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What Farmers Want to Know
By W. F. MASSEY
TL Foil on1 Winter Hafilen Get both make a better second crP than
The hall and Winter baraen. uei Irish Cobbler Any of them wiU.
t . Ready lor It now be ready- to - plant- sooner- if- cut - in -
curled kale for- fall use. ..There is no,
greens equal to spinach, and the kale
is also good after fro'st strikes it. If
you have grown the plants, now is
the time to set Brussels sprouts,
These little cabbage heads come in at
their best after frost has cleaned up
the tender stuff.
. " . -
l never leave room vacant.foL.any
. , . IioIvm rlipn Hiicr - oi tne late crops, ior mere are ai
ALREADY the quer.es are coming halves when dug. ways early crops coming off and the
I in mr for methods of Krowing My South Carolina correspondent .u.. ..
" 0 - . - wnir ii lisru 1 1 1 1 i M r ii I r li iiija. . idi
... t , iL.il 1 1.1, .!.. .4.,,, -w x ..
ly in. August too we make , the first
sowing of lettuce to make plants to
set for heading in the open ground,
and a month later I sow again to
make plants to set in the 'frames for
heading at Christmas and New Year.
A garden without frames and sashes
is rather deficient in facilities for
making a good garden. You can
grow lettuce and some other things
under cotton cloth, but much inferior
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER
damacre to - th .-- mm . . --. . .-.
Aor roots arid tnK v lU!)ers
he work ol the ieaves! anVSM
leaves would soon perish Th,
take in carbon dioxide irom t !al'
- "411.
j ... VJIU
ntlfl ThP . erf pen n i i. .
.. sivvu uidiLfr n i
has the power to break up thi, ?"
bination and take the carbon n
turn the. oxyeren to th r- tl.
"eswith.thehydrogen;S-
late cabbaze and late Irish potatoes, says that he keeps the early potatoes
Hence it is desirable to take up in de- easily by spreading them out six or
tail the fall garden. Few farmers eight inches deep on any floor where
realize the amount of food a good they will not be exposed to the sun
garden will furnish in the fall and all light. Doubtless in a cool and per
winter through. Dug, planted and fectly dark, place the early potatoes
cultivated solely by my two hands, can be kept till fall, but I have never
gardening gives me in winter fresh seen them keep through the winter
from the soil parsnips, salsify leeks, unless put in cold storage. The late
lettuce, parsley, spinach, kale, Brus- crop is best for winter use and spring
sels sprouts, cabbage, Chinese, cab- seed.
bage, carrots, beets, and during the My practice, when I grew the sec- to those grown under glass. As I
summer me Mirpiub i uuucu ond crop was tQ cut thfi potatoes in have said eisewhere, the growing of
dried, and we add to fresh vegetables halyes afte ,etting them get per- kte cabbage is very largely a matter
the canned ones and the dry beans fectly mature then spread them out of feed and i should have said that it
and . black-eye peas, and in tact ai- in any convenient piace and cover is important to fight the green cater
most live out of the garden summer whh p.fte straw kept rather moist p.Uars .. deVour th(j The
and winter. Then plant in deep furrows as they late Peter Henderson once said that
A few days ago I was strolling sprout, but cover lightly till they get C while poisons and other things would
among the flowers in the front of my above the ground. I find that by get- destroy the caterpillars, he' found
garden when a man from Virginia ting the potatoes that have been kept that pushing the plants fast with
;aia, i nave Deen reao- from iist fan crop ,n
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S CALENDAR: FIVE THINGS TO
DO THIS WEEK AND NEXT
PLANT the stubble land to a second crop just as quickly now as
you can. Failure to do so means that your land is giving you only
about one-half the returns' it should.
2. See that all doors and windows are well screened and prevent
as far as possible the breeding of flies and mosquitoes. Remember,
these pests carry disease and death.
3. Keep on planting sweet potatoes, cowpeas for table use, hay
and grazing, and crops in the garden.
