Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1914-05-06

June. IL you get II started of grow
ing nicely in these months, given
good preparation, you stand a very
much better chance of making a good
crop, and YOU crop will stand adj
verse conditions better in July and
August.
If a pig gets ST. q ed in it's early
youth it is almost impossible to make
a good, rousing hog III OF it later.
II your cotton is stunted, or if it gets
sore shin or any of the other all
mentS to which cotton is liable. it
has to recover from this before 1t
can take on it's natural growth, and
1T never does as well as it would If
it had not suffered these troubles.
Side-dressing, by supplying plant
food, makes this plant vigorous and
healthy and strong, and it grows off
from the start. If you break your
arm and set it, and get it properly
set and properly knitted together, it
is never as strong as before it was
broken. "A bird with a broken wing
never scars so high again"
And so it is with your cotton. Early
attention and early fertilization is
more than half of the battle. There
is no question of embarrassing pay
ing. You notice what top dressing
did for grain this spring; as soon as
the top dressing was administered
the grain came out Of the kinks, and
if you administer side-dressing to
your cotton it will come out of the
kinks. The preparation for a crop
has been unusually fine this spring.
and where the preparation is fine the
farming is good, and side-dressing is
bound to pay.
Some farmers have found side
dressing Improbable; that is be-
cause it was applied too late. 1t
should be applied early-as soon as
you bring your cotton to a stand
because YOU 90 not care to side-dress
cotton that you are going to cut out;
and as soon as you get the grass out
OF your cotton, because you do not
care to s~ide-dress grass. Grass takes
care Of itself in a crop if let alone.
AS soon as this is done, then the
sidc-dre8SihG should be applied, and
you are NOS going to Apply too much
OF IL. Up : o a few years ago France
used more fertilizer shan the Whole
United States 81 America, and hey
did not use it all at once. either. The
French farmers make very fine crops.
In a few years people will wonder
why we use so little fertilizer now in
making crops. Joel Keys told the
writer Of a Mr.. Rogers, down in
Florence county, who side-dressed his
cotton every time he cultivated it,
and when he wound up cu~ltivating
his crop he had used about 1900
pounds of fertilizer to the acre; and
When he wound up gathering his
crop, he had gathered $50 pounds Of
lint cotton to the acre; not seed cot
ton-lint cotton, two bales Weighing
44O pounds each, to the acre. Now,
if this is not profitable, the most Of
us had better quit farming.
Side-dressing your cotton prevents
disease to which cotton is liable be-
cause it is stronger and better able
to withstand these troubles. 1t is
stronger because it is better fed. A
well-fed pig or a well-fed child can
resist disease better than a little,
stunted child or pig.
Then, when a mans cotton crop
grows off well-when it is green and
greasy and growing-it makes him
feel better; it encourages him to
work 1t better, and he will have a
better crop. Then, too, a man feels
his oats a little more with a good
crop than he does otherwise. If gives
him better credit and it gives him
better standing in his community
having a good crop of green, greasy
and growing cotton, than having a
little yellow, rusty, stunted humble
bee cotton. The time is past when a
man can maintain his responsibility
and grow bumble-bee cotton. Some
people complain that they cannot get
their hands to side-dress crops, but
this Mr.. Rogers had no trouble Of
that sort. He is like the centurion
spoken Of in the Good Book-when
he tells a nan to do n thing he does
it.
If you apply all your fertilizer
when o plant your, cotton the
spring rains get a part Of it, the grass
gets a part, and the cotton that you
cut out in reducing your crop to a
stand has taken a part, so your re-
naming crop gets probably not
more than half of what you put
down.
Now, suppose you use 400 pounds
to tie acre of 1922 goods. You
will have 1913 ounces Of ammonia.
Half % this has been taken up by
the rains, the grass and cotton YOU
nave taken out, so o would have