Newspaper Page Text
98
THE SOUTHERN WORLD, JANUARY 1,1884.
Agricultural Department.
Farm work for January.
With the beginning of a New Year it
is customary to form new resolutions, to
inaugurate reforms, to “ turn over a new
leaf.” In order, intelligently, to begin
. the good work—to decide what to write
on the “new leaf’*—it is, of course
necessary to look back upon the days
and months of the old year—the pages
and chapters of the old book—to recall
the mistakes and neglects that have
caused loss and disappointment or dis
satisfaction . To change the figure, we
must diagnose the case—find out what
is the matter with the sick man—before
we commence a course of treatment
looking to recovery. In the effort to re
view the work of the past year there will
be no difficulty in recalling to mind the
more prominent events that occurred
especially those that were directly con
nected with results in the relation of
;cause and effect. But we will find it dif
ficult, if not impossible, to recall to
mind the many details that operated
more or less to bring about the general
and final result—either a disastrous fail
ure, an only partial success, or a happy
realization of the bright hopes that filled
the heart a year ago. The first thought
then, that will probably occur will be a
regret that no memorandum or diary was
kept during the past year, no account of
the times and seasons, of the income
and outgo, the cost and profit. There is
no fixed or indelible reminder of the
mistakes noted in the mind when they
occurred, or of the oft mental resolve—
“ next year I will do so pnd so," etc
The first resolve, then, should be to keep
an account of the operations of the new
year. It is not necessary that a farmer
should be a regular book-keeper, or that
he should keep a regular set of books
Bdt whatever may be his ability in this
respect, he can and ought to be * ‘regular’
and unfailing in its exercise. If he can
write he can certainly jot down in a style
that will be intelligible to himself, every
event and transaction that may be of in
terest at the time or of use hereafter.
The more complete the system that may
be adopted the more useful and valuable
the record will be. But any sort of a
system is far better than none at all. If
nothing more than daily running state
ment be kept, a simple diary, it will be
found of great value.
One of the first things to be done dur
ing the leisure hours, in the long even
ings, is “taking stock” as the merchants
say. First, all the real estate, the farm,
buildings, fixed machinery, etc., should
be set down and valued at what they
would fetch in a fair market—say during
the past fall, the selling season. Then
follows a statement of live stock, in the
order of their importance and value,
giving name, age, condition and cash
value of each. Next an account or list
of wagons, farm machinery, classified
t and fairly valued. Then enter the
amount of grain, forage and supplies of
all kinds, including bacon (or pork), lard.
The household and kitchen furniture
should be separate from the other ac
counts. We only intend to be suggestive.
The object in view is to make a perma
nent record of all property on and con
nected with the farm, with a fair valua
tion. The footing up of all the items
will be the total assets. Happy is the
man who has no liabilities, who owes “no
man anything;" but if there are debts
unpaid let them also be entered with a
particular statment of terms, rate of in
terest and security given, if Any, etc.
This column will show the liabilities, and
the difference will be the mans “worth.”
(How many farmers in Georgia can tell,
within 25 per cent, of the exact truth,
their net worth ?) Of course, at the ex
piration of twelve months, if the same
operation be performed, any man may
know whether he has made or lost dur
ing the year. But unless he keeps a
pretty close account of the operations of
the year, he will not be able to locate all
the losses where they properly belong,
or give for all the profits a proper credit.
In other words, as to every crop that he
has planted, every field cultivated, the
animals kept for profit, etc, he will not
be able to say which crop, or what field
or which animal or animal product,
which laborer, etc., has added the most
to the profit or entailed the heaviest
losses. Yet, the farmer should know all
these things. Knowing the source of
his greatest net gains or heaviest losses
he is better prepared to enlarge the one
and contract the other.
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to further
enlarge.
A merchant who would undertake to do
business without books, would be hardly
more foolish than the farmer who farms
without keeping some sort of accounts
A good merchant or other business man
keeps account, not only of all goods sold
and the amounts due him by customers
but also the debts he himself owes, and
when they are to be paid. He know
on what lines of goods he makes his
best profits, and what goods must be
sold at the minimum of profit. He
knows just what'it costs him to run his
business. Once or twice a year he
“takes stock,” ascertains the profits of
his business and lays his plans for next
season. He reduces expenses, enlarges
or contracts operations, etc., according
to whether business has been prosper
ous or dull and unprofitable. Why should
not a farmer keep books also, so that he
may know his own business as well as a
merchant? Why may he not know’ what
it cost him to produce a bale of cotton
as well as a manufacturer knows what it
costs him to manufacture a bale of sheet
ings? The knjwledge is just as import
ant in one case as in the other.
