Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-03
DriIling and CuItivating Wheat.

In view of the damage done to small
! grain by the January freezes it would not
| be bad thing for farmers to sow few
acres of wheat in drills early in February
and give it two or three cultivatlngs. 1t
| is profitable thing to do generally. A
small farmer can take one acre and, by
| proper preparation, manuring and cult
| walton, canIeasily make enough wheat to
! supply his family abundantly with -four.
| This one acre, of course, must be a VerV
rich one, and if it is Of such a character
as to produce 500 lbs. of lint cotton with
! out manure it can be made to produce
| from 40 to 60 bushels of wheat by using
| good variety of wheat and using 50 90 to
81 worth of phosphate per acre. From
my own experience in drilling wheat l
recommend the following plan, and where
| it is faithfully carried out will generally
| give satisfaction if the land is adapted to
| the purpose. make ne mention of wheat
drills or other twO-horse implements, for
our small farmers have no snch imple-
ments, and 1T is only the tools common
Cor ought to be common on every small
farm that is needed
Break the soil thoroughly with diamond
scOoters and then harrow until the soil is
well fined. just before narrowing apply
any manure that it is designed to use and
small pillow, lay off drills 20 inches apart.
This is better distance than "A inches,
though the latter will do. Then SOW 80 to
60 pounds of good wheat that has been
washed with bluestone water and then
dried off with lime. Cover the seed by
running the harrow up and down the
rows, so as not to drag the seed out of
line. Cross-harrOwing will not drag the
seed out to any great extent, however,
unless the sowing is very shallow. In
February it will be but few days before
the wheat is up. Soon after it is up har-
row it. If the soil is stiff about a month
after narrowing break the middle with a
narrow, long bulltOngue; two burrows
will answer generally. After this harrow
or sweep once or twice, as the weather
may justify. If the land is rich and well
MANFRED the result must be pleasing, if
rust or other cause does not step in to
mar. The manure, if not too strong, NAV
be applied in the drill with the seed, but
it is far better and safer to broadcast and
harrow it in as advised. Where one can
do it a proper application of manure would
be 200 lbs. cOttOn-seed meal and 200 to 300
lbs. of acid phosphate and kainit, or a
compost of stable manure and acid phOs-
phate; the farmer, of course, must use the
kind that he can most conveniently get.
1t does not matter what form the ammo
MIA phosphate and potash is in so the crop
gets these elements in reasonable guam
tity. November is the time to sow wheat
in our latitude and February sowings are
not to be recommended except where it
has been impracticable to SOW at an ear
lier date. November or early December
wheat sown as above will rarely disap-
point. S. A. Cook.
Mtdacay, near MtlIedqevtlEe, Ca, Jan.2s.
TOMATOEs-( REPLY TO 'B.'')-There
are so many varieties it is difficult to say
which one is the best, as there are SO
many good ones. Among the hundreds of
named sorts there are many synonyms
the same tomato under several different
names, and every year some already
known sort gets new name and we pur-
chase it only TO find that it is the counter
part of some that we have had before. In
fact, it is difficult to originate ANYTHING
superior to what we have in the way of
tomatoes. The Acme, Paragon, Perfec-s
ton, Trophy, Blounts Cluster and Con-
queror constitute a cluster of six toma-
toes that in all probability will not be
surpassed. We will have them all under
new names from time to time and imagi-
nation will see some little Improvement
in them under their new names, perhaps,
but 1t will be the same tomato. What
may be good tomato for the home gar
den or home market may be unsuited to
the purpose of shipment to long distances.
Those just named are of good size, smooth
generally and very productive, and all
are very good shipping sorts, believe.
Tomatoes can be grown on almost any
kind of soil that is fertile, but light soil,
rich In the mineral elements, is the most
suitable. Rank, unfermented manure
should never be used on tomatoes, for
they will not fruit well and will be more
subject to rot. The seed should be sown
early enough in cold frames to get strong
stocky plants by the time it is safe to set
out. In this latitude we SOW in frames
about the middle of February and get
good strong plants by the last of March,
The plants should be set at least three
feet apart each way and the culture very
shallow after first blooms appear. After