The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1915-09-29
ANOTHER Big BLOW
GIVEN KING COTTON
Impetus Given TO Diversi.
fled Farming Saturday.
THREE SPEAKERS
ADDRESSED MEETINGS


Of the Assembled Farmers and Bust
ness Men mt the Meeting Saturday.
Instructive and constructive are the
words that best characterize the ad-
dresses made at the farmers meetings
held in the court house Saturday.
Prof. e. A. Spencer, of the Presbyt
tcriau college at Clinton, and Prof. r.
l.. DeShields, Of Clemson college,
spoke in the morning and DR.. w. w.
Long, of Clemson college, spoke in the
afternoon. DR.. Long was to have spoll-
en- at the morning meeting, but was
detained out of town and did not ar
rive until too late to speak. One Of
the concrete results Of the meeting
was the decision to have one of the
Clemson experts visit this county pc
riodically to supervise the feeding Of
several carloads Of cattle. Since 1t
would be difficult to secure a sufficient
number Of young cattle in this county
for feeding purposes, it was decided to
points and ship here. He said that
they could be bought for five cents a
pound. Those who would like to CO.
operate with others in buying a car
load were notified to advise Mr.. John
I'd. w. Watts, county demonstrators,
either In person or by letter within ten
days Of Saturdays meeting. Quite a
number have already entered their
names for five head and more The in
dications are that several hundred
head Of cattle will be fed in the coun-
ty under Clemson supervision.
Prof. A. e. Spencers address was
devoted to Impressions of his visit
with other Clinton men to Rock Hill
to view the Cherry alfalfa farms and
to the information which he secured
while there. After praising the hos
pitality of the Rock Hill citizens very
highly he went into the details of his
trip there. AT the outset he said he
was impressed with the fact that the
advantages Of soil and climate in the
vicinity Of Rock Hill were no better
than in this county and that applica
tion Of intelligent methods had made
the difference in the prosperity OF the
two sections. Alfalfa, he noticed there
was growing in small plots every
where, even in the front yards of the
city. The Cherry farm consists of 2l7
acres of alfalfa, in addition to other
crops, ,land 80 acres will be seeded to
alfalfa this year. He said that Mr..
Cherry averaged flvc cuttings Of alfal-
ia per year, with an average OF IA tom
per acre at each cutting. The cured
hay sold for SIS to $40 per ton, but
that he expected to get even more, pos
sibly $40 per ton by erecting corno
mill and marketing the product to bet
ter advantage.
The cultivation of alfalfa requires
constant attention. TO secure good
stand, land Is broken in the fall and
planted in a cover crop, using two tons
OF lime In the spring this is turnod
under and two more tons OF limC are
used. Then SOW peas and cut before
allowing to go to seed. In the fall of
the year. break again and allow to set
tic and then disc both ways with a disc
harrow. Allow it to stand a few days
and then put In the alfalfa seed, using
from 8 to 20 pounds Of seed per acre.
TO secure results the seed must be
inoculatcd, inoculaton fluid being Sc
cured from tho Washington govern
ment. This should be ordered early,
as the demand generally exceeds the
supply The first years crop will not
be as large as succeeding yeaF9 and
ideal conditions require re-sceding
about every ten years. The plant
should not be allowed to go to seed
under any condition. If weather con-
ditions rctard the growth of the plant,
cut just before seeding whether 1t has
attained to much growth or not, being
careful not to cut low enough to reach
the sprouts Of the next crop under
meath. Mr.. Spencer said that 1t Is not
advisable to go into the cultivation Of
alfalfa on large scale without prcvi-
Gus experience. One or two acres Is
as much as small farmer should
plant at first and this might be in
creased from time to time to at aeast
15 acres, which is the ideal kdeage