62 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 25, 
HANDLING COTTON AND ALFALFA. 
IF. II. 11., Greenfield, Tenn .—A year or 
two ago Mr. Van Deman had a lengthy 
article in The R. N.-Y. regarding the man¬ 
agement of his cotton plantation in Louis¬ 
iana. As we have under consideration a 
similar proposition in the black prairie 
belt of Mississippi, except that we expect 
to rotate our land in Alfalfa and cotton 
instead of setting to pecans, would Mr. 
Van Deman give his methods, down to 
date, of handling his crops and men, the 
amount of land tended per man, crop yield, 
etc.? The soil in that belt is all under¬ 
laid with rotten limestone, very similar, I 
presume, to the Syracuse, N. Y., section, 
and grows Alfalfa the finest I ever saw, 
six cuttings a season and no inoculation 
or fertilizing necessary. I have seen Sweet 
clover growing out of the bare rock there, 
higher than mv head. 
Ans. —Having been across the black 
prairie country of Mississippi several 
times, and noted the soil and the 
growth of cotton and other crops, es¬ 
pecially the fine hay that is grown there, 
I do not wonder that it is attractive. 
The proposition to alternate cotton and 
Alfalfa there is probably a very good 
one. Cotton does remarkably well 
after any leguminous crop, and, al¬ 
though I have never seen it following 
Alfalfa, I believe it would be all right. 
The only point that seems to me at all 
puzzling is how many crops of cotton 
can be grown without sacrificing gocrd 
fields of Alfalfa. After a good stand 
of Alfalfa is secured it ought to be left 
for five or more years before plowing 
it up, because of the profit in cutting 
several crops every year without any 
additional preparation of the soil or re¬ 
seeding. If there was a very large tract 
of land under the same management 
so that once in five years or so the 
Alfalfa could be broken up and one 
or more crops of cotton grown it would 
be very profitable no doubt. Cotton 
usually needs considerable nitrogen in 
the soil, at least that is my inference 
from the experience of our Pecania 
plantation in Louisiana, where we 
have the richest of alluvial soil, and in 
all stages of tillage. Some that is fresh 
from the native forest, especially that 
which has been covered with native 
cane or bamboo, is so rich in nitrogen 
that we have to plant the cotton in 
rows from six to eight feet apart, and 
then it grows from six to 10 feet high. 
There is too much nitrogen, and there 
is more stalk than cotton. After a few 
crops have been grown the soil is just 
right, and it will produce one crop 
after another of cotton, without any 
fertilizer of any kind. We have lancl 
on our plantation that has probably 
been producing cotton almost contin¬ 
ually for from 50 to 100 years, and 
yet it will now make a bale of cotton 
per acre with good tillage. With a ro¬ 
tation of one crop of cow peas to two 
of cotton it would 3o better than that. 
Our farm labor is all done by negroes 
and the plan of handling them is 
mostly by the tenant system. We en¬ 
deavor to allot the land in such a way 
that there is one good plowman to 
every 15 acres of land, and never more 
than 20. Besides this man (although 
women sometimes do plowing), we ar¬ 
range to have at least one good woman 
to use the hoe, and if there are several 
children to help do the hoeing it is 
far better. There seems to be no good 
way to avoid the use of hoes very ex¬ 
tensively in raising cotton, but I think 
this may be remedied to a marked de¬ 
gree, provided we can get the ignorant 
people to use improved farm imple¬ 
ments. But there is a very serious fact 
that comes in right here, and that is the 
imperative need of hands to pick the 
cotton crop. It is a common saying 
that a family can make more cotton 
than they can pick out. This is, of 
course, provided the season is favor¬ 
able. That is the main reason for not 
using more modern machinery, in grow¬ 
ing cotton. The hands must be kept on 
the plantation to do the picking. No 
practical cotton picking machine has yet 
been invented, and there seems little 
prospect of getting one, owing to the 
trash being mixed with the lint in the 
operation of picking. Only the most 
careful hand picking will prevent it. 
Especially is this true of all late cotton, 
after the frost has killed the foliage 
and it becomes dry. We try to have 
every tenant plant a third or at least a 
fourth of his allotment of ground in 
corn, which is also sown to cow peas 
when the crop is laid by. This usually 
provides feed for his stock and im¬ 
proves the land. But many of them try 
to evade this rule. They want “to make 
cotton.” We usually take cotton rent, 
80 pounds to the acre after ginning, 
which includes the land in corn. This 
insures us our pay for the use of the 
land. Some of the best tenants we 
allow the land for one-fourth of the 
crop, in case they furnish their own 
teams, tools, seed and all feed, etc., at 
their own expense. If we furnish the 
teams, tools, etc., we get one-half the 
cotton crop after it is in the bale. We 
always keep a squad of hired “day 
hands,” but they are usually kept at 
work on the corn crop, ditching, etc., 
and not on an “independent” cotton 
crop; for we are sure to have to help 
out delinquent, lazy or sick tenants. We 
must see that their crops are properly 
tended or we will come out behind. 
