Sharp County record., 1914-11-13
WEEKLY LETTER OF
JOHN H. PAGE
Commissioners Says Raising
Hogs Is Best Paying Work
on The Farm.

DrOK6> more Ut lGSS vi lllCll ldllu III
the fall and all who did will know
the benefits Deep fall plowing is
the first important step in good seed
bed preparation for spring planting.
1t is best to break about an inch
deeper every year until you get
down to depth of eight or ten
inches. Even deeper than that is
good, and when followed by a sub
soiler it is still better. By deep fall
plowing the vegetable matter is
tur ned under, decays and adds fer
tility to the soil. The deep ploWing
loosens the earth so it will absorb
and hold water when it rains, and
the land will not wash so badly, if
at all. The land will retain its fer
tility and it will be increased by its
decaying vegetable matter.
If sowed with rye, so much the
better. Rye will give you a winter
cover crop, which will tend to keep
the plant food from teaching out
the soil. 1t will afford light pastur-
age and can be turned under in the
spring to further enrich the soil.
Where it is practicable the cotton
fields should be plowed between
the rows and planted to rye.
1t is a settled fact that there will
be a reduction of the cotton acreage
next year. This will come as a re-
suit of the exercise of good jude-
ment on the part Of the farmers,
merchants, bankers and landowners.
Other lines Of farming must and
will be taken up. In making these
changes attention should be given
to live stock. Growing cash crop
of any kind every year and taking
it off the farm and selling it is
bound in the end to run down the
fertility of the soil. Something
must be put back on the land to
keep it up. Your own observation
and experience has taught you that.
There is no better way of keeping
up the land than raising stock. You
feed the stock, and the stock feed
the land.
| believe raising hogs is the best
paying work on the farm. You can
raise crop Of hogs as quick as you
can raise crop of cotton. To raise
hogs prohtably the brood sows
should be bred during November
and December, so they will bring
pigs in February or March. Some
kind of a pasture should be prepar-
ed for the pigs to run on next spring
and summer. You can SOW some
rape when you have nothing else to
SOW Rape will pasture from fifteen
e to twenty head of hogs to the acre.
Good brood sows will raise an aver
age of six pigs each, so two sows
and their pigs can be pastured on
one acre of rape. That will be bet
ter than letting them run on the
range, Hogs on the range contract
diseases easier than when kept up.
Brood sows should be bred to good
, pure-bred males. If so. and the pigs
, are cared for and fed and watered
we'll they can be made to weigh from
$50 to 200 pounds each next fall. A
good 2OO-pound hog is worth $500.
That is half the price of a bale Of
I cotton now You can raise an av.
erage Of ten such hogs on an acre Of
good land, where you could raise on
!. ly bale of cotton. If you will give
as much attention to raising hogs
! as cotton you will make twice as
\ much, If you have the cholera to
! contend with you can vaceinate
your hogs and keep 1t out | hope
to see the farmers turn their atten.
! lion to hogs, as the best and quick
est substitute for cotton. Meat and
7 lard Is high, cotton is low Raise
the high.priced product. A crop Of
hogs can be raised as easily as