The courier-index., 1920-06-18
(By Eugene Butler in Progressive
 Farmer.)

tarmer.)
 During these days of forty-cent cotton a farmer must have iron in his blood if his faith in a well bal anced cropping system is not as sailed with m4givings. It requires real faith in 1ne wisdom of diversi- fication to pasture an acre of land that will grow from one-half to a bale of 40-cent cotton. But be that as it may, some years ago J. R. i Felton who owns 1000 acres of ridge land, a few miles north of Marianna, at Clifton, Ark, decided that on his poor land the only way to make a decent living was to in- crease soil fertility, and forthwith he made plans to do so by putting one third of his cultivated acreage in cotton, another third in corn and the remaining third in pasture and small grain. This year he cannot help but feel more or less envious of his brother farmers that live over in the delta just few miles away and who are loaded to the guards with cotton; but he rightly believes that the success or failure of a system of farming should not be judged by one years results, but over period of years that will | include not only the fat cotton years but the lean ones.
 The land on MT. Felton's place was rather poor when he purchas- ed the farm and put into effect his plans to build up fertility. It is silt loam formed from the wash ings from Crowley's Ridge, and or dinarily is probably deficient in both nitrogen and phosphorus. Real izing the folly of attempting Go grow profitable crops on a soil so poor, he has put into effect soil building rotation by dividing his $50 acres of cultivated land among the crops about as follows: 250 acres of cotton, approximately the same acreage of corn; 1855 acres in pas ture and about 165 acres in wheat, oats, rye, barley, cowpeas, etc. Con- densed in a few words his plan has been to grow cotton, corn, hay and livestock as cash products, depend ing on livestock and green manures to maintain and increase fertility to the point where he will be able to
 
 and as far as is practicable produce 7 his living on his own farm.
 Good Pastures the Keynote
 The outstanding feature - the thing that makes MT. Felton's place something more than an ordinary farm-is his ability to make and maintain splendid pastures. He has ok meadow divided and fenced off into fields, as follows: 50 acres in Der muda, with light scattering of bur and white clovers; 35 acres in Der muda and a light stand of lespede- ga; 45 acres in lespedeza and Der muda; 20 acres in bluegrass, bur clover and a small amount of or chard grass and redtop; and IS acres of wet land in lespedeza, tim othy, alsike and bur clover.
 On MT. Felton's place is 20 acres of ground that according to old settlers was the first land cleared in the community. For years and years after the timber was removed the land was cultivated in unpro- fitable crops of cotton and corn. Four years ago MT. Felton broke this land in March, and after thor oughly preparing the ground he planted a mixture of about 15 pounds of bluegrass, 12 pounds of orchard grass and 8 pounds of red top. The following fall three or four bushels of bur clover seed were scattered over the field and | lightly narrowed in. Now he has bluegrass pasture that would do credit to Kentucky or Iowa. The bur clover has also come along in fine shape and taken possession of those spots of ground which the bluegrass has not fared so happily. While there is considerable competi- ton between these plants as rule, they seem to be living peaceably together in this pasture. Strange as it may seem this, this splendid growth of bluegrass was obtained without an application of lime on land that, while far from being sour, is certainly not rich in cal cium.
 Over in another 5O-acre field is perfect sod of Bermuda grass that must have fattened many an animal during the past summer for even in November, and while par tially carrying 65 head of cattle, the grass, although dry from the recent frost, stood four to six inches high and covered the ground com pletely. Scattered through the field here and there will be found white and bur clover plants that give promise of winter grazing when they become better established.
 Originally an attempt had been made to cultivate this field in corn and cotton but it was so uneven and the soil so inclined to wash during even a light rainfall that an un- slightly gully of such proportions as to prevent riding and driving through the field soon appeared. To prevent further damage MT. Eel ton levied off the field as much as possible by filling in the gulley with brush wood, soil, etc, and set out Bermuda grass. The Der
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