Southern cultivator. (Augusta, Ga.) 1843-188?, December 01, 1870, Page 443, Image 33
« Agri<R!tnre is the General Pursn'.t of Man: it is
the Basis of all others, and therefore, the
most Useful and Honorable.’’
lie gait to
ATHENS, GA.
VOL XXVIII. DECEMBER I, 18/0. NO. 12.
/ % P
BY WM. & W. L. JONES.
Editors and Proprietors.
ADJUSTMENTS ON THE FARM.
Some of our readers have taken exception to
the adjustment of crops, proposed in our No
vember No., because so much land is appropri
ated to cotton. We have never thought it wise
to take ground against planting cotton, except
by advocating warmly the planting of an abun
dant provision crop; and this, as our readers will
bear us testimony, we have invariably done.—
For even in the programme alluded to, where a
maximum cotton crop is provided for, ample
provision is still made for food, both for man
and beast —23 acres of food crops against 10
acres of cotton. The cotton question we im
agine is one, which supply and demand and
the fluctuations in prices consequent on these,
will regulate, and nothing else can. When cot
ton brings good prices, nothing will prevent far
mers from making as much of it as they possibly
can—when the price falls below a remunerative
point, no argument is needed to turn attention
away from cotton to other crops.
To come back to our adjustment. In order
to establish a smooth working rotation, we find
it convenient to reduce the numbei' of acres in
cotton to seven—and our crops to each hand
would then stand:
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR.
Cotton 7 acres.
Corn 3
Wheat 1 “
Oats 9
Clover and grass, &c 10 “
30
Thirty in all, instead of thirty-three. The ’rota
tion proposed can be better presented in tabu
lar form. Suppose the farm divided into three
fields of 10, 23 or more acres each, &c. &e., ac
cording to number of hands employed.
Yr. No. 1. No. 2. No. 3.
Ist. Corn & Cotton Wheat & Oats Clover.
2d. Wheat & Oats Clover Com & Cot’ll.
3d. Clover, &c. Corn <fc Cotton Whe’t& Oats.
4th. Corn & Cotton Wheat & Oats Clover.
There is some doubt about the propriety of
following clover with cotton, as both are broad
leaved taprooted plants—experiment alone can
test the question satisfactorily. Again it is diffi
cult to get a cotton crop off the ground early
enough to sow it in small grain—but inasmuch
as highly manured lands mature their crops very
early, wheat might without interference follow
cotton during the first weeks of November. Oats
would require to be sown earlier; fortunately the
experience of the last two years 1 as shown that
oats may be sown and covered at the last plow
ing of the cotton and succeed admirably. See
article on p. 295, current volume. We are in
formed that the farmers of New ton county in
this state, have adopted the plan with eminent
success—and during a recent trip (October 20th)
on the Georgia Rail Road we saw several fields
of cotton in which the oats w r ere up and looked
finely. Being covered with a sweep there was a
strip of bare ground in the middle of each alley,
but it is said that by spring the oats will so spread
as to pretty well meet across the rows.
Another point about which many of our read
ers will doubtless have considerable difficulty, is
the possibility of raising clover successfully in
our climate. On stiff 1 red lauds or those with
good clay subsoils and on valley lands, we don’t
think there need be any doubt. On light sandy
soils clover does not succeed; on such lands peas
might be substituted in its place. See article p.
426 present number, showing how r easy it is to
make a crop of this valuable plant—which can
be converted either into hay like clover, fed to
stock on the land or turned under as a fertilizer.
Indeed after gathering a crop of peas, the vine
and leaves wxuld furnish still a first rate dressing
443