4. Rush cultivation, killing grass and weeds and saving moisture,
at the same time injuring the roots of the growing crops as little as
possible.
5. Make plans to observe June 28 as National War Savings Day.
Every man, woman and child in the country should be the owner of
Thrift Stamps and Baby Bonds.
came up. He said, I have been read- from last fall crop in cold storage, heaw fertilization was as'erood as
ing about this garden for ten years, exposing them to the light a few anything and that he could, get the
ana oeing in your city, i came out 10
see it." I told him that my garden is
not a show garden, and since two old
hands have to do all the work in it
there are some things that are not as
neat as they should be, for the walks
are more grassy than I have evef had
them. The garden is SO by 200 feet,
and , there are hundreds of square
yards of lawn to be cared for. In
fact, being on one end of a street
only half finished and having put
down the concrete sidewalks at my ,
own expense, I have extended my
lawn across the street, which at, this
point is little used, as I am right on
the outskirts of the city. To keep the
street from growing up in weeds I
run the lawn . mower across it and it
is now s neat as any part of the
lawn.
The garden proper is enclosed by a
woven wire fence on steel posts set
in concrete. This fence enables me days, I can get them to sprout quick- finest' of heads and get them faster
to grow many things without the ly and get a more uciiform and earlier than the caterpillars could eat them,
fence taking appreciable space in the stand, than by growing the crop from There is a good deal of truth in this,
garden. Lima beans, late tall peas seed of the present crop, especially and one of the most valuable1 helps
and other things needing support are where the Irish Cobbler is used, for after heavy manuring late cabbage is
grown on the fence. Hence there are this variety isslow to sprout. to push them with nitrate of soda,
no unsightly bean poles in my gar- xhe best time here to plant the late
den. I have told much about the ear- crop is the mjddie Qf juiy while with From the middle of June to early
ly garden work, and now in early the crop of this season it win be wdl July the plants of leeks grown in a
June we are preparing for the fall into August before they sprout. There seed bed will be transplanted to open
anu winter crops wnne eaung tne is a snpc;al reason this summer for turrows in soil that has been marie
planting an unusually large crop of Ylc by previous heavy manuring,
late potatoes. The early crop will The rows are 16 inches apart and the
Right now (June 3) I am setting hardly give the growers any profit, plants set three inches apart. These
plants of the Savoy cabbage for fall The great crop grown in the North will take the place ot green onions
use, and am sowing seed to produce last year and the difficulty of getting in the winter, being very hardy and
plants ior the cabbage crop to store any market for them will act as a leIt to stand where they grow. Met
and use in winter. Seed of parsnips discouragement to the Northern these stand and also the late beets,
and salsify are now to be sowed and growers and there will probably be a salsify, carrots and parsnips and they
before the. end of the month seed of reduction in area planted. This sea- are taken up for use as needed,
late beets and carrots will be sowed, son's crop will supply the winter
needs, and if-the early varieties are Later we will have a talk about
Now too I am setting the late to- used they will make the most produc- other fall and winter things- at the
rriato plants which will give us the tive seed for planting the spring crop, time when they should be planted,
main 'canning supply, for we do not and the chances are that the early . sucn as celery, cauliflower, etc.
dan the early ones. The early toma- crop of potatoes from the South in
toes are getting bigger daily and we 1919 will be. more profitable than this
will soon have the ripe ones, and the season. Still it is too early to predict
succession will keep up till frost, for conditions, but this is how it looks
the second planting is now getting of now.
good size.
1 There is nothing more wholesome
Early Irish potatoes are large in winter "than plenty of green stuff
oxygen in the soil water taken un !
the roots. ThU f .u. Ken ?P by
iviiua ii p fprhu
drates of which "the first we canT
tect in the plant is starch. Starch s"
the foundation for all tissue-buildin
m the plant. It is used by the active
living matter in'the building 0f cell
walls and is transformed into suear
and oils and acids in the plant. Then
the plant stores the surplus starch as
stardh in seeds and the underground
stems we call tubers and in true
roots.
