The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., November 19, 1910, Page 790, Image 2

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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Professor Massey's
Editorial Page.
What Farmers Want to Know.
DEWBERRIES are simply a trailing specie!
of blackberry. They are planted 3x6 fee
apart, and the best growers tie the canes
up to stakes in the spring. After fruiting, tht
old canes are cut out and three young ones al
lowed to trail along the rows
out of the way of cultivation
and are left on the ground in
the colder sections as a matter
of protection and tied up in
spring. The growers on the Eas
tern Shore of Maryland have
abandoned the use of stakes
and let the vines tumble on
the ground. I believe that a
better crop can be made on
professor matsey. gtakeg. The variety most gen
erally grown has been the Lucretia, but the grow
ers now are planting the Austin and consider it
better than Lucretia. I have seen them grown
in north Florida without any care at all, the
whole patch being a deep mass of vines, and I
saw them ripening there in March, but the fruit
was very inferior. It always pays to take care
of these things and to get the finest fruit by lib
eral enriching of the soil and clean cultivation.
PLOWING SANDY LANDS.—In the sandy soils
of the upper pine belt of South Carolina I would
never practice very deep plowing. On such soils
I would think that six inches should be the maxi
mum depth. Where the soil is clayey a deeper
breaking is desirable. But I would never plow
sandy land in the fall unless I plowed it early
enough to get a growth of crimson clover on it.
These soils waste more in winter when left bare
of growth than they do in the summer cropping.
It is not enough to have a dead mass of vegeta
tion as a cover, but a green growing crop that
will take up and hold the nitrates that would
otherwise be washed away. Then a regular ro
tation of crops in which both the summer and
winter legumes come in will increase the humus
content of the land and render it more retentive
of moisture in dry weather as well as more fer
tile. What is needed is legume forage and feed
ing and making manure, aided by a winter cover
crop between hoed crops.
&
THOMAS PHOSPHATE AGAIN.—Thomas phos
phate, known as basic slag meal, is a by-product
from the basic process of steel making resulting
from the taking out of the phosphorus from the
iron ore. It varies in the percentage of phos
phoric acid from 15 to 2 3 per cent. As it usual
ly carries 40 pounds of free lime in every 100
pounds, its tendency is to sweeten the soil. On
lands deficient in humus it will be slower in
coming into use than acid phosphate will be, but
on lands that are cultivated in a good rotation
with legume crops, it is the best form in which
to get phosphoric acid. The price is determined
by the percentage of phosphoric acid, and we get
♦ Via 15taa C_
-^ 1.1 eti
SWEET POTATO ROT.—Sweet potatoes rot in
winter from various causes. If there is any in
dication of the black rot disease, shown by
brown blotches on the skin, the disease will de
velop after they are stored. Then if the pota
toes get chilled when in the sweat they always
go through after storing, they may rot. The
best way to keep them is to have a house with
double deadened walls and a ventilator and a
heating apparatus to raise a high temperature
when they are first put in, so that they can be
dried off from the sweat without chilling. After
that a temperature of 45 degrees will be warm
enough. In banking outside I would make a
board shed for the banks, and would put onlj
25 bushels in a heap. Place them on a thich
layer of pine straw, and cover thickly with pine
“ straw. Then let them stand till the weather get
colder, and then cover with earth. The shed ove:
the hills is important, for dry earth w'ill Keel
out more cold than wet earth. But where a mai
raises many potatoes he should have a house
built as 1 have suggested, and then there will
be no difficulty in keeping them till potatoes:
come again.
PEACH-TREE BORERS.—There is no means
known by which the borers can be entile!} pie
' vented in peach trees. Painting a foot ol the
base of the trunk with white lead and oil will
prevent some getting in. But the only way to
keep all out is to go over the trees in June and
September and wherever the gum is seen sciape
it away and cut the borer out.
LOCUST BUSHES.—To destroy locust bushes,
cut them oft at the ground and next summer keep
them constantly cut off and the roots will die.
Grubbing will only increase them. Locust sprouts,
persimmon and sassafras sprouts can only be de
stroyed by not letting them make green leaves
above ground. The same is true of any peren
nial weed, like nut grass, for instance, if never
allowed to make green leaves, the roots must
die.
BSome Garden Notes.
AM NOW cutting very tine headed lettuce.
The glass was not used over it till the frost
of October Ulith came. In another line of
frame 1 am starting later lettuce from seed sown
in rows a foot apart. This will be thinned out
to a good stand, and 1 am curious to find the
difference between this and transplanting.
I sowed cabbage and cauliflower seeds at the
proper time in September, but the raids of the
neighbors’ chickens left me very few plants. 1
sowed some later in a small frame of three sashes,
which are yet very small. These 1 will trans
plant in the frame a few inches apart to get
them strong enough to set in February.
I have taken up my dahlias, zoo roots, and
have buried them in a shallow pit and covered
them with straw and then pounded the earth
over them. The canna beds 1 have covered with
peanut hay and garden rubbish and believe that
they will winter in that way better than by tak
ing them up.
I have torn down the peanut stacks and picked
out the nuts, and have a stock of Jumbos that
will keep us roasting all winter. These peanuts
were planted between my early roastiug-ear corn,
and did not grow much till the corn was taken
away. Then 1 sowed rows of Curled Scotch kale
between the peanut rows, and now that the pea
nuts are out, I am about setting my strawberries
lifit Vl'rirm tho 1/aln rnu?o U twill » h » I
am keeping the garden at work. In fact, there
is little room in it that is not occupied by wintei
vegetables. I have spinach, kale, parsnips, oys
ter plant, chard and onions in the open grount
and lettuce in the frames, and also have lettuce
plants that I will set like the cabbages on ridgei
for spring heading. For this planting 1 use
mainly the Wonderful, also known as Shellem, let
tuce. This makes the largest heads of any let
tuce, but is not good for the frames. It is hard:
and stands the winter well and comes in at i
time in the spring when such large heads are ii
demand.
