Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Jan. 15, 1901, edition 1 / Page 1
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TEE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Raleigh, N. C, January 15, 1901. Ho-47 Agriculture. SIZE OF EARS IN CORN YIELD. . - Tcsne of Deo. 20. Mr. Snffern Talked ( lalie4 a size of Grain as a Factor; Jan. 1 I c3'SjZe of Stalk Now He Discusses Size of xvnu ui a ue r regressive r armer. f V. T" 1 T fCT ii" c-vjwi ieiiutj ui 40 y ears as c o I tvrn breeder,, the writer has con that the size of the ear in torn exerts a considerable influence L amount of grain which it pro Co per acre. Furthermore, the E perienee of a large number of up- ;lte farmers tnrougnout tne corn : i. 1 T 1 T i ;-itCS wuu vvuuui x iiuvu ueen in fxtonsic correspondence during !0ie years, exactly coincides with f According to the writer's obser vation, during more than a quarter if a century's experience in breeding !-,e corn plant, the average corn Uower throughout the corn belt, in Electing his annual supply of seed, ilways selects the largest ears that ie Cau find in his crop, (no matter iow large the variety.) By this node of procedure he annually ob Uinsa little larger consequently a liter maturing variety of corn. The ::aze of the present day in Uncle spin's domains, is for things of the losibo order. I After my experience in growing al most all of the new and old varieties l corn, from all points of the com- as. I have concluded that there is i certain amount of corn-producing istriment in any given soil and jea on. And that any equally well ired varieties of corn, whether they lave small or large, short, or long, thick or thin, or only one, or six or sore ears per stalk, if their seed be trope rly planted, according to each t 1 -1 n i particular variety, anu equauy cui- kvatfd. all otner conditions Deing equal, they will produce about an fcpTiv valuable product. I A provision of nature seems todic Wu, that of several equally well rei varieties, which may be grown bder like conditions, on any given loil, in any particular year, the yield tf equallv valuable shelled corn per i:re must not greatly vary. But of 1 dozen supposedly equally well-bred Varieties, which may be grown on my farm, most generally, some one cr two varieties will be decidedly nperirr. und one or two, perhaps, Vill be dtvidedly inferior, as regards Vioid and quality. The remaining tarieties will show graduated de- rrees of productiveness. The largest yielding variety of good quality, will 1h? the highest bred more free from barrenness and its attendant degen- 1 eracy. It will also be noticed that j writer's fields very few stalks ex its tidk is not too large in propor- j hibited this tendency. And such ra t ) -ize of its ear, and that its j stalks that did produce an ear at stdlk s.?;d'jm produce more than one j each joint (or say 14 ears) gave ears .ear each. j The writer has demonstrated to jM own satisfaction, during a long 'S ul f years of actual field prac-1 tee, that the capacity to produce i sinore or less merchantable shelled ! corn ir acre, is regulated by numer ics ( ii.-ks of natural selection, and yy th degree of general improve nf the variety, or varieties vn. And that a variety of corn Ut does not scatter its producing I ''' .vrs in trying to produce more ft in - .no good ear per stalk, through i ans of concentration of energy, jtfev- produces the largest yield of fc-r.;h mtable grain, j Dining the past five years there jhts: ..a considerable discussion in iijr'uniltural press, in relation to mparative merits of large and -iiU fobbed varieties of corn. Some m.T advocating large cobs, and ! Ntti thers medium-sized cobs. The ri:,T's experience in the center of I -reutest corn belt on earth, f s exactly with that of the Illi Agricultural Experiment Station near Urbana, Illinois. Our 'ii, after exhaustive tests with a number of varieties, during a ur. M - of years, has secured the larg average yield in merchantable i i corn per acre, from ruedium S ( urn, with medium-sized cobs i! - Tig grains. I have in my pos M - n two ears of white dent corn ': j-.it exactly the same length and ' n - liferent. One is of the Wis '',j:,in white dent variety, the other of the Champion White Pearl. The former is about two weeks earlier in its maturing season, but requires about five of its kernels placed end wise to span its cob. While two kernels of the White Pearl variety will often span their cob. Some farmers contend that "it takes a lot of corn to go around a big cob." But after frequent personal visits to many localities in the corn States, and many years of personal tests, I have concluded that it does not necessarily require a largo amount of corn to cover a large cob. And that it depends entirely on the length of tho grain, as to the amount of corn that can be grown on a large cob. I have personally grown large cobbed varieties of corn which pro duced a large per cent, of grain to the bushel of ears. But the afore mentioned checks of natural selec tion, which control the productive capacity, also controlled the length of the ear inasmuch as the length of the ear was shortened in proportion to the increase of per cent, of grain to the bushel of ears. I have also personally grown large-cobbed, long eared deep-grained varieties of corn that produced a large per cent, of grain to the bushel of ears. But I was compelled to plant them much thinner on tho ground than the smaller eared varieties. Their ma turing season was also so lor.g (about 150 days) that they rarely matured fully, even during our most favor able year. If the breeder endeavors to con tinue the growing of such a corn, the many checks exerted through natural selection, by the means of correl ated variation, interferes by re ducing the length of the ear