The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., July 09, 1910, Page 481, Image 5

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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FIELD VIEWS FROM ALABAMA TO VIRGINIA.
Conditions in Kentucky and Virginia as Compared With Those
In the Cotton Belt—By Combining Grass and Live Stock With
Cotton, the South Could Become Rich.
By J. F. Duggar, Director Alabama Experiment Station.
TRIP OF ABOUT a thousand
miles made with but a single
change of direction, and vet
included within only five of the
Southern States, afTords an oppor
tunity for a fuller realization of the
vast extent and varied resources of
this region. From Montgomery,
Alabama, straight northward clear
across Tennessee and Kentucky, and
thence directly eastward through the
bluegrass region of Kentucky and
the mountain region of Virginia, the
traveler passes through regions in
which the types of farming are so
widely different as to dispel any idea
he may hnve had that we of the Cot
ton Belt are very nearly the whole
of the South as regards agriculture.
As I left Montgomery soon after
a period of rainy weather had be
gun, young grass was painting lines
of green across many a field, crowd
ing the young but thrifty cotton
plants, and promising only trouble
for tho farmer who should not have
ample labor to attack the grass vig
orously as soon as the rains should
cease. But corn was rejoicing in
the damp soil and giving grounds,
In its rapid growth and dark green
color, for the hope that the harvest
of this crop In the far South would
be a most bountiful one.
On the other hand, throughout
Keutucky corn was barely large
enough to be worked, and some of It
so small as to be searcely distin
guishable. To one Just a few hours
away from the well grown corn of
the Cotton Belt, the corn of Ken
tucky and Virginia seemed abnor
mally late and none too full of
promise.
VSBUI liiiuuiH wery it iivi u now
parently yielded poorly. Never be
fore had I noticed over bo wide a
territory such a large proportion of
oat fields In which the stand was
poor. The rains had evidently come
too late In most regions to permit
oats to tiller out freely or to reach
the normal height. Single fields
bearing good crops of oats consti
tuted shining exceptions and Im
pressed anew the old, old lesson that
the results of the host farming may
he to overcome the most unfavorable
conditions.
In parts of the grazing country
pastures were short, but the grasses
thrifty. In other sections recent
rains had pushed the weeds to the
point where the eve alone could not
distinguish whether weeds or clover
and timothy were to be the harvest.
Considering how large a propor
tion of the lnnd In Kentucky Is In
grass, one Is struck with the com
parative Infrequency of herds of cat
tle. The steers seen on pasture
showed chiefly Shorthorn bloed, and
many of them were types that would
not he approved by feeder or buyer.
Can It he that recent high prices of
beef have resulted in so depleting
the supplies of cattle on the farms
that their scarcity is noted even by
a ear-window observer? If so, we
need not look for lower prices of
beef and beeves, within any short
time.
In traveling through the tobacco
regions of Tennessee and Kentucky
the scattered patches and small
fields of tobacco give no idea of tie
great value of the aggregate product.
Front the wheat fields of Tennes
see through the bluegraBS region of
Kentucky,—the land of hemp and
horses, through the picturesque
mountains of West Virginia and Vir
ginia. and down again Into the val
leys of the Piedmont region of Vir
ginia not a stalk of cotton is to be
seen. I* or the most part, houses and
barns give evidence of prosperity.
If only we of the Cotton Belt could
make a judicial division of our fields
between cotton and grass and grain,
we should enjoy a double prosperity.
Yet not all the difference is in the
crop and in the people. We in the
land of cotton have no home for
bluegrass, hemp, and cherries, and
not always the beet soils for wheat
and apples; but we have substitutes
for all these, especially for blue
grass; and certain deficiencies in our
soils that unfit them for the grasses
and clovers of cool climates we can
partly overcome by many an im
provement in practice and by many
a substitute of less renowned, but al
most equally valuable, forage plantB
and crops.
A Home-Made Clod Masher.
Messrs. Editors: I want to give
you my simple clod masher, made
of three-cornered fence rails and a
few 30-penny wire nails. No one
need to have clods long. So here it
Is. One or two mules and a boy can
a
drag down clods to perfection.
Leaves the ground smooth for the
mower after sowing peas. It beats
anything I have ever tried.
JOSEPH HINSON.
Monroe, N. C.
