Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Dec. 23, 1909, edition 1 / Page 6
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m THE PBOGRESSIVB FARMER. Thunday, December 33, 1909 MY BEST CROP AND HOW I MADE IT.' ii i -1 ; f i. ' J 7 : i. r n P .V. w Ki hi if;!! f HI ,11 ::AU. 21 t. j mm it .,, f ; 11 11-a: :a f S t ; 1 ' i 4 ""1 lL ''i 111 5T1 1 f ;1 1 - mm "few J-f , un mi mm 226 2-3 BUSHELS OF CORN ON ONE ACRE. . Mr. Batts Tells How He Blade It- Good Seed, Liberal Fertilization, Deep Plowing and Constant Culti vation Did the Work Hopes to Report on 20 Acres Next Year. Messrs. Editors: As I am receiv ing many inquiries concerning . my acre on which. I produced 226 2-3 busbels of corn, I gladly accept your invitation to write a short article about it. In the first place, as many seem to doubt that I made so much, let me say that the acre and the yield, were measured under the rules of the Wake County corn contest by disin terested and well-known free-hold ers, and that the evidence was heard under oath before the judges, name ly: Major W. A. Graham, Commis sioner of Agriculture; Mr. T; B. Par ker, and Col. Fred A. Olds. These judges after hearing the evidence confirmed the report of the local judges who measured the land and the yield. . This will settle the doubts of some, I think. Now, as to how I made the yield. I did all I could do with the land and the cultivation. I cultivated as much as I thought the land would stand. I manured as. generously as I thought necessary. I have made a full report to the State Board of Agriculture on the details of cultiva tion and fertilizing, and I understand that this report will be. printed in the Bulletin. I thought I had the seed corn'that would win, if I gave it a fair chance; and I spared nothing to give it that chance. The acre was not all that I could i have wished for. Eight years ago it produced only five bushels. Last year it produced eight bushels of wheat. But I began preparing it last year by planting peas, from which I cut the hay. On the 12th of March, 25 2-horse loads of cow manure were applied. It was then plowed 12 inches deep and subsoiled 6 inch es deeper. On the 9th of April, 20 more loads of manure were spread, and the field was plowed and sub soiled again -this time 20 inches deep. Three days later 800 pounds of acid phosphate and 2,000 pounds of cottonseed meal' were spread and harrowed in. The corn was planted 8 inches apart with the rows 41 inches apart, and 600 pounds of an 8-3-3 fertilizer put in the row. May 20th, 400 pounds of cottonseed meal, 400- pounds acid phosphate, 800 pounds kainit and 200 pounds nitrate of soda were put along the rows. On the 27th, 200 pounds cot tonseed meal, 200 pounds acid phos phate, 400 pounds kainit and 200 pounds nitrate of soda were broad casted and harrowed in. June 9 th, 200 pounds cottonseed meal, 200 pounds acid phosphate, 400 pounds kainit and 200 pounds nitrate were applied. The .yield was 226 2-3 bushels. The manure applied was worth $56.25; the fertilizer cost $58 .80, and .the total cost of the crop was $139.02. I attribute much of my success to seed selection. I have kept a seed patch seven years, and on this patch I have year by year planted my best seed, selecting the seed from the best ears with a view to good size and quality and prolific type.. I do not believe that more than four ears can be safety made on a stalk, and this can be done only under the most favorable conditions. But if we make four ears in the seed , patch, and breed the seed to that type, the aver age in the main field will . tend to run above two ears. This was the plan I . worked on, and it has come out all right. I believe I had the benefit of the most prolific seed to be had. And I know the seed had all the chance that I could give. I am now making plans to show what can be done profitably on 20 acres. I will make no promises, but next year I hope to be able to report on a yield of 20 or 30 acres. I be lieve that we can do a great deal by increasing our average yields all along the line, and that the way to do it is by the use of prolific seed stock, good manuring and faithful and intelligent cultivation. J. F. BATTS. Garner, N. C, R. F. D. 1. A PAYING HAY CROP. Oats and Peas More Profitable Than Cotton A Believer in Prof. Mas sey's Cowpea Preaching. Messrs. Editors: Cotton is my principal money crop. But I always plant several catch crops, so if the cotton should fail, I