year. Last year he wanted to try
Two horses, and though this has
been the best year we have had for
some time it is the first year in
which he has fallen behind. He in
creased his yield somewhat, but not
near as much as the increased eX-
pense. The interest and the feed
bill did it, The horse is one Of the
heaviest of the farm expenses. and
feel satisfied that it rarely pays to
keep more horses than you have
land and labor with which to keep
them employed.
There is another trouble with US
in the Cotton Belt Neither the
cotton nor the corn is usually off
the land before December; and by
that time the wet season has set in
and there are not many days when
the ground is dry enough TO plow
and especially TO subsoil. Under the
usual methods OF planting, even the
horses we have are idlest in the fall
the very best breaking time. In
til we adopt some method of getting
the land cleared of the crop in time
for the fall breaking. an extra horse
would 'e an added cXpens, and q
useless burden
/! however man can get his
'and cleared % the crop, aAu wants
to plow deep, he need not be deter
red by the fact that he has but one
horse. If. instead Of filling each
furrow with its successor, and
breaking the land fiat" he beds il
in the fall. in ridges IL to IS inches
apart he will leave the subsoil ex
posed then he can come back to it
and %ink one, two or three burrows
with Z. bull-tongue plow, going deep
er, and doing, the work better than
If he plowed one furrow with two
horses and lroke it fiat. When lands
are broken and left flat, the freezes
pulverize the surface as fine as
flour; the rains puddle it, and turn
it into paste like dough, SO that
the spring often finds the plowcd
land with crust harder than where
no plowing was done This is not,
however, the case where the land is
broken by fall bedding. The ad-
vantages of this method of break
ing are:
CD We can plow the soil when it
is in proper condition, and wait un-
til the subsoil is dry enough to plow
without sticking?
(2) We can plow deeper, one horse
under this plan going deeper than
two horse with the co, ered-furrow
method.
CD We have almost twice the sur
face exposed to the action of the ale-
| i'''iiN' w iilN IL NOllNNIl ctIlll To SOll.
Cd The freezes do not pulverize
| the surface and leave it whore il can
puddle, but it falls into a furrow
| leaving fresh surfaces exposed to oxi-
dation and nitrifaction.
CD The rains do not strike tho
surface squarely, and beat it hard
but wash of the sides, constantly
leaving new parts exposed.
co 1t leaves the subsoil "toothed
and the soil tied to it, so that the
danger of washing is greatly re-
duced.
% In clay subsoi5 it tends t.
conserve the moisture and prevent
I Secping too rapidly down the hills
I,