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'1 WORK DELAYED
r l/K ACCOM PUSHED AS YE I
JECAUsK OF TIIE RECENT
STORMY WEATHER.
jTEVENS GIVES MIS OPINIONS
Agricull iiral Commissioner Writes of
Conditions In Georgia at Pres
ent ami the Ontl olt.
Atlanta, March 1, 1899.
f?ince my last letter we have had most
on favorable weather for farm work.
Hence but little has been accom
li.-hed upon tho farms during the
south of February.
The passing of the old year has car
ried with it a sad experience for many
tit us, in our farming operations and
business transactions generally. aho
now year was ushered in with the usual
good resolutions by our farmers; in fact,
the majority of us are trying to do bet
ter m the future by correcting the mis
takes of the pust. It is to be hoped that
the present year will mark the begin
ning of what may be regarded as a now
era; that the smouldering embers of for
eign war and internal dissensions will
be amicably adjusted, and our nation
will settle down to business once more,
with a future so bright that tho average
mind will but pnrtially comprehend the
magnitude of its results and possibilities.
The new year is remarkable in more
than one respect. It brings us not only
lace to face with new and strange polit
ical questions, but the long hoped-for
prosperity promised us by tlie present
federal administration upon the settle
ment of these questions. During the
past iive years we have traveled wearily
through a most trying period of depres
sion. Met on all sides by discouraging
conditions, wo have had many hard
ships and set-backs, but much of it has
been our own fault. We have the rem
edy in our ow n hands for many of our
troubles. Will we apply it, and apply
it now 1 ’ As I see it, the remedy lies,
first, in tho farmer raising his own sup
plies at home, ample and sufficient; then
raise as much cotton as you can. When
your barns are full, your mules will do
good day’s work. Your cows give
unl,k, and your butter is sweet, rich and
©f a golden hue. Your hens lay every
day, and your hogs are healthy and
prolific. But when your barns are
empty, your mules have the lampers or
blind staggers, your cows have hollow
horn, the featherq on your hens are
turned the wrong way, and your hogs
get lousey and have the mange.
I speak to the farmers from practical
experience. I was born and reared in
Southwest Georgia, in the heart of the
cottou belt. I belong to your profes
sion, am one of you, and I know
that no man in that section can
produce cottou at the present price,
to the neglect of his plantation
supplies. lie cannot keep up his
farm, support his family and educate
his children. Y"ou may take the best
fanner in Georgia,.let him adopt this
plan, and it will only be a question of
time—the end of that man will bo bank
ruptcy. Do not misunderstand me. I
am not against the production of cot
ton as a product, because Georgia is a
cottou state, and we need a cotton crop
as well as other products, but not to the
exclusion of other crops. Therefore, let
me beg you, once more, to arrange and
diversify your crops, so that this fall we
tuay arrive at the gates of prosperity, to
tee Btretched peacefully before us the
broad, rich and sunny fields of industry,
laden with the golden fruits of con
tented toil—a picture, as well as a
reality, which all the people of Geor
gia will hail with joy.
There has beeu a great deal of com
plaint, in a general way, that the in
spections and analyses of fertilizers, af
ter all, have been unsatisfactory. I
have, therefore, determined to make a
complete and thorough inspection of all
guanos, in every section of the state.
To this end, if at any time a consumer
er retail agent may desire an in
spection of any brand of fertilizer, he
can. by giving notice to this depart
ment. have a sample taken by an au
thorized inspector, and the same shall
be analyzed by the state chemist; pro
vided. however, that in all such cases
samp.es shall be taken from unbroken
bags or packages. The consumers pay
the tax on guanos.and it will be my pleas
ure to see that they are amply protected,
and it shall be done, even though it
take all of the fertilizer tax to accom
plish it. All I ask is the co-operation
•f the farmers of Georgia.
In the face of a short corn and forage
crop the farmers generally, throughout
the state, had determined to sow more
largely of grain, but the weather condi
tions have been very unfavorable for
both fall and spring seeding; hence the
acreage both for wheat and oats falls
far short of what we at one time ex
pected. The spring sowing of oats has
been seriously damaged, and in many
sections entirely killed. Of course, this
is a heavy blow to the agricultural in
terests of Georgia; but we must meet
these conditions as best we can by sub
stituting such forage crops as are best
suited to our soil. I would suggest the
planting of an acre of sorghum, an acre
of rye, an acre of millet, an acre of oats,
an acre of early speckle peas for a for
age crop Use the best land at your
command, with special care in the prep
aration of the soil, and manure liber
ally. You can increase or decrease the
size of your lots as your needs may sug
gest. These crops can be cut in the
green state, as you may need the for
age, and allowed to dry a day or so be
fore feeding.