Editorial Note.—We think the
above diagram and Mr. Hinson’s note
will make the construction of this
clod masher plain to any reader. It
consists simply of two fence rails,
put together In V-shape, with other
rails nailed across them and the
hitch braced to two or three of these
cross pieces so that It will not pull
out. Two-by-slx or three-by-four
scantlings would evidently make a
very efficient crusher.
Six Years of Crimson Clover from
One Sowing.
Messrs. Editors: A friend heard a
conversation between two farmers
telling how to make land as rich as
yon want It In six years. I will it
to you.
One man asked the other, "How
did you get your land se rich? I
was on your farm about ten years
ago and it was very poor. I was on
it last week and it was as rich land
as I ever saw.”
The other said, "Yes, It Is as rich
as I want it. I got it rich in this
way. I sowed my place In annual
clever, and when I laid my corn rows
off I left 18 inches between each
row. I made my rows wider than
usual, about 5% feet wide, and cul
tivated the corn until I laid it by.
Then the clover was well matured,
stalks and all. When the dew had
dried off the clover, I split this 18
inches of clover in two with a plow,
throwing half of it one way and half
the other. The plants being hard
and dry, the seed scattered and re
seeded the land for another year. I
did the same the next year, leaving
the 18 inches in middle of each row
and so on, for six years. Each year
I plowed a little deeper, until on the
sixth year I plowed 18 inches deep.
At that time my land was as rich as
I wanted it. I find now my land
does not wash nor does dry weather
effect my crop. I only bought seed
one time and it re-seeded the land
each year by bursting open the 18
inches annual clover when I laid
by my crop.”
This story sounds reasonable. I
shall try it myself.
H. E. CREWS.
Cotton Crop Conditions.
The Crop Reporting Board of the
Bureau of Statistics of the United
States Department of Agriculture es
timates, from the reports of the cor
respondents and agents of the Bu
reau, that the condition of the cot
ton crop on June 25th was 80.7 per
cent of a normal, as compared with
82.0 on May 25, 1910; 74.6 on June
25, 1909; 81.2 on June 25, 1908,
and 79.5 the average of the past ten
years on June 25th.
Comparisons of conditions by
States follow:
June 25, 10-Yr.
States. 1910. 1909. Av’ge.
Virginia . 81 76 83
North Carolina... 72 75 82
South Carolina... 75 77 80
Georgia. 78 79 80
Florida . 82 88 85
Alabama . 81 64 78
Mlssisippi . 81 61 78
Louisiana . 77 62 79
Texas . 84 79 79
Arkansas . 77 76 81
Tennessee. 82 80 84
Missouri . 80 83 83
Oklahoma . 88 84 82
California. 95
United States .... 80.7 74.6 79.5
How to Kill Nut Grass.
Messrs. Editors: On a 2-acre plot
I broadcasted barnyard manure and
planted an early crop that came off
about the 1st of June. Then sowed
down in field peas, which grew so
fast that the nut grass did not have
any show at all. Do not cut the peas
off soon enough to give the nut grass
a chance to go to seed. Best to let
the hogs graze them down and you
will not have any nut grass at all
after the third year.
R. T. SINGLETON.
The Progressive Farmer and Ga
zette is one of the best, if not the
best, agricultural journals published
anywhere—North or South. It has
been full of good things—up-to-date
ideas, eloquent exhortations to better
farming, big corn crops, and “what
not” for a year or more. I read with
care every number, and am tempted,
sometimes, to wish that I had as
large a field for action.—Col. R. J.
Redding, in Atlanta Constitution.
The short road to success is more
leguminous crops, more stock and
more manure spreaders.—Albert
Murphy.
We are manufacturers of Belt-power Balers.
Horse-power Presses. Spike-tooth Harrows, and
Rotary and Revolving Harrows. We want every
farmer that reads this paper. If in the market
far some of the above machinery, to write for
printed matter and prices. We will save you
money.
WIRTZ A HERNLEN, - Augusta, Ga.
The Celebrated TORNADO Line of
Feed and Ensilage Cullers, also Tubular Silos
We can furnish you complete equipments for the preparation and storage of
L ensilage and all other rough stock foods. Our Machines are the lightest running;
with Self-Feed and nnueual durability. Power
and capacity figured on a seas engine baais.
Our Silos are equipped with our patented
door system; continuous, interchangeable door,
forming a complete ladder and abaolutely air
tight.
Manufactured By
W. R. HARRISON & CO.,
Maaaillon, - . Ohio.
li necessary to prepare seed so they can be fed in a bal* I
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