Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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FftLD PR~AS, no up line, pre.pt upo.k pre-! copt, here a little and there a littlo." We trust our readers will pardon -our persistence in urging upon their atten tion the importance of this crop. The Southern farmer, and especially he who cultivates impoverished soil, has no better friend than the cow pea. Whether used as a soil improver or a forage 4lent, it should find a place upon every orm. It may, however, be used for ay and still improve the soil upon which it is grown. How IT 8rnovIC Tru 1son.. The field pen befongs to the class of plants known as leguminous, and later as nitrogen collectors. It has the power of appropriating nitrogen from the at moRnhere through the agency of mi crobes, the presence of which is indi cated by little tubercles or wart-like ex cressences upon the roots. According to the reports of the Alabama and South Carolina experiment stations, a good crop of pea vines will contribute as much nitrogen to the acre of land upon which it is grown Its twenty tolls of or dinary stable manure. A horse, if fed in his stall Hnd kept there at night, will produce, with a moderate supply of litter, about 3,ooo pounds of stable manure in twelve months, or i ton. A good crop of peas will therefore supply to an acre as mucb nitrogen as the manure saved from thirteen head of horses or mules, with the difference in favor of the peas, that they shade the land during the summer and are already evenly distributed, while the stable nanure nust be forked and hauled to the field. Stating it a little differently, it will require all of the stable manure made upon a thirteen mule farm, to supply as much nitrogen as one acre of peas will furnish. Growing nitrogen collectors upon the land is the only practicable and econom ical way of improving it upon a large scale. Peas and other leguminous plants not only accumulate nitrogen in the soil and subsoil, but by their deeply penetrating tap roots organize mineral plant food from the subsoil, store it up in their roots, stems and leaves, and tltus supply it to the soil in available forms. There are vast stores of phosphoric acid, pot ash and other mineral elements of plant tood in the subsoil, in insoluble condi ion and out of te reach of fibrous rooted plants, which get their support entirely from the soil. The tap-rooted plants perform two important offices for the crops which follow them. They collect and st ore nitrogen (the most costly element of' plant food) from the air and organize other substances into their structure and thbus render them available to plants which have no such collecting, storing and organizing pow er. In all departments of life, animal. as well as vegetable, we find that one species organizes and stores food for the other. The lion has no powver of ap propriating to its nourishment, dlirect ly, the vegetable products of the earth, bit takes its grass second hand, after the lamb, pig or calf has organized them in to flesh. So the grain aind grass subsist upon the carcasses of leguminous plants, appropriating from them the nitrogen which they organized from the air and the potash and phosphoric acid, w hich they have rendered assimilable, from the subsoil. The impoverishment of soil by con tinued exposure in summer and its im provement by shade, are well established facts. Peas improv'e the land in this way in no small degree. If we were asked, "W~hat is the great. est need of Southern soils?" we would unhesitatingly answer, "lIlus."' Sev eral camuses have conspired to denude our solis of this imp)ortant substance. Among tjhese are : (a). Continued clean culture wvithout rotation iin humus-supplying crops, such as grain, clover and grass. (b). Exposure of the uncovered suir face during the winter, and consequent surfa~ce washing and waste of plant food, there being no growing crop to Conserve it. (c). The long period of high tem-. perature in which decomposition con tinues. In colder climates in which the soil is .frozen for some months each year, this loss is prevented. The legutminous 'plants afford the best sources of supply, for the reasons already discussed, and beens, owing to their large. contents *of ttogenous compounds, they prompt 7 J~decompose and yield up for the - benefit of their seccessors their accumu ltion of plant food, and the pea espe elully, because of its quick growth and kc'Abilty hlie the old flield pine, to torlr 4pon sols of very limited pr9vemept In our agrlculture, er 41 per. qvOry orto who.til,s tkq roil is brought to appreciate the value of legurninous plants as Roil improvers, and the abso lute necessity of re.itoring, through them, the humus that has been wasted from our soils. One need only compare the product iveness of the old hedgerow from which a fence has been removed with that of the adjacent soil that has been exposed to a wasteful system of cultivation to be convinced of the importance of shade and a