The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1912-07-11
BY G. H Arros0 of the INC Service Bureau
THE SOUTH

, 10 own mower or D1nQer ana WOrl
!, for his neighbors at reasonable price
Now is the time to get our mower
and binders ready for work. Let u
sharpen the sickles, oil the bearing
and test the machines on the grass be
fore our oats are ready to cut. 1t i
also advisable to have an extra binde
tongue, a knife, and several extra wing!
and arms for the reel ready beforehand
for repairing breakages.
We should harvest our oat crop early
Cutting should begin as soon as about
is per cent of the field has turned
yellow-juss as soon as all the grain il
in the dough stage. Oats should not
be cut while wet from dew or rain.
There should be thresher in every
neighborhood for threshing all kinds
of seeds such as oats, wheat, rye,
barley, kaftir corn, sorghum, grass
seed, beans, and peanuts.
Many farmers will find it profitable
to own thresher for use on their own
farms and they can at the same time
be of great service to their neighbors
by threshing for them at q reasonable
price.
The oats should be threshed as soon
as possible, but should not be threshed
when grain is wet from either rain
or dew.
Store oats in bulk and not over three
feet deep. Be sure and examine grain
daily for at least three weeks and
turn with shovel, if there are any indi-
cations of heating.
The packed, crusted soil should not
be exposed to the suns rays single
day after oats are cut. We should use
disk harrow and make the surface
for two or three inches as fine as
possible for cowpea, SOY bean or
peanut crop. By the use of the disk
harrow, we can thoroughly prepare
several acres of stubble land every day
for these crops At this season Of the
year we are usually very busy and are
often unable to spare the necessary
time to break the stubble land with
plow.
These leguminous crops are valuable
on account Of the nitrogen and the
humus-making organic matter they
contain. When they are harvested to
be fed to live stock, nearly half the
nitrogen and humus-making materials
are left in the roots and in the bottom
of the stems and in the leaves, and
other portions of the plants not OBJ
tained in gathering the crops. The
results Of the Calhoun, La, experiment
station show that one acre of Spanish
peanuts grown on poor pine land con-
tanned 1872 pounds Of nitrogen; an acre
of cowpeas. lOS pounds; and an acre Of
soy beans, 100 pounds. These crops
made from two to three and half tons
Of feed stuff, richer in food elements
than wheat bran When such feed
stuff can be grown after oats and fed
to stock without serious loss of fertiliz-
ing value, is there any excuse for culti-
waiting poor land and for having poor
livestock?
The advantages Of growing cowpea
crops are briefly summarized by the
Louisiana experiment station as fol-
lows: First, the cowpea is nitrogen
gatherer; ,itshades the soilin the
summer, keeping it in conditionmost
suitable to the most rapid nitrifca-
tion and leaves it friable and loose and
in the best possible condition for fu-
ture crops; third, it has large root
development, and hence pumps up
from a great depth and large area
the water, and with it the mineral
needed by the plant; fourth, its adapt
ability to all kinds Of soils stitfest
clays to the most porous sand, fertile
alluvial bottoms to barren upland; fifth
it stands the heat and hot sunshine
of hot climates, sixth, Its rapid growth
enables US to grow two crops on the
same soil; seventh, when sown thickly,
it shades the soil effectually, smother
ing out all weeds and grasses, and
thus serves as cleansing crop; eighth,
it is the best preparatory crop known
to the southern farmers every kind
of crop grows well after it; ninth, it
furnishes most excellent hay and
most excellent food In large quantities
for man and beast.
The following is summary of Far
mers' Bulletin, No. 1926: In 1905 the
farm described in this bulletin pro-
duced one-fourth bale OF cotton and
fifteen bushels of corn per acre. In
1905, after crop of cowpeas, IL pro-
duced one-half bale of cotton and
thirty-four bushels of corn to the acre.
After cowpeas and an application of
800 pounds Of commercial fertilizer,
nearly three-fourths of bale CT cot
ton to the acre; and after cowpeas and
clover continuously for two years, one
bale of cotton per acre.
This moving machine. thresher and
hay press made it possible to utilize
the cowpea grown on this farm not
only for feed and seed but also as
source Of considerable revenue. The
machine, the thresher and the
hay press will make the cowpea one Of
the most profitable crops that can be
grown.
The following is a summary of Far
mers' Bulletin No. 372:: Where inten-
sive farming is followed, the soy bean
is the best annual legume to grow for
forage in the southern part Of the
cotton belt. The soy bean whether
used as hay, grain, or ensilage is a
very valuable live stock feed. Soy
bean hay is practically Identical in
feeding value with alfalfa and yields
from two to three tons per acre.
Soy-bean grain is more valuable than
cotton seed meal as supplementary
feed in the production Of pork. mutton.
wool. beef. milk and butter. a buShel
of SOY beans is at least twice as val
liable for feed as bushel Of corn.
AS the grain is hard. it is usually
desirable to grind ii into iEe.! f2r
feeding. This is best done by hn!:..!ii@
with corn before grinding TO pFe'.s;i'
= Plant The cowpe.,,. soy beans and
tho Lowell and cultivate on