Then I have planted 1,C00 lily bulbs of th<
old-fashioned white lily. These were left ovei
by a seedsman and sent to me. They shoulc
have been planted two months ago, for this lil:
makes a rosette of green leaves in the fall, ant
I do not know what they will do planted so late
But it will be seen that the garden is about aj
hard at work as in summer, and this is the onl:
way to make a garden pay, and mine has pait
a fine profit on the investment, though the lane
cost me at rate of over $3,Out) an acre.
In a few rows of kale the moles bothered me
and I destroyed them by pouring carbon bisul
phide in the runs. Where this was used I have
a remarkably better growth of kale than in the
other rows, and I could not understand it till
5 read the results they have obtained at Rotham
• sted in England, where they discovered raicro
i scopic forms that devour the nitrifying organisms,
and stated that these could be destroyed by car
bon bisulphide, and the result would be a greater
activity of the nitrifying bacteria. It was evi
dently the result in this case, for the kale where
the liquid was used is more than twice as large
as where none was applied.
Selling Plant Food
rjriTIOUSAXDS of farmers who are now selling
I cottonseed will be buying for their next
JL year's crop far less nitrogen than they are
selling from every acre. Of course, the price for
seed is good, and the temptation is to sell, and
the vast amount of plant food in the cottonseed
is carried off to enrich the lands of the North and
of Europe. Far better for the farm and the far
mer to exchange the seed for meal and hulls and
feed the meal on the farm, and having better
roughage, make bedding and manure absorbent
of tho hulls.
For the sake of immediate profit, thousands
are impoverishing their land by selling seed, and
next spring the same men will be trying to restore
the waste with 2 00 pounds an acre of 2—8—2.
Thousands more will neglect saving seed from
the best plants and will have to buy seed in the
spring or depend on the mixed seed from the gin.
Good seed for planting can not be bought for $35
a ton, and the man who takes pains in selecting
his seed and improving his rotton can make a
reputation for the stock, and can sell seed at
prices that make the oil mill price look small;
and if one sells it is better to get a fancy prize
than oil mill price. But even at present prices,
if I were growing cotton to-day, 1 would trade
the seed to the mill and try to have stock enough
to eat the meal and make me manure that is
worth more than 2—8—2.
The Seedsman's Point of View. j
ALL FlltST-CI.ASS seedsmen use every cffort^f
to get and sell the best seed. The active*
competition compels this. There is a good
reason for the disclaimer of responsibility, which jftfe
most people fail to see. Ko man can be responsl
ble for the treatment every one gives his seed, or
for the vagaries of the weather. The disclaimer V'
grew out of a case many years ago. A man
bought Wakefield cabbage seed from a prominent
seedsman, lie sowed them early in August and,
of course, had wonderfully large plants. These
were set and all ran to Beed in the spring with
out heading, lie sued the seedsman for damages
and recovered damages, though the seedsman
..... IX.. . X. _ . 1. . X. • m a
jjt u; uuai f,‘ w c4 ° mav. luc oauiu iuk U1 »t«JU
sown at the right time gave line crops, and every
gardener of experience knows that cabbage seed
sown in August will get too large, and the chock
of transplanting such plants will always cause
i them to run to seed. The seedsmen then got to
! gether and had a lawyer prepare a disclaimer for
them, and all have adopted It as a matter of pro
■ tectlon. It was sustained by the United States
Court in Baltimore last year, in a case In which
l I was summoned as a witness for the defence, as
i it was shown plainly that the buyer got what he
ordered and the seed grew, and the seedsman
i could not be held responsible for every one’s fail
■ ure to make a profit.
But in the matter of grass and clover Beed
there is need for inspection, for there are men who
will sell these seed below the market price, and
sell uneleaned seed full of vile weeds. Then grain
i seeds need the same inspection, though, as a rule,
garden seeds are comparatively pure in most
cases. Two of my friends bought seed of winter
oats. One bought from a seedsman whom I knew
would sell him clean seed. The other bought
, without consulting me from a seedsman, too. d
• J he first had a clean crop. The other who bought *
1 E<fc'1 because they were low in price, had a crop
: almost half cheat, for whatsoever a man bows.
that also he will reap.
ROYAL PEA HULLERS
Made in four sizeB. are ■
what you nea raisers I
neei. Write for free H
booklet, t>linK abut I
peas, entitl-d. ‘‘The H
Value of Peaw and Hoy- ■!
al Pea Hullers.” 9
CHATTANOOGA IMPLEMENT A 1;
MFG. CO . ■
Chattaneoga, • Tennessee. I
Dept Y I
WONDERFUL “AWL FOR ALL"
Every firmer, teamster and
sportsman should own one
of those awls. A regular
hand sewing machine;
can be cairied in the
pocket. Will sew the
daintiest fabrics, or the
_ . . „ „ , lonvAeil leather»
Price *1 Special ind icements to agents
Poet pai-l'P *■ who will rind this article a regu
la' gold mine. Do not miss this chance to coin
money, bu write todar for terms and prices Book
free. JOHNSTON BROS., 4122 Hf. Van Bursn St.. CHICAGO
I
(
L
Western Plow Attachment
Greatly Improved—Patented
Makes s SULKY PLOW of any
Walking Plow.
Plowman rides,
handles plow by
levers end has ab
solute control how
ever hard the ground.
Saves horses, fits right
or left hand, wood or
steel beam plows. New
model has greatly Im
proved lever adjustment.
Simple to handle.
WESTERN IMPLEMENT CO..?^!
0 CORDS IN m HIHIM