The progressive farmer. [volume], June 21, 1904, Page 4, Image 4

About The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904

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THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER
Tuesday, June 21, 1904.
FROM FARM EXCHANGES
Cultivation of Corn. "
We need not repeat what we have said so often
heretofore, that the time to kill weeds is not when
they have taken possession of the soil, but in the
very beginning of their existence. The time to
kill weeds is when they first put their leaves above
ground. Then,with the proper instruments, they
can be killed by the millions. Therefore the most
efficient instrument for killing weeds in the earlier
stages of the growth of the corn plant is the har
row and the weeder, which not only do the busi-
nnrn nnr!
without injury to it,' when properly handled, but
also aid other objects for which cultivation is in
tended. Where, however, there are deep rooted
weeds, such as the pestiferous morning-glory or
. cocklebur, or where weeds have been allowed to
strike their roots deep into the ground, the cultiva
tion must be as deep as the roots, whether it in
jures the corn plant or not. In that case it is sim
ply a choice between two evils; and the evil of
weeds is so much greater than that of moderate
laceration of the corn roofs that they must be ex
. terminated at all hazards. The earlier this can bt
done in the corn cultivating season the better.
Deep cultivation is therefore entirely proper on
foul ground or an improperly prepared seed bed
until the corn is from a foot to eighteen inches
high and spreads its thick network of roots
through the entire soil, which is well supplied with
.moisture.
Farmers must not forget that the plant food of
the soil is being prepared while the corn is grow
ing;, that is, the plant food which exists in an
unavailable form is prepared quite rapidly by the
cultivation which the corn receives. The corn
plant and all other plants feed, so to speak, on
food previously digested by the microbic life with
which every fertile soil teems. A soil without mi
crobes is as barren .as a .granite rock, JUJLinatter
ccyvuiuuu Acruniy mere may De in it as snown Dy
chemi&alJnalysis. It is the function of these
geWor liicrobes in the soil to digest the mineral
and vegetable matter and allow it to be put in so
lution, making it available for use as plant food.
Cultivation hastens this process, and therefore
it is not merely to kill weeds that we cultivate
corn, but to develop plant food.
This is most strongly illustrated in the sugar
beet country, for sugar is not manufactured in the
factory, but on the farm; and the farmer who
fails to keep everlastingly cultivating his sugar
beets is the man who will draw small checks when
the factory makes up its books. What is true of
the sugar beet is true of everything else. A
thoroughly cultivated corn field produces not
merely more corn, but better corn, with more
starch in it, more gluten, more oil, more of every
thing that makes it valuable as a food for man and
beast.
"The control of the water content of the soil
must not be overlooked. Farmers have been dis
posed to smile when we have talked about con
serving the moisture of the soil for the last two
years, but they should remember thatthe object
of cultivation is not merely to conserve moisture,
but. to control it, to get rid of it in times of sur
plus moisture, and to conserve it in times when
moisture is deficient. Shallow cultivation, under
proper conditions, paradoxical as it may seem,
serves both ends.
It is the field upon which no crust is allowed
to form that will hold the most moisture in a
dry time. It is the well cultivated field that will
dry out the quickest on the surface, provided' the
ground is in proper condition. In other .words, the
encrusted field loses water very rapidly, because
it is drawn up from below and passes out in a con
tinuous current to the air. When the crust is
broken up the surface for an inch or two is dried
out, while the moisture helow is conserved and held
for future use. The crust must be broken up at
all "hazards, because only by the hreaking up of
this crust can plants have that amount of atmos
pheric supply to which they are entitled. ,
- Some farmers are disposed to cultivate corn as
tradition has taught them. They think corn must
be plowed three times, and that three times' is
enough". Other men think that it is all right to
plow corn till the fourth of July, but apparently
think it is all wrong after that. There can be no
rule given as to the number of times corn should
be cultivated. That depends on the previous prep
aration of the seed bed, on the rainfall, on the
amount of labor at the disposal of the farmer.
There is no danger of cultivating too much; there
is a great deal of danger in cultivating too little.
Neither can any time be set as to when cultivation
should cease. That again depends on circum
stances of which the farmer is the best judge.
It is the farmer who keeps his land in good
heart by rotation of crops, by the growing of
clover, by the application of manure, who prepares
his seed bed with the greatest care, who gets the
best kind of seed, tests it and drops it accurately,
and who follows this up with the most thorough
cultivation during the latter days of May, through
June and the first days of July, that grows the
biggest crops, has the best corn, and makes the
most money.
What tool he should use depends altogether
on circumstances. There are times, when to har
row corn is a mark of the highest wisdom ; there
are other times when it is a mark of folly. For
example, when the ground is wet "and the day
cloudy, and when he has nothing better to use
than a large, heavy, straight-toothed harrow.