As farmer- are from three to five
weeks behind with their work, especially
plowing, .many suggestions made in my
February talk will le applicable for this
month’s work—hence, I would ask that
you read again our last mouth’s “Talk,”
as well as the questions and answers
therein contained. Do not, in your
haste, plow your lands too wet—neither
will it pay to plant corn until you have
thoroughly prepared your soil for the
grain. I would rather be two weeks
late til seeding my crop, with the land
well broken and bedded, taking special
care to put in compost or commercial
manure, than to plant tho usual time
with the ground hastily and ill prepared
and the grain and fertilizer put in in a
careless manner. “What is worth do
ing at all, is worth doing well,” applies
with peculiar force to farm work.
O. B. Stevens, Commissioner.
As to Onion Planting.
Question*. —Will you please inform
me how many onion sets I will need to
plant one acre in onions? I would be
glad to have any ini urination in regard
to onion planting, culture, harvesting
and marketing the same.
Answer. —The onion crop is regarded
as one of the most profitable of the gar
den. It is usually grown from sets
sold in bunches in the green state; how
ever, many gardeners raise their own
6ets and save the expense of buying
them. This can be done by selecting a
poor piece of land, pulverizing the soil
with a plow, harrow and rake. It will
take about four pounds of good onion
seed to plant one acre if you have a
machine, otherwise, it will take a little
more if you use the hand. Sow in rows
about nine inches apart. Skip every
seventh row. This will form an alley
18 inches wide. As you want a small
bulb, sow thick. Take up the sets, say
about Aug. 1, well dried, place in your
barn loft, spread out not more than
four inches thick. When frost comes
cover with straw or hay about six inches
deep. In the early spring you have
your own sets for use.
As you want, now, the biggest onion,
you want the best soil at your com
mand. Broadcast aud plow in well
rotted manure at the rate of 75 tons per
acre. Again, your preparation of the
soil must be thorough and deep, and
the land put in perfect order. Plant
sets in rows 9 inches apart, leaving
the seventh row* for an alley. Place
sots in the drills at the distance of 9
inches apart, pressing the bulb firmlv
down, right side up. Close the rows
with a rake or the foot. Roll the
ground well and make it compact. As
soon as you can plainly see the onions
begin to start up, use the hoe in the
middle, aud where you cau not use the
hoe, use the fingers in breaking the
ground around the plant. Two or three
good workings, if done at the proper
time, will be sufficient. It will take
from 9 to 10 bushels of sets to plant
an acre, depending upon the size of the
sets.I—Staie 1 —Staie Agricultural Department.
Points on Upland Klee.
Question. —I want to plant a few
acres in upland rice. Please give me
some information on the subject.
Answer. —lt is a matter of surprise
that more upland rice is not planted in
Georgia, as it is a healthy food product,
liked by most people, easy to raise and
productive iu yield. Any land suitable
for corn or cotton will answer for rice,
though new ground is preferable be
cause of greater ease of cultivation.
Prepare the land well, lay off rows 15
inches apart, use a good, complete com
mercial fertilizer at the rate of 200 or
300 pounds to the acre in the row
aud cover it so as to leave a low,
flat bed. When danger of frost is over,
open a shallow furrow and sow the seed
either in a continuous row, or what is
perhaps better, drop 8 or 10 grains every
10 or 12 inches in the row. Cover
lightly, cultivate shallow, only being
sure to ctlt down all weeds and grass,
as rice is a tender plant when young
aud is easily crowded out by any other
growth.
Harvesting should be done when the
upper half of the head is ripe. The straw
will then still be green, and after cur
ing makes fine forage for horses and cat
tle. Cut and place the “hands” on the
stubble to dry. In 24 hours of good
weather it will be sufficiently cured to
tie in bundles and house or stack.