and grain to the extent that it will not contain any more weight of well ma tured grain than will our medium sized, long-grained, medium-cobbed varieties of corn. Tho writer has been repeatedly defeated in endeav oring to breed up a very large deep grained, long-eared variety of corn in this latitude, for the reason that the correlated checks of natural selection that control the natural limit yield, would not permit me to succeed. A few years ago certain experimenters claimed that when a variety of corn would produce a large ear at each joint of the stalk, was bred up, we would have then reached the millenium in maximum corn pro duction. About ten years ago the writer came into possession of a now variety of pop corn of Iowa origin, that was claimed to produce an ear at each joint of its stalk In the ! much below the normal in size, and very immature in quality. Prof. O. E. Blount, now of Colorado, endeav- ored (in Tennessee) through selec tion covering a long series of years, to revolutionize corn growing by breeding vt-p a variety of corn that would produce a largo ear at each joint of its stalk. But this same law of correlated variation prevented his doing so. During a year of long- growing season, the writer has suc ceeded in growing a stalk of Blount's Prolific corn which produced eight ears. But the ears were of insignifi cant size, and immature quality, and consumed about 150 days of growing season. In fact, a medium-sized white dent main crop corn which produced only one good ear to its stalk, produced shelled corn of more marketable value than the eight ears produced on. one stalk of Prof. Blount's corn. The writer's experience in corn breeding, and seed production, is that the concentration of the corn producing capacity of the soil in the production of only one good ear, on a short, thik, whip-shaped stalk, such an ear producing S7 to 90 per cent, of shelled corn to the bushel of ears, consistent with its perfect ma turity, in our average growing sea sons (which in this latitude are about 120 days) will, all minor con ditions being equal, yield the high est average value of grain per acre. J. C. SUFFERN. Piatt Co., 111. WE MUST HAVE MORE AND BETTER SOIL. Mr. J. B. Hunnicutt, of Georgia, who is known to Progressive Farmer readers as the author of a number of "very practical farming articles which he has contributed to this paper, has in the last issue of the Southern Cultivator a strong article on "More and Better Soil." It is a good subject for our farmers to think over these winter nights, and we publish Mr. Hunnicutt's . letter in full below : The foundation of all and lasting success in farming must be laid in a better soil. The soil is the farmer's bank. Into this bank he must make constant deposits of active working capital if he expects success. Hence it is all important that every farmer should thoroughly understand what his soil is and how he can improve it. For the past eighteen months we have been discussing thjs question in a more or less desultory manner and while this discussion has not been altogether vain yet we are painfully aware that a great many have not yet been fully awakened to its real meaning. Therefore at the risk of repeating we will discuss the ques tion once more. "Line upon line, precept upon precept" is still de manded. Indeed our verv effort to explain the nature and powers of soil has taught us much of real value. "Day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth knowl edge," and each setting sun has left us wiser than when the day begun ; the same is true of each student of nature's wondrous ways. WnAT IS SOIL. Without undertaking to give an exact scientific answer we desire to say as it relates to farming, it is the top of the earth and its plant food contents. There is no specific line of demarcation between soil and sub soil. The depth of the soil at any particular place is not a fixed quan tity, but may be increased or de creased at the will of the fnraier by his methods of treatment. hen the top of the earth is loosened up tho air and sunshine and water circulate through it and make soluble the mineral elements of plant life which everywhere abound. While there are fourteen of these elements found in all plants, there are only three of them that particu larly concern the farmer. Nature will look after the others. The three 1 1 1 i iJ .1 are: fotasn, pnospuonc aciu, auu lime, and these are found in ample quantities, in all soils ; indeed there is about nine thousand dollars worth of them in every average acre of land taken to the depth of three feet. But in their native condition they are insoluble, for plants cannot use solids, but only liquids, their food must be fed to them in solution in water. RICH AND POOR SOIL. What we call rich soil does not con tain more of these essential elements of plant food than what we call poor soil. But they are in soluble condi tion in the poor soil. They are made soluble by pulverization ; if the soil be made fine it becomes rich. It is a question of mechanical condition and not a question of mineral coin position. The rich loam of bottom lands is made up from the fine par ticles taken from the poor hillsides and carried by the water and de posited on the bottom land. If we can make the hillsides as fine as these bottom lands the soil will be equally as rich. We mean to siy that each farmer can make his soil deeper and richer simply by plowing deeper and pulverizing finer. THE REAL CONDITION. The actual present condition of the average farm is about as follows : First, three or four inches of more or less badly plowed so-called soil. The plowing has been done when the ground was too wet. The sunshine and the winds have dried the little lumps of earth into millions of what we may properly call sun dried brick-bats. x