supply of vegetable matter, since these two alone must account for the contrast so much in favor of the hedge row. Farm and Garden Calendar. Keep the scrapes going in the cotton and corn, using them in such manner as to leave as little work as possible to be done by the hoes. Avoid cutting any roots deeper than two inches. Plant peas either between the rows or between the hills of corn. We prefer the former, because the work can be more cheaply and expeditiously done, and the cultivation can be done entirely with the plow. Some plant a row of peas between the corn rows and also be tweenl the hills, in the same field. Se lect the plan that is liked best, but don't fail to plant them. Plant or sow peas on the wheat and oats stubble, instead of leaving them to grow up in crab-grass and rag weed, See editorial on "Field Peas'' in this issue. Sweet Potatoes.-Continue to plant slips and cuttings from the vines of the early planting. These may be planted throughout this month. Keep the sur face among the vines free from grass and weeds and mulched vith loose earth. Cut hay whenever there is sufficient grass and house it as soon as cured. We often see shocks of hay left standing in the weather uintil it is hardly worth hauling to the barn. Keep the stalls well li(tered with leaves or pine straw. If they become moist, sprinkle land plaster over them to prevent the escape of ammonia, in volving the loss of the most costly in gredient of the manure, accompimied with the risk of injury to the eyes and hoofs of the horses. Gather up the cow manure into a large heap under shelter. Prepare a pen for the reception of the waste from vegetables, sweepings of yard and garden, ashes, bones, etc., and pour over the heap daily the slops from the house, soapulds, etc. Quite an ac cumulation of valuable comp lost mayv be collected in this way. An occasional load of mold from the woodls added to this heap will improve its value. Clean out the droppings fromi the fowl house not less than once a week, and store in barrels or boxes under shelter, unless it can be p)rofitably usedl as fast as collected. Ruta baga turnips may now be plant ed for the main crop. Sow thickly to secure a stand, and thin to one plant every eight inches as soon as the first true leaf appears. The additional out lay for seed for the thick sowing will bring ample compensation in the satis faction of having a pierfect stand. Sow cabbage and collard seed for the early fall crop. If the weather is hot and dry when the seed begin to sprout, give partial shade until the plants are established. Sow more tomato seed for late fall crop, and as soon as the early crop ripens, make cuttings from plants hav ing the finest specimens. Save seed from the finest and most perfect of the early crop. Thin the okra to a single stalk to the hill. It does not fruit well if crowded. Keep the squashes and cucumbers closely gathered to perpetuate fruiting. Mash the eggs of the squash bug, which will be found in clusters upon or under the leaves of the most vigorous plants. If the Colorado beetle is at work upon the late Irish potato vines, sprinkle them with Paris green mixed with flour, one heaping tablespoonful of Paris green to two quarts of flour. Sprinkle from a flour sack fastened to' the end of a stick four feet long. Continue to plant corn and beans for succession crops. As soon as the necks of the onions weaken and the tops fall, pull up the bulb~s and spread in the sun until the outside leaves dry, then tie in bunches and hang in a cool loft, or spread upon shelves having slatted bottoms. Apply a thin coat of w''tewaush to the glass of the pit or plant house to prevent injury to the plants by the ex tessive, heat of the sun. If it-washes off reapplytntilltowards fall, when it mn;y be allowed to wash off entirely prepara tory to winter work. How to Reep the Boym on th' Farma If it takeq a ifetime to make a ge44, experienced farmer-and I. am of thaj opinion--why do not farners give their Sos a ihaice, to become personally in terested in the farm? Very few boys will take or' feel -that interest in the farm work that they would if they were directly interested in the result of the crops. Many boys are disgusted with farm life and leave h cause they do not directly share in any of the crops, and all they get is their board and clothes. Let them have their own fowls, i few pigs, a cow or a. colt, and an acre or two to cultivate in mel Ons, potatoes, strawberries, grapes, corn or anything they desire to plunt. Give them the team and time to work the land. Let the condition be that their crops must furnish them pocket change, and they must do stheir duty to their father's crops. In this way a boy will be directly interested, and will feel more independent. There is hardly any community where good fruit will not sell. Good pigs are always in demand ; also improved fowls and eggs. Let me tell the boys what I heard from the lips of a Northern man last summer, who paid me a visit. I had made a