Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Feb. 6, 1915, edition 1 / Page 4
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112 (4) What Farmers Want to Know V By W. F. MASSEY GO Slow With Untried Crops large establishments where machin- , , . ery does nearly all the work, can put jy RrG-Fr Whiter who dated-his let-, up-the-tomatoescheaper-than-any- icr uum wwwuwu, ixia., ov mall operator, especially in me about the advisability of planting sev- South, where the crop is so subject erai acres in. tomatoes anu gciung to destruction by bacterial blight. canning outht as a means 01 reducing the cotton crophe proposing to put his product on the general market. I gave a careful reply, and the letter came back, "No such office in Ala bama." Hence the inquirer will have to be satisfied with a reply in the paper, since he did not tell me his oostofiice address. I think any such attempt will re sult in absolute failure. Where I live there are thousands of acres planted in tomatoes for the canning houses, and the price they paid the past sea son was from $8 to $9 a ton for the tomatoes delivered at the factory. Now from what I know of the tomato in the South I am sure that south of Virginia no one can grow tomatoes ai IHC aUUVC pitUS, uwmg iu niv, piv- valence of the Southern bacterial blight. These large canning houses Reduce the cotton acreage, surely, but reduce it by going into' regular systematic farming, growing plenty of winter oats, peavine hay, crimson clover, and feeding stock. There is more money for the South in feeding beef cattle and hogs than in canning . tomatoes, and more plenty for the farmer who has something to sell be sides cottonand at different seasons of the year. Good, farming, with a smaller area in cotton and more in small grain and corn and hay is the lesson for Southern farmers to learn now. Resting Land Is Poor Business A S MR. Johnson well says, resting land and idle horses are a great expense to the farmer. Land lying out. with old dead corn stalks and do everything on the most economi- dead weeds, is idle and bringing no cal scale. No human hand touches the tomatoes after they are skinned, for the whole process is done auto matically by machinery, sealing and all. Now these factories, buying to matoes at the low prices named, say that this season they have worked at a loss, and the product is selling for less than cost. No small canner can compete with these factories on the . general markets. You might do some canning for a local market, where yuu tuuiu gci uic icwu yi i-c, uui small canning is only profitable under these conditions. What the South really needs is good farming and not experimenting with perishable crops about which we know nothincr. Reduce the cotton acreage to one-third of your land and grow small grain, corn, pea hay, and clover on the two-thirds and feed cat tle and hogs, and drop all idea of a little trucking, for trucking is a busi ness distinct from general farming, and a farmer with a little truck is handicapped as to freights and com missions, and risks a failure. There is going to be more profit in cattle and hogs than in truck for the gen eral farmer, and the man who farms right, with a good rotation, and grows plenty of forage, will find his land improving till the one-third in cotton will . make as much as the whole does now. Don't sneculate in "piddling" crops, but go into real farming. lespedeza might do very well. But ; there is no better summer - pasture than cowpeas. Let these get a good growth, and by turning on them be fore they bloom you can graze them down and take the stock off, and they will start up nicely again. I once pastured a lot of peas down three H'mPt hefnre-thev gave it up. Of course-care must be used in turning nn them. Do not turn cattle on them" hungry, and at first let them stay a short time to avoid danger of bloat ing. You cannot have any tempor ary summer pasture better than peas. There is a Mr. Darling, whose init ials I do not remember, who has more oyster shells than any man I know. He is at Hampton, Va., and when I was there last he had a perfect mountain of shells. , Pasturing Clover and Vetch FROM North Carolina : "I have sown some crimson clover and vetch, and wish to pasture my cattle and hogs on it. But some one tells me that if cattle or hogs eat it when wet it will kill them. What do you say?" You should never turn cattle on green clover and vetch when they are hungry, as they will gorge themselves and be apt to get bloated. Turn on after feeding and when the crop is THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER easy to knock the plants out with the balls. I use' the greenhouse and sow the seed 'in shallow boxes, and then get them into pots as soon as large enough; and later knock them out of the pots and set them in the cold frames, four inches apart each way. They are there hardened off, and they lift with a ball of earth and are as e,asily transplanted as from bands Thd'neverwilrwith-merThey"canbe" set up on a light board carrier and taken to .the field. For an early crop I would prefer to plant on high sandy loam soil, rather than on the bottom land, as the fruiting will certainly be earlier. A good- strain of Earliana will do well for the first shipping, but Bonny Best is a close second and a much better tomato. I TWELVE THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH 1. Do not burn the cotton and corn stalks; plow them under. 2. Keep the plows running every sunny day; now is the time to turn under -trash that it may rot and not be in the way of cujtivation. 3. Give the garden a liberal fertilization and get the earlier vegetables started. 4. Write your representatives in the Legislature tonight about the legis lation for farmers so repeatedly urged in The Progressive Farmer. 5. Let your United States Senators and Representatives hear from you about our need for a rural credits law. 6. Cooperate with a few of your neighbors and buy your fertilizers in car lots. 7. Roll the stored cotton out and look it over carefully to see whether it is entirely dry and not rotting. ; 8. Give the farm implements and harness a thorough going over, to see that everything is ship-shape for the spring rush. 9. In plowing the rolling fields don't forget to keep the broad terraces plowed up to the proper height and width. : 10. Open all half-filled ditches and drains, that the water may keep mov ing and that the fields may dry out for spring plowing. 1 1. Keep after the stumps, weeds and briars that make too many of our fields look slovenly and unbusinesslike. 