The brick bats are utterly incapa ble of furnishing any plant food to the growing crops. If you wish to know wbat part of your fields are composed of this material take a fine sifter and sift your soil. Only that part tnat goes through the sifter is j fit to be called soil or is ready to fur nish plant food. The rest is useless until pulverized so that the average crop only has about one inch of soil upon which to feed, a real soil from which to draw its food. Below this three or four inches is found six or eight inches of compact eath which for convenience we call hard-pan. It has received this name because it is too hard for water to circulate freely through it either by gravity or capillarity. It is also too hard for the little feeding rootlets of growing plants to penetrate. Hence it is worth very little if anything to the growing crop. But this hard-pan is filled with phosphoric acid, potash and lime, the three great mineral elements of plant life. But though at present they are locked up so far as the plant is concerned and below this hard-pan the earth is sufficiently porous for the upward and down ward circulation of water, and for the growth of plant roots. WHAT WE CAN AND OUGHT TO DO. Now a little study will make it clear that the first duty of every farmer is to quit plowing his land when it is wet and quit making sun dried brick-bats and proceed at once to mash every one he has made by the repeated use of plows, harrows and rollers. Next he should proceed to break up this hard-pan and make possible the free circulation of the water, air and sunshine and the free growth of plant roots. By doing this he will almost indefinitely in crease the depth of his soil, almost indefinitely increase the richness of his crop, almost indefinitely increase the profit of his farming. What we mean to say is this : the Lord has made the earth rich. He has filled it with the necessary ele ments of plant food. He has wisely left it to us to make this food avail able Or not, as we farm wisely or foolishly ; we can make our soil deep and rich by simply plowing deep and often. The hard-pan is a creature of our own manufacture made by our folly and ignorance. It is an interference with all good farming. Hence it is our first duty to proceed to remove it at once. No farmer should be sat isfied with less than fifteen inches of well pulverized soil. This depth of soil will make possible such crops as we have not been accustomed to gathering. What we call our poor upland farms with fifteen inches of soil can be made to produce from 50 to 100 bushels of corn per acre, from 30 to 50 bushels of wheat, from 60 to 100 bushels of oats, from 1 to 2 bales of cotton ; and so on of other crops. If you doubt this, try to prove it false. Prepare any given number of acres with fifteen inches of soil and plant anv crop you please upon them and make a fair test. Of course you can use on soil3 thus prepared all the manure and fertili zers you may be able to raise or will ing to buy. They will pay you a much larger-elear percent, of profit on these deep soils than when used upon the ordinary three or four I inches of soil. But you can become independent of chemical prepara tions by this method of farming. ! We have said nothing of nitrogen j or ammonia, because it is not a min- eral element of plant life. It is I found in rich abundance in the at mosphere and carried by animal and vegetable matter and rain water into the earth in sufficient quantities wherever intelligent farming is pur sued upon fifteen inches of soil. A few years ago I used to see a farm noon which everything seemed ! to be going to ruin. The owner never made his farm pay. A young bwede who had gathered up a few hundred dollars by working as a "month hand" bought the place, and in a short time you would hardly have known it. He fixed up the buildings and fences, worked the land care- i f ullv, and soon brought it to a state of splendid culture. rom wmcn i conclude that it is more in the man than in the farm whether farming pays or not. E. L. V. HARRY FARMER'S TALES. IX. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. On eery hand we hear of great preparations to supply farmers this year both with general merchandise and fertilizers. Brother farmer, are you going to tie yourself hard and fast so that you will be virtually a slave probably for two or three years? Count the cost. Base your figures on 8-cent cotton. Place the yield at the smallest crop you ever made your land. Then think about what it may cost you to gather it. Take three things into consideration in regard to the labor question: First, the negroes are leaving the State and many are going to the towns to live ; second, most of the white people who have helped you to hoe and pick your cotton have gone to work in cotton factories; third, your neighbor is going to plant all the cotton he can possibly manage. Now, to what other source can you look for help? When you have to pay from 75 cents to $1.25 per 100 to have your cotton picked as is the case in some places now, your profits will be in some other man's pocket and you with a mort gage to lift. You ask if Harry Farmer is going to plant any qotton? Yes ; he is going to plant some. He has planted cotton for 20 years. He needs the seed to feed cattle. He finds it a paying crop in his rotation. He will give his experience along that line at another time. Meat is selling well, pork bringing 6 to 6 cents per pound. At this price farmers can make money. Can't you raise a few pigs for your mar ket? The kind most saleable are small size that will average about 50 pounds each. Smaller sizes were in demand a few years ago, but there is a change now, brought on by so many large families moving to town from the country. We are glad to see that a large factory i3 