The weekly Iberian., 1915-05-29
SOUTHWESTERN
REFLECTIONS.

Untuwatd circumstances o
cold, excessive moisture and ex
cessive drought lnterfered greatly
with planting operations in South
weat Louisiana thls season Al
result corn which should now
he "lald off, has In many cases
just received its first working
while some crops are only nov
coming out Of the ground.
In many cases lateness il no,
the sole trouble with the corr
crop A bad stand in a number
Of fields promises to aid the back
ward spring in producing short
crops This makes 1t imperative
that the farmer should exert him
self to the utmost while II ia yet
time TO do so, TO get az much az
possible out of his corn land.
Cow peas ought 10 be planted in
generous quantities on every acre
of IT,
But y wide-awake farmer il
Acadia parish advises this Bn'
reau that for several years he has
been unable to produce COW pear
on his land. The vines grow lux.
uriantly, they even bloom, bui
they produce 40 pods of seed.
This Information was convey ed
to Professor Dedson, Dean of the
State College of Agriculture al
Baton Rouge, with the request OF
such information as bis expert.
mente might suggest The reply
was, that complaints Of this
character are becoming quite gen
eral in many portions Of the State
s'In some instances. says the
Professor. ''farmers have been
| able 10 solve this problem by
growing the New Era COW pea, ol
a variety Of more recent introduc.
tion, the Brabbam. We have
tried to associate the failure with
fungus disease or with insect in
jury, but have been unable to es
tablish any direct connection be
| tween the failure of the seed crol
and either fungus or insect inflic
tons.
This information IL worth mon
ey to the farmers of Southwest
Louisiana If only they will act in
telligently upon 1t. Cow peas arc
rich in those properties which &c
to make nutritious food for men
and beast. The vines gather nj
trogeD from the air and store II
IN the soil, thereby greatly enrich
ing the land. Therefore, they
ought to be planted on every acre
Of corn grown In Southwest Lou
isiaDa. Especially Is tins impor.
tant at time like this when, be.
cause of imperfect stands the
yield per acre seems to promise to
be short.
But when both seed and vine
are wanted-and every farmer
ought to want both-plant the va
rlety Of seeds most likely TO pro-
duce both. This isn't intended
as q boost for any particular vari-
ETY. of seed 1t 10 information oh
tanned from the most reliable SCI.
entific sources, and 1t Is given ont
solely to help the farme to MAKE
the best of the conditions by
which he Is surrounded.
Every farmer should bear 10
mind that the richest soil IN the
world will break down under a
system Of cultivation which takes
from the soil continually and puts
nothing back into it. Deep plow.
ing In the Fall, winter cover
crops, to be pastured aud turned
under In the Spring, crop rotation,
COW peas, soy beans and velvet
beans, utilization Of all barnyard
manure, and shallow cultivation
Of crops will make any land grow
more fertile from year to year,
while taking all and putting moth
ing back will exhaust the richest
soil.
Plant COW peas IN every acre OF
vonr corn this Ef1mmer. If You
can't get the variety Of seed you
may prefer TO plant COW peas any