The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-10-22
Bill ArIp's Letter.
Arp on Meteors But as to Their Origin he Says he Knows
Nothng--Has Letter from Arkansas

OF farming In Kentucky. 1t was brief,
very brleT. He laid off his corn rows
seven feet apart drilled his corn eighteen
inches apart, cultivated the ground thor
oughly and narrowed it; sowed wheat
early and narrowed it in. When the
corn was ready to gather he drove the
wagon IN every sixth rows and loaded
from three rows each side After the
germ was all gathered he went over the
scorn-stockS crosSways with Il heavy roll
err and rolled it all down fiat ON the
wheat. The stocks and the blades cover
cd 1t like n blanket When the first
good snow fell he sOwed clover on the
snow. When it rained or thawed the
clover seed fell into the ground and took
root, and so he had corn and wheat and
clover following in rotation and made Il
fine crop of each
But in this region our farmers have
learned the value of peas as n fertilizer
and stock food, and the harvest Of hay
this year will no doubt double all pre-
vious records. One of my friends has
small farm near town and last year
harvested a fair crop of wheat from a
tweuty-acue field. After the wheat was
off he sowed ten acres of the ground
in COW peas Last fall he sowed it all
sdOwn in wheat and this spring you could
stell Just where the line of peas came
10. There was no difference in the quail
ity Of the land. 1t was all level and
all alike and vet he harvested this year
ten bushels per acre ON One-half and
eighteen ON the other. Now, what caus-
ed this great difference? 1t was the shade
Of the pea vines, the shade that pro-
duces nitrogen, and nitrogen is the best
of all plant food The denser the shade
the more nitrogen goes down into the
SOIL. A Canebrake, a briar patch, Il clov-
or covering. am old house in a iield-re-
move it and plant the ground that was
under it and see how luXuriant vegeta-
ton grows. Plant grape vine near
your house and the roots will all rum
uglder the house to feed-tO feed ON nitro
gen My wife has a wiSteria vine at the
end of the veranda, and in three years
time it's roots had travelled underneath
the floor and sent up sprouts twenty feet
away. and for n time we did not know
where they came from. a good farmer
will shade everything he can. lie will
cover the Thin and galded spots in his
field with wheat straw. ThUe Is no
yirtue in wheat straw, but il makes
shade and that makes nitrogen There
is no virtue i'm q stone or in rocks, but
they make Shade. and notice how plants
will grow near to rocks or Il rock wall.
My long lamcnted friend, DIR. Berckman.
told me that rocks were Gods blessing
to the land" and he purchased ten acres
of very stony land for his vineyard and
las flower garden.
1t reioices me to see how our middle
Georgia farmers are looming up on wheat
culture. Forty bushels to the acre. Ten
wears ago ii would have been declared
impossible This reminds me of my old
English neighbor, john Allan, who as
serted that his father was never content
i'm old Hcngland with less than sixty
bushels of wheat to the acre, and some
times he made seventy. "S0w wheat IN
dust and rye i'm mortar" was his motto.
Good old John Allan. / Shot his cow in
my cornfeld. for it was her third offense,
and the old man was grieved. He never
got mad, but only said: Il know me coow
worried We, but-but- major, | wouldent
have shot your coow. ] love you too well
for that"
How true it is that kind words take
away wrath" BILL ARP.