sleigh, so that I could hitch a mule to it, and put in at molasses barrel crosswise, with an opening cut in the side. In the ends I had bored many holes, and stopped each with plugs. With this I had been hauling liquid ma nure and spreading it on the land. My friend asked me what the barrel was for, and when I told him he said it re minded him of an occurrence that hap. pened in Pennsylvania. An old farmer got tired of giving his son John money, so one day he said to him that he was going to make a change. .iIe would give him an acre of his best land to put in corn, and he must make his pocket money from that acre. John said, "What am I going to do for Imoney while the corn is growning?" The old man took in the situation, and remembered the time when he was a boy, and he agreed to lend John money until his crop came in. The bargain was made, and the father said : "1John, that acre of land ought to make lifty bushels of corn. It has done it. If you make sixty I will give you five more bushels." That so stimulated the boy that he said : '"Father, suppose I make seventy bushels.'" The boy's face brightened and the old nm1an's, too. "'If you make seventy bushels I will give you ten more.'" New life and ambition sprang uap in that boy. IIe said, again: 'Suppose, father, I make -eighty bushels. Will you give me ten more and make it ninety bushels ?" So muc~h as eighty bushels of corn per acre had never heen made around there and the old man, thoroughly aroused at the thought of his land making eighty bushels of corn per acre, said: "If.you make ioo bushels per acre I will give you all my crop of corn." John rose early and worked late, and took more interest, and was better sat isfied on the farm than ever, and the re sult now is that he is one of the best farmers in that State. But you will say, how much corn did John make ? HIe got his land in thor ough order, plowed it deep, wvorked it wecll, and watered it well, and that is the only thing I have got against John. He practiced a little deception on.his good old1 father. In his father's stable lot was a large bank of manure, and on the lower side of the pile wvas an abundance of liquid manure. After the old man was asleep John and his younger brother would steal out and get the buckets and would water every hill of th.is acre of corn every time at needed water, andl in that. way he made 12a5 bushels of corn and won the crop of his father; and though the old man had corn, he went about boasting that John had beaten him out of his crop, and that his land had made i25 bushels of corn per acre. Now, boys, by all means act fair ; be honest and truthful; deal fairly and squarely with all men,' but show the energy and pluck of John, and you wvill surely succeed on the farm.--John 0. Otey in Southern Planter. Doctors~Say; Bilious and Intermittent Fevers which prevail in miasmatic dis tricts are invariably accompan ied by derangements of the. Stomach Liver and Bowels. The Secret of Health. The liver is the great "driving wheel" .in the mechanism of man, and when it is out of order, the whole system becomes de ranged and disease is the result. Tutt's LUver Pills Cure afl Liver Troublast - Inependenae of-the Farmer, The farmer, by virtue of fact'dnd' pogl tion, attains his hndependence rather more positively than does average hu manity. There is a difference between1 !tlieoretical and practical independence. "The unalienable rights" of liberty are no more the farmer's than they are the heritage of any other man. But when translated into the - every-day experi ences of life, when the dividends from the great fund ire commuted into their practical purchasing power, it is easy to see how the farmer pockets a larger share than any. other class of men. He Ahares in the general social independ ence. He is under the obligations of law and custom and usage. He iN sub ject to the restraints of public opinion, and must contribute his to the written and unwritten law of the common weal. From all these lie neither claims nor de sires exemption. But by virtue of his position and pro fession he is absolutely free from a large measure of subjection to conditions be yond his control, which involve all line of ordinary pursuit. He is not entati gled in the complications which affect the merchant and the manufacturer. Merchants of whatever line of wares stand in a line with one another. They are subject to general prevailing condi tions which their individual strength and standing do not render assured. Their values of stock and capital are fluctuating, and their basis of independ ence is often their occasion of suspend ence. It is not so with the farmer. In this respect he is absolutely independ ent. The success of his farm does not rest upon the success of other farms. It represents an actual value which lies at the basis of all security.. The farm is absolute capital, and is its own guaran tee. The farmer who owns 'his farm is no under vassalage to bank officials. He is not obliged to stand with