The Southern farm gazette., March 06, 1909, COTTON SPECIAL., Page 3, Image 3

About The Southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1895-1909

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

© PROF. MASSEY S
Edit o rial Page.
The Best Money Crop in the United
States for Good Farmers.
itK TJMK is not far distant In the South.
w ' * ho man who follow* the ol l planting
i • 4 ! d d* vote* hi* land t<> cotton alto
)?.(h*r galv.mixing hi* old dead soil into tem
fjcr.»r :.!• with commercial fertll1*ers. will b«
U»ok*u n a« badly behind the time*
\ t.• * agricultural ♦ ra iw downing in the South.
.’*r l farming i- taking ‘he place of planting, with
a mot } cr« p on which the South ha* the cinch on
tb. Wi r’.d. th« r«' i* no reason why the an rage cot
tec crop of the whole Cotton Belt should be K<**
than -b pound* of lint per acre a* it 1* to-day.
\V;tfc hundreds n<.w making a bale per acre.
SEli h» re .i!;l Ih< f I- nfi. mti-fni* J .. , 1... t. i.. ...»
dor. ..a -he low average Is made by men who are
growing co**on at an appoint* b ks It was form
erly thought that while rotate, farming ws* all
rig’ ;n th»* Nor' h »i'h th* g am and stock farm
ers there. 1 ’all’ ifig w a* the oni\ method for c *1
•on wearing out » t ie-', of land and turning It
on! to brootusedge and ; i « * and charing up an
other piece, tjn t he s< u*h le « ame COV ere*d with
eld fl’ id* and l>r<»< tu*< Ige s< ratrhing the land
With a ore hof"e p’< w or even with a bail tongue
• furnishing no d*-» p be 1 to hold the water in
'he soil, th* uplands h«-cam<* seamed with hideou*
gullies, and large areas became wholly Irreclalra
1 > Surh ha* been the r*-*u!t of the planting
.'b a, and the parcelling otjt of *he land * > tenant
roppers has made no improvement, but has c«»n
’ In • d the old w a***
J*
\ man in North ^*ar lina some years ago *aid
that he made cotton at a emt of two and a half
’ * *•’* a pound 1 * . rr< pp. r< md plant* r-< make it
at a co* t of six or seven c*« ' * n poun! Another
> 1 farms •
. cres of land He made it b> bringing up his
land, accumulating humu* through the «•*«• of S«
, urn* crop* and th* making of manure from feed
>:*£ these, and hi* cotton did not cent «lt nr *ev.
c* t.' i round
\nd yet. there are thousands still » bo Imagine
'! •»* all they n«ed i> to get ft formula for .•» f» r
' ■ r mixture for cotton to make it gro» on laud
’ ' ha*> grown cotton c*<ntinu*»usi> for years, and
* h;< h i» literally a dead mixture of sand and clay,
d*»titut« of the 111* giving humus
1 haVc often ' ; l that this js ti.one form
of gambling ll certainly is not farming Ami
>et. ! ge* hundreds of Iciter# from men sh>> are
ruitivating th* so.i this *•»>. asking for fertiliser
h'nuiil *# f*• r cotton an 1 every other crop th*->
plant
.4
Kv r h< ar of th- S* *tch farmer’* *hea?‘* Stan I
ing by hi* fin*- field a pa*»er bv asked v* ha* h** ma
nured v* h WT brain*. sir We in n] t«» use
' .r 1 in* mo: * The cotton fields dl i not sud
denly ' < poor, a id they are not going to Mid
*1 ,•* i.< h and productive from t b«* applir.t
t*on of ti .ii* *i.il f«*rtlllx*-ra.
1 i»< < I hi1* i>* e s* »Uisl) lobbed year .* f *» r year
nf the 1: itnu- it had in the beginning an t the
kutnn n . * b« r* stored in th* *at»* * *•■ While
■ in.oions of dollars worth of nitrogen in
[U n • «l th« pi nt« • * mv hat k tho isands of
1",';'rs "f'fth to replace it. when by good farming
t!.1 > v. r g« r .ill they need free, and make money
in the getting of it
I he <«»tti»n farmer who buys nitrogen in a fer
,i! nr is simply not farming rigid, and is wasting
!'»' money, and making the < n»p r<*M more than it
s|«»tlll|.
