Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-12-17

CnAluDtfb UOOuo COulilouIoS W eho ~
cember mum Der Of the Southern Planter the
subjoined article, which must prove OF
great interest to our farmers.
From MIR. Goodies experience this South
American plant seems destined TO meet a
want long felt, and bids fair to revolution
iZe the present methods of stock-ralslng TO
the great betterment of the tiller OF the
soil:
BoYDToS, VA, November IS. 1890.
Editor Southern Planter:
Being farmer as well as lawyer, natu-
rally take good deal of interest in all that
concerns the welfare of the tiller OF the
soil, and believing from the experience L
have had with teoclnte-or Rena luxuriss,
cultivation as q forage crop by The farmers
of Virginia would revolutionize the stock
raising interest Of the State, take the lib
erty Of sending you few lines IN regard
Teocinte is plant of South American
origin, and in its native State and In our
extreme South is perennial. Here, how
ever, it falls victim to the severe winters
and has to be planted every year. My ac-
quantance with teocinte began in the sum-
mer of 1894, by few of the seeds being
sent to me from the United States Agricul-
tural Department. / planted these seeds
about the last Of June. putting them in
rows three feet apart and dropping two
seeds every eighteen inches. When well
up l thinned it to one stock in
hill, and cultivated just as we
do corn. BY the last of August
it had obtained height of nine or ten
feet, and had from fifteen to eighty stocks
to hill. The growth was 80 dense that
any one seeing it would have supposed 1T
had been thickly broadcasted. | then cut
it and cured it as though it had been corn
fodder. Actual count and weight showed
an average Of eight and one half pounds
of cured fodder to the hill, which, If you
will take the trouble to calculate, you will
see was at the rate OF about forty-seven
tons to the acre. To my surprise the cut
of stocks put out suckers, and by the time
frost came had cut another crop, about
one half the weight of the first, off the
same land-making yield o. more than
sixty-fve tons per acre.
If cut at the proper time-which Is, L
think, when about eight feet high-the
stocks, which are always closely covered
with fodder. are soft, and seem TO be as
much enjoyed by horses, cattle, and sheep
as the fodder itself. Teoclnte Is much like
young corn in appearance. 1t may be
planted any time from the 1st of May. TO
the 10Th Of July with good results,
but l regard the middle of May
| as the best time for planting it.
| 1t will succeed on any good corn land,
but of course the better the land the
bigger the yield. have cultivated it each
year since 1884, with results varying &C
| cording to the seasons; but it has always
far out-yielded any other forage crop. |
am confident that for silo purposes teo-
cinte is the superior of all other known
plants, while as cured fodder its feed
value is certainly equal to corn fodder
which it more than equals in yield.
Now, / do not mean TO advise our farm.
ers to rush wildly into the cultivation OF
teocinte. 1t is always best to go cautious
ly. But do urge them all to give it a fan
trial next year, and assure them that II
will amply repay their care and cost.
Several prominent gentlemen here have
tried teocinte this year. All will plant
largely next. go, -,
Hoping that this article will broaden tn,
road to success for many weary brother
am yours most truly.
| f. CHAMBfRs GoopR.