Never tie in bundles while the straw is
damp. The grain can be separated
from the straw either by flails or thrash
ing machines. The great difficulty
with most farmers is the cleansing of
the hulls from the rice. This can be
done in a wooden mortar with a wooden
pestle, but this process is very slow and
laborious. Small rice mills can now be
bought for about S3OO, and there should
be one in connection with every large
ginnery in the state. The knowledge
that rice could be cleaned for a moder
ate price would very much encourage
the growth of this valuable grain, and I
believe such mills would be profitable.
By planting and cultivating as di
rected, the crop should yield, with aver
age seasons, from 15 to 20 bushels to the
acre.
Rice is the principal food crop of
more than half the people in the world.
—State Agricultural Department.
COW PEA VINE SILAGE
PLAN FOR BUILDING THE SILO
AND BEST METHODS OF
RAISING SAME.
"
CATTLE EAT IT WITH RELISH
State Agricultural Department Quotas
Railway Commissioner Crenshaw
In Answer to a Question.
Question. —Cau peavine silage b 8
made a success in Georgia? Write me
in full, as I wish to try the experiment
this year
Answer. Railroad Com mission er
Thomas C Crenshaw, who ( 4§nsa farm
in the county of Bartow, was recently
interviewed as to the plan he adopted
for building the silo, his method of rais
ing cow pea vines, his experience in the
ensiloing of the same, and the feeding
of silage to cattle. This interview ap
appeared in the Atlanta Constitution a
few days since.
“I have,” writes Mr. Crens&aw, “an
all-wood round silo, 27 feet high and 20
feet in diameter inside. I built my silo
to the plan given on page 16, bulletin
No. 59, issued by the Wisconsin agri
cultural experiment station. The sills
are of post oak, size 4x6 inches, cut in
2-foot lengths of the circle of the silo,
the sections of the sills being ‘toe-nailed’
together, making a circle 20 feet in dia
meter, which is then bedded in cement
mortar and leveled. The timbers for the
plates are cut in like manner, except
from yellow pine, size 2x4 inches, and
in lengths of two feet. The studding is
of yellow pine, size 4x4 inches, cut in
lengths of 27 feet, ‘toe-nailed’ to the sill
every 12 inches from center to center.
The sections of the plates are spiked di
rectly upon the tops of the studding,
doubling them, and thus making the
plates when completed 4x4 inches. In
framing my silo I put a round post 12
feet long and 8 inches in diameter in
the center of the silo, about two feet in
the ground; and as each stud was ‘toe
nailed’ to the sill it was made plumb
and secured by nailing a board to the
center post. The lining is made of kiln
dried cypress boards, one-half inch
thick and five inches wide, dressed on
; both sides and edges to a uniform width
and thickness. This lining is nailed on
the inside of the studding with Bd. wire
nails, horizontally, close together. A
layer 3-ply giant P. and B. paper is
tacked on horizontally to the first layer
of cypress lining; then a second layer of
cypress boards is nailed on horizontally
with the same kind of nails as before,
breaking the joints of the first layer. A
second layer of paper similar to the
first is tacked on the second layer of
cypress boards. Then a third layer of
cypress boards is nailed on horizontally,
with lOd. nails, breaking the joints of
the second layer. I have three feeding
doors, size 2, 6x3, with a dormer win
dow of the same size, for filling the silo.
It is weatherboarded on the outside
with the same material as the lining.
The roof is of tin and of a conical shape.
I think I have as complete and as nearly
perfect and well-built silo as there is in
the south. When all three of the feed
ing doors are closed my silo is abso
lutely airtight, and will hold water
equal to a barrel.
“I sow cow peas early in. June on my
wheat and oat stubble broadcast; about
one and one-half bushels to the acre.
I have them turned under with a one
horse turning plow, then drag the laud
with an iron-tooth ‘Thomas’ harrow,
nothing more is necessary until the
vines are ready for the silo. The time
to harvest the cow pea vines for silage
is when one-half or more of the peas
on the vines are ripe. Care
should be taken not to harvest the vines
are fully matured, as wheq
“Pitts' —-
Carminative
Savod My Baby'a Ufa•”
**
LAMAR A RANKIN DRUG CO..
I can not recommend Pitt*’ Car
minative too strongly. I must say,
I owe my baby’s life to It.
I earnestly ask all mother* who
have *ickly or delicate children just
to try one bottle and see what the
result will be. Respectfully,
-Irs. LIZZIE MURRAY,
Johnson's Station, Ga.