would have something to fall back on for cash. No one can fully appreciate the beau ty of this plan of farming until he is caught, as I am this year, with less than one-half of a cotton crop. Every one who has been up against it like this knows how nice it is to carry up to market a load of produce which can be easily turned into cash at a good price. ; My principal catch crop this year was hay. This is the way I made it: Last fall I broke the land deep with a 2-horse turn plow. After the first good rain, harrowed in fertilizer and drilled one and one-half bushels of 1 oats per acre. Cut these the last of May, in dough stage. After cutting and rakinig them, sowed one bushel of peas per acre on oat stubble and plowed them in with one-hcrse turn plow. Did not use any fertilizer un der peas, but they grew nearly waist high, and as thick as could grow. When the pods turned yellow, I cut them. Let sun until a little before the leaves began to shed. Then raked in windrows and hauled to barn. The first opportunity after it had gone through' heat, baled it and stored in a dry place. From the oats and peas I cut three tons per acre of as nice hay as I ever saw, at the cost of $7.50 per ton, including seed, plowing, cutting and baling, a total cost per acre of $22.50. Three tons of hay at $20.00 per ton, $60.00, leaving a net profit of $37.50 per acre. There are two facts about a crop of oats followed by peas, worthy of consideration : First, unlike cotton, it does not take twelve months in the year to cultivate and harvest them. If not needed at home the oats can be cut and sold in June, for cash to make the coUon crop. But by all means use pea hay with corn to make a balanced ration for farm Ex-Governor Charles B. Aycock of North Carolina says of "A Southerner in Europe": "I read the last chapter the other night, having for the first time found an opportunity to look into it. Hav ing read the last chapter, I turned back and took the book up from the beginning, and nearly completed it before laying it down. It is in every way most delightful and instructive." While the supply lasts we will send The Progressive Farmer and one copy of "A Southerner in Europe" (hand some paper binding) for $1.40; regu lar price $1.60. Order to-day. stock and a rich manure pile to put back on the land. . Second, where oats and peas have a place in crop rotation it will make the land and man rich faster than any amount of commercial fertilizer to the land in cotton year after year, and do it much cheaper. In closing I want to endorse all Prof. Massey has said about the cow pea. I believe I will go further and say all that he will ever say. For I don't think there can be enough good said of the cowpea as a feedstuff and a soil improver. ; W. B. KYZAR. Goshen, Ala. SOME GOOD FARMING IN JOHN STON COUNTY. A Profitable Field of Corn and a Paying Cotton Crop Farmers Who Make Good Crops Year After Year. Messrs. Editors: I will give you a short report of some crops I've seen in Johnston County and how they were made. Near Four ' Oaks, N. C, Mr. Julius Johnson has " two fields that he culti vates to corn one year, the next to cot ton. In January he cut cotton stalks with stalk cutter; early in February bedded the rows up with two-horse plow with small wing, in rows 41 feet wide. Early in March he bed ded it with, same plow, as deep as two good mules could pull it, drilled in water furrow 15 bushels raw cot tonseed, covered with one furrow. The first days of April, ran a cotton plow with only the -point in seed to mix them with soil and threw fur row from other way to make ridge. Planted corn on the ridge April 5th and 6th, about 15 to 20 inches in drill. As soon as corn was up through ground ran around it with small sweeps. In about 12 or 14 days; sowed a mixture of one-third nitrate of soda and two-thirds cottonseed meal, 150 pounds per acre, on top of ground and plowed the corn out, stirring whole row about 2 inch es deep. In about 12 or 14 days re peated that plowing. The next and last time applied ; the mixture and quantity of fertilizer per acre sown (Continued on Page 18.) ATLAS pS? I TkcyVt Mtarfc'.fr.xM.IMM- 4s7 J - I i t jmrngMd WlUtlfetott tot. firV V" J U jitio JANUARY "wwl I fl 2 3 4 5 6 7 S . If IS j 1 9 JO JIJ2.ii H.W. 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The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 23, 1909, edition 1
6
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