Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1892-04-02

on the same ground but without being
preceded by the sunfower, the crop
will soon be unsatisfactory. The sun
flower has beneficial effect on wheat
and other cereal crops following, ow-
ing TO the long, strong roots OF this
plant reaching the lower depths OF the
subsoil, making II porous and thus dis
iributing the richness of the earth be-
low even better than by blowing. The
numerous large leaves Of this plant, by
shading the ground. retain therein the
moisture and ut the same time prevent
the spreading of weeds The sunhow-
err like all large-leafed plants in
creases 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 1000 pounds Of manure per acre
In the soil
The sunflower should be sown very
early in the spring, even before the
oats, or as soon rs the snow has melt
ed. It has been shown that the sooner
the sowing Is done the better il the
seed obtained. In many districts the
sowing Is made in the autumn, but this
must be done SO late that the seeds
will not sprout The ground must be
plowed rather deep but care must be
taken that the seeds are not buried
more than about two inches deep, that
the seeds may sprout as soon as posi-
BILE, the soil In the spring being
warmed only on the surface. Many
farmers moisten the seeds before SOW
ing.
The sunfower is sown either bro 4.
cast or in rows In the latter case he
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 tho 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 whr,n
sown late under the best conditions Of
soil. Although the sowing in rows e.
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 culti-
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 lie.
duced and the seeds would be plantnd
regularly and covered evenly ard at
the proper depth, making it compare n
lively easy to keep the fields clean Of
weeds, and thus increasing enormously
the profits Of sunfower farming.
On small farms the sunfower is hnr-
vested gradually; the ripe heads. are
cut off first, leaving the others in the
field to ripen. The flowers are 81 rad
out on the ground for the day, and are
placed under shelter for the night. un-
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, t. be
used as firewood. On larger IA rms
this method of harvesting would b. too
tedious; therefore, where the sunHFfwer
is cultivated on 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 of, 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
or rye, will yield about 1900 pounds of
seed per acre, furnishing about $50
pounds Of oil The seed that is uned as
q pleasant delicacy, grows very much
better than the oil seed, yielding as
high rs 2,7OO pounds Of seed per acre.
The greater part of the existing oil
mills in Russia were built about 1850.
The total number of oil mills found in
Russia In 1888 was 104. From this num-
Der eighty-five were solely applied to
obtaining sunfower oil.
The ashes of the sunfower contain a
high percentage Of potassium. The
experiments of Hermbstedt have proved
that /, 900 pounds of dried stalk yield
SL2 pounds of ash, and from 1000
pounds OF ash are obtained $40 pounds
of the best potassium. An entire ripe
sunfower plant, without the root con-
tains about % grams Of mineral sub
stances whereof about ~ grams are
potassium. The farmers in Russia sell
their ashes to the soap works for q
very low price instead Of using them
for the field.
Sunhower cakes are looked upon as
l. k,k