¥¥
Pitts? GarrrJnatSva
la aold by all Orum/lata.
prncE, ns otMTs.
green they are very succulent. If cow
pea vines are put into the silo w 7 heu
too green or when they contain too
much moisture, the pressure in the pro
cess of settling is liable to express the
juicess from the tissue and cause it to
filter away, thereby entailing great loss.
I use a McCormick mower to cut the
vines. I then pile them at once in wind
rows with a two-horse steel rake and
haul them immediately to my silo,
where they are cut with a feed cutter
made by the Silver Manufacturing
company at Salem, 0. , and called by
them ‘Ohio No. 16.’ It has a carrier
feed and also an elevator. The vines
after being cut in lengths of from one
half an inch up to three inches are
dropped into the elevator and carried to
the dormer window and emptied into
the silo. I keep two stout, able-bodied
men in the silo all the while it is being
filled, one man with a pitchfork to level
and evenly distribute the vines as they
are put in and the other to tramp them
down while the filling is going on. Af
ter the silo is filled and while the settling
is going on I have two men to tramp
the silage down thoroughly a few hours
every day for about ten days. I then
run green marsh grass through my cut
ter until I get a layer on top of the
silage six inches or more in depth for a
cover. This cover I wet quite liberally,
using a pail full or more of water to the
square foot of surface, which soon de
velops a thin, well rotted top layer,
making an almost airtight cover for the
silage. I then leave it alone and trust
to providence.
“I closed my silo containing about 125
tons of cow pea vine silage the latter
part of September, 1698. A thick mold
soon came over the entire surface and
remained intact until I opened my silo
early in January of this year. I found
the silage in a perfect state of preserva
tion, with only about 15 inches on top,
including rhe covering, unfit for use.
As I feed downward, I find the silage
perfectly sound on the sides and next
to the walls of the silo. My cows soon
learned to eat cow pea vine silage.
They now take it with great relish and
are as fond of it as a child is of candy.
It is a most excellent feed in every par
ticular, and there is nothing better as a
butter producer. I consider its feeding
value equal to if not superior to any
thing that can be produced on the farm.
The richness of cow pea vine silage in a
large measure depends upon the quan
tity of cow peas cn the vines at the
time they are harvested. The cow pea
vines I ensiloed the past season were
very full of peas. I generally sow two
varieties, the Clay pea and the Un
known pea. Any cow pea will answer
for silage that will produce long vines
and a heavy crop of peas. In order to
have a luxuriant srrowth of vines and
MANY people have bad blood.
That is because their
Liver and Kidneys are sluggish
and fail to carry off the waste
matter. When this happens the
blood is poisoned and disease sets
in. To keep your blood pure take
DhlHflcLefflrs
LweriKiWflb
a quick relief and sure cure for
disorders of the Liver, Kidneys
and Bladder. Thousands use it
in the spring especially. Your
druggist has it. Only SI.OO a
bottle.
THE OR.J.H.MCLEAN MEDICINE CO.
•T. LOUIS, MO.
For sale by Winder, Drug Cos.
IS. IMS SPECIFIC,
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Spasmodic Croup,
Ervspelas,
Chilblains,
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—and==
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If your Druggist or local Dealer does
not keep it, send 25 cents in P. O.
Stamps or silver for a bottle to
MRS. W. li. BUSH,
Winder, Ga.
The World
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£ for 1899
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Illustrated History
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READY FOR SALE
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< THE WORLD, Pulitzer Building,
NEW YORK-
an abundant crop of peas, I would ad
vise (for Georgia) that the pea be sowed
as early in June as possible. The cow
pea is a wonderful land improver.
“I only came in possession of my
present plantation three years ago. I
found it greatly impoverished, and I
am now building it up quite rapidly by
sowing It down in wheat in October and
in cow peas the June following. If my
land continues to improve hereafter as
rapidly as it has during the past two
years, in five years it will almost, if not
quite, double its yield. I never turn
under cow pea vines. They are too
yaluable for silage. I only turn under
the cow pea vine stuble and roots at the
time I prepare my land for oats and
wheat in the fall. In filling a silo with
cow pea vines, I would not advise letting
it stand too long between intervals of fill
ing. Long standing allows molding to
start, which tends to produce a waste,
even after the next layer is put on. I
consider it best to fill gradually, as well
as continuously, after the filling be
gin*.”—State Agricultural Department.
One Minute Cough Cure, cures.
That is what it was made far.