The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1885-10-14

wishes to fcrtilizc heavily, the sub.
named furnish All excellent
clue to the wants of the crop; both, in
tho first place, are highly heterogeneous
manurcs. Universal experience con
firms the indispcusa5ility of this sub.
stance to a wheat crop; it must. have n
full supply of available nitrogen to
produce laagc yields. But the two
articles mentioned contain in addition
to nitrogen a fair supply of phosphatcs
and test experiments have given add
tional proof of the value of phosphorus
acid to wheat. Five hundred pounds
acid phosphate to an acre would
supply liberal quantities OF the sub
stance most needed by n wheat crop,
and ought, under favorable conditions,
to produce large yields. Both Of these
fertilizers may be plowcd or narrowed
in with the seed. In high culture the
surface soil should be brought into the
finest filth before the seed is sown, by
repeated ~plowings, rollings and har-
rowings, and especially if the seed are
narrowed or brushed in, n good roll
ing should follow and complete the
work. The "firming" of the surface
soil is done by the roller makes the
sceu come mp more uniformly aid
gives vigor to the young plants by pre-
venting to free exposure of their roots
to air and dampuess.
Whether land for wheat should be
very deeply broken in our climate
admits of doubt. AS VIC all know, the
worst enemy Of wheat is the red rust,
and this is 0 apt to attack q crop
oil damp than on dry land. Hence q
dry May is so favorable to wheat.
But q deeply broken soil, and especial
ly one filled with humus, dries of
much more slowly in the spring .han
a shallow, broken one; there comes
the danger from deep breaking.
Moreover, as the soil and subsoil are
usually wet in winter and therefore
soft and pcnetrablc by roots, there is
the same necessity of deep breaking
for winter crops that there is for those
of summer. Roots can work their way
quito readily through unbrokcn soil in
the early spring while it is wet and
soft, and a wheat crop is general ma
turcd before the ground gets so dry as
to be very hard.
Perhaps the best time to SOW wheat
is a week or so before the average date
of Il killing frost; this, Of course,
varies with different localities. In the
northern portions of the cotton belt, it
is not far from the 25th of October:
towards the Gulf it approXimatcs the
middle of November. From the mid
die of October to the middle ofNovcm-
Der, or even the first December covers
the period of wheat sowing. The
Hcssian fly and other insects are not
likely to iniure acrop which comes up
after a killing frost. But for these
insect enemies, wheat might be sown
earlier with corresponding fastening
in the spring, with more likelihood OF
escaping rust. The early settlers of
Middle Georgia, W arc told, somc-
ines sowcd wheat in August and
made fine crops, and it would be well
to try on Il small scale carly sowing
again. On rich land such sowin9s
might come forward too rapidly and
shooting up, before hard freezes, might
get killed. This might be obviatcd by
light grazing. On poor land there is
little danger in this direction; hence
one should make the earliest sowings
o fall kinds of al! kinds Of grains on
the poorest lands and finish up with
the richest. Oats, sown on poor land
as early as the last of August, arc not
likely to head out before frost; but if
in any kind of grain jointing threatens
to begin by the LIST of November or
before, n little judicious grazing with
calves or sheep in dry weather will
remedy the trouble.
October is usually q dry month and
very favorable to the housing of crops.
This work should now be pushed for.
ward with energy: everything keeps
better when put away in bulk, if the
air is dry at the time it is bulkcd.
Corn is now fully dry and ready for
the crib; true it may remain longer in
the field, but the longer it is left, the
greater will be the waste. Overhaul
the crib before putting in the new
crop; make it rat-proof by setting on
pillars capped with sheets of tin or
shect-iron, Sweep out all rubbish,
brush down the walls, and paint the
inside top, bottom and sides with
coal tar or crude carbolic acid; this
will Kill insects and keep them out.
In localities where the wccvil is very
bad, this painting may be removed at
intervals on all uncovered portions OF
the interior walls. Where there is
house-room it is better to put corr
away in the shuck; it will keep better
and the shocking will afford employ
ment for rainy days during winter.
Forage Of any kind cut carly in the
months will be apt to cure well.
Forage corn, cut and put up at once
in shocks, three to four feet across at
base, will curc well without additional
handling. 1t soon shrinks enough to
allow good ventilation throughout the
shock. The important point is to
build up the shock right; sec that each
armful of stalks as they are added to
it are well settled on the ground.
With a rope with loop at one end,
draw the shock up as tightly as posi-
bic in the middle and tic securely with
n rope Of grass or stalks; put another
around the snock ear the top. Thus
built, it will shed rain and withstand
wind for many weeks or until per-
fectly cured. Milo maize, sorghum,
ETC., may be cured in same manner;
the sorghum gets timber and is more
disposed to fall down. Perhaps the
better plan with it is, as soon as cool
weather sets in, to bury in trenches
like the ribbon cane. We have been
feeding out horses and mules for