St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-02-27
FARMER AND PLANTER.

FARMER ANDPLANTER.
CORN IN THE SOUTH.
Tho General Average Of Yield b Far Be-
low What II should h.
A few years ago, in Marlboro coun.
", S. c., farmer grew over ESQ BUSH
els of corn ON an acre of land. And
yet the average yield of corn in the
Carolinas is not over eight bushels per
acre. Now. it must he admitted that
where the FIRST is possible, the general
average is tar lower than it should 30
with any proper system Of farming.
The low average yield Of coon i the
result Of tho one-crop system OF cot
ton culture. in which no rotation Of
crops was practiced. and corn was not
grown to any extent, the cotton grow
ers preferring to buy western corn out
of the proceeds Of the cotton crop.
wrongly imagining that they could
buy moro cheaply than they
could grow It. This was proba-
bly, true in the impoverished
state Of the land devoted to constant
clean culture in cotton. But with the
fall in price Of cotton the niece ssity for
growing food crops, which the cotton
would no longer pay for, was forced
ON the southern farmer. -
More attention IL being paid to the
corn crop. and there is . general de-
sire to improve the production. One
of the chief reasons for the lack Of pro-
ductiveness in corn in the south is the
lack of Systematic effort to improve the
seed planted, by careful selection in
the field, from the most productive
stalka Corn must b improved for
cultivation in the latitude where It il
to DO grown. The sending north or
south is not the way, for either must
be acclimatcd to the locality to do its
best. The number Of stalks in our
corn fields entirely barren Of ears il
astonishing to one accustomed to good
corn growing. and these barren stalks
all bear tassels and pollen to aid in
perpetuating their kind. In . field
where seed corn is to be saved no stalk
without an ear should be allowed to
mature = tassel. and the seed should
be selected from those stalks that pro-
duce the most perfect ears. and from
the ear nearest the ground only. Per-
sistent saving Of seed in this way will
of itself materially increase the yield.
But 1t is to the increased fertility Of
the soil that we must look for the per-
lection of our crops. The lands Of the
cotton belt have by the long, clean
culture in cotton and winter exposure
to rain. been so exhausted of their
humus that any effort It Improvement
must include the restoration OF the
vegetable matter. With plenty of
vegetable matter In the soil corn needs
no application Of heterogeneous manure.
8 It grows all through the hottest
weather, when the notification in
this vegetable matter Is most active.
This Is one reason why stable
manure has . better effect on
the crop than artificial fertilix-
ers applied directly to it. The
vegetable matter in the manure keeps
up tho nitrifying process all summer.
But unfortunately in the very parts Of
the country where these matters are
| needed most, stable manure 10 not
plentiful. from the fact that SO little
attention has been paid to stock raising
10 the cotton belt. We are, however.
able so to initiate the action Of stable
manure by means of leguminous crops.
in connection with potash salts and
acid phosphate. that its absence
need be no draw back to the improve
ment of our lands for either corn or
cotton.
The farmers III the north discovered
long ago that the best crops Of corn
are grown on an inverted sod, buried
deeply, and the corn buried very shall
lowly above it, so that the decaying
sod would feed the roots MI summer.
While it 10 not possible. in maly parts
Of the south, and particularly in the
cotton belt, to have the sod that tho
northern farmer finds SO valuable, we
can still get m equal. If not better
effect, from . crop Of peas buried in
the soil. Let the peas attain their full
growth and die upon the band, and in
September sow crimson clover on the
land among the dyiaRsspcas. The
clover will grow all winter and in tho
spring all can be plowed under deeply
for corn.
There js.ee0fpaNtth which tho
deepening OF the soil can 10 better
done than with corn. The practice, 90
common in the south, of cultivating
corn with pillow j. al wrong. II the
land Il well broken Ia the first place,
the subsequent culture should be per-
fectly level and shallow. Never ''lay
by" corn with . pillow, and . big ridge,
under the Impression that the ridge
keeps it from falling down in high
windA It will throw out better brace
roots and stand the wind better ON .
level surface than on . ridge. and the
crop will he far better for the shall low
culture than If the roots bad been
mutilated by running = pillow through
the rows late in the season. &ss
Another practice in corn culture in
the south which I have proved to be m
error il that of giving corn, 1t least on
our red clay soils. 90 much distance.
On land deeply broken, and with =
good supply Of vegetable matter
turned under, corn can be planted in
four-foot rows, and 10 to 20 inches be-
tween stalks. more probably than the
usual distance Of i've to six feet BE-
tween stalks. We have grown over
sixty bushels Of corn per acre on land
that three years before would hardly
grow any 1T al, mainly BY deep plow.
ing and shallow culture, and am per.
fectly satisfied that on our red clay, In