Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / June 12, 1915, edition 1 / Page 4
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544 (4) What Farmers Want toKnow Uy W. F. Macy Preventing tut Worm uamage WHAT will prevent cutworms from destroying young plants? Can the tomato blight or wilt be cur ed or prevented?" ' ' ? To destroy the cut worms; use 50 parts of wheat bran and one part of Paris green. Dampen the bran and add the Paris green and some corn syrup to make it stick and better at tract the worms. Mix all very thor ft!rMv fn att the ooison on air the pieces of bran. Scatter some of, this around, each plant after setting it .The worms are fond of bran and will be destroyed. The bacterial blight or wilt of tomatoes cannot be pre vented nor destroyed by spraying. The main thing is to avoid infected soil Something may be done by get ting seed from tomatoes which, lived and throve while others around died, and in this way breeding a strain that will' resist the blight. -section -cannot- afford - to - freight - it 'even at that price, and you could grind it for the same price and sup ply it in bullc locally and for a mod erate distance, or you could put up a kiln and burn it and make, a very high quality of lime. Magnesia . is also useful to plants, and. the oxides of iron and alumina", simply iron rust and clay, can be disregarded. Sheep Sorrel 1AM sending you a weed and wish to, know, what it is.. It .is spread ing in my. pasture and threatens to run all Over it. How can I destroy it?" The bunch you sent is largely a mass of seed, and people allow weeds to thrive and fill the land with seeds instead of keeping them mown off the pasture. The weed sent is sheep sorrel, Rumex acestocella. : It thrives when the soil .gets; too .acid . for' the better plants to keep ahead of it. Better turn 'the sod and lime well and 'son I know a large corn grower who claims that he maTces corn at an actual cost pf 9 to 11 cents a bushel, and he uses no fertilizer, but always has a rank sod to turn under, for the crop. What we need is good farming rather than speculating on fertilizer for every crop grown. : Late Cabbage ' CAN I grow late cabbage on moist bottom , land by ' properly manur ing and fertilizing?-', ..... . You certainly can. In your section . in the Piedmont region sow the seed of the Late Flat :Dutch in July," and never allow the seed bed to suffer for iack of water. Get strong plants for setting in late August. .'Manure, the land heavily, and' put in' fine 'order and set the plants three .feet apart each. way, and cultivate rapidly. Give side dressings of 150 pounds an acre of. nitrate of . soda to urge.,.the growth. Keep off the green wprrns by spraying with lead arsenate, -;1 pound in 30 gallons. of water. The poison will not affect the cabbage, as the heads form from' the inner bud. They should head in. late November, and any that are slow in . heading then can be made to head by pulling them till you hear some roots crack; YOU say that cucumbers and can taloupes will not mix. I know that they will, for years ago when planted close together in my garden they mixed and were worthless. And you say sweet potatoes will not mix, and 25 years ago I planted red pota toes and yams side by side and they were a mixed color. There is no guess about this." .'. I grow cantaloupes and, cucum bers , side by side every summer 'and always get good cantaloupes and good - cucumbers. You can use the pollen, of a cantaloupe on a cucumber : bloom, and the seed will make cu cumbers and not a hybrid; The change in color in. sweet potatoes is io evidence of mixing, but simply a natural sport and the potatoes were stilt yam and red potatoes. You can cross sweet potatoes .only by getting ripened seed from blossoms- that have been fertilized by the pollen of another variety. But sweet potatoes seldom make seed except in the trop ics, and we do not grow them from seed, and hence there is no crossing, for plants do not cross by their toots. Sweet potatoes will often show red dish streaks when there are no red potatoes around. Nancy Hall very commonly has the reddish streaks.' GET ACQUAINTED WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR "lEjr acquainted with your neighbor.7 -' Perhaps you. have had the exper- ' J ience of taking a dislike to some one on account of some minor personal habit or mannerism. Perhaps this dislike,, has been deepened with time until you reach the state of mind that you not only would do . nothing to assist the person, but where you might go out of your way to prevent him doing something for himself which would be