The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-03-26
Our 0lio.
sUNFLowER CROPS PAY.
The Russians Use Seed for Oil. and the
Stalks for Fuel.

Stalks for Fuel.
/ Ii should interest IA state like Kansas to
know that the ground devoted to the cult
walton of the sunfower in Russia has
reached 703,494 acres. What do the
Russians make of this sunfower crop
Oil. for one thing. Their mills produce
20 900, 900 pounds Of sunhower oil IN a
year, and the product sells for sl,OO0,OOO.
Two kinds of sunfowers are cultivated In
Russia. One, with small seeds, is used for
the production Of oil, and the other, with
larger seeds, is consumed by the common
people in enormous quantities as dalnties,
very much as people eat peanuts in the
United States.
The sunfower seed is used principally
for obtaining sunfower oil, which, owing
to its nutritious qualities, purity, and
agreeable flavor has superseded all vege-
table oils in many places of this country,
In general, the cultivation of the sun
flower in Russia is considered to be very
profitable. At the average yield of 1850
pounds per acre, and at the average price
of J cents per pound, the farmer receives
an income of about $50 per acre. This
income can be increased in those districts
where the grower himself is engaged in
producing the oil from the seed. How
| ever, oil mills are very rare in the villages,
the farmers selling their seed to the oil
producers. In the seed growing district Of
Saratov there are only thirty-four village
oil mills producing oil worth $4,000
annually, whereas in the town Of SaratoV
S450,000 worth of oil is manufactured
annually. The substance remaining from
the oil manufacture, or the sunfower cakes,
being used as cattle food, is also valuable
product. These cakes, however, have a
comparatively small demand in Russia, and
are largely exported to foreign countries,
principally to Germany and England. The
government of Saratov, for instance, exports
about 100000 pounds of sunfower cakes
to different countries, where some more oil
is pressed out of them before being used
for cattle food. The sunfower cakes form
one of the principal items in the export of
| Russia
These facts have prompted Consul Cen
eral Crawford, at St. Petersburg, says the
Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, to send
to the State Department a mass Of inter-
esting information, for he believes "the
sunfOwer is capable of introducing a new
element into the agriculture of the United
States, and one that promises to become an
important industry
The stalk very often being three inches
in diameter and about eight feet long, some
times bearing many heads, some of which
are more than foot in diameter, contain
ing about 1000 seeds, it is evident that in
order to grow this plant proftably it is
absolutely necessary to have very fertile
soil, which at the same time must be very
compact and sufficiently deep to sustain
the stalk with its roots. The best soil for
this purpose is mould or black land mixed
with sand On meagre soil the seeds grow
fiat and small, whereas on stout soil round,
heavy and rich seeds are obtained Soil
where potatoes and peas have been cult
waited without artificial manure may be
adopted for the growing of the sunhower
1t also thrives well on newly worked fields
if the soil is not composed of too much
clay and sand. On clay and sandy soil
the sunfower does not thrive, as it cannot
retain the moisture absolutely necessary,
nor are the roots able to sustain the weight
of the fruit.
It has been estimated that the stalks
and leaves of single crop are sufficient to
manure the field for five or six excellent
sunhOwer crops. IT. therefore, four-ffths
of the stalks and leaves were gathered for
fodder, leaving one-filth uncut and evenly
distributed, the fields, it is thought, could
be made to produce good crops almost in
definitely.
The huge heads, the thick stalks and the
large leaves of the sunHower would lead
one scientifically to conclude that it would
greatly impoverish the soil on which it is
extensively grown, but the practice of many
years proves to the contrary. An expert
enced Russian farmer, Mr.. TaratehkofT,
asserts that, although II is generally believed
that all oil-producing plants greatly exhaust
the land, the suhfower seems to be an ex-
ception. He says that he has, for expert
ment, sown winter wheat and other corn
many times after the sunhower and other
plants, and the crops were always better
after the sunaower Therefore, he main
tains, the view held in the village of Alex
eleyka that the sunfiower not only does not
exhaust the land but that it actually en-
riches it. The same view is entertained by
other experienced farmers in the govern
ment of Saratov and Voronezh
One, Mr.. Pereleshin, says that wheat
especially grows very much better after 4
sunfower crop. For instance, on the large
steppes in the government of Voronezh,
the sunhower is sOwn alternately with
wheat and flax the, crops of which are
always very abundant; whereas, if wheat
and fax are rotated, or, if either is sown
in succession on the same ground but with
Out being preceded by the sunhower, the
crop will soon be unsatisfactory. The sun
flower has beneficial effect on wheat and
other cereal crops following, owing to the
long, strong roots of this plant reaching
the lower depths of the subsoil, making it
porous and thus distributing the richness
of the earth below even better than by
plowing The numerous large leaves Of
this plant, by shading the ground, retain
therein the moisture and at the same time
prevent the spreading of weeds. The sun
flower, like all large-leafed plants, increases
the fertility of the land The large roots
of the plant, absorbing the water, soon
decay in the earth and leave, according to
careful estimate, about two thousand
pounds of manure per acre in the soil.
The sunfower should be sown very early
in the spring, even before the oats, or as
! soon as the snow has melted. 1t has been