his hut in his hand before some autocrat, and await his imperial decision as to whether the proposed note shall be discounted or not. He has to work and often make long days, but he is master of his own time. The twenty-four hours of the clay are all his own, and are not included in either salary stipulation or official censorship. Less than any other man, the farmer is under subjection to the whims and caprices of his fellow-mortals. The minister, high as his calling is, is yet in a measure dependent on the moods and notions of parishioners. He must look out for tender toes, and keep a list of sensitive points, if lie would a9oid a diet of cold shoulder or a request to resign. The doctor must listen pa tiently and sympathetically to the in numerable details of pains and aches and qualms, and be in Rio hurry to send in his bill, if lie does niot wish to see his rival installed oyer his head. The store keeper must not only keep his temper, but his good humor, and traiRn his facial muscles to a perpetual smile as lie adapts himself to all his customners' idiosyncrasies. But the farmer is independent of all these provocations and vexations. Pro fessionally lhe finds no cause to conju gate the varying moods and tenses of human nature. H is moodl is inidica tive ai.d Iimparative rather than subj unc tive. In the corps of public providers, the farmer leads rather than followvs. He does not have to accept, from the butch er's wagon what other customers have refused, and take what is left when the butcher gets around to him. To a very large exteRnt lie is- his owvn commissary. He commands ORn his own premises a large measure of the staples of life. Poultry yard, and pen, and stall, and garden and orchard enable him to resist a siege, when quantity or quality of price is opposed to his desire and choice. What ever.y due else has to pay for, lhe receives pay. for, and to a certain ex tent, at least, can control "the corner."' We do not claim that all conditions and experiences of the farm are paradisiacal. Bnt for practical every-dlay indepenid ence, who can equal the farmer?- Isaac L. Kipp in Weekly Tribune.,. THIN THE FRUIT. There is in most localittes a full crop of fruit set. If all of this is allowved to remain on the trees the specimens will be inferior ini size and quality. If one half to three-fourths of the specimens are removed, those left will'all produce marketable specimens aRid probably more ip weight or bushels than wvould have been produced without the th't ning. This should be attended to at once b)efore mrore of the vital energy of the tree is expend(ed ini the production of surplus anid inferior fruit. Flowering and seed-making aire very exhausting processes. Upon, plants that. are dlesired to continue bloomngn the flower," should be remioved as sooni as theyhergln to fadae-. Sweet Potato oulture. . F. Turner, of Georgia, writing to the grdTirie Varsner, says: I agree with the writer that narrow rows do better than wide ones. North Carolina and Georgia are celebrated States for growing fine yams and all va rieties of: $weet potatoes.. One of the most succe4sful potatt growers of. Geor gia made it a rule not to break the first rootlets. The rootlets make the best po tatoes. His plan was, after preparing the land well, to throw two furrows to gether with a haimon plow, which is smaller than the plows you use in the West. This makes a narrow ridge. Do not throw out the middle furrow before setting out the plants. During a favor able season a man walks down on the top of this ridge, making his steps only fifteen to eighteen inches apart, and on these tracks drops the plants. The ad vantage in planting in the tracks is that the soil is packed-it retains the mois ture longer and a much better stand is obtained than when the plants are set out in a soft, open soil. When the plants are well rooted, throw out the middle with a small plow; this will throw soft dirt to the plants and cover up all weeds and grass. Potatoes should never be allowed to become grassy. When the vines are long, and you wish to plough them, go between the rows and.. with a sOck throw the vines over in the next row. Do this with the vines oC each row. This will have the vines of two rows thrown iogether. Tlen we plough out the rows that are naked, and when we get over the field we go back and turn the vines back on the side of the rows that are ploughed. In North Carolina and Georgia potatoes are grown for hogs; they are not dug. A farmer will fence off one acre for table use and turn the hogs in to eat the other part of the field. In some cases the farmers dig or plough up their pota toes and put them in hills and sell them to cities during the winter and spring months. People are divided in opinion as to the best way to keep sweet pota toes. Many take unnecessary pains. Some put then in hills and leave the top of the hills open to let the air pass off, but this is not necessary. I never lose any potatoes if tey are in good order when I dig