The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-06-23
HOW AWAKE COUNTY MAN
MAKES HAY.

many years and has produced d
score Of crops of cotton without rota-
ton, rest or returns to the land ofany
kind. The hill sides we're marked
with deep gullies and the idle lands
we're delivered over to briars and
weeds. Now all this is changed.
The rough places are made smooth,
the fields are divided by stout fences,
the orchards laid off on advantage
Gus slopes, the farm houses barns
and stables are commodious, clean
and white, and broad clover fields
delight and surprise the eyes sfao2
1t were well worth while to learn
the history of any of the crops grown
on this farm, but as the hay crop
OILY has been harvested it will best
serve the present purpose to follow
it from the beginning.
Said Capt. Williamson, l believe
I can make a crop Of hay easier than
I can tell you how [ make it, but if
what l have done is of value to the
farmers of the State, it shall be given
without stint. I have about fifty
acres set to grass. It is pretty uni
form-but I have kept a careful re-
cord only of what | did to make a
crop of hay on five acres, and can
speak accurately about this plat.
| bought the land in January,
1883. It was poor, sloughed off clay
land, but was originally good. In
February following, / sowed it in
rust proof oats, a bushel and a half
to the acre, using 200 lbs. acid phos-
phate. | made a poor crop. In July
I sowed it down in black peas, a
bushel and a half to the acre. In
September the peas were turned
down, and crimson clover was sowed.
1t made a fine crop, and was taken
off in May, 1884. l sold the seed of
this crop in the rough for three hun
dred dollars. ....r .... tt
The land did such a good part by
me, that / resolved to do a good part
by it; SO in June it was sowel in
German millet-one bushel to the
acre-broad cast, after receiving for
manure 800 pounds cotton seed meal
and 200 pounds acid phosphate per
acre. Early in August, ten two
horse wagon loads of millet were
cut. r. ...
In September, 1884, the land was
broken deep with a two-horse pow
and cross-p!owed WITH a single pillow.
l then sowed 1000 pounds of or, und
bone per acre, narrowed and cross
narrowed it with a Thomas smooth
ing harrow, sowed 2 bushels of or
chard grass and Is pounds Of clover
seed per acre, and brushed it in
lightly. In November the land was
top-dressed with eight two-horse
loads of we'll rotted stable manure
per acre. The fall was very dry and
the seed did not come up until De-
cember. The winter came on sud
denly and killed the young plants
badly. This caused me to resow in
the spring, 1885, one bushel Of or
chard grass and ten pounds Of clover
seed per acre, and this secured a
good stand but gave me no cutting
of clover that spring. It gave me,
however, a light grazing in the fall.
What do you mean by a light
grazing? s.-. ul
7 put ten head of cattle on it one
hour in the morning and one hour in
the evening from 9th October, 1885,
to January 10th, 1886. In Novem-
Der, 1885, a ton Of agricultural lime,
was put on as a dressing. The win
ter of 1885 was the ~severest for
many years, and the preceding sum-
mer had been one Of unusual drought,
but the spring Of 1886 brought me
a dense stand or thick catch of both
clover and grass, and it was on May.
10th, as beautiful a hay field as could
be found, at least SO said competent
judges who had seen the Wyoming
and Shenandoah Valley hay fields
and | think you will say that the
results testify to it. Maj. HI. E. AL
word, the manager of the Houghton
Farm, Orange county, New York,
confessedly one Of the most superb
farms in the Union, said of it, that
while it was. not, perhaps the best,
it was one Of the best fields of hay
he had ever seen.
What was the yield per acre?
To ascertain this, [ got Col. A. w.
Shaffer, Civil Engineer: to measure
and stake off an acre representing
an average Of the lot. On the 18th
[ began to NOW it. [ began cutting
the measured acre at nine o'clock and
Ont IT. down in an borr ond q ono,