Their main purpose is to be housed, 
fed, clothed and rarely “care a booter” 
how “the plantation boss” comes out. 
There is so much to this question of 
southern farm labor that I may have 
something more to say of • it. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
CHANCES IN THE FAR WEST. 
We have had many letters discussing the 
chance for a man of middle age with .$2,000 
capital on a farm. Beginning with the Far 
West, we print the first batch of comment 
below. Other sections will have their 
chance later. 
An Optimistic Washington Man. 
The writer has lived on a farm in New 
England, and the article from the New 
England man causes a smile when he says 
a lot. of things about the telephone, the 
church and the school. We have those 
things out here, even to the meat-wagon. 
The present farm of the writer is situated 
in the Yakima Valley, State of Washing¬ 
ton, eight miles from the city of North 
Yakima, with a church within a hundred 
yards of his home in one direction, and a 
graded school about the same distance in 
the other direction. In addition to the tele¬ 
phone and the meat-wagon, we have an 
electric car line in the process of construc¬ 
tion. already completed half way from 
town. The Yakima Valley is especially 
adapted to fruit growing. However, the 
writer, while waiting for his 17 acres of 
young orchard to bear, is interested in 
dairying, hay and potato raising. The re¬ 
turns from 30 cows during the month of 
October were $400. the cows being on 
Alfalfa pasture with no other feed: butter 
fat sold on the place. Alfalfa hay. three 
cuttings, yields from five to eight tons per 
acre. Potatoes yield from five to 20 tons 
per acre. To return to the fruit growing 
proposition, Theodore S. Darby came here 
from the East, and bought 10 acres of 
apple orchard in Yakima Valley for $4,200. 
Having only $3,000 lie went in debt for the 
$1,200. In six months he sold his apples for 
$2,300. Last year’s crop was short, and 
prices low, so he only sold $1,200 worth. 
But this year he sold $4,200.70 worth of 
apples, or $6.70 more than the place cost 
him two and a half year ago. Mr. For¬ 
man, from 56 pear trees, a little over one- 
half acre, received $3,050 net in one year. 
Mr. Walden picked 1,600 boxes of Mam¬ 
moth Black Twig apples and sold them for 
$2,100 from one acre. ,T. O. Sliadbolt owns 
37 acres of orchard of miscellaneous 
fruits. The net result of fruit harvest of 
this year is about $25,000, or about $700 
per acre net. Mr. Sliadbolt figured in his 
expense account the cost of all labor in his 
orchard during the year, including his own 
and all other expense necessary to produce, 
harvest and market the crop. It should 
be taken into account the fact that lie has 
acres of prunes, plums and cherries and 
other fruits that do not come up to the 
average of apples, peaches and pears and 
some other fruits in the matter of yield 
and profit. These are only a few of the 
good things that might be said about 
(Continued on next page-) 
» I II >1 till (III 14 1 I I » * 4 I#«l <♦ *» * 
mount'll. 
Lightest Draft Plows 
Over 75 per cent of the draft of a plow comes 
in front of the line at which the man in the 
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This is the ‘‘wedge” that cuts, lifts and 
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The shape of a plow at this point determines 
whether the draft is to be heavy or light. 
All 
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Box 38, Millington, N. J. 
BEATS THE 
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Different sizes. Foot 
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Write for circular of particu¬ 
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will soon be a thing of the past. 
Hay Baling made rapid and easy by 
SPENCER’S HERCULES LARGE BALE PRESS. 
Guaranteed capacity four tons an hour or no sale. 
No jumping Every farmer who furnishes Tabling 
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not have to pitch hay as high as the Upright. 
Again, the Upright cannot take feed while press¬ 
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J. A. SPENCER, 
Dwight, Ills. 
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Dept. Dept. I, Cleveland, Ohio 
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Box 230 MUNCIE. IND. 
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Don’t sell yonr hldes-it’s poor economy. 
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No matter where you live we will pay the freight on 
all Hides sent to ns to be made into Coats and Robes. 
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hide palms. One large hide or two small ones makes a coat like one 
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Write us before you sell a single hide; ask for our 40- 
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National Fur and Tanning Co., 
312 Hooker Ave., Three Rivera , Mich. 
• 
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