The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-04-01

seeds should be placed about six inches
apart The sowing of the seed broad
cast being the more quickly per-
formed, is generally favored on large
farms, especially where the farmers
have not sufficient help OF the two
methods-sowing in the fall and in the
spring-the latter seems to produce
the most satisfactory results. Seed
sown early, even on poorly prepared
ground, does much better than when
sown late under the best conditions of
soil Although the sowing in rows re-
quires more time and more work at
at first and, consequently, is more ex-
pensive, it has great advantage over
the broadcast method.
The weeds, for example, which
should be carefully kept down or the
crop will be ruined, can be removed by
means of horse plows and horse cult
vators and hoes, while in broadcast
sowing they can only be removed by
hand Then, too, the seeds ripen much
more quickly in rows, the wind and
the sun having freer access thereto.
If American methods were employed,
such as sowing by machinery, the ex-
pense of sowing would be greatly re-
duced and the seeds would be planted
and covered evenly and at
the proper depth, making it compare
lively easy to keep the fields clean of
weeds, and thus increasing enormously
the profits of sunflower farming
The harvest time of the sunhower
can scarcely be fixed, as it depends not
only upon the climate. but also upon
the nature of the soil and the exposure
of the plantation. In the south and
of European Russia it ripeus
about the middle of Septem Der, further
north at the end of September or be-
ginning of October. On sandy soil il
ripens about the middle of August on
lands at the end of Au-
gust, and on lower grounds still later.
From this it may be seen that the sun
flower, wherever it grows ripens later
than any other corn plant. a very i'm
portant fact in agriculture, as its
does not interfere with the
of other crops When the
sunfiower is over-ripe its yellow flowers
wither, its stalk and the seed cup from
the top become gray. all the leaves of
the flower covering the seed fall off,
and the seeds get hard. shoot out from
the seed-cup and crack open. At this
time the plant should be well guarded
from the birds, or the over-ripe seeds
will soon be destroyed by them.
On small farms the sunf1ower is har-
vested gradually; the ripe heads are
cut off first leaving the others in the
field to ripen. The flowers are spread
out on the ground for the day, and are
placed under shelter for the night I'M
til quite dry, thus giving an excellent
quality of seed and of oil. The stalks
are cut off after they are thoroughly
dry and stored away in piles, to be
used as frewood On larger farms
this method of harvesting would be too
tedious; therefore, where the sunflower
is cultivated on a larger scale the plant
Is cut off at the very root Of the stalk,
after most of the flowers are ripe, and
piled, seed upwards in the same way
as hemp, till dry. Some larger. farm
ers cut the seed cups off, but leave
them on their own individual stalks,
where they are allowed to remain from
three to ten days, until quite dry.
Good soil, after three crops of wheat
DR. rye, will yield about 9, 900 pounds of
seed per acre, furnishing about $50
pounds of oil The seed that is used as
4 pleasant delicacy, grows very much
better than the oil seed, yielding as
high as 2, 700 pounds of seed per acre.
The seed being brought to the oil
mill is thoroughly cleaned and sorted.
They are passed under mill-stones
prepared for this purpose, in
order to release the seeds from the
shells. After this the seed is properly
lusted and put under a press, and later
INTO mixer, where the seed is turned
INTO a compact mass very much like
paste. which passes into vessels heated
BY steam. From these vessels the paste
S taken out and wrapped in thin web
made of camel hair, and put under
press, by which the oil is squeezed out
md conducted by pipes into cisterns
The greater part of the existing o il
Mills in Russia were built about 1850.
The total number of oil mills found in
Russia in 1883 was 104 From this num-
Der eighty-five were solely applied to
sunflower oil. At first sun
lower oil did not meet public favor,
out later on, owing to its good qualities
md cheapness, it took the place of the
oil of poppy seed; but for long time
oil competed with it, owing
% the fact that the lower classes of the
country, who for many years had used
he hemp-seed oil the preparation of
yarious dishes. and who had long
earned to relish it, were 10th to give
t up. Now, however, public opinion
changed, and sunfiower oil is preferred
20 all other table oils by the masses in |
Russia
The sunfower stalk gathered from
he field and dried in piles have entire
y replaced firewood; in fact, these
stalks are preferred even to pine wood,
quick and hot flame fire.
bout 1000 pounds of such frewood
are gathered from an acre of land, thus
adding great boon to a district where |
.lso used for heating purposes, not only |
n private houses, but in large factories
Is we'll They are burned in ovens
specially prepared for their consump-
ion.
The ashes of the sunfiower contain a.
high percentage of potassium. The
experiments of Herm bstedt have proved |
that 200 pounds of dried stalk yield |
'Z2 pounds of ash, and from 1000
pounds OF ash are obtained $40 pounds
# the best potassium. An entire ripe |