The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-03-27
KArrIR CORN.
some of Its Advantages Disc"sse"
By Il Farmer,


To the Editor OF The Post.
Bowie, Texas, March S.-This Is hon-
saccharine African corn Tnere are
eral varieties of red and white MANI
Dhoura corn. milo maize. Jerusalem corn
etc. have seen them all tried anu Inc
Kafhr is the best Of them all in my luas-
ment, because It grows less RAM Pio
duces more heads or grain Just 40 iiuen
fodder and far better and slanus 'ns
dro,ith better. besides the leaves are thich
and will remain green all summer ana
cnrtl6ns 10 throw out new heads from
the lower blades until frost ana wiz ns
ture most OF them. II Is worlu-pse.ei
far feed and ali stock are fond OF H. anu
rho experiment stations all agree lh"'
mound Tor pound the grain is tuiiy equai
10 the ordinary corn. II VIII make iiVtN
nifty to seventy-hye bushels per acre Ia
ordinary seasons and from SIX 10 ten .ohs
of fine hay A few years ago irIepu "a
mine planted small patch OF H. We nnu
five months drouth and corn was az
entire failure This kafir Kept green lhc
entire season and made at the rate OF Sixty
bushels per acre .,.
II farmer will plant half of his corn
crop in Kaffr he will always have feed tor
his stock. Don't make the mistake OF put
ting your l<affr on your poorest lana anu
then neglect its cultivation, but give II
fair showing. Put 1t on good soil ana give
it good cultivation and you viii ma II
worthy OF your best efforts.
Kafnr should be planted just after corn
on well pulverlzed soil. II should De
drilled about three and one half feet apart
ana covered about as you would sugar
NNhan first comes I'D
it is small and tender like ordinary grass.
Should grass or weeds come up III 1t,
harrow them This will kill the intruders
and not hurt the Kafhr, is good cultlva-
ton for it, When the plants are four or
five inches high. hoe ii out and thin to
one stalk every twelve inches. This is
very important, for If left thick like Sr-
ghum it will not make a good crop. Plow
n with sweep, shallow cultivation. hoed
mine the past season once and plowed II
three times.
When the first head ripens it may be
cut Off, left TO dry on the ground for a
few days and crlbbed like ordinary corn.
In feeding to stock it should be stripped
up so they will not waste it in eating AS
soon as the first head natures it throws
out heads from the two next lower blades,
which the sun ripens II the season con-
tinues good it will throw out other heads
lOWtT uONu, 1 ne past season l SuOWGu III
Bowie stalk having twenty heads, over
half of them fully matured. My whole crop
averaged from three to FIVE heads per
stalk Late in the season, depending upon
the weather, you can cut down the stalks
with ordinary cane knives and at once
haul them UP and stack them. / put up a
long pole about three feet from the ground
or series of them, and set the corn upon
their butt ends and lean them up against
this pole on each side of 1t. This stacking,
heads up, can be carried on six or seven
feet on each side of the pole Then pro-
coed to roof it with Kaffr putting the
butts up, and thus make good steep
roof Now take a good strong wire, fasten
IT over the end of the pole carry it over
the top layer of the Kaffir root and fasten
It TO the other eud of the horizontal pole.
Then, by twisting this wire over stick,
1t may be drawn quite tight and no ord
mary wind will blow it over. A wire
should be put on each side Now you can
feed from tie end and thus use up the
whole stack without uncovering any of II.
II this Kaftir stalks, fodder and heads
are cut into lengths Of five or six inches
cattle and horses will eat up every bit
Of II. They heartily relish it, and it is a
complete ration for them.