The Irish potato and the artichoke
are transformed stems with buds or
eyes like the stems above ground
The sweet potato is a true root
swollen with starch and sugar and
with buds at the base of the stem.
These tubers and swollen roots are
very largely made up of starch, and
since the plants cannot form starch
or make growth without healthy
leaves, it is easy to see that you can
not cut the tops and have a good crop
of tubers develop. You cannot eat a
cake and keep it for tomorrow. By
far the greater part of the growth of
all plants with green leaves comes
from the air through the leaves and
not from the soil or roots. If you
keep the tops constantly cut off from
a plant, all the roots and under
ground part will soon die. The roots
and tubers cannot grow without the
leaves.
earlier ones.
Green Leaves Make Roots and
1 Tubers
"IN MARCH I planted an acre of
Jerusalem artichokes for my hogs
to eat next winter. They are growing
finely, with three to four stems three
enough to eat according to the gen- and salad plants. If you have not .feet high from each root.' I have
eral habit, but we prefer to let them planted any pimiento peppers you been told that lean cut the tops and
get larger and more mature while the should buy some plants and set them feed them to my stock and they will
old potatoes are good and cheap. A at once 1 start these witft the early make just as large a crop of tubers
friend in South Carolina writes that tomatoes and they begin to bear in as if the tops were not cut." Is this
he noticed that I said that cold stor- .June and keP bearing till frost. We true?"
age potatoes are necessary for the Doil th ffeen Pds and eat them like The one who toM J th f
planting of the late crop. I did not Srf?ns- Later some are stuffed with n0nsense knows very little about
say that, but did say that they are cabbage and pickled for winter, and piant life For th ' th d nf f
uesx, ana win maice tne petter crop c vcu the plant and th u: of thp
tor seed. derground stems we call tubers it is
- essential that the plant carry a full
Later, in early August, we make the crop of healthy leaves. Anything
first sowing of spinach and green that damages the tops and leaves is a
than the seed of the present crop
will. But you can grow the second
crop from this summer's seed. .The
Early Rose and the Triumph will
Destroying Moles
TpHIS is a perennial question. I doubt
the possibility of ever permanently
getting rid of the moles. Traps and
poisons will to some extent check
them, or rather the field mice that do
the mischief, for the moles arc after
insects and worms. But they are of
course responsible for the runs that
the mice use. Some find traps effec
tive. I never have. And then it is
not so much the mole we want to
catch, though his hills are a nuisance.
We want to catch the fellows that
eat the roots and bulbs of plants. I
have found carbon disulphide effec
tive, but rather expensive. Last year
I .found that the mice were devouring
some tulip bulbs. I had a lot of wheat
'bran, molasses and Paris green mixed
for cut worms. I opened the run right
where the tulips were withering and
stuffed in a lot of this. I did not lose
another bulb. I believe this bran,
mixed 50 parts bran and 1 part Paris
green with 'water half molasses will
kill the mice if well placed in the
runs over a considerable area. A wri
ter in a Northern farm paper says
that the calcium carbide used for
making acetylene gas if placed here
- and there in ' the runs will generate
gas and kill "all in the runs.
Growing Bermuda Grass From
Seed
."T HAVE-a corn patch which I wish'
to get into Bermuda grass for pas
ture. How many seed and how mucft
fe'rtilizer should I use an acre? nn-
. tend to sow when, corn is laid by.
'So'far as I have, observed, the seed
of Berumda grass are 61' rather low
' germinating quality, and if I used tne
'seed I would sow 15 pounds an acie.
That is a good bushel an acre. But i
think that the best way to get ne
land set in this grass is to plnt l"
running stems in' April in shallow
furrows two feet apart. The se
sowed at corn laying-by time worn
have a shorter season and may
get strong enough to winter wen,
the Bermuda is a hot. weather grab
Not knowing the fertility of
soil, I do not know whether feit"1
will be needed.