going up near the mouth of Cape Fear river to manufacture fish scrap for fertilizer. Harry Farmer has often mentioned this en terprise as a paying investment. It will enable truckers in this and ad joining counties to get their fertili zers for growing early vegetables at lower freight rates. Now is a good time to prune grape vines. Six weeks from now they will "bleed" too much, so do not de lay this important work. This ap plies to bunch grapes. What is known as "Muskadines" do not need pruning. Such as the Scuppernong, Flowers, Thomas, etc. We will give some items from the Western people who have settled in this county, mostly around Chad burn, in a future article. Harry Farmer. Columbus Co., N. C. TO KEEP TOOLS BRIGHT. Take crude petroleum, which is sometimes sold as lubricating oil, and any cheap mineral paint that you get for about 4 cents per pound, and make a mixture. Apply this by means of a brush of some kind to the parts of the tools which it is desired to protect. This will keep them per fectly free from rust and they may be used the next spring without go ing to the trouble of scraping off the mixture with a brick or metal scraper of some kind. If tools are used shortly after the mixture is applied it of course should be applied again before they are put away Gallaway, Bethel, 111. L. H. The Roanoke-Chowan Times says : "Mr. Thomas C. Peele, of the Rich Square section, is a lining example of the successful tarmer. xi u neighbors, for miles around, are in need of seed oats, wheat, corn, pea nuts, cotton seed, or any product of the farm from a sitting of eggs from thoroughbred fowls to the finest milk cow their wants can generally be supplied by Mr. Peele Tin week while in our office he informed us that during the year just ; closed he sold twelve nunureu ouu uu., pounds of butter besides supplying his family of ten members inthall they wished to use." The Times mi-ht have added that Mr. Peele, likS most of the States' best farmer?. reads and pays for the btute s omj , farm newspaper, The Progressive Farmer. .CLODHOPPER'S TALES. HI. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. I was in town this morning and saw an incident that set me "to think ing. A gentleman had ordered a peck of apples from his grocer. Pick ing up two of them and wiping them off, he said to me, "Well, I know I am eatiner a North Carolina armta Xi now. 4 How?" I asked. "Because," said he, "these apples are unwashed, slightly dirty, and while there are many fine ones among them, they are not carefully assorted. A Yankee would have carefully washed and assorted them, whereupon they would have com manded twice as much per bushel as our farmers get for theirs. In this State the farmers do not pay enough attention to putting their products in marketable condition and so lose much of the profit." And really, now, wasn't there some food for thought in his re marks? Now is a good time to order an in cubator and prepare to make some money out of poultry this year. Are you using up-to-date farm im plements and machinery? If not, think about it and try to count up how much you are losing by your unprogressiveness. The best thing I have read on that subject in a long time is Prof. Irby's editorial in The Progressive Farmer of January 1st. Get it and read it. It will give you much to think about. I always read Mr. F. J. Merriam's articles with a great deal of interest. One of the best he has ever written for The Progressive Farmer was that in this week's issue on "Cotton Cul tivation." Free rural delivery of mails is won derfully successful here in Wake. We farmers feel now that we couldn't get along without it. Now is a good time to get sub scribers for The Progressive Farmer. And really I do not know how you can help your neighbor more than by getting him interested in good agricultural literature. If you have a friend who is reading a farm paper from New York, Kentucky, Penn sylvania or some other far-away place, and which must of course be unsuited to North Carolina condi tions and people, get him to try a North Carolina farm paper where he can get the experiences of men who understand things as they are in our State. Our products are different, our soils are different, and papers printed for conditions in the North and West are not suited to us here. Save the leaves that litter the yard and lawn. Dump them into a barrel or box for the hens to scratch over this winter. You will be surprised at the amount of exercise and enter tainment a dozen hens will get out of a barrel of leaves thrown in the corner of a shed - or in a warm nook. Just mix a few handfuls of wheat or other grain in the leaves and let them scratch for it. It is none too soon to begin to think about and discuss the problem of home mixing of fertilizers. Hun dreds of thousands of dollars can be saved to the farmers of North Caro lina by intelligent home mixing, but I would not advise every farmer to try it. Only those who understand in some measure the value and I properties of the three ingredients gen should attempt it. Undoubt edly the best treatise on the subject is Prof. E. B. Voorhees' book, "Fer tilizers." At least authorities say so, and I have studied the book and believe it. Wake Co., N. Clodhopper. C. Plaster renders crude materials available, and prevents the escape of ammonia till the plant roots can use it. Having done this there is noth ing more for it to do. Add more material by the addition of stable manure or a green crop plowed un der, and it will again do good. Its . continued profitable use depends on adding new material. J. C. Senger, Ore Banks, Va. We want not time, but diligence, for great performances. Samuel Johnson.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 15, 1901, edition 1
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