12. ICeep the road drag going that the spring hauling may be made easier. Top-dressing Pastures I HAVE often told of the pastures in northern Maryland which have for many years been top-dressed with bone meal. Dr. Henry Wallace tells in Wallace's Farmer of the experi ments made by Prof. Brooks, at the Massachusetts Experiment Station, where he saw pasture land top-dressed with basic slag on which was the densest sod he had ever seen in this country, while the part of the field left without top-dressing had no grass worth pasturing. In the South the pasture is usually a piece of waste land that is allowed to take care of 'itself, and grows ev erything but grass. There. is no part of the farm that pays better for being taken care of and fertilized than the permanent pasture. Grass' needs feeding as much as any crop grown. Fighting Rats - FROM Alabama: "What can I do to, prevent rats destroying my corn in my barn? My corn crib is part of the barn. Is there anything I can put in the corn' when housing it that will drive the- rats or kill them?" The best way to get rid of rats is to build a rat-proof corn crib apart from any other building. There is nothing you could put with the corn to kill rats without spoiling the corn for use. If you are compelled to keep it in the barn, then keep plenty of cats. I have cats that never come into the dwell ing house, but they keep all rats and mice out of all the outbuildings, as" every door has a hole to. admit them. income, while the field covered now with crimson clover or vetch is mak ing food for the future crops and put ting money in your pocket. The best way to rest land is to keep it at work between sale, crops, growing some thing either to feed the soil direct or through its feeding to stock to feed The Usual Idea T?ROM Alabama: "I want to reduce the soil too. J- , my cotton acreage. Do you think Resting land by letting 'it merely it will pay me to buy a small canning grow up in weeds is making 'brow outfit and plant one or two acres in sweatings, for the next season. Then, tomatoes, and put them on the mar- in reducing the cotton acreage do not ket? How many cans ought I to get let the remainder of the land lie idle, Jrom an acre?. Are there any other but put it into a rotation, and while "crops that would pay better here?" planting one-third in cotton have the Yes, there are other and! less per- two-thirds in feed and forage crops, ishable crops. If you have a local Diversify, of course, but not in a market, at a paying price at retail you random way by planting a few crops " might make a little. But to can to- you are unfamiliar with and of a per . matoes for the general market you ishable iature, but diversify in a sys- could not make a cent in competition tematic way and go into real farming, with the large commercial canneries. " -II " In fact they are not making anything Temnorarv Pasture this season, though they paid only $7 lemporary rastlire to $9 a ton for the tomatoes. "JROM North Carolina: "Please What one can grow on an acre will " give me a mixture of some kind depend on the soil and the skill of of clover and grass or something I Jhc cultivator. I live in the greatest can seed in spring, and use for graz- tomato-canning section of the United ing cattle in the summer. I have . States, and every farmer plants a plenty of crimson clover, rye, etc., for field of tomatoes for the canning the winter, having saved 50 bushels houses, and like every other crop or more of crimson clover seed my- grown, some will make a small crop self and have bought as many more, or about three to four tons an acre, Where can I buy oyster shells to viucrs wm maKe iu to 10 tons, gnna r . dry, and at first let them stay but a short time. If the clover is wet it will be more apt to, bloat them till they get accustomed to it. Otherwise it will not hurt them. But it will not be good for the land to have stock run on it in wet weather. Some of the large canners claim that tomatoes are now selling below the cost ot canning, even at the prices they paid for the tomatoes, and these 7 :; - I do not know any clover and grass mixture that you could sow in the spring and make much of a pasture the same summer. A good sowing of Veneer Dirt Bands "JROM Mississippi: "How do you -L manage the veneer dirt bands for getting early tomato plants? Are the seed planted in these folded bands, and bands taken out of the hotbed and set in the cold frames? A neighbor did his watermelons that way once, but did not plant the seed till March under cloth, but if a hot bed is to be made to start the seed in January or February it would require' a great deal of space for the hotbed. Will, the Earliana do as a shipping tomato? I intend to plant several acres for the St. Louis and Chicago markets. The land is fairly well drained bottom land. Those who planted such land near here did best, but the season was unusually dry." Those who use the dirt bands for tomatoes sow the seed either in greenhouse or hot bed and transplant the plants when large enough to the bands in the cold, frames. I do not use the bands, for I have found the earthenware pots more convenient and in the long run far cheaper. I can buy three-inch pots, freight in cluded, for about $4 a thousand, and they last many years, and it is very Planting Magnolia Seed FROM Arkansas: 'Thave some mag nolia seed and would like to know the correct way to plant them, as I am anxious to grow some trees." Clean off the pulp from the seed and sow them at once in a well prepared bed and cover about two inches, and they will grow in spring.- Let them remain one season in the seed bed, and the following spring take them up and pull off all the leaves and transplant to rows where they can be well cultivated till large enough for the .final transplanting.: But in transplanting aJways take off the leaves, so that the roots will have a chance to recover before much evaporation takes place. Coal Ashes COAL ashes are worthless as a fer tilizer, but I have found that fine sifted coal ashes are valuable as a mulch to retain moisture in dry weather. I have found nothing better .for tomatoes. than a mulch of sifted coal, ashes, applied rather, thickly, around the plants. I have had tomato plants go straight through the entire summer green and Healthy and pro ductive till frost when mulched with coal ashes .from which the " coarse parts have been screened. In the driest weather the soil will teeP moist under them. If J. R. L., whose letter is Jrom Linwood, N. C, will send his name I will answer his letter. I do not an swer unsigned letters
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 6, 1915, edition 1
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