to his profit Such states of mind are quite com mon. And then perhaps something will happen that will show that you were entirely mistaken in your estimate of the person. Perhaps you may 'get ; acquainted with him! And perhapsyou will find that what you. thought was , a lump of clay is a piece of priceless metaL - ;;; ' ; : " ' "Get acquainted with your neighbor." . A farmer's neighbors 'do' not all live : out in the .country ; neither lo the townsman's neighbors ajl live within the I corporation. The farmer has business in town, and the mercn&nts, mechanics, - bankers, railroad men, lawyers, doctorst etc all do husinesswith the farmers . ; lots of it' Get acquainted with the folks that you meet in a business way. A : personal acquaintance willvoften make a.business transaction much easier. - . . : , .' Get 'acquainted with-your neighbor.!- .Talk over with : him the Various problems that you have in common. Perhaps there will come a time when you ' . will feel well enough acquainted to cbnsult- him about tome of the things that concern' you only, but in which-his; advice will be helpful to you. ' Perhaps 'ybii will be able to help .him in settling some matter that may be worrying him. Do not confide in ''efybneV.That is not wise. : But you Will never know the character and disposition of folks, and whether or not you can confide in them, : until you really rknow theni:-Ohio Farmer.- . ' r - Precipitated Limestone FROM South Carolina: "Some time ' ago I sent you a specimen of rock found here, and -you advised .me to send it to Clemson College for analy sis. 'They have sentvme the follow ing analysis: - : Water' . . . .V. . ,', . . . . 13.49 per cent 'Insoluble .'. , . ...... r.-.i ..... .'-2.45 per cent .Oxides of iron and alumina... - .40 percent - .Calcium' carbonate .... . . . . ... . 81.02 per cent Magnesium carbonate ZAi per cent ' The chemist said ihis : was .one of the purest limestones they had ever Analyzed' "from my section of the state, ; and that I; would see that it Tuns over 90 per cent of carbonate of lime and magnesia on a moisture free, )asis. ''Please tell me iwhat' cal cium carbonate and magnesium car bonate .are," and oxide of iron and alumina. The chemist said; that" jf " the bed runs uniform and transportation- facilities are ; good it will be . ;well worth grinding for sale and cer tainly for local use." -a The sample sent me is the spongy 'looking article of . precipitated linic- sTone like "that now being ground at . Roanoke and in Alleghany County, Va. ; As you wrote that you got it tinder water, the water content was large. Carbonate of calcium is. s im- . "ply Jime as it exists in nature, and your rock is richer than most quar ry limestone. Ground limestone is novf sold in Virginia for $1 a ton in julk in carloads, but farmers in your plant in corn, and then you can; get the land back .to grass with some chance for the grass and clover to keep , ahead, of the, sorrel; Then to . keep ; a . pasture, good and. maintain the product in grass keep the weeds of all sorts mown off before seeding, and top-dress the grass every spring with raw bone meal. Pasturing ex hausts the phosphoric acid in the soil, carrying , off the phosphorus to make the bones of : the animals. ' A pasture will - not take care of itself any more , than any pother growth on the farm."" ' ; - . THE PnOS!!P.n;ivr .'''' . a r AKME the. north and bank the soil over m, stem and lower part of the head an4 they keep welL -Late beets I leav! m the row where they grew an! . throw a furrow to each side. Carr! I serve in the same way and w Keep De ter than lifted. Onions if vu . uic lopsjet toacan -be -stored in any dark outhouse, and ar, not hurt at alljf they freeze some An underground house such as vo.,' -propose would be too damp for 0n ions. .Your proposed house would ; keep; sweet potatoes all right if Vou put, a ventilator.through the roo that can be closed and opened. Then to raise the Jemperature when thev are stored to 85. or 90 degrees you will need a heating apparatus, till they have dried off from the sweat they, always .pass through, and after that a temperature of "40 to 50 degrees ' will be warm enough.