There are times when the weeder Js worth two or
three plows; there are times and circumstances
when the weeder had best be left at home. There,
are times when deep plowing is imperative; there
are other times when it is all folly. What a farm
er needs is to know what he wants to do, the end
hie wants -o accomplish, and then to use the means
at Hand best, adapted to accomplish these ends.. -Remember
oht thing, however, that the man who
prepares his seed-bed, plants his corn, and then
neglects to cultivate 'it, is a good deal like the
fellow about whom Solomon once remarked: "A
slothful man roastest not that which he taketlTin
hunting." Wallace's Farmer.
Bright Yellow Tobacco.
The last number of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture Crop Reporter (just out)
comments as follows on the crop outlook in the
Bright Tobacco Belt:
The Virginia Bright Belt reports a decrease, of
5 to 10 per cent from the acreage of last year,
due in a large measure to the lack of sufficient
farm labor to set out the crop. Plants are plenti
ful except in a few localities, but the season is a
week or ten days late and-little transplanting
had been done up to June 1.
The Old Bright Belt of North Carolina reports
the acreage practically the same as that planted1
last year. The season for transplanting has been
late, and plants are small, but sufficient for a full
crop. In some counties 75 per cent of the crop
has been set put and transplanting is progressing
favorably throughout this section.
The New Belt in the eastern part o'f North Car
olina presents a sharp contrast as compared with
the Old Belt. - Reports indicate a marked reduc
tion in acreage, the estimates varying from 25 to
60 per cent less than was planted in these coun
ties last year. Weather conditions have heen un
favorable, plants are small and in many localities
very scarce. The low price received for the crop
last year, the present high price of cotton and the
scarcity of labor have caused the decrease.
When sending your renewal be sure to give ex
actly the name on label And postoffice to which
the copy of paper yon receive is sent.
$1,500,000 for North Carolina Strawberries and
$5,000,000 for Georgia Peaches.'
The strawberry crop of North Carolina has been
gathered and the railroads report the shipment of
twenty-four hundred car-loads. The berries were
bought and paid for at the fields and brought to
the producers more than six hundred dollars per
car, more than a million and a half dollars. It
is only within the past four years that much atten
tion has been paid, in the South, to the culture
of strawberries, and these figures, given by au
thority, show how greatly the wealth of this sec
tion can be increased. 'This money is at home to
stay, and with the cotton, peach and melon crops
will bring millions to the South. Georgia's peach
crop is estimated, for 1904, at five million dol
lars. Augusta Chronicle.
Take Care of Small Grain.
Farmers have been known to make a fair crop
of wheat and then get too busy to haul it to the
barn or stack it as soon as dry enough. If wheat
is quite ripe when cut, three or four days of clear
weather will dry it enough to stack or pack away
under shelter. Then it will be safe. When cut
wheat should be well shocked. Even then two or
three days of warm showery weather will cause
the outside heads to sprout. If that should be the
case just let it alone. There is no use to tear it
down, unless you are sure no morerain will fall
for several days. The sprouting of outside heads
does not injure wheat, for the thrasher and fan
will carry off with the chaff all such grains. It
is the poorest management possible to let a good
crop spoil after it is made. Treat oats the same
way. Just as soon as they are dry enough haul
them up to the barn. It is better to have all your
oats threshed and feed them by measure or weight.
Then there will be no waste. Every farmer who
raises one hundred to three hundred bushels of
small grain should have a good fan mill. Even if
wheat is dry when thrashed it should be run
4
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wards. Cotton Plant.
Last Week's North Carolina Crop Bulletin.
Cotton is everywhere in excellent condition; it
is being worked the, second time and chopping
i3 nearly over. Corn is plowed the second time ;
it is doing fairly well and promises to be a good
crop. Wheat is ripening rapidly. Harvesting
will probably begin next week in the Western part
of the State; while in the Eastern counties it
is already in progress. The' yield is everywhere
good, and is much better ' than was expected; the
straw is short, has a good color and is well head
ed. Oats are doing well, but the crop is not very
promising. Irish potatoes are being dug and
marketed in the eastern part of the State; the
yield is below the average. Prospects for fruit are
fair. Apples are dropping in some places. Dew
berries are being picked and some are on the
market.
Need of Better Roads.
We are made glad by every achievement of mod
ern progress which adds something else good to
country life. The country is the place to live,
the place to raise people. God made it made it
rich and broad, open, free, and sunny. There
the hills are kissed by the sunlight, the valleys
sweetened with dew, the fields are fair with flow
ers ; farm, orchard, and pasture are opulent with
gifts of plenty, and over them all sweeps the fresh
clean; air of heaven. But there seemed to us on
this trip one thing needful good roads. J tist
think of the blessings to this already blest section
which would be added by a properly located and
properly graded system of macadam roads ! " The
farms need these roads five times, ten times, fifty
times more than the towns need them. Gaston
County is able to build macadam roads, and will
build them as soon as the farmers say the word.
Wonder what they are waiting for? Gastonia
Gazette. " ,