San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-04-06
ghe Daily Eight.
ABOUT SUNFL0WERS.
POINTERS FROM RUSSIA CONCERN
! ING A POSSIBLE INDUSTRY.

Sunflower Seeds Are Raised in Russia for
Osl-The stalks Are Used for Fuel, and
the Roots Make an Excellent Fertilizer.
Could BE Raised Here.
The ground devoted to the cultivation of
the sunhower in Russia has reached 703,-
4q4 acres. What do the Russians make of
this sunfower CROP. Oil for one thing.
Their mills produce 20,000,O00 pounds of
sunflower oil in year, and the product
sells for s1,OO0.0O0. Two kinds of sum
flowers are cultivated in Russia. One with
small seeds is used for the production of
oil, and the other with larger seeds is con-
sumed by the common people in enormous
quantities as dainties, very much as the
people eat peanuts in the United States.
The sunfower seed is used principally
for obtaining sunfower on, which, owing
to its nutritious qualities, purity and agree
able flavor, has superseded all vegetable
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 X cents per pound, the farmer receives
acre. This income can be increased in
those districts where the grower himself is
engaged in producing the oil from the
seed. However, oil mills are very rare in
fheEillages, the farmers selling their seed
to the oil producers.
Int.he seed growing district of Saratov
there are only thirtyfour village oil mills,
producing oil worth SAC, 600 annually where
as in the town of Saratov $3.50, 900 worth of
oil is manufactured annually. The SUBJ
stance remaining from the oil manufac-
ture, or the sunfower cakes, being used as
cattle food, is also valuable product.
These cakes, however, have a compare
lively small demand in Russia, and are
largely exported to foreign countries, prin-
cipally to Germany and England. The
government of Saratov, for instance, eX-
ports about 2,0OO,OO pounds of sunfower
cakes to different countries, where some
more oil is pressed out of them before be-
ing used for cattle food.
The sunfower cakes form one of the
principal items in the export of Russia.
A HINT FOR THIS COUNTRY.
These facts have prompted Consul Gen.
eral Crawford, at st. Petersburg, to send
to the state department a mass of interest
ing information, for he believes "the sun
flower 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,
sometimes bearing many heads, some of
which are more than a foot in diameter
containing about 1900 seeds, it is evident
that in order to grow this plant profitably
it is absolutely necessary to have a 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 mold or black land
mixed with sand. On meager soil the
seeds grow fiat and small, whereas on stout
soil round, heavy and rich seeds are OBJ
tanned. Soil where potatoes and peas have
been proftably cultivated without arti-
fetal manure may be adapted for the
growing of the sunfower. 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.
> 1t has been estimated that the stalks and
leaves of single crop are sufficient to
manure the field for five or six excellent
sunhower crops. Ii therefore four-lifths
of the stalks and leaves were gathered for
fodder, leaving one-fifth uncut and evenly
distributed, the fields, it is thought, could
Dc mads TO produce good crops almost in
definitely,
=. 1T IMPROVES THE LAND.
The huge heads, the thick stalks and
the large leaves of the sundower 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 ex-
perienced Russian farmer Mr.. Taratch-
koff, asserts that although it is generally
believed that all oil producing plants
greatly exhaust the land the sunfower
seems to be an exception.
He says that he has, for experiment,
sown winter wheat and other corn many
times after the sunfower and other plants,
and the crops were always better after the
"sunfower. Therefore, he maintains the
view held in the village of Alexeievka
that the sunfower not only does not exhaust
the land, but that it actually enriches it.
The same view is entertained by other eX.
perienced farmers in the government Oh
Saratov and Voronezh. One, Mr.. Perel
eshin, says that wheat especially grows
very much better after a sunfower crop
For instance, ON the large steppes in the
government of Voronezh the sunfower is
sown alternately with wheat and fax, 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 without being preceded by tn,
sunflower, the crop will soon be satisfac
tory.
WHEN AND HOW TO SOW.
The sunflower should be sown very earl