THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OP OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OP STATE POLICY.
Volume XVIII.
RALEIGH, N. C, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1903.
Number 24.
AGRICULTURE
SUGGESTIONS TO WHEAT GROWERS.
Cowpeas Will Store up $15 Worth of
Nitrogen Per Acre Plans to Remove
Cheat and Cockle.
Editor of The Progressive Farmer :
Land intended for wheat should be
frequently plowed prior to seeding.
Wheat will succeed best on a clover
or cow pea sod, but these crops, or
any other green crop, should inva
riably mature before they are turned
down. The ranker the growth the
better will be the results. " Conse
quently, when seeding clover or cow
peas it usually pays well to supply
them liberally with potash jmd phos
phoric acid. A bountiful supply of
nitrogen will be drawn from the air,
which is a clear gain, being virtually
grown. A good crop of clover or
pea vines will easily draw, per acre,
from the air, $15 worth or more of
nitrogen. The Xew Jersey Experi
ment Station claims that an acre of
crimson clover . will mature $30
worth of nitrogen. But we will be
moderate and put the average value
of nitrogen that can be practically
drawn from the air by an acre of
clover or cow peas, at $15, which is
more than most corn crops would
sell for. Said nitrogen, with the
pota-h and phosphoric acid that may
have been applied direct, will be
stored in the plants and, when turn
ed down, will serve the wheat crop
that follows.
hen practical a clover or cow pea
crop should be turned down several
weeks before the wheat is seeded.
Time will thus be given for the veg
etable matter to at least partially de
compose before the wheat is seeded,
during which time important chemi
cal changes will take place. But as
the vegetable matter cannot decom
pose in time to fully meet the re
tirements of the wheat a half dose,
say m to 400 pounds per acre of a
fertil
izt-r containing nitrogen two
Percent, potash 7y2 per eent and
available phosphoric acid 9 per cent,
be used.
T RlUOYE CHEAT AND COCKLE FROM
SEED WHEAT.
There nre at least two plans for
d0lng tin's. I wm first give what ap
Pears to be the most practical plan,
and then the other. . .
ako a strong brine by adding salt
vrat,r. This brine will float cheat,
u er the Georgia or common kind,
and a portion of the cockle, but not
all.
If molasses or the ordinary cane
(sorghum) syrup be added in proper
quantities md well stirred, the spe
cific gravity of the brine will be suf
ficiently increased to float the resi
due of the cocokle.
When the brine is made it .will be
necessary to use a proper quantity
of salt above the capacity of the wa
ter to dissolve. Then when the mo
lasses or syrup is added an addition
al quantity of salt will be dissolved,
thus increasing the specific gravity
of the liquid sufficiently to answer
the desired purpose. The necessary
quantity of molasses or syrup to be
added can Be ascertained by testing.
In the above test I used ordinary
molasses, but presume that syrup
of cane or sorghum will answer
equally well.
A liquid prepared as above will
float all the cheat and cockle and
from 25 to 30 per cent of the lighter
grains of wheat.
The skimmings should be imme
diately removed and then the. wheat
that has settled to the bottom, taken
out and washed with fresh water.
Proper tests have shown that the
germinating power of wheat thus
treated will not be injured in the
least.
The above plan will not only clean
the wheat of all filth but will also
vastly improve the quality of the
wheat by retaining the heavier
grains only.
ANOTHER PLAN
Prepare a brine with, nitrate of
soda. Then add salt, using of each
all that the water will dissolve. Then
treat as above.
Saltpetre may be substituted for
the nitrate of soda, but as the latter
is cheaper it is preferable when it
can be commanded.
Light grains of wheat may for the
present yield fairly well, but their
continual use will surely cause a de
terioration of the wheat, both in
quantity and quality. Hence the
necessity for selecting' the heavier
grains only, at least a sufficiency to
grow seed for the following year.
BRYAN TYSON.'
Carthage, N. C. ,
News and Observer: Yesterday a
cotton firm in Raleigh sold one hun
dred bales of cotton to a cotton mill
in interior North Carolina for thir
teen and a half cents delivered. A
few Months ago that mill could have
bought its cotton for nine cents.
Potato Growing in Michigan.
