The Van Buren press., 1895-08-24
FARMER nPLANTER
THE FESTIVE ooosEa..

lei Re1borns Gives some Faess on sne
Subject.
= I see You ask for information about
the cultivation Of goobers, IS to
whether it is right to cover the
lloomA No; they bloom above ground
and the embryo goober IL formed, then
the stem lepgthens until the tuber u
driven into the surface Of the grouno.
I Still I do not know that covering
. hurts them I have had but little
sctual experience Ia Roober culture
outside of the Spanish goober. which
Is a very prolific and hardy kind, be-
ing no moro trouble to cultivste than
= cow pea. and extremely carly.
Ninety days is all the time necessary
to produce az many bushels Of Roober
. per acre and two tons Of hay, equal to
clover, on land too sandy for clover,
and that would not produce over
thirty bushels of corn. And there is
no stock have ever tried that does
not prefer the COOLERS to corn or any
other hay. Now, when we consider
how cheaply they can be made and
harvested. and how that even when all
goobers and vines are removed the
land is improved and left in finest con-
dition for fall crops of any kind. il 1t
sively cultivated, both north and south?
The time for planting and cultivation
is about the same as for beans They
are harvested by pulling up the vines.
All the goobers hang on to the vines
and come up with them. They can be
left to cure one day and then stacked
as peavine hay; or the pulling up, of the
vines can extend over two or three
weeks time and they be cured In the
loft; or by placing alternate layers
OF dry straw or hay. they can
De cured in the loft, and the straw or
hay be somewhat improved by the
vines; or the vines can be grazed
of by cattle, and goobers rooted out
and eaten by hogs I shall plant near
" all of my little upland home in Span
ish goobers this spring, and plant the
saue land in the Tennessee Triumph
potato in August The vines and GOO
bers will be harvested for our little
dairy, and the potatoes for the winter
market in our little town, and for sale
in the spring for seed.
There is nothing upon the globe that
will make half as cheap or sweet gol-
den butter during the winter as Span
ish goobers feed vines with goobers
on them, cotton seed, and yam (sweet)
patatoes. And / can almost say the
same of Spanish goobers and cotton
seed alone. Our cows have been going
dry before Christmas on common hay,
meal and cotton seed. By substituting
goober hay with goobers on) for other
hay, our cows kept up full flow of
milk until calving time this spring,
and winter butter at the south always
commands double that of spring or
summer butter.
Irish potatoes at the south are never
sold for less than 81 per bushel between
October and March, and to-day are
selling at 50 and &c. 25 per bushel. And
there is no mistake but what we can
now make all the potatoes at the south
the south needs, and Of a most superior
quality, by planting in August seed
from the spring crop. The trouble has
been that we could not always succeed
in getting the tubers to sprout in Au-
gust. This is now obviated by thor
oughly preparing the land, planting
the Tennessee triumph, or fall potato,
and cutting the tubers instead OF
planting the small ones whole, as
heretofore. There is surely new era
dawning upon the south; this fall po-
tato business, the cotton harvesting
machinery, dairying, and general sheep
and cattle raising on our six to nine
months pasture, with waste products.
such as cotton, pea-vines, goobers,
crabgrass hay, etc.--Jeff Welborn, in
Farmers Call.