Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-01-01
ABOUT HEDGES AND BERMUDA.
Senator Tillman Shows How Gully
Washed Lands Can Be Reclaimed.

|
Of the State and character of the soil
in upper South Carolina understands
why the soil washes away SO badly.
1t embraces fully one-third Of the
| State. Portions of this are much
more hilly than the rest. On certain
soils OF red kind, owing to the freez-
ing and thawing in winter, the wash
ing and denudation Is much more
marked. ANY land In this region
grows Bermuda grass admirably, and,
even where the soil is gone, If the
land Is broken deeply and a little
stable manure used, Bermuda soon
sods 1t over. On land entirely de-
void Of soil, or extremely poor the
best way to secure a Bermuda sod is
to sow rye and fertilize with COM
mercial fertilizers. That plant grows
with less humus than any Of the
| grains and the roots will serve to
give the Bermuda foothold if the
rye is grown and allowed to rot on
the land. Once sodded and put in
pasture it recuperates and it's fertil-
ity is restored very rapidly. The
| trouble with growing cotton on such
land, as has been too long the GUS
tom, is that having lost it's humus, it
washes very badly and soon becomes
! sterilized or so poverty-stricken that
it will not grow anything profitably.
When the land has been pastured
several years and the Bermuda sod
! becomes set and grows all over it, an
admirable crop Of oats can be grown
on it if commercial fertilizers are
! used in the drill when the oats are
sown and no injury will result to the
! grass at all. Oats should be sown
every third or fourth year in such
soils. In fact it makes better pasture
| for plowing it up deep and turning
| the Bermuda roots under the land
Such farms can be made profitable by
stock-raising without the necessity
Of growing cotton. Cotton, as every
one knows, requires hoeing, and hoe
ing Bermuda sod Is costly and labo-
rious. There are thousands and tens
Of thousands Of acres Of land in the
Piedmont or regions north of Colum-
bia that are very badly quilted or
washed. These soils have all the
mineral elements in ample quantity
to grow fine Bermuda grass. All they
need Is to get this grass on them and
use them as pastures, alternating
with oats as have already indicated.
! There are many thousands of acres
| "I land originally very fertile and
Janaely Yoodo1 vhicGare now Hiyeu
over to p0"egts-stricknQ olo-Gald piGe
..icHets EUN OF guIlioa, whero the
I f7--TC.s ->tte-- e. ttt+-
vigor usual with that type of trees.
How to restore these now barren and
useless acres to productive agricul-
ture is one of the problems which
| Clemson College seeks to solve. On
its own farm at the college it is show
ing the possibilities Of recuperation
coming from Bermuda sod on lands
once quilted and washed away. What
can be done at the college, aud has
been done, can be done throughout
the Piedmont region Of the State.
The only drawback to making land
profitable for stock-raising Is the
lack Of fences. ANY one familiar
with the expense and trouble of keep
| ing up wire fencing must welcome
the hedge plant that will grow under
| favorable conditions and produce a
fence in from six to ten years, ac-
cording to the way it Is treated. Such
a plant is the Citrus Trifotiata or
hardy lemon. l have known the
value Of this plant for twenty years
or more. DR.. G. U. Sheppard, at
Summerville, and F. ]. Berckmans, of
Augusta, Ga, have grown the hedge
successfully for thirty years or more.
l have on my plantation at Trenton
more than half mile of such
! hedge, and it makes a fence entirely
impervious to stock of all kinds. To
use the old Saxon adage, it is pig
tight, horse high and bull strong"
l doubt very much whether even an
elephant would like to tackle 1t for
the millions of thorns are very strong
| and sharp, and the bush, which be-
comes a small tree when neglected,
has very stiff stem and is not easily
bent.
The only enemy / know, and the
worst one to the citrus hedge, Is fire.