I lo re Js no crop grown which tits in better with
..ii improving rotation than the cotton crop Only
>esterdav a farmer wrote to m«* that he made 100
! all s e• f cotton on So acres, and wanted to plant
a and in cotton again, and wanted me to ad
mso him about a fertilizer, as h-‘ Intended to use
‘■on to ! ooo pounds per acre on his cotton, evl
d* ? ?ly thinking that the way to increase his crop
V'.- ' to pile on mor« fertilizer, without regard to
the cost of the crop
to tting of big crops Is not always an evidence
i ^nd farming Wli.it we noil is economical
forming—business.like management tliaf will
to.'ik«• as wide a margin as practirahle iM-tw.-cn tiie
i mi in** tn»|i ami ini- m innjj jsrir*\ anc] ^ mod
Hmw th< ?t *»hnll »*• xro* cotton profitably? Hy |
mdng cotton aw a *»p,«'taltr and not at* a noli* crop.
Ihought Needed More Than
Formulas.
o i l ON i* (lie I****! own.-j crop in
the I nit**! and muwt |in'(lnili|o
farm . n»p tin* south can limr, if tin
’aniw r-» will l.iii farm. I hate n«* an logon twin
to ri'iiuiH-n li»l f*rt»lt/*rs, but I tunc a vrrjr
1 a % •■!> nnta^oiiUui f* *r the wiulWul nuniBrr
tu uhith ti»i y luic been u»o1 in the Soutil.
'!• n iv«k in*- for a formula f«*r cotton. )u»t
a*» th* j would a*>k for a meitictnr from a
physician wit limit letting him know tike
condition of ih«* |iaiiciit. .*n*l lo adtlwr wlul
to mix I* wry imi'li like «gtl» ultural
i|i..» ki>. wittce I cannot |»**%%it»|y know the
i»***|* i ( «x«*ry man * **»il. No <»nr but tin*
man xx In* cultivate* it ran find »*ut vilial a
%**ii n* **!*, and be only by *>fu<!t*»u* experi
menting.
* arranging a rotation of crop# that will
l i,, the roll In the waste I humus, making
a thr subsidiary rr‘ P* help in this, and giving
i '.ton the t». ? (et slltle chalice, by breeding up j
itr ««* d to greater pm Im iiv nra, cultivating the
< ; in .1 in* re economical way with Improved tin*
f»t• «h using ruule power in place of so much
!. mat t> having always a legume crop,
h «; u i-n clover to turn under and save the
h. « f nitrogen, by growing peas and making
tg< and feeding rattle and hogs, and thus get
mg n inure for the corn crop. Instead of buying
fertiliser for It
i h« n :h< only commercial fertlllier needed to
’» bought will be acid phosphate or floats and
p. ui !i for the cotton, and no fertlliter to be
,ght f«*r any other crop, unless w.> fin 1 it more
profitable to us* these oil the peas, and let them
<,o the re* ' Sidling no cottonseed, but exchanging
them it r tn* al ai d hull*. »«- shall feed the meal
„n<l put the hulls In the manure as bedding, for
.th plenty of forage We Will not need to t*i\ the 1
% i * ;i 1 energy of the tattle in frying to digest the I
hulls as food. They may be a little better than
[>ine shavings, but not much.
v<
Now, of course it is not practicable for me to
la> down rules for every farm, sinee soils vary so
much, ami a rotation that would suit on uplands
would not do on the bottoms of the same farm.
Hut too many cotton farmers having some fairly
good upland, have also some fertile bottom land,
and they conclude that th*- uplands will do for
cotton and the lowlands for corn, and do not trv
to make a rotation for either.