Editor of The Progressive Farmer :
We are on the 43rd degree, north
latitude. The difference between here
and North Carolina in climate, cus
toms and crop culture must be so
striking as to be instructive to Pro
gressive Farmer readers. Take pota
toes, for example. Early potatoes
are not grown for market to any ex
tent. Most farmers plant a few for
home use, some time -in April or
May. Seldom that the ground warms
up enough to bring them up before
May, plant when you will. Usually
they are not relished for winter use.
. For main crop the market de
mands a round potato with few eye;
and not dee. Rural New Yorker,
JNo. 2, is much grown here. There is
a wide diversity of opinion and prac
tice in regard to seed. Some plant
small potatoes whole and get seed
elsewhere in a few years. Some cut
medium size in two to four pieces.
The best growers cut to two and
three eyes to the piece-and one piece
to the hill. The ground being well
fitted with plow, disk pulverizer,
spring tooth harrow or drag, is rolled
and marked each way, usually with
a three legs marker, with legs 30
inches apart. But fashions change.
Not so very long ago they were
planted three feet apart and with a
hoe. Then came the drill system. A
shovel plow, or cultivator with broad
tooth, was run in rows two and a
half to three feet apart one way.
Men with sacks of seed followed,
dropping a seed piece one and a half
to two feet apart, stepping on each
piece to firm it in the soil.- A horse
with "cultivator rigged to turn two
furrows in over the seed, followed.
In a few days a roller, or drag, was
run over these ridged rows levelling
them somewhat and killing the weeds
in the seed leaf.
Now, the style is to plant the seed
with a hand and foot planter; the
seed carried in a sack over the shoul
der, one piece put in the planter tube
and thrust four or five inches in the
soil by foot pressure. Hard work!
If weather is suitable, a drag, ordi
nary 45 to 60-tooth peg tooth drag,
is run over the field once or twice be
fore the crop comes up, to break the
crust and kill the weeds, makes
much easier the subsequent culture.
Often a farmer will drag the field
after the potatoes are up. TKe seed
deep thrust in the earth remains" un
disturbed and the tops suffer but lit
tle. Later the crop is well cultivated
both ways, say twice, two times in a
row each way. The cultivator teeth
will be set to throw the dirt to the
row the last time giving a slight
hilling oi the earth. Practically it
is level culture. Various ways of
digging are in use. The f avorite
method is for two to six men with
hooks, or forks, working together.
Two rows as dug are thrown togeth
er. Usually they'll dig about as
much in the forenoon as they can
pick-up in the afternoon. A horse
and stone boat with eight to twelve
bushel crates is taken to the field.
Some farmers have women and chil
dren to pick and the richest of them
will turn out in an emergency and
help and don't feel disgraced either.
The horse is driven or led up the
wide row where the vines are thrown "
and the potatoes picked and thrown
into the crates from each side. When
the crates are full the load is taken
to a pit centrally located usually,
though some load into wagon and
put in cellar at once. Others think
best to pit and let the potatoes
sweat out until cold weather, when
they are sorted and moved to cellar
or permanent pits. These are piles
of potatoes, 50 to 100 bushels in a
heap about two and g. half feet wide,
.and two to two and a half high, on
top the ground, covered with a coat "
of straw, about a foot of earth and
a finish of litter from the horse sta
ble, when steady freezing begins.
Paris green applied with a hand
sprayer, is relied on to keep bugs in
check. '
Last- year potatoes were struck
with blight in September, and rot
ted badly. Some hadn't enough for
family eating. One farmer sold less
than $10 worthfrom three acres
whfch yielded heavy enough so he
and one man dug and pitted 100
bushels the first day, though one
quarter were left on the ground, rot
ten. When they were cellared, about
half the pits were left in the field,
and a large per cent decayed in the
cellar. Two years ago a field of four
acres yielded about 700 bushels of
marketable potatoes for him. Part
sold at 80 cents a bushel, so that the
crop averaged over $90 per acre
from sales. Can't always win! ' .
Notwithstanding the rot, prices
kept at 50 cents, or lower, a drop to
35 cents in May, but jumped sudden
ly to $1 in mid June. This coming
just at planting time, coupled-with
last year's disaster and the scarcity
of seed has diminished the area
planted. No potatoes were shipped
from here this season, where usually
many car lots are sold both fall and
spring. Looks now like high prices
for potatoes another season, for
planting is not yet finished owing to
heavy rains since the 17th, and those
planted fare badly in the sodden- soil.
H.
Davison, Mich.