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Show HARVESTING OATS AND PLANTINO LEGUMINOUS CROPS IN ' THE SOUTH j ByC. H. Alpohi) o the 1HC Service Buret It Is now time to plan for tho har-vesting har-vesting of our oat crop. If we do not own a good mowing machine, or better still, a good binder, now Is the time to buy one. The cradlo Is too slow and the wasto when using a cradle Is enormous. i One blndor will harvest from 80 to 100 acres eight acres per day. One or more farmers In every neighbor-! hood Bhould own a good binder. Tho binder will generally pay for Itself In ono season. i A mowing machine will often do tho work for several farmers In a neighborhood. Whore ono farmer can-1 not afford to buy a mower for his own use, several farmers can purchase one. One farmer will often find it profitable to own a mower or binder and work for his neighbors at a reasonable price. Now is tho time to get our mowers and binders ready for work. Let us sharpen the sickles, oil tho bearings1 and test tho machines on the grass before be-fore our oats are ready to cut. It Is also advisable to have an extra binder tongue, a knlfe,and several extra wings and arms for the reel ready beforehand for repairing breakages. We should harvest our oat crop early. Cutting should begin as soon as about 75 per cent of tho Held has turned yellow Just as soon as all tho grain is In tho dough stage. Oats should not be cut while wet from dow or rain There should bo a thresher In every neighborhood for threshing all kinds of seeds such as oats, wheat, rye, barley, kalllr corn, sorghum, grass seed, beans, and peanuts. Many farmers will find It profitable to own a thresher for iiseoti tliclrown farms and they can at the same time be of great service to their neighbors by threshing for them at a reasonable M price. HB The oats should be threshed as soon , as possible, butshotild not bo thieslied when grain Is wet from either rain or dew. I Stoiu oats In hulk and not over three feet deep He sure and examine gialn dally for at least three weeks and turn ulthMiovcl, If there are am Indications Indi-cations of heating ' The packed, crusted soil should not : bo exposed to the sun's rajs a slnglo day after oats are cut Wo should use a disk lunou and make the surface for two or three Inches as lino as possible for a cow pea, soj bean or peanut crop Hy tho uso of the disk harrow, wo can thoroughly prepare sevur.il acres of stubble land oeryday for these crops At this season of tho ear we are usuall) ery busj and are often unable to sparo the necessary time to break tho stubble land with a plow. Theso leguminous crops aro valuable on account .of the nitrogen and tho humus-maklng organic matter they contain. When they aro hanestod to bo ftd to lio stock, nearly half tho nitrogen and humus-making materials are left In tho roots and in the bottom of the stems and in the leaves, and other portions of tho plants not obtained ob-tained in gathering the crops Tho resultsof the Calhoun, La., experiment station show that ono acre of Spanish peanuts grown on poor pine land contained con-tained lu'J pounds of nitrogen; an acre of cow peas, 103 pounds; and an aero of soy beans, 100 pounds Theso crops mado from two to three and a half tons of feed st nil, richer In food elements than wheat bran When such feed stuff can bo grown after oats and fed to stock without seilous loss of fertilizing fertiliz-ing value, Is there any excuse for cultivating culti-vating poor land and for having poor livestock? Tho advantages of growing cowpea crops are brlelly summarized by the Louisiana experiment station as follows: fol-lows: First, tho cowpea Is a nitrogen gatherer;secon(l,lt shades tho soil In the summer, keeping It In a condition most suitable to the most rapid nitrification nitrifica-tion and leaves It friable and looso and in the best possible condition for fu ture crops; third, It has a large root development, and hence pumps up from a great depth and a large area I tho water, and with It the mineral VM, needed by the plant; fourth, Its adapt- Bfi ability to all kinds of soils stillest HV clays to the most porous sand, fertile alluvial bottoms to barren upland: llf th it stands the heat and hot sunshine of hot climates; sixth, its rapid growth enables us to grow two crops on the same soli; seventh, when sown thickly, it shades the soil effectually, smothering smother-ing out all weeds and grasses, and thus serves asacleanslngcrop; eighth, It is the best preparatory crop known to tho southern farmers every kind of crop grows well after it; ninth, It furnishes a most excellent hay and a most excellent food In large quantities I for man and beast. H The following Is a summary of Far- mors1 Bulletin, No. ?&: In 1905 the I farm described In thi3 bulletin pro- I duced one-fourth bale of cotton and 1 Ufteen bushels of corn per acre. In l!KX, after a crop of cowpeas, It produced pro-duced .one-half bale of cotton and thirty-four bushels of corn to the aero. After cowpeas and an application of 300 pounds of commercial fertilizer, nearly thrce-fourths of a bale of cotton cot-ton to tho acre; and after cowpeas and clover continuously for two jears, one bale of cotton per acre This moNlng machine, thresher and hay press made It possible to utlllzo tho cowpea grown on this farm not only for feed and seed but also as a source of considerable revenue. The mowing machine, the thresher and tho hay press will make the cowpea one of the most profitable crops that can be grown. The following Is a summary of Farmers' Far-mers' Bulletin No. 372: Where lnten-slve lnten-slve farming is followed, the soy bean Is the best annual legume to grow for forage In the southern part of tho cotton belt. The soy bean whether used as hay, grain, or ensilage Is a very valuable live stock feed. Soy-bean Soy-bean hay is practically Identical In feeding aluc with alfalfa and yields from two to three tons per acre. 1 Soy-bean grain Is more valuablethan cotton seed meal as a supplementary feed In the production of pork, mutton, wool, beer, milk and butter. A bushel of soy Iwans Is at least twice as valuable val-uable for feed as a bushel of corn. As the grain Is hard, It Is usually desirable to grind It Into meal for feeding This Is best done by mixing with corn befoie grinding tn prevent gumming the mill A mowing machine or a binder can he used to harvest the soybean A binder can be used only with tho tall varieties Tho threshing can be dono with a grain th richer by using blank concaves and running the cylinder much lower than for small grain. Tho growing of soy beans after oats and on other land and the use of mowing mow-ing machines, threshers, and hay presses means rich land, lat stock, and more prosperous times. The fact that Spanish peanuts will i produce good crops on comparatively poor land when well fertllled and cultivated should encourage us togrow them as a substitute for a largo part of tho corn and hays usually fed to all kinds of stock Professor Duggar at tho Auburn, Ala., station found an acroof Spanlsh'pcanutson poorgravclly land produced (jOO pounds of live 1 weight of hogs This was after tho tops had been cut with a mower and ! saved for hay Tho growing of pea-I pea-I nuts aftor oats will add much to tho i fertilltj of the soil, promote tho raising rais-ing of good livestock, and add to the 1 hank account , Planting cowpeas and soy beans In I rows about 110 Inches apart saves seed ' and brings greater roturns Inyloldsof seed and hay Thoexperlment station results show that the Increase In both seed and hay obtained when the seed isti rilled Is more than sulllclent to pay for tho additional expense In drilling and cultivating tho crop Plant tho cowpeas, soy beans and peanuts on tho level and cultivate on the level with a disk harrow, a spring tooth harrow, a ono or two-horse cultivator culti-vator or a heel sweep We can then cut two or three rows atone time with our mowing machines We should grow moro oats and other small grain crops, and legumlnouscrops to enrich our lands and furnish feed for moro good livestock; and use more labor-saving machinery such as mowing mow-ing machines, hay rakes tedders, binders and hay presses |