them. It makes no differ ence about the potatoes being dry when put up, for they go through a sweat any way. I have put them tip in hills when they were wet with rain and have never lost any potatoes. The place to keep potatoes well is in the earth. Hills are much better than cellars and boxes. What causes potatoes to rot is having them alter-nately warmi and cold. Keep the potatoes at one temperature all the time and they will alw'ays keep wvhenu covered up with earth. Somue growers in the South put only five or six inches of dirt on their hills; this is a bad plan, as wve have warm spells; and the potatoes get wtarm from the heat of the sun; then, perhaps, it turns cold and they get chilled. This getting alternately cold and warm rots them. When the potatoes are dug in the fall put them ui' at once in hi.lls of twenty-five to thirty bushels each. Cover with straw and then set up around the bills boards two or three feet long this leaves thuem in the shape of a pyra mid-then put at least one foot of dirt on the boards-muore is better-and the po tatoes wvill neither get wvarmn nor cold during the winter, and in the spring you will not have two dozen rotten potatoes to the lill. Dr. Miles' Heart Cure oures a Prominent Attorney. MR. R,. 0. PrIELPS, the leading pension attorney of Dolfast, N. Y., writees "I Was discharged from the army on account of ill health, and suffered fromt heart trouble over since. I froquently had fainting and smothering spells. My form was bent as a man of 80. I constantly wore an overcoat, oven in summer, for fear of takcing c'old. I could not attend to my bust noess. My rest was brokena by severe pains about the hoart and loft shoulder. Three. years ego I commenced using Drw. Miles' Heart Cure, notwithstanding I had used so much patent ruedicine atid taken drugs from doctors for years ythout being helped. Dr. Miles' Heart Curie restored me to health. It *is truly a WOnderful medicine and it affords. me muqh pleast&e to recomend this rem. *edy to everyone." Dr.;Iiiles' Ieptedked ato sold by all dru .guuts under a positive guarantee, first bottle j+--1CI~ benefa or money r ~ ~ - innded. hook on d[ - eases of the harand P01100PUG C0 N. A4 soqn a the -sed lestes a fepe expand-d,and. all of the seed havoi.o tated,the'cotton should be sided with.4 nkirrow sc'rape a? closely aS practioabl sifting enough 'fine soil amongst the plants to cover the young grass withqut' covering the cotton plants. Wait tinil this soil smothers the young grass'Ahd then as rapidly as possible ''chop'the cotton "to a stand.11 This is the most important work done to the crop, and it should be thoroughly and carefully done. No sprig of grass should be lcft and the plants left to grow should not be injured. As fast as, the cotton is thinned the scrapes should follow, throwing 'enough soil to the young plants to support them in erect position, Many pla.ters make the mistake of allowing their. cotton to become very grassy, and the plants to be stunted in their growtl. before employing extra labor. While the plants and the grass are small the- work can be more cheaply, nore rapidly and more thoroughly done. A man who will hoe an acre while the grass is very small and leave the cotton plants uninjured will hoe not more thAit half an acre after the crop has become foul, leave the plants crippled and charge more per day for his work. IRRIGATE,THE CROPS. There are thousands of acres of good dry bottom land in the Southern States which may be irrigated by simply di verting the water from the creeks and conducting it through the fields in ditches cut for the purpose with a grade of two to four inches to the hundred feet. From these ditches the water is easily distributed between alternate rows until the soil is saturated. Try a few acres and remedy the evils of the pres ent drouth. One acre well fertilized nd irrigated will produce as much as I ilf dozen- left at the mercy of the drouth. Even if the water must be pumped to the land it will be a very profitable in vestment. Uncle Sam Says: This is America's Greatest it w~ill Sharpen Your Appetite, Vitalize Your Blood. Overcome That Tired Feeling. Get a bottle of Hood's Sarsaparilla and begIn to take it TODAY, and realize the great' good It Is sure to do you. Hood's Sarsaparilla. Is America's Greatest Medicin.. AlU drugtst. Ache? SDo you know about those 4pulling, tearing crushing, 4agonizing painsi 4Is there soreness throu igh the bodJ, and can y'ou haar-4 S We can promise you the 4' most pleasant and prompt 4relief. It is 4ermoihic Ba8in You simply rub it over the 4skin and its own wonderfui 4penetrating power carries itI 4down deep to the very seat of trouble. Fernoline Balsam is a con-4 4centrated extract of all the 4curative properties of the 4 rent Yellow Pine of the SSprains, strains bruises, 4and burns are reli eved ina 4single minute. It cures neu 4ral Ia, rheumatism, sciatica, an snre less in techest. 4 - 'PFor sale by all druggists. 4 r'trmollic Cbeili Works, 4Charleston, S. C.