The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-04-24
NOTES OF THE FARM
By w. F. MASSEY, of A. & M. College.


that he cleared S125 per acre on his
tobacco and got IS bushels of wheat
per acre. or course he does not grow
yellow tobacco bat black wrappers
that now bring he most money, as MS
red land is better adapted to that sort
of tobacco. My observation has been
that any soil on which tobacco IS
grown viii grow the Kind that is fl
ted for it and when improved by goo,l
culture Will only make bigger crop
of the same kind. | think that each
farmer should experiment and find OF
what kind Of tobacco his land is best
suited to. and then grow that kind.
Our people have gotten Il notion that
tobacco in North Carolina means ye,
low tobacco and nothing else so far rs
all the country east of Greensboro is
concerned. | believe that there are
other kinds of tobacco that would b.
better suited to some of our soils than
the kinds they are growing | believe
that on the Eastern coast plain they
are making, a mistake in growing the
same kinds of tobacco that are grown
in Granville and Person. and that
there they should grow the cigar leaf
that is doing so well III Florida.
believe too that in large part Of the
red lands OF the upper country fine
Dlack TOBACCO would De more DfOIlIl-
bic than the yellow or even the ma
hogany leaf. At any rate if | had y
crop that compelled me to starve my
land | would drop that crop and
make my land rich 1t is this fear Of
improving the soil that has made the
tobacco section poor The tobacco
trust has made the tobacco unprottH,
bic and they have starved the soil with
the notion that it must be kept down
to grow tobacco and now it is too poor
to grow anything else. And yet the
man in Person county who got the
biggest price for his tobacco in Dur
ham is a man who is rapidly building
Up his soil with peas and is manur-
ing it heavily, and he told me that he
had not Yet found out how rich it
will pay him to make his land for to-
baccO. You cannot afford not to SOW
the peas if YOU are looking both TO
present profit and the future Of YOUR
land. The loss from not sowing them
Will pay for all the corn YOU will
make.
\ Wake county farmer requests an
answer in these columns to the fol
lowing: Il have t acres of land which
| want to plant in cotton. II is fair!s-
good land. with 4 good clay SubSOiI.
| have about 500 bushels Of GOOD II
manure. which | want to put in the
drill, and about the last of April
want TO open it and put in some good
fertilizer. | would like to know what
is the best and cheapest?" This is a
fair sample of hundreds of letters that
come to our desk 1t is simply the
old idea Of squeezing q little more
sale crop out of the land with the
least expense. 1t is perfectly proper
that a man should so conduct his
farming operation so that the expense
OF growing crop should be as light
as possible consistent with the best
results both in the crop and in the fu-
ture condition of his land But the
future OF the land should never Da
lest sight of. When Il man is keep
ing so little stock as to be measuring
his home made manure in bushels, il
IS evident that the quality OF the ma
nure is rather poor and that the cattle
from which that manure has been
made have not had the richest food
to make the manure with. The term
lot manure as is commonly used
here usually means whatever accumn-
fatlon there happens to be from a fcU
cattle that stay about the lot during
the winter and live in the way they
can best survive. without any >partc-
uiar reference to the quality of the
food they have eaten. Cattle fed on ::
diet OF corn Shucks and rough food all
winter max" manure Of very little
value, while cattle housed and fed on
pea vines and grain and whose drop
pings are carefully protected from the
weather, make manure that has a fa,
higher value than that from those
barely surviving in the open lot and
whose manure is exposed to the rains
all winter. We know nothing about
the value Of your lot manure Of course
but are simply assuming that it is Of
the ordinary character. Then YOU
propose to put it in the bed. and help
it out in what it lacks, by q little
cheap fertilizer. Then the cotton
plants will start off nicely and when
they develop and the feeding roots
get out into the poorer soil where
you put no manure. and begin to shed
and turn yellow YOU will wonder why
the cotton does no better after VOu
have fertilized it. The little suppl
in the furrow will be largely used up
and the roots are where they can ger
no more, and the land is really little
improved by the application. If yon
put that manure in the furrOW the
next best thing will be to mix con-
plete fertilizer and use it in a liberal
manner. putting about half of it as
YOU propose and the remainder scat
ter broadcast between the rows 50
that there Will be something to SUD-
port the plants through the whole
season The following mixture will
be good for this purpose. Acid phos-
phate |. 900 pounds. cotton seed meal
600 pounds, lainit 400 pounds to make
ton. Use 400 pounds per acre in tie
way advised. Then let me advise YOU
to farm in a systematic way and i'm
prove your land so that YOU can do
with less and less Of the commercial
fertilizers. BY a proper rotation Of
crops. the growing and eeding Of
pea vine hay. and the careful saving
Of manure YOU can soon do without
buying any nitrogen or ammonia at
all.