- But do not try to keep s.weet potatoes and the hardy vegetables iif the same house, for you ' i- - . , . , r - Bhckeye Peas ARE there two kinds of 'Blackeye peas? There. are on our local market, some, very large ones, almost the' size-of a' kidney bean, and also , some small ones." : Yes, there are two kinds of Black eye peas, - the 'common and oldest known variety, a small and later one than' the large white Blackeye. This variety is 'one of the earliest of the cowpea "family. Some have lately got to calling it the California. But I had it years ago, and have mde two crops in a season on the same land, one ripening, early in July and the .second, in" September. I had it originally, from .Arkansas, and this spring a farmer in Iowa who went there from Arkansas sent me some fine : ones which he had grown and .ripened in, Iowa. The large peas on your market are probably of this va riety. - " - Too Much for Me : . J i- m A S H .... K 1 PLEASE tell me . how much am monia, phosphoric ' acid and pot ash "I will have to use oti an acre of ground to make 50 bushels . of corn." I might , tiell you the percentage of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in 50 bushels of corn, but if any one cantell you ' how. much of these in soluble form to apply to an acre 6f soil to guarantee 50 bushels to be produced, I cannot. Certainly - not without knowing the actual produc tivity of the acre under good cultiva, tion and in a favorable season. De pending on .fertilizer to make corn is a very unprofitable way to get the crop. I have' seen 98 bushels an acre over a large fieldwith no fertil izer used, and only a crimson clover crop turned under, and that on land that before its present owner brought it up through good farming, made 25 bushels in a favorable sea- - Texas Blue .Grass FROM Florida : "Please tell me what kind of grass the .specimen I send is. It came; to me in a box of other things from Texas. It may bb rescue grass; Will it make good win ter pasture?"- T V . ; " The grass is 'Poa arachnif era, Tex as - blue grass. It is a very valuable winter "grass, but makes little show in hot weathers WKeri the seed are ripe "they mat together with a sort of , spider web growth, which rriakes them hard to sow, but: sown in bunches it soon spreads. I have' seen a pasture of this in South Carolina mixed with Bermuda grass. The Ber muda 'made" the'-pasture! in" summer and as the' Bermuda failed in fall the Texas blue grass; came in foV the winter. Rescue grass is very differ ent, belonging to the isame family as brooms e dge. " : ; , , . A 'Vegetable House T SEND a sketch of a house ' I pro A. Pse to build in which to keep sweet potatoes; Irish : potatoes,' Xur nips, onions, cabbage and beets,' and would like your' opinion of it." You cannot keep sweet : potatoes ' in ) a house with the other vegetables you n uu4c warm enougn tor sweet potatoes will not Tr,u potatoes,, which simply need "to be cpt m. me oarkness and but little above the :.f reezing point; : .Then; you J9-.?.? need a house to keep late cab bage. I simply turn the head over to : '- Onions Seeding DOES it do any good to cut or - break out the seed stem in on ions ? Does running to seed injure theToriioh, and what causes so many to run lo seed ? ; Onions; grown from" planting sets are very Vapt to run to seed if the. . sets .are.!l over: Jarge, ".. Medium and .small sets seldom do so. If an onion runs' to sed'that ls the end of it, for If you "examine the" bulb you will find it completely hollow and exhausted. But if y6U watch" the plants and cut out' the seed stalk as soon as it shows an inch you can save the on ion.: It is far better to grow the on ions from seed than" sets, if they are warited for 'ripe onions1. Fall planted sets .are useful for green onions in the early - spring but for ripe onions you can sow the seed of the New England . varieties, such as Danvers and Southport, -in February, and can make good : onions the ; same season, .onyou tanplant in the fall the seW of the. Yellow Potato onion, whicft never seeds and can grow onions and sets at the: same' time,- for the sets ot this onion 'are made as offsets from the .base. of. the bulb. . And you can sow in your climate seed of the Prize taker or -the Giant Gibraltar onion -in-, "early September and .later transplant the-plants and they .will, make very large onions and not run to seed. Here I sow these; in a .trame unu Cglass sashes :and transplant in Marcn am4 '.aaiI in tomiarv. and you can do this: too and "thus avoid tne ganger of,-having the. plants run to seed. - r; : - : - Gutting Alfalfa WHEN should I begin to' cut al :falfa?" v n as - WxirU orrnwth. and as soon a , you see the new sprout starting the base of "the plants cut at once, je fore these shoots get tau enougu the mower to .catch . them,; for-it tncy are put the; next cutting- will w shorter. " " ' , -v .
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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June 12, 1915, edition 1
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