Last January was a very wet month—
twelve inches of rain having fallen. The
present will probably have the same
character. The first business in order,
generally, is the securing of labor for
the ensuing year. In our own experi
ence we have found that the most satis
factory laborers, as a rule, are those who
demand the highest wages, and the best
tenants, those who make the most for
themselves. Whatever the terms of a
trade or the character of a contract, its
provisions should be perfectly just and
sufficiently liberal to enable the tenant
or laborer who works faithfully and effi
ciently to make at least a comfortable
support. It is folly to take advantage of
the ignorance of a negro and make
contract under which he cannot avoid
‘coming out in debt” at the end of the
year. He will have a living, and if he
fails to make it honestly, under the terms
of his contract, he will get it dishonestly
by leaving you at the close of the year
‘in your debt.”
The characteristic work of the month
of January is splitting rails, building
and repairing fences and general clean
ing up in preparation for the plow. On
stiff, clay lands, especially the fields that
are stubble, is in order if the ground is
not too wet. On light soils, especially
where little or no vegetable matter is
present, nothing is gained by plowing
before February or March, except to
prevent too great a tax upon teams later
on towards planting time.
Now is the usual time to commence
the work of terracing on lands that are
subject to washing. We have never
tried the system and are therefore not
prepared to recommend its general adop
tion. Where a farmer decides to adopt
and he has no experience and no suit
able leveling instrument, he should se
cure the sei vices of an expert to lay off
the lines of level and show how the
work should be done. A common
rafter ” level is not fit for running level
lines, though answering very well for
ditches and grade rows.
It is unnecessary to remind farmers
thatgood work cannot be done with poor
tools; either the quality or quantity will
be unsatisfactory. Plows, axes, wagons,
etc., should be put in good order and
kept in good order. R.
Cotton Seed.
The subject has grown to be of such
importance, and is exciting so much in
terest, the editor offers no apology to his
readers for publishing copious extracts,
elsewhere, from the valuable address
delivered by Prof. John A. Myers, be
fore the late Convention at Vicksburg.
The learned gentleman handles the sub
ject of “Cotton Seed—Its Products and
Uses,” in a very popular and entertain
ing manner, and we are quite sure the
readers of the World will be repaid for
a perusal of the address entire.
We have only to say that the prices of
the elements on whuh the value of the
cotton seed meal is calculated are too
too high for Georgia and the States east
ward. Professor Myers affixes a value
of 25 cents per pound for ammonia, 12%
cents for phosphoric acid, and 6 cents
for potash. The Georgia Department of
Agriculture has adopted the following as
the respective values: Ammonia, 18c.
phosphoric acid, 10c., and potash, 5c.—
which would reduce the value of a ton of
cotton seed meal from $42.18—as given
by Prof. Myers—to $33.34.
Professor Myers very forcibly im
presses the Economic value of the
meal as a food stuff. In this respect we
are very far from properly appreciating
its importance. It can be easily shown
from the figures given that the meal
from one crop of six millions of bales of
cotton is worth not less than $45,000,000
R
COTTON SHED.
Its Value as a Fertilizer.
BY JOHN A. MYERS,
Professor of Chemistry in Mississippi Agricultu
ral and Mechanical College.
Although the cotton plant has been
cultivated in this country for almost a
century, it is only within the last few
years that the investigations of scientific
men have been directed to it. The seed
varies with the season and the soil upon
which it is produced. If the season has
been wet, the seed is liable to be soft
and more or less damp, and particular
care is required for its preservation. In
this State, however, the mills generally
get more oil out of it than when it has
been very dry. The seed from tfie bot
toms produces more oil than that from
the uplands, but it is not of quite such
good quality.
It varies somewhat, also, with the va-
riety of cotton. There is no very relia
ble way of grading it. The mill men re
cognize it in a manner by means of the
odor and general outward appearance.
It is possible, however, to grade it quite
evenly by dissolving the lint from the
seed by sulphuric acid, and then deter
mining their quality by their specific
gravity. I came upon this process a few
days since in experimenting with some
seed. It may be of some value to the
mill-men in classifying seed. At least,
it can be used for this purpose if it is so
desired. The seed is rapidly cleared of
the lint by the acid, and the process, I
believe, is now used by one or two per
sons in the South as a means of making
money. The dissolving of the lint by
the acid is an old trick, and we are not
aware that it has any very great influ
ence upon the germinating power of the
seed.