I one** undertook the improvement of a large
hill farm on which we had 135 acres of fine bottom
land. The hills were poor and washed, and 1 de
t» rmlned to make the bottoms restore some • the
fertility they had robbed from the hilR 1 was
feeding HI tiie crops grown to dairy and beef
stock, and wanted all the forage possible. The
bottoms were planted in corn f**r ensilage, and
red clover was sown among the corn at last work
ing. The next spring I cut a crop of clover ha>
and at once turned the sod nnd plant**! corn again.
sowing clover In tills too. In this way I got a
great amount of forage, fully two tons of hay and
twenty tons of silage every year, for that moist
bottom land with ten feet of soil could stand this
sort of work ! made thousands of loads of ma
nure. anti It went on the hills and told Its story
well there, and I grew niv grain corn on the hill
J*
Now. if every cotton farmer who has some rich
lowland would in a similar way use crimson clover,
and would have a silo to store th**corn In. what an
amount of feet! could he made, and what an
amount of manure for the uplands' Then with
the uplands in a three tor four) year rotation
manure enough to cover the corn tend that also
should be growing a crop of crimson clover, you
can cut the corn off and shock It to cure and put
the land In oats or wheat. If oats, sow in Sep
tember to get {4n early start. Follow the oats with
pea* for hay. and sow crimson clover on the p« i
stubble to turn for cotton In the : prlng. using
only acid phosphate and possibly some potash on
the cotton Sow crtm*on clover again on the cot
ton land In the fall, and get out all that manure
again on this for corn, and repeat. You will soon
find that what people call supplies," that Is the
corn and oats, will he assuming the proportion* of
a money crop, and you have bought no fertilizer
evrept for the cotton crop
^ °u will have n green winter crop on the land
every winter to wave the loss of fertility from bare
land Some years ago a little farm In the Cotton
Hell was SO poor That it would hardly start peas
I he above rotation was practiced, and It now
makes over a bale per acre of cotton, ail the h.iv
that can he fed. and corn like Kentucky.
Hut cotton and fertilizers alone will never do
this If you want to grow cotton cheap!), and get
big rro|M», jou niu-f feed cattle, and. «>f eour e,
must grow the stuff to feed them with. Hlg crops
of hay, corn, and oats tend toward tdg crops of
lotion through feeding and making manure, and
having waste of money in complete f rtilizers.
They nre not merely supplies for mules to make
rotton. but supplies to put money in your pocket
ind put you on a cash basis, so that when the cot
ton Is made |t belongs to >ou and not to the mer
hant and fertilizer man.
IP'tatUe farming, forage rai-ing, -lock feeding
ird manure.mak ing; well hrcd -ce<| and lah<>r
■-jniiig implement-; deep plowing and -hallow and
le\e| culli\illloii <*f the IhhsI crop*, make the onl>
n iul out from to tin* merchant and the fer
iih/er man—the only ronil to permanent pro*.
M-rit) for the tv»t|on |l«dt.
Excelsior Prolific Cotton Wood’s Improved Big Boll
We Originate It.
We Keep It Pu77. COTTON SEEP FOR SALE.
i t > < f i » ! i u <n Ir >M« ■( th< t«‘ >11 a • » • u | |M„t |mh*r tan<1 cotton erow tt, t»« -tier f<>r rl< h land. Yield* to t * tl i" r ■>» nl
11lit. V r« 4 k+t** I*er rtfff. Ouarautwd to out rlcld any other bit boil V*r!
\!r"TI.*'ta *v ? - II. ...a* * an t time that other I , {k fan i»lck one-third more than any other cotton I
‘,.1,1 , , gt a mu l’rl<» |nl' nhrl" 111 '<1 l*r !•>« nt imd flm |H»r huaticl, |0 buahcl h da, M.-Mi l*fr buahei. i ifdcr !•*«!.*> . bdon
■- • -.. -.
...- , JAMES WOOD, Brooks, Ga.
Excelsior Seed Farm Co., Box 74, Cheraw, S. C.