The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-03-19
THE CORN CHs. NIPPON.
SOME FACTS ABOUT CAPTAIN
BRAKES TRIUMPH.

How TWO Hundred and Eit,y-thrce Bah
els of Corn were Grown on One Acre
The Largest Ciop Ever:known.
American Agrculturlst.
The acre entered by Il. J. Drake
was sandy soil in Marlborough
County, South Carolina. Tho original
growth was oak, hickory, and long
, leaf pine Three years ago. before
the land was improved, eight dollars
per acre was E fair valuation, while
tnirty years ago, the plantation Of
which this acre is az average speci-
men was called by its owner ''Starva-
tons Empire It had gentle slope,
with northern eSposure, and vas
naturally well drained. 2he acre was
fair specimen Of much of the poor
land il the South, aud it's improve
,nent aad produc.iyeness affords an
instructive lesson. AS la;e as 1885,
when it was in corn, it made poor
crop-practically nothing. In 1886,
the acrl yielded about 500 pounds OF
seed. cotton, two dollars worth Of
smnoniated fertilizer being used in
the way common to ordinary cotton
culture. The fertility was so reduced
that, in 1887, the yield OF corn was
not over five bushels per acre. But
now NJ. Drake undertook to Improve
it. 70 rovide the vegetable matter
or humus so mucn needed, the land
was literIly covered with rakings Of
leaves, straw, ETC., from the neighoer-
ing woods On top Of this, 25 horse
! loa ads of stable manure were evenly
spread broadcast; also, Is bushels ef
cotton seed, 500 pounds Of Wilcox,
Gibbes & Co.'S manipulated guano,
25O pounds of cotton seed meal, and
25O pounds Of kainit This heavy
dressing was all plowed under with
Starke's Dixie turning.plow. 1t was
laid off in. rows with the same plow,
two furrows to the row, four feet apart;
100 pounds Of g,lano were applied IN
the burrows, and thea each pair Of fur
rows were throw into ridge with the
same plew. The Peterkin cotton was
planted with Leytch cotton-planter,
and made the great crop of 917 pounds
of lint cotton en- the acre, showing
conclus:vely the result Of the improve
| ment.
Mr.. Drake decided that this acre
| was the one for him to enter IN the
corn contest, and he determined to
make the biggest crop on record, sea-
son permitting. The last of February,
therefore, he hauled upon the contest
acre fifty oze-horse wagon-loads of
stable manure, averaging twenty BUSH
els to the load, or 1000 bushels of ma-
| nure in all, worth $50, to which should
be added four dollars for hauling and
spreading. This was the droppings
of horses and mules, fed on cora and
fedder, and was not moved until haul
ed to the acre As the same time 500
| pounds of manipulated guano, cotton
seed meal, and kainiS were also broad.
casted, and the whole was then ploW-
ed usder. Following the plow, whole
cotton-seed were literally strswn in
each ftlrrow 800 bushels being applied
to the acre. A subsoil plow came af-
ter, breaking :hs soil to a total depth
of II inchea, and also burying the
| whole cotton-seeG deeper than the
ether manure. Thus, the decaying
seed should back up the crop later in
the season when It's roots had penetra-
ted below the first layer Of manure.
One horse and man did the plowing,
also the sussoilipg; both jobs being
completed in ore day March y, at
total expense of two dollars. The acre
was narrowed on the same day, with
a Thomas smoothing harrow, one man
and two horses doing the work in
about one hour. The next day,
March 2, the acre was laid of, with
the Starke plow, in each row. The
rows were alternately three and six
feet apart-that is, there were six fact
between tive rows, then three feet,
then six feet, and so On.
The seed planted was one hushel OF
the common Gourd variety of the
Southers white dent corn, but it was
q strain that lad been improved by
twenty years Ct careful selection from
the best of the cora grown on this
plantation. Tse planting was done
by four hands in half a day, on March
2, the weather baing warm and the
land moist. Five or six kernels were
dropped to each foot ofthe TOW. The
latter were Eve inches deep, but the
seed was only covered lightly an inch
deep, by raking in the sides Of the fur
row. Rain the next day washed in
more soil, and covered the seed rather
deeply. There were good rains March
10 and Is, the plants began to show on
the 10th, and by the 25th there was q
tolerably good stand. On April s the
crop was heed for the frs time, thin
ned TO one stalk every five or six
inches, and the few missing places re-
planted. On the Goth, thes..wide spa
ces (six teet) between the..alternate
| rows were plowed out with the sub
soil plow. Then a mixture, compcs,,
ed Of 200 pounds each Of manipulated
guaro, kainit, cotton-seed meal, acid
phosphate, and animal bone, was
evenly applied by sowing in each fur
row thus confring this application CT
plant food to the wide spaces, after
which the whole acre was gone over
with a Thomas harrow. There was
a rain on the 24sh, and two days later
the crop was again narrowed with the
Thomas harrow. Now, on Hay Is,
the narrow or three foot rows were
plowed out with tse sub-soiier, and
800 pounds OF nitrate Of sofa was SOW
ed in these rows, and worked in with
a hand harrow or "utivator. On the
25th, the Thomas harro@ was run
through the wide rows, to break the
crust. It will 5e seen that by this
time the soil was not only well fill.
with plant food, bat had been tho
oughly cultivated on the surface: and
also well worked underneath by the
sub-soil plow, 50 that the whole soil
was not only full Of fertility, hut was
in that light and open condition hat
best facilitates root groWti. 10
| f,rtber t}aya INrronn+