198 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



or humus, in the soil. He adopted a rotation, bought stable ma- 

 nure, and began feeding cattle for the purpose of converting part 

 of the roughage and grain of the farm into animal products and mak- 

 ing farm manure for use on the land. By this method and by the ju- 

 dicious use of commercial fertilizer he succeeded in producing the first 

 year a yield of 1 3/5 bales of cotton, 37 bushels of corn, and 10 

 bushels of oats to the acre. These yields have been gradually in- 

 creased, until during the last two years 2^4 bales of cotton, 85 

 bushels of corn, and 80 bushels of oats per acre have been obtained. 

 The rotation adopted was as follows: First year, corn, with cow- 

 peas planted between the rows at the last working of the corn; 

 second year, winter oats, followed by cowpeas for hay, and third 

 year cotton. Under the present management the soil has been 

 plowed broadcast for both cotton and corn with a 2-horse turning 

 plow cutting 10 inches deep, followed by a 1-horse subsoiler break- 

 ing the furrow bottom to an additional depth of 7 inches. This 

 has given the land two deep and thorough plowings each round of 

 the three-year rotation. 



Under previous management the land on this farm washed 

 and gullied somewhat. This has been largely overcome by deep 

 and thorough tillage. However, to check the possibility of wash- 

 ing during exceptionally heavy rains the soil is now plowed in 

 long beds 60 feet wide. This leaves it in a series of broad, low 

 "lands" with shallow depressions between. During heavy rains 

 such water as the soil can not immediately take up finds its way 

 gradually to the shallow depressions, which, having no outlets, 

 hold it until it slowly sinks into the subsoil. As this soil is open 

 and porous in texture and absorbs water readily, there is no dan- 

 ger of puddling from water standing in the furrows between the 

 lands, and this method of plowing eliminates the necessity of ter- 

 racing. (F. B. 364.) 



The land was flat-broken or plowed broadcast, ten inches deep, 

 in sixty foot beds, with a two horse turning plow. A subsoil plow 

 followed the turning plow breaking the furrow bottom to a depth 

 of seven inches. Black manure was liberally used. Just before 

 planting time the manure was thoroughly mixed with the soil and 

 the commercial fertilizer applied with a distributer. The plants 

 were thinned out to an average of one plant every four feet in the 

 row, and the whole received repeated cultivation. The important 

 features in the management of the farm were: 



(1) The deep plowing in broad, gently sloping lands, instead 

 of terracing, to control surface water and prevent the formation of 

 gullies. 



(2) The deep and thorough system of soil preparation for 

 crops, by broadcast plowing and subsoiling. 



(3) The adoption and practice of a systematic rotation of 

 crops, including money crops (cotton is the principal money crop), 

 feeding crops (corn, oats, cowpeas), cleansing crops (the clean- 

 cultivated corn and cotton), and a manurial crop (cowpeas), thus 

 providing for the maintenance of soil fertility and for a liberal 



