The courier-index., 1920-06-18
Ala Eastern ArkdnsGS Farmer
 WhO is BeIieUer in Soil Building


erected without 0lfflcuIty. Mir Felton tried broadcasting pieces of Bermuda sod over the field and discing them in and also dropping the sod in furrows at reg ular intervals. The first method is cheaper but does not give so good a stand. He therefore figur- ed out way to reduced the labor expended in dropping the sod at regular intervals. He first streak | led off, shallow furrows about two and one-half to three feet apart. Every sixth row was then made a Iheap row; that is on every sixth row he placed his piles of Bermuda, cut in pieces three or four inches square. Negro boys carrying the sod in baskets dropped pieces about a foot apart in the furrow. Now ordinarily the wagon loads of sod would be dumped in one of two places at the edge of the field and it would be necessary for the boy to retrace his steps to refill the
 basket with sod. But MT. Felton watched the boy drop the peices of sod and soon was able to make a I close estimate as to how far down the furrow a bushel basket of sod
 would carry the boy, and at this point on every sixth row he placed Ia pile of sod. As result of his iforethought when the boy had emp tied his basket of sod there was no waste of time in retracing his steps to the edge of the field to replen-
 ish his supply; he merely stepped
 over a few paces to the heap row and without loss of time refilled his basket. After dropping the sod
 a furrow was thrown on the sod to
 cover it.
 I Good Farming Call. for Good Fencing
 | MT. Felton realized that it is inn
 possible to do the best farming with
 out good fences. He has his pas
 ture lands divided into six fields and
 enclosed by strong serviceable fen
 ces made of 36-inch woven wire topped by two strands of barbed
 wire. Such fences when strung to we'll seasoned catalpa and mulberry posts, as is the case on the Felton farm, will turn any kind of live stock and will prevent the stretch ling of the fence by horses and cat tie. | Along with good fences should
 go plenty of non-sag gates to all
 low easy passage from one field
 to another. Mir. Felton has 52 gates on his place, so he does not
 often have to climb fences or walk
 very far to pass from one field to another.
 After getting good pasture, Mr. Felton does not allow a weed inva- sion to crowd out the pasture plants. He has to contend with bitter weed but he does it successfully by mow- ing the pasture once, twice or three times during July and August to prevent the bitter weed from mak- ing seed. Another factor in his successful pasture-making is his pol icy of not overlooking the pasture with stock. He believes it is just as easy to kill out pasture grasses by extremely close grazing as 1t IS to kill bitter weed by moving re- peatedly.
 Breeding up the Native Cattle
 After establishing pastures, MT. Felton bought a few native cows of the kind on a par with the ra- zor back hog which, along with the book, "The Slow Train Through Arkansas" have been effectively used by bigoted critics in slander- ing the state of Arkansas. To use on these misfit cows MT. Felton purchased a purebred Shorthorn bull of good type. The influence of the purebred sire on the pro- geny was so much greater than that of the scrub COW that the first cross produced an animal that closely re- sembles a purebred. There are 65 head of grade Shorthorns on the farm, having from one-half to sev- en-eights pure blood.
 MT. Felton is also collecting a herd of purebred Shorthorns, hay ing at this time 30 cows and calves of the breed. The surplus bulls are being sold and the heifer calves are being kept to enlarge the herd.
 With large acreage of perma- nent and temporary pastures, sup plemented with corn silage and le- gume hay, the feeding livestock IS a simple and economical matter on any farm. In feeding his grade and purebred herds of cattle he has Bermuda, lespedeza and white clov- CT pastures during the summer. Dur ing the winter he has a small acre age of bluegrass and bur clover that may be utilized although the bur clover does not make it's best growth until early spring. In other words he has enough pasture during the ordinary open season to carry ms cattle without the use of any other feed, while during the winter months he has small acreage that may be grazed during good weather. Dur ing the winter the cattle are shelter ed in a sheaylike barn and fed si- lage once a f1ay and all the lespe- deza hay they care to eat. It would be a difficult matter to find more economical ration, and yet the cattle seem to be in good shape.
 Mir. Felton grows about 25O acres of cotton but as he picks his crop ha dooc not have to rIlSh if on the