There is a large portion of the seed in
the cotton belt that cannot reach the
mills. The remainder must find some
use either as cattle feed or as fertilizer.
A strip of country twelve miles wide on
either side of lines of communication is
all that can send its seed to the mills. A
large amount of the seed within these
belts is not sold, so there is a limit to
the supply of seed for the mills.
We shall next examine the composi
tion of the cotton seed. It is composed
of about 49.9 per hulls, 50.1 per cent,
kernels, according to Dr. Dabney.
TIIE HULLS.
According to Dr. Dabney,' hulls con
tain 0.58 per cent, fats, 47.12 per cent.
crude cellulose; 38.67 per cent carbohv
drates, 2.19 per cent, proteine, givin/
nutritive ration 1.39. The commercial
ashes from the hulls contain 19.07 d
ash and 9.2 per cent, phosphoric acid
Where little wood has been used and the
ashes have been kept dry, they may eon!
tain 30 per cent, potash. A ton of seed has
hulls enough to produce eleven pounds
of ashes. They do not find a ready 8 al e
for the hulls. It is said there is some
demand for them in New Orleans for cat
tle feed, and they may also be. used as
litter for stock, and mulch by the gar-
deners, and as packing for car axles
though they usually contain too much
sand for this purpose. There is proba
bly nothing superior to them as a mulch
or as a litter for stock.
The chief interest that we have in the
cotton seed is centered in the kernel
which constitutes just about one-half of
the seed by weight. If we look at it as a
feed stuff, it is composed of fat 36.55 per
cent, nitrogenous matter 29.25 per cent,
carbohydrates 19.52 per cent., crude fibre
4.38 per cent., according to Dr. Dabney,
giving a nutritive ratio of 1:2.07.
If we take the seed as a whole, it has:
Ash 7.8 per cent., albuminoids 22.8 per
cent., of fibre 16.0 per cent., other car
bohydrates 15.4 per cent., fats 30.3 per
cent.—nutritive ratio 4.6, according to
Wolf.
The ash is composed, according to
Wolf, of potash, 32.15 per cent., soda
8.75 per cent., lime 5,61 per cent., mag
nesia 16.65 per cent., oxide of iron 1.95
per cent., phosphoric acid 31.16percent.,
sulphuric acid 2.16 per cent., silica 0.31
per cent., chlorine 1.62 per cent.
When we come to consider the cotton
seed as a fertilizer, we shall look at its
potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen.
When we study it as a feed stuff, we
consider its digestible nitrogenous mat
ter, carbohydrates, fats and nutritive
ratio. And, lastly, when we study the
seed as a raw product from which va
rious substances are manufactured, we
shall concentrate our attention upon the
fats and by-products of the seed, such as
the meal, hulls, lint, ash, etc.
This, then, indicates the three heads
under which I shall treat my subject:
1. Cotton seed as a fertilizer. By law
we are required to analyze and affix to
each commercial fertilizer sold in this
State its relative value. In doing this
we take three of the most important com
pounds in fertilizers, namely: ammonia
or nitrogen, potash (K20), and phos
phoric acid (P205), as the basis of our
valuation.
Upon careful inquiry, it was found that
in this State the substances in the market
have, during 1882 and 1883, about the fol
lowing value, which has been adopted in
estimating the values of the commercial
fertilizers: Nitrogen, 25 cents per pound;
phosphoric acid, 12% cents; potash, 6
cents. Our estimation of the value as a
fertilizer of cotton seed and its products
is based upon these figures. Cotton seed,
according to this, is worth, by Wolf’s
average of analyses, $16.86.
We mean by this that at the prices
farmers are paying for commercial fer
tilizers, the cotton seed is worth to them,
simply as a fertilizer, $16.86 per ton, or
28 cents per bushel. If they can get
commercial fertilizers for less than these
figures, then the cotton seed is worth
correspondingly less. But if they sell it
for less than its value as a fertilizer, they
are practicing the same economy as the
shoemaker who sells a pair of shoes for
$2 that cost him $3 to make.
I am fully aware that very few of the
farmers obtain more than 20 cents pet
bushel, or $12 per ton, for their seed, and
I doubt very much if the mill-men can
afford to pay 28 cents per bushel for seed
so long as their products are so cheap-
We must therefore conclude that the
prices demanded for commercial fertil*
izers in this State are too high. II the
latter is the- case, the fertilizer dealer?
must lower their prices. If fertilize*;'
cannot be had for less money, the 01