The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-06-18
When and How to Lay BY.
REGARDING even so simple matte!

as when should the cultlVdtlOn VI
cotton and corn be stopped, there
will be considerable difference of
opinion.
The principal purposes supposed to
be served by cultivation are the keep
ing down of weeds and the saving OF
moisture for the use of the growing
crop by preventing its evaporation
from the surface of the soil. These
constitute the essential purposes OF
cultivation and are supposed TO favor
the increased growth and production
of the crop.
If those were the only effects OF
cultivating crop, there could be III
tie difference of opinion as to when
a crop should be laid-by The answer
would plainly be, when the crop has
completed its growth.
But there are often considerations:
The cost of cultivation, late in the
growth of a crop, might easily be
more than the value of the increased
crop because of said cultivation.
Again, since the cultivation may be
given in such way as to produce
positive injury, the crop should be
laid-by before such cultivation is
given.
The writer is quite certain that he
has seen corn and cotton given cul-
tivation that should never have been
given. In short, cultivation that
cuts too many roots when corn is
setting it's ears, or when in bloom, or
at any other time during the latter
part of it's growth, may easily be
positive damage instead of benefit.
A cultivation might also cut enough
cotton roots, or possibly might break
enough limbs, to render it an injury
instead of benefit The early laying
by of the cotton and corn crops was
not an unmixed evil so long as the
turning plow was used with which to
lay the crops by. Nor is the early
laying-by of a crop to be entirely
discouraged, if the late civilizations
break so many roots that the plants
suffer more for lack of moisture than
they would if a few weeds were al
lowed to grow and the crust on the
surface was not broken.
If, however, cultivation of the right
sort is given it should be kept up un-
til the plants have nearly completed
their development or as near to that
time as the increase in crop will pay
for the cost of the cultivation.
1t is safe to state that our crops
are generally laid-by earlier than is
best and most profitable, provided the
late civilizations are given in proper
manner. The common belief that cul-
tivating a crop too late in the period
of it's growth is often injurious is al
most certainly due to the fact that
these late civilizations have not been
of the right sort.
1t is, therefore, apparent that
when" and "how" the crop is laid-by
have a very direct and intimate re-
lationship. In the first place, let us
lay down a rule that the crop should
be laid-by with the ground as nearly
level as practicable and with an i'm
plement that does not run deep
enough to largely injure the root sys-
tenn. Judging from the methods prac-
ticed, this rule will not be accepted
by the average farmer. A large num-
Der Of farmers do not lay-by the
crops with the surface of the ground
anywhere near level, and smaller
number, but still very considerable
number, lay-by with implements that
run deep enough to play havoc with
the root system of the plants.
1t seems necessary, in order to as
sure stand of early-planted cotton,
especially on lands not we'll or per-
fectly drained, to plant on at least
a slight bed, and we know of no sys-
tenn of cultivation which will enable
one to lay crop by on the level that
is planted on a bed. In fact, any
system of cultivation tends to make
the bed higher instead of lower and,
therefore, crops are not going to be,
and can't be, laid-by on the level so
long as they are planted on raised
beds. Our rule, then, is to lay-by the
crop as nearly level as practicable.
We think it just as certain that an
early-planted crop comes up better
and grows off more rapidly if planted
on bed, so long as it has sufficient
moisture, as it is that one year with
another the crops will do better the
latter part of